YOU HAVE NO LIFE, GO AWAY!

She broke his heart and yelled out to him

"YOU HAVE NO LIFE, GO AWAY!"

He stood there in agony, and whispered..

"but u r my life.." :(

Kitni burai kar k ek achai kar gya

Maine faaslo ko mitaya wo judai kar gya,

Kitna masoom tha wo lekin bewafai kar gya,

Wo sikha gya kisi pe aitbar na karna,

Kitni burai kar k ek achai kar gya

Kis qadar zulm dhaya kertey ho

Kis qadar zulm dhaya kertey ho
Yeh jo tum bhool jaya kerte ho

Kis ka ab haath rakh ke seene per
Dil ki dhadhkan sunaya kerte ho

Hum jahan chaye peene jate thay
Kia wahan ab bhi aaya kerte ho

Kon hai ab ke jis ke chehre per
Apni palkon ka saaya kerte ho

Kiun mere dil mai rakh nahee dete
Kis liye gham uthaya kerte ho

Phone per geet jo sunate thay
Ab wo kis ko sunaya kerte ho

Akhiri khat mai usney likha tha
Tum mujhe yaad aaya kerte ho

Teri meri, meri teri prem kahani hai mushkil

Teri meri, meri teri prem kahani hai mushkil
Do lafzon mein yeh bayaan na ho paaye
Ik ladka ik ladki ki yeh kahani hai nayi
Do lafzon mein yeh bayan na ho paaye

Ik dooje se hue judaa, jab ik dooje ke liye bane
Teri meri, meri teri prem kahani hai mushkil
Do lafzon mein yeh Bayaan na ho paaye

Tumse dil jo lagaya toh jahaan maine paaya
Kabhi socha na tha yoon meelon door hoga saaya
Kyun khuda tune mujhe aisa khwaab dikhaya
Jab haqeeqat mein use todna tha

Teri meri baaton ka har lamha sabse anjaana,
do lafzon mein yeh bayaan na ho paaye
Har ehsaas mein tu hai har ik yaad mein tera afsaana
Do lafzon mein yeh bayaan na ho paay

Sara din beet jaaye, Saari raat jagaye
Bas khayal tumhara lamha lamha tadpaye
Yeh tadap keh rahi hai mit jaaye faasle
Tere mere darmayaan hai Jo saare

Har ehsaas mein tu hai har ik yaad mein tera afsaana
Do lafzon mein yeh bayaan na ho paaye
Teri meri, meri teri prem kahani hai mushkil
Do lafzon mein yeh bayaan na ho paaye

Zameen Pe Chal Na Saaka Aur Asman Se Bhi Gaya

Zameen Pe Chal Na Saaka Aur Asman Se Bhi Gaya

Katta Ke Paar Wo Prinda Apni Uraan Se Bhi Gaya

Bhoola Diya To Bhulane Ki Inteha Kar Di

Main Ab Us Shaks Ke Weham_O_Guman Se Bhi Gaya

Kisi Ke Hath Se Nikla Hua Wo Teer Hoon Main

Hadaf Pe Lag Bhi Na Saaka Aur Kamaan Se Bhi Gaya

Tabah Kar Gaye Muje Pakke Ghar Ki Khuwahish

Main Apne Gaoon Ke Kacche Makan Se Bhi Gaya

Paraai Aag Main Jaal Kar Kiya Mila Tuje Aay "SAHIL"

Usse Paa Bhi Na Saaka Aur Apni Jaan Se Bhi Gaya..............

Safr_e_WAFA ki raah mai Manzil jafa ki thi...

Safr_e_WAFA ki raah mai Manzil jafa ki thi...
kaghaz ka ghar bna k b Khawhish hwa ki ki thi...

thi jugnu'on k shehr maimain tariin sy dushmani...
Ma'shook Chaand tha aur tamana Subah ki thi...
... ...
tum ny to ibadat ka tmasha Bana Dia....
Chahat ''Namaz'' ki thi,
pr AAdAT '''Qaza'' ki thi...

Main ny to zindagi ko ''tere'' naam likha tha..
Shayad ''Mgr
kuc aur or hi Marzi
''KHUDA ki thi...

Dard hi Dena tha to pehly bta Dety...
hum ko B azal sy Tamana''
hi Saza kiiii thiii,,....!!!

kuch log jindagi mein mahaz

kuch log jindagi mein mahaz
khud ki sahuliat ke liye
hote hain!

kuch log jindagi mein khushi
... ki shamuliat ke liye hi
hote hain!

kuch log rehnuma se hain,
rehmat ke liye hote hain,

unka saath kaabil-e-tarrif
woh dil se khidmat ke liye
hote hain!

in sab zaruraton se badkar
bhi hain kuch dost
haan aap jaise dost............

jo sirf mohabbat ke
liye hote hain!!!!

Is shehar e sitamgar me wafa dhond rahe hein

Is shehar e sitamgar me wafa dhond rahe hein,
Nadan hein hm b k ye kia dhoond rahe hein,

Hum lOog muqadar k sikandar to nahi hein,
kia soch k phir Aab e baqa dhoond rahe hein,

khamosh fizaOon me ye bechain parindey,
Es Habs k mosam me hawa dhoond rahe hein,

Jo Dil se nikaltey hi tere Qalb ko chhu le,
Hm Aj wohi harf e Dua dhoond rahe hein,

Ik shakhs ne maanga tha kabhi hum ko Dua me,
Us shakhs ko aaj tak Ba’khuda dhoond rahe hein….

Kabhi Khalwatoon Mein Hansa Dia

Kabhi Khalwatoon Mein Hansa Dia
Kabhi Mehfiloon Mein Rula Diya

Tujhay Kya Khabar Teri Yaad Ne
Mujhay Kaisay Kaisay Sata Diya

Tujhay Kya Khabar Tere Ishaq Mein
Kabhi Namaz Apni Qaza Hoi

Teri Aarzoo Ne Kabhi Kabhi
Mujhay Mere Rab Say Mila Diya ...!!

Taaluq torta hon to mukammal toor deta hon

Taaluq torta hon to mukammal toor deta hon
jisy main chorr deta hon, mukammal chorr deta hon

Mohabbat ho k nafrat ho, bhara rehta hon shiddat se
jidhar se aaiy ye darya udhar he morr deta hon

yaqeen rakhta nahi hon main kisi kacchay taaluq per
jo dhaaga tootny wala hon usko torr deta hon

mery daikhy hoay sapny kahen lehrain na lay jaen
gharonday raiyt k tameer kar k phorr deta hon

Adeem ab tak wohe bachpan wohe takhreeb kaari hay
qafas ko torr deta hon, parinday chorr deta hon..

Uljhay huay haalaat ka shikwa na kiya kar

Uljhay huay haalaat ka shikwa na kiya kar
khairaat mein khushiyon ki tamanna na kiya kar

So baar kaha itni mohabbat nahin achi
So baar kaha itna bharosa na kiya kar

Haalaat hamain aik kabhi honay nahin dengay
Ae DOST meray, meri tamanna na kiya kar

Kya janay ye kis morr pay lay jay zamana
Tu MUJH ko kisi pal bhi aleda na kiya kar

Mumkin hai kisi roz bichar jaon achanak
Tu mujh say pyar itna ziyada na kiya kar…!!

Teri umeed tera intazar jab se hai,

Teri umeed tera intazar jab se hai,
Na shab ko din se shikayat na din ko shab se hai,

Kisi ka dard ho karte hain tere naam raqam,
Gila hai jo bhi kisi se teri sabab se hai,

Huwa hai jab se dil-e-nasabur beqabu,
Kalam tujhse nazar ko bari adab se hai,

Agar sharar hai to bharak, jo phul hai to khile,
Tarah tarah k talab tere rang-e-lab se hai,

Kahan gaye shab-e-furqat k jagnewale,
Sitara-e-sahar ham-kalam kab se hai..,,,,

Maalik vs Nokar

Maalik:
Abi tk tujh se machar nhi maray?
Mere kano me gunguna rahy han.

Nokar:
Sahab mene Machar Maar dye hyn,
ye to unki Biwiya hn Jo Vidwa ho
k Ro rhi hein..!

Ajab halat thay meray ajab din raat thay meray

Ajab halat thay meray ajab din raat thay meray
magar mai mutamien tha, ke tum sath thay meray

meray zar k talabgaron ki nazrain uthti theen
k lakhon ungalian theen aur hazaron hath thay meray

mai ik pathar ka gard alood buut tha un k mandar mai
na dil tha meray seenay mai na kuch jazbaat thay meray

kisi se aur kia taiyeed ki umeed mai rakhta
wohi khamoosh thay jo mehram e halat thay meray

True Reality

At the Touch of Love...

Everyone becomes a Poet.....

n

At The Touch Of Break Up...

Everyone Becomes a Philosopher.. ! :P :D

Aise b muhabbat ki saza deti hi duniya

Aise b muhabbat ki saza deti hi duniya

Mar jaien to jeene ki dua deti hi duniya

Ye zakham muhabbat ka hi dekhana na kissi ko

Laa kar sar-e-bazar sajaa deti hi duniya

Kismat per karo naaz na itna bhi faqeero,n

Hathon ki lakeeron ki mitta deti hi duniya

Marne k liye karti hi majboor to lekan

jeene k tareeqe b sikha deti hi duniya

Aise b muhabat ki saza deti hi duniya ;-(

Be-khudi ki zindagi hm jiya nahi karte

Be-khudi ki zindagi hm jiya nahi karte

jaam dosron se cheen kar hm piya nahi karte

unko muhabbat hi to aakar izhaar karien

peecha hum b kissi ka kiya nahi karte

SUNO larki abi tm ishq mt karna

SUNO larki abi tm ishq mt karna

Abi guriya se khailo tm

tmhari omer hi kia hi,faqat 18 baras ki ho

abi masoom bacchi ho , nahi maloom abi tm ko

k jub ye ishq hota hi ,to insaan kitna rota hi

sitaare toot jate hien, saahare choot jate hien

abi tm ne nahi dekha k jub sathi beccharte hien

to kitna dard milta hi .

suno larki meri mano pharrai per tawaja do

abi massom bacchi ho kitabon per twaja do

kisi ko khut mut likhna k likhai pakri jati hi :-)

kabbi itna wo chahien k mjey pagal wo kar dalein

kabbi itna wo chahien k mjey pagal wo kar dalein

kabbi nafrat k dariya mien mjey dakhil wo kar dalien

kabbi sultaan dna dalien mjey apni wo duniya ka

kabbi to shaer mien apnbe mjey sahil wo kar dalien

kabbi wo be panna deedar ki dolaat mjey de dein

kabbi parde ki dewarien karri wo hayal kar dalien

Dard ki harr ik hadd se ab guzar gaya hoo’n mai,

Dard ki harr ik hadd se ab guzar gaya hoo’n mai,
phir kabhi na simtunga you’n bikhar gaya hoo’n mai…

Maut bas nahee’n aati rooh k nikalne se,
sans mujh mai baqi hai phir bhi marr gaya hoo’n mai…

apna bna k chorun gaa

tumhain apna bna k chorun gaa kehta tha woh shakhs kabhi………..

phir apni baat pe woh qayam raha,mujhe apna bna k chor gaya.

Us ke qadam jahan parre hum ne woh jagha choom li FARAZ

Us ke qadam jahan parre hum ne woh jagha choom li FARAZ
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.
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.
.

Aur
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Woh meri ami ko keh gayi aunty tawada munda mitti khanda je

:-((

Japanese Psychology

Japanese Psychology 'The 3rd
letter of your name
shows your character.
What's yours??
A: Gifted
B: Loved by all
C: Innocent
D: Talented
E: Good but hurts
F: Feels for others
G: Logical thinking
H: Calm
I: Respected
J: Enjoys life
K: Lovable
L: Funny
M: Great person
N: Proud
O: Supportive
P: Smiling
Q: Cool
R: Unpredictable
S: Caring
T: Genuine
U: Practical
V: Genius
W: Angry
X: Takes it easy
Y: Intelligent
Z: Jovial
Chck out who YOU are and write below?

Koi dhundla sa ik chehra meri ankhon main rehta hai

Koi dhundla sa ik chehra meri ankhon main rehta hai
koi bhatka sa ik JuGnO mere khawabon main rehta hai

Aik manoos si awaz mujhay sonay nahin deti
Hoii uljha sa ik jumla meri yadon main rehta hai

Hay kis k shabnami anchal ki khushboo ab talak mujh main
koii ehsaas mehka sa meri sansoon main rehta hai

Mujhay khud per nahin qabo na main kuch bol sakta hon
Asar yeh kis k lafzon ka meri baton main rehta hai

December ki khunak ratain mujhay bechain rakhti hain
Lamas ka aik haath ab tak meri sochon main rehta hai

Hay dil bhi muztarib, ehsaas bhi, sochon ki uljhan bhi
Yeh kis ki ankh ka ansoo meri ankhon main rehta hai...!!

Dil k kareeb a k jab wo door ho gaye

Dil k kareeb a k jab wo door ho gaye

sary haseen khawb mery choor ho gaye

humne wafa nibhai to badnamiyan milin

jo log bewafa thy wo mashhor ho gaye

Tu Kahin Bhi Rahe Sir Pe Tere ILzaam To Hai

Tu Kahin Bhi Rahe Sir Pe Tere ILzaam To Hai

Tere Haathon Ki Lakeeron Main Mera Naam To Hai

Mujh Ko Tu Apna Bana Ya Na Bana Teri Khushi

Tu Zamane Main Mere Naam Se Badnaam To Hai

Mere Zindagi Main Koyi Khushi Na Aayi Na Sahi

Teri Zindagi Main Mere Naam Ki Koyi Shaam To Hai

Dekh Kar Laug Tujhe Naam Mera Lete Hain

Is Pe Main Khush Hoon Mohobbat Ka Ye Anjaam To Hai..

USAY KEHNA..!

USAY KEHNA..!

Gilay un say hi hoty hain jo dil k paas hoty hain,

Shikayat un say hi hoti hai jo be-had khas hoty hain,

Mera tum say gila karna tumhay yunhi rula dena,

Khafa karna,

Teri taa’eed k badlay jafa karna,

Muhabbat ki alaamat hai,

Muhabbat may kabhi har giz isay dil par nahi lena,

Usay kehna muhabat ki

tawaqo un say hoti hai,

K jin se Aaas hoti hai,

Gilay unsay hi hoty hain,

JO DIL K PAS HOTE HAIN…!!

Sheikh k kamre se cheuntiyan bahir ja rahi then

Sheikh k kamre se cheuntiyan bahir ja rahi then

Sheikh:

Kahan ja rahi ho or kia le kar ja rahi ho?

Cheunti:

ßhai bhooka marne se to behtar hai hijrat kr jain.

hahaha :-))

Sheikh asked a Parrot

Sheikh asked a Parrot:

“Miyan Mithu Choori khao gay???”

Parrot said:

“Chavllan na maar,ap kadi khadi ay”

Ik Ty MeNu Marya UttoN Mera Choowa V Kho Laya.

‎1 Billi 1 Sheikh K Ghar Sy Roti Hoi Nikli’

Ksi Ny Billi Sy RoNy Ki Waja Poochi

Billi Ny Roty Hoay Jawab Diya.

