قلم را آں زبان نبود، کہ سر عشق گوید باز

 بروں از حد تقریر ست، شرح آرزومندی

(Hafiz)

The pen lacks the tongue or the power to reproduce the story of love. In fact even the craving for union is beyond expression.

Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai died in 1752 A.D. Sometime before his death he entertained the apprehension that the general public might ignore the warning contained in his following verse and misinterpret his poems:

جي تو بيت ڀانئيا، سي آيتون آهين،

 نيو من لائين، پريان سندي پار ڏي.

Accordingly he had all the papers bearing his verses sunk in the adjoining Kirar Lake. This action of Shah created furore among his disciples. Taking advantage of a suitable opportunity they waited on him and assured him that as custodians of his poems, it would be their sacred duty to remind the readers of the above verse and to elucidate the verses spiritually to their best capability. The poet was naturally moved by their dedication and assurances. Hence he authorised them to take help from his servant Mai Naimat, who had memorised most of his verses and to rewrite them. He also attended some of these meetings personally and certified accuracy of the verses. And they were recorded. Thus was compiled what is known as the ‘Ganj’ or the Treasure.

Timar Fakir was Shah’s disciple of note. He took over custody of the ‘Ganj’. In the course of time several verses of other poets belonging to Sindh or outside it, which were often times recited in the presence of Shah and his disciples or by Messers Atal and Chanchal, the two noted musicians from Delhi, who stayed with him for a long time, found their way in the Ganj. Very regrettably no body seemed keen to maintain its intrinsic purity. The result was that the extraneous verses in a sizeable number got into it and formed its part. It was possibly in 1854 A.D. or some-where earlier that a copy of the Ganj was made out by Sayed Azim Shah of Oderolal. It was retained at the Shah’s mausoleum. It is preserved, though in a worn out condition, in the very conservative custody of Timar Fakir’s descendants. Later other copies too were made out. One of them is known as the Bhit edition of the Risalo. Another copy was taken to Bulri and it is known as the Bulri edition. It is in the custody of the descendants of Shah Abdul Karim, the great grand father of Shah Bhitai. In the meantime the original Ganj disappeared and it is not traceable anywhere in Sindh. It is alleged that some of the foreign minstrels visiting the Shah’s shrine tore away its pages systematically and took them to Kutch Bhuj in India. Accordingly the oldest copy of the original Ganj left with us is the one at Bhit Shah in the custody of Timar Fakir’s descendants. It is definitely useful for reference though it has quite a number of verses of other poets in it.

It was in 1866 A.D. 114 years after the poet’s death that Mr. Ernest Trumpp (1828-1885), a German Scholar, who knew Sindhi, Punjabi, Brohi and Pushto languages beside some European languages, and who had served in Sindh under the British administration and got intimately conversant with the Sindhi language during his temporary stay at Hyderabad, compiled Risalo with the aid of two Sindhi scholars. He got it published at Leipzig, Germany after retirement from service. He called it the Shah-jo-Risalo for the first time. That name has been maintained since then. He had methodically compiled the verses chapter-wise. It is, however, on record that, inspite of considerable subsidy from the British Government, Mr. Trumpp could not get the entire Risalo published. Some of its Surs, to wit, Kamode, Purab, Karayal and Marvi, were left out. His manner of writing and the arrangement of verses too called for improvement. But he shall always be remembered with reverence by the people of Sind, because even though his effort was rudimental and not quite successful, he had succeeded in creating interest of Sindhis in the Shah’s Risalo. He did as much valuable service to Shah as Fitzgerald did to Omar Khayam and Hali did to Ghalib. His edition is known as Trumpp’s edition.

Mr. Trumpp was quickly followed by Mr. Kazi Ibrahim who got his edition of Shah’s Risalo published at Bombay in 1867. No effort, however was made to expunge the extraneous poems. That edition, therefore, was not quite popular. Its second edition, prepared with the help of Fakir Talib of Hala, was published in 1877 A.D. There is evidence to show that this Fakir had tried to sort out Shah’s verses from the then existing conglomeration. Notwithstanding, Dr. Gurbuxani denounced it as possibly the worst edition of the Risalo till then. Mr. Kazi’s edition is known as the Bombay edition. It is however surprising to note that this Bombay edition was reprinted a number of times.

