By STM

Dawn Lahore Edition

KOOKAN by Dr Faqir Muhammad Faqir; pp 150; price Rs120 (hb); publishers, Maqbool Academy, Chowk Anarkali, Circular Road, Lahore.

DR Faqir Muhammad Faqir was the first Punjabi writer of prominence who, after partition, began a struggle for the rights of Punjabi language and literature in our educational and cultural life from which it had been almost banished after the annexation of the province by the British in the century. For the Sikhs, Punjabi was a language but the Muslims had just ignored this field in spite of their religion. Punjabi Muslims just ignored their mother tongue.

Dr Faqir Muhammad Faqir used to write and recite poems on national and Islamic themes as was done by his seniors. He would recite his poems at the annual session of the Anjuman-i-Himaitay-i-Islam. Dr Faqir was an active worker of the Pakistan Movement and participated in the 1945-46 election campaign of the Muslim League candidates against joint opposition from the Unionists and the Congress and emerged successful, beating both the influential parties.

Dr Faqir was convinced that after the creation of the new country, Punjabi would be given its due place as was the case with Bengali and Sindhi. But his hopes were belied and he, with help from senior writer and journalist Maulana Abdul Majeed Salik started publishing a monthly magazine, Punjabi. Dr Faqir arranged many conferences for promoting Punjabi. The first such conference was held in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad).

Dr Faqir was true to his commitment till the end which came in 1974. He was born on June 5, 1900, and on his birth centenary, his son, Khwaja Arshad ' arranged the publication of his five new collections, including Kookan, in which he expresses his disillusionment regarding the status of Punjabi m the new country.

In a poem addressed to the founder of the nation, Faqir is very bitter;
Naal ameeran behndey utthdey, maan
gharoor waziran dey nain,
Shahi takhtan tajan waali, haal Faqir
faqiran dey nain,
Bandian peerran dissan hun tey dil
dian aasa muradan Baba!

Dr Faqir Muhammad was a prolific writer it has been claimed that the number of his published and unpublished books is 84 of which a history of Punjabi literature in Urdu is also being published by Khwaja Arshad. The book has been well-produced.

WALLEY NI AKH by Dilpazir Shad, pp 160; price Rs150 (hb); publishers, Pothohari Adabi Sangat, Kallar Syeddan, (Rawalpindi).

THE author is a senior poet who started Ms literary career as a bait or baint writer. Baint is a sort of folk forrn of poetry used in the whole of the Punjab. But the Pothohar area has given it very high status and many of our prominent Punjabi poets had started with bait writing. Baqi did it with his formal name, Afzal.

Dilpazir Shad has published three bait collections in the traditional Kashmiri Bazaar style, but the book under review has been produced in the modem style. The poet and one of his foreword writers, Syed Ali Akhtar Imam, is of the opinion that Pothohari is a separate language like Seraiki and Hindko. In his view, Man Muhammad Bukhsh is the founding father of Pothohari poetry. But the fact is that the latter in his Saiful Mulk associates himself with Punjabi right from Baba Farid down to Babu and Waris Shah. So is the case with Baqi Siddiqui who never uses word Mahrra (my or mine) but Maindha.

Shad uses all symbols common with Punjabi poets:

Heer loarr taqdeer badlaan wali,
Ujrrey Takht Hazarey ni loarr na kar.
Sassi wang jay soan gaya naal ghaflat,
Punnu Khan dildar ni loarr na kar.
Jay kar bhulia sorthnian suratan tey,
Murr kay Balkh Bukharey ni loarr na kar.

Here Dilpazir expresses himself with reference to Heer-Ranjha, Sassi Punnu and Sohni Mahinwal. Dilpazir Shad upholds the well-established tradition of Punjabi poets who had always written commentaries on current affairs. They did not spared the judges, religious leaders and the tribal and feudal chiefs serving the interests of the anti-people rulers.
Lalech vich ithey dubey hoey disney
Mullan, pir, faqir, sultan yaaro!

Dilpazir has also translated some pieces from Ghalib and Iqbal. Ghalib's lines:
Huey mar kay ham jo ruswa huey
kayyun na gharq-i-darya
Na kaheen janaza utthta na kaheen
mazar hota

have been put into Pothohari thus:
Iss badnami ni motey soon dub marney
vich paani,
Chaaney lok janaza naheen, banani
qabar nishani

Dilpazir has used almost all popular forms of Punjabi poetry, including the ghazal, poems, kafis, geets, abiaat and qitaat but the major portion of the book contains ghazals;
Dil vich aeh si jisley milsi, saarr diley
na kadhsan,
Ajab tamasha kol aaya tey na puchhi
an na dassian.