“Ik Ty MeNu Marya UttoN Mera Choowa V Kho Laya.

Dukh to aik jesa hay bs intakhab krna hai

A beautiful poetry by some one


Bekholos logon se ijtanab krna hy,

Muje apne rishtøn ka ehtasab krna hay

Usay bhool jana hay ya usay yad rkhna hay

Dukh to aik jesa hay bs intakhab krna hai

Diffrence btween a friend and a best friend

Difference between a friend nd a best friend:
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"A friend will bring apples 4 u when u r admitted in the hospital":))
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.
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.
But
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"A best friend will bring apples for you and eat half of them sitting next to you ";))

Kya Sarokar Ab Kisi Se Mujhe

Kya Sarokar Ab Kisi Se Mujhe,
Wasta Tha Toh Tha Tujh Hi Se Mujhe,

Behisi Ka Bhi Ab Nahi Ehsas Mujhe,
Kya Hua Teri Berukhi Se Mujhe,

Mout Ki Arzu Bhi Kar Dekhun,
Kya Umeedein Thi Zindagi Se Mujhe,

Phir Kissi Par Na Aithbar Aye,
Yun Utaaro Na Apnay Je Se Mujhe,

Tera Gam Bhi Na Ho Toh Kya Jeena,
Kuch Tasalo Hai Dard Hi Se Mujhe,

Kar Gaye Kis Qadar Tabah "ZIA"
Dushman, Andaaz-e-Dosti Se Mujhe.....!!!!

Ab kis say kahain aur kaun sunay jo haal tumhare baad huwa

Ab kis say kahain aur kaun sunay jo haal tumhare baad huwa
Is dil ki jheel si aankhoon mein ek khwaab bohat barbaad huwa

Yeh hijr hawa bhi dushman hai us naam kay saaray rangon ki
Woh naam jo mere honton per khushboo ki tarah abaad huwa

Is shehar mein kitne chehray thay kuch yaad nahee sab bhool gaye
Ek shaks kitabon jaisa thaa woh shaks zubaani yaad huwa

Woh apne gaaon ki galiyaan theen dil jin mein naachta gaata thaa
Ab is se farq nahee parta na'shaad huwa ya shaad huwa

Bay-naam sataaish rehti thee un ghehri saanwli aankhoon mein
Aisa tu kabhi socha bhi na thaa dil ab jitna bay-daad huwa...

Man of all seasons Baba Fareed Ganjshakar

The book carries selections from Baba Fareed Ganjshakar’s poetry presented in Nastaliq, Gurmukhi and Roman script along with translations and line-by-line discourses

The place and date of birth of Baba Fareed is disputed by historians of all ilk. The following is one assessment. Baba Fareed was born in a village called Kothaevaal, near Multan. The date of his birth is uncertain but scholars seem to converge on 584AH/1188AD. His lineage is said to connect from his father’s side with Hazrat Umar, the second caliph of Islam. Maternally he is reported to be a descendant of Sultan Ibrahim Adham, but this is disputed. Baba Fareed’s mother was the daughter of Mulla Wajihuddin Khajandi, and is recorded as a saintly person who provided the poet’s early education. His father was Jamaaluddin Sulaemaan.

Baba Fareed’s early education was in Mauza Kothaevaal. At 18 he moved to the school of Moulvi Minhaajuddin Tirmzi. He learnt Arabic and Persian, studied the Quran and Sunnah and major books in these languages. In Multan he met Khwaaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiaar Kaaki. He was so taken up by the scholar-saint that he followed him to Delhi and became his disciple and remained in Delhi and Hisaar for a number of years. He studied under Syed Moinuddin Chishti (who was the founder of the Chishtia silsila of Sufism in proto-Pakistan and proto-Bharat), and the spiritual guide of Khwaaja Kaaki.

After the passing of Khwaaja Kaaki, Baba Fareed was assigned his seat. He is reported to have travelled to Baghdaad, Sceistan, Badakhshaan, Kirmaan, Qandahaar and Ghazni; also Kashmir, Maalva and Ajmer. It is said that he married a daughter of Sultaan Ghiasuddin Balban. It is reported that Nizamuddin Auliya was his son-in-law. Such relationships are not confirmed and may have been conferred out of reverence by writers. Later he gave up Delhi and settled in Ajodhan, a river port on the Sutluj, which had a jungle hinterland. This town was known as a centre of the Chishtia silsila and gained more renown after Baba Fareed settled there. The town flourished and was renamed Pakpattan. As a river port Ajodhan was on caravan routes. With Baba Fareed living there it became more important, and scholars and searchers beat a path to Pakpattan. Baba Fareed lived there till he died at the age of 92, in 1280AD. This date is also disputed, but Muharram 5, 679AH is accepted by most scholars. His urs is held on Muharram 5 every year. Muharram is the first month of the Muslim lunar calendar. The lunar year shifts by 10 days every year in a cycle of 36 years. Thus the urs of Baba Fareed comes in every season. This makes him, metaphorically, a man for all seasons.

Baba Fareed’s real name was Masud. His pseudonym was Fareeduddin. He is known as Ganjshakar or Shakarganj. Tradition has it that Baba Fareed Masud Ganjshakar received the name Ganjshakar (treasury of sugar) as his mother would put a lump of sugar under his prayer mat because he was very fond of it and, in lore, certain miracles are linked with this.

His tomb, now a revered shrine, attracts thousands of adherents everyday, and especially on the dates of his urs. At his shrine is a Bahishti Darwaaza (Door to Paradise). Devotees queue for hours, sometimes days, to pass through it, as this is believed to lead to heaven. Baba Fareed is revered more as a saint than as a poet.

Baba Fareed is recognised as the first major Punjabi poet (only fragments of works of previous poets are preserved or are available). Paper came via the Arabs in about 1000AD. No palm or leaf manuscript of older verse has survived. The fact that the work of Baba Fareed is not preceded by any other major preserved work may indicate that no major poet was on the scene for some time previous. One may wish to follow the same rationale and record that no poet of significance appeared for about 150-200 years after Baba Fareed, till we come to Baba Nanak, then Shaah Husayn.

Baba Fareed is an extremely difficult poet to translate. His rhythm is austere in self-discipline, and severely simple. His words are usually large and rich with meanings, which defy translation. Words are placed in ways where multiple meanings sprout. Then a whole poem is encompassed in two lines ...

People of the merit of Baba Fareed made a decision. They were going to write in the language of the people and not in the language of court or academe. The court language was Persian. Arabic and Sanskrit were languages of religion as well as of serious learning. These three were languages of most scholarship. In today’s parlance writing in the vernacular may be seen as a marketing decision, where the consumer and not the elite class of scholars were going to be the addressees. But marketing has become maligned as a word with much baggage of a consumer society. Perhaps we should say that Baba Fareed, and a few others, wished to connect with the people rather than with the court, or the academic trends of the time.

Tradition has it that Baba Fareed Masud Ganjshakar received the name Ganjshakar (treasury of sugar) as his mother would put a lump of sugar under his prayer mat because he was very fond of it and, in lore, certain miracles are linked with this

They did this with a strong grounding in Arabic and Persian (in which they also wrote), and sometimes in Sanskrit also, an elite tongue that never became a lingua franca. Sanskrit was the language of mythology and socio-religious commentaries which were regarded as sacred, indeed as religious texts, by the larger section of society, who later, in the 18th century, were classified as Hindus. A most important aspect of the use of the language of the people was that Baba Fareed also employed fresh metaphors developed from the lives of common folk, and used others which flourished in the oral tradition.

A second, related, and most important happening was the decision of Baba Nanak to collect and collate the works of major poets and holy men who were writing in the native tongues. In an era when anthologies were almost unknown this was an original and creative action which saved some Punjabi verse as it was consecrated in the Granth Saahib, the sacred text of the Sikhs. The fact that a sacred text of a significantly sized religion is in Punjabi has ensured for Punjabi the status of a living language in perpetuity. Scholars say that Guru Granth Sahib contains at least 118 dohras (two line poems) and four asbloks (verse sayings) of Baba Fareed. These verses were personally collected by Baba Nanak from Shaekh Ibrahim (Fareed Saani), a descendent of Baba Fareed and his 11th successor from Pakpattan, over two hundred years after Baba Fareed’s passing.

In 1604, 339 years after Baba Fareed’s passing away, these verses became a part of the Granth Saahib (the number of verses by Baba Fareed in the Granth Saahib, is uncertain, as Baba Nanak, and possibly others, sometimes wrote using the pseudonym Fareed).

Scholars have collated dohras (two line poems) which are classified as the verse of Baba Fareed and which are not included in the Granth Saahib ... Some scholars believe Baba Fareed is the most secular of Sufi poets. They state that the vast underpinning of metaphysics and religious thought is not present in his poetry. Others believe that his language and metaphor is existential, experiential and visionary. They too feel that his expression is not in the religious tradition. They claim that metaphysical, religious echoes are not raised in the mind as one reads the dohras.

Other scholars believe that the metaphysical and religious content is subtle and ever-present. They suggest that it was the deeply spiritual Baba Nanak, the inspiration of the Sikh religion, who inducted the dohras into his preaching and these were consecrated into the Granth Saahib. This induction was for their spiritual and religious metaphor and not merely for their poetry.

It may be an assumption that later poets resorted to greater abstraction perhaps because the kings had become more powerful, and what could be construed as criticism was veiled in abstraction. Thus space was created for poetry where space was wanting. In Baba Fareed the metaphor is more of life than of social condition. He makes his own space. He does not create stereotypes. His message is powerful. Perhaps Baba Fareed left Delhi because he started feeling that he was living with people with facades who had little genuineness. When he went and settled in Pakpattan, he transcended his Delhi experience, sophistication and language. He used his old experience and clued into the current. If the Delhi experience had any residual impact, it may have been on the austerity and heavy discipline of his poetry. The content remained aloof of city and court sophistication. He was fully familiar with city life, with attitudes to worship, spiritual guides, religion — all he had learnt. But at some time Baba Fareed reverted to people who live on banks of rivers, and eke out a living in arid and semiarid areas, who had their own metaphors, consciousness and wisdom. He wrote in their tongue, and creatively expressed their feelings, experiences and metaphors. But this was done with superior poetic craftsmanship, via inspired verse ...

Baba Fareed sits comfortably in the meeting ground of religion and poetry. The fifth guru, Arjan Dev, led Sikhism at a time when its members had swelled to the thousands and the Granth Saahib was compiled and consecrated as the paramount scripture of Sikhism. This had two effects: one, the dohras of Baba Fareed, collected by Baba Nanak, were preserved (in the form they were placed in the Granth Saahib by Guru Arjan’s committee of compilers, which was led by Bhai Gurdaas). Secondly the status of Baba Fareed’s verse was elevated to a religious text of a whole religion. This may even have helped to preserve some of his other couplets in the oral tradition which did not become part of the Granth Saahib ...

We can assume that at a time when paper was very expensive and not easily available, the works of many poets were lost. But in all traditions poets of merit come at intervals. Even today, with a plethora of poetry being published, not much may remain as poetry of significance. But anthologies, a relatively recent phenomenon, may preserve the work of more poets than in the pre-anthology era.

The press came to Punjab in the 1850s, to Ludhiaana, and in the 1860s to Lahore. Hundreds of books were published in Punjabi. This became a trickle in 1947 when Punjab accepted Urdu as the national language. Somehow this was read as a replacement of regional languages, which it was never intended to be.

The Punjab had been a province of Persia, then of Afghan and Turkish Central Asian princes who collected tribute on behalf of the king at Delhi. These people started as conquerors but did not become colonisers as they owned the place and settled here. They did not repatriate any funds or riches, as colonisers do, from the collected tribute. In the time of Baba Fareeduddin Masud Ganjshakar, Punjab was well-settled as a province of the empire. It was sufficiently loyal to be mounting expeditions of its own.


An element of physical anxiety in Baba Fareed’s time has been identified by Irfan Habib in his book on a later era, (Agrarian System in the Mughal Period). There was a big jungle near Pakpattan where rebels lived and from where tax was not collected. This may have influenced the free spirit of Baba Fareed. Poets comment on the human condition and sometimes on the times. The poetry of Baba Fareed is subtle as well as direct. It has a fair content of social comment.

The dohras are definitely worked on by the poet. This must mostly have been done in the mind as paper was scarce. Each word is selected with austerity and panache. So is each thought and then a whole poem is encapsulated in a musically metered two liner.

BULLHE SHAH

Born in 1680, Bullhe Shah lived mostly in the town of Qasur where he had received traditional education before he became affiliated to Shah Ināyat Qadiri of Lahore as his murshid. Bullhe Shah’s mazār in Qasur became a place of pilgrimage after his death. However, he is better known as a poet, perhaps the best Sufi poet of the Punjab . He wrote in several popular forms of Punjabi poetry, notably the kāfi. A number of his kāfis are sung even today by qawwāls. His works reflect his learning, his mystical experience, and something of the life around him. Apart from the uprising of the Khalsa under the leadership of Banda Bahadur in the reign of Bahadur Shah and the political activity of the Khalsa during the governorship of Zakariya Khan and Muin ul-Mulk, Afghan rule was established over the Punjab in the 1750s. The Durrani commanders were ousted from the region by the Marathas, with the much too willing support of the Sikhs, in 1758, the year of Bullhe Shah’s death. Living thus in a period of political turmoil, he appears to allude to an unsettled state of things in his works.
            Bullhe Shah uses the phrase prem nagar (the city of love) at several places in his works, and at one place he uses the phrase sulh-i kul. An ideal city of universal peace, suggested by these phrases, can be appreciated in the context of his entire corpus. In the sections which follow, we take up first how Bullhe Shah has been viewed recently by two eminent scholars. Then we turn to his works other than the kāfis. The dominant ideas, moods and attitudes of Bullhe Shah’s kāfis are taken up in a separate section before turning to his social comment in another. In the last section we refer to Bullhe Shah’s popular kāfis. All these sections are meant to contribute to our appreciation of his ‘ideal city of universal peace’ in relation to his whole thought.
                                                                   
