Sufi_poet_saints

Najam Hosain Syed (ex- Head, Punjab University Punjabi Department, Lahore) writing in his excellent book "Recurrent Patterns in Punjabi Poetry", refers to Baba Farid as standing at the far end of Punjabi poetic tradition in eminent isolation. Nearly three centuries pass before another figure of any status relieves the curious blank." Najam comments on the uncompromising "austere rhythms of Farid " and the use of the "Dohras" as a rhymed couplet, reflecting a poise, serenity, grim yet confident, volatile, meaningful use as the following verses show.

Mostly, poetry is sung and it is the singer and the music composer who bring out the variations of range in emotion and meaning.

Dohra - Baba Farid.

" Farid Kaaley maindey kaprey, kaala mainda wais,

Gunahan Bharehan main pheraan, Lok kahain dervish "

" Laden with my load of misdeeds, I move about in the garb of black garments.

And the people see me and call me a dervish."

Black clothes worn by pious men as a sign of humility become associated in the minds of people with an undefined piety. But for the poet, black symbolizes his erring self ... there is a quality of haunting mockery in Farid’s repetitive insistence on the word "black"..."

The reader may know that the Holy Prophet Mohammed [ PBUH] is also referred in qawwalis as " Kali kambli waley " [the one with the black cloak ].

Baba Farid was born on the on the first day of the month of Ramzaan in 1173 in the city of Kothiwal, near Dipalpur in Punjab, Pakistan. It is now called Pak Pattan; the ancient name has been recorded as Ajodhan. The city existed when Alexander invaded in 326 BC. It was an important metropolis on the Multan-Delhi route. The city is on the banks of the river Sutlej. People going across would usually wash [clean = pak] themselves at the ferry [pattan]. Hence the name Pak Pattan .The story goes that, the day Baba Farid was born, a holy man was consulted about the breaking of a fast. He advised that a great soul had been born in the house of Jamal-ud-din Suleiman and that the community could break the fast only when the infant suckled. It is said that the infant Baba Farid was fasting.

Baba Farid’s ancestors were from a town called Aush, south of Fergana [Babur’s hometown] south east of Andijan. Farid’s grandfather [Qadi Shuaib] left Kabul and took refuge in Lahore under the Ghaznavid Sultan in 1125. However the gay atmosphere of Lahore did not appeal to his nature and he moved to Kasur above 34 miles southeast of Lahore where the Sultan entrusted him to the Qadi [Kazi- a semi-religious administrator] position. Eventually he left and settled in Kothiwal leaving Kasur.

Farid’s father Jamal-ud-din Suleiman married the daughter of Sheikh Wajih-ud-din Khojendi called Qarsum Bibi [some say her name was Mariam]. Qarsum was a lady of great piety. According to legend it was she who influenced Farid to pray by placing small cubes of Shakar [brown sugar] under Farid’s prayer mat. One day it is said that although she did not place the Shakar, nevertheless there was a piece of Shakar under Farid’s mat.

Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki was Baba Farid’s "Guru". He was influenced by the Hallaji and Wujjud doctrines, which are essentially spiritual in nature. Kaki met Moinuddin Chishti at Baghdad and being impressed by the man became his disciple. Chishti migrated to Delhi and Kaki followed him, staying for a while in Multan. Because of rivalry and jealousy between some other Sheikhs in Delhi, Moin-ud-din Chishti left for Ajmer.

Balban, the ruler in Delhi, welcomed Farid and introduced him to his family; Balban’s daughter was married to Farid and the gifts for the marriage were distributed among the poor and needy [fakirs]. There is a town called Faridkot in Indian Punjab. Farid is truly the father of Punjabi literature. He died on the 5th of Moharram 1266. Baba Farid’s poetry was later to influence the Sikh religion and especially their Holy Book "Sri Guru Granth Sahib" by the founder Guru Nanak. Such was the universality of Baba Farid, the Sufi poet laureate from Punjab.

The story goes that Madho Lal [a Hindu Brahmin] and Shah Hussain [a Muslim Sufi] were great friends and to immortalise the friendship between the two, Shah Hussain decided to call himself Madho Lal Hussain.

Outside the walls of the Shalamar Gardens in Lahore, there is held an annual festival at the time of Spring harvest called "Mela Chiraghan" or the Festival of Lights, close to the grave of Lal Hussain. In the songs of the village minstrels and the dancers' movements, the myth of Lal Hussain once again is reborn. Grandson of a convert weaver, Lal Hussain embarrassed everyone by aspiring to the privilege of learning.

Hussain’s poetry consists entirely of short poems known as "Kafis", usually 4 to ten lines, designed for musical compositions, to be interpreted by the singing voices. The rhythm and the refrain are so balanced as to bring about a varying, evolving musical pattern... folk songs that draw on the emotional experience of the community.... record the reactions to the cycle of birth and the play of desire against the rhythms of hope , despair, exultation and nostalgia.

Today most of these Kafis are sung by well know singers and some have even been used as songs in the Indian film industry.

Bulleh composed a lot of poetry in Saraiki, the local spoken language. His style of poetry is called Qafi, which was already an established style with Sufis who preceded him. The tomb of Bulleh Shah is in Qasur (Pakistan) and he is held in reverence by all Sufis of Sindh and Punjab.

The ancestral village of Bulleh Shah was Uch Gilaniyan in Bahawalpur, Pakistan.From there his family first shifted to Malakwal (District Multan, Pakistan) and then to Pandoke, which is about 14 miles southeast of Qasur (Pakistan). Bulleh's earlier name was Abdullah Shah, later on it changed to Bulleh. His family background was religious, his father being a highly religious person. Bulleh Shah was the disciple of a Qadiri Sufi.

Bulleh sees the common underlying reality that lies beneath the mundane, and rejoices in its all pervasiveness. This concept is similar to the monotheistic, omnipresent concept of God that we come across in Sikhism and the Upanishads.

"The soil is in ferment, O friend
Behold the diversity.
The soil is the horse, so is the rider
The soil chases the soil, and we hear the clanging of soil
The soil kills the soil, with weapons of the soil.
That soil with more on it, is arrogance
The soil is the garden so is its beauty
The soil admires the soil in all its wondrous forms
After the circle of life is done it returns to the soil
Answer the riddle O Bulleh, and take this burden off my head."

[Translation reference: book by J. R. Puri and T. R. Shangari of the Radha Swamis, titled Bulleh Shah].

Bulleh Shah's poetry reflects a tumultuous time in the history of Punjab. The poet perceives radical changes taking place in society around him. This was the middle of 18th century when the Sikh power was in the ascendancy and the Mughal power was waning. It was a time of chaos as there was no law and order. Bulleh Shah sees rampant corruption and societal decay.

There are commonalties between Bulleh Shah and Shah Lateef who were contemporaries. They had almost the same experiences of the turbulent period in which they lived. Shah Lateef (1690-1752) and Bulleh Shah (1680-1758) had witnessed the death of Aurangzeb, the last of the great Mughals who was responsible for the murder of his brother Dara Shikoh and Sarmad, the Sufi poet.