,"

Cho.12 t er Se_y.~.!1

Folklore of Punjab

267

Folkl~~re. of'p'unjab is a mirror th,!).t reflects

Punjabi life. Folk songs are not the result of a,poet's

mental effort. 'These are not ,composed in any particular

style. Folk songs are, expressionp of ,the sense and

spirit viz-a-viz expressions ofde.ily life. An extempore

e,xpression rythmically couched in tone and tune reflec;ting

a cultural trait of a comcunity acquires the form of a

song and flows on tho lips and becomes folklore.

One cannot fi:;~ a particular pll?ce or time of the 0')

birth of a folksong. Howeve:r, one cp..n generally say

that the Punjabi ,Folklore should have started du.rin~ ,

the time of Punja,bi sufis, 'J who used i i· to popularise ,

the word of God omong " the masses of 'Punjab.

The '1 anguage of Punjabi folksongs is the ru:t"al

language of Punjob, the songs being en"essential and

inescapable port of' the rural',life. The sturdy youth of

:Punjab, the broD-<i shouldered oldman and .theheaJ.thy

'child of Punjab sings .. he:p.' he horvests a crop or follows

h1s ploughing bulls or, weJ.ks as aJ>c()wherd behind his cows

and buffalow~, making the rural scone musical with his

lore.

268

Pcrsin.n words occur in the folksongs of Punjab

as a naturcl part of the Punj abi langucge •

. ' J J(

, . l 269

~.~ ~ JJ'; ~ 1.1\.;;/ .J.JI~"i t~J'-A~~~~ ~I _ , '. ~ ,.A •

/' " ~~

rlJ.2.~J»~~!.-/ - t,S~~~U>§ •. 'J\ ",

'" ," 1

f ' ./ ~~'-- ' /' I~d-~~~/}JJ.~~- <-~ j?V:' ~ d-O.lJ~ <J~ ! J c.....:y J ~ '" -./ ~ ./', "'" ------- ..-.--.... . -

"\

Main kinds of Punjabi Folksongs

Funjabi folksongs Qonsist of the follq,\,l ing main kinds:-

, I

1. Sithrii, Ghorian, Suheg, Gaon.

These are ~hc popular songs ?u~g on'the occasion of

marriage on th~ tunc of 'dhola~'. These consist of ~

felicitations, jokes, taunts end love. ,

2. Syapa, 'Vain, lYlehndi

Syapa ;s .~ ry-thrnic exercise of be ating breast, he ad and

thighs and singing elegies on the death of <3: Y0';Ulgnian.

Vain literally me[U1S wails. Meh..'1di signifies a custom of

applying a bridcgr;)om's ma.ke-up to a dead body of a

young man and sing elegies standing 2xound the 'body.

Persian words have penetr::1tc d' even in the de ath wails

The r~rol singers known&s Dh~is sing praises of a

br?Lve hero' with long .and ioud tq,nes.,

. -4 .. Jhoke. .1

, , . A' jhoke usuo.l.l.y contains references to Shimr,'~azrat

I

'. Imam Huss~in~ ~{azr,e.t Ali, ,Fatima Zahra.. Due to ,this

religious element 'Persian words are freely used: ., - -, - - - • - ~ -- <

-. !.'

· \

272~ ,

\ ~ ~;yI \:..t~<!~· oJ:? 0-::'~ \.? d.\:;j·d~ <Y.Yr <S /»'. Ij,/ ..

" .. -, ........ ~ ---I - ....." - '. . .-...' '~ .••.•. o:~ ~ .. '. ~·5·-~-··~ :c:Jt{~ U};-~···Y·~' r-~A·

-- ,~ " ,1,:- - ~-

- .: c:::., ) ~0'

5 ~ Dhole ... , ' IVle.l~ict, 0 Jipdvo ,'T2.PPE:, Relu.n, Rasiya

an d J:, c,c hhi •

. Those forms £'X0 very popular "in'tho 'v~llaties of Punjap'.

lVIahiya h~!.s been v;ritton by innumerable poets and people. ~ ~ - ,-

, -' All these forms of folklore are printed on n~,wsI>!,int,_,._ .. _~ _

oanp, soJ,rl in Punjab: --I ,

~ 6.' ,Question -Ariswcrq and Riddles.

,These ~fcn:-ms"in Punj abi were wri t'te:n, on the. patternaf

- • Persian and ~on,tain ~ersie.n words:-' ,:/ , J I ~U,)b 'LIla 'j" \ C) ~ _ .~) •• -/: l~ I t-'! '··e, ~ \.~

U 0 C\ c::,..;....../ jJ '-T':'~ \~ .,. t. . -"",,'''''' -U. """----- : ... r l' V ~ - .'-.", .~" .)x / ;'l~, .' <. ',' w/ ~. ';y, 0

01,')J~ e''/'J::? 9jJ.L'-'}t[~ 0~0j_,U.L> c -, ~~,I.? -"""'. _~1

. Question-Answers somet,imcs a£.qUirod.., the form of repartees

. . an-d were knm-ln as' 'Chotan t.: A numoer of PerS:lan words'

appe air in t,his fo;,m of folklore. For i~st 8llce: - .