II
In his History of Panjabi Literature, Sant Singh Sekhon devotes a short but separate chapter to Bullhe Shah. He refers to Lajwanti Ramkrishna’s observation that Bullhe Shah’s mysticism passed through three stages. The first stage was the time of his discipleship with Shah Ināyat. Dominant in his thought at this stage were the discipline of the shari’at and the ideas of orthodox Islam. Frequent references to hell and heaven and the fear of death align him with Shaikh Farid. At this first stage Bullhe Shah does not accept the doctrine of transmigration. This gives the wrong impression that he came to accept this doctrine at some later stage. Sekhon goes on to comment that the first stage was brief and, therefore, Bullhe Shah’s ideas and attitudes of this phase do not figure much in his works. 1
            Sekhon goes on the second stage in which the influence of the Indian philosophy of Vedanta is in evidence, and Bullhe Shah seems to experience the warmth of the Divine but he does not claim a state of identity with God even at this stage. It is doubtful, however, that Bullhe Shah’s position can be called Vedantic at any stage. According to Rama Krishna, Bullhe Shah’s mysticism was at the height of its beauty in the third stage. He was different now from all the other Sufis. Punjabi or Indian, and equally different from all the Vaishnava bhaktas. Claiming complete identity with God, he declares to have attained to Him in all His mystery. Sekhon notices here a certain degree of similarity with Shah Husain. It does not occur to Sekhon that Rama Krishna chees not adduce any evidence  in support of her idea that the three ‘stages’ were chronological.
            Sekhon goes on to point to out that Bullhe Shah did not write only kāfis; he used also the forms known as the ‘twelve-month’ (baramaha) and the ‘week’ (athwara). The tone and text of his Athwara is the same as that of his kāfis: a clear condemnation of established religion, both Islam and Hinduism. Nothing is said about the Baramaha.
            Sekhon observes that the theme of Punjabi Sufi poetry is a variation on the theme of Indian bhakti ‘as if it were bhakti in the guise of Islam’. This should not be taken to mean that Indian Sufism was a product of interaction between Indian bhakti and Islam. Nevertheless, the influence of Indian bhakti on the Punjabi Sufi poetry became important later, and it is reflected in Bullhe Shah’s poetry. Bullhe Shah felt anguish at the conflict between the Sikhs and the Mughal government which had produced extremely unsettled conditions in the country. In this connection, Sekhon equates the ‘rug-wearers’ of Bullhe Shah with the Sikh rulers. Bullhe Shah’s Sufism appears to betray ‘defeatist tendencies’ perhaps because of ‘the decline of Muslim Mughal power’. His sympathies were with ‘the losing Muslim side’ and he regarded this situation as a ‘decline of society’. However the Sikhs established their rule in the Punjab after Bullhe Shah’s death. Ahmad Shah Abdali was apparently dominant even in the early 1760s. Therefore, the ‘Muslim side’ had not yet last power.
            Sekhon suggests that the symbol for the beloved in Bullhe Shah’s poetry has three levels. The first is the level of Gurbani in which the symbol of conjugal love is dominant. The second is the level of the romantic worldly love in which the ‘spouse’ is replaced by the ‘friend’. The third is symbolism of Heer and Ranjha, which has been used by Bullhe Shah even more fully than by Shah Husain. We may agree with Sekhon that allusions to the love of Heer and Ranjha are very frequent in Bullhe Shah. This, however, is a difference only of degree. ‘One phenomenon that is found in Bullhe Shah more than in all other Sufis is the substitution of his personal preceptor for Allah or the Prophet’. Sekhon can say this because he has not given much serious attention to Sultan Bahu. For Sekhon, a ‘strange feature’ of Sufi lore is a constant reference to the ordeals that the prophets of the Old Testament had to undergo to find acceptance with God. This feature is only seemingly ‘strange’. These prophets were the prophets of the Qur’an too, and their ordeals integrated well with Bullhe Shah’s conception of God and his relationship with human beings. Sekhon points out that Bullhe Shah used the Hindu symbols of God, especially Krishna , quite frequently. Bullhe Shah is by no means exceptional in this respect.
            Denis Matringe has looked at the poetry of Bullhe Shah to illustrate that transference of themes and symbols from one religious sphere to another was a common phenomenon in South Asia . Accepting W.H. McLeod’s formulation, he cites the example of the Sikh movement in this connection. He states on his own that some of the Sufis were inclined to adjust Islam to its Indian environment. They developed a tradition of Punjabi poetry with deeply rooted in local culture. This culture included a number of Hindu traditions. Borrowings from this source are exemplified in the poetry of Bullhe Shah in the form of Krishnaite and Nath elements in his poetry. Matringe is aware of the opposing views taken of this issue. Some scholars think that Bullhe Shah was more of an advaita Vedantist than a Sufi, while others have given a strict orthodox Muslim interpretation of his works. Therefore, it was relevant for Matringe to examine how these elements contribute to the formulation of Bullhe Shah’s mystical message. 3                                                            
            According to Matringe, some verses of Bullhe Shah advocate devotion to Krishna as opposed to Vedic ritualism, indicating the superiority of inner faith. However, the line quoted refers to Hari, an epithet for God, and Matringe tends to assume that this is a reference to Krishna . In another verse, however, there is an explicit reference to ‘the flute of Kahn’. It certainly refers to Krishna . However, the flute-player is also the Chak Ranjha. This would equate Krishna with Ranjha and suggest that both these are epithets for Bullhe Shah’s God. Matringe translates ‘chak’ as ‘cowherd’, which is misleading. The other verses quoted by Matringe do not refer explicitly to Krishna . Nevertheless, Matringe sees parallels between the gopis and the Punjabi girls who are fetching water in full adornment, whose scandal is spreading, and who do not care and continue to dance. However, the dance in abandon was emphasized by Shah Husain, and there is absolutely no doubt that Bullhe Shah was familiar with the kāfis of Shah Husain. Bullhe Shah’s God is ‘mischievous’: he hides himself in the way Krishna did after dancing with the gopis to be found again. God is a hidden thief. However, the Sufi idea of veils over the Reality and of God as the ‘hidden treasure’ are equally relevant here. Matringe takes ‘māhi’ literally to be the ‘cowherd’, but it comments the beloved Bullhe Shah’s depiction of the pangs of separation appear to be the pangs of the gopis ‘in Persianized style’. In another verse in the female voice ‘I shall write letters to Sham’ is perceived by Matringe as symbolic of the letter which Radha thinks of writing to Krishna . 4 Though plausible, the use of all these verses by Matringe does not make a convincing case for the concept of transference.
            Significantly, the seeker in despair takes the garb of a jogan (female ascetic). This, according to Matringe, opens the way to recurrent instance of Nath symbols in Bullhe Shah’s poetry. God is the supreme jogi for whom the jogan is longing, and she renounces the world in quest of God: ‘I shall go with the yogi, having put a tilak on my forehead’. The manifestations of love are described in terms related to the Persian images of the ‘fire of love’. In such descriptions, Matringe perceives the terrible powers of the jogis. A similar imagery is used in this poem for the drastic austerity of the jogan. Then there are symbols expressing the extreme hardship of the path which leads the mystic to God. Suffering is the prerequisite of spiritual bliss through divine grace: ‘Ranjha has come, having made himself a yogi’. Actually, this verse carries the import that God has come in the form of Ranjha and Heer has vowed as a jogan to serve him. Matringe himself says that there is a fundamental difference between the Punjabi Sufi kāfi and the shabads of Gorakhnath. The loving devotion is present only in Bullhe Shah’s poetry.  All that concerns the jogi of Bullhe Shah is linked with a relationship of love that is alien to Nath Shaivism. Matringe himself notices that the jogi of Bullhe Shah is a manifestation of God: ‘O, this is not a yogi, but a manifestation of Lord. The garb of a yogi fits him well’. 5 There is hardly any doubt that the Nath elements in Bullhe Shah’s poetry are mediated largely through the popular tradition of Ranjha as a jogi.
            Matringe goes on to state that, being transcendent and immanent at the same time, God can be found everywhere and in everybody. He can be Krishna and the jogi, the thief and the banker, the mosque and the temple, the Muslim and the Hindu, the lover and the beloved, and so on. This conception of God leads Bullhe Shah to reject the diversity of the constituted religions: ‘I am neither a Hindu nor a Muslim’. The difference between a ‘Ramdas’ and a ‘Fateh Muhammad’ vanishes when the same God is seen within both. The realization of identification of human beings with God annihilates the individual self and merges it with Him. Matringe thinks that Bullhe Shah’s position here is similar to that of the Sants, who attached great importance to loving devotion and renunciation. Matringe goes on to add that the Krishna and Nath traditions provided Bullhe Shah with an imagery from which he derived symbols to express the various states and emotions of the mystical experience. No Punjabi Sufi poet before him had integrated Hindu elements in his poetry to the same extent. Indeed, the synthesis of Krishnaite and Nath elements his case operated chiefly through his use of the legend of Heer and Ranjha, which was by far the main source of his allusions. In the first part of the legend, Ranjha remains a Krishnaite figure for Matringe. In the second part, he is a wandering Nath jogi. It is in this sense that, in the story of Heer and Ranjha, the Krishnaite and Nath elements in Bullhe Shah’s poetry reflect ‘the composite and often syncretic nature of the Panjabi popular culture’. He paid attention to the cultural universe of the common people of the Punjab whom he addressed through his kāfis. His great originality lies in his ability to combine these symbols with others taken from Arabic and Persian culture ‘in order to express his approach to that sublime point where all religion meet’.6 As we noticed earlier, the Nath elements were mediated through the legend of Heer and Ranjha which was brought to the centre of the stage by Shah Husain. The Krishnaite elements could partly be a reflection of the increasing popularity of Krishna in the Punjab since the time of Shah Husain. In any case, the elements perceived by Matringe as Krishnaite and Nath can be better appreciated in the context of a comprehensive interpretation of the poetry of Bullhe Shah.
                                                                   
III
Apart from the kāfi, the athwara and the baramaha, Bullhe Shah used the popular forms of gandhan, siharfi and dohra. The Athwara of Bullhe Shah starts with Saturday and ends with Friday, depicting basically what may be called a spiritual journey from the state of separation to the state of union. In the pangs of separation from the dear one (piara) begins the quest on Saturday. On Sunday, prayer is made to Shah Ināyat for instructions to end the time of separation. On Monday comes the realization that the friend (yar) himself is ‘killer of the dead’: he inflicts suffering on those who are prepared to die for love. On Tuesday comes the hope that he might respond to console the lover in her plight. On Wednesday, the acceptance of suffering becomes the basis of meeting with the friend. On Thursday, she finds the cup that intoxicates and makes her oblivious of the difference between the essence and attributes. On Friday, she becomes a sohagan. She adorns herself to meet the beloved (piya). Friday, thus, is different. The sight of the beloved shows the futility of the knowledge of the law, and the tradition, and the obligatory practices of Islam, and logic. Heer longs for Ranjha, crying ‘māhi, māhi’. Friday, the day of the large congregational prayer in the mosque for the faithful, is the day of union is the lover of God. 7
            Bullhe Shah’s Baramaha starts with the month of Assu and ends with the month of Bhadon. The starting point is the state of separation, marked by suffering and the beginning of quest for the dear one in ‘the city of love’. In Kattak, the forlorn woman prays for union. She has cultivated love for long and it is hard to live without the spouse. In Maghar, the demon of love is still eating her bones. She would be a slave to anyone who brings home the beloved (lal). If anyone brings the friend (yar) she would get relief from anguish, like the sati who is asked to get down from the pyre. In Poh, she is still ‘dead in life’ and waiting for the spouse (shauh). In Phaggan, tears flow from her eyes due to the wounds of love; her suffering was preordained and this is how she is celebrating the holi. In Chet, she has lost her self and yet she is nowhere nearer the friend.  Hard is the day of Baisakhi if the friend is not with her. They whose spouses are with them are exhilarated but she is downcast without her spouse. Hot winds blow in Jeth but the spouse is not there. The fire of love is ablaze in Har, and the messengers have carried letters to Sham; her dark hair have turned grey now, and it is hard to pass time without the spouse. The love-bird cries in Sāwan, the young men play and the young girls sing; God has fulfilled her hopes and she has found Shah Ināyat. Bhādon is pleasant if one spends each moment with the spouse. To her good fortune, the master has come. Shah Ināyat has shown to her that God is in everyone. She is drenched in love and God’s will has come to prevail. 8
            Love, the pangs of separation, and the bliss of union are the themes on which Bullhe Shah dwells in his Athwara and Baramaha. In the genre called gandhan, he takes up the theme of wedding. The term gandhān was used in Bullhe Shah’s time for invitations sent to relatives for the occasion. In Bullhe Shah’s composition, the bride herself sends forty invitations, expressing her feeling or state of mind in each. In the first gandh she thinks of preparing the dowry but she has no cash. In the second gandh she says that she cannot spin. In the third, she regrets that she has no merit. In the fourth, she is afraid that her father would send her away. Bullhe Shah goes on to say in the gandhs following that the young girl is afraid of the first night because little time is left for preparing the dowry. The guests have come and she is in tears. She wants to know in despair if any friend would accompany her. She is like the fish out of water. She feels that it would have been better if her mother had poisoned her at her birth. She is frightened for her life now. Her friends have gone and it is her turn to go to the marital home from which no one returns.  The kins have left before her but no one tells her where they have gone.  She has to go the city of the silent. Human life is like the begging round of a jogi; ultimately one has to lie in the saline earth. The drums of departure are being sounded. Tears flow from her eyes like rain from the clouds of Sāwan. She has to go far with a heavy load on her head. With one hank in her hand she is thinking of weaving the cloth for dowry. Only the fortunate ones dye the cloth they have prepared.
            At last she thinks of love. The spouse comes closer. Love now has made her mad. She would feel relieved if the beloved enters her lane; she has to charm him. She has adorned herself and made herself soft to the touch. He might embrace her. Auspicious in the moment when he turns towards her. On meeting him she sings in ecstasy. The thirtyninth gandh is opened by all her female friends; Shah Ināyat shall now come to the bridal bed; her whole frame is dyed in love. The fortieth gandh reveals that the essence of love is to lose one’s own self. She likes the spouse coming with the marriage party so that she may become one with him. Say ‘God willing’ now, and pray for me. She is no more there: only the Beloved is there. 9 The wedding stands for death and union. Good deeds are not adequate as dowry. What is required for union is the dowry of love, dedication and sacrifice. Bullhe Shah’s preference for the path of love is loud and clear in his Gandhan.
            In a Siharfi, using letters of the Perso-Arabic alphabet as the device for expressing his feelings and moods, Bullhe Shah talks of the refuge at the feet of the Prophet, the only effective intercessor on the day of judgement. He also refers to the Prophet’s ascension when he saw God face to face. He is the seal of the prophets. His pure form is brighter than the sun and the moon. To associate oneself with him is to follow the right path: ‘there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger’. Bullhe Shah refers to the Quranic myth about Adam and Hawwa and the Satan, and the role of the Prophet Muhammad in redeeming humankind and interceding on the last day. His grace relieves his followers from the suffering of the grave and helps them in crossing the narrow bridge (pul-i sirāt) to have the sight of God in Paradise . Bullhe Shah tells people to appropriate the Prophet’s door. However, even in this Siharfi, Bullhe Shah dwells on the immanence of God who is the only Lord everywhere; He alone is the refuge, and the murshid shows the way to Him. This murshid is Shah Ināyat.10
            In another Siharfi, Bullhe Shah tells human beings to recognize their essence: ‘understand yourself first’. All the four Vedas declare that you are ‘sukh rup, akhand, chetann’. In order to know this one has to restrain desires and shun pleasures of the senses. The outside world is like a dream, an illusion. Turn inwards to see that you are the support of the whole world. Take care of your self, you are immortal. You are the light of the world and remain the same in essence. See who is within you: the elephant cannot be concealed by the grass. The colourful bubble bursts and water mingles with water. They who are dedicated to the beloved themselves become the beloved. You are yourself the beloved; whom are you seeking? The world is a palace of smoke; ‘the water of life’ is within you. ‘Not this, not this’ declare the Vedas; there is no other; when you reflect deeply you realize ‘I am that’. If you discard khudi, you yourself become the Master. He is the seed from which sprout the multifarious forms. He meets himself as man and woman. The eternal ruler watches the dance of creation. He is dear in every form. He was in the beginning and He shall be in the end. By right orientation you become the beginning and the end. The friend is gained by losing oneself. Congradulate Bullhe Shah ten thousand times now that he has been embraced by the Beloved. 11 This Siharfi is clearly monistic and pantheistic, but it is punctuated by monotheism. Bullhe Shah’s personal God never becomes an impersonal Reality.
            In yet another Siharfi, Bullhe Shah sings of love, separation and union. The woman has the fire of love in her heart and suffers the pangs of separation. Deaf and dumb to everything else, she responds only to the call of the friend. Whether or not she is liked by him, she longs for him and is prepared to sacrifice everyone dear to her. She is totally consumed by love. Without knowing the appropriate mantar, she tries to the catch the black cobras. She is weaving the thread of ‘I am the Truth’ for the sake of the beloved. She sings the praises of the friend like a hymn. Without him, she is restless like an addict without bhang. She can live only if she finds the beloved. She has become Mansur (al-Hallaj) but she does not reveal the secret. 12 This Siharfi can be placed squarely within the Sufi thought.
            Bulhe Shah’s dohrey give trenchant expression to several of his characteristic ideas and attitudes. Institutionalized religion has no attraction for him. Plunderers live in dharmsalas and thuggs in thakurdwaras; in mosques live the practitioners of falsehood; the lovers of God stay away from all. ‘God cannot be found in the mosque, not even in the ka‘bah; He is not in the Qur’an or the other scriptures. ‘I have travelled far and wide and found God at no place of pilgrimage’. All such trammels snap when you meet the murshid. The mulla is like a torch-bearer: he shows light to others while he himself remains in darkness. Bullha has thrown namāz into the oven and rozāh into the mud; he has smudged the kalma with black ink. The people do not know that God is found within. If the inner dirt does not depart there is no use of outward cleanliness; all worship is in vain without the perfect guide (murshid). The people advise Bullha to sit in the mosque, but there is no use of prayer if it is not performed from the heart. The qāzi is happy with bribery and the mulla over deaths; the lover is happy with singing the praises of God in complete trust. All but the talk of Allah is small talk; the learned merely create noise, and the books have created confusion. 13
            God is within all human beings and in every thing. God’s face is the light and His creation is the veil; He conceals Himself behind this veil. He has revealed himself in his creation but the creation conceals him. He shows his face to those who love him, and he meets only those who are his friends. In multifarious forms, he is close and yet unknown. They who do not know their physical frame cannot know their friend; human frames are merely earth, fire, water and air; the Master is also within, unseen, like salt mixed with flour. God has created billions of human frames and sits within them; he is the young girl and the young boy, and he is the father and the mother; he himself is born, he himself dies, and he himself observes mourning. Only he knows his qudrat.
            The goldsmith crafts ornaments of different kinds; what is common to their multifarious forms is silver. He who has the Qur’an in his hand and the sacred thread over his neck is your Supreme Friend. The shape of ‘ain and ghain is the same, with the difference only of the dot. This small difference has misled the world. The perfect guide (murshid kāmil) leads to the realization of unity (wahdat). The visible forms are the ladder that leads toward the reality (haqiqat). He who becomes aware of the reality needs no more the salutation of peace. 14
            The doha form is not meant to give elaborate expression to any theme; each doha presents an idea, a mood or a feeling, regarded as important by the author. There are only 48 dohas of Bullhe Shah, and we have already taken into account over a score. They indicate the importance attached by Bullhe Shah to the immanence of God and the futility of institutionalized religion. Both are relevant for the attitude of tolerance. Bullhe Shah gives explicit expression to this attitude. The day before yesterday I was an infidel; yesterday I worshipped idols; now I have come home and I am silent. Bullha has become a lover of God and people say that he has become an infidel; all he can say is ‘say whatever you like’. What matters to Bullhe Shah is love and dedication. If the woman-discipline of a Musalman is dedicated to a Hindu, welcome them both and leave the rest to God (Bhagwān). If you wish to become a ghazi, put on the sword and kill the notional Muslim (rangharh) first and only then the infidel. The Brahman who bears the pangs of separation in love becomes a shaikh. Let us go to the place where the intoxication of love is not forbidden.15
            At the centre of life for Bullhe Shah is love. Therefore he talks of love and things related to love. Burn your pride and throw your false honour into the well; lose all sense of your body and mind so that you may meet God. Bullhe Shah regrets that much of the life has passed and he has not turned to God (Har) in love. The guide (hadi) speaks within me now and all the sins have been washed away; millet has grown on mountains and the farvan tree is bearing the mulberry fruit. Bullha regrets that he came to the world for reciting the name of God but he has been lured by earthly things like gold, wealth and women. He tells himself to go to the kitchen of the friend to sacrifice himself, like a goat. Hijrat in Islam has a special significance; therefore, Bullha dies every day and comes to life, moving every day from one stage to another. He has found the reality through search as a lover. 16
            Some statements in the dohras of Bullhe Shah are not interesting for their general import. The spring comes and sparrows descend for feed; some are eaten by the hawks and others are caught in the net; some still hope to return and others are roasted for food; they are all helpless; their fate is determined by someone else. At the gates of the rich there are watchmen; one can appropriate the door of God; sorrows end there. In this world there are adepts in talk; they give a needle in charity and keep the whole block of iron; they return a lost cowrie but appropriate a whole bag. Let us go to the place where all are blind who can see no social status, or authority.17
                                                         
