7th July 1997 was the 49th death anniversary of Jethmal Parsram. Parsram was born in Hyderabad in 1885 and, more likely than
not, his death like those of many Sindhi scholars, was hastened by the pain of exile.
He is fondly remembered by Sindhi scholars (many of whom have since passed away themselves). The following quotes are excerpted from Deepchand Belani's book, "Jethmal Parsram", Sahitya Academy [Indian Academy of the Arts], 1990 (108pp, in Sindhi).
"Jethmal's fame reached from Kashmore to Karachi. There was no professor who loved knowledge as he did. He was the embodiment of fearless faith [in truth]." .....Tirat Basant (Sindhi writer).
"He dedicated his whole life for his country and his people. All his years, he was a supportor of the peasants and laborers. He was one of the early leaders of Sindh Peasant Party and for many a years its supporter. Basically, the late Parsram, was not one to lose hope ['aasro ma laaheju'....Shah Bhittai] and one to endeavor." .....G. M. Syed [Sindhi nationalist leader and author].
"Jethmal was the first Sindhi egalitarian (Socialist). He was elected chair of the first [modern] Sindhi literary conference. He was the first Sindhi to write books in English on Sindhi Sufis and Tasavuf [theosophy].".....Prof. Ajwani
"Besides being a master of language, he was a compassionate person. He was the living, breathing example of Sindhi Sufi culture. He was free of human bonds of partiality to friends and relatives. If Sindh is a flower, he was a butterfly, if Sindh is a garden, he was a bulbul [a songbird, nightingale or cuckoo in Sindhi]. Speak of Jethmal's name and you need say no more [Jethmal jo naalo chaii kharnii basi kari]. The ultrathin white shirt [sonhaari] he wore, the perpetual smile on his face. If he saw you, he hastened to embrace you. If he was in your midst, Spring surounded you. He would recite Shah's poetry [ddohiiraa] and he would explain their mysterious meanings."....Pir Hisamuddin Rashdi (huu ddothii, huu dinhan).
"Jethmal Parsram is an unforgetable diamond of Sindhi cultural life. He possesed a breath of knowledge, a depth of thinking, and a broadminded Sufi purity. He was very learned about books on Tasavuf (metaphysics, Sufi theosophy) and Vedant (monism, ancient Hindu philosophy)."....Maulana Ghulam Muhammed Grami.
"Shah, Sachal and Sami have been understood to be the soul of Sindhi civilization. Shah is the lover of true beauty, Sachal is [the ultimate] Sufi, Sami worshipped monism (Vedant). Jethmal Parsram Gulrajani was a solid container of the works of these three poets. Like Shah, Jethmal was a follower of the precept, "Lower your face to your knees and live in poverty" [paaey munhun monani men, gharibata saan guzaru. -Shah]". Like Sachal, Jethmal's slogan was "The brave speak the truth, whether anyone likes it or not" [sachu thaa marda chavani, kehen khe varne yaa na varne]. He believed as Sami did, "Everyone has the fruits of his own labor, but understand, Oh Sami, ridding yourself of deficiency" ["bhaavaan ddeii, bhaarro sabha kehen khe pehinjo, samjhii disu 'sami' chave, kaDhii kebaarro"] and Jethmal had that lively ['jhumandarru'] personality, that he was known as the brother of the Sindhi race [jaatii]. In love and in respect, his companions called him 'brother Jethmal'. He was of an accomplished stature [yagaani hastii]."....Lilaram Ramchandani.
Saiin Jethmal Parsram on religious unity in Sindh
"In fact there is hardly a country in the whole of Asia, including India, in which the mystic thought of two great civilisations, the Indian and the Arabic-Iranian, is seen in so beautiful a union as in Sind. Sindh being singularly free from religious orthodoxy has absorbed more of Sufism than Punjab where, on account of different political conditions, social and religious restrictions are more manifest than in Sind. In Sind at the moment, there are numerous Hindus and amongst them some of the best brains of Sind, old and new, who are Sufis by religion. In fact, throughout Sind, the Hindu Amils are attached to the chief centres of the Sufis, and are the main supporters and advisers of the holders of the Gadi [keeper of the shrine].
"This Hindu-Muslim union is a marvellous phenomenon in Sind. This does not mean that there are no political dissensions in Sind between Hindu and Muslim, and that religious bigotry is altogether absent in Hindus and Muslims. As a matter of fact there has been enough of it, and it still exists in many forms and is bound to exist in some form or another while the present [British] political policy, that divides race from race, religion from religion, caste from caste, Hindu from Hindu, Muslim from Muslim, exists.
Of course, these conditions are not due ONLY to the present political policy; it is in a good measure due to other, deeper, causes that exist in human nature; and also to the the very fact of the variety of religions and sects. But in Sind, owing to its history and other causes, there is less of religious bigotry; and the experiment of the union of religions is to some degree successful and can be witnessed with the physical eye, not merely with the imagination.
If one goes around to the various important centres of the Sufis, especially on the chief days of celebrations, he will be agreeably be surprised to see the marraige of Islam with the older Religion. It is a fundamental basis of Sufism that the Truth is one. Sufism found a congenial soil in Sind, and seems to have spread into every nook and corner." [ Saiin Jethmal Parsram Gulrajani, "Sind and Its Sufis", 1924]
Many sons of mother Sindh had translated the works of Sindh's spiritual conscience Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. Dr. S. M. Jhangiani in "Shah Abdul Latif and His Times:(1690 AD to 1751 AD)" 250pp (English) University Press, University of Delhi, 1987, writes in his foreward:
"Though they came to Bharat without money or shelter, nevertheless, they brought with them a treasure trove of their heritage - the ancient culture, beautiful language and rich literature replete with subtleties of Vedantism and Sufism. And "the highest point, the very Everest, is the work of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai , in whom Islamic and Hindu, Sufi and Bhakti, secular and sacred elements seem to have fused to produce a poetry - a romantic lyricism, a dramatic mysticism - altogether unique in literary history." (quoting Dr. K. R. Srinivasa Iyenger in "A Future for Sindhis in India).
Some translations of Shah Latif from Dr. S. M. Jhangiani brilliant, interpretive thesis on Shah:
"They in flocks travel ever,
Their connections never cut,
Not like man their kinship sever,
Oh, behold, the loving birds!"
"If looking to my native land
With longing, I expire
My body carry home, that I
May rest in desert sand,
My bones in Maliir reach, at end,
Though dead, I shall live again."
"The terror and tumult rage within the flood,
Where monsters shelter and where brutes of prey do cry,
And turn hither thither. Ships in the abyss
Have been engulfed whole till not a trace of wreck
Nor any timber showeth the catastrophe,
The whirling waters hold some power of dread: for ships
Depart thence and return not. Saahir, take thou them
Who have no skill of swimming, to that farther shore."