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| Abdul Wahee Sachal Abdul Wahee “Sachal”(1739- to 1829)
The second great poet of the 18th century was Sachal, called Sachal
Sarmast (Sachal, the Intoxicated), who on account of his poetic flights
of imagination and his noble, revolutionary ideas might well be
compared to Shelly. It is reported that when young Sachal was taken to
pay homage to Shah Lateef, the elder poet blessed the precocious boy
and foretold : " This youth will open the lid of the vessel which I
have put upon the hearth ", and the prophesy was amply fulfilled.
Sachal fearlessly denounced the hypocrisy and conventionality of the
mullas and moulvis :
Visrio rojo, nah vad nimaz moonkhe, Kayo mast piriun je khani naz moonkhe. Shauq sharab peean, pir vat ratiyan debhan. Konhe vari kazi mullan jo ko lihaz moonkhe. Translation :— I have forgotten my fast, I don't remember my prayers. I have become mad with the charm of my Beloved. I shall drink the wine of joy with my Beloved day and night. I have no regard at all even for the Kazi and the Mulla. Like his master the Persian martyred mystic Mansoor, Sachal believed in the oneness of the human soul with the Divine, and in an ecstacy of exaltation he sang : 1. Ishkoon thee insan, ayo sailani siar te, Soorat men adam je, adam dum mahman, Sacha toon sultan, satgur sach sunayo. Translation :— He became a human being through love, and then the Traveller embarked on his journey. He came in the shape of man, but man is only a guest for a moment. You are truly a King,0 Sachal, and satguru has spoken the truth, 2. Kalme moonkhe jeen kayo, mooroon Musssulman, Nakee Ahmad moklyo so Arab khan eeman, Sachoo so subhhan, par admiyun lekhe admi. Translation :— The holy word has utterly jailed to make me a Mussulman. Nor has Ahmad from Arabia sent me the true faith ; Sachoo is God himself, but a man to human beings.
Sachal was also the first poet to write Sindhi poetry in Persian
metres, which were introduced by Persian scholars who came to Sind
under the rule of the Kalhoras after the cessation of Moghal rule in
Sind. The last poet of the 18th century was Janshah
“Roohal”, a follower of Sachal, who mainly propounded
Hindu-Muslim unity in his poetry, and his following long doheer is
well-known ;
Kufur ain Islam men, tha bharin ubta per, Hik Hindu bia Mussulman, tion vich vidhaoon ver, Andhan oondah na lahe, tinkhe sach chavando ker ? Roohal, rah piryun jee, jan ghiree ditho seen gher, Ta rab mirin men hekro, jahn men phand na pher. Translation :— On the paths of Heathenism and Islam they tread with false feet; Between Hindu and Mussulman they introduce enmity ; The blind who cannot dispel their darkness, who will tell them the truth ? Says Roohal; when we enter the path of the Beloved at the proper point; We find that one Lord lives in all, without the shadow of a doubt.
Both Sachal and Roohal, composed a body of Hindi poetry which might
appear surprising as emanating from Muslim poets. Quite as surprising
might be the fact that both Shah Lateef and Sachal passed a long time
in the company of Hindu yogis and Sanyasis. But such was the fusion of
Islamic with Vedantic cultures in Sind that the differences of the two
religions were obliterated by the spirit of sufism, and many Muslim
poets had a large following of Hindu disciples. Sufism continued to be
the cementing religion of Sind, until the creation of Pakistan
separated the province from India and sowed seeds of bigotry and
hatred, resulting in the exodus of Sindhi Hindus from their native
land. Here is an example of a song of Nanik. Yoosuf, another disciple
of Sachal, who adopted a half Hindu name in reverence for the Sikh
Guru, written in not quite correct Hindi, but containing a large
admixture of purely Hindu phraseology :—
Kaho re bhai, kaho turn kaho ; Guru ke giyan main kahat, guru ke giyan main ; Satgur shabd dhiyan main ; Nanik Yoosuf premkee bani, ishk sache ka farman main ; Surt chitar Govind gao, bhagat karoon Bhagwan main. Translation :— Sing O brothers, sing ye, sing ; I am singing the gyan of the Guru, the Guru's gyan ; / am in contemplation of Satguru's word. Nanik Yoosuf sings the hymn of love, I am under the mandate of true love ; Sing of Govind with mind and soul, I am a worshipper of Bhagwan. |