IV
Bullhe Shah gives the best expression to his ideas, feelings, moods and attitudes in his kāfis. One is clearly didactic, with the refrain of ‘wake up from slumber’. You have to leave the world one day and go to the grave where worms eat your flesh. Therefore, never forget death. The day of wedding (death) is coming close; prepare the dowry (of good conduct). The wedding would be followed shortly by muklava. The woman would leave the world for ever, no more young or beautiful. The way is long and passes through a wilderness. She should prepare for the voyage now for nothing can be borrowed on the way. Individuals of much greater importance have departed: Alexander the Great and other rulers of the world, Sultans, mirs and maliks, prophets and pirs, Yusuf and Zulekha, and Sulaiman whose throne was flower by fairies in the air. No flower remains in bloom when the autumn wind blows. You will cry like a lonely crane. Walk carefully for you will not come here for the second time. Without the kalma, there is no escape. 18
            There is nothing in this kāfi that may be regarded as unorthodox. Elsewhere too, Bullhe Shah alludes to the darkness of the grave, echoing Shah Husain. The whole world goes at last to ‘the city of the silent’; the angel of death (malik al-maut) takes away boatfuls of the dead. The shari‘at is our wet nurse, tariqat our mother, and through haqiqat we gain some knowledge of the divine. By following the shar‘iat one would get support from the Prophet Muhammad. Not having prepared adequately for the hereafter, Bullhe Shah prays for mercy rather than justice. He advises the young girl to acquire merit: her parents have sent invitations (gandhān) for her wedding and when she leaves her home (this world) she will never come back. In another kāfi too, Bullhe Shah underlines the importance of good deeds, asking the young girl to turn to spinning. However, there is no explicit insistence on namāz, rozah, hajj or zakāt. Indeed ‘Pak Rasul Muhammad Sahib ‘is the special means of love. His name leads to Allah and teaches how to die for him or in him (fana fi-Allah). Talking of the light (nur) of Muhammad, Bullhe Shah is talking of the Prophet of the Sufi Islam.19
            Bullhe Shah gives Sufi signification of some of the ayats and phrases of the Qur’an. The words ‘kunn’ and ‘fiya kunn’ in Punjabi come from the Qur’an with reference to the creation of the universe and humankind. Bullhe Shah refers to the ‘face of Allah’, the ‘hidden treasure’, ‘am I not your Lord?’, ‘it is for your good’, ‘come near to us’, and ‘fight against your lower self’. The ‘hidden treasure’ became many through kunn-fiyakunn. Allah is closer to you than your jugular vein.20 All these ayats and phrases were familiar to the Sufis and were given mystical interpretation in justification of the concept of immanence and the idea of love.
            Through his kāfis, Bullhe Shah has given the most powerful expression in Punjabi literature to the unity of existence (wahdat al-wajud). Like Shaikh Farid and Shah Husain, he uses multiplicity of epithets for God who is the only one reality. The letter alif, the first letter of Allah, is the symbol of One. Bullhe Shah’s heart is dyed in Allah and he does not know the second letter be (anything other than Allah). Having tasted alif, he fails to understand the meaning of be. The letters ‘ain (He) and ghain (other than He) did not clarify the issue but the letter alif has brought perfect understanding. All that one needs is an understanding of alif, and not cartload of books. From one became two, three and four, and then thousands upon thousands. The single seed became a huge tree; when the tree would be no more, there would still the seed. By learning the alif comes liberation. The letter ghain has the same shape as the letter ‘ain with a dot; if the dot is removed from the heart what is left is ‘ain. Our home is now in unity (wahdat) and wonder (hairat) is our companion; oblivious of the self, we are no longer concerned with birth or death. 21
            The unity of God becomes the unity of existence through His immanence. The beloved has come in human form. He himself is the deer and the leopard, the master and the slave; He is the renunciant and the house holder; He the bāzigar who makes us dance like puppets. He is the shepherd, the goatherd, the cowherd and the keeper of buffaloes. He who is beyond space (la-makān) is present in every form. He himself is the speaker and the listener, the singer and the musical instrument. He is the thief within. The cotton assumes numerous forms, each known by its name; the silver assumes the shape of rings and bangles. The Musalmans are afraid of being cremated and the Hindus of being buried; this remains the source of contention between them; one is ‘Ramdas’ and the other ‘Fateh Muhammad’; their contention ends when they see the same beloved in both. The One changes forms, reading books as a mulla at one place and offering worship as a Hindu at another; here a friend and there an enemy; here the guide (guru) and there the disciple; here Majnun and there Laila; he is within every one. The namāzi is he and the qazi is he; the bairagi is he and the shaikh is he. ‘I have discovered now that only you have changed your form’. 22
            For Bullhe Shah, the whole issue of life is resolved by one point: devotion and dedication to God. Keep no accounts and close the book of infidelity. Get rid of the misery of the grave and the fear of hell. Purify your heart of all evil thoughts. The matter ends within you: that is the whole point. In vain you rub your forehead on the ground and recite the kalma if there is no understanding within. Some have returned from pilgrimage as hajis wearing blue cloaks; they sell their merit for money; God does not like this. Some go into the wilderness and do not eat even a single grain. They tire their bodies in vain and fail to reach the goal. They waste their life in austerities. Take guidance of the murshid and devote yourself to God. Discard desires and cares, and purify your heart. When the beloved comes, forgotten are rozah, hajj and namāz. There is no room for Logic and Poetics. There is no need of the shari‘at. ‘He has come home and I have forgotten rozah, hajj and namāz.  I have now seen the difference between the shari‘at and love. On drinking the goblet of love all talk is forgotten; the same Master is seen in every home and within everyone’. Forgotten are Logic, Tafsir and Fiqh. He who has drunk the intoxicating cup has nothing to do with namaz and rozah. The Pandit and the Mulla have failed to know the secret despite their learning. 23
            Bullhe Shah sings mostly of love, separation and union. The Mulla and the Qazi try to show us the way but lead to illusion. They are great thuggs who cast the net all around. They tell us that religion (dharm) consists of the injunctions of the shari‘at to put chains on our feet. Love knows no caste or mazhab; it is the enemy of shara‘. Love demands sacrifice. Apart from the examples of Zakariya and Yahiya, Bullhe Shah refers to Mansur al-Hallaj who kissed the cross to have the sight (darshan) of the beloved. On his account he drank the cup of love in perfection. The spark of love obliterates the difference between the Hindu and the Turk; love wins over God (Har). But the path of love is hard. The beloved may not care in his be-parwahi. Yusuf was thrown into the well, and sold as a slave in the market for a hank; you may be sold for a cowrie. Some were skinned alive and others were sawn; some were crucified; your head would also be cut off. The wine makers (kalāls) are your neighbours; you would be tempted to taste the intoxicating stuff, and you will be dubbed as ‘inebriate’. If you utter ‘I am the truth’ (ana al-haqq), you would be crucified. They whose bones are suffused with love die in life. He who is suffused with perfect love dances even without song and music; when the cup of divine love is drunk, there is no question and no answer; he sees the beloved in all his beauty. A single particle of love is weightier than a mountain; for a single glance of the beloved one discards the whole world. Love brings ever new springs. ‘When I read the lesson of love, I became afraid of the mosque and entered the abode of Thakur where thousands of horns are blown. Wherever I look I see the beloved’. Burn the prayer mat and smash the water pot, throw away the rosary and the staff; sijda is forgotten in love. The relationship of love is eternal; it was there at the beginning and it will be there at the end.24
            Separation was involved in creation itself. Its awareness is the source of pain. Waiting for the friend, the woman is crying like a koil, and wandering like a jogan. Love has given the ‘call to prayer’ (bāng) and her forehead is towards the mihrab. But the friend does not come. The pangs of separation do not decrease with the passage of time; only he knows who suffers. This suffering comes from love. She can neither live nor die. There is no peace during the day or the night; the fire of separation is burning her alive. May someone relieve her of this pain. It cannot be relieved without the sight (darshan) of the beloved. Without the beloved she is neither here nor there. The fire of separation is ablaze and she does not know what to do. In the absence of Sham, the courtyard is frightening and she cannot pass the night. Her heart is yearning for the beloved friend. She washed and adorned herself but the friend did not respond. Let all shingār be burnt. She longs for the friend. Due to separation from the friend, she has neither a natal nor a marital home. Friendship with the heartless is a source of suffering; he has left her, piercing her heart with the spear of separation; he has forgotten all promises of return; in this transaction, she has drunk the cup of poison: the bundle of sorrows has become heavy.25
            Bullhe Shah sings of union with abandon. Let the time stop now that the beloved has come home. The bell reminds of the passage of time; it should be thrown out. The unstruck music has filled the air; the singer is adept and the tune is superb. Forgotten are namaz and rozah. Praise be to the cup-bearer who gives the wine to drink. The pain of the heart has vanished on seeing the friend’s face. There is no awareness of self in the union. Through perfect grace the beloved has come home. ‘May I live with him for thousands upon thousands of years’. Bullhe Shah has been redeemed by the Redeemer. Let the time stop now that my beloved has come home. 26
            Union with the beloved leads to complete identification with him. Bullhe Shah does not who he is. He is not a momin in the mosque; he does not follow the practices of infidelity. He is neither pure nor polluted. He is not Musa, nor is he Far‘aun. He is not in the Veda or the books. He is not in the intoxicants; he is not inebriated. He is neither awake nor asleep. He is neither happy nor sad. He is neither of water nor of earth, neither of fire nor of air. He is not an Arab, nor a Hindu; he is not of Lahour nor of Nagaur. He is neither a Hindu nor a Turk of Peshawar. He does not reside in Nadaun. He has not found the secret of religion; he is not born of Adam and Hawwa. He has given no name to himself. He is not sitting at one place, nor is he roaming around. He regards himself as the beginning and the end; he does not recognize anyone else. No one is wiser than he. Who else is there then? There is one Reality.27 This kāfi is seen superficially as a crisis of identity. It is in fact an expression of complete identity between the creator and the creation.
            More even than Shah Husain, Bullhe Shah uses the symbol of Ranjha for the divine beloved and of Heer for the devout human being as the female lover. Since Bullhe Shah adopts the voice of Heer, her name does not figure everywhere. The terms associated with these symbols are Takht Hazāra, the river Chenab , the Kherhas, buffaloes, the bridal litter, jogi and jogan, and the chāk (Ranjha). The flute (murli) is associated with Ranjha either directly or through Kahn. The symbol of the flute is not associated unambiguously with Krishna . In one of the kāfis, Heer indicates that her love is eternal. She regrets that Ranjha goes with the buffaloes but leaves her behind. There is none like Ranjha for her; she implores him to come back. She needs him.28 In another kāfi, Heer invites her friends to congratulate her on finding her beloved spouse. He has entered her courtyard and the day has become auspicious. He has come in the form of Ranjha.29 Heer scolds Ranjha but prays for him in her heart. The outward appearance is meant for the people; otherwise, Heer and Ranjha are one. 30
            In yet another kāfi, Ranjha comes as a jogi. This role suits the Great Player. His eyes are intoxicating and all sorrows vanish on seeing his face. With rings in his ears and a cord around his neck, he looks like Yusuf. Ranjha is the jogi and Heer is a jogiani, she would serve him for ever.31 The Kherhās figure in another kāfi. They have forced Heer into the bridal litter to take her away and she implores Ranjha to come. She tells her mother that if she is fond of the Kherhas she can send someone else with them.32 Ranjha, the chāk, has come in search of Heer. He is not a servant, nor is he fond of buffaloes; he feels no hunger or thirst. Who has come in this garb? 33 By meeting him all sorrows vanish. ‘In the eyes of the people he is a chak, but for me he is the Merciful Lord’.34 ‘Why should I go to Ka‘bah when my heart longs for Takht Hazara?’ Our friend to us is like Ka‘bah to the people. There is none like him in the whole world. 35 In a longish kāfi, Heer declares that she would put a tilak on her forehead and go with the jogi. No one can stop her. The jogi is the friend of her heart; she has lost all sense on seeing him. With sweet talk he has caught her in the snare of love. If he comes home, all her affairs would be set right; she will embrace him after a thousand forms of welcome. There is a jogi at the gate, asking for Heer Sial. This is perfect grace. He is the divine light; his flute produces heavenly music.36 There is complete identification between Heer and Ranjha. ‘Uttering Ranjha, Ranjha I have myself become Ranjha. Call me Dhido Ranjha. None should call me Heer. I am in Ranjha and Ranjha is in me; there is no difference’.37
            Bullhe Shah talks of the city of love (prem nagar). The ways of the city of love are strange. The murderous eyes become the source of happiness. God allows himself to be caught in the net. Lost in the city of love, Bullhe Shah is trying to correct himself. By losing himself he discovers his self and everything is right. He sees God in both the worlds; there is no other. Strange are the ways of the city of love. He dies due to the excess of happiness, allowing himself to be caught in the net and killed. His body and mind are at stake for love. ‘Let us settle in the city of love where there is our spouse’. In the city of love, ‘you and I’ are one, there is no other. There is no Hindu and no Musalman, no Sunni and no Shia. The Hindu and the Turk have lost their duality in unity. Our minds set on God  (Har), we are no longer concerned with sin or merit. ‘We have adopted the path of peace with all (sulh-i kul)’. Bullhe Shah’s ideal city of love is the city of universal peace. 38
            For Bullhe Shah, Hindu and Turk are symbolic of cultural pluralism in the Indian subcontinent. At one level, even Islam in all its forms is not commendable; at another, even non-Islamic traditions of India are appreciable as the manifestation of God. The symbols of the flute and the dance are of special interest in this connection. The wonderful flute of the Kahn is meant for all and fascinates those who hear the divine voice in it; its tune is within all.39 ‘Ever since the Kahn has blown his flute I run towards him in madness; its sound reveals the falsehood of the world; I have forgotten every thing’.40 Love makes Bullhe Shah dance; he has drunk the cup of poison; he calls for the divine tabib to save his life; the beloved friend is his ka‘bah and qiblah; Bullha dances to the beat of love. 41 The importance given to dance in this kāfi is not merely a reminder of the practice of dance among the Sufis. The refrain with ‘thaiya, thaiya’ in particular refers to the Indian dance, if not exactly of rāslila.
            Bullhe Shah makes a reference to the festival of holi. ‘There is no god but Allah’ plays the flute of ‘I am near you’, and gives the cry of ‘know your nafs’. ‘You will see the light of God in the court of the Messenger of Allah’. Gather, therefore, the light of Muhammad. Make the hori of ‘remembrance’ and please the beloved by acknowledging his grace. Fill the syringe with ‘the light of Allah’ and make the praise of Allah its target. See the light of Muhammad as the light of Allah: ‘There is no god but Allah’. Bullhe Shah would play the holi in the name of Allah.42 The use of the Quranic phrases with mystical implications make the metaphor attractive. How holi should be played presupposes the contextual acceptance of the practice.
            The use of the symbols of the flute, the dance and holi is similar to the use of Indian epithets for God. Apart from Allah, Maula, Rabb, Khuda, Sattar and Ghaffar, there are Har, Hari, Sham, Kahn, Kanhiya and Sham-Sundar in the kāfis of Bullhe Shah. A large number of epithets come from popular lore, love and conjugality, like Ranjha, dholan, mahi, piya, dilbar, yar, sohna, sjjan, mittar, jani and shauh or banna. More significantly, Bullhe Shah uses the epithet Sachcha Sahib which was used in the Sikh tradition too in the early eighteenth century. He, he uses the term Guru for Allah.
Bullhe Shah’s preoccupation with things indigenous is quite remarkable. Apart from what has been noticed already, he refers to Lanka, Kumbh Karan, Dehsir, Lachhman, gian and dhian, ulti gang, sadhs, Gur ka sewak, amrit mandal, Satgur, anhad shabad, pad, nam, Pando, Ram, Harnakash, Rāvan, Sita, Hanuman, Kans, Dhanna, Bidr, Kairon, avagaun, nam dhiao, goil, anhad, bhana, Jajman, pittar, Brahman, Chandi Mata, Tulsi Mata, salag- ram, ghar mein ganga, sants, amrit phal, vadbhagi, Gorakh, jatādhāri and munni. These phrases relate mostly to the religious culture of India . It becomes highly significant, therefore, that Bullhe Shah does not see any difference between momin and kāfir from the viewpoint of wahdat: ‘in the state of the realization of unity, I see neither the believer nor the infidel’.43 Even more significant is Bullhe Shah’s reference to Guru Tegh Bahadur. He is called ghazi. If the term ghazi refers to his martyrdom, which is most likely, it amounts to positive appreciation of a non-Islamic tradition.44
V
Bullhe Shah’s works are not devoid of social comment. The city of Qasur has a defect built into its very name: the true are punished here and the false play in ease. There is no commendable custom in Qasur: there is no charity, no pious deeds, and no reward for services rendered. The times are topsy tervy: crows are killing the hawks and sparrows are killing the falcons; the ‘Iraqi horses are wipped and saddles are put on donkeys. This, however, is a result of the divine order over which there is no human control. The comment here is general and moral, arising out of a sense of unfair dispensation. There is comment on the heritage of self-aggrandisement. The secret of the greatness of the son is that his mother and father were thieves, fighting for earthly goods. The food is eaten by Khaira but Jumma is caught and punished. The tigers are beaten and killed, and the wolves are in bad shape; the mice are cutting the ears of the cat. There is a contention between indifferent and good sweets.  There is conflict everywhere and no one stops. The day of judgement has come.45
            A kāfi dwells on those who had suffered in the past: Adam, Isa, Nuh, Moses, Ismail, Yusuf and Zulekha, Yunas, Sulaiman, Ibrahim, Sabar, Husain, Mansur, Zakariya, Shah Sharf, Laila and Majnun, Heer and Ranjha, Sahiban and Mirza, Sassi, Sohni, Roda, Kauravs and Pandavs, Namrud, Karun, Far‘aun, Ravan, Harnakash, and Kans. Towards the end of this kāfi, Bullhe Shah refers to the Imam who was made to fight against Yazid and whose head was exhibited on the point of a spear. After this comes the statement that the Mughals drank the cup of poison and the ‘rug-bearers’ were made rulers; the ashraf are silent. In spite of this explicit reference to the Mughals, the comment is not exactly political. In any case, Bullhe Shah does not identify himself with ‘the Muslim’, or any other rulers.46

