Person · fl. early 17th century, during the reign of Akbar (d. 1605); no death date recorded in any source consulted · Punjabi poet; named as 'Patwari' (village revenue record-keeper) of Jhang by Temple's 1884 field collection, though later scholarship gives no occupation beyond 'poet' and, per one source, 'Emperor Akbar's Hindu courtier'.

Damodar Gulati

دمودر گلاٹی

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Damodar Gulati was a Punjabi Hindu poet of Jhang who, writing early in the seventeenth century during the reign of Akbar, composed the first known literary Qissa of Heer and Ranjha, the tale that Waris Shah and other later poets adapted from his version.

آکھ دمودر میں اکھی ڈٹھا لگی ہون لڑائی — 'Aakkh Damodar mein Akkhi ditha laggi hon Ladai' — 'Say Damodar I witnessed with my eyes the battle started' (his signature refrain, quoted in Wikipedia, 'Damodar Gulati', §Style).

What the sources did afterwards. His eyewitness refrain was read literally for generations until the critic Najam Hussain Syed reread it as a storytelling device, not testimony, likening his narrative position to Sanjaya's in the Mahabharata. Even who he was stayed unsettled afterward: most scholars call him a 'Punjabi Hindu', but the Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature says he was 'influenced by Sufi and Sikh thought'. And the two earliest namings of him do not even agree on his name: Temple's 1884 field collection prints him as 'Namodar Patwari, of Jhang', where every modern source calls him 'Damodar Gulati'.

Draft. This entry is an unreviewed first draft. It has not yet been checked by a subject reviewer — see sources and method.

The first Heer

Every scholarly account of the Heer-Ranjha romance names one man as its first poet. Writing in Jhang in the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar, Damodar Gulati 'wrote the Qissa Heer and Ranjha... and was the first to put the story to paper,' his version 'deemed the oldest and the first Heer Ranjha in Punjabi literature' (Wikipedia, 'Damodar Gulati', §Biography/Heer and Ranjha). He signed his verses with a refrain naming himself and claiming to have seen the events: 'Aakkh Damodar mein Akkhi ditha laggi hon Ladai' — 'Say Damodar I witnessed with my eyes the battle started' (Wikipedia, 'Damodar Gulati', §Style). Decades before any modern scholar wrote this down, an English folklorist working the same ground had already recorded that 'the first poem in their honour is said to have been composed by Namodar Patwari, of Jhang' (Temple, Legends of the Panjab, vol. II, p. 178) — the same claim, the same town, a different spelling of the name.

A refrain reread

Damodar's eyewitness claim was taken literally for generations until the critic Najam Hussain Syed reread it: he 'was not actually an eyewitness to the tale but rather... using a storytelling technique that was misinterpreted as meaning he was simply an eyewitness,' his real position 'similar to that of Sanjaya of the Mahabharata epic, who used paranormal powers to see what was happening at the Kurukshetra War' (Wikipedia, 'Damodar Gulati', §Biography/Heer and Ranjha). Even who he was stayed unsettled: 'the majority of scholars describe him as a Punjabi Hindu,' yet the Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature held that he 'was influenced by Sufi and Sikh thought' (Wikipedia, 'Damodar Gulati', §Religious identity). No death date survives in any source consulted for this record.

Where this sits

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Sources

vol. II, p. 178 · read as page image The first poem in their honour is said to have been composed by Namodar Patwari, of Jhang, but the most celebrated is the poem of Waris Shah, a native of Takht Hazara in Gujranwala, Ranjha's native place.
Biography / Heer and Ranjha · read as web He wrote the Qissa Heer and Ranjha (ہیر رانجھے دا قصہ) and was the first to put the story to paper, adapted from a preexisting and circulating legend... He claims to be the eye witness of this tale. His Qissa (story) is deemed the oldest and the first Heer Ranjha in Punjabi literature.
Style · read as web آکھ دمودر میں اکھی ڈٹھا لگی ہون لڑائی / Aakkh Damodar mein Akkhi ditha laggi hon Ladai / (Say Damodar I witnessed with my eyes the battle started)
Biography / Heer and Ranjha · read as web An analysis by Najam Hussain Syed led him to believe that Damodar Gulati was not actually an eyewitness to the tale but rather he was using a storytelling technique that was misinterpreted as meaning he was simply an eyewitness. In reality, Gulati's position to the characters in the tale is similar to that of Sanjaya of the Mahabharata epic, who used paranormal powers to see what was happening at the Kurukshetra War.
Religious identity · read as web On the matter of his religious identity, the majority of scholars describe him as a Punjabi Hindu. The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature, mentioned that Gulati was influenced by Sufi and Sikh thought.
References note 2 (quoting Nikky-Guninder Singh) · read as web Emperor Akbar's Hindu courtier, Damodar Gulati, had popularized the story of Heer and Ranjha at the beginning of the seventeenth century.