The tale of Mirza Sahiban is the stuff of legend that has inspired innumerable poets and bards generation after generation. A major source of such an undying interest in it may have something to do with the defiance of young lovers and their tragic death in the prime of their youth.

The latest expression of interest on the subject in question is Dr. Faisal Jappa’s researched book Mirza te Ra Rahmun di Var published by Pakistan Punjabi Adbi Board, Lahore.

Dr. Faisal is an educationist and writer. The book has two segments: a researched article on Mirza, his family and clan, and a poem in the manner of epic on the tale of Mirza and Sahiban by Hafiz Barkhurdar Sachiyar Hanjraa who was born in 1635 in present-day Sargodha district.

According to Dr. Jappa’s research, Mirza’s family originally lived in Kot Kamaliya but was forced by a long spell of drought to move to the ancient town of Khiwa on the west bank of the river Chenab in search of pastures for their livestock. Mirza’a father Wanjhal had an elder brother named Ra Rahmun who was head of the family. The family developed good relations with Khiwa, the chief of Mahni Sial and Wanjhal married chief’s daughter Naseebo. Thereafter they moved to eponymous Danabad, an estate owned by Sardar Danaa Singh, a Sikh landlord along the right bank of the river Ravi surrounded by rich grasslands. They temporarily settled there with the permission of the Sardar but then treacherously killed him and took hold of his lands. The claim is supported by evidence gleaned from revenue registers and oral sources. But from this point onward the story becomes murky and imaginary. Supernatural comes handy to explain the events otherwise incredible such as Mirza’s capture and his appearance in the court of Emperor Akbar, Emperor’s gift of his finest horse for him, and his encounter with Dulla Bhatti. All such stuff is part of lore which is passed on and is made look credible with the help of superstitious and metaphysical reasoning if one can call it reasoning at all.

Dr Faisal Jappa is a researcher and folklorist. His effort to collect folk stories is commendable but he needs to be a little more critical while dealing with the stuff which is generally taken as gospel by the way of respect for tradition. Collection of folklore is important to understand our social evolution but so is its critical evaluation which demystifies the phenomenon and tries to unearth its contemporary relevance. As to the Mirza te Rehmun di Var, it adds to the large collection of oral and written texts we already have on the legend. It appears that Barkhurdar Hanjraa composed the tale from the tribal perspective which could make it significant in historical and sociological terms.

The text like most others that have come to us suffers from inconsistency of meter / Chhand which hints at the evidence of interpolation.

One hopes Dr. Faisal will edit it for its next edition as he amply qualifies to do so because he is quite familiar with the tenor of the poetic text and knows the suggestive quality of Lehndi Punjabi employed by the poet. There is unmistakable mystic streak in Hanjraa’s poetry.

“Look at each individual and see yourself hidden there / know that the thread that runs through Muslim and Hindu rosaries is the same / discover Divine presence [Ram and Allah] in temple and mosque /Hafiz, you bathe with same water whether you are in Mecca or at Ganges.”

The book is doubly welcome as it comes from a Chiniot college, not from a public or private university in Lahore where research activities have lost all their meanings.

Mantar [Mantra] is Hafiz Tahir’s book of verses published by UMT Press, Lahore. Hafiz Tahir is generally known as a very competent television programmer. But he is also a sensitive poet and composes poetry in Punjabi and Urdu. He already has three books of verses to his credit. He got his education from Islamia College, Railway Road, National College of Arts and the Punjab University. He initially worked as a film journalist. Later he joined Pakistan Television in 1980 as a programmes producer. He produced lot of talk shows and documentaries. His serial for children Ainak wala Jinn [The bespectacled Djinn] proved to be hugely popular with children and populace and ran into hundreds of episodes. Based largely on the phenomena of phantasy and phantom it evoked the phantasmagorical aspect of things much heard about but not seen on the screen.

His book of verses, beautifully designed, is a product of urban ethos and carries contemporary sensibility. It’s not burdened by nostalgia for the country life traditionally associated with Punjabi poetry. Its freshness lies in being free from the jetsam and flotsam of our rural past. Not that rural past is something to be ashamed of. The fact is that rural living has lost its pristine quality and is fast becoming a replica of life in urban slums. Hafiz Tahir paints pressures and pain of daily living without being unnecessarily ambiguous. His simple and straight expression laced with emotions effortlessly communicates to his readers. There is nothing as rich as simplicity in poetry if it has an emotive quality. He draws his imagery from urban setting and landscape. He picks things which are rarely taken notice of because of their ubiquitous presence and rearranges them with a view to impregnating them with meanings. He does it noiselessly in a matter-of-fact manner. So don’t expect anything dramatic which is opposite of what he has been doing with his television productions. He creates a calm poetic surface but one can discover turbulence underneath if they have discerning eye.

“A sparrow took time to collect the twigs and arrange them around a bulb without light/ she laid eggs/ one day breaking the shells chicks stuck their necks out and noisily opened their beaks/ suddenly the bulb lit up and heat roasted the chicks/ the sparrow pecked at the feed she had brought and wept and cried / but the boy studying under the light of the bulb stood first in the exam”. His is enjoyable poetry. — soofi01@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2020