The edition by a) Sayad Dost Ali Mutaalvi, and b) Mir Abdul Hussain Sangi appeared later. But they are out of stock and nothing could be said about them. Similarly there is the Museum edition. It is preserved in the British Museum. It is said to have covered 284 pages and it found its way there in 1846. Its origin and the name of its bearer to London cannot be ascertained correctly.

In 1900 A.D. the Government of Sindh took official initiative and got the Risalo published as an authorised edition under the supervision of Mr. Tarachand. It was, however, considered by the public to be arbitrary in certain respects and to have included quite a number of extraneous verses.

In 1913 A.D. Shams-ul-Ulema Mirza Kalich Beg, a renowned Sindhi Scholar, got a fresh edition of the Risalo published at Shikarpur, Sindh. That too regrettably is said to have contained the flaws of its predecessor, Besides it had numerous printing mistakes. On that account it was generally disfavoured.

Dr. Gurbuxani, the then professor of Persian at Karachi, who had good knowledge of Sanskrit, Persian and Sindhi languages, published the first volume of his edition of the Risalo in 1923. Two other yolumes followed in 1924 and 1931 A.D. They were indeed a remarkable improvement on the previous editions. The Doctor had tried his best to expunge all foreign poems from the Risalo. Besides its print and get-up were attractive. Hence it was received well. But there was criticism in a section of the public that his elimination of several verses as alien was very arbitrary, particularly when they appeared in all other editions and that his frequent reference to Sanskrit derivation of words was rather unnecessary and uncalled for and his effort to draw a parallel between the Hindu vedic philosophy and the Muslim sufism was unconvincing, in-opportune and un-warranted. Possibly as a result of this criticism, he failed to publish the remaining 13 surs of the Risalo. On that account his edition had the additional disadvantage of being incomplete. But it must be said to the credit of Dr. Gurbuxani that his knowledge of Sindhi language was extremely good and he had spared no pains to present a really reliable, useful and educative edition of the Risalo. Recently as a mark of appreciation all the three volumes of his edition have been republished under auspices of the Bhitshah Cultural Committee.

After Dr. Gurbuxani the following scholars published their editions of the Risalo:

(i)      Mr. Ghulam Muhammad Shahwani  (1950 A.D.)

(ii)     Moulana Ghulam Mustafa Kasimi     (1952 A.D.).

(iii)   Mr. Kalyan Advani                             (1958 A.D. in India).

Messers Shahwani and Advani followed the pattern of Dr. Gurbaxani’s edition of the Risalo, with the difference that the latter had attached a glossary at the end of each volume, whereas they did it on each page below the text. Both are useful editions. Mr. Advani’s edition is more exhaustive.

Moulana Kasimi’s edition is not available and as such I have not been able to go through it. The annotator, who is an eminent scholar of Arabic, Persian and Sindhi languages, and has held the office of the Chairman, Sindhi Adabi Board, told me that he had marginally explained in his edition the relationship between philosophies of Shah Walliullah and Shah Bhitai. That should have made it interesting. However, it has gone into oblivion.

(iv) Allama I.I. Kazi  (Ex-Vice Chancellor, Sindh University)          (1961 A.D)

Mr. Kazi was a Barrister at law and a highly learned man of his time. He reviewed the Risalo, and his edition contains some additional verses, which are missing in the other editions. On that account it may be appreciated more. But he has unaccountably eliminated Sur Kedaro from his edition, and there is no explanation for it. The edition has no introduction also. That is rather strange. All other earlier editions have contained this Sur. Mr. Kazi has attached a glossary at the close of his edition, but it is not as exhaustive as that of Dr. Gurbuxani.

I must make it clear at this stage that none of editions of the Risalo, so far published, contained a detailed literal translation of the verses or explained their spiritual significance or background.They merely translated the Quranic verses and the traditions quoted by the Poet. Dr. Gurbuxani, however, did make an attempt to explain some of the Quranic allusions, but it was much too rudimental to deserve appreciation. Like other annotators he too made no attempt to give a detailed explanation or translation of the verses.

