Sultan Bahu

Sultan Bahu (ca 1628 – 1691) was a Muslim Sufi and saint, who founded the Sarwari Qadiri sufi order. Like many other sufi saints of the Indian subcontinent, Sultan Bahu was also a prolific writer, with more than forty books on Sufism attributed to him. However, as the majority of his books deal with specialised subjects related to Islam and islamic mysticism, it is his Punjabi poetry that has generated popular appeal and made him a household name in the region. His poetic verses are sung in many genres of sufi music, including qawaalis and kaafis. Tradition has established a particular style of singing his couplets, which is not used in any other genre of sufi music. The Mausoleum of Sultan Bahu is located in Garh Maharaja, Punjab, Pakistan. It is a popular and frequently-visited sufi shrine, and the annual festival is celebrated with the usual fervour, which is now a distinguishing feature of what is being called a ’shrine culture’ of the Indian subcontinent.