When ever I think of Pakistani writers, I have no idea of any famous work or literature that was written in the native language like Sindhi, Pashto, Seiraki, baloch etc other than Urdu from the pre independence period whose works are studied by linguists and academia even today. Care to share a few historic writers whose works are still popular today and studied in literature classes in colleges?
Re: Pakistini Writers
you mean writers from native languages who wrote prior to partition?
There are Chairs of Shah Latif ( 18th Century Sindhi poet) in Karachi and Sindh University Jamshoro, doing research and awarding PhDs on his work. Same is the situation with Baba Bulleh Shah and Waris Shah in Punjab. Khushal Khan Khatak and Rehman's Baba's works are part of academics in KPK's institutes.
Re: Pakistini Writers
Yes. Like in medieval and ancient languages. Academics in India have studied works in Prakrit, pali, old Tamil etc which were written between BC to 1900 AD but they were works in the native language written in scripts no longer used in the same way. I remember learning to read Sanskrit works like dramas and plays and it prakrit and also pieces of old 5-14/1500 AD poems in my old native language in school. The writers of said literature are remembered even today
Re: Pakistini Writers
So basically classical writers who wrote dramas, plays, poems etc .
Re: Pakistini Writers
So basically classical writers who wrote dramas, plays, poems etc .
There were many classic Sindhi writers in our syllabus of FSC Sindhi. Shah Latif has written ( sung 7 folk tales of Sindh) in his poetry and they are part of syllabus in different classes. Other famous Sindhi writers who are part of syllabus include Sachal Sarmast (who did poetry in 7 languages including Urdu in 18th century), Sami (whose poetry is very much like Kabir Das). There are many Marsia go poets (Marsia - Poetry related to incident of Karbala) and the famous Sindhi Marsia-go Syed Sabit Ali Shah is part of syllabus.
Waris Shah is termed as Shakespeare of Punjab who made Punjab's folk tale 'Heer Ranjha' immortal.
Re: Pakistini Writers
Interesting. Can we continue in the same thread or create a new thread for all these writers and info on their lives and works ? I would love to learn more about them :)
Re: Pakistini Writers
we can continue in this thread.
Shah Latif’s works has been translated into Urdu, English, Arabic, French and German Language. Famous German scholar Annemarie Schimmel (who wrote books on Iqbal’s poetry) later worked on Shah Latif’s poetry as well.
Re: Pakistini Writers
An interesting article on Shah Latif’s works comparing work of famous Urdu poet Mir Dard
Review: In quest of spiritual bliss -DAWN - Books and Authors; October 19, 2003
KHWAJA Mir Dard (1721-1785), of Delhi, was the first major Urdu poet to write mystical verse of great beauty while Shah Abdul Latif (1689-1752), of Bhit Shah, Sindh, was the greatest mystical poet of the lower Indus valley. The title of this thoroughly researched book Pain and Grace alludes to the names of these two mystics: Dard, “pain,” and Abdul Latif, translated from the Arabic as “The Servant of the Gracious”.
Both these eighteenth century mystics of Muslim India were deeply steeped in the traditions of sufism, particularly in its Persian expression; both produced exquisite mystical poetry in their mother tongues; both were fond of music and knew the effect of the celestial harmony on man’s heart. This informative study’s title sums up the central ideas of both: that is, that suffering is the prerequisite of spiritual bliss, and that Divine Grace descends upon those who, as Annemarie Schimmel puts it, “rejoice in the tribulations which they undergo while travelling through the constantly shifting sand dunes of this created world, hoping for the city of God at the end of the road.”
Though Mir Dard and Shah Abdul Latif are both poets of the twilight of Muslim India, their approach to the experience of mystical love and gnosis is as different as their native Delhi and Bhitshah.
**
While Dard’s mystical writings are filled with fragrant roses and nightingales, Shah Abdul Latif sings “of the plight of the poor villager, describes the grazing camels and the soft-eyed calves, gracious rain and scalding desert wind”. His music, though indebted to the classical Indian tradition, utilizes the folk songs of Sindh, his home province.
