Shah Hussain By Harjeet Singh Gill Rosy Singh

By Harjeet Singh Gill Rosy Singh

Shrine of love. Here lie Madho Lal and Shah Hussain. Baghbanpura Lahore, 1998.

photo by Amarjit Chandan

Shah Hussain (1538-1599) was a native of Lahore. He is one of the finest poets of Punjabi literature. With the most sophisticated diction charged with sufi metaphysics, Shah Hussain constitutes a cosmic discourse where the anthropological parameters are thoroughly mixed with spiritual metaphors. Beginning with the sociological foreground of the village young girl at the spinning wheel preparing her dowry to go to the unknown and unknowable universe of the in-laws, there is a slow emerging discourse of the awful but at the same time imbibed with love and affection, the longings for the ultimate union and all the awe and the agony of the unforeseeable future. The discourse is constituted with the simplest possible but very refined and sophisticated diction, as opposed to the down to earth, very rustic but popular language of Bulleh Shah. Along with the universe of the spinning wheel, the wheel of Time, and also the cosmic wheel of creation, there are other powerful metaphors of the river that separates the two lovers, the jungle and the most ferocious aspect of nature that frightens the feeble and the weak. Shah Hussain is by far the most articulate poet of separation and union, of the heartbeats, which resonate with the slightest movement of the unknown gestures. Dr Rosy Singh has collaborated with me over the years in the study of Sufi compositions. ‘Shah Hussain’ is one of the important texts of this collaboration.

Let us follow this discourse in some of his selected poems.

steadily you wear your sãlu

my sãlu is precious

it is a gift of my Love

several friends came to see it

all appreciated its finesse

I hung my sãlu on the peg

a neighbour wanted to borrow it

my sãlu cannot be given away

my love cannot be bartered

this sãlu is from far away Kashmir

it has traversed snow clad mountains

it has travelled all around

the known world and the unknown universe

this sãlu is from Gujarat

I am afraid of the first night

the first encounter with the sublime light

this sãlu is from far away Multan

only God knows the secrets of the heart

only He can measure the depths of my faith

only He can fathom the unknown straits

this sãlu is strange

there is none

with whom I can share my anguish

to whom I can disclose my pain

this sãlu is put together

with love and affection and expectation

only God forsaken will wear it

it can never be exchanged

its secrets can never be betrayed

all my friends have their sãlus

they are all branches of the same tree

but none compares with thee

the colour of the sãlu knows

it cannot last for ever

the departure is imminent

the night is dark

and the woods are frightening

Hussain, the faqir pleads with faith and fortitude

God is beyond all certitudes

In one of the most beautiful poetic articulations, Shah Hussain constitutes the discourse of sãlu, the red-orange shawl, a symbol of love and affection, of endearment and longings, of union and separation. It is a gift of love, which is extremely personal and existential and thus obviously cannot be shared with any other person. In its extreme existential intimacy, it presents a universe of fantasies and images in an ambiance charged with mysterious depths and awesome distances. For a young girl in a small village in the medieval Punjab, Kashmir, Gujarat and Multan evoke images of far away places, out of any physical or spiritual reach. They serve almost as cardinal points of a universe of love which stretches from the highest snow covered mountains and the most obtrusive paths of Kashmir to the burning sun and the desert of Multan and the forbidden swamps of Gujarat. Gujarat is in any case a mythical name attached to several places in the old Punjab and beyond it. These images or poetic flights do not circumscribe only a geographical territory; Shah Hussain creates a universe of love and longings, of solitude and anguish, of the most mysterious depths and darkness in the wilderness, which can be imagined only in the surrealistic world. It is overwhelmed by the celebration of love and also by the anguish of solitude and the transitory nature of the colour of sãlu, or the ways of this world. The extreme loneliness in the wilderness of the jungle and the darkness of the night is obviously dialectically related with the moments of extreme happiness. Hope and despair intermingle with each other in this most fascinating composition. The anthropological parameters, the points of departure for all imaginative fantasies, go beyond the normal dialectical interaction with the Other, with the unknown; they simply dissolve into the cosmic universe, which is the final abode of all poetic, existential realisations.

