SHAH ABDUL LATIF OF BHIT
A Chapter from
"History of Sindhi
Literature"
by L. H. Ajwani
SHAH ABDUL LATIF of Bhit,
called simply' Shah' or 'Monarch’ is a unique figure in literature. He is not
only the greatest of Sindhi writers, but he has been equated with the
literature of his land, as if he were co-terminous with Sindhi literature. The
first foreigners who explored the civilization and culture of Sind
thought that Shah was the only Poet and Philosopher Sind had produced, and the
universal vogue of Shah-Jo-Risalo, or Shah's Poetical Works, in the land of the
Sindhu, inclined them to believe that the Risalo was the only literary work in
the Sindhi language.
It has become clear now
that, far from being the only poet of Sind, or the only singer of his time, Shah
was only one-- albeit the greatest of a multitude of poets who formed a 'nest
of singing birds' in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Shah was the
finest flower in a garden of poetry. His poetry is not that of a pioneer, it is
the poetry of fulfillment; it is not the poetry of experimentation or
innovation, it is the poetry of gracious benediction. Nor is it correct to call
him the last of the traditional or medieval poets in Sindhi, as some have tried
to make out; Shah is no Milton,
the last of the Elizabethans'. It is well-known that Shah looked upon Sachal as
his spiritual successor. And there were others besides Sachal to keep up the
tradition of Shah. Shah did for Sindhi language and literature¬ and the Sindhi
people-what other world poets have done for their own language and country in
their own particular way¬ Hafiz for the Persian Lyric, Dante for the'
illustrious vernacular' of Italy, and Tulsidas for Hindi language and
literature.