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Shah Hussain –a forgotten poet
Shafqat Tanvir Mirza


TRINJAN… special issue on Shah Husain; Editors Sughra Sadaf and Khaqan Haider Ghazi; pp 188; Price Rs50 (pb); Publishers Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture; Punjabi Complex, 1 Gaddafi Stadium, Ferozepur Road, Lahore. Website: http/pilac.punjab.gov.pk
After the great saint of Pakpattan who preferred to stay away from the capital Delhi, Shah Husain is the second major poet of Punjabi, who is considered the pioneer of 'kafi' in which his two juniors -- Baba Bulleh Shah of Kasur and Khwaja Farid of Kot Mitthan -- excelled. Shah Husain was the senior-most poet. He was born in Lahore and lived throughout his life in the same city where he is buried near the western walls of Shalimar Gardens.

A grand “awami mela” is held on the annual Urs of the poet. Once this festival was sponsored by Mughal chiefs and later in Sikh regime by Maharaja Ranjeet Singh. The tradition continued in the British period also. Known as Mela Chiraghan, it was held in and around the shrine of the poet and inside the Shalimar Gardens. It was in Ayub Khan's regime the Shalimar Gardens was declared out of bounds for the devotees and the open spaces around the shrine were illegally occupied by people of the ruling parties.
The land attached with the shrine also was appropriated and now one of the biggest cultural congregations is losing its splendour. It was in Gen Zia's regime, who incidentally belonged to the sect of puritans, that beating of drums in the area was strictly prohibited through the Auqaf Department.
Before independence, this was perhaps the only seasonal 'mela' which was participated in by all major religious communities like Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians who all owned this Sufi poet and his thoughts. The followers of Zia are still ruling in Punjab and have failed to give due recognition to the poet who is the undisputed symbol of the best cultural and linguistic values of Punjab.
The tragedy is that after the invasion and annexation by the British no local language (as was the case in the other provinces of India) was adopted as medium of instruction and second official language. Owing to the total exit of the Punjabi language and literature from the educational system, the great poets of Punjabi became alien among their own people and land.
Shah Husain was also forgotten as a poet till his poetry was first made the subject of a seminar held in 1963 in the so-called Civil Lines area of Lahore and the next year the first cultural 'mela' in the memory of Shah Husain was held in which Bengali, Sindhi, Pushtoon, Kashmiri and Urdu scholars from all over the country (united Pakistan) participated.
The Punjabi Adabi Sangat and the Majlis-i-Shah Husain arranged the three-day event. At least five books in English, Punjabi, Persian and Urdu were also published on the occasion.
The importance of Shah Husain's poetry is that it pleads the values of humanity and its starting point is that humanity, irrespective of religion, colour and creed, is one and it should be honoured at all cost. The second aspect is the language of the most of the Sufi poets is Lenhda or western Punjabi now called Seraiki.
His poetry and language is the unification of all the dialects spoken in the present Punjab and across the borders. Shah Husain never went out of Lahore but his language is true Lenhda and all the early scholars of Seraiki, Multani, Hindko and Potohari claim Husain to be their own poet. But the most striking feature of his life and thoughts is that he was deadly against the anti-people establishment and refused to attend the court of Emperor Akbar in Lahore.
It is unfortunate that the rulers of the Punjab (who always want to rule the whole of Pakistan through English and Urdu) never recognised the greatness of the poets because of being Punjabi and also because he was deadly against the class society, elite and anti-people establishment and the ruling class. The rulers since Akbar's times and much before that always believe and work for status quo. It is a strange fact that the Auqaf Department earns a lot from the shrine of the poet but it has not arranged any publication on the poetry and life of the poet. It could not even dig out a diary on Shah Husain by a writer, Bahar Khan, appointed for the job by Jahangir. This was available in early British period and historian Noor Ahmad Chishti stands witness to that.
The only credit of the Punjab government in connection with Shah Husain this year is this 188-page collection of articles and poems in appreciation of the poet published by the institute which was established by Pervaiz Elahi-led provincial government.
This issue includes the articles of prominent writers including six PhDs in Punjabi -- Saeed Bhutta, Nabeela Reshman, Akhtar Husain Jafri, Shaukat Ali Qamar, Amjad Ali Bhatti and Nasir Baloch. The other contributors are: Perveen Malik, Ahmad Aqeel Rubi, Ghulam Rasul Asif, Ehsan Bajwa, Prof Muhammad Jawwad, Ghaffar Shahzad, Sofia Bedar, Haroon Adeem, Farzand Ali, Prof Ramzan Shahid and Faqir Sipahi.
The tribute in verse is by Rashed Hasan Rana, Zahid Nawaz, Col Nadir Ali, Tanveer Zahoor, Shafiq Qureshi, Shehnaz Mazammil and Bushra Ejaz.
* * * * * *
MUKH MOHANDRA… Editor Dr Safdar Husain Barq; pp 176; Price Rs250 (hb); Publishers, Masud Khaddarposh Trust, 6 Dayal Singh Mansion, the Mall, Lahore.
Akram Bajwa is a senior Punjabi poet from Burewala where by profession he is a teacher. In good old days Ali Muhammad Malook as a poet attracted the attention of the new and emerging local writers and intellectuals of the area. They joined hands and by their hard and collective efforts earned goodwill for their city and district. Akram Bajwa was the active part of the group closely associated with Punjabi literature. Some of them came out with their collections which earned appreciation at the national level.
Bajwa is most active part of that group with at least four collections of verses to his credit. A book including critical essays on Bajwa's poetry was edited by Ali Malook and now by Dr Safdar Husain who himself writes poetry in Punjabi. Bajwa deserves this tribute. — Celebrations on Jail Road as national cricket team keeps the flag high in the knockout phase of the World Cup.
Curtsey:DAWN.COM, — PUBLISHED MAR 23, 2011 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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