Person · b. 1722 – d. 1799 (aged 76–77); composed his Heer in 1766 · born 1722 · Sufi poet; author of Heer (Heer Ranjha), the best-known Punjabi qissa

Waris Shah

A Sayyid poet of Jandiala Sher Khan whose 1766 telling of Heer Ranjha became the version by which the story is popularly known, and whose text was corrupted by thousands of later interpolated verses within a century and a half of his death.

What the sources did afterwards. Wikipedia's own article on Waris Shah records that the text he left behind was not transmitted cleanly: "It is estimated that there are 11069 forged verses in the commonly available Qissa Waris Shah," and that the oldest and most accurate copy known, edited by Kripa Ram, was not printed until 1916 — a century and a half after his death — and is held in the Punjab Public Library, Lahore. The received Heer that Punjab reads today is, by this reckoning, substantially not his own line-for-line text.

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

A Sayyid poet of Jandiala Sher Khan, and the Heer that outlived him

The sources agree on little about his early life beyond the village of his birth. Wikipedia's entry gives him as "Born 1722 ... Jandiala Sher Khan, Sheikhupura, Punjab, Mughal Empire" and names his parents: "His father was Gulsher Shah and mother was Kamal Banu" (Wikipedia, "Waris Shah"). A 2015 thesis on Punjabi Sufi poetry, drawing the same outline, adds the detail of his upbringing: "Little is known of Waris Shah's early life. He was born in the village Jandiala Sherkhan, now in the district of Gujranwala in Pakistan in a Sayyid family... Waris Shah had lost his parents at a very young age. Feeling oppressed by his two elder brothers, he left home and moved to Qasur where he became a disciple of pir Makhdum" (Kaur, thesis, p. 54).

What he made, the sources are unanimous on: "He is primarily known as the author of the best known rendition of Heer Ranjha (1766)" (Wikipedia, "Waris Shah") — the version, among several earlier and later Punjabi retellings of the same legend, that became the one by which the story of Heer and Ranjha is popularly known across the Punjab on both sides of the border.

What was done with his text after him

The poem's own transmission became the subject of scholarly correction, not just praise. Wikipedia's account states plainly: "It is estimated that there are 11069 forged verses in the commonly available Qissa Waris Shah," and that "one of the oldest and most accurate copy of Qissa Waris Shah (published by Kripa Ram) in 1916 is available in the Punjab Public Library in Lahore" (Wikipedia, "Waris Shah") — meaning most printed and popular Heers in circulation today carry verses he did not write.

His grave became, and remains, the site by which he is now marked: "The tomb or mausoleum of Waris Shah is in Jandiala Sher Khan town near Sheikhupura in Punjab, Pakistan" (Wikipedia, "Waris Shah") — the same village given as his birthplace, so the record closes the life where it opened it, at Jandiala Sher Khan.

Where this sits

Everything else the archive holds on the topics this entry belongs to.

Sources

infobox / lede · read as web Born 1722 (1722) Jandiala Sher Khan, Sheikhupura, Punjab, Mughal Empire ... Died 1799 (aged 76–77) ... His father was Gulsher Shah and mother was Kamal Banu.
lede · read as web He is primarily known as the author of the best known rendition of Heer Ranjha (1766).
body text · read as web It is estimated that there are 11069 forged verses in the commonly available Qissa Waris Shah. One of the oldest and most accurate copy of Qissa Waris Shah (published by Kripa Ram) in 1916 is available in the Punjab Public Library in Lahore.
body text · read as web The tomb or mausoleum of Waris Shah is in Jandiala Sher Khan town near Sheikhupura in Punjab, Pakistan.
54 · read as web Little is known of Waris Shah's early life. He was born in the village Jandiala Sherkhan, now in the district of Gujranwala in Pakistan in a Sayyid family. His father's name was Gul Sher Shah. Waris Shah had lost his parents at a very young age. Feeling oppressed by his two elder brothers, he left home and moved to Qasur where he became a disciple of pir Makhdum.