Harjeet Singh Gill, the interpreter of Phulkari

Subhash Parihar

An omnibus edition, ‘Preeto’s Phulkari’ comprises three of Prof Harjeet Singh Gill’s earlier books: ‘A Phulkari from Bhatinda’ (1977), ‘Heer-Ranjha and Other Legends of the Punjab’ (2003) and ‘Sufi Rhythms: Interpreted in Free Verse’ (2007). In addition, there are also some images from ‘The Folk Art of the Punjab’ (1975), another work of the eminent linguist.

As is well-known, Phulkari is a form of folk embroidery using soft untwisted silk floss threads (pat) on a piece of cloth, mostly khadi. Flora Annie Steel (1847-1929), wife of an ICS officer posted in Punjab, was probably the first person to note the significance of the art of Phulkari, which she found being practised in a vast region covering the present-day Haryana and Punjab, and Pakistani states of Punjab and the North West Frontier Province. In the October 1888 issue of the Journal of Indian Art (London), she published her article on the subject. Thereafter, some writers kept writing on the subject, but their pieces didn’t rise above the journalistic level. Then, in 1977, appeared Dr Gill’s book, ‘A Phulkari from Bhatinda’. He analysed Phulkari from an anthropological perspective.

In the first part of ‘Preeto’s Phulkari’, he presents a fictionalised account of a girl from a Sikh family, highlighting the significant moments in her life when Phulkari is specifically used for certain ceremonies.

Dr Gill reads the embroidered signs and their symbolic importance. But decoding the signs and symbols is a tricky affair. There is a strong likelihood that an interpreter’s interpretation reflects his own concerns, rather than serving as windows into the mind of the artist.

The second major section is titled ‘Cultural Heritage of Preeto’. The author retells the popular stories of Heer-Ranjha, Sassi-Punnu, Sohni-Mahiwal and Mirza-Sahiban. This section also includes two other articles — ‘The Cosmology of Heer’ and ‘The Human Condition in Puran Bhagat’. All these stories are a part of the collective consciousness of Punjabi folks.

The second part of the second section, ‘Sufi Rhythms’, consists of transcreations of selected writings of renowned Sufi saints — Baba Farid of Pakpattan (1173-1268), Shah Hussain of Lahore (1538-1599), Sultan Bahu of Jhang (1631-1691), Bulleh Shah of Kasur (1680-1758) and Dr Gill’s friend in Paris, Laeeq Babree (1931-2003).

The language of Baba Farid’s compositions is very simple. He prefers vernacular words and usages from south-western Punjab. Shah Hussain made use of folk rhymes, such as the songs sung by young girls in trinjans, i.e., spinning parties. Sultan Bahu’s known compositions in Punjabi are 190-odd four-line verses, collectively known as abyat, the Arabic plural of bait. Bulleh Shah is considered to have been the greatest of the Punjabi mystics.

Dr Gill’s transcreations of the Punjabi poems are striking.

In the beginning of the book is ‘Lucioles’ (Jugnu), a long poem in French by Dr Gill’s late wife, Danielle, who was a poet. As it is not accompanied by a translation, it has no accessibility to non-French readers.

A number of spelling mistakes in the book are indicative of careless proof-reading. The book could also have been made available at a lower price if the use of art paper was limited to plates.