Time had passed by so quickly and suddenly the day to start the return journey was here. They say time flies when you are having fun and it was certainly true in our case: the days flew by like superman... :)
For our return journey we had decided to go straight to Multan and stay there overnight. We took the N5 route. ETD was 5 am but we were only able to leave the guest house at around 5:45. It took us 45 minutes to adjust the luggage in the car: all the travel bags were tied on the roof rack and all the shopping was stuffed in the back.
After having our staple breakfast on a road side chai shop we headed north. Just before the Karachi- Hyderabad toll plaza we were stopped by the Sindh police. They started the overall act by asking for the car papers first, which were shown to them. And then when Usman told them that the car belonged to his uncle, that provided them the window of opportunity they were looking for. They became adamant that we needed a letter of authority from his uncle to drive the car on the highway. Both Usman and Balouch refused their point of view vehemently and finally it was decided to take the matter to their supervisor who was sitting in his police car nearby. The negotiations started from Rs.6000/- and ended at Rs.1000/- ( roughly around $ 11). They were just looking for an excuse to make some money and start the day on a good note... : P
Balouch decided to write off this expense under "sadqa for the day" head... :D
Nonetheless through out our journey this was the one and only time that we were harassed by the police. No where else did we encounter any trouble at all.
After this somewhat bemusing encounter we again headed north and our plan was to stop at Bhit Shah first to visit the shrine of Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. For our return journey we had earmarked a number of shrines that we were planning to visit along the way. That was also one of the reasons we had decided to stay overnight in Multan as it is known as "city of saints" or "madinat-ul-auliya" and is home to the mausoleums of many sufi saints.
To visit the shrine we had to take a right turn from N5 and enter the city of Bhit shah. From the main highway the shrine was about 20 kilometres inside the city.
Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (1689–1752) (Sindhi: شاھ عبدالطيف ڀٽائيِ), was a Sufi scholar and saint, and is considered as the greatest poet of the Sindhi language. His most famous written work is the Shah Jo Risalo ( epic poem in Sindhi language). His work frequently has been compared to that of Rūmī. Shah Latif can be said to be the soul of Sindh.
Much of Shah Bhitai’s poetry expresses the individual seeking for God in terms of well-known ballads and the negation of the ego. In Islamic tradition the seeker and the sought are both males. Shah following the Indian tradition made his individual a female. Shah’s heroine’s come mainly from the lower strata than the heroes, and yet they outshine the men. The divine is the beloved , with the feminine form associated with earth fertility, nurture, wisdom, and intuition and the masculine with rationality and logic.
The history books claim that sometime before his death, Shah threw the manuscripts of his works into the Karar lake near his village of Bhit. His reason for doing so was that his people may not understand the main theme of messages. However his disciples had some older copies of his work. and it was mainly through the efforts of a lady by the name of Mai Miamat, a disciple, who had memorised a lot of his verses. Thus by her singing the verses, his disciples were able to record his messages.
It is said that Shah longed to perform a pilgrimage to Karbala in Iraq [ the site where Hasan & Hussain were martyred ]. As he went to Kutch to board a ship for the journey, a pious man met him and said : " O saint you have always said that Bhit will be your burial place ". At this remark, Shah went back to Bhit .
.A few days before his death, he retired to his underground room and spent all his time in prayers and fasting, eating very little. After 21 days in there, he came out and having bathed himself with a large quantity of water, covered himself with a white sheet and asked his disciples to sing and start the mystic music. This went on for three days continuously till the musicians, concerned about the motionless poet, found that his soul had already left for its heavenly abode to be in the proximity of the Beloved for who he had longed for all his life. He died on 22 December 1751. The only worldly possessions he left behind were a patched cloak, a quilt and a begging bowl.
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| Musicians at the shrine singing verses from Shah Jo Risalo |
The visit in itself was quite a pleasant experience. There were not many people around and thus one could go about the place easily and without any hassle. There were musicians within the compound of the shrine playing a local instrument ( I am afraid I do not the name of that instrument) and singing verses from his epic poem shah jo risalo.
From there onwards we again headed towards Multan. As per the plan our next stop was to be the Panjnad area in Punjab before hitting Multan. Panjnad is a river at the extreme end of Bahawalpur district in Punjab. Panjnad River is formed by successive confluence of the five rivers of Punjab, namely Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. Jhelum and Ravi join Chenab, Beas joins Sutlej, and then Sutlej and Chenab join to form Panjnad 10 miles north of Uch Sharif in Bahawalpur district.
