WARIS SHAH’S BATTLE AGAINST MULLAH SHAHI

If I were the US ambassador I would have certainly made it to Waris Shah’s 212th anniversary because he is the most adored Punjabi poet and was the most articulate ideologue against ‘mullah shahi’.

‘human love’ is not based on good looks but on being humble and serving

by Dr. Manzur Ejaz

In his first encounter with Heer, Ranjha teaches the arrogant and pampered daughter of the feudal chief that ‘human love’ is not based on good looks but on being humble and serving the needy.


If I were the US ambassador I would have certainly made it to Waris Shah’s 212th anniversary because he is the most adored Punjabi poet and was the most articulate ideologue against ‘mullah shahi’. He used the epic story of Heer Ranjha to critique the entire system of the feudal era in which mullah shahi played a key role. Waris had an ideological edge over his competitors like Damodar Das who, being the pioneer of the poetic version of Heer Ranjha, was much more skilful in dramatic depiction.
If Waris Shah could look at the world today, he would be smiling to see that in many countries women can wed the person of her choice irrespective of caste, creed or economic status. However, he would weep at the sight of contemporary Punjab, where he might be killed for criticising mullah shahi within hours of the critique. He would also be howling to witness honour killings and all other kinds of tortures meted out to women in his beloved Punjab. He would be astonished to see that in most areas of his land the Heer of today does not enjoy the freedom that his Heer of the medieval period was granted. 
Though Waris Shah wove his story around a disaffected artistic-minded Ranjha, a flutist, and Heer, a strong-willed daughter of a feudal chieftain, he critiqued the key institutions of society that do not respect individual choice. Waris Shah expanded the horizon of the folktale of Heer Ranjha by explaining the core issue: that a woman cannot marry a person of her choice because of a system plagued by tribalism, caste discrimination, religion, corruption and other prevailing regressive forces. Therefore, Waris Shah makes it clear in the beginning that he is creating a new version of Heer (Qissa Heer da nawañ bañrhaaiye ji). 
Unlike his predecessors who started the tale on idealistic notions, Waris Shah concentrated on the role of property in society. After the death of his father, Ranjha’s brothers are jealous of him because of the deceased’s affection for him, manoeuvre the system of justice and give him barren land. The Qazi, who used to have control over the revenue and system of justice along with the village Panchs — headmen — were bribed by Ranjha’s brothers. 
Wadhi day kay bhoaiñ day bañrhay waris banjar zamin Ranjaithe nooñ aai hae (They became the owner of the cultivable land through bribery while Ranjha was given the barren land).
Throughout the story, Waris Shah depicts the qazis as the most corrupt persons who always collaborate with the feudal lords against the common people. In fact, Waris was harshly criticising the Mughal era system of justice that was based on a network of qazis, appointed on the basis of religious education.
After criticising the corruption-ridden society of Takht Hazara, Ranjha’s native village, Waris Shah takes him to a mosque, which sheltered travellers. Ranjha plays the flute in the mosque to attract everyone in the village but the mullah. A very few historians mention that the mosque was a contested place between mullah shahi and sufis from Baba Farid to Khawaja Farid. The Qazi of Pakpattan had lodged a complaint against Baba Farid alleging that he listens to music and dances in the mosque. Most probably Waris Shah was an affectionate follower of Baba Farid and must have had him in mind through Ranjha debating the mullah. Waris Shah, through describing the long detail of curriculum taught to the mullahs makes it certain that he is debating not only a village mullah but also the entire system of mullah shahi. He concludes that mullahs are evil forces clinging to the house of God.

“Waris Shah, Khuda diañ khaniañ noon eeh mullah bhi chambray hain blaiñ” (Waris Shah, mullahs are evil forces clinging to God’s place).

Waris Shah does not spare the greedy business class that worships money. 

Through Ranjha’s encounter with the boat owner, who declares that “we give a damn about God and we only work for money”, Waris Shah shows how the mullah and the mallaah (boatman) say the same thing about common people, though one uses God’s name and the other negates it. For Waris Shah, the mullah was a parasite and the mallaah was a vulture, playing a similar role in society. 
In his first encounter with Heer, Ranjha teaches the arrogant and pampered daughter of the feudal chief that ‘human love’ is not based on good looks but on being humble and serving the needy. In the opening dialogues between Heer and Ranjha, Waris Shah defines what real human love is and how to achieve it. 
Through Ranjha’s servitude to Heer’s father, the chief of the tribe, Waris Shah exposes the contradictions of the feudal system. For example, Heer’s father dismisses Ranjha when her daughter’s love story starts making the rounds but when his herd of buffaloes cannot be managed he tells his wife that they have to overlook the affair till Heer is married. Depiction of the villain, Kaidoo, is also used by Waris Shah to taunt the hypocritical feudal boasting about honour but ignoring it when his self-interest is at stake. 