In fact what Shah Hussain is articulating through the slow weaving of the imagery and the mysterious universe is not really any given physical space, however far and out of reach it may be. The veritable encounter is of the Being with the Other, the Other who in spite of the extreme intimacy of existential relation remains unknown and unknowable. The sãlu, the token of love, becomes absolutely ephemeral and transparent and in a surrealistic universe, the physical and the spiritual, the real and the surreal, the phantasmatic and the dream fuse with each other. On the horizon of the celebration of love and union, there are the inevitable rays of anguish and solitude, of anxieties and uncertainties. And like the most colourful horizon charged with celestial beauty, it is always within reach and unattainable simultaneously. In this universe of mysterious depths and unfathomable darkness, the known and the unknown are inextricably interrelated and one is never sure of one’s place within and without. It is at this moment of an obvious alienation that Shah Hussain constitutes the universe of hope and happiness of ultimate union with the ultimate Love. In this union, the Actor and the Acted, the Subject and the Object, the Being and the Other, all merge in the absolute unity of the most transcendent truth from where there is no going beyond. The normal space and time lose their identity and there is perfect union of the lovers.

play on, young girl, play on

sooner or later you have to go to your in-laws

playing with your ball

adorned with golden earrings

you are oblivious of the inevitable

parents’ home is only an illusion

a matter of days

with the month of sãwan

the rains of love and union herald

the season of joy and romance

Shah Hussain, the faqir, says

the hour of departure is ringing aloud

even the most beautiful moments

are a matter of days

none can alter the Master’s ways

turn, o spinning wheel, turn

long live your weaver

who weaves the cotton of love

Shah Hussain is old

with wrinkles all over

at dawn he looks for those

who have left their hearth

with every movement

vibrates the name of the Master

with every beat

there is perfect union

there is perfect communion

the spinning wheel echoes His name

every heart beat follows its strain

Shah Hussain, the faqir, prays

it is you, it is you

it is the same refrain

The spinning wheel is one of the most powerful literary signifiers employed by Shah Hussain. The vivid and frequent descriptions of the spinning wheel in Punjabi poetry act as frozen images of a bygone era. At the same time, the spinning wheel signifies the wheel of creation, of steady preparation for the ultimate union with God. Through the spins of the wheel are created the threads of unity of the universe. The spinning wheel or for that matter other signifiers are then no more mere anthropological units, they are transformed into the sufi pantheistic discourse.

this love is spinning my being

I know not how to spin

I carelessly turn my wheel

bread of sorrows, soup of thorns

pangs of solitude torture me

there is no turning back

with faith and fortitude

one goes on and on

hazards and hurdles do not stop

the onward march

the onward adventure

Hussain, the faqir of the Master says

he knows no spinning

he knows not how to please his Love

he does not perceive the divine ways

the nights are long and tortuous

in their dark depths

there is the eternal fear of the unknown

with falling flesh

I am only a skeleton

a bundle of bones

in immanence, in manifestation

there is no reflection, no perception

loneliness has stretched my being

Ranjha is the yogi

I am his yogini

in madness, in awkward state

there is anguish, there is pain

Hussain, the faqir of the Master, says

his Love is the only refuge

his only refrain, his only muse

This composition of Shah Hussain highlights the narrative of Hir-Ranjha, the eternal lovers, the overlapping of a faqir and a yogi and the sorrows of separation and solitude that Hussain excels in as no other Punjabi sufi poet before him or after him. The hymn is surcharged with love. Here too the anthropological and the cosmological domains coincide. In Sãlu and other hymns, the poet evokes night, for the long and painful night touches the mysterious sacred domain of the universe. The night alludes to the space of intimacy and the spirit’s pure freedom. It also alludes frequently to derangement. The night impels the spirit to set out for the dwelling of the divine after the plenitude of suffering and waiting. These are dream like sequences where the real and the surreal, anthropology and cosmology merge.

I have to go to the abode of my Love

I pray for some company

I plead, I beseech

I am left alone

the river is deep

the boat is old

and the savage beasts are all over

whoever brings the news of my Love

whoever brings a ray of hope

I shower them with gifts

I offer them silver rings

the nights are dark

the days are tortuous

in loneliness, in disdain

there is anguish, there is pain

Ranjha is supposed to be a healer

but my pains are mysterious

in misery, in solitude

I suffer in silence, in fortitude

Shah Hussain, the humble faqir, says

the Master has called me

I must follow the divine way

there will be no delay

There is desire but there is also hesitation. The beloved is on the other side, in the woods, in the wilderness surrounded by savage beasts. The river is deep and the boat is broken. The boatman is also not very sympathetic but the lover must go to his beloved. Even the smallest news of his Love brings joy and happiness for the offering of gifts and presents. The love stricken lover believes in the healing touch of the beloved but there does not seem to be an easy approach and yet all is not lost, for there is the eternal hope in God who is ultimately responsible for all unions and separations.

one day these streets of your father

will be nothing but a dream

all happiness, all joy

is a matter of days

the butterflies leave the flowers

the leaves and the branches

only she knows the anguish of the heart

who is stricken with love

who suffers in separation, in solitude

who bears all in faith, in fortitude

I look for him

in woods, in wilderness

in dark clouds

in mysterious mounds

o qazi, leave me alone

the heart heeds not thee

whatever had to happen

has already happened

there is nothing more to foresee

only those nights are counted

when my Love awakened me

with his rhythm, with his resonance

with the heart beats of his presence

my name is Hussain

my caste is weaver

the weaver women blame me

for the long delays

for my sufi ways

The streets of the parents will very soon be only a dream. The affairs of the heart do not follow the dictates of the qazi, the guardian of the rules and regulations of the social order. When the heart surrenders, there is no going back. Only those nights, moments are worth living, worth any existential realisation that are spent in the company of the beloved. There is separation from the parents’ home but there is also the union with Love where heart and hearth coalesce.

