Sultan Bahu
Sultan Bahu (1631-1691) is universally admitted to have been among the greatest mystics of India. His father was a resident of Jhang district. He is said to have been a person of quite a disposition and so was his wife, the mother of Bahu. Bahu belonged to the Qadri school of Sufis and was a disciple of Hazrat Habib-ullah. He is not defiant towards Sharia. The tone of his verse is melancholy. He lays stress on the Sufi formula of ‘dying before death.’ However, he was against the show of religiosity and piety. The most striking thing about Bahu’s poetry is that every line ends in ‘hu.’ Hu is regarded as a name of Allah, and it is considered highly meritorious to repeat it as often as possible. Lines ending in hu are an innovation in Punjabi poetry. Bahu, as judged from his poetry, belonged to the philosophic school of Sufis, but for some reason or other hid his philosophy under the veil of orthodoxy. One possible reason may be his sainthood, which did not permit him that liberty which Bulleh Shah would enjoy. He had become a ‘pir’ which demanded a certain amount of reserve and prudence on his part. Bahu’s verse is composed in simple and unpretentious style. It has a well-marked character of its own and rests entirely on the recources of the poet’s thought and knowledge of the language. There is an absolute lack of artificiality. Another thing which is creditable about him is that his verse is pious and bereft of all human love and its ideals.
Baba Farid
Baba Farid (1173–1266) was a Punjabi poet and saint of the Chishti school of Sufism. He is considered the first known Punjabi poet. Revered by Muslims and Hindus, he is also considered one of the fifteen Sikh Bhagats within Sikhism and his selected works are included in the Guru Granth Sahib. Baba Farid was one of the leading protagonists of the Sufi cult in the northern India. He laid stress on love of fellow human beings as a means of attaining love of God. Service to humanity was part of the mystic discipline for him. A great poet of his time, Farid wrote his verse in musical measures so that it could be sung. There is nothing in Baba Sheikh Farid’s poetry that is strident, or offensive to the sentiments of the Indian people. His verse is singularly free from any social, historical, or sectarian prejudice. His teachings are of a moral nature.
Bulleh Shah (1680-1757) is the foremost Sufi poet of Punjab and holds manifold importance. In him the pantheism of Punjabi sufism reached its apex. He was born in a Sayyed family in a village near Kasur. He became a fakir of Qadri order as a disciple of Shah Inayat, an Arain peasant and Sufi master. Major part of Bulleh Shah’s verse is in the Kafi form like Shah Hussain, but he has written in some other forms too, like bara-maha and si-harfi. Love for Bulleh Shah is the essence of God. He affirms that it is a fire which is lit in the heart of man. It is yearning for return to God and is generally at the moment the individual self gets separated from Him. Bulleh Shah is acutely conscious of the differences and disputes between Hindus and Muslims and decries the persistence of both parties in their respective positions. His verses are very popular amoung the Punjabis. The reason evidently is his romatic defiance of the Muslim Sharia and an apparent condemnation of both Hindu and Muslim bigotry and ritual.
Khawaja Ghulam Farid (1841-1901) was born in Chachran in Bahawalpur state. He belonged to the Chishti order of Sufism and composed as many as 272 Kafis. His kafis are of high literary merit. As far as his mystic experiences of oneness with God are concerned, he is unique in his description of lover’s wailings caused by the separation from the spouse. Khwaja Farid’s poetry is formally distinguished by the remarkable level of its sophistication, not least in the editorial care which he gave to its textual accuracy and careful internal organization.
Mian Muhammad Bakhsh (1839-1907) was a Punjabi Sufi poet from Kashmir (the region that’s adjacent to Jhelum, Punjab). His main work is a book of poetry titled ‘Safar-ul Ishq’ (Journey of the ‘Divine’ Love) publicly known as Saiful Malook which follows the journey of an Egyptian prince to win the heart of the princess of Kohkaaf. Muhammad Bakhsh uses the story of Saiful Malook as a metaphor for divine love and creates a masterpiece full of Sufi wisdom. The book consists of 9249 couplets in total.
Sachal Sarmast (1739 – 1829) was a renowned Sindhi Sufi poet during the Kalhora era. Abdul Wahab was his real name and “Sachal” was the name he used in his own poetry. Sachu means truth in Sindhi and Sachalu means truthful. Sarmast means mystic in Sindhi and Urdu. Suchal Sarmast literally means ‘truthful mystic’. Sachal Sarmast was an ardent follower of Wahdat-ul-Wujood, an Islamic Philosophy synonymous with Hamah Oost.
Shah Hussain (1538–1599) who ranks with Baba Farid and Bulleh Shah as a Sufi poet has image of the hippy of today. Well-read, highly creative, spiritually evolved and yet indulging in activities that besmeared his image in society. Shah Hussain was a disciple of Shah Bahlol. He took to Malamatiya practices and shaved his head, moustaches and beard. He used to take bhang and roam in the bazars in intoxication. It is believed that he indulged in all this erratic and anti-social behavior to attract people’s ire which is one of the was of a mystic. Shah Hussain wrote the songs of love, dejection, devotion and separation. Sense of separation is so deep-rooted that it moveds the hearts of readers. He transformed the entire spirit of Sufi poetry in the Punjabi literature and broadened its shere from mere philosophical sufism to encompass the whole gamut of a person’s feelings.
Waris Shah (Urdu/Punjabi: وارث شاہ) (1706 – 1798) was a Punjabi Sufi poet, best-known for his seminal work Heer Ranjha, based on the traditional folk tale of Heer and her lover Ranjha. Heer is considered one of the quintessential works of classical Punjabi literature. The story of Heer was also put to paper by several other writers, including Damodar Daas, Mukbal, and Ahmed Gujjar, but Waris Shah’s version is by far the most popular today. Waris Shah was into a reputed Syed family in the village of Jandiala Sher Khan, Sheikhupura District, Pakistan Punjab in or around 1706. His father’s name was Gulshar Shah. Waris Shah acknowledged himself as a disciple of Pir Makhdum of Kasur. Waris Shah’s parents are said to have died when he was in his early years and he probably received his education at the shrine of his preceptor. After completing his education in Kasur, he shifted his residence to Malkahans. Here, he resided in a small room, adjacent to a historic mosque. Waris Shah died in or around 1798 when he was around 92 years of age. His mausoleum is a place of pilgrimage today, especially for those in love. He was a consummate artiste, deeply learned in Sufi and domestic cultural lore. His verse is a treasure-trove of Punjabi phrases, idioms and sayings. His minute and realistic depiction of each detail of Punjabi life and the political situation in the 1700s, remains unique. Waris Shah also sublimated his own unrequited love for a girl (Bhag Bhari) in writing romance. The amazing poetic mould that he worked within has not been bettered by any of his successors till date.
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