Babu Rajab Ali (; also known as Babu Ji) was a noted kavishar singer of

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, known as the King of '' Kavishari''.

Kavishar and kavishari

Kavishari, or Kavishri, was originated in the Malwa region of

. In the region a "Chhand-Baddh" kavita (poetry) is sung faster in a loud yet stretched voice without any musical instruments known as ''kavishari''.

Biography

Babu Rajab Ali was born as ''Rajab Ali Khan'' on 10 August 1894 in a Muslim Rajput family to father ''Mian Dhamaali Khan'' and mother ''Jiooni'' in the village of Sahoke of Firozpur district (now Moga district) in

Punjab Province (British India) The Punjab Province, officially the Province of the Punjab, was a Presidencies and provinces of British India, province of British India, with its capital in Lahore and summer capitals in Murree and Simla. At its greatest extent, it stretched ...

. He had four sisters and one younger brother. His uncle Haji Ratan was a talented Kavishar as well. He had his primary schooling from a neighbouring village of Banbiha, then high schooling in Moga and passed matriculation in 1912 from Barjindra High School, Faridkot. He was a good

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. He was the captain of the

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

team of his school. Later on he graduated with diploma in civil engineering, commonly known as Overseeri in

those days, from an engineering school in

Gujrat district Gujrat ( Punjabi, ) is a district of Gujrat Division in the Pakistani province of Punjab. The Gujrat District was created by the British Government in 1846. According to the 2023 Pakistani census the population of the Gujrat District is 3,219 ...

. He worked as an overseer in

Irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

department. His first appointment as an Overseer was in Peshawar Tehsil (Pakistan).He also worked as an Overseer in village Akhara, Tehsil Jagraon (Ludhiana) at Canal Rest House Akhara (ref: an article by Labh Singh Sandhu in the leading newspaper "Punjabi Tribune" on 10 August 2012). He was married to Bhago Begum, Rehmat Bibi, Fatima and Daulat Bibi and had – four sons Akaal Khan, Shamsher Khan, Adaalat Khan & Ali Sardar and two daughters Shamshad Begum & Gulzar Begum. In 1947, after the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

, he migrated to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. He died on 6 June 1979.

Poems and literary work

Although, he was fluent in Punjabi and

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

and knew some of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, Arabic and English, his poetry only in Punjabi expressing his love for

and Punjabi. His love for Punjab and Punjabi was unconditional and was not bound by walls of religion or nationality. He wrote about one dozen Qissas and poems about the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

mythology like

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

, Puran Bhagat and Kaulan,

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

heroes and historic figures like

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, Hassan, Hussain and Dahood Badshah, and

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

history. He wrote an episode or long poem about every know

Punjabi folklore Punjabi folklore (more particularly its folksongs) is a core part of the Punjabi culture. Other important components of Punjabi folklore are farces, anecdotes, idioms, folktales, and sayings. Research Origin Richard Carnac Temple argued in ...

Heer Ranjha '' Ranjha'' () is a classical Punjabi folk tragedy with many historic poetic narrations; with the first one penned by Damodar Gulati in 1600s, on the preexisting oral legend; and the most famous one, ''Heer'', written by Waris Shah in 17 ...

Mirza Sahiban ''Mirza Sahiban'' () is a classical Punjabi folk tragedy, originally recorded in literary form by the 17th-century poet Pilu. Set in a village in Jhang, the tragedy follows the romance between two youths, belonging to chieftain families ...

, Dulla Bhatti and Sohni Mahiwal. He had many students who learnt from him and still sings his poetry including hundreds of other Kavishars in

. He gave some new ''Chhands'' like ''Bahattar Kala Chhand'' to Punjabi literature. 2000 poems on Sikhism

Books of Babu Ji

Kavishar Sukhwinder Singh (Pakka Kalan) has published many books on Babu Ji through Sangam Publication, Samana. Some of them are :- * ''Albela Rajab Ali'' * ''Anmol Rajab Ali'' * ''Ankhila Rajab Ali'' * ''Anokha Rajab Ali'' * ''Babu Rajab Ali De Kisse'' * ''Dasmesh Mahima'' * ''Rangila Rajab Ali''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Babu Rajab Kavishars Punjabi-language singers Punjabi-language lyricists 1894 births 1979 deaths 20th-century Indian male singers 20th-century Indian singers Punjabi-language poets People from Punjab Province (British India)

Kavishar and kavishari

Biography

Poems and literary work

Books of Babu Ji

See also

References