While criticising the system, Waris Shah rejects the institution of joag as well, which teaches the abandonment of the world. When the head jogi, Balnath, asks Ranjha to go beg and consider every woman as his mother or sister, Ranjha rebuts: “I have adopted joag for the love of a woman, how can I consider every woman as my sister or mother?” For Waris Shah the individual has to fight the system and giving up is not the solution. In this backdrop, through a debate between Ranjha and Sehti, Heer’s sister-in-law, Waris Shah criticises the theories of social science, clichés and commonly held beliefs. 

Waris Shah’s tomb has been upgraded from a neglected grave where the anniversaries were celebrated by busloads of activists from Lahore. Now, the Waris Mela has become very huge but his message has been ignored: there are even fewer people in the rural areas that read Waris Shah’s Heer. Waris Shah has been embraced as a ‘pir’ but not as a thinker. But Amrita Pritam’s wailing is still haunting:

“Aj aakhaañ Waris Shah nooñ, kitoñ qabrañ wichooñ bol” (Today I would beseech Waris Shah to speak from the grave).

The writer can be reached at manzurejaz@yahoo.com

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Source: Wichaar  

Title Image: Pakistaniat 

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PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE PUNJAB: HUMANISM AND EQUALITY

IDEOLOGICAL EXTREMES & SEARCH

FOR ALTERNATIVES

by Dr. Manzur Ejaz

Islamic extremism is not new in the subcontinent: At one time even the Emperor Akbar, the most liberal among Mughal rulers, was forced to ban alcohol under the pressure of the religious establishment. However, at that time the difference was that an alternative ideology was also evolving, but this is not the case in the political discourse of today. The Pakistani state has successfully created a disconnection from the tradition of an alternative ideology by promoting the religious version of the ruling Muslim elites – most Muslim rulers were conservative Sunnis – and Mullahs.

The alternative ideology in the Punjab started with the Chishtia’s challenge to the establishment through the rebellious poetry of Baba Farid-ud-din Masood Ganj-e-Shakar (1175-1266). Baba Guru Nanak, following this tradition, critiqued the political economy as well as the system of ideas prevailing in both Hindu society and ritualistic Muslim religion. Nanak negated the political system more directly than anyone else had done in the Punjab before him.

Baba Nanak (1469-1539) was very methodical in his intellectual discourse. In his Japji Sahib, he undertook the rebuttal of the presumptions of the Hindu religion and its philosophy. He negated the Muslim practice of ritualistic practices, but because of Islam’s monotheism his criticism of it was not as harsh as it was against Hinduism. Furthermore, since he absolutely negated casteism and gender differentiations, his main target was Hindu philosophy and its practices. Probably, this is the reason that Muslims wanted to bury him according to Islamic tradition.

On the political level Baba Nanak’s main criticism was against foreign invaders and their religious pretensions. Baba Nanak is the only poet who described the invasion of the Mughal Emperor Babar, (1483-1531). He observed that Babar did not differentiate between Indian Muslims and Hindus and dishonoured their women indiscriminately. According to him, Babar arbitrarily destroyed mosques and mandirs. In conclusion he sums up:

Pap ki jañj ley Kablooñ dhaia, jori mañgay dan vey lalo

[Image right: First Mughal Emperor Zaheer-uddin Babar]

([He] mounted an invasion with his sinful party (army) and he demands donations by force)

Baba Nanak also provided a deep insight into the exploitative economic and social systems in India. This was one of the main reasons that he attracted so many Punjabi artisans to his teachings. The class of poor Jat peasants joined him at a later stage. Baba Nanak’s complete comprehension of the system became the basis of a religious and nationalist resistance in the Punjab, while the works of Sufis were not able to induce an organized movement that could sustain itself. This had positive developments in the Punjab as far as putting an end to the invaders from the North was concerned, but Sikhism lost its edge in due course because it became just another organized religion with all the usual ritualistic aspects. Nonetheless, this negative development does not diminish Baba Nanak’s significance as a thinker espousing an alternative ideology to the one enforced by orthodox Islam and Hinduism.