The mood in the car was jovial although all of us were feeling that we were going back too soon. The day before we had briefly discussed to stay an extra day but had decided against it as Balouch was keen to get back home at the earliest. Usman also had office on Monday: Samina, Bilal and I had another week of holidays left.
It was early afternoon when to our very pleasant surprise we came upon the shrine of Hazrat Sachal Sarmast. It was not on our list and we were also not aware that it will be right on our way. By chance Balouch happened to glance outside and saw a substantial shrine like building in the near distance, closer to the main highway. By the time we stopped to ask a passer by about it we had crossed it's turning. Nonetheless we still decided to take a u-turn and go back to visit the shrine because we saw it as a direct invitation from the saint himself: and it is impolite to turn down such invitations.. :)
Sachal Sarmast 
(1739-1829) was a renowned Sindhi Sufi poet during the Kalhora era. Abdul Wahab was his real name and "Sachal" was the name he used in his own poetry. Sachu means truth in Sindhi and Sachalu means truthful. Sarmast means mystic in Sindhi and Urdu. Suchal Sarmast literally means 'truthful mystic'.
(1739-1829) was a renowned Sindhi Sufi poet during the Kalhora era. Abdul Wahab was his real name and "Sachal" was the name he used in his own poetry. Sachu means truth in Sindhi and Sachalu means truthful. Sarmast means mystic in Sindhi and Urdu. Suchal Sarmast literally means 'truthful mystic'.
Sachal Sarmast was an ardent follower of Wahdat-ul-Wujood ( unity of existence), an Islamic Philosophy synonymous with Hamah Oost ( all from One).
Sachal Sarmast (Mian Abdul Wahab), the great mystic of Sindh, is the leading Sufi poet of distinction who composed verses on philosophy and Sufism. He is known as second Mansoor ul Hajj ( another great mystic and sufi of Iraq) because of his poetry and philosophy. Sache Dino, Sachoo (the truthful) and Sachal Sarmast were radical Sufi pursuits with which he challenged the rigid mindset of the clergy of his times.
Also called 'shair-e- haft zaban
' (poet in seven languages) as he composed poetical pieces in Arabic, Sindhi, Seraiki, Punjabi, Urdu, Persian and others, that is replete with Divine Love.Again there was a very interesting chapter on this saint in the book that I was carrying; Allah kay wali ( friends/saints of Allah) by Khan Asif: One of the ruler of his times had an only son who fell fatally ill. When the boy was close to death the ruler went to this saint and asked him to pray for the boy's life. Hazrat Sachal refused saying that what has been decreed by the Divine Being cannot be changed as he could see in loh-e-mehfooz ( Sacred Tablet) that the Almighty had decreed death for the boy. But the ruler was very adamant and did not leave his side, begging him to pray for his son. It was against the saint's nature to return someone empty handed and therefore after much persistence by the ruler the saint agreed to his wishes.
After the ruler left the saint prayed to God and said that he was well aware of His decree and that it cannot be changed. Since the principle was that "jaan kay badlaiy jaan" ( a death for a death) therefore the saint prayed to God to take his son instead of the ruler's. Slowly the ruler's son started getting better and the day he was declared fit and healthy was the day that the saint's son was buried in his grave.
Today the journey had become somewhat spiritual for us and we were looking forward to visiting all the shrines in Multan tomorrow.
It was also evident looking at both the shrines that their architecture and design were very similar but then that was expected as they both lived during Kalhora era in Sindh. Hazrat Sachal was thirteen when Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai passed away.
After stopping for lunch at a road side chai shop we headed towards Multan. It was our full aim to visit Panjnad today. However the journey had become longer for us due to these extra stops that we had made. And by the time the sun had set we were at the borders of Sindh crossing over to Punjab.
It had become dark and for Panjnad we had to steer off our N5 route and take a detour of 2 hours one way. Common sense prevailed and we decided to forego Panjnad and head directly towards Multan. It was not worth the effort to drive extra time just to reach the place in the middle of the night: we would not have been able to see anything in the dark!
It was after midnight when we reached Multan. A friend of Usman's, Saif, had booked a nice guest house, continental guest house, for us. He was waiting for us at the entrance of the city to guide us to the place. We followed his motorcycle.
The guest house was very clean with spacious rooms. The bathrooms were also well maintained and up to par. After a very long journey we all hit the sack.
Missed opportunity of the day: Panjnad!