VI
Bullhe Shah’s kāfis are sung by qawwāls who are popular among the Punjabi-knowing peoples of the world irrespective of their religious affiliation. It may be of interest to know the contents of the most popular kāfis.  We have already referred to some of them: the one that begins with ‘ik nukte vich gall mukdi ae’, and ‘Bullha ki janan mein kaun’, the one about the dance to the beat of thaiya, thaiya, Ranjha coming in the garb of a jogi, Heer’s complete identification with Ranjha, the blossoming of ever new springs, the throwing out of the telling bell on meeting the beloved, the thief within, and eloping with the jogi. There are several other kāfis which are equally popular. One of these refers to the limitless secrets revealed by the beloved. He conceals himself behind mim. That is, if you remove the letter mim from Ahmad, you are left with ahd’ which carries the implication that God has revealed himself through the Prophet Muhammad. Similarly, God revealed the secret of ana al-haqq (I am the truth) to Mansur to crucify himself. The one who crucifies, the one who is crucified and one who looks on and laughs are the same.47 The pilgrims go to Mecca but Heer’s Mecca is her beloved Ranjha. She is betrothed to Ranjha but her father is unjust (to think of another spouse for her). She would go to Takht Hazara. Her ka‘bah is where the beloved is. This is what all the scriptures say. 48
            The theme of dedication is treated in a forceful manner in one of the kāfis. Bullhe Shah tells the devotee that he remains awake all night in devotion to God. But even dogs do that. They bark all the night and then sleep on the dung-heap. They do not leave the door of their master even if they are beaten; they score over the devotee. Bullhe Shah tells the devotee (or himself) to perform better; otherwise the dogs would win the game. 49 The awareness of alif (Allah) is far preferable to knowledge (‘ilm). There is no end to learning. With the Qur’an and the books all around, one remains in darkness amidst light. By learning books one becomes a shaikh, fills his belly and sleeps to be drowned mid stream. Another reads books and gives a loud call for prayers and declaims from the mimbar; goaded and humiliated by greed. One reads books to become a mulla or a qazi, saying one thing but doing another; outwardly true, he is false within. They who have eyes do not see; they catch the sadh instead of the thief. The learned Mian wields the knife for half a paisa, and the butchers are dear to him.
            To learn the lesson of love, one enters the river of unity (wahdat). Bullha is neither Rafizi nor Sunni; he is not a learned man; his only acquisition is the knowledge of God (‘ilm ladunni).  One needs only two letters: alif and mim (Allah and Muhammad).50 Bullhe Shah gives playful expression to love in one of his popular kāfis. ‘See what he does? Someone may ask the beloved what he does. Living in the same house he keeps the veil’. He performs namaz in the mosque and enters the idol-house for worship. Wherever you look there he is, associating with everyone. He creates Musa and Far‘aun, and becomes two to fight. He is present everywhere; who can be thrown into the hell? Love, the wolf, eats Bullhe Shah’s flesh and drinks his blood. ‘Someone may ask the beloved what he does’.51
            ‘Lift the veil O’Friend, why do you feel so shy now?’ In this kāfi, Bullhe Shah refers to the beauty of the beloved and the pangs of separation, using the similes of cobra for the tresses, arrows for the eyes, and dagger for separation. ‘You have possessed my heart through love but never shown your face. I have drunk the cup of poison, I was devoid of sense. Lift the veil O’ Friend, why do you feel so shy now?’.52
            In another popular kāfi Bullhe Shah talks of remaining silent after the experience of love. He who discovers the secret of the qalandar by searching (for the beloved) within himself, attains to the temple of peace where there is no high or low state. In everyone is the presence of God; it remains concealed in some but revealed in others. People seek him outside but he is within. His glimpse acts like a spark of fire in gun powder. When his light shines, the mountains are reduced to dust. When one utters the truth, one is crucified like Mansur. ‘If I reveal the secret, all debate would cease. And then they would kill Bullha. It is appropriate, therefore, to keep the secret concealed’.53 The experience of God changes his perception of God. ‘My Ranjha is now someone else’, says Bullhe Shah. The call given in the Luminous Heaven is heard at the throne of Lahore . They who are ‘killed’ by love wander like cattle in the wilderness. Ranjha, the master of Takht Hazāra, becomes the thief. Bullhe Shah would never die: he who lies in the grave is someone else. ‘My Ranjha is now someone else’. 54
            The popular kāfis of Bullhe Shah dwell on love, separation and union. The mystical dimension may be somewhat shallow in one and rather deep in another. Preferable over learning, love leads to the awareness of unity in which differences of all kinds are obliterated or minimized. The importance of the Prophet is recognized in a manner that endears to him to all. The dominant impression created by these popular kāfis is that of catholicity and peace with all. Whatever is, is right.
            On the whole, Bullhe Shah emerges as the most catholic poet of Punjabi. Shah Husain is equally liberal, and not even keen to identity himself with Islam. Bullhe Shah’s catholicity is more significant precisely because he seldom forgets his Muslim identity. He remains a Sufi poet. His universal tolerance arises from his faith and metaphysics.

SHAH ABDUL LATIF OF BHIT

A Chapter from
"History of Sindhi Literature" by L. H. Ajwani

SHAH ABDUL LATIF of Bhit, called simply' Shah' or 'Monarch’ is a unique figure in literature. He is not only the greatest of Sindhi writers, but he has been equated with the literature of his land, as if he were co-terminous with Sindhi literature. The first foreigners who explored the civilization and culture of Sind thought that Shah was the only Poet and Philosopher Sind had produced, and the universal vogue of Shah-Jo-Risalo, or Shah's Poetical Works, in the land of the Sindhu, inclined them to believe that the Risalo was the only literary work in the Sindhi language.

It has become clear now that, far from being the only poet of Sind, or the only singer of his time, Shah was only one-- albeit the greatest of a multitude of poets who formed a 'nest of singing birds' in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Shah was the finest flower in a garden of poetry. His poetry is not that of a pioneer, it is the poetry of fulfillment; it is not the poetry of experimentation or innovation, it is the poetry of gracious benediction. Nor is it correct to call him the last of the traditional or medieval poets in Sindhi, as some have tried to make out; Shah is no Milton, the last of the Elizabethans'. It is well-known that Shah looked upon Sachal as his spiritual successor. And there were others besides Sachal to keep up the tradition of Shah. Shah did for Sindhi language and literature¬ and the Sindhi people-what other world poets have done for their own language and country in their own particular way¬ Hafiz for the Persian Lyric, Dante for the' illustrious vernacular' of Italy, and Tulsidas for Hindi language and literature.

