Shah, Panju

Shah, Panju (1851-1914) poet and mystic, born in jhenaidah. He had no formal schooling, but learned by himself Bangla, Arabic, and Persian. He was attracted to both Hindu and Muslim devotional songs such as kirtan and Gari gan. He became a disciple of Hiraztullah and composed about three hundred songs in the sufi vein. Sahe Iske S'a'dek'i' Gouhar (1890) is influenced by sufism. His son, Khandaker Rafiquddin, included some of Panju Shah';s songs in his book Bh'a'vsa'b'g'i't. Khandaker Reazul Huq also included more than two hundred of his songs in his book, Maram'i' Kavi P'av'ju Sh'a'h. Panju Shah was a humanist. In one of his songs he declares, 'All human beings have the same mind, however different their activities'; (M'a'nu's'er Kara'n' m'a'nu's' bhinna nay ore man). Panju Shah died at Harishpur. [Ramdulal Roy] [Roy, Ramdulal Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Narsingdi Government College]