Dr. Sorley’s book deals with excerpts and not with the entire Risalo. Besides his translation too is not literal. It is not faithful to the text. In several cases it is incorrect too. So far the spiritual significance of the verses is concerned, his book is blank. The Doctor has in fact concerned himself with the political history of the country and more particularly of the East India Company. After reading his translation, the reader carries the impression that he just enjoyed a fine English Poetry but sadly different in sense and spirit from that of Shah Abdul Latif. That is possibly explained by his ignorance of the Quran and the tradition. That I consider as a serious disqualification for any person to translate Shah’s Risalo. Dr. Sorley, however, deserves thanks of Sindhis for having introduced the poet to European scholars through his book.

The works of Mr. Allama and Professor Akram, both learned scholars, have been recently published. But they cannot be considered as editions of the Risalo. The learned authors have admitted that they have discussed selections from the Risalo. lnfact Professor Akram has mainly discussed one aspect of the Risalo - its symbolism. Both books, however, are highly educative as treatises on the Risalo.

Dr. Nabi Bux Baloch is defatigable in his research on the Risalo. He has worked on quite a few books pertaining to the study and publication of the original source material on Shah Jo Risalo. According to his study of 47 manuscripts and 15 printed editions of Shah Jo Risalo he opines that the different collections of Shah Abdul Latif’s poetry fall into two main categories: the compilations of earlier period (approx 1150-1210 H i.e. 1747- 1795) commence with ‘Sur Sasui and were made mainly from the point of importance of the ‘Theme’, and poems were placed under different Sur Headings (chapters) without any further classifications. The later period compilations ‘Sur Kalyan’ was placed first probably, because the music sittings, under Shah Jo Raga at his shrine, which began in the evenings which was the time for singing of ‘Raga Kalyan’.

Simultaneously I must say that the figure of editions of the Risalo, as quoted by the learned Doctor, can not be considered as conclusive, because he has omitted the editions by Mr. Fateh Chand Vaswani (2 volumes), Moulana Ghulam Mustafa Kasimi, Mr. Ghulam Muhammad Shahwani and Mr. Kalyan Advani (2 editions, the later one being with translation in Sindhi). The last mentioned editions - by Messrs Shahwani and Advani are very useful indeed, and they are available in the market, though Mr. Kalyan Advani migrated to India some years ago. Doctor Daudpota, a talented scholar of Sindh, also had brought out an edition of the Risalo. But it has not passed the manuscript stage yet. That is indeed a great pity.

In view of the above resume it may be conceded that the number of editions of the Risalo is quite heartening. In a way that also reflects the continued interest of Sindhis in their great Poet and in his Risalo. I hope and pray that the unpublished editions of the Risalo are published in succession and more editions come up in course of time.

دگرہا شنیدستی، ایں ہم شنو۔

You have heard other things, hear this one also

Now a few words about my own work. I have taken more than six years to translate the entire Risalo and to compile the dictionary of its difficult words. During this period, I was forced to realise that the Risalo is almost untranslatable, and that the only person qualified to correctly translate it, and satisfactorily interpret its verses spiritually is Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai himself. lt would be futile to expect any other person to soar high enough and reach his spiritual level to know his views as embodied in the verses. Since normally that is not possible, no translation of Shah’s Risalo can claim to present accurately, his interpretation of the verses. Speaking for myself the very fact that I have given more than one interpretation in the case of some verses is a proof in itself that I did not feel the firm ground. I have, however, made an honest effort and used my knowledge of the Quran, the traditions, the religious literature and of Moulana Roomi’s masnavi and Diwan Shams Tabrez to present, a relatively reliable translation of the Risalo and that is my maximum claim.

My Lord! Advance me in knowledge. (124 TAHA)

ڪرهو نه ڪيڪان، پيرين آئون نه پڄڻي،

The prominent features of my work are as under:

a)    It is a detailed translation of all the verses in the Risalo.

b)    Where a verse is susceptible of more than one interpretation, I have given all possible interpretations thereof.

c)     i. Where a verse has a personal incident of the poet’s life forming its back-ground, I have referred to it in my note below the relevant verse.

ii.    Where a verse refers to a Quranic incident, I have mentioned the same under it.

d)    Where a Quranic verse or a tradition is partly quoted by the poet or a relevant verse of the Quran or a tradition is attracted by it, I have reproduced the same - (translated). I have thus quoted and reproduced translation of about 750 Quranic verses and traditions in the body of the translation and the notes attached to it.