Another misconception about Shah requires a more detailed exposure, because it is more persistent. It is to treat Shah as purely a poet of Islam, writing for the Muslims, and in the approved Islamic: fashion. Were Shah really an Islamic poet, pure and simple, he would not have made the appeal he has made to the Hindu mind and sentiment. The Sindhi-Hindus, forced by Muslim bigotry to quit Sind, still turn to Shah-Jo ¬Risalo as to a scripture, and with nostalgic sentiment. This would be impossible if Shah were a poet of Islam, and not a patriotic Sindhi and essentially Indian poet, fully in line with other Indian poets. That Shah was by birth, upbringing and ancestry, a Muslim, and that he conformed to the tenets of his faith, cannot be gainsaid. Shah had any amount of reverence for the Prophet, and admiration and affection for his son-in-law, Ali, and Ali's son martyred in Kerbela. But he was not a doctrinaire Muslim, bound by a dogma or ritual. Some of his most famous lines are:

It were well to practise Namaz and Fast

But Love's vision needs a separate Art.

There is a legend that when they asked Shah whether he was a Sunni Muslim or a Shia, he said he was neither, he was in ¬between. And when someone said:  There is nothing in¬ between', he said, Then I am Nothing.' Muslim writers have shed quite needless ink to discuss what kind of Sufi he was: did he belong to the Qadiri order, or the Chishti order? He had something which neither of the Orders had, and no preceptor of either of these Orders could claim to have initiated him into Sufism. So someone asks, was he then of the Uwesi type of Sufi, a man who has not had a preceptor or Murshid? No defi¬nite reply is possible. A man who could don the garb of Hindu Jogis, wander with them for years, make pilgrimages to Hingla, Dwarka and other sacred places of the Hindus, a man who broke, without the slightest compunction, the Islamic injunction against Samaa or Dance-music, and died tasting the pleasure of that Dance-music, a man who went out of his way, in that era of Kalhora bigotry, to pull out from a crowd of fanatic Muslims a poor Hindu whom they were proceeding to convert forcibly to Islam, could hardly be regarded as a Muslim, pure and simple. It is noteworthy that one of the constant and dear friends of Shah was Madan, a Hindu, and the two musicians who comforted his soul, Atal and Chanchal, were also Hindus. If, in Sur Kalyan he referred to Prohpet Mahomed as the Karni or the' Cause' of creation, or elsewhere he imagined the rain cloud wafting across Islamic lands and she Iding grateful showers over the Tomb of the Prophet, or if he quoted or referred to the verses of the Koran in more than a hundred places in the Risalo, it only shows his faith and poetic fervour and his understanding of the audi¬ence to whom he was addressing his poetry. It does not show propagandist zeal or dogmatism. Were everything that he wrote to perish and only one or two Surs like Sur Ramkali to survive, there would be no difficulty in demonstrating that Shah had affinity with Hindus and their religion. G. M. Syed, in his thoughtful book, Paigham-e-Latif or Message of Latif, has drawn a comparison between a poet of Pan-Islamism, or an essentially Islamic poet like Iqbal, and a patriotic and nationalist poet like Shah. When Shah was praying to God to shower plenty and prosperity upon Sind, in lines dear to every Sindhi, he was doubtless visualising Sind as an integral part of Hind.

No reader of Shah can forget that the entire poetry of Shah is cast in the traditional ragas and raginis of Indian poetry, his heroes and heroines are Indians, every inch, and that the con¬tent of his poetry is Indian, medieval no doubt, but medieval Indian, and not Central Asiatic, .or West Asiatic. The shrewd readers of Shah have noted that in all his story-poems the woman is the lover and the male person the one sought after-in the fashion peculiar to Indian poets alone.

One point which the commentators and critics of Shah and his poetry have clean missed is that Shah should be regarded not as the voice and interpreter of the attenuated Sind we know, but the poet of that Greater Sind which extended anciently to Kashmir and Kanoj, to Makran and Saurashtra, Jaisalmer and Barmer. On any other assumption, the' stories' of Shah would have no proper significance, and his wanderings would be without an aim and purpose. Plot the extreme points reached by Shah in his wanderings on a map of the Indian Sub-Conti¬nent and that would show the confines of the Greater Sind of which Shah sang in his Surs.

It is possible to make too much of the mystic and sufistic ele¬ment in Shah's poetry, and to by-pass another predominant motif or element in his 'poetry-c-his Sindhiyat or the peculiar Sindhi-ness of his poetry which is to be found in no other Sindhi poet or writer. This Sindhiyat is of course one of the earliest and most fragrant of the several flowers in the Indian garland of Poetry and Philosophy. The two main aspects in Shah's poetry which deserve detailed treatment are his mysticism and Sindhiuat, Fitly has he been called the Sage of Mihran (or the Sindhu), where Mihran or the Sindhu is simply the longest of the Indian rivers. The two most important paints in Shah's poetry and his mental make-up are that he was a God-intoxi¬cated Soul and that he was the Voice of Sind. His being a Muslim does not matter so very much.

It is also worth nothing that barring one Muslim, namely Mirza Kalich Beg, the author of a biography of Shah in Sindhi, and a Lexicon on Shah, nearly all the editors, biographers, critics and commentators on Shah upto the separation of Sind from the Bombay Presidency 11937), nay upto the Partition of India (1947) were non-Muslims Dr. Ernest Trumpp was the first to bring out an edition of the Risalo (1866), and Dr. H. T. Sorley was the first to write in English a book on the life and times of Shah and trans¬late quite a representative chunk of Ids poems (Shah Abdul Latif of Bhit 1940). Sir Bartle Frere's manuscript on Shah has 1101 been published nor Mir Abdul Husain's manuscript, alluded to by some writers. Apart from these names, almost all other names of earnest workers in Shah's vineyard in the British regime, have been Hindu names. Dayararn Gidurnal, Judge, wrote on Shah under the pen name of Sigma in his Something about Sind (1882);  gathering from authentic sources anecdotes about Shah, Lilararn (Sing)Watanmal, another Judge, wrote a shod life of the poet (1890); educationist Tarachand Showkiram, brought out an edition of Shah, under Government aegis in 1900 ; Lalchand An~rdinornal wrote iii Sindhi a brochure all Shaha no Shah' the first decade of the present century. Jethrnal Parsram wrote Stories from Shah and treated of Shah in his Sufis and usiics of Sind in the second decade; Bherumal Mahirchand produced his Latifi-Sair in 1928 giving a sketch of the Travels of ah, Naraindas Bhambhani wrote in Sindhi a book on the The Heroines of Shah, Professors T. L. Vaswani, M. M. Gidwani and the present writer wrote magazine articles and pamphlets on Shah, and above all, Dr. H. M. Gurbaxani brought out three volumes of Shah-J o-Risalo (from 1923 on¬wards) with his masterly Introduction on Shah (Muqadamah Latifi) which will always remain a landmark in Sindhi literature. The two Muslim names of writers on Shah in the British period are those of Md Sidik Mernon, writer in Sindhi of a History of Sindhi literature in the third decade of twentieth century in which he had perforce to find the greatest space for Shah, "and Dr. U. M. Daudpota, the favourite pupil of Dr. H. M. Gur¬baxani, and his assistant in the preparation of his monumental work.

After the Partition of India, the Pakistani Sindhis have done more systematic work on Shah and his Risalo than their Hindu counterparts in India. As long as Sind was a separate Province, in Pakistan, the Government of Sind did much to finance research and scholarship on Shah, and endowed a cultural centre at Bhit, the place of Shah. The Muslim scholar who deserves praise for editing the Surs of Shah left unedited by Dr. Gurbaxani was GhulamMd. Shahwani, who brought out a complete edition of the Risalo with Introduction and Notes in 1950, following strictly in the footsteps of Dr. Gurbaxani. Muslim scholars, whose names deserve mention for work done on Shah. are those of Md. Ibrahim Joyo, editor Mihran, Nabibux Baloch, Head of Sindhi Studies in Sind University, Pir Hasarnuddin Rashdi (writer of a brochure in Urdu on Sindhi Adab or literature), Lutfullah Badvi (author of a History of Sindhi Poetry in three volumes), and Taj Md. Agha (writer of Aks-e-Latif 1951, Shah's life in Urdu). Special mention must be made of Ayaz, most eminent of living Sindhi poets and translator in Urdu of the Risa!o, Din Mohamed Wafai, author of Luti-ai-Lau] (1951) perhaps the most readable book produced in Pakistan (in Sindhi) on Shah. Ghulam Murtaza Syed, author of a brilliant analysis of Shah's Thought and Mentality (Paigham-e-Latif), and above all of that gracious couple, Imdad Kazi (most recent editor of the Risaloi, and Mrs. Elsa Kazi, poet and translator of Shah's lyrics. The number of Muslims writing on Yadgar-e-Latif or Tributes and Homage to Shah in pamphlets and magazines is simply legion: the Mihran as well Nai Sind, and Goth Sudhar, with their annual special Shah issues, cannot be ignored by anyone who loves Shah.

In Bharat, that is India, there are three post-Partition writers on Shah whose names deserve special mention. Kalyan Advani has done solid work on Shah by annotating all the Surs of Shah in a sumptuous one-volume publication which it is a pleasure to read and handle. His book on Shah is a  must' for every student of Shah. Fatehchand Vaswani's Selections from Shah, with scholarly chapters of} various aspects of Shah's personality and poetry, are interesting and instructive. Ram Ranjwani, in his (Sindhi) Seven Stories from Shah, has dramatised some of the best Surs in Shah with chapters on folklore, to which the present writer has furnished an Introduction on Shah's role as the voice or interpreter of Sind.

Shah Abdul Latif, the greatest of Sindhi poets, was born in 1689, in a Syed family, his father Shah Habibulah being-one of the well-known holy men of his time. According to Tuhlat¬al-kiram Shah Habib was often plunged in meditation so that he sometimes did not know what was happening around him. He would not recognize his own son at times, so abstracted he was in his devotions. But he seems to have been a tender and loving parent. There is a well-known story that Shah Habib was once startled to find his beloved son almost buried to the neck in the bark of a tree, or in a sand-dune in which he lay in meditation, and thought that he was no more in the land of the living. He exclaimed in fright:

The wind, has turned into a storm,

 The limbs lie buried in dust.

And there came a rejoinder from his son:

The breath yet comes and goes,

To see the Beloved, linger it must.

There is another story that when Habib lay dying, he was very anxious to see his son for the last time and sent a message to him:

                Would that could get from you, while living

My dear, t at which you are sure to give when I am gone.

Shah Latif sent back the consoling reply:

Be not dejected, I am never far from you

This distance is only apparent,

Your bourn and mine coincide.

Actually, the father gave up the breath before his son reached his bedside. The father died just seven years before his son (in 1745), some say that he died ten years earlier. It has been acknowledged by Shah's biographers that if anyone could claim to be Shah's guide in the spiritual arena it was his father. Long before Shah was born it had been told to his father that his son , Latif' would be a 'Kutb' or 'Pole Star' of his era. So he called his first-born as Latif but the child soon died, and he named the second son, too, as Latif. Shah Abdul Latif died without offspring, and his only brother (really step brother) Jamal, succeeded to the gadi, and Jamal's descendants still enjoy that gadi.

Shah Latif's father was according to tradition, a holy man, but his great-grandfather, Shah Karim of Bulri, was a much more renowned and revered personage. Shah Karim's holiness was such as has eclipsed his very genuine claim to being a Poet and let some admirers think of him only as a holy man. Actually, Shah Karim is the greatest poet in Sindhi before his great¬grandson came on the scene, and the framework (Hindi doha) of his hundred or so verses, and their content (Sindhi folklore and Sufism), have been adopted in Shah's poetry, and Karim's corn¬positions intermingled with those of Shah. Shah Latif had not to undergo that discipline of extreme poverty which his great-¬grandfather had to, nor to face the ordeals which his ancestor did. Shah Karim was from the first inclined to a life of monas¬ticism and celibacy, and he had to contract a marriage because he could not very well say • nay' to his elders. There was nothing of that other-worldliness in Shah Latif who was through", out life a normal, healthy man, free from sensuality and greed. but as willing and able to enjoy friendship, love, and social intercourse as any other man. And Shah Latif had not to hold the plough and face starvation as his distinguished forbear had to. There is nothing to show that Shah Karim undertook long journeys, and sojourned into distant lands, like Shah Latif. Shah Karim's life was secluded. Shah Latif's life was open and a centre of attraction for kindred spirits. Shah Karim knew not princes nor their courts, but Shah Latif. if he did not become a high judicial officer like Qazi Qazan, the first authentic Sindhi poet, enjoyed the esteem and regard of the Kalhora rulers of the land and bigwigs like Makhdurns, even though he might first have awakened their jealousy and ire. The most famous of the Kalhora rulers, Ghulam Shah Kalhora, was born to Kalhora Noor Mahomed because of the blessing of Shah Latif. And this Kalhora Noor Mahomed actually tested Shah's strength of mind and self restraint by leaving him alone with a bevy of maidens, good to. look at but not very particular in their morals, And when Shah disdained their charms and wiles, the Kalhora ruler twitted him about his puritanism, to meet with a reply; the last line of which has become current in the Sindhi language:

Let the wenches have their fling

Not to them will Lahutis cling.

But Shah Karim never went through the agony Shah Latif. did when he heard of the martyrdom of the most eminent of Sindhi Sufis, Shah Inayat of Jhok :

No sound of Seekers is heard in parlours; the Adesis are gone

Monasteries have lost their attraction

Those who had the elixir of life are dead and gone. There was something in Shah Latif's brave and gracious en¬counter with the princes and tyrants of his time which recalls the Prophet and Ali, the' Lion of Islam', from whom he was lineally descended. There was-in him something as well, of his tactful ancestor, Syed. Haider, 13th in ascent from Shah Latif-who secured the goodwill of conqueror Tamerlane witn a feast and a present of one rupee for every man in Tamerlane's army, and laid the foundation of his family's fortunes. Syed Haider came from Herat in Afghanistan in 1398, and settled in Sind at Matiari (Mutalwi). He had a wife in Herat and another in Sind who also belonged to a Syed family. His Sindhi son, Mir Ali, after he grew up, proceeded to Herat and successfully claimed a part of his patrimony from his step-brothers. He returned to Sind and became the progenitor of two Syed lines: the Sharafpotas and Mirapotas. Shah Latif belonged to the Sharafpotas.

The great-grandfather of Shah Latif migrated from Matiari to Bulri and is now knows the sage of BuirL His son i.e., the grandfather of Shah Latif died in an encounter with dacoits to assist a widow who had b en robbed. When he died, the family was ensconced again in Matiari from where the father of Shah Latif migrated for a time to the village of Bhaipur in Hala Taluka and ultimately to Kotri Mogul in the same Taluka. Shah Latif, several years afterwards, left Kotr i to find a new place, Bhit, (literally a sand-dune) four or five miles away from (the now desolate) Kotri Mogul. Bhit is now famous in Sindhi annals, for every Sindhi has heard of Shah Abdul Latif of Bhit, and Bhit has become the most famous cultural centre in Sind. The birth of Shah Latif took place in Bhaipur, and his early years were spent in Kotri.

