Abstract
Sindh, a province of Pakistan is as rich as its culture, its tradions, its
language, its moral values, its social diversity and its civilizaon. The region of
Sindh is known as the land of Sufi saints and sages who fostered the message
of love, amity and brotherhood in Asia and beyond. Shah Abdul Laf Bhitai
(1689- 1752 CE) is a celebrated Sufi poet, philosopher and social reformist,
who addressed every aspect of the human life in his poetry. The work contains
great lessons for every segment of society. Bhitai’s poetry addresses the people belonging to various walks of life, the marginalized segments of society,
poor folks, and menial workers such as po0er, iron-smith, washerman, fisherman, Shepherd, and cloth-maker. During the eighteenth century, when this
poetry was compiled, the social condions of Sindh were very crical. Different
civil wars had been broken out due to weakening central authority of the
Mughals, and struggle between pe0y landlords to gain power. Consequently,
the common people of Sindh became vicm of this enre deplorable situaon.
Bhitai lived among the common people, and since he had a sensive soul, he
felt the miseries and sufferings of the people. This poetry, which possesses
unbounded charm and grace of the vernacular Sindhi language, reveals social
status and cultural condion of the common people. Poec expressions are
also used to depict contemporary religious and socio-cultural life. Its mysc
aspect expresses devoonal ideas of the Sufi saints. This paper is an a0empt
to analyse Bhitai’s poetry as an alternave source for revealing the sociocultural aspect of the history of Sindh during the 18th century.
Dr. Humera Naz . (2015) Shah Jo Risalo (Poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai): A NonPolitical Source for Reconstructing the History of Sindh, Kalachi, Volume 18 , Issue 1.
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