The refined culture of Mughal India set the stage for Dard’s imagery, his music, and his amazing skill in handling both the Persian and Urdu languages. Mysticism ran in his family for he was descended from his father’s side from the central Asian saint Bahauddin, the founder of the Naqshbandi mystic order, and on the mother’s side from Hazrat Ghaus-i-Azam Gilani. His father, Khwaja Nasir Andalib, the author of the Nala-i-Andalib, “The Lament of the Nightingale,” (a voluminous work in Persian on mysticism and theology), had abandoned a high position at court to devote himself to meditation. For some time Dard was in the army but he too gave it up to become “a soldier of God, waging a spiritual war against his lower self”.**
Sama, the celebration of the divine in qawwali or mystic song, had been a major practice of the Chishtiyya and other sufi orders but was frowned upon by the stern, anti-artistic Naqshbandis. Dard differed from strict Naqshsbandi doctrine in his belief in the power of music as an aid to worship. Though a practising mystic with a great reputation for sanctity, he was well versed in music and composed several khayals, thumris, and dhurpads. His musical gatherings, conducted with all due etiquette, were immensely popular with the Delhi elite and it is recorded that even the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II “Aftab” was firmly reprimanded when he inadvertently stretched his leg to relieve a cramp.
Dard’s encyclopaedic prose work, Ilm ul-Kitab, (a comprehensive commentary in Persian on mysticism) is not his only major work; four compelling spiritual diaries allow us to follow his thought almost to the day of his death. His last prayer is the Prophet’s prayer for light, cherished by generations of Muslims.
Dard’s verse achieved considerable popularity in his lifetime even though poetry was only an avocation with this mystic, not a vocation. Unlike his contemporaries he used straightforward language and simple metres in the verses of his comparatively small Urdu divan.
Some of Dard’s puzzled resignation at the transitory nature of earthly existence and indeed the whole mystery of life can be detected in the following haunting final lines of one of his most famous Urdu poems:
Do you know anything of all these folk,
From where they came, and where they went away?
**
Shah Abdul Latif’s wonderful opus, the Shah-jo-Risalo, consists of thirty surs, which deal with different topics. Each of them is named according to the musical mode in which it is sung, and which points to the contents. Each sur has a number of chapters, consisting of irregular number of verses; each chapter closes with a Wa’i, that is, a longer poem with one main line which is repeated, in singing, after every line of the poem.
Many of the Risalo’s surs such as the Sur Sohni Mehanval, “the Beautiful who died swimming” rely upon well-known folk tales. The Lila Chanesar Sur dates back to the time of Jam Chanesar, a Summa ruler in 14th century Sindh. Sur Marvi is based on a historical event in the Thar desert while Sur Kamod is the famous tale of Prince Jam Tamachi’s falling in love with the charming fishermaid Nuri.
In his Risalo Shah Abdul Latif takes up these tragic tales of the Indus valley to transform them into symbols of the soul’s longing for the Divine Beloved, and the soul, always a brave woman, undergoes trials and tribulations on the difficult path to be finally united with her beloved through death.
Sur Sorathi is based upon a Hindu tale from Girnar, Gujarat, while Sur Khahori is written in praise of the Yogis who walk from the village of Ganj Takar near present day Hyderabad to the sacred mountain Hinglaj (an ancient Shiva sanctuary in Balochistan) and suffer every possible discomfort. Annemarie Schimmel points out that “the way Shah Abdul Latif unites his descriptions of sufis and yogis by explaining the wondrous life of Hindu ascetics with Quranic terminology has induced many of his Hindu admirers and interpreters to regard his poetry as a perfect blending of the two religious traditions of India.”
**
From the world of Hindu legends Shah Abdul Latif returns to Islamic subjects in two marvellous Surs, Sarang and Kedaro. While Sur Sarang is a rain song which ingeniously blends the traditional Indian imagery of waiting for rain with the veneration of the Prophet, the immensely moving Sur Kedaro is a powerful threnody for the martyrs of Karbala, and so the first marsiya in the Sindhi language.
