While Bulleh’s comments on contemporary political scenes were ‘random and oblique,’67 the poet wrote these lines (tr. Rafat): The Mughals quaff the cup of poison/Those with coarse blankets are up The genteel watch it all in quiet/They have a humble pie to sup The tide of the times is in spate/Punjab is in a fearsome state.68 By ‘those with coarse blankets’, Bulleh Shah evidently meant the Sikhs.69 Remembering, however, his philosophical kinship with Guru Nanak’s message, modern Sikhs appear to join Punjab’s Muslims in celebrating Bulleh Shah’s life and verse, as do Hindu Punjabis.