/' Baba Taj said:

"

27.4

~'

;;;: \t.. (~ \:> ':-:"d L' :u.) ~ ..> ~ .... ". 1 / ,r- ,/ "" ------, - . ./

c.;..- ~ _'~ e, ~ ~, U;J· :/J..>V.J.) '\, ------ ~ ~

~ '~, r~t ..( u ~ 1.) (3 V' ~ ~ 0:./ . ,--d--J ... 1L) L~o, _:d'~.) o~" "'-J"

~ , l ~ . " ' .

275

Two fnmous P<unje.hi folkp0cts Char~h Daftar;i.(d.,o.':Jw'~ ;~, '~ , ( ,. .t>'I<~

• • -.J. )

and Che..nan Shah once mocked at a· pc:rson d.s'.rk in <

cOlour'in these wcrds. Note th~ Persian words in

." Folk Tales of Punjab

~ F6lkt-alcs " form an impOrtClllt part of the ncrrative

p,oetry in Punjebi literature. Evj.dentlY ,these were ,

mostly, written under the influenc,G ,of Persian . Masnavi.

Persian Masnavi become popul~ in India in and after 'i:d

• ,the Ghazanvi' perind. I 'The p,atterns for PUnja,bi were

set by -Persian ShWnarna' of Firdausi, Yusuf. Zulaikha of t.... -

Jami, and Khamsa of Nizami GMjawi.' 'Persian Masnavi

cont e..ined tales of romance', myst ic ond qthicaJ.

statements as w-ell as deeds of vclour. Punjabi followed

suit and P~njabi poets produced romances, epi9 poetry

ccUled' IWers " ncx_ro.tivcs "of prophets kn<:,wn as 'Gulzers',

narratives full o:f pain end pathos. ab(jut the martyrdom

of Hazrat Imam Hussain and his heroic effort in war

, 276

known as f Jang Nama t and last b'ut riot the least ~

'Merajnamas f about the cruciSJ.. spiri tuaJ. f'light of . , .

the, holy pnophet' to t he highest of the heavens I Arsh I • ",..

, Here tno the,pattern was already set by Pcrsie~ . ., . - '

, Merajnamas compose,<i ,by Nizami ·Ganjnvi, Amir ~Khusr.::.u"

Jami, Faizi 'Urfi etc •

. PunJabi fo~k tales e.ngul;f almost all forms of

.. : Punjabi poetry such as Shahbad, Shlok, Chhand, Kabit,'

War, Kaf'i, etc.

In thE) ,'lords of Vi,jay Chauhan*. 'Folk romances of

Punjab are an e,utobiogr~~phy of the Punjabi people, \ .

ref'lecting ,the 'Various ph,ases. in -:the evolution of" the i

Punjabi ethos - with,its distinctive cultural. traits

and emotional responses. Their land having be,en the

theat~e of' history f'or centuries, P~njabis" had the

, ' u.nique opportunity of going' through the process of'

acculturation based on a blending of' the Greek, Persian,

Arab and Centr'al Asian tradition in ;!-anguage, music,

food, cul turGl v:al.ues, and other characferisti~s.

- -.-.-.-.-.~.-.-~-.~.-.-.-.~.-.-.~.-~-.-.-.-.-.~.-.-.-.-

* Punjabi Ethos ravie"! of iK. S. Duggal' s ,book Folk , ,

Romances of'Punjab Sunday StA.pdard New Delhi dt.28.10.79 ,j ".'-

,-- -;, . "'~'~/~.... -~ -.-.-.-,~~~.-~-~-.-.-.-w-~-.-~-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-

277

In the area between the Sind, Chenab and Jhelum

riyers floLlrished the cattlc-o'V1l1ing tribes:, vlarriors,

farmGrs, merchants :::'-'1d crt isans. rJIany legends have

MahhHlls (buffalo' 'grazers) and camel-"riders as the.ir \

heroes.

He adds, 'The great love romances of Central Asia

acted as a source of inspiration to 'the bards of Punjab

in going against'th? ta.boos and in:qibitions -imposed' on

,the Indican muse, by the Brahma.nical society and its

perverted ethic.

