Babu Rajab Ali, uncrowned king of Kavishari

Babu Jagjit Sandhu was a Punjabi poet from the Malwa region of Punjab.

Though the Partition of 1947 divided Panjab it never separated Babu Rajab Ali's heart from Malwa and the his childhood village of Sahoke in the now district of Faridkot. His Kavishari Punjabi melas were not bound by walls of religions or nationality.

Kavishri

In the Malwa region of Punjab, the 'chhandd-band' (rhymed on meter) Punjabi poetry which is sung in loud, fast, yet stretched voice without any musical instruments (somewhat similar to tarannum) is called Kavishri. The people who write and sing Kavishri in Punjabi melas, diwaans, mehfils, weddings, ect., are called Kavishar. Originally started in Malwa, this tradition of Punjabi poetry and singing has spread throughout Punjab although the majority of the Kavishar(s) to this day have been from Malwa. Babu Rajab Ali of village Sahoke near Moga was the un-crowned king of Kavishari.

His Story

Babu Rajab Ali was born on Aug 10th, 1894 in a Muslim family of Rajputs in the village of Sahoke district Ferozepur (now Dist. Faridkot). His father's name was Mian Dhamaali Khan and his mother's name was Jiyooni. Babu ji went to primary school in the neighboring village of BaNbeeha and then to high school in Moga and passed his matriculation in 1912 from Barjindra High School, Faridkot. Later on he graduated with a diploma in Civil Engineering, commonly known as Overseeri in Punjabi during those days, from an engineering school in Gujraat district. Babu Rajab Ali worked as an overseer in the irrigation department all his life and was affectionately called Babu ji by more than just the local people. Canals were being laid all throughout Punjab in those days and the whole landscape was changing, and that was probably the first and last time, when the word Babu ji was respected with praise and thankfulness in rural Punjab.

I believe it was sweetness of language in Babu Rajab Ali's poetry and personality that changed the meanings of the phrase 'Babu ji' forever. During World War II, Babu ji also went to Basra, Baghdad in Iraq and saw "Rabb dian karagariaN" which he has mentioned in his poetry. He worked throughout Punjab and also near Peshawar, as a result he was a well-traveled person by the standards of his time.

Though he was fluent in Punjabi, Urdu, knew some Persian, Arabic and English but his poetry was to be only in Punjabi and that too in the ThaiTh Malwaii accent.

Babu ji had hundreds of shagird (students) who learned Kavishari from him and sung his Kavishari in Punjabi melas. He was madly in love with Malwa and Punjabi poetry and probably at the peak of his life when one day in 1947 he had to leave his beloved village of Sahoke, his students, his admirers and family history of hundreds of years and leave for Pakistan. Babu ji went to Pakistan but his soul always wandered in Malwa and he wrote hundreds of poems on his separation from his beloved people and places. His family had some land allotted to them in OkaaRa where they settled. Babu ji visited East Punjab in March of 1965 and thousands of Malwai Kavishar(s) came to see their beloved Babu ji.

Babu Rajab Ali wrote about 1 dozen kissas and long poems about Hindu mythology like Puran Bhagat, KaullaN, Ramayan, Raja Rattan Sainn, etc.; about 15 kissa about Muslim heroes and historic figures like Hassan Hussain, Hazrat Mohammad, Dahood Badshah, etc.; another 15 kissas about Sikh history and heroes like Shaheedi Guru Arjun Dev, Saka Sarhind, Saka Chamkaur, Bidhi Chand de ghoRhay, etc.

He also wrote almost an episode or a kissa about every known Punjabi folktale like Heer Ranjha, Dulla Bhatti, Mirza, and Bhagat Singh etc. The breadth of the subjects chosen indicates how open hearted and secular poet Babu Rajab Ali was. Interestingly, most of his kissas related to Hindu heroes and figures were written during his life in Pakistan. His love for Punjab and Punjabi was unconditional and not bound by walls of religions or nationalities.

Shagirds of Babu Rajab Ali

Babu ji passed away on to the next world on May 6th, 1979, singing songs of Punjabi and longing for seeing his village of Sahoke--of his childhood and youth again. Babu ji is a pride of the Punjabi language and will live forever in the hearts of Punjabis. His poems are still sung by hundreds of Kavishars in Punjab who claim with pride that they are all shagirds of Babu Rajab Ali.

From an article by Jagjit Sandhu