A PEACOCK STORY

 The Tale of a Mound in Harrapa

by Umair Ghani

   One of world’s most renowned archeologists, Sir John Marshall reacted with sudden surprise when he saw the famous Indus Bronze Statuette of a slender limbed “Dancing Girl” in Mohenjo-daro:

“When I first saw them I found it difficult to believe that they were prehistoric; they seemed to completely upset all established ideas about early art and culture. Modeling such as this was unknown in the ancient world up to Hellenistic age of Greece, and I thought, therefore, that some mistake must surely have been made, that these figures had found their way into levels some 3000 years older than those to which they properly belonged...”

   Similar thoughts permeated my being in front of a huge mound in Wahniwal, as I witnessed unearthing of a small piece of pottery with a beautifully drawn figure of subcontinent’s most cherished fowl: a peacock. Sheer awe besieged me. I heard Zubair Ghouri’s victorious yell. I watched his dance of euphoria and triumph in a state of ecstatic delirium. “What a way to end a day!” he cried out loud and ancient winds carried his words to me years across the dust covered mound.

   I felt that eternal satisfaction surge through my whole being which comes while witnessing an accomplishment. I was part of this discovery.  I was member of a team which had found this beautiful piece of terracotta pottery that remained buried for several thousand years in oblivion. I touched and felt the rough clay figurines which carried primeval tales of the earliest settlers on these soils.

   I and Zubair Ghouri had only arrived at Qutabpur a day before. Spurred by excitement to visit ancient Harappan sites by the side of the dry course of river Ravi and Beas, Ghouri had consented to take me along on one of his very personal explorations of Indus Valley sites. Ghouri, the author of a significant book in Urdu titled Ravi Kinary Ki Harappai Bastiyan [Harappan Settlements on the Banks of River Ravi], loves to talk about his earlier discoveries in Balochistan, Sindh and now in Punjab. Since this was our maiden venture, he was hesitant to deliver scholarly opinions in response to my incessant queries. “I am still in the dark. The evidence is insufficient. It will be too early to establish any authentic opinion on the basis of excavations at Harappa and Moenjodaro only,” he said; as we eagerly started eating Halwa in guest room of Qutabpur railway station, which Ahmed Bukhsh, the station master offered us as a token of gratitude for Ghouri Sahib’s gracious presence.

   Tea tasted even better. I sipped it down my cold stomach in big swallows. Wintry winds howled outside cutting through the silence of the dark wintry night. Charpoys felt cozy and I dozed off amid dreams of ancient voices and figures dancing all around me.  

   Fog and cold descended stealthily on the mound near Qutabpur cemetery. Probably to guard hush of the ages that laid buried there. ‘Twenty Minutes, Umair sahib,” said Ghaouri as he began to reveal secrets of the dead, “You’ll find surprises awaiting you, but we need to be at Wahniwal before noon!” I looked around with shy curiosity of a bewildered child. Suddenly aware of my presence amid silence and secrets of an epoch now lost forever, shrouded in a deep and mysterious hush, waited me to approach and break the silence. With cautious steps of a dazed explorer, I moved above the mound. Shreds of pottery crunched and creaked under my heavy boots.  Ghouri was busy looking for objects of his particular interest.

    Occasionally he would pick up some portion of ancient pottery and after a close observation would place it into plastic bags [which he carried in abundance] with great care. “What is this,” I pointed to a tiny round piece which apparently looked like fragment of plaster of Paris. “Steatite Bead!” said Ghouri, “also called burial beads and sometimes termed as ankle beads. You’ll find them at almost every mound we visit.” With quivering hands I touched that object from antiquity and watchfully placed it in a synthetic bag which Ghouri Sahib had offered with great bounty. I spotted a piece of stone, sharpened at one edge like a blade, probably used as a knife. And then through Ghouri’s guidance learned my first on field lessons in anthropology.

   Looking down consistently, with observant eyes proved to be a tedious task, but the fear to miss something significant was more tiring. My gaze remained glued to the ground and I did reap rewards for that. Ghouri Sahib occasionally glanced back and encouraged me with satisfactory nods.

   We arrived at Fojianwala a little later. This mound had a considerable spread. Pottery shred scattered on the surface and I found myself bamboozled in the age old kid’s game of Yasu, Panju, Lal, Kabutar, Doli…a kid’s game but a riddle of never ending times. What I found there, too was a riddle of never ending time.