Punjab is
not only great but is also vast and varied. Punjab, the land
of five rivers, is very fortunate in having developed and
cherished, since centuries, a long and glorious tradition
of a composite culture. It seems to have been evolved and
enriched by a galaxy of God-intoxicated men who belonged to
various faiths and creeds, such as Hindu saints, Sikh Gurus
and Sufi fakirs. Their mystical songs, in particular, are
the pride of the whole Punjab and form a common and invaluable
heritage of all Punjab''''s.
The lyrical effusions of those blessed men, incidentally,
gave birth to a distinct stream of the poetry of this land,
called Sufi Kavya-Dhara, which inherits a rich and long literary
tradition. The content and form, scope and standard as well
as the flow of masterly beauty of Farid Bani, which has come
down to us through the grace of Guru Granth Sahib, is a proof
of this ''''Dhara'''' having been in vogue about seven centuries
ago.
It was developed by Shah Hussain during the sixteenth
century and raised to its pinnacle by Bulleh Shah during the eighteenth
century. Its downfall began after Hashim Shah during the second
half of the nineteenth century. It was, however, kept flowing
by Maulvi Ghulam Rasul, Syed Miran Shah and Khwaja Ghulam
Farid during the next few decades.
Most of all major poets of Punjab have, more or less, been
influenced by it. Its influence on the Non-Muslim mystic poets
of the first half of the twentieth century viz. Sant Rein,
Sadhu Daya Singh, Paul Singh Arif, Man Singh Kalidas and Kishan
Singh Arif is quite evident. Even the poets of the modern
period, including Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957), the father of
modern Punjabi literature, have also imbibed its impact.
Sheikh Farid-ud-din, (1173-1265) was the first Sufi poet who
"sang of his insatiable hunger for the love of the Lord
in works of immortal beauty".
Farid''''s message had a wide humanitarian base and a broad human
approach. In an age marked by the great brutality, he brought
the touch of humanity and fellow feeling to all.
Farid was also the first poet of Punjab and Punjabi who used
the symbol of human relationship between wife and husband
to express his longings for union with the Divine.
The kafis (lyrics) of Shah Husain (1538-1599), the
popular romantic Sufi saint of Lahore added to Sufi poetry its peculiar
element of masti (rapture) and introduced enraptured dancing
and passionate signing.
Hussain was also the first Sufi poet of Punjabi who adopted
the popular measure of Kafi to express his mystic ideas. The
credit of introducing the element of the popular love-legends
of Punjab (Heer Ranjha and Sohni Mahiwal) to Sufi Verse and
utilizing their persons, places, motifs and incidents as images,
metaphors and