Unfinished epic of grief & shame

Amarjit Chandan

Punjab never saw peace in its three-millennia history, except for a brief spell of 50 years of the Punjabi raj under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Foreign aggressors ravaged it for centuries. Its partition on the basis of religion in 1947 was the last straw whose magnitude and scale of tragedy is unprecedented in human history.  

Punjabis remember 1947 as the year of wadde raule (the great upheaval), fasad, vandara (division) rather than of azadi. Partition was such a traumatic experience that even after the passage of time, it is difficult to comprehend and grasp its full essence. It is more problematic with creative writers and artists. 

My category of Punjabi literature includes all literature written by Punjabis in any language. The bulk of the Partition literature is in Punjabi (in Gurmukhi and Farsi scripts) in the form of fiction. Most of the poetry has the common theme of nostalgia and lamentation. It is worth mentioning that unlike Intizar Husain and Jon Ilya, ‘UPite’ Urdu writers, no Punjabi Muslim writer has taken the ideology of Pakistan — based on the misconceived Two-Nation Theory (TNT) — to its metaphysical level in terms of the Promised Land. Daman daringly called the TNT as a “load of shit” (Aseen aa gaye vattvani de rorh hethan).

Partition inspired very few poems. Poet Navtej Bharati calls it the ‘silence of collective shame’. Major poets like Dhani Ram Chatrik, Bawa Balwant, Nand Lal Nurpuri, Pritam Singh Safir, Devinder Satyrathi, Tara Singh and Habib Jalib did not write any poem on 1947. Only Hindu painters painted the tragedy, Sobha Singh’s little-known painting was an exception. Ishwar Chitrakar, who was displaced from Lahore and was a poet himself, made a painting on Hiroshima but none on his own experience. 

Strangely enough in the Punjabi psyche of our time, the catharsis is through fiction and not through poetry. There is no epic novel written on this tragedy. In fact, all short stories, including Khushwant Singh's novellette Train to Pakistan, are the chapters of an unfinished epic. In fiction, there is always a possibility to live through a contrived reality; one can choose and leave. What is left out of this choice is, perhaps, the essence of poetry. It is said that first comes poetry (heart), then fiction (mind). Maybe, there is a collective sense of guilt of failure. They cannot blame the firangees all the time, or individuals like Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah. Punjabis committed collective suicide. ‘Punjabi Kesari’ Lala Lajpat Rai was the first to moot the idea of partitioning the Punjab on religious lines and the Hindu Mahasabha’s idea of religion as a nation was picked up later by Jinnah and others. 

Guru Nanak made the job of future generations of poets rather difficult by writing his immortal pieces eg. Babarvani. It is the last word as it were on the theme of aggression, violence and human catastrophe. Similarly, in art after Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ (1937) no artist could take the theme further, though greater tragedies took place, especially in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  

There is hardly any remorse in the work of Muslim Punjabi poets for the dismemberment of Punjab. For that matter, no Punjabi poet of any denomination has envisaged the reunification of the Punjab, though in the daily Sikh ardas (prayer) Partition is mentioned in the passive voice grammatically. 

Babu Ferozedeen Sharaf ((1898-1955), who was known as ‘the nightingale of the Punjab and an honorary Sikh’, wrote poems after he migrated to Lahore sounding like present day Taliban poetry — he calls the mujahids of Pakistani armed forces to raise the standard of Jihad and urged the saqi of Pakistan to ‘serve the sun in the goblet’. He also wrote a poem in Punjabi in praise of Jinnah and so did Munir Niazi.

Ode to Waris Shah

Apart from a handful of poems, which are the top of the league, by Amrita Pritam, Faiz, Ustad Daman and Ahmad Rahi, there is hardly any other poetical work worth it. Even in academic studies, Amrita Pritam’s poem has never been debated. Khushwant Singh wrote in her obituary: “I feel that her only claim to immortality is those ten lines of lament to Waris Shah. Those haunting lines will remain long after the rest of her writing is forgotten.” The poem is a lament that every Punjabi affected by the tragedy identifies with. First opening lines are heart-hitting, and the rest is academics.

Compiling the anthology of Punjabi poetry on Partition was an opportunity for critical evaluation of the poem. Prof Harjeet Singh Gill, eminent linguist, commented on the poem: “The invocation to Heer and Waris is absolute nonsense. How can one find correspondence between the existential situation of Heer and the murders, rapes and outright massacre of millions of Punjabis?” Dr Madan Gopal Singh, cultural critic, poet and singer, said: “It is a grossly overrated poem. But Amrita Pritam is only talking about the massacre and not about the new order. To talk about the new order, she needs a critique of the old, which led to such a horrendous pass. Where is the cultural hamartia – known as the tragic flaw — in her poem? It is simply not there. Waris Shah does not vulgarise the topographic experience by identifying Heer as a ‘dhee of Punjab’.” Neel Kamal Puri, novelist, said: “Amrita Pritam’s appeal to Waris Shah has become the plaintive cry of the pain of Partition. It is an image so riveting as it draws on the warp and weft of Punjab, pivoting itself on the two most potent motifs of the area — its love legends and the felicity of its land — that subsequent commonplaces by way of a few images, later into the poem, slip by unnoticed. What remains is the memory of those opening lines, the fervency of a plea, a voice in the wilderness of a crumbling world.”

