Mirza Muhammad Siyar or Baba Siar was a Chitrali writer, poet and, above all, noble in the court of Muhtaram Shah the Second. He was born in Shogram. A hamlet situated on the right bank of Chitral River above 75 kilometers from the Chitral proper. Siyar got his early education in Jughore and Ayun then he moved towards Central Asia for advanced study. His dedication, hard work, and advice from such a learned person carved his place in the poetic pantheon.
Very little plausible information is known about Siyar’s life, particularly its early part. Immediately after his death, many accounts, some of the mythical proportions were woven around his life. The following is an attempt at the put in a nutshell what we know with a fair amount of certainty about Siyar’s life
Mirza Muhammad Siyar actively participated in the war against Khushwakhtas of Mastuj and Yasin in the different regions of the present Northern Areas of Pakistan. In the early days, he joined the forces for Shah Nawaz Khan and their brothers to dethrone Shah Fazil. He had been besieged in Drosh fort. Siyar wrote the Khowar songs such as Yarman Hameen or Yat man hamen. He wrote Khowar songs during his youth but one of them, as mentioned above, has been preserved.
Siyar was served as Aksakal [headman] in the court of different Mehtar’s reign of Chitral, and very prominent position as adviser to the Mehtar. But he had biter relations to the Mehtars.
His monumental work of poetry, Shahnama-i-Siyar, gave him incredible fame which, in the manner of Firdowsi’s Shahnameh, is a record of the splendid history of Chitral in verse.
Siyar was well acclaimed throughout the Chitral his lifetime, with other Persian poets imitating his work, and offers of patronage from Chitral. Today, he is the most popular poet in Chitral.
Very little plausible information is known about Siyar’s life, particularly its early part. Immediately after his death, many accounts, some of the mythical proportions were woven around his life. The following is an attempt at the put in a nutshell what we know with a fair amount of certainty about Siyar’s life
Mirza Muhammad Siyar actively participated in the war against Khushwakhtas of Mastuj and Yasin in the different regions of the present Northern Areas of Pakistan. In the early days, he joined the forces for Shah Nawaz Khan and their brothers to dethrone Shah Fazil. He had been besieged in Drosh fort. Siyar wrote the Khowar songs such as Yarman Hameen or Yat man hamen. He wrote Khowar songs during his youth but one of them, as mentioned above, has been preserved.
Siyar was served as Aksakal [headman] in the court of different Mehtar’s reign of Chitral, and very prominent position as adviser to the Mehtar. But he had biter relations to the Mehtars.
His monumental work of poetry, Shahnama-i-Siyar, gave him incredible fame which, in the manner of Firdowsi’s Shahnameh, is a record of the splendid history of Chitral in verse.
Siyar was well acclaimed throughout the Chitral his lifetime, with other Persian poets imitating his work, and offers of patronage from Chitral. Today, he is the most popular poet in Chitral.