Practice modes
Languages & Literature
Pakistan
World & History
The first great poet of the Punjabi language
Fariduddin Masud was born into a family of scholars near Multan. His mother is remembered for raising him with deep devotion, and he studied in Multan before travelling to Delhi, where he became a disciple of the Chishti Sufi master Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki.
After his master's death he became head of the Chishti order, but he preferred a simple life away from the royal court. He settled in Ajodhan, a town on the Sutlej later renamed Pakpattan ('the ferry of the pure one') in his honour, where he lived in poverty, kept an open kitchen (langar) and received people of every faith.
Legend gives several explanations for his title 'Ganjshakar', meaning 'treasure of sugar'; one says that pebbles turned to sugar in his mouth during long fasts. Among his many disciples was Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, who carried the Chishti order across India.
His short, simple verses speak of the shortness of life, the certainty of death, humility, patience and longing for God. He uses everyday images of village Punjab, such as the crow, the swan, the river bank and the spinning wheel, to teach spiritual lessons that ordinary people could remember.
Baba Farid is honoured by Muslims and Sikhs alike as the father of Punjabi poetry. His shrine at Pakpattan is one of the most visited in Pakistan; during his annual urs in Muharram, pilgrims pass through the 'Bahishti Darwaza' (Gate of Paradise). Faridkot in Indian Punjab is named after him.