Prose and poetry

Most of the Punjabi fiction and the few available poems are inspired by sectarian riots, but not by the actual philosophy of Partition. The riots were not the cause of Partition, but Partition had caused riots. The riots were an opportunity for sectarian politics. Riots cannot be an organic part of an historical event. A few poets of the post-1947 generation like SS Misha, Surjit Patar and myself have written poems about being Punjabis, about the undivided Punjab as intellectual exercises, as the inspiration has not come from our own experience, but from historical myths, which have not been able to evolve themselves into reality despite the best efforts of all Sufis and gurus. No writer with a Muslim background, with an exception of Ustad Daman, questions the absurdity of Partition, as Manto did in his classic story Toba Tek Singh. 

Maliha Lodhi, Pakistani diplomat and representative to the UN, publicly rebuked the organisers for presenting Amrita Pritam's poem, Ode to Waris Shah, on the inauguration of the South Asian Institute, London University, in May 2015 saying that Partition was the cause of celebration and not mourning.

Men of words

Dhani Ram Chatrik (1876 -1954)

Born in Pasian-wala village, Sheikhupura, Dhani Ram Chatrik was a Punjabi poet and typographer. Considered one of the pioneers of modern Punjabi poetry, he was the first to standardise the typeset for Gurmukhi script. His works include Bharthri Hari Bikramajit, Nal Damayanti, Chandanwari, Dharmvir, Kesar Kiari, Nawan Jahan, Noor Jahan Badshah Beghum and Sufikhana. 

Bawa Balwant (1915-1972)

Bawa Balwant was born in Neshta village of Amritsar. A Punjabi writer, a poet, essayist and freedom fighter, his name was Mangal Sen but he wrote under the name Balwant Rai and Bawa Balwant. Balwant had no formal education but learnt Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu and Persian. His first book Sher-e-Hind (1930) was published in Urdu. It was banned by the British government. His Punjabi poetic works include Mahan Naach (1941), Amar Geet (1942), Jawalamukhi (1943), Bandargah (1951) and Sugandh Sameer (1959). 

Nand Lal Noorpuri (1906-1966)

Nand Lal Noorpuri was a well-known Punjabi poet and lyricist. He is best known for the songs of Punjabi film Mangti. Born in Lyallpur, he worked as a teacher and later joined the police. In 1940, he left his police job and became a lyricist. But Partition changed everything. Penniless, he moved to Jalandhar, where he found work in radio and started participating in kavi darbars. He could never overcome poverty and committed suicide. His songs have been sung by many notable singers, including Mohammad Rafi, Surinder Kaur, Narinder Biba, Asa Singh Mastana and more.

Pritam Singh Safir (1916-1999)

Pritam Singh Safir was a Punjabi poet with metaphysical sensibility imbued with modernism. Safir was born at Malikpur in Rawalpindi. Safir passed his graduation from Khalsa College, Amritsar. Then he went to Law College, Lahore. After Partition, he moved to Delhi, where he became a high court judge in 1969. He published 11 collections of poetry. 

Devendra Satyarthi (1908-2003)

Born at Bhaduar (Barnala) Devendra Satyarthi was a school drop-out and led a nomadic life. He had a passion for folk songs. He published Giddha, his first folk-song anthology in 1935. It is considered a seminal work. Satyarthi published over 50 books, including novels, short stories, poems, essays and folk-song anthologies in Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi. His novel Ghorha Badshah is considered as the first modern absurd novel in Punjabi. Satyarthi was awarded Padma Shri in 1977.

Habib Jalib (1928-1993)

A revolutionary poet, left-wing activist and politician from Pakistan, Habib Jalib was born in a village near Hoshiarpur but migrated to Pakistan after Partition. Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz called him truly the poet of the masses. Jalib was against the Two-Nation theory. He was a progressive writer and soon earned fame through his enthusiastic poetry recitation. 

Babu Firoz Din Sharaf (1898-1955)

Born in Tola Nangal near Amritsar, Babu Firoz Din Sharaf was called the Punjabi Bulbul as he had a sweet voice. His poems based on Hindu-Muslim unity, patriotism, social reforms, freedom and historical personalities. His works include Dukhan de Keerne, Noori Darsan, Sunehri Kalian, Hijar di Agg, Shiromani Shaheed, Nabian da Sardar, Sharaf Hulare, Sharaf Udari, Sharaf Sunehe, Jogan, etc. 

Ustad Daman (1911-1984)

Ustad Daman was a poet and a mystic. The most celebrated Punjabi poet at the time of Partition, Daman was a tailor by profession. In 1930 Pandit Nehru, heard Daman recite his revolutionary, anti-imperialist poetry at a meeting of the Indian National Congress. Nehru dubbed him the 'Poet of Freedom'. Daman always oppsed the idea of Pakistan based on Two-Nation theory. His collected poetry was published as 'Daman dey Moti' after his death. 

Ahmad Rahi (1923-2002)

Born in Amritsar, Ahmad Rahi migrated to Lahore in 1947. Deeply affected by bloodshed and painful events of Partition, he wrote two books on this subject. His first book Taranjan (1952) remained a bestseller for decades. His second book on Partition was Nimi Nimi Wa. Ahmad Rahi, along with Pakistani film producer-director Saifuddin Saif, writer Saadat Hassan Manto and poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, started literary gatherings the historic Pak Tea House in Lahore after 1947. Rahi wrote songs for Pakistani films like Heer Ranjha (1970), Mirza Jat (1967), Baji (1963) and Yakke Wali (1957)which were super-hits.

Ishwar Singh Chitrakar (1912 -1968)

Ishwar Singh was a painter and a poet. He worked in Shimla as a graphic designer in the Directorate of Information and Visual Publicity. He was born in Paddi Posi village in Hoshiarpur and died in anonymity in London. He published three collections of poetry and two of essays. His collections of essays were Kalam di Awaz (The Voice of the Pen) and Gal Bat (Conversation).