Reverence is the word. The moment you hear the name, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, no matter how little you know of him, how scarce your knowledge of his creative output is, you tend to bow your head to show respect. The man had it all: a poet of extremely high merit, a mystic of great credentials, a Sufi to the core and a musician par excellence.
O friend, why are you still inclined To waste paper and ink – Go rather forth and try to find The source where words were formed
[Translation by Elsa Kazi]
A 25-minute drive from Hyderabad will take you to the small, historical town of Bhit Shah where Shah Latif rests in peace. On the left side of the road that leads to the town the banana and sugarcane trees, not to mention mustard farms, make for a picturesque view. After a while you will see a board directing the visitors to turn right to reach the Sufi saint’s shrine. A bevy of rickshaws at the entrance point is a fair indicator to the fact that the place witnesses a regular, big flow of visitors. Another five-minute drive and you will be right in front of a gali flanked by a variety of shops selling dried fruit, stuffed toys, chadors to be placed on gravesites, knickknacks and souvenirs to be taken for your loved ones. There is no harm in buying a thing or two from here. The gali leads up to a comfortable flight of stairs made of marble climbing which you will enter the large compound where Shah Latif’s gravesite is situated. But wait. Meet Alam Wala Faqir first.
The forty-something man has chains around his neck and ankles. When he walks it makes a steely sound. If you ask him who he is, he will reply, “I’m one of the many faqirs of Shah saen. I have lived here all my life. He is extremely generous. No one returns empty-handed from his darbar.” You look into his eyes and you know that he means it.
Once you cross the entrance you turn left from under another small opening and the mazaar is there, in front of your eyes — a beautiful domed structure marked by shimmering blue tiles with traditional floral patterns on them. The Kalhora dynasty is said to have contributed to this building’s construction.
You cross the open space and before you enter the shrine you see five faqirs, a few feet before the gravesite, singing Shah Latif’s sur kedhar, homage to Imam Husain. Their voices are harmonized and the listener can sense the inherent veneration and sorrow in the sur. Their instrument: tamboras. They are clad in black shalwar kameez and are one of the numerous groups of faqirs who come here every day to pay their respects to Shah saen. They commence their performance with sur kaliyan and end in sur marvi.
To the right, in a corner, a large encased copy of the Quran attracts devotees before they go to the grave. Zulqarnain Shah, a writer and presenter on a local radio network, believes the copy of the holy book is from Shah Latif’s time (1689-1752). A young, spirited man who works at the shrine, Altaf Husain, has another opinion which shall be discussed some other time.
There is hardly anyone here who roams around the compound aimlessly. The sense of purposefulness of each man, woman and child is infectious. The love, admiration and regard for the great man speak volumes for his ability to touch the hearts of the common man and stir the faculties of the scholarly in equal measure. For instance Khadim Husain, who has the key to the case where the Quran is kept, is deaf and dumb. When he unlocks the casing he implores you fervently to look at the Persian translation of the holy verses. He wants you to acknowledge not just its spiritual value but also its aesthetic worth. He succeeds because he is absolutely right about that.
The mazaar is a humbling sight. It has two graves: one of Shah Latif and the other of Jamal Shah, his close relative. The beautiful (sagwaan) wood cover does not allow devotees to get too close to the burial site. Both graves are draped in a red cloth with flowers all around them, and the smell that emanates from them wafts through the air and suffuses the whole area with the sweet fragrance of rose petals. The high ceiling of the domed structure and the tiles impart a distinct aura to the whole picture. According to Zulqarnain Shah, over the years the shrine has undergone restoration. On the whole it’s in decent shape.
To the right of the mazaar is another small structure where Shah Latif’s father Hazrat Shah Habib is buried. To the left and behind the shrine there are many graves of the saint’s devotees, admirers and relatives. They belonged to all spheres of life — men of letters, intellectuals, followers, etc. For example, in one structure there are four graves of faqirs, including Tamar Faqir, one of Shah Latif’s disciples. The jaar and neem trees in the open space, shading some of the graves, are as old as the shrine.
It is not easy to leave Shah Latif’s shrine because once you step out of the compound, the voices of the faqirs singing Shah saen’s kalam beckon you to return to the sights and sounds of Shah Latif’s world.
Shah Latif’s three-day Urs starts on Dec 28.