Panj peer
Five Sufi saints mentioned in the classic book 'Heer Ranjha' by Waris Shah
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Panj peer (or panj pīr), meaning the five saints in Persian, were Islamic saints who overlapped in late 12th and early 13th centuries in northwestern India. There was also a similar tradition in Rajasthan, known as Panch Pir, whose quintet were subsequently Rajputized.[1]
Sufis
The Islamic panj pirs were:
| No. | Name | Portrait | Lifespan | Region | Reference(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Mu'in al-Din Chishti |  |
1143 – 1236 | Ajmer, Rajasthan | [2][3][note 1] |
| 2. | Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki |  |
1173 – 1235 | Mehrauli, Delhi | [3] |
| 3. | Farid al-Din Ganjshakar |  |
1179 – 1266 | Pakpattan, Punjab | [3] |
| 4. | Baha al-Din Zakariya | 1182 – 1268 | Multan, Punjab | [3] | |
| 5. | Lal Shahbaz Qalandar | 1177 – 1274 | Sehwan, Sindh | [4] |
The above Sufi saints are mentioned (alongside Nizam al-Din Awliya) in the great love-epic of the Sufi poet sayyid Waris Shah, Heer Ranjha, which opens with an invocation to them.
Rajasthan
The concept of panch pir in Rajasthan likely derived from the earlier concept of punch pir in Punjab and other parts of northwestern India.[1] Which figures were included in the panch pir quintet varied by region, however Goga was usually always included amongst the five.[1] In Rajasthan, there panch pir were:[1]
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
These five (or six) figures were folk-deities.[1] Some of these figures were not originally perceived as Rajput heroes and became Rajputized later-on after the 18th century.[1] Originally, figures such as Gogaji, Pabuji, Ramdetji, and Harabhuji were originally associated with the downtrodden sections of society, particularly peasants and pastoralists, but they became appropriated as Rajput figures and their identities were usurped by the ruling-classes.[1]