the love stricken can spin no more

how can she spin

once fallen in love

all routine is set aside

all duties are forgotten

the madness of love has taken over

all weaving is lost

the red spinning wheel and the white cotton

does weave no more

it is long since I fell in love

since I fell in the depths of the unknown

in the depths of anguish and pain

Hussain, the humble faqir says

in love, in madness

my eyes are intoxicated

I see no more the spectacle of the world

The love stricken sufi faqir, Shah Hussain, identifies himself with the young girl who is supposed to be busy at the spinning wheel to prepare her dowry but the intoxication of love is so strong, lost in the transcendental flight of love, she has lost all interest in the routine affairs of the world, the world of her parents, the mundane world of small routines. The red spinning wheel and pure white cotton, all symbols of love and purity, are fused with the pangs of solitude and the longings for the union, which are always elusive. All the same, the intoxicated eyes of Hussain remind him of the ultimate bliss.

play and be happy for a few days

do not be proud of beauty and bounty

do not be too clever like others

stay serene and steady

the friends with whom you spent your childhood

those friends are all gone

they all left their parents abode

they left for their in-laws

all over, there is even mode

the streets of your father

will one day be only a dream

Hussain, the faqir of the Master says

spend your days in reflection and good deeds

Again the same refrain of the short-lived abode of the parents, the universe that is in flux, that is momentary, that cannot be depended upon for long. One day these streets will only be a dream, a dream that will never be realised again. Already several friends have left this comfortable world. You cannot stay here forever. Hence, it is time to reflect and think of the other world, the world of the union with the Master, the world that is everlasting, that is not ephemeral like the abode of the parents where you are only a traveller, where you should not be proud of your beauty and bounty, which, in any case, will not last for ever.

I beseech, I yearn, I pray

for His love, for His grace

as a yogi, I strike the fire of love

in its warmth, I live

in its cold, I die

the night passes in pain

the day in anguish

my life and death hang on the thread

of His rhythm, of His refrain

with my hair flowing on the shoulder

I am a yogan since the beginning of Time

searching for Him in the woods

in the wilderness

I stay silent and serene

I am scared of the unknown

Hussain, the faqir of the Master prays

day and night I vibrate with faith and fortitude

day and night I seek the divine certitude

In this composition charged with yogic symbolism, Shah Hussain goes beyond the usual metaphors of the Muslim universe of mysticism. For the sufi Hussain, all local, regional metaphors and symbols are important to communicate with his Indian audience. The yogan yearns to meet her yogi, the separated love whose presence or absence, spiritual or physical, is the eternal realisation of life and death. In this existentially charged hymn, the poet presents the pangs of separation from his love by identifying himself with the yogan, the feminine aspect of the lover. This gender transformation in the quest of love is an extremely important signifier in sufi mysticism.

I reflect only on Thy name

I beseech none but Thee

I have faith in Thee

I perceive only Thy sublimity

in and out it is all red

I am in love since eternity

I trade only in Thee

I live and die in Thee

there are disciples and there are masters

there are all kinds of manifestations

and there is Shah Hussain, the faqir

let us sing and dance together

beyond all disputes

beyond all contestations

In the same linguistic register but constituting a slightly different universe of love, Shah Hussain meditates on the eternal theme of faith and fortitude, of absolute trust and sublime rejoicing in the company of his love, his Master. In sufi metaphysics, maikhana, the tavern, is preferred to madrassa, the school, and ishq, love, to aqal, reason. It is interesting to note that the celebration of love is accompanied by the eternal promise of faith and fortitude for all the disciples and all the masters. The poet weaves an atmosphere of happiness and ecstasy but at the same time does not forget the possibility of relapsing into faithlessness and distrust. Within and without, it is all red, the colour of love and happiness but there is also hesitation and misgiving.

