The Rumi of Kashmir: Mian Muhammad Bakhsh Qadiri (may his secret be sanctified!)

factual error: it is not `azad kashmir`...it is pakistan-occupied kashmir...got it?

another one:

Jay main vaikhaan amlaan valay, kuj nain mairay pallay,
Jay vaikhaan tairee rehmat valaay, ballay ballay ballay!

Asif, you make the first translation of these verses. thanks.

One of my favorite verses is:

Kalli chad kay turr gaya mahi, paa gaya vich fikraan,
Paati leerr purani vaanguun, tung gaya vich kikraan...

It is said that Mian Muhammad Bux is one of the few `non educated` saints of history. But his teachings can match those of any. Truly remarkable verses!

Thanks for sharing it Asif.

Beautiful.

I once had a chance to visit the shrine and indeed, it was entrancing.

Has someone documented the effects of Cryptonite on ``Ullema-o-Mashaikh`` also? What about crosses, garlic, and silver? Hanuman bhagwan is known to have invented the principles of jet propulsion who used to fly setting his tail on fire. What about Ullema?Did they used to set their chughay and amama on fire?

God, 4 years at chowk, and its the first time I have felt sympathy for hamidm. As a matter of fact I am feeling like a mother who rushes towards her son who fell down from his bike hurting his knee. I am so sorry.

Naooz-o-billah-min-zalik.

rozaiba wrote:

>Jay main vaikhaan amlaan valay, kuj nain mairay pallay,
>Jay vaikhaan tairee rehmat valaay, ballay ballay ballay!
>Asif, you make the first translation of these verses. thanks.

An attempt of the top of my head:

If I look at my deeds then I hav nothing to show!
If I see the vastness of Your mercy--bravo, bravo, !

(Though my deeds are worthless Your Mercy O LOrd is so vast that it dwarves my sins and makes them nothing to worry about!)

***
Urstruly bhai? Kya huwa?

ps the myth that mian sahib was an `uneducated sufi` is not true as he has a number of academic works in farsi to his credit which deal with the technical aspects of sufism` i think he even has a book in farsi refuting wahabism too.

I HAVE VISITED THE SHRINE AND IT IS TRULY AMAZING

Most of the poetry he composed is in central Panjabi - majhi dialect whereas the language spoken around the area of Dina is close to potowari. Any reason for it? I`ll leave it to the readers and interactors to make their own judgement although the reason is rather simple.

I`ll not put his poetry at par with Waris Shah`s poetry and the wisdom present therein. Just one verse of him is loaded with wisdom, metaphors and analogies. Unfortunately, I don`t remember the whole couplet. It goes something like:
Waris Shah haithaN rakh takya, kehRa kamm naeeN jo asaan hoya....-:))

Thanks Naqshbandi. Here`s another verse that comes to mind...(am recalling these in between work:) - but i`ll need correcting here- Hazrat Mian Mohammad Bux uses the play of words - `ro` as in sugarcane juice and `ro` as in stay/live or is it `ruh` as in spirit?- correct me if I`m wrong:

Phas gaee jaan shikan day aandar, jeevain bailay vich gana
Ro aakhay, aj ro Muhammad, Jay ravain tay manaan

``past the local town of Dina which lies only 8 km from the famous fort of Rohtas``

Is it true that Dina (pronounced The na) was named by Alexander`s forces, after the Greek goddess of war, Athena?

The Punjabi Sufi poets expression of love is in the temporal sense - love with their beloved or other human beings.

The Mulla does not seem to be very popular in their thoughts - (Waris Shah)

But even here, the Islamists have tried to Islamize or religiousize it - interpreting that the love theme is based on the love of God - and so on.

Ferozesons has published small neat books on all these Sufi poets - giving history and even English translation. It is worth buying the whole set - particularly for those who are living abroad and their children are not aware of this classical Pujabi poetry.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

Here are a couple of more couplets I recall:

Maali da kam paani daina, par par mashkaan paavay,
maalik da kam phal phul loana, laavay ya na laavay...

----------------

Maali baagh dee raakhi kar da, phal kuchay houn ya pakay,
Mera peer mureedaan day sir tay rainda, jchuuttay houn ya sachay...

An evening with Mian Mohammad Bakhsh




By Ashfaque Naqvi


I have never seen Hall II of the Alhamra Cultural Complex as full as it was last Tuesday. It was not a special occasion, just an evening with Mian Mohammad Bakhsh which the Lahore Arts Forum (LEAF) had arranged but the response it received from the public was tremendous.

Looking back from the seat where I was, I could not see any vacant space in any of the rows. And as I left half way through the programme, people were still walking in.

Mian Mohammad Bakhsh did not live long years ago. In fact he died early in the last century. Despite that, there was no one who could give me the correct date of his birth. Shafqat Tanvir Mirza puts it at 1843 while others contend he was born in 1826 or 1830. But since his magnum opus, Saiful Maluk, appeared in 1870 when he was 33 years old, his date of birth, works out to be about 1837.

Scion of a zamindar family of present-day Azad Kashmir, Mian Mohammad spent his life as a faqir. Renouncing the world at the age of 19, he led a life of austerity and never got married. His total concentration was on meditation and literature. But like other faqirs, he did not believe in living in seclusion nor was he oblivious of the downtrodden around him. He was ever ready to help his fellow beings. He was a sufi first and then a poet.

Mian Mohammad was the author of many stories, including Laila-Majnu, Sohni-Mahinwal, Shirin-Farhad, etc., but the first edition of Saiful Maluk appeared in 1870. It had been completed in 1863. Written in the style of a masnawi, it received a warm welcome and became popular not only in Potohar and Azad Kashmir but all over the Punjab. It ran into dozens of editions some of which were published in the Gurmukhi script from Jammu and Patiala.

Going through Saiful Maluk one finds that love and beauty, the hallmarks of Sufi philosophy, are at their peak in the epic. The poet contends that beauty should not only be admired but also loved. He goes on to say that a person devoid of love is worse than a dog. Says he:

Jis dil andar ishq na rachda kuttey us tin changey

Mian Mohammad`s epic is replete with universal truths. The poet has referred to them repeatedly:

Sada na bagin bulbul boley sada na bagh baharan
Sada na husn jawani rehndi sada na sohbat yaranSada na lat charaganwali sada na soz patangan
Sada na hathin mehndi ratti sada na chankan wangan

Mian Mohammad has made full use of his pastoral background and picked up similies and imageries from rustic life. Some of these are not only appropriate but also thought provoking:

Neechan di ashnayi kolon kisey nahin phal paya
Kikar tey angur charaya har guccha zakhmaya

The path of meditation has never been a walkover for a devotee and Mian Mohammad also had to face many ordeals:

Pani bharan panhariyan vano van gharey
Bharya usda janiye jida tor charey

Apart from talking about the beauties of Mian Mohammad`s poetry, speakers that evening paid tribute to Sharif Sabir for his effort in discovering the original copy of Saiful Maluk published in 1870. He not only corrected its mistakes but also got it published. In addition, he gave the meaning of the difficult Gojri words at the end of each page. A demand was also made that cheaper editions of Saiful Maluk be published for wider circulation.


(From Feature section of today`s Dawn)