I have also explained the spiritual significance and back-ground in the case of good many verses.

e) I have modernised the script in the -Risalo. I have rewritten the words like:

پهجي، جنءَ، تب، ڪهه، جڏهه، تهجو، نيهه، ڏيهه، ايندءِ،

 پنهنجي، جيئن، ته به، ڪنهن، جڏهن، تنهنجو، نينهن، ڏينهن، ايندءِ.

There are good many other corrections of similar nature.

f)     i. At some suitable places I have reproduced sayings of illustrious persons like Hazrat Ali, Ghous Azam, Bayazid Bistami, Mujadid Alif Sani, Ghizali, Razi, Tirmizi etc., for elucidating the point raised in the verse concerned.

ii. I have given a brief life sketch of every person of historical importance like the Prophet, the two Imams, Khalifa, Prophets Ibrahim and Moosa, Moulana Roomi, some saints and Azar, idol maker and worshipper etc. I have also explained certain religious orders like Vishin Panth and the sentimental title like ‘Nani’ as referred to by the Poet.

g)    i. Shah used to enjoy the company of illustrious literary men. Accordingly I have given a galaxy of poets to keep him company for all time. I have reproduced more than 700 selected poems (mostly in Persian and a few in Urdu and Arabic) of Roomi, Khayam, Hafiz, Saadi, Iraqi, Faizi, Jami, Quratulain Tahira, Khusro, Bu Ali Qalandar, lqbal, Ghalib, Sachal Sarmast, Jan-ullah Shah and several other poets of repute. All such poems are relevantly quoted at proper places along with their translation in English. I have also quoted Shakespeare at good many places.

ii. I have made brief catalogues of poems of relative homogeneity of Shah   and the following poets to illustrate their influence on the Risalo:

a)    Moulana Roomi

b)     Shah Abdul Karim  

c)    Shah lnayat Rizvi

d)    Khawaja Muhammad Zaman of Luwari

h)    There has been a general complaint about the previous editions that either they contained too many foreign poems or that quite a size-able number of Shah’s own verses were scissored out arbitrarily. I have tried to safeguard against both exigencies. I have worked on Mr. Shahwani’s edition, which contains 37 verses more than Dr. Gurbuxani’s edition in Surs Kalyan, Yaman Kalyan, Surirag and Sasui Abri respectively. I have retained them in my edition due to their identical thought and spiritual flavour. In addition I have added 167 verses and 7 Vais, mainly imported from the editions of Messers Kazi and Advani respectively on the same above considerations. I really do not know why they were omitted by Mr. Shahwani. Simultaneously I have retained Sur Kedaro, which was unaccountably eliminated by Mr. Kazi. According to me it forms an integral part of the Risalo. However in the view of the reasons given in the allied explanatory notes I have cut out chapter VI from the body of the Sur but retained it as appendix to it.

In addition I have deleted the following verses for the reasons shown against them:

a)    Verses No. 6 & 7 of Chapter 3 of Sur.Abri. (They were already in Chapter 5 of the Sur.)

b)    Verse No. 23 of Chapter 10 of Sur Hussaini. (It does not belong to the poet. It was undeniably composed by his father).

c)    Verse No. 2 of Chapter 4 of the Sur Sarang. (It already existed in Chapter 1 of the same Sur.)

d)    Verse No. 3 of Chapter No. 1 of Sur Barvo Sindhi. (It existed already in Sur Yaman Kalyan.)

i)     I have suitably amended the text of more than 300 verses and 28 vais, mostly on the basis of some of the previous editions. I have quoted the authority in my note below each verse concerned. In a few cases the mistakes were quite patent but they had escaped notice of the previous annotators. For instance:

 ڪيسر was mis-stated for:  ڪوثر

  پُل صراط for  صراط المستقيم

   لنگهاfor  لنڱا

I have given reasons for my corrections in all cases.

j)     Without fear of contradiction I make a definite statement that Shah’s Risalo in its present form is a picture of clumsiness in compilation. The reader of some of its surs is generally forced to the conclusion that the Risalo is not clear in ideas, nor systematic in presentation. Possibly none of the previous annotators had carefully studied the Risalo from that point of view. I have now rearranged the verses. Wherever I have considered it necessary I have changed their order in the same chapter or transferred some of them to another chapter of the same Sur. In one particular case I have transferred the VaI No. 3 from Sur Barvo Sindhi to Sur Kohyari and in another case I have transferred a verse from Sur Sasui Abri to Sur Khambhat on the ground of appropriateness.