The childhood of Shah Latif was spent in a family famous for generations for piety, devotion and social service. And he kept to these traditions, adding to the family traits the traits of love of music, and clemency towards men and birds and beasts. In an age of cruel and skillful huntsmen he refused to hunt poor animals, and preferred the company of boys who could utter soul-stirring strains and awaken in him meditation and love of solitude. Shah Latif was not a huntsman but he was a sports¬man all right, and he showed his mastery of archery when he managed to fly an arrow through the fingers of Mirza Mogul Beg, a grandee of his village, Kotri, and make a hole in his amulet, without hurting the Beg in the slightest. As is usual, there are several anecdotes about the wonderful signs perceptible in the child Latif which were indicative of his future greatness. Maulvi Din Md. Wafai refers to two flowers presented to the child Shah by a god-intoxicated fakir, Watai, of Tatta, which really blonged to Khwaja Khizr, the blue mantled Deity of the Sindhu. They syrnbolised the investment of the child with the fragrant spirit and sparkle of Sind.

How far Shah was an educated man has been debated.Those who believe in miracles eagerly assume that Shah was an Umi i.e. unlettered man, and that knowledge and illumination came to him from High. They believe with the Persian poet:

Sans books, sans figures, sans letters

Knowledge comes to the Man of God.

In the lives of saints and mystics of the East, the claim to have derived knowledge directly from God, without scholastic training or education, is a recurrent tale. It is said that as a boy Shah Latif was sent to learn the alphabet from Akhund Nur Mahomcd Bhatti, but he refused to proceed after the first letter, Ali], to the next letter (Bai), saying that there was nothing beyond' Alif, the One or Unity: He was then withdrawn from the school and never got any further scholastic training. This story is to be taken with a grain of salt. Long afterwards, Shah said in a verse that has become well known:

Read one letter, Alif, the only one,

The rest you can all forget.

Let thy spirit have a cleansing

No other study for you next.

This may be placed along with his other pronouncement on the same theme:

How can.vigils and Lents

Vie with a glimpse of Love?

Turn thou pages endless

One word, only, wiil you probe.

Here is insistence upon Alif, Unity, One Thing, One word, the substratum of all things, and the need of vision of that One Thing, here is declaration of the supreme duty of knowing that One Word which was in the beginning and which was with God and which was God .... and not any belittling of book-learning as such. If book-learning interfere with God-vision it has to go, that is all. But those who have read the Risalo of Shah will refuse to believe that he had only God-intoxication and no book-learning.

That he knew the Koran is apparent to the most superficial reader of the Rlsalo ; it is also certain that he was fond of Jalauddin Rumi's Masnavi the Bible of the Persian mystics, and treasured the copy of the Masnavi presented to him by the Kalhora ruler of the time. From' internal' evidence of the Risalo it is clear that Shah knew the Koran and the Hadis (Traditions of-the Prophet) in Arabic, the Masnavi of Rumi in the Persian language, the' well known Bhakti compositions in the Hindi or the verna¬cular; current in north India, and the folklore and legends of Sind, and the compositions of his predecessors like Qazi Qazan and Shah Karim, some of whose verses are incorporated in his own, or are paraphrased in his/ poetry. It is possible that all these poems or cornpositions are learnt by Shah by oral tradi¬tion and committed to me memory, but it is very improbable that this is what happened. There was not much book-learning in Sind in the Muslim times, but Shah Abdul Latif must have had his share of what there was.

Whether he was book-learned or not, Shah Abdul Latif had his full share of Nature-learning. Like Wordsworth he had wandered over hills and dales, rivers and lakes and the deserts and wildernesses of his native land, to settle at last in Bhit, the Sand-dune, in the environs of Lake Kirar. There is sufficient evidence of Shah's Travels for a continuous period of three years after he reached the age of twenty, and his subsequent journey. many years afterwards, to Multan to bring stones for the monu¬ment over his great-grandfather's grave. But he was never without the intimate companionship of Nature, Nature not red in tooth and claw, or cloying in the extreme, but Nature in her vastness and solitariness, inducing in the sojourner a .sense of stillness and infinitude, of Oneness and Eternity, of voiceless music and undisturbed harmony. Fitly has Shah's poetry been called 'Desert Melodies.'

Shah is never a townsman or a courtier; his poetry is not of the market-place o~ of the church cloisters, nor of the learned Pandits and lawgivers. So, some critics have mistaken him for a rustic poet. If rustic means that he was of the countryside it is alright to call him rustle-but if 'rustic' denotes ignorance of culture, boorishness or narrowness of mind and sympathies, Shah was anything but a rustic. Any man or woman, however, highly trained or polished, will find something in Shah's Risalo to teach him gentleness of manners, catholicity of sympathies, and breadth of vision. Sorely, otherwise a devoted admirer of Shah, lays too much stress upon the rusticity of Shah and brings him down a peg lower than Rurni, Jami, and Hafiz, famous Persian poets :

No might is here of Roumi's verse

No Jami's soul-wrapt music swings.

No high-tuned note of Hafiz wit

Within your humble minstrel rings.

Dr. Sorley condescends to distribute some praise to Shah, too, but as the poet of Islam:

And yet-strange paradox it be,

That not less searching is the calm,

The simple magic of his lays

Than wise, deep utterance of Islam.'

The great defect of Sorley's study of Shah Abdul-Latif of Bhit is that he wants to crib and confine him into the narrow mould of a dogma that he calls Islam, instead of viewing him as a typical, true Indian rishi, the man who had a darshan or vision of God, and who passed on that vision in ecstatic words to his rapt hearers. Bhit was a medieval Ashram or forest-sanctuary where Shah saw the world 'and saw it whole, and saw beyond it and behind it the Mystery of Mysteries. Sorley does not seem to be conscious or even dimly aware of the glory of the Upani¬shads and the Rishis of the Upanishads. Shah, and after him, Sacha I and Sami, were the inheritors and interpreters of a pre-cious heritage-the heritage left by the Rishis who chanted the mantras of Vedas and Upanishads on the banks of the Sindhu, and meditated on Man, Nature and God, and pierced to the uttermost depths of Being. If Sorley had said that all the three¬fold qualities in Rumi, Jami and Hafiz-might, soul-wraptness, and lyricism-were joined in the 'lowly' and 'humble' bard of Sind, he would not have been far wrong. The technique of the poetry of Shah is indeed not that of a rustic but that of an accomplished Master. While Rumi's jnethod is to relate an entire story in sequence to bring out his Sufistic moral, Shah's method is to throw darts of meaning and suggest spiritual points in tales well-known to all his readers and hearers and so not in need of recital or recapitulation. Marui has only to say, ' It is not the wont of Marus to exchange in-laws for gold' to convey what a whole chapter or book could not, Sasui has only to turn upon herself in the midst of poignant woe and wailing and to utter the words 'why to arraign husband's brothers for mischief, only if my Day had not played mischief' to sum up all that is to be learnt about Man and Fate, Shah has only to remark in Suhni's story , The jar was broken, the wench died, all the means vanished, then only did Suhni hear the call of Mehar ' to suggest a mighty spiritual instruction. Sorley selects the best in that ‘soul-wrapt' chapter in Yusuf-Zuleikha :

See where the tulip grows

In upland meadows, how in balmy spring

It decks itself and how amidst its thorns

The wild rose rends its garment and reveals

Its  loveliness. Though too when some rare thought

Or beauteous image or deep mystery

Flashes across thy soul, canst not endure

To let it pass but holdst it, that perchance

In speech or writing thou mayst send it forth

To charm the world.

and remarks: 'The Risalo has nothing comparable with this passage from Jarni": But Shah's greatness is not in long-drawn passages; it is in the minute coruscations his pen flings forth in all directions. Shah did not compose poems in his 'study', his beyts or verses were sparks or bits of revelations. As he said of himself :

These be not verses as you think

But revelations that abide

They turn your mind inward

And take you to His side.

As for Hafiz, one of the great lyric poets of the world, a Sindhi listening to his lyrics and Shah's lyrics sung at the same time would be hard put to make a decision which is sweeter in tone and more magical in appeal. Hafiz says about his ghazals, that they are a string of pearls and that the very firmament links them to the Pleiades. Shah does not use such language about his poetry, but he invented the wai or kafi which is as melodious in tune, as lofty in tone, as the Persian ghazal, even in the hands of its. greatest master. The simplicity, humility, economy in words, and absence of self-consciousness on the part of Shah proclaim him to be one with Nature, but they do not warrant anyone to call him a rustic. Sorley has animadverted against Shah's habit of intermingling the remarks of the poet and out¬bursts of his heroines in the narration of their stories, and termed it irritating and illogical; he forgets that Shah is a lyrical and not a dramatic poet and that these interjections add to the music and majesty of the narrative. Sorley's real grouse is that in this practice Shah was following Hindi poets. He blinks his eyes to the fact that Shah was essentially an Indian poet, in the Indian tradition. Shah lived for over sixty years, a fairly long period in his age, in stirring times. He was eighteen when Aurangzeeb died, and the Kalhoras gradually took over the administration. He was alive when Nadir Shah invaded India. But there is no mention or echo of these events in his verse. He lived in the vicinity of Khudabad, the capital of the Kalhoras, but he might have lived hundreds of miles away, so little was his life influenced by them.

The three points of interest in the life of Shah are his Wander¬ings, his Marriage, and his life with his Associates. Fortunately, we have more data or information about these points in Shah's life than we have about any other Sindhi poet. To take up first, his Wanderings. There is a fine book extant in Sindhi about the wanderings of Shah under the title Latifi Sair, (Latif's Travels), written by that painstaking Professor of Sindhi, Bherumal Mahirchand. At the outset, the writer pays- a tribute to Shah the Sailani or Wanderer by commenting on his remarkable powers of observation of men as well as Nature. Shah minutely observes the women-spinners at their spinning wheel, as well as the common crow, as the bird which defiles the place where it sits and flies from place to place, making an ideal messenger. Shah notices the luminaries in the sky, the thunder and the rain, in the bazaar he observes the blacksmith at his anvil, the gold¬smith and pearl merchant with their precious wares, and the potter at the wheel. His especial attention is directed to the flight of the birds across the sky, and the march of the camel in the desert. The Desert and the magnificent River which is a veritable ocean were the poet's life-long studies. The Desert was, as it were, at his very door. Bhit, the place of his residence, meant' a sand-dune', and he delighted in solitary walks in the region of sand-dunes. He was also in touch with voyagers across the river to the Indian ocean beyond. One of his Surs, the Sur Samundi or Sur of the sea-farers, describes the prepara¬tion of the voyagers for their voyages and the woes and tribula¬tions qf the anxious spouses they left behind. Shah knew abeut the European pirates; he calls them Phlangis (from Feringees or Franks the appellation for Europeans in general). Of course everything in Shah's poetry has a meaning attached to it, and the life of the Desert-dwellers, as well as that of River-Iarers and sea-farers, furnishes him with valuable lessons. There are anecdotes about Shah Latif being often found by herdsmen and wanderers lying in the desert, entranced in meditation, with his head held between his knees. This /picture sketched of Shah Latif by Sindhi painters often sh him in this posture of the head gripped between the knee or ' Monas' :

Lay your head i side the Monas

Have little care of what you eat

Look down and close your eyes

Behold the Friend, and Him meet.

The 'Mona' has been sometimes compared to the Mount Sina or Sinai where Moses had his vision of God.

It is said that for three years at least Shah Latif went on wandering, far and wide, in the company of Hindu Jogis and Sanyasis. This period may be compared to the Horton period in Milton's life, the period of incubation of poetic genius. The material gathered in the course of these wanderings was suffi¬cient to last him a lifetime. He was twenty three or twenty four when he returned from his travels.

The first place to which Shah repaired for pilgrimage was Ganja Takar near modern Hyderabad (a city which came into existence a short while after Shah's death). Shah had a darshan of Goddess Kali's image in the temple of the goddess at Ganja Takar. Then he proceeded with Hindu Jogis to the famous Hindu pilgrimage centre of Hinglaj in Las Bela State, Baluchis¬tan, following the route along the modern route to Karachi (then a small fishing-place). In conformity with the usage of Hindu pilgrims, Shah donned the ochre-coloured garments of Hindu Sanyasis. On the way from Ganja Takar to Hinglaj Shah pass¬ed by Hilaya Hill, and Keenjhar Lake. He saw the place where Jam Tarnachi had had his dalliance with the fisher-girl Nuri or Gandr i, and referred to it, afterwards, in Sur Kamal. Near Karachi on the side of present Manora port, he saw Kalachi whirlpool, where a big crocodile lay hidden which had taken the toll of sixbrothers of Mari the fisherman. Shah has referred to Kalachi in his poetry. On the way to Karachi, Shah saw Bambhor, the place of the most famous heroine in Sindhi legends and song, Sasui. It was not easy to make way through the wilderness after crossing the Hab river. Shah had a firsthand experience of the desolate spots, hills and sand-dunes through which Sasui had to make her way in frantic search of Pun hun, her lover. Then Shah reached the fabled Hara mountain and Hingol riverlet. It was after an arduous journey that Shah and his fellow-pilgrims reached Hinglaj.

The famous Hindu pilgrim-centre of Hinglaj is a cave at the base of Hara hill wherein five hundred pilgrims could enter com¬fortably at a time, and pour milk over the recumbent figure of the goddess Amba. Shah paid a second visit, too, to Hinglaj, but on that occasion he had a disagreement with his Hindu fellow-pilgrims, and it is said that he disappeared from Hinglaj in a miraculous fashion, and appeared at Tatta instead. But Shah retained till the last affection and regard for Hindu Jogis. He distinguished between two sets of Jogis, one Nuri i.e. seekers of Light, and others Nari i.e. Burning in Hell :

Some be Nuris, other Naris

In the world of Jogis living,

They set aflame the ashen heart

For them alone I'm existing.

In his itinerary of Las Bela and Kech Makran, Shah saw many of the places he was to make famous in his Surs about Sasui e.g. Wankar and Lahul, also Jhalwan; a mountainous region in Baluchistan. Returning via Tatta and places in Lar he reached Kutch and Bhuj. The 1819 earthquake which completely separated Kutch from Sind, by the influx of an inland sea, was yet to come, and a man could go from Sind to Kutch most easily. In Kutch SI18h made his pilgrimage to Lakhpat, Narainsar, and Kotesar.

From Kutch, Shah proceeded to Saurashtra, or Kathiawar, and visited places of pilgrimage such as Dwarka and Porebunder and the famed city of Junagadh and the fort of Girnar about which he sang in Sur Soratli. He went to Kharnbat or Carnbay as well. On return, he made his way into Thar, saw Malir, ever consecrated to Marui, and also places connected with the heroine, Mumal. Shah seems to have got beneath the skin of the Tharis so completely that he has adopted the Tharispeech. He has rendered, as a born Thari, the customs, costumes, dwellings, cactuses, wonderful trees, deep wells and sands of Thar in his verse, and described Thar when blessed by rain¬drops. He saw Jaisalmer and Ladhoro or Ladano above the river Kak, of Mumal-Rano fame. Shah went so far as Barmer. He saw Puran, the old bed of the River Sindhu as well.

