Jawan Sal Bugti: the Dera Bugti shepherd and Sufi poet

Most of the Balochistan poets covered so far in this series have no certain dates of life. Jawan Sal Bugti is different. He lived into the 1960s, yet his poetry belongs to the old Balochi tradition that came down from Jam Durrak and Mast Tawakkali. Jawan Sal is thus a bridge between classical and modern Balochi poetry, and a fitting name for the last instalment of this period.

Life and times

Hameedullah Baloch writes in his Balochi book “Balochi Labzank-e-Tarikh” (1999) that Jawan Sal Bugti was born in Dera Bugti in the late 19th century. Like other rural Baloch, he owned livestock and farmed. He grazed his own animals and was fond of hunting and travel. Hameedullah Baloch calls him an “unlettered” poet, meaning he had no formal education.

The most notable political event in Jawan Sal’s life is his link with the Khilafat Movement. According to Hameedullah Baloch, when the movement was launched in India under the leadership of Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar and Maulana Shaukat Ali, Jawan Sal joined it. He took part in every struggle against the British. According to the same book, he was imprisoned in Dera Bugti for more than six months because of this.

In his book “Balochi Zaban o Adab: Ek Jaiza” (Balochi Language and Literature: A Survey), written for the Pakistan Academy of Letters, Ghous Bakhsh Sabir counts Jawan Sal among the old classical poets who lived until the beginning of the modern era. He writes that Jawan Sal died in 1969.

Style

According to Hameedullah Baloch, Jawan Sal was a poet of the people. His poetry mirrors the life of the Baloch masses and contains a considered philosophy of life. Even his love poetry has a Sufi colour. Hameedullah Baloch describes him as a lover who travelled the Sufi path and feared God.

Three streams thus flow together in Jawan Sal’s poetry: everyday life among the mountains and livestock, love of God, and a call for honour and freedom. The first two bring him close to Mast Tawakkali, and the third to Rahm Ali Marri, who has been covered in this series.

Selected verse

The lines below are given with the Balochi text as printed in Hameedullah Baloch’s book. The Urdu translation is by the newspaper and is provisional. It will be checked by a Balochi speaker before publication.

These lines by Jawan Sal are on the power of God:

هر کس حیران انت تئی بازیں قدرتاںتاهندا ایشی آزمان تانیگا داشته گوں پرآں

Everyone is amazed at Your countless powers; You hold this sky in its place.

(Jawan Sal Bugti, cited by Hameedullah Baloch, Balochi Labzank-e-Tarikh, pp. 95-96)

In the next verse of the same hymn, the poet says the sun, stars and clouds all move by God’s command. Hameedullah Baloch also gives an example of his early poetry, with an image of a priceless ruby tied in a handkerchief and kept safe. Jawan Sal’s work is still under copyright, so only two lines are reproduced here.

Influence and legacy

Jawan Sal Bugti is the last of the classical poets of Balochistan in this series. According to Ghous Bakhsh Sabir, some other poets of this old tradition lived on after him. They include Naseer Kabdani (died in 1989 according to Sabir, apparently 1981 according to Hameedullah Baloch) and Mir Isa Qaumi (died 1994). Their work is still under copyright and, under the rules of this series, cannot be reproduced here. Jawan Sal’s poetry is among the testimonies of that old world. It is also a reminder that a shepherd sitting in the mountains of Balochistan was not unaware of the greatest political movements of his time.

To readers: A special request to readers in Dera Bugti and Sui: please write to us with any verse of Jawan Sal Bugti that you remember, or any incident from his life that you heard from elders. Selected verses and memories will be published with your name.

Next Friday: This period of the classical poets of Balochistan is now complete. The editorial team will decide what follows.