Article Written By EIH Researcher And Writer
Sawai Singh Panwar
Can you recollect some of the stories you must have heard of where the couple was buried within or near the same grave apart from Heer-Ranjha, Mirza-Sahiba and Sohni-Mahiwal? A not-so-popular story exists in the former territory of Punjab, now a part of Lahore (Pakistan), where guru Gulabdas is resting in peace with his lover cum follower Peero. Not much is known about the present condition of their grave but one thing is for sure Gulabdas was successful in bringing a revolution through his sect known as Gulabdasis that was fostered during the pre-modern Punjab. You must be thinking about who these characters are and why they are not so popular. Let us travel back in time to explore the answer to this question.
Beginning with, the birth of Gulabdas, according to the Sikh accounts, took place in 1809 near Amritsar in a Jat family. Looking at his career’s trajectory, he first enrolled as a Sikh chief military officer for some period before he felt more inclined towards an ascetic lifestyle. To fulfil his spiritual pursuit, he ended up being with and experiencing three varied types of lifestyles. The first sect he entered into was the Udasis, which is an old sect within Sikhism. The Udasis were launched by Guru Nanak’s elder son Siri Chand and were known for observing celibacy as well as a strict form of asceticism. This was just the first step towards his larger goal. Gulabdas then took the advantage of his era where he could exercise flexibility by shifting his associations without being bound towards any organisation for the rest of his life. This flexibility allowed him to enter the sect of Nirmala. The Nirmalas were known for practising celibacy as well as believing in the Vedic and Sanskrit teachings. The major takeaway for Gulabdas was that he acquired the skills of writing poetic pieces as well as learning the Vedanta philosophy. Lastly, he was fortunate enough to get exposure to the mannerisms of the Bulleh Shahi Sufi faqirs.
After gaining immersive experiences from different domains of life, Gulabdas closely associated himself with the philosophy of Vedantic monism which denies the duality between God and the world, and solipsism which says that the Self is the only knowable truth. This, as is believed by many, influenced him to address himself as Bhrahm (Advait influence) and allowed him to define the mantra of his sect called Soham ( I and He). These ideologies became the core of his sect later on, which is seen as syncretic in the opinion of historian Anshu Malhotra.
With his strong belief system, he launched his Gulabdasi or Gulabdasia sect. With its main dera (establishment) in Chathianwala, near Lahore, in colonial Punjab, Gulabdasis were contemporary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1799-1839). The sect can be viewed as a sant or guru tradition, in the eyes of Anshu Malhotra, because it relied heavily on the personal merits of the individual teacher. This is similar to the North Indian traditions we have seen like that of Kabir where the guru leads his followers towards the path of spirituality to release them from societal bonds and allow them to gain access to the concept of divinity on their terms. The sant, according to Professor Daniel Gold, can be seen as an alternative to people by offering a belief system they can simply relate to.
While the Gulabdasis were spreading their reachability and attracting followers from all walks of life, they were unaware of its invitation to a new member who would create history and was working as a prostitute within the periphery of the famous brothel of Heeramandi in Lahore.
She was Peero whose life has resurfaced in recent times due to the ongoing research and availability of oral narratives. Accordingly, her birth ended the long waiting period that her parents were undergoing in longing for a progeny. Coming from a landowning Muslim class background, her parents tried every possible way to have a child and even ended up paying frequent visits to the Sufi Pirs. Once she was born, they believed she was the blessing of the Pirs to them and ultimately named her Peeranditi.
The little Peeranditi was unaware of the brutalities of life which were to hit her and wipe away her childhood innocence. The first brutality she experienced was through losing both her parents, initially her mother at five and later her father within a few years. Because her story has a lot of ruptures in between, one can consider this point of her life to be the turning point that led to her dependency on other men around her. Based on a popular version, she ended up getting sold to the Hiramandi brother by her uncle. There she received formal training in the art of singing, dancing and performing mujra. It is believed that she was even attended by General Makhe Khan who was part of Ranjit Singh’s army.
But destiny had other plans for her as she soon became aware of Gulabdas and his sect due to its proximity to Lahore. Her spiritual soul thought of taking a chance with life. Her curiosity to become a member of the sect impelled her to send him a formal letter for initiation.
This must have caused intrigue in the mind of Gulabdas before his decision was about to have a two-fold effect by creating history and triggering controversy. He agreed to her letter which gave her hope of new beginnings in her life. Once she entered the dera and soon realised that her move didn’t guarantee smooth sailing for her. Initially, her presence intimidated and infuriated the other sect members because of her identity as a Muslim as well as a prostitute.
