Shaikh Ayaz

Shaikh Ayaz (Sindhi: شيخ اياز) was one of the great Sindhi poets of Pakistan. He was born in Shikarpur Sindh. By profession he was a lawyer but he also served as the vice chancellor of Sindh University. His poetry brought new trends into Sindhi literature. Shaikh Ayaz's work brings together different and discordant elements. In one of his early poems he writes of two deities from classical India: Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and music sitting together with Kali, the goddess of blood and violence, the two of them sipping nectar in a moon-lit temple. "How have the two come together?" the poem contemplates and then comes up with the answer: perhaps a great poet has been born. Shaikh Ayaz is one of the major voices in twentieth century poetry. His literary career spanned almost six decades and covered a wide range of poetry and prose forms, ranging from the traditional bait, wa'i,Nazam,"Azad Nazam" and ghazal to plays in verse, prose poems and musings, extending to short fiction,...