Unearthing Piro: Punjab’s first woman Sufi finds second dawn

“Bulleya! Ki jaana mein kaun? (Oh Bulleh! To me, I know not who I am)”: These famous verses by Sufi saint and poet Baba Bulleh Shah reject the narrow concept of religion, sin and social divisions.

It was, therefore, an irony when the news of a shrine linked to the poet was vandalised in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, raising questions on the rising intolerance and hostility in the name of religion.

A few days later, we were reminded of Piro Preman, another trailblazing sufi poet and a follower of Bulleh Shah — unique in her own — who became the voice of dissent and feminism in 18th century Punjab, at a special session with author and historian Anshu Malhotra at Majha House here.

Piro, as historical accounts document, was a Muslim courtesan sold to a brothel in Lahore’s Heeramandi area.

But circumstance is not the story the revolutionary poet chalked out for herself: Piro’s significant, albeit small, body of work was mustered out of sheer womanhood and defiance. She renounced the barriers of religion, sect and class as she embraced her spiritual awakening.

Malhotra, in her latest book Piro and the Gulabdasis: Gender, Sect and Society in Punjab, explores Piro’s famous autobiographical literary work, Ikk Sau Sathh Kafian (160 poems), and examines how Piro challenged social and religious hierarchies, becoming perhaps the lone voice of woman of the time.

The book narrates Piro’s works through a research lens — Malhotra studied the research work of former Guru Nanak Dev University professor Santokh Singh Sheharyar, who documented and archived Piro’s original manuscripts at the university.

“Piro was a woman who had no sect, no clan, and no panth. She claimed her space as a shudra (low caste) woman, as documented at the time. She was a Muslim prostitute, which made her all the more marginalised. But she never thought any of that as her weakness. In fact, it gave her the strength to speak up against the gender-based social discrimination and exploitation that she witnessed. She believed that liberation must not be confined to the upper caste, but extended to all,” said Malhotra, faculty at University of California.

Sold to a brothel as young girl, Piro joined the Ghulab Dasi sect, rejected the tenets of religion and society, and lived by her own rules.

Malhotra explained that Piro’s defiance extended across religions, its norms and patrons. “In her kafis (poems), she rejected and challenged the customs of religion. She greatly respected her guru, Gulab Das, and portrayed him with great respect in her poetry. Her body of work reflects the influence of Bulleh Shah and Kabir. When she openly declared her decision to become an apostle, she assumed the persona of Heer,” added the historian.

While Malhotra delved into the interpretation of Piro’s kafis, Mumbai-based singer Radhika Sood Nayak sang some of these on ek tara — and the atmosphere filled with feminine resilience of an era bygone.

Both Nayak and Malhotra agreed that Piro, as a poet and literary figure of erstwhile Punjab, was

gradually erased from the cultural memory.

“In Sufi tradition, Piro was the first female poet (of Punjab), and, in that context, her work and her presence is quite significant. But it’s a tragedy that, with time, her literary footprints disappeared. When I first came across Santokh Singh’s work on Piro, I came to GNDU and this piqued my interest in exploring Piro and her body of work,” said Malhotra.

Nayak, sharing that her collaboration with Malhotra was the first time she had been introduced to Piro, said the poet’s fate served as an example on how history excluded ‘the other half’, owing to gender-based bias.