And before she could well settle in the dera, she was followed by some people from her Lahore life who asked her to come back. With the formal permission of Gulabdas, she went back with them in order to resolve the issue. This step may seem puzzling but there is no answer available in the sources. She was then carried from Lahore to Wazirabad with force, as she refused to convert to Islam. This episode fleshed out her hatred towards mullahs in particular who forced her to accept Islam and read Kalma. After being imprisoned in the haveli of Wazirabad, two women she befriends there become her only ray of hope. Both of them helped her to escape by sending a letter to Gulabdas who, on reading the harsh condition of his dear follower, sent two of his close followers to fetch her back to the dera.
Even after she reaches back to her dera safely that did not stop people around her to create another controversy around her. People like Gian Singh commented that because of Piro many besyas (prostitutes) also joined the discipleship. He felt that the law and morals of Hindus and Muslims were insulted. Additionally, it was no hidden fact that Peero and Gulabdas shared an intimate relationship. As a consequence, many accused Gulabdas of breaching social etiquette as a Sikh guru.
These episodes had tarnished the image of Gulabdas and Peero was infuriated to an extent that she wrote her Kafis to shut them all. Titled Ik Sau Santh (160) Kafiya, which showcased her life’s journey, has been seen as a form of autobiography by the historian Anshu Malhotra. Kafis are short songs composed by the Sufis according to Annemarie Schimmel. Three points make her writing stand out. Firstly, her work expressed the intricacies of Gulabdasi theology (Vedanta monism) and piety and her way of expression overlapped with Bhakti tradition. For instance, a clear influence of Kabir as well as a reference to Mira’s popular poetry are seen in her work. For example: Pīro pī pyālṛā matvārī hoī (on drinking from the cup, Piro became intoxicated). Second was her use of familiar cultural tropes that added dramatic value. For instance, she portrayed her abduction to Lahore as reminiscent of Sita’s abduction in Ramayan where Wazirabad became the Ashok Vatika. Lastly, she used bold terminology that was prevalent for prostitutes in her writing. She called herself Sudar veswa (shudra/low caste prostitute). In addition, words like kasbi, besya, kanjar, ganka, randi, and kanchani, were used by Gian Singh in his account for prostitutes as well as Peero. Besides, her writing gave a message of the openness of her sect towards everyone.
Despite all the backlash, within a decade or so, Peero gained the status of maata (mother) and also the saint of the subaltern. She breathed her last in 1872 and after eight months she was joined by Gulabdas who had expressed his will against getting cremated.
Her death only acted as a beginning to her life after death as her tomb became a symbol of veneration and her 160 Kafis gained popularity via print technology. They were later adapted into two dramas that were largely derived from this work. First is Shahryar’s play titled Piro Preman penned in Gurmukhi script. Second is Swarajbir’s Shairi which has been performed by different theatre groups in Amritsar as well as Pakistani Punjab. Lastly, is Vijendra Das who is a part of the sect in Hansi and has compiled all her writings in a volume titled Sant Kavyitri Maa Piro as a hagiographical and devotional text. The astonishing fact about all these dramas and volumes is that they attest to the excellent poetic nature of Peero who is known to be the first woman poet of Punjab.
Both Peero and Gulabdas carved an unconventional story that was subjectively interpreted. As both of them lay buried next to each other, one can only imagine why their story remains absent from the memory of Punjab. Did you feel this story is unique from the other romantic stories that you have heard of? Or do you have more such stories to share that have remained neglected in your locality?
Bibliography
Malhotra, Anshu. “Performing a Persona: Reading Piro’s Kafis” in Speaking of the Self: Gender, Performance, and Autobiography in South Asia edited by Anshu Malhotra & Siobhan Lambert- Hurley, Duke University Press, 2015.
Malhotra, Anshu. “Panths and Piety in the Nineteenth Century: The Gulabdasis of Punjab” in Punjab Reconsidered: History, Culture, and Practice edited by Anshu Malhotra and Farina Mir, Oxford University Press, 2012.
Malhotra, Anshu. Theatre of the Past: Re-presenting the past in different genres. Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, 2014.
Singh, Neeti. Peero: Maverick Bhakta and First Woman Poet of Punjab in Indian Literature, Vol. 62, No. 4 (306) (July/August 2018), pp. 201-213.
DOI: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26792168