I have effected such changes in about 295 verses of the Risalo. As rearranged, the verses in the Risalo will, I hope, receive better appreciation.

I have changed the order of chapters in some Surs - more prominently in Sur Dahar, because of the relative importance of the subject matter treated in them. In a few Surs I have created new sections for a block of verses significantly compact and different from others.

As per my present set up there are about 3035 verses and 195 vais in the Risalo and 15 verses and 1 vai in the new appendix to Sur Kedaro.

The Risalo is a part of the Ganj which is maintained at the Shah’s mausoleum. Since it is distinguishable from the Ganj, Mr. Trumpp used his discretion well and called his (incomplete) work as the Risalo. This name is very popular with the public. To change it or revert to the original name Ganj would be impolitic. Accordingly I have maintained it. But in view of its spiritual benefits, as illustrated in my translation, and its liaison with the original Ganj, I have thought of adding the alias of گنج سعادت to its title. That would bring it nearer to its original name of the گنج and be a reminder of it.

k)    I have given introduction to each Sur and explained therein the spiritual significance of certain epithets used therein. Simultaneously in a separate note I have given the story whenever it forms the background of a Sur. I have also attached a separate brief life sketch of every historical personage mentioned in the Sur.

l)      I have given notes on various important subjects like ‘ruh’, ‘nafs’, ‘tobah’, etc.

m)    In chapter 2 of the introduction, I have given geneology of the poet right upto Hazrat Ali, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet of Islam.

n)     In chapter 3 of the introduction I have given a brief sketch of the poet’s life.

o)     In chapter 4 of the introduction I have discussed Shah as a Poet, concluding the note with my appraisement of him as such.

In addition I have appended the following appendicites:

a)    I have given a note on the spiritual philosophy of the poet, as appendix 1.

b)    I have attached a note on the poet vis-a-vis malamatis as appendix 2.

c)    I have attached a note on the civilization and language of Sindh as appendix 3.

I have also drawn up a pen picture of the Prophet as delineated by the poet in his poems. This forms appendix 4.

d)    I have attached notes as appendix 5 a, based on the following subjects.

i)     Toubah or Repentance

ii)    Rooh or soul

iii)   Nafs or self

e)     I have given certain useful statistics about the Surs in a tabular form as appendix 6.

I have rearranged the Surs and assigned them a fresh serial order. As revised, they commence with Sur Kalyan, with the name of Allah, and end with Sur Ghatu - with the successful execution of the major Jihad. I have made four groups of the Surs. The first group consists of surs Kalyan, Yaman Kalyan, Pirbhati, Asa, Burvo Sindhi, Kapati, Dahar, Ripp, Karyal, Bilawal, and Sarang, commencing with the name of Allah and ending with the mercy of Allah. They deal with the high mystic philosophy and the poet’s reverential homage and love for Allah and for the Prophet. The second group consists of Surs Khambhat, Surirag and Samoondi relating to the spiritual journey of the man towards his goal. The third group consists of Surs Poorab, Ramkali and Khahori - all dealing with the holy ascetics. The fourth group consists of the remaining Surs Kedaro, Suhni, Sasui Abri, Maazuri, Desi, Kohyari, Hussaini, Marui, Leela Chanesar, Kamode, Sorath, Mumal Rano and Ghatu. All of them involve stories. This group starts with the story about the memorable battle of Karbala against the forces of evil and injustice and ends with that of the battle against the nafs or the evil self.

In chapter 10 of the introduction I have given certain useful statistics about each Sur in a tabular form.

Since my translation of the Risalo is detailed, there seemed no necessity for me to attach a glossary and to explain difficult words and phrases on each page or at the conclusion of the translation as done by some of the earlier annotators. Instead I have separately prepared an exhaustive dictionary of more than 6000 words of the Risalo translating them in the modern colloquial Sindhi and in English. I have marked therein the words which are originally of the Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Siraiki and the Urdu or Hindi origin and have been absorbed in the Sindhi language. This book is the first of its kind. I hope the non-Sindhi readers of Shah’s Risalo will find it helpful. I have called it as قليدِ گنج لطيف or the key to the Shah jo Risalo.

I have attached copies of portraits of a Sufi Moulana Roomi and Mr. Trumpp respectively and a few illustrations of general interest.

All praise is due to Allah for having enabled me, a non-educationist to complete this work.