DAKHNI LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE-4

By  Sayed Mohamed, Retd. Principal, Urdu College, Hyderabad.

Dakhni Language and Literature comprises of three special research papers (1: THE VALUE OF DAKHNI LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 2: A SURVEY OF RESERCH WORK DONE ON THE DAKHNI LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 3: SUFISM IN DAKHNI LITERATURE)  presented by the author during 1968, under the auspices of University of Mysore.

From Gujarat we come down to Bijapur and the foremost among the Sufi writers of that city, Hazrat Shah Meeranji Shamsul Ushsheq has already been referred to in the last lecture. Shah Meeranji who had migrated to Arabia in his early lfe returned to Indai when the Baahmani kingdom was on the decline.  Now Bijapur and Golkonda  had become the centres.  Shah Meeranji also left Bidar and went to Bijapur.  Here outside the fort of Bijapur on a hillock he is buried.

Meeranji was a prominent member of the chain of disciples of Hazrat Banda Nawaz and was himself the founder of the chain of Chisti Sufis in Bijapur and the whole Deccan.  The Chisti school is a separate and one of the prominent schools of Sufism and several from the progeny and disciples of Meeranji have been renowned exponents and practitioners of this school.

Meeranji was very great religious leader and teacher.  Every day hundreds of people used to go to him to learn or to get their doubts cleared.  He had made himself available to all on all occasions and under all circumstances.

The same tradition was followed by his illustrious son Shah Barhanuddin janam and grandson Aminuddin Ala.  Shah Meeranji had writtern many books and pamphlets.  The following are very well known. Khushnama, Khash Nagz, Shahadatul Haqeeqat, Sharhe Margoobul Quloob, Mugz-e-Margoob, Chahar Shahadat etc… Gulbas and Jal Tarang are also said to have been written by him.  Magz-e-Margoob and Chahar Shahadat have been edited by Mr.Md.Hashim Ali, lecturer in Urdu, Mysore University.  He has taken great pains to dig out the incidents of the life of Meeranji, compare them,verify them and deduce results.  Research work done on the said two works of Meeranji is relally a meritorious work and any amount of praise is welldeserved by him.

Meeranji promoted the scheme started by Hazrat Banda Nawaz and popularized  his instructions. The method of his explanation even of intricate problems was very lucid and simple.  Thus he has rendered a great service to the people as well as to the Dakhni language and literature.

Burhanuddin janam was the son and successor of Shah Meeranji. He was an illustrious of illustrious father. His works in literature particularly in Sufi literature are as important as are the works of his father.  He had also to his credit a number of booklets and pamphlets in prose.  Irshad Nama is his famous wrik in poetry.  Catechism is the style of  this work and the subject matter is religious philosophy of the Chishti School.  This book has not been published as yet,even though many people have attempted to do research work on it.  Two of his books Hujjatul Baqa and Kalimatul Haqa-eq are also famous. Their style is also the same and the matter is alos Sufistic teachings.  The latter book has been edited by two different sscholars, one Professor Akberuddin Sddiqi and the other Dr.Rafia Sultana.  Other books of his which have not been published as yet and but on which research work is being done are Vasiyatul Hadi, Sukh Sohaila, Muftahul-ul-Iman, Nuqta-e-Wahed, Naseemul Kalam, Basharatuz Zikr, Punch Gunj etc.

Janam has written a number of distichs whichare found in many of his books.  This shows that janam was a prolific writer.  His language is more fefined and progressive.  One of his disciples Shah Dawal has written a booklet called Kash-ful Wajood which has recently been edited and published by Prof.Akberuddin Siddique.

Burhanuddin Janam’s son Aminuddin Ala was also a great saint of his period. He was always in a meditative mood and talked very little.  For a long time he remained in his room and came out only once a week.  Thousands of people used to gather to steal a look at him.  His head was always bent and he never looked up. He seldom made anybody his disciple but his successors were rather broad-minded in this matter. The few of his famous disciples were Meeranji Khudanuma of Hyderabad, Khudavand Hadi of Chincholi and Qadar Lingal .  To his credit go a number of booklets in prose and poetry.  Famous among them are Ramzuz Salikeen, Nizam Vujudya, Mohabbat Name, Guftar Shah Ameenuddin and Gunj-e-Maqfi.  He died in 1685.  His tomb is outside the city of Bijapur and is a place of pilgrimage.

From  among the disciples of Ala,  Qadar Lingal is famous for his works particularly his Gazals and Masnavi. His famous Masnavi is Mojiza-e-Khatoon-e-Jannat. In the period of Sikandar Adil Shah, Qadar Lingal gained fame for his poems and prose works.

One of his disciples, Moazzam was also a great writer.  Shajraful Atqia is famous poetic work of his. Two of his prose works which have erned a name are ‘Risala-e-Wajudyya’ and ‘Wajudul Arifeen’.

From among those who belong to the later half of the Adil Shahi period Ashiq was a famous Sufi saint and poet.  He was a disciple of Shah Sibgaullah Hasan who was uite a well known saint of that time.  Ashiq has written two Masnavi or narrarives.  One is called Chuhar Peer Va Chahar Khan Vada and the other is called ‘Hazrat-e-Khamsa’. In the first book he has dealt with the our famous suides of the Tareeqat and fourteen systems practiced in Sufism.