They' blazed. a new trail in Indian literature by

creating for the first time a consistently secular and

huma.ni~t literature. The heroes and heroines are imbued

with the' dauntless Punjabi spirit of defiance in their

the odds. j ,

/

Th~ popularity a..'1l0ng the entirePunj abi spe e..king

popul~ion has never waned ''lith the pass age of time. I '

The love of Heer Rcnjha, Sassi Punnun, and Sohni Mahiwal

cuts acr,oss the barriers of coste status and. even

-no.t ionality .. Penetr::ltion of Persian vocc.bulsi-ies in

{:t}' J

278

the so romcince s h."3.S be en illustratGd in a previous

chapter. The 'ze21 of vlriting thoso tDles excc'eded

its limits ~~d the PunJabi poets started writing

tho oft-repeated tc.les in Persi.8.n itscl,f.. Dr. Mohd.

Bnqir has introduced' these tales in Persien written in

. Mnsn.evi form, in his v~"-J..u<-ble Urdu book . Punjabi

Qisse Farsi Zabon Mein' * ~ Khwa~a Abdul Hamid Irfani

has introduced thom in Persian'in his book,Dastanhai

Ishq~-e-;P akist on**. '

The outstanding romonces of Punjz.b composed in

Pcrsian are' ,four :.-

1. Sassi Punnun

2. MJrza Sahibe~

3. Heer Ranjha

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-* Published in Lahore 1957

** Published by Ibn-c_Sinn Tehran 1340

-. -. -. - • -. -. - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - .'- • ~. --I -. - e. - • - • - .,,- • -: ~ - • - • - • -

279

o

H0erRanjho. is the most popular in Punjab.

v/hile" Pur.jo.bis enjoyed rc"ading Persian Mfl.Snavis like

Laila Me.jnun 8.l'ldKhusrow Shirin ,oTri tten by Persian ~~"~-~.'"~'-~-==--:C-~~ -=-:C"~- ."---"--~-~-~-~.--~--

poets, they .... Troto love t3.los of P.unjr:.b in Persian for

the joy of P8rsi2~ ~nQwing Indians ~~ Persi~ speaking

Dranians end Afghans. Each t p..le was "rendered into

persi~ by a number of ~unjabi poets. Persian had such

a deep influence on Pll.njabi that often PlUlje.bi poe'ts \

wrote in Persien, or at least uscd Persian words.

-Persian construct"ions ,and words in Punjabi ,were consi-

dered sign of eloquence." Many poets who were b~icaliy

poets of Punj e.bi ,.,rote Pe;rsi on verses. For inst Mce

Ate. Mohammad Zeere.k livine in e."v.illege o.f Punja.b wrote

'Arzung-e-Ishq"la bec.~tiful rriasnavi in Persian ElXl.d

said: - )1

280

Arzang-e-Ishq is the romanc.eof Sohni and Mahiwal in

Persian. " "- . ~ ~ <" ~ •

We to.bulat~ 'beJ:ow varicu.s PLinjabi ",Folk toJ.es

rendered by Pu.nj abi poet s in Persian.

, ~Sessi Purtman

1. Dastu.r-e-J:shq py Munshi Jot Parkash in 1136 AH

(1723 AD)

2. Nama-e-I/?hq by Mu.nshi Inde:r:jit 'in 1140 AH (1727 AD)

3. Waqa-e-punnu.n by' Mohd. Hussein and Shehbez in

4. Sassi-Punnun'by ~arah Bakhsh Farhat in 1256AH

II. Mirza. Sahiban

1. Sham-e::"Mahci'il by Taske en ;in 1145 AH (1732 . AD)

2., Qisse-G-~irza Va Sahibari by Khairullah Fida in

III. Heer Ranjha , , ,

1. Afsana~-Dilpaz.ir by, Saeed Saeedi from 1037~1068 AH

(1628-1658 AD)

281

" 2. "rvlosnf.;.vi Heer Ranjha' by Mir Mohd. Mu.rad Lflik Jaunpuri

in~ 1096 ,AH (-

6c

3. Ishqia-G-Punje.b by .Mee'ta Chenabi in 1110 AH

4. He~r' Ranjho. by Shah FaqirullE'..hAfrin in 114'3 AH

: (1730 .... 31 AD).

" 5. Mesna.vi .Yakta by Ahmed Yar Khan Yakta in 1147 Ali

(-1134-35 AD).. , .

6. Gulshan-e-Raz-e-Ishqo Wafa by Sund~rDas Aram

in. 1171 AH (l757 AD) • . 7. Nigarin _Nama by Kanhya Lal. Hindi in 1881 AD.

Dr Sohni Mahiwel

Sal.ell . 1. Masn~:::.vi, Sohni lVIahhral ~y LS~ l.n 1258 AlI (1841 AD)

2. Masnavi Arzang-e-Ishq by Shaikh Ate.. Mohd·. Zeerak /

in 1276AH ( 1859 AD)

3. Qand Laz~at by Sh~ikh Najmuddin Miskin in

-1248 AH (1867 iUl) o

>

f3esides these Punj abi poets Hecr Ranjha. was

written byMi~ Az'imuddin Azim Tatc:!.vi; Mi;r Zia-ud-Din

Zia Tattav{;" ~ Azad Sindhi; .Nawab Wali Moh::mtmad Khan

282

~aghe.ri; Qdir Bakhsh Bedil; He,yat .Je-n Beqi end Mir.

