This work in English translation is based on Gurmukhi script prevalent in India while the text in Persian script is that available in Pakistan. The most significant contribution the Sufi poets of the Punjab is their rising above the narrow and parochial concepts of religion and laying emphasis on the love of God alone. They believe that the love of God can be attained through the love of man. Sain Bulleh Shah is the most important voice among them. The rational and socialistic content of his verse, more importantly his sympathy with the have nots and the down-trodden speaks volumes for his forward-looking vision. It is a pity that no authentic version of Saint Bulleh Shah’s work is obtaining. All that has traveled to us from mouth to mouth. It therefore, varies from Persian script to Gurmukhi script, from Pakistan to India. This may, at times, be evident from the text covered in these pages. His romantic defiance of both Hindu and Muslim bigotry and ritualism is particularly telling Bulleh Shah fostered communal amity and understanding which is the primary need of our times ridden with blind fundamentalism and petty political considerations.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR K.S. Duggal
Kartar singh (K.S.) Duggal, born in 1917, begin wiriting while still a student. He is an author of repute in Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, and English. His works have been translated into many other languages, and are used in literature classes in a larger number of colleges and universities throughout the world. His published works include twenty-one collections of short stories, seven novels, seven plays, and two collections of poetry. He has received numerous awards and prizes for his writing, including the Ghalib Award for Urdu Dhama (1976), the Soviet Land Nehru Award (1981), the Fellowship of the Punjabi Sahitya Academy (1983), and the Bhartya Bhasha Parishad Award (1985). His short story, “Come Back My Master†is included in the Greatest Short Stories of the World. He was recognized by both the Punjabi government (1962) and the Delhi Administration (1976) as a distinquished man-of-letters and awarded a “Robe of Honour.†His collection of short stories, ik Cbbit Chanam Di, won the Sahita Academi award in 1965. Mr. Duggal also served as Director of the All-India Radio from 1942 to 1966, as Director of the National Book Trust form 1966-1973, and was an Advisor (Information) to the Planning Commission from 1973 to 1976. He has worked to encourage and promote literature and the arts throughout his life. He also served as a columnist for The Indian Express. The Tribune, and The Indian Book Industry, as a commentator or books, author, radio, and television programs and the contemporary publishing scene in India.
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