The second important personality of the period was Shah Abul Hasan Qadri who wrote ‘Sukhanjan’ He belonged to Bidar but had gone over to Bijapur.  The king was very much impressed by his spiritualism. He died in 1634 and was buried near the Allah Darwaza.  Ois timb is also a place of pilgrimage.

Qazi Mehmood Bhri is also a poet of great importance.  His father’s  name was Bahruddin and he was called Qazi Darya.  Bahri beloged to Gogi a village of Gulbarga distric now a part of Mysore State.  His father had gone over to Bijapur to be one of the disciples of Shah Burhanuddin Janam. Bahri was the disciple of Hazrat Shah Baqar of Bijapur.  Sikandar Ali Shah, the king of Bijapur was a great devotee of him. Just a few years before the conquer of Bijapur by Auragzeb he had migrated to Hyderabad and then went back to his native place Gogi and almost renounced the world.  Aurangzeb had himself gone over to Gogi to meet this saintly person and was very much impressed by his high spiritual caliber.  Bahri died in 1718 and was buried very near the tomb of his guide and leader Shah Baqar.

Bahri was a great Sufi poet and since he belongs to the last day of this period his language is almost modern which is again a proof that Dakhni improved and developed had become what to-day Urdu is.

His complete works in Persian and Dakhni ( Qaliyat) have been edited and published by Dr.Hafeez Sayyad ‘Man Lagan’ is another of  his works which is totally on Sufism.  This has been edited by Saqavat Mirza and Anjuuman Taraqi Urdu of Pakistan has published it.

Discording a long list of less-prominent poets of this period, I would like to make a mention of only one more poet , Momin.  His full name was in Mian Abdul Momin.  He was a native of Chanpatan which was in the dominions of the Adil Shahi Governments. He belonged to the Mahdavi Sect.  His ‘Assari Ishq’ has been traced, in which he has written the life story of Hazrat Syed Mohammed of Joanpur.  It has a simple language and simple metre and is date 1682.

When speaking of the Sufi poets of Golkonda we have to mention Vaji’s name even though he was not a Sufi himself.  His famous prose works ‘Subras’ is really an allegory.  In the guise of a love story, he has mentioned all those problems which Sufi poets touch in their books. From one the manuscripts, it is clear that his religious guide and leader was Shah Ali Muttaqi.  From another manuscript it is proved that he was buried in the campus of the Dargah of Hazrat Barhana Shah in Hyderabad.  He died in 1660 A.D.

The periods of Md.Quli Qutub Shah, Md.Qutub and Abdullah Qutub Shah were the periods of cultural activity and social uplift.  The romantic and elegaoic poetry prevailed in these periods. Neither the kings nor the nobles were interested in ‘Tasawaf’ but the people had a taste for it and the following Sufi poets were responsible for the elevation of the standard of learning and understanding Sufism.  They were Syed Bal-laqi, Shah Raju, Abdi Shah, Meeranji Khude Numa, Meeran Yaqoob, Qutubi and Sultan not to mention several other less well-known persons.

Syed Ballaqi was attached to the court of Abdullah Qutub Shah.  His taste for Sufism was refined one.  He wrote a Masnavi in 1669 called ‘Meeraj Nama’ in which there are 1500 couplets.  Shah Raju was a famous Sufi saint of the period.  A number of poetic works have been traced which are said to have been written by him.

Abid Shah Abid was the famous disciple of Shah Raju who has written a booklet and a pamphlet in which he has propounded his teacher’s theories and tried to explain them. His famous work is Gulzar us Slikin. Abid has also translated into Dakhni the prescriptions of Banda Nawaz which were in Persian.

Meeranji Khuda Numa Shah was the most prominent of all the Sufis of the period. He held an important post in the government of Abdullah Qutub Shah. On  a governmental mission, he had been to Bijapur and there he chanced to meet Hazrat Ameenuddin Ali.  From the very day a change come over him. He resigned his post, renounced the world, become a hermit and remained for a year with his leader and Mushid, acquired spiritual benefits and returned to Hyderabad.  Here he spent the whole of his life in the service of humanity, guiding them, teaching them and helping them.  Thousands were his disciples and devotees not to mention the number of the beneficiaries.

Meeranji Khuda Numa is the most important of all the Sufi poets and writers of Golkonda.  He could write with equal ease both in poetry as well as in prose.  The following are his famous prose works-Sharhe-Sharhe-Tamhedat, Ainul Qazat, Risala-e-Wajudyya and ‘Risala-e-Margoobul Quloob’.  There are two long narrative poems ( Masnavis) and another Sufistic poem ‘Basharatul Anwar’ besides a number of Gazals.

He died in 1663 and he was hurried in a tomb which is known as Qamraqi Gunbad at Hyderabad.

Among his disciples and successors there were a number of famous writers.  One of Shah Ferooqi wrote ‘Chakki Nama’ which has become an epoch making book. Several Sufis later on wrote under the same title, adopting the same technique, several books to expand theories and problems of Sufism.

Meeran Yaqoob was also one of the followers of Meeranji Khuda Numa. He wrote in 1667 a book in prose called ‘Shima-el-ul Atqia’.

Qutbi wrote ‘Thofatur Nasach’ which he translated into Dakhni from Persian.

Both Shah Raju and Meeranji Khuda Numa belong to the last period of the Qutub Shahi dynasty.

In the days of Abul Hasan Tamashah who was a beneficiary of Shaa Raju, the kingdom of Golkonda was conquered by Aurangzeb and the political upheaval put an end to the production of literature of this type.