lying on thorns

suffering in love

solitude is my destiny

in whom should I confide

bread of pain, soup of sorrow

the fire lit with my bones

there is no respite

in whom should I confide

searching in woods, in wilderness

I yearn for my shepherd

I yearn for my love

my faith and fortitude do not coincide

in whom should I confide

the fire of sorrow is lit

it is all burning red

it has consumed my being

in its frightening stride

in whom should I confide

reaching for the horizon

for my love, for my Ranjha

searching in vain

Ranjha is within me

within the rhythms of my being

in whom should I confide

Hussain, the faqir says

pity the wretched

pity the miserable

who have lost the divine light

in whom should I confide

Surcharged with the metaphors of the universe of the narratives and the legends of the mythical Punjab, this composition of Shah Hussain constitutes a world, forlorn and frustrating, wretched and worrisome, completely at the mercy of the Almighty Lord, the careless Love. At the same time, it presents a highly existential universe of love and union that is looming on the horizon even though it may never be achieved. The metaphors of the shepherd, the legendary Mahinwal, and the most celebrated romantic hero of them all, the sublime Ranjha who has been immortalised even by the Sikh Gurus, are all there to emphasise the mystical aspect of the sufi lore. There is obviously no respite from the ever-burning fires of separation but there are also the red-hot emotions, which engulf the lover and the beloved in the most sublime union.

all the four corners of my shawl

are wet with tears

since long he promised to come

twelve months have passed

there is no trace, no gesture of his presence

I know not how to spin

and I blame the spinning wheel

the divine scribe has written my destiny

wailing and crying go on for eternity

my abode is pitch dark

and my Love is away

the black deer has eaten

the fields of Shah Hussain

in one sway

The pangs of solitude are sharp and merciless. The sorrow and suffering are writ large on the destiny of the lover. His Love is away and all the promises are of no avail. Moreover, the abode is covered with absolute darkness of despair and depression and the lover does not know where to go, what to do to please his Love. The death is around the corner and the faqir has not been able to do what was required of him in this life. Going beyond and going within amount to the same thing if the spinning wheel of life has not woven its allotted cotton to prepare the dowry of good deeds. Before the soul realises the futility of this mundane world, it is too late.

my mind is steady with the Almighty Lord

with the Master of all worlds

qazis and mullahs give loads of advice

they point to the path of love

what has love to do with the ways of the world

beyond the river is the abode of my Love

I promised to reach him

I beseech the boatman

I plead, I request

all in vain

Hussain, the humble faqir says

one has to leave this world sooner or later

ultimately Allah is the only refuge

the only muse

And finally, the triumphant note surcharged with love and absolute freedom of thought and action. The rules and regulations of the qazis and the mullahs are of no avail. Love does not need all these mundane paths circumscribed by the boundaries of ecclesiastic dictates. It is beyond all secular codes, which prescribe all kinds of dos and donts. Shah Hussain, the sufi faqir asserts his existential right to follow his own path, the path of love where the only desire and quest is to reach the abode of his Love, however difficult and dangerous the crossing of the river may be. •

about the authors

Harjeet Singh Gill is an internationally acclaimed linguist. At present, besides being a fellow at Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, he is a Professor Emeritus at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Punjabi University and Guru Nanak Dev University.

Harjeet Singh Gill. Patiala, 2011

photo by Amarjit Chandan

Gill (b1935, Amritsar) did his PhD in Linguistics [1962 under HA Gleason (Jr) from Hartford, USA]. After producing A Reference Grammar of Punjabi (it resulted in the Linguistic Atlas of Punjab), he started working with Andre Martinet in France. Then, Punjabi University invited him to establish the Department of Anthropological Linguistics in 1968. He developed a semiotic methodology to analyse literary, cultural and sacred texts. He worked in areas as varied as structuralism, dialectology, language and culture, folklore, arts and religion. UGC nominated him National Professor of Linguistics (1986) and Punjabi University conferred Honorary DLitt (1997) on him for his contribution to Punjabi language and literature, culture and folklore.

Apart from his Linguistic Atlas of Punjab, Gill’s original works include three volumes of Structures of Signification, Semiotics of Conceptual Structures, semiotic discourses (St Julien, Puran Bhagat, Heer Ranjha) and interpretative discourses of Guru Nanak, Macchiwara, Heer Ranjha and other legends of Punjab. He was the first Indian scholar to be invited to contribute to Encyclopedia Britannica’s Encyclopedia of Semiotics.

Gill is known for his translations from French, English, and Punjabi. His translation of Japuji of Guru Nanak and Jãp Sahib of Guru Gobind Singh into English (1993) is a noted translation. He has also translated Nanak Bani and Sufibani into English.

Rosy Singh is a German Indian studies and comparative literature scholar. She teaches in Department of Germanic and Romance Studies Faculty of Arts University of Delhi. Her notable books include Autobiography. Fact and Fiction (ed. 2009); Rilke, Tagore, Gibran: A Comparative Study (2002) and Semiotics of Love, Life and Death in Rilke, Kafka, Manto (2001). She has also translated Manto’s short stories into German.

Her essay ‘Signification in Shah Hussain’ is included in Signification in Language and Culture, ed. HS Gill, pp 451-478: Indian Institute of Advanced Study Shimla, 2002.

[Courtesy: South Asian Ensemble, Vol 4 No. 1 Winter 2012. editor.sae@gmail.com]