Bulleh Shah
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Bulleh Shah (1680 – 1757) (Punjabi: Shahmukhi: بلہے شاہ, Gurmukhi: ਬੁੱਲ੍ਹੇ ਸ਼ਾਹ), whose real name was Abdullah Shah [1], was a Punjabi Sufi poet.
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[edit] Biography
Bulleh Shah is believed to have been born in the small village of Uch, Bahawalpur in 1680 in Pakistan [2]. His ancestors had migrated from Bukhara in modern Uzbekistan .
At the age of six months, his parents relocated to Malakwal. There his father, Shah Muhammad Darwaish, was a preacher in the village mosque and a teacher. His father later got a job in Pandoke, about 50 miles southeast of Kasur. Bulleh Shah received his early schooling in Pandoke, and moved to Kasur for higher education, to become a student of the prominent professor, Ghulam Murtaza. He also received education from Maulana Mohiyuddin. His spiritual teacher was the eminent Sufi saint, Shah Inayat Qadri [3].
Bulleh Shah was a direct descendant of Muhammad, through the progeny of Shaikh Abdul Qadir Gillani of Baghdad.
A large amount of what is known about Bulleh Shah comes through legends, and is subjective; to the point that there isn’t even agreement among historians concerning his precise date and place of birth. Some "facts" about his life have been pieced together from his own writings. Other "facts" seem to have been passed down through oral traditions.
Bulleh Shah practiced the Sufi tradition of Punjabi poetry established by poets like Shah Hussain (1538 – 1599), Sultan Bahu (1629 – 1691), and Shah Sharaf (1640 – 1724).
Bulleh Shah lived in the same period as the famous Sindhi Sufi poet, Shah Abdul Latif Bhatai (1689 – 1752). His lifespan also overlapped with the legendary Punjabi poet Waris Shah (1722 – 1798), of Heer Ranjha fame, and the famous Sindhi Sufi poet Abdul Wahad (1739 – 1829), better known by his pen-name, Sachal Sarmast (“truth seeking leader of the intoxicated ones”). Amongst Urdu poets, Bulleh Shah lived 400 miles away from Mir Taqi Mir (1723 – 1810) of Agra.
He died in 1758, and his tomb is located in Kasur, Pakistan[4].
[edit] Poetry Style
The verse form Bulleh Shah primarily employed is called the Kafi, a style of Punjabi, Sindhi and Siraiki poetry used not only by the Sufis of Sindh and Punjab, but also by Sikh gurus.
Bulleh Shah’s poetry and philosophy strongly criticizes Islamic religious orthodoxy of his day. His poetry is filled with direct attacks, to the point of comparing mullahs to barking dogs and crowing roosters[5].
[edit] A Beacon of Peace
Baba Bulleh Shah's time was marked with communal strife between Muslims and Sikhs. But in that age Baba Bulleh Shah was a beacon of hope and peace for the citizens of Punjab. While Bulleh Shah was in Pandoke, Muslims killed a young Sikh man who was riding through their village in retaliation for murder of some Muslims by Sikhs. Baba Bulleh Shah denounced the murder of an innocent Sikh and was censured by the mullas and muftis of Pandoke. Bulleh Shah maintained that violence was not the answer to violence.
Bulleh Shah also hailed Guru Tegh Bahadur as a ghazi (Islamic term for a religious warrior) and incurred the wrath of the mullas.
[edit] Modern Renditions
In the 1990s Junoon, Asia's biggest Sufi rock band from Pakistan, has also rendered such poems as Aleph (Ilmon Bas Kareen O Yaar) and Bullah Ki Jaana. Bulleh Shah's verses have also been adapted and used in Bollywood film songs. In 2004, Rabbi Shergill successfully performed the unlikely feat of turning the abstruse metaphysical poem Bullah Ki Jaana into a Rock/Fusion song, which became hugely popular in India and Pakistan. Another version was performed by Lakhwinder Wadali titled simply Bullah. Examples include the songs Chhayya Chhayya and Thayya Thayya in the movie Dil Se.
[edit] See also
- Kasur, The City of Saint Bulleh Shah
- List of Punjabi language poets
- Sufism
[edit] References
- ^ The Life of Bulleh Shah
- ^ Bulleh Shah Biography
- ^ 247th Bulleh Shah fair begins Daily Times, August 27, 2004.
- ^ Poems by Bulleh Shah
- ^ "Pakistan at the Crossroads", Tariq Ali, London Review of Books, September 2007
[edit] Works online
- Bulleh Shah poetry
- Articles on Bulleh Shah's life and poetry (apna.org)
- Bulleh Shah: Poems (English translations) and Biography (poetry-chaikhana.com)
[edit] External links
- Littérateurs of the Punjabi Language (sikhspectrum.com)
- Short Biography of Bulleh Shah
- Article on Bulleh Shah's life and poetry (Kasur.20fr.com)
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