Awwal Reshi

 

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Poem of Alamdari-i Kashmir, explaining about the Reshis of Kashmir:

 

أَوَّل رِیشِيٖ أَحْمَد ﷺ رِیشِيٖ
دُوٖيٖمْ حَضْرَتِ أُوَيْسْ آو
ترْيِمْ رِیشِيٖ زَلْكا رِیشِيٖ
ژوٚرِمْ حَضْرَتِ مِيرَاں آو
پَانْژٖمْرِیشِيٖ رُمہٕ رِیشِيٖ

شِیٖوٗمْ حَضْرَتِ پَلَاسْ آو
سَتْمِسْ كَرْهَمْ دَشْنٕا هِشِي
بُوٚ كُسْ رِیشِيٖ تَہْ مِيٖهْ كْيَا نَاو؟

awal reshi ahmad ﷺ reshi
doyem hazrati Owais aav
treyim reshi is Zulka (Zulkar) reshi
tsurim hazrati-i Meeraan aav
paentsim reshi Ruma reshi
sheyim hazrati Pilaas aav
Satmis karnem hish na dishey
Be kus reshi te me kya naav

First Rishi is Ahmad ﷺ Rishi. (A reverent name for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ).
Second, Hazrat Uwais (al‑Qarni) came.
Third Rishi was Zulkar Rishi,
Fourth came Hazrati Meeraan,
Fifth Rishi was Ruma Rishi,
Sixth came Hazrati Pilaas,
As for the seventh—(me), don’t parade me as a “Rishi”;  
Which rishi I am, what is my name.

 

• “Ahmad Rishi” — Sheikh‑ul‑Alam (Nund Rishi) starts the spiritual “family tree” with the Prophet ﷺ (one of the Prophet’s names is Ahmad ﷺ ). It’s his way of saying the Kashmiri Rishi path begins with prophethood. Academia

• “Uwais (al‑Qarni) came” — He places the next link as the early Muslim ascetic Uwais al‑Qarni (from Yemen), a classic model of devotion in Sufi lore; Nund Rishi presents himself as belonging to this Uwaysī line of spiritual inheritance. Academia  

حضرتس ﷺ تہ اُوَيْسؒ قَرنس، تِم زَہ تَتِّہ يِلہِ مِيجائے
بوْخ نَه حُكْم باوَت، كَرنس كَر بَندن توشہِ خُدايِ

Ḥazratis ﷺ ti Ūwēsؒ Qarnas, tim zah tatti yili mījāy
Bōkh nah ḥukm bāwat, karnas kar bandan tōsha-i Khudāy

(Minor spelling varies across songbooks; I’ve kept wording and normalized spacing/short vowels.)

When the Prophet ﷺ and Uwais of Qarn met there,
no permission to speak was granted; God provided sustenance for His bound-servants 

 

• “Zulka (Zulkar) Rishi” — A Kashmiri figure associated in tradition with Dandakvan/Dandak Van; Nund Rishi praises his hard ascetic life (“subsisted on wild shrubs”). markazinoor.uok.edu.in+1

ڈنڈَک وَنَک زُلکا ریشی، ڪژھ پَھل کہِت کَرَن سُوی
پُختَه بَهكِت آس مَكھَت گوی، تَت مَہ دَرد تُ دِوَے

Ḍandak vanak Zulka Rēshi, kəzh phal kahit karan suy
Pukhta bahkit ās, makhat goy; tat ma dard tu dīwē
 

Zulka Rishi, dwelling in the Dandak forest, lived on wild fruits and kept to worship.
Hardened in discipline, burning like a kiln—grant me, too, that wound (of love).

 

• “Miran Rishi” — Another early Kashmiri saint; one well‑known note says he “lived for a thousand lunar months,” which is hagiographic shorthand for a very long, saintly life. markazinoor.uok.edu.in

رِش وَن ہِند مِیران ریشیؒ! چَندَرَه ساسَس اَن جَل چُوی
اَده دِيه هَت آكاش گوی، تُت مَہ وِرد تُ دِوَے 

Rish-wan hind Mīrān Rēshi! chándarah sāsas an jal chui
Adah dyih hat ākāsh goy; tut ma wərd tu dīwē


Miran Rishi of Rish-wān—who ate (simple) bread and drank water for a thousand months;
in the end he went to the heavens in his very body—grant me that rank as well.

• “Ruma Rishi” — Now we’re in Kashmir. Ruma (Rumah) Rishi is a local saint remembered with a cave at Rahmoo in Pulwama; Kashmiri sources explicitly say Sheikh‑ul‑Alam acknowledged him in these verses. Revered Kashmiri ascetic, secluded in the cave at Rāmūha (Rahmoo), Pulwama; subsisted on wild herbs/greens, abstained from meat and grains, spoke to no one. Famous encounters in lore (travels, Hajj seven times; wild animals walking alongside; fire kindled miraculously). Long life traditions and episodes (e.g., torment from a poisoned thorn, “sun appearing” at his call, unusual winters). Kashmir Life+1

• “Pilas Rishi” — Another Kashmiri ascetic of the older, local Rishi tradition whom Nund Rishi honors by name in his poetry.  Scholarly notes group Pilas with the “rishis of yore” that inspired the Shaikh.  Brother-disciple of Lūdarmān; Rumā Rishi. Severe austerities (by day no food, by night no sleep); sometimes broke fast by licking white bark. Episodes of bilocation/karāmāt (seen at Minā on ʿĪd while his followers were with him in Bumzu cave). Passed at 118; buried at Kariwa Bijbihara; two sons: Khalasman (Kilas) and Yasman (from before his Islam). Hazrat Lūdarmān (Lūdermān) Reshi رحمۃ اللہ علیہ. From Gadda Sotho; embraced Islam through Plasman Reshi and Ramu Reshi; lived extreme zuhd (asceticism). For decades ate only wild greens, kept little contact; sojourned in India, served Sirhang Reshi on Mount Shawālak; later worshiped in the Risari Ari caves with a circle of Reshis.Died at ~130; buried in the same cave. markazinoor.uok.edu.in

• “The seventh (me)…” — The closing couplet flips to self‑effacement: Nund Rishi refuses to put himself on the same pedestal. A widely cited scholarly translation renders the pair:
  “The seventh (me) is miscalled a Rishi; do I deserve to be called a Rishi? what is my name?”
  That’s the sense of your line “hish na dishey” here—don’t parade me as a Rishi; I’m no one. Academia+1

  
  

Notes:

• Order varies in print. Different manuscripts and books swap the middle four names (Ruma, Pilas, Zulka, Miran). The variant you sent (Ruma 3rd → Pilas 4th → Zulka 5th → Miran 6th) appears in performances; another frequent printed order is Zulka → Miran → Ruma → Pilas. Either way, the message doesn’t change: a chain from the Prophet and Uwais into local Kashmiri rishis, ending in the poet’s humility. The Creative Launcher+1

• What “Rishi/Reshi” means here. Rishi is a Sanskrit word for sage; Nund Rishi deliberately uses a familiar Kashmiri term to talk about saints and knit the local ascetic heritage with Islamic devotion. University sources on Sheikh‑ul‑Alam stress how he honored these local rishis in his verses.