Khwaja Mir Dard is buried in a small graveyard inside Delhi near Turkoman gate in what is now a slum area. Shah Abdul Latif is buried in Bhitshah near Hala, north east of Hyderabad Sindh. His beautiful mausoleum is Sindh’s most famous shrine.
Re: Pakistini Writers
There were many classic Sindhi writers in our syllabus of FSC Sindhi. Shah Latif has written ( sung 7 folk tales of Sindh) in his poetry and they are part of syllabus in different classes. Other famous Sindhi writers who are part of syllabus include Sachal Sarmast (who did poetry in 7 languages including Urdu in 18th century), Sami (whose poetry is very much like Kabir Das). There are many Marsia go poets (Marsia - Poetry related to incident of Karbala) and the famous Sindhi Marsia-go Syed Sabit Ali Shah is part of syllabus.
Waris Shah is termed as Shakespeare of Punjab who made Punjab's folk tale 'Heer Ranjha' immortal.
What languages did Sachal Sarmast write in?
Re: Pakistini Writers
What languages did Sachal Sarmast write in?
Sindhi, Urdu, Saraiki, Persian, Arabic, Punjbai and Balochi
Re: Pakistini Writers
Sindhi, Urdu, Saraiki, Persian, Arabic, Punjbai and Balochi
interesting, he knew quite a few languages
Re: Pakistini Writers
interesting, he knew quite a few languages
Arabic and Persian were part of educational institutes (Madarsa). Gulistan and Bostan famous Persian books were part of syllabus till last generation and are still taught in some Madarsas. Sachal Sarmast was based in Darazan, Sindh (Khairpur state) where Saraiki and Punajbi are well understood due to Sufism roots and there are many saints in the area who attracts Mureeds from Punjab as well as Balochistan.
Re: Pakistini Writers
^ I know even my grand parents knew quite a bit of Persian. As far as knowing other languages is concerned, Sindhis are lucky in the aspect that most of them know/understand Seraiki which helps them understand Punjabi (most of it). As far as Balochi is concerned, there has been a lot of affiliation of Baloch's with Sindh as well so makes sense.
Re: Pakistini Writers
Shah Latif wrote about Lila and Chanesar. I had read the story as a kid . In India we get comics called Amar Chitra Katha. This was a story there under the label "A tale from Sindh". I had thought Lila and Chanesar story was set before the Islamic conquest of Sindh because the names are so Hindu sounding. It was only when discussing about the Soomro dynasty, I realized that I was mistaken :)
Re: Pakistini Writers
Are there any works that were not written by mystics/saints and Sufis which were political or social commentary of that era ? What about pre-conquest native Sindhi /Punjabi/Pashto literature? Are there any surviving ?
Re: Pakistini Writers
Shah Latif wrote about Lila and Chanesar. I had read the story as a kid . In India we get comics called Amar Chitra Katha. This was a story there under the label "A tale from Sindh". I had thought Lila and Chanesar story was set before the Islamic conquest of Sindh because the names are so Hindu sounding. It was only when discussing about the Soomro dynasty, I realized that I was mistaken :)
Many of the places mentioned in Shah Latif's 'Moomal Rano' are situated in Jaisalmeer. I read that there are many places (hotels, etc) with the name Moomal. Moomal's palace Kaak Mahal and the river Kaak river (may be it doesn't exist now) are symbol of romanticism in Sindhi Poetry.
Another story from Shah jo Risalo, is Sorath Rai Diyach which relates to JunagaRh and I read that its also popular in India with a different name.
Re: Pakistini Writers
Mirza Qaleech Baig wrote around 400 books during British era (including translation of International Literature into Sindhi). His own novel ‘Zeenat’ about an educated and independent Sindhi woman of 19th centuries is still one of the best sellers in Sindhi and adapted for a drama.
Mirza Kalich Beg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Most of the historical material like Chach Nama, Aain e Akbari, etc were written by conquerors (Arabs).