Shah spent .some time in Upper Sindh in Sahiti cities like Naushahro, in Darazan near Khair r, where he met the child Sachal, the greatest of his successors. Shah saw Upper Sind and Bahawalpur when he went a far as Multan to bring stones to decorate the tomb of his gre t-grandfather. Central Sind he knew from his birth. As for Lower Sind, he seems to be familiar with it as many of his friends and disciples lived there and he had to visit them periodically. It must not be forgotten that the pronunciation and spelling of Shah's poems is of Lar or or Lower Sind, and that his most poignant memory was that of Martyr-Sufi, Shah Inayat, of Jhok.

There was one pilgrimage on which his heart was set, but death overtook him in 1752 before he could fulfill his wish. That was a pilgrimage to Kerbela in Iraq, the scene of the tragedy of Imam Husain and his devoted companions. The story of Kerbela is such as to move any heart, and a poet and mystic like Shah was eager to set his eyes on Kerbala. It is a disputable point whether Sur Kedaro, wherein the tragedy of Kerbala is¬ celebrated in song, is the work of Shah Latif, but whether the verses are his own or those of other poets there is no doubt that the Kedaro verses have got so intermingled with the poetry of Shah as to be indistinguishable from it, and they reveal his. magic touch in many places. The devotion of Shah Latif to Kerbala has led many to ask the question whether he was a Shia, but it is not necessary to answer that query.

The travels of Shah gave him an intimate idea of almost every inch of ground celebrated in Sindhi legend and folklore, parti¬cularly about Thar, which desert region would have remained otherwise terra incognita in Sindhi literature if he had not opened it for the gaze and affectionate inspection of the Sindhis. In the course of his travels, Shah had, of course, to encounter many perils to his life and limbs, but he came out unscathed from these ordeals. He came in contact with all sorts of persons and stories are related of these encounters. The most famous of these encounters was his meeting with a solitary hermit who was chanting frantically to himself one line, in a dense forest, between Hinglaj and Tatta :

Alone alone, wending towards Punhoon

He did not know the other two lines to complete the verse. And when Shah supplied the missing line:

The hills are tough, but they are a boon

the hermit asked for the third and final line and Shah recited it as well :

Gather your aches to reach Him soon.

And as soon-as the desolate lover got the complete verse, he fell down and gave up the ghost! The Shah had to dig the grave and bury the lover, but he could never forget the yearning, and all-consuming love of the deceased for the ob jed of his- devo¬tion.

Even if Shah did not go to school, he had his education by circumambulating the sacred precincts of Greater Sind. All the roughnesses, irregularities and oddities he may have derived by growing up in the company of fanatic Syeds and Fakirs were rounded off and polished by his initiation into Yoga, Bhakti, and Vedani, the traditional philosophy and all-em¬bracing religion or mysticism which India had treasured for thousands of years. It is problematic whether Shah would have risen to full stature as the poet of Sind and a true mystic, if he had not travelled over the whole of Greater Sind and spent at least three precious years in the company of Hindu Sanyasis and Jogis and dressed, lived, worshipped like them and became one of them. The Surs Ramkali and Khahori bear eloquent testimony to the Sindhiyat (and Indian) charac¬ter of his poetry and thought.

Now to turn to Shah's Love and Marriage, let us remember what the Persian poet, Jami, says in a celebrated passage:

'T were better we in love should still remain:

Without this converse we are all in vain ....

The heart's no heart that is without love's pain.

Without it bodies' moistened clay remain

Towards passions' pain thy face turn upon the earth;

The world of passion is a world of mirth.

Of love's sweet pain may never heart be free,

On earth without Love may man never be ....

Be passion's captive, that thou mayst be free, Lay on thy breast its burden, glad to be.

Love's wine with warmth and ardency will bless,

All else brings melancholy, selfishness. ...

Though in the world thou may 'figs essay

Love only takes thee from thy self away.

Turn not thy face from love, though it be feigned,

Access to God's truth through it may be gained

The last two lines are the most significant, but they have not been well translated. The correct translation of the Persian verses of Jami is:

Turn not thy face from Love, though it be Carnal

 For it will pave the way to Truth Eternal.

The sense of what Jami urges is however quite clear. What is stated by Jami is illustrated in the Love-life of Shah Abdul Latif. Physical or Carnal passion or love is the first step to¬wards Divine Love, because this passion makes a man forget his own entity, and completely absorbs him in an all-consu¬ming yearning for union with the Beloved. This is a bridge that leads to the shore of Union with God. Woe to him who stops short at the bridge of physical possession and enjoyment, and plunges only into the sad satiety of physical meeting and union. Ultimately the lover has to shift his devotion from a frail body to the Eternal who has no body, no form, andAnnhilation his separate being to become one with the Being of all Beings. This is what the, Sufi or the Mystic aims at in his progress from Body to the Spirit, from Passion to Perfec¬tion, from Individuality to Annihilation (of Self). And Shah Latif soared from carnal love to the sublime height of spiritual or Divine Love. And equally noteworthy is the point that Shah was no voluptuary who turned to God when he had become blase or weaned and disillusioned from love.He was a man of a single Love, and a single experience of connubial bliss. After a fairly early experience of physical love in his life he settled down to the enjoyment of Spiritual Love and enjoyment. He was fortunate and blessed in love. It was at the age of twenty, that is before he set out on travels, that he was enmeshed in the folds of love. As a matter of fact, it was partly to be away from the scene of what looked like hopeless passion that Shah left Kotri where his childhood was spent The top grandee of Kotr i Mogul was Mba Mogul Beg, a scion of the House of Arghuns who ruled over Sind a century before Shah was born. The Arghuns, like other Muslim aristocratic families of India, and Central Asia, were strict observers of Purdah and did not allow any female member of their family, above the age of seven or eight, to be seen by a stranger. And they were also very proud in their ways. The only persons to whorn they showed some consideration were the Syeds, descendants of the Prophet of Islam, and spiritual guides of the laity. Mirza Mogul Beg occasionally repaired to Shah's father to obtain charms and amulets from him, or to ask him to offer prayers for him and his family in times of difficulty and danger. Once it so happend that the adolescent daughter of the Mirza fell somewhat seriously ill, and the worried father went to Shah Habib, Shah Latif's father, to invite him to his house to offer prayers and prepare a charm for averting danger to his daughter. Shah Habib was unwell, so he asked Shah Latif to go instead with the Mirza. When Shah reached the house of the Arghun grandee, he was led to the cot of the invalid who lay thoroughly huddled up in a heap of clothes. And Shah fell in 'love at first sight' with one whose face he could not see well, covered as it was by a muslim veil. He was only able to lift her hand and cross his fingers with her little finger. To console the anxious parent he offered the usual prayer and retaining her little finger in his grasp he exclaimed:

No harm, no danger, dare attend

One whose little finger lies in Syed's hand.

The Mirza was incensed at what he took to be the insult implied in this exclamation, and with great difficulty controlled himself from dealing a death-blow to the youth' who dared to hint of espousal with his daughter. But thereafter he became hostile to the Syeds of his village and pursued them with hatred and rancour until they had to quit Kotri and build their Haveli or family residence at a considerable distance from the place where Mirza lived. Many years afterwards, Shah removed himself to Bhit, a desolate place at a distance of five miles.

It never occurred to Shah to take any anti-social step to meet the object. of his love or to take her by stealth of force. Instead, he left his father's place at the age of 20 and set on travels to drown his sorrows and derive spiritual solace in the company of Hindu .Jogis. Pilgrimages to the places con-secreted by the touch or passage of immortal Sindhi heroines like Sasui, Marui and Mumal, only made his own woes of separation afflict him the more.     .

Soon after Shah returned from travels, some say, only after the lapse of three days, the death of irza Mogul Beg occurred under tragic circumstances. In 1711, n a day when the Mirza and his male companions were not in Kotri, some dacoits of Dal Tribe made a clean sweep of the belongings left behind in charge of the women-folk. When the Mirza returned he was all-agog with anger and he went after the dacoits. Mirza and his men had to pass through the street where Shah and his father had taken up their new abode, and seeing the plight of their old neighbours the Syeds offered their services to the Mirza to help him in running .down the dacoits. Mirza spurn¬ed this offer with scorn, and went in pursuit of the Dal dacoits. In a hand-to-hand fight with the dacoits Mirza and all his men were, killed. Only one male member of the Arghuns in Kotri was left to carry on the race-one minor child who was called • Gala '. The followers of the Syeds carried the news of this catastrophe to Shah summing up the news in one word • Bud Khabis' or '. The rascal ceased to be '-which words yielded by the Abjad, or Persian numeral system, the year of the death of the Mirza (1711). Shah at once corrected them and asked them to render the date as 'Yak Mogul bih budah " i.e. • One good Mogul used to be ' words which yielded by the Abjad rule the same year Shah was too great to gloat over the demise of his foe. Some see in this incident a conclusive proof of Shah's scholastic learning.

The death of nearly all the male members of their family brought down the Mirza's women-folk to a helpless condition, and many of them thought that their sufferings were due to the wrongs done by them to the Syeds. The hand of Syeedah Begum, the adolescent girl with whom Shah Latif had been in love for four years, was offered to the despairing lover and he attained to his earthly paradise when she entered the portals of his house. This lady was known thereafter as Taj-al-mukhdarat or Crown of Chaste Damsels and she proved herself to be deserving of all the tributes that could be paid to a woman. Kalyan Advani in his 'Shah' has applied to her the famous lines of Sa 'adi, the Persian moralist :

A woman that is good, loyal and chaste

Can make a monarch of her beggar-mate.

With this marriage Shah's life became full and sweet-but not- fruitful. His travels had broadened his outlook and had done something more. The Hindu philosophy had turned his mind inwards and taken him from Ishq Majazi, Physical or carnal Love, to the path of Ishq Haqiqi, True or spiritual love. This is apparent from the well-known anecdote about Shah's behaviour when his wife became enceinte. In that 'interest¬ing , condition women acquire strange and not-so-strange cravings. The wife of Shah felt a craving to eat the pala fish, and a follower of Shah took a distant journey to bring a pala for his master's spouse. While the man was returning with the dainty present Shah found him panting .and foot-weary. On being told that he had been away to satisfy a demand of his wife the Shah exclaimed, 'What use is it to have a child if it can cause agony to my Fakirs even before it is born?' It is said that the lady had soon an abortion and never' con¬ceived again. Shah never felt the need of offspring of his own. His Fakirs were the progeny he delighted in.

Shah was not a domesticated or family man. It has been said that he was rarely to be seen in the interior of women's rooms in his house, but that he was always in his otak or men's parlour, in the company of his beloved Fakirs. From the early years of his life he was accustomed to seeing his father and other Syeds surrounded by a large concourse of associates and disciples who had flocked for spiritual guidance. Shah passed his life in the company of admiring Fakirs and disciples who gave a signal proof of devotion to him by fetching bricks and doing odd jobs in the construction of the main edifice and the envitoning shanties, while Shah was a-building Bhit. And this devotion continued until his death in 1752, and even afterwards.

Every Friday,-even now, the Fakirs wake all at night and chant Shah's soul-arousing lyrics at his tomb in Bhit. Daya¬ram Gidumal kept such a wake or vigil in the eighties of the last century and described it as under: 'The deepest silence occa¬sionally broken by a hearty “Allahee” prevailed in the wide courtyard where I kept my memorable vigil with more than a hundred men, women and children' '.

Nobody has said anything about Shah Abdul Latif or his father doing anything manual to earn their livelihood. His going into a trance. It is this posture which is painted in the pictures that have been drawn about him from men's imagina¬tion. Another stance which was common was falling into ecstasy while music, vocal and instrumental filled the air. It was purely Indian music, and the Ragas and Raginis were Indian. It was no exotic music which enthralled him. There was nothing erotic in the dance-music he encouraged. Appro¬priately enough, he breathed his last at the age of 64 in 1752 while listening rapturously to such music or Samaa as it was called.

Shah, as already remarked, was as fond of solitude as of society. He had a large concourse of friends and associates some of whom were well-known all over Sind. Din Md. Wafai, in his Lut-al-Latif has a whole chapter devoted to a recital of the contacts Shah had with these personages. The first and most important of those friends and associates was of course Shah Inayat, the sage of Jhok and best-known of Sindhi Sufis, whose martyrdom has been commemorated in Sur Ramkali.

Other prominent associates were Khwaja Md. Zaman Lawari, Fakir Sahib of Darazan, Syed Md. ancestor of Rashdi Pirs, Makhdum Abdul Rahim Grohri and' Hindu Bhagat Madan. .There are many authenticated and spurious anecdo¬dotes about his meetings with and colloquies with these Fakirs, but the most famous of these relates to his second visit to Darazan when he met Sachal, grandson of Mian Sahib dina, who was only five years old at that time and was destined to be next only to Shah Latif in eminence as a poet. Shah Latif at once recognised the surpassing greatness of the boy and said that he was going to take the lid off the kettle (of poetry) he had himself set to boil. Thus Shah proclaimed Sachal as his spiritual successor and his prophecy -carne to pass. As a Muslim writer has said. what Shah described in tales and figurative language was made plain and effective by Sachal in open forceful language.

Madan, a Hindu Bhagat, was very dear to Shah, and they had frequent discussions on matters of mystic import. It is said that Madan once went to a lonely spot and was frightened by the vociferous croakings and cries of frogs. Madan ran to Shah to tell of his freight. Shah commended his attitude of fright and said that that was the fit attitude to assume to¬wards God. He said: 'Give Him all you can and still be always in state of freight and terror. Never be arrogant that you are giving something, our friend is really terrible

In Bhit, Shah continually enjoyed the company of his two Indian musicians Ataland Chanchal and agreeable associates like Bilal, Inayat and Wagand, and his two amanuenses, Tamar and Hashim. These companies were devoted to him, and it is said that when in a fit of exasperation and frustration he flung his Risalo in the Kirar Lake, Tamar and his colleague retrieved the loss by transcribing the Risalo from memory. An original manuscript of Shah's Risalo is still treasured by the descendants of Tamar.

Shah was really a great patriot; one has only to read the Sur Marui to know what love Shah bore to the land of his birth. Modern readers go so far as to call him a nationalist and democrat, and see in his poetry a sympathy for the common man far in advance of his age. Shah loved the toiling masses of Sind-the potters, the blacksmiths, the poor peasants, the . weavers and fishermen. He had no feudal notions and no affinity with the robber barons and bigoted priests of his time .

He watched with delight the birds and the beasts about him and drew several" morals from their habits. He re-created in his verse the Sind he loved and uttered the famous benedic¬tion on Sind and all humanity:

O Lord! may Sind be ever prosperous and fertile ....

May all humanity be of cheer!

The Desert and the River that are Sind are immortalised for ever by this poet of Sind. Shah immortalised the simple Sindhi heroines and a few heroes (e. g. Abro) in his verse, and gave shining permanence to Sindhi folklore and legends. No other Sindhi poet has done a tithe of his work in enshrining Sind, its birds and beasts, its flowers and grasses, its artisans and poor toilers, its rustics and fishermen, and, above all, the Sindhi women, in literature.

Shah, became a classic in his own lifetime, and ever after¬wards, his pre-eminence as the. greatest of Sindhi poets has remained un-challenged. Other Sindhi poets have provoked controversies, Shah has evoked only reverential comments. All sections of Sindhis, Muslims and Hindus alike, treasure his Rlsalo as their most precious literary treasure, and even in India, that is Bharat, Shah Abdul Latif rules the hearts of Sindhis.