Muzaffar Ghaffaar can wear with a sense of legitimate pride several different hats. He is a poet, writer, intellectual, translator, heritage expert and cultural activist who has been engaged in creative and cultural endeavours for the last so many decades. He has a large number of publications to his credit which unmistakably show him a highly committed and hardworking man of letters. He seems to be unaffected by the tediousness of the work he is doing in translating some of the important classical poets of our mother language into English. His translations provide an excellent introduction to a vast but ignored treasure trove called Punjabi classics.

His two books “Fareed to Fareed: Anthology” and “Fareed to Fareed: Translations Bouquet”, published by Ferozsons, Lahore, give us some clue as to how relevant is what he has diligently done and continues to do. The former as is evident from the title, is an anthology of classical poetry translated into English that includes verses of Baba Fareed, Shah Husayan, Sultan Bahu, Bulleh Shah, Sachal Sarmast and Khawaja Ghulam Fareed and the latter is a selection of verses of the aforementioned poets which author calls “Translations Bouquet”.

Apparently there seems to be little difference between the two but there is if you look closely at them. The Anthology has general introduction that gives you a kind of perspective. Each selected poet is briefly introduced. The verses in the Arabic-Persian script (generally called Shahmukhi) are followed by Roman transliteration. The English translations are followed by glossary and notes which offer a kind of author’s interpretation.

In the “Translations Bouquet” we find the same poets. Verses are followed by Roman transliteration and English translations. A greater number of verses are included in this book of translations. There are no explanatory notes.

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The blurb says the “main body of his work is under the umbrella name MASTERS OF PUNJABI SUFI POETS in 29+ volumes. Books on Baba Fareed Ganjshakar, Baba Nanak, (2 vols), Shah Husayan (3 vols), Sultan Bahu, Bulleh Shah (2 vols), Sachal Sarmast and Khawaja Ghulam Fareed have been published. The series has moved to Qissas with four-volume Heer Damodar. A six-volume Heer Waris Shah is in the final stages of preparation. The series will continue”. The sheer volume of his work in the field of translation alone is staggeringly impressive. The amount of painstaking care that has gone into producing it can serve as a salutary lesson for young writers who want quick recognition of their hastily composed literary pieces.

Nostrums such as public relations campaign or cleverly crafted publicity stunt would ultimately prove an exercise in futility. Recognition if needed at all should be a by-product of a writer’s creative expression, not its objective if what is aimed at is intellectual freedom and emotional independence in exploring the individual and collective life that is always in a state of flux. Heraclitus while talking about the life process avers that “you cannot step into a river twice”. But you can enter the world of literary classics time and again that may justifiably be treated as fluvial deposits showing us the secrets of the “river” that stand exposed.

The books in question are not meant for highbrow scholars and academics. “The objectives of the Within Reach series”, writes Muzaffar Ghaffaar, “are manifold.” “In addition to providing an entry point to persons less familiar with Punjabi, this series is an attempt to also reach those Punjabis who do not have access to the language, as well as English readers who wish to undertake a study of Punjabi verse”. Punjabis who do not have access to the language this side of the border in Punjab are precisely the problem; they are in overwhelming majority among the so-called literate classes and are not only unaware of their cultural alienation but also smugly wear on their sleeve the pride of being in such a state of rootlessness. What is needed most at this juncture is an intellectual fight against the cultural alienation, a direct product of British colonialism which muddled the Muslim Punjabis’ sense of belonging and view of history.

Muzaffar Ghaffaar is among the conscious intellectuals, not found in large numbers, who are at the forefront in this long and hard fight. He fights for rights of the Punjabi language using English language, the language that was employed along with Urdu by the colonialists to eliminate Punjabi from the public space in the nineteenth century after the occupation of Punjab. English is the language at the moment that is understood by the elite in Punjab that wallows in its self-induced cultural languor making it limpet to the colonial past. Hence the use of English can be helpful in advocating the case of language and culture.

Let’s savour the delights of some pieces of the translations he has done. Here is a Baba Farid’s couplet: “O Farid, eyes which seduced the world, those eyes I’ve seen/ couldn’t bear a Kohl liner, in them myriad birds convene”. And in translating Shah Husain’s verses he stays true to the original: “O girls! Husayno’s a weaver, a weaver he is/ He has no principal, no profit is his/Neither he is spoken for, nor married/ Neither knots tied, nor credit carried/ Neither a householder, nor a voyager/ Neither a believer, nor a denyer / He is what he is”.