Sassi Punnun~was ilso written' under the:'title' c

ZebaVa Nigar by MohC!..Raz.a R~ai, unde:r;- the title

Toor-e-Ishq by Mohd. Salamat. Ali K~cn Salami, under

tho, tit lqMc.snavi Hu,sn-0-Naz by Syed Mohd. Bhakkari ;

and under the: title Shahheed-e-NaJzi by -oQazi· Murtaza

SUrti.

Evano the catal~ugi'6t of the Asiatic Society (Bengal.)

Library has- given a,'·note t;l.bout Heer Ranjha at S.No.918

as follows:.

I A version of an Indi an' love' story Heer and Re..njhan . . , t

{or .Ranjhe), its ()riginal wes ",:n,'3:. ~omposed in .. Hindi., ~

by Dam.odarand it was Itranslc:tc d into . Persian by kfr-in

(d •. ,at. Lehore~ .in 1154. AH (174,1 ADJ. bycrllans'a-Ram Munshi'­

in 1157 Ali ( 1744 AD) and 'also "by 'Minnat r.

Evano is not co~rect that Heer was written- _ in .

Hindi 'if he is not using the term in its old sense.

Damodar as we have seen and'quoted 9nrlier was a Punjabi

and wrote it in Punjabi only.

I.

. .'

283

Those folk t el.es 'ref'lec~ Punjabi life. They cant FI,in

ref'erences to Afghans, J.Vh.~ghE'.ls, Hind us, Sikhs, farmers,

cattle-grazers,' Naw2.bs, bC~1.tmcn end the names of' t

ci~ies and countries like Balkh:, BukharE\., "Kabul, I

Qandhar, Sicl.k.ot, Gujrat, Jhe...l1g, Iran etc. They speak

of' festivals, natural scenery and'pangs of' separation.

Punje.bi Panegyrics

Th,ere is rich contribution of P0rsian Qasida . " ) \

writers to the Persian literature. They praised their

guardians and kings. Punjabi poets 6J.so came

__ under. the influence of this. form . of . .poetry-..Howeyer,. -

Punjabi poets did n?t got the royal patronage. Nor

was Funjabi mind fond of pre-ising someone at tre cOst cf .." "

re spect. Therefore t we do not ha're any Qasidas in .;

Pun~abi. A Siharfi by Jaafar B~g ~n praise of' MaharaJa

Ranji t Singh is avail'able. It was, written in 1839 qr

1840 AD. A hand written copyof' it is safe with Sent I

!n~er Singh Chakravarty.

, Jaafer Beg's language contains a" number of Persian,

l

words. We ~ave un~erlined them in the following verses.

<t~, addition t,o this P~njabi f'olk liter~ture has praises -

o£ the holy prophet and GhausUl Aazam, cru.led 'Madah'

and ~lso'Manajat!

Persian vocabularies ere n~ticeable in/these. A " '

; Ma.d,ah ~ by Shah Zarif' ,Laho~i (1034 t,o 1110 'AH I It a It , t= I t ~,8"" _ A~) and a Manajat by Musa (twelft~h century Hijri)

, '

arc given 9.8 specimens: . , ' c.AJ-,.·,

,-' (.!:: /~e.kU~~~ 0! );;' ~~ u U-.f J' 0~;y\l:!.)J.I>U)cY y~(j~<;l,/ r l.j\i! U~ ~Jj

\I 't _'- ~ ,----to /'" ' ,/ /'/. U -') <...J \.;J); , .;. ~ L-.b ......... ~ h \

<-IL-~;> WUYr,_Ud-.~./~:, '~','~ ~~. A 0 . ~~

, ,

'~ ( , IWars or . Waren ' in J?unjabi form epic poetry. 'In

Punjabi it means to strike or to be sa.c~if:i.ced.

~

·Invasions of Punjab =i:n the eighteenth century made folk

singers of Punjab sing praises of the~r love brave heroes.

Usually tl':e Viars were sung in blenk verse but various . / . The

leng~uage of,.War is simple, sweet and strong. Usually .,

sword is praised in the beginning and its kinds are"

enumerated sucl; as Gujrati, He.J.bi, cD,urrani, Marpichij . ~.... ..

etc • After that the des crip; i~)n" of . horse r s equipment

is given with similies. Persian words' are·vc~y much,

present in wars. , ~.

We have pointed 0Ut' the Persian influence on these

in previOUS chapt ere.