Introduction to Punjabi Poetry

A Brief History:

Punjabi is the language spoken by all those who either live in Punjab or can trace their roots to the Punjab region. Punjab literally translates to the land of five rivers and at one time extended all the way from Delhi to Afghanistan. The day India celebrates its independence from British rule (August 15, 1947) is also the day when the state of Punjab suffered a historical loss of a tremendous proportion. West Punjab was acquired by Pakistan slicing Punjab more than in half and left Indian Punjab without a capital city (which used to be Lahore, now in Pakistan). This led to creating a new capital city in the form of Chandigarh. The second and equally stunning blow hit Punjab in 1966 when the allegedly majority Hindi speaking state of Haryana and part of Himachal Pradesh were carved out of it and Chandigarh became a Union Territory.

The Punjabi language is not the domain of any ethnic group or religion although the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Holy Book, is also written in poetic Punjabi verse. Under the pretext of National unity, in the Punjab region of Pakistan and India, Punjabi is being systematically replaced with government support for Hindi/English or Urdu/English. There are many non-Hindi speaking states in South India where this Hindi/English combination proved unsuccessful because of a unified opposition by regional cultures who believe in unity through diversity. Punjab, unfortunately does not have the support from its neighboring states and has to rely on the global presence of Punjabis to keep their language and culture alive. According to a UNESCO report, if no positive steps are taken to preserve the Punjabi language, this thirteenth widely spoken language in the world will disappear in the next fifty years.

Punjabi Poetry At A Glance:

Like many other ancient languages, Punjabi has evolved through various stages and Punjabi poetry is perhaps as old as Punjab’s Indus Valley civilization. It has beautiful and complex ballads both from the past and contemporary Punjabi poetry can easily be compared to verses from Shakespearean sonnets, traditional Japanese haikus or modern forms of poetry. Stalwarts from the past have contributed significantly to Punjabi poetry like Waris Shah, Sultan Bahu, Bullhe Shah, Chandar Bhan and Ali Haidar amongst many others.Bhai Vir Singh, Puran Singh. Mohan Singh and Amrita Pritam are considered luminaries who pioneered the new era in Punjabi Poetry.

Properly defining the different styles and forms found in Punjabi poetry is an impossible task for someone who is not a literary historian. I will however provide you with an overview.

A Ghazal has its origins in the Arabic language and is traditionally considered a more scholarly form of poetry. A ghazal is a collection of shers which follow the rules of matla, maqta, behr, kaafiyaa and radif. A sher is a two lined poem capable of conveying a message without needing anything else to support it. It is therefore essentially a collection of these shers. There are many subcategories of a ghazal and the rules that govern its definition can get very complex. For example, a ghazal is an arrangement of lines whereby the first two lines rhyme with each other which in turn rhyme with the fourth, sixth, eighth and so forth. Each couplet conveys a complete message and may be interconnected to continue a theme. I told you it was confusing didn’t I? Any poem which does not pass the criteria to be considered a ghazal is called a kavita in Punjabi and a Nazm in Urdu.

My Favorite Poets:

My favorites from the past include Bullhe Shah, Waris Shah, Ali Haider, and Sultan Bahu. Bulleh Shah was a Sufi poet who is most famous for his Kafis or short poems of about six stanzas and Ali Haidar is well known for his Si-harfis which are poems of 30 stanzas each beginning with a letter of the Persian alphabet. Waris Shah is best known for his rendition of the tragic love story of Heer and Ranjha.

Apart from my own poems I also sing selected poems from my favorite poets such as Amrita Pritam, Sukhwinder Amrit, Suikhbir Sandhu, Surjit Pattar, Dr. Jagtar, Shiv Kumar Batalvi, Baba Nazmi and on special request “Heer” by Waris Shah which is my all time favorite.