The Poets Who Gave Voice to the Nameless
Punjab's greatest gift to world literature may be its Sufi poetry. Across the centuries from the 17th to the 19th, a succession of extraordinary poets gave voice in Punjabi to the experience of divine love — the longing, the union, the ecstasy, and the obliteration of the self that lies at the heart of the Sufi path. At Dera Baba Murad Shah Ji, their words are alive every night in the mouths of qawwals.
Bulleh Shah (1680–1757)
Bulleh Shah is perhaps the most beloved Sufi poet in all of Punjabi literature. Born in Uch Sharif and spending much of his life in Kasur (Punjab, Pakistan), he was a disciple of the Qadiri master Inayat Shah and wrote in the kafi style — short, intense poems that use the imagery of romantic love to describe the relationship between the soul and the divine.
ਬੁੱਲ੍ਹਾ ਕੀ ਜਾਣਾ ਮੈਂ ਕੌਣ — "Bulleh, what do I know of who I am?"
His poetry cuts through pretension and orthodoxy with a directness that has lost nothing of its power after three centuries. He is sung at qawwali nights across Punjab — including at Nakodar.
Sultan Bahu (1628–1691)
Sultan Bahu of the Suhrawardi Sufi order is known for his abyat — short Punjabi verses, each ending with the syllable "Hu" (a divine name). His poetry is particularly intense in its focus on the inner path, on the annihilation of the ego, and on the direct experience of God within the human heart.
ਅਲਫ਼ ਅੱਲ੍ਹਾ ਚੰਬੇ ਦੀ ਬੂਟੀ, ਮੁਰਸ਼ਦ ਮਨ ਵਿਚ ਲਾਈ ਹੂ — "Aleph-Allah is a jasmine plant, the master has planted it in my heart."
Waris Shah (1722–1798)
Waris Shah is the author of Heer Ranjha — the most celebrated work in Punjabi literature. While Heer Ranjha reads as a tragic love story, it is at its deepest level a Sufi allegory of the soul's journey towards God. Heer is the soul; Ranjha is the divine. Their separation and longing is the human condition; their union is the goal of the spiritual path.
These Poets at the Nakodar Qawwali
When Karamat Ali & Party perform at the Nakodar Mela, much of what they sing are verses from these three great poets. Hearing Bulleh Shah's kafis in the early hours of the morning, surrounded by lakhs of devotees, under the open sky of Punjab — it is an experience that connects the listener simultaneously to the 18th century and to the timeless.
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