V.

IMPACT OF SUFISM IN INDIA

The contacts and conflicts between sufis and yogis became more frequent and
meaningful. The various branches of qalandars and sufis of the Rifa’iyya order,
confined mainly to Turkey, Syria and Egypt, were significantly influenced by
wandering yogis. Unfortunately existing literature throws little light on yogis, who are
constantly referred to as “jogis”. In one reference the perfect yogi is associated by
Shaikh Nasirud-Din Chirag-i Dihli with the Siddhas. The topics discussed at the
jama’at-khana gatherings of Baba Farid were of great interest to visiting Siddhas
whose beliefs were founded on Hatha Yoga. Supplementing these scraps of
information is al-Biruni, unquestionably a profound authority on comparative
religions, who notes sufi parallels in the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, which he himself
translated into Arabic.1 He also mentions similarities with Samkhya, one of the six
schools of classical Hindu philosophy, and with the Bhagavad Gita. Patanjali’s
theories of the soul are defined by Al-Biruni as follows:

“The soul, being on all sides tied to ignorance, which is the cause of its being
fettered, is like rice in its cover. As long as it is there, it is capable of growing
and ripening in the transition stages between being born and giving birth itself.
But if the cover is taken off the rice, it ceases to develop in this way, and
becomes stationary. The retribution of the soul depends on the various kinds
of creatures through which it wanders, upon the extent of life, whether it be
long or short, and upon the particular kind of its happiness, be it scanty or
ample.”2

He goes on to say:

“The same doctrine is professed by those sufis who teach that this world is a
sleeping soul and yonder world a soul awake, and who at the same time admit
that God is immanent in certain places—for example, in heaven—in the seat
and the throne of God (mentioned in the Quran). But then there are others who
admit that God is immanent in the whole world, in animals, trees and the
inanimate world, which they call His universal appearance. To those who
hold this view, the entering of the souls into various beings in the course of
metempsychosis is of no consequence.”3

Referring to the Samkhya theory of the rewards of paradise as being of no special

advantage, Al-Biruni adds:

“The sufis, too, do not consider the stay in Paradise a special gain for another
reason, because there the soul delights in other things, but the Truth, that is,
God, and its thoughts are diverted from the Absolute Good by things which
are not the Absolute Good.”4

On the nature of liberation from the world and the path by which this can be achieved,
Al-Biruni quotes Patanjali’s text as follows:

“The concentration of thought ont he unity of God induces man to notice

something besides that with which he is occupied. He who wants God, wants
the good for the whole creation without a single exception for any reason
 whatever; but he who occupies himself exclusively with his own self, will for
its benefit neither inhale, breathe, nor exhale it (svasa and prasvasa). When a
man attains to this degree, his spiritual power prevails over his bodily power,
and then he is gifted with the faculty of doing eight different things by which
detachment is realised; for a man can only dispense with that which he is able
to do, not with that which is outside his grasp.”5

According to Al-Biruni the sufi parallel is contained in the following theory:

“The terms of the sufi as to the knowing being and his attaining the stage of
knowledge come to the same effect, for they maintain that he has two souls—
an eternal one, not exposed to change and alteration, by which he knows that
which is hidden, the transcendental world, and performs wonders; and another,
a human soul, which is liable to being changed and being born.”6

Al-Biruni also quotes this passage from the Yoga Sutra to indicate the relation of the
body to the soul.

“The bodies are the snares of the souls for the purpose of acquiring
recompense. He who arrives at the stage of liberation has acquired, in his
actual form of existence, the recompense for all the doing of the past. Then he
ceases to labour to acquire a title to a recompense in the future. He frees
himself from the snare; he can dispense with the particular form of his
existence, and moves in it quite freely without being ensnared by it. He has
even the faculty of moving wherever he likes, and if he likes, he might rise
above the face of death. For the thick, cohesive bodies cannot oppose an
obstacle to his form of existence (as, for example, a mountain could not
prevent him from passing through). How, then, could his body oppose an
obstacle to his soul?”7

The similarities in the sufi approach is demonstrated by this story:

“A company of sufis came down (to) us, and sat at some distance from us.
Then one of them rose, prayed, and on having finished his prayer, turned
towards me and spoke: “Oh master, do you know here a place fit for us to die
on?” Now I thought he meant sleeping, and so I pointed out to him a place.
The man went there, threw himself on the back of his head, and remained
motionless. Now I rose, went to him and shook him, but lo! He was already
cold.”8

Again the likenesses between Patanjali’s views and those of sufism concerning
meditation of the Truth (that is, God) is reflected in the following sufi theory:

“...they (sufis) say: ‘As long as you point to something you are not a monist;9
but when the Truth seizes opon the object of your pointing and annihilates it,
then there is no longer an indicating person nor an object indicated.’

There are some passages in their system which show that they believe in the
pantheistic union;10 for example, one of them, being asked what is the Truth
(God), gave the following answer: ‘How should I not know the Being which is
 I in essence and Not-I in space? If I return once more into existence, thereby I
am separated from Him; and if I am neglected (that is, not born anew and sent
into the world), thereby I become light and become accustomed to the union,
(sic).’

Abu Bakr Ash-Shibli says: ‘Cast off all, and you will attain to us completely.
Then you will exist; but you will not report about us to others as long as your
doing is like ours.”

Abu Yazid Albistami once being asked how he had attained his stage in
sufism, answered: ‘I cast off my own self as a serpent casts off its skin. Then I
considered my own self, and found that I was He,’ that is God.

The sufis explain the Quranic passage ‘Then we spoke: Beat Him with a part
of her,’11 in the following manner: ‘The order to kill that which is dead in
order to give life to it inidicates that the heart does not become alive by the
lights of knowledge unless the body be killed by ascetic practice to such a
degree that it does not any more exist as a reality, but only in a formal way,
whilst your heart is a reality on which no object of the formal wolrd has any
influence.’

Further they say: ‘Between man and God there are a thousand stages of light
and darkness. Men exert themselves to pass through darkness to ligh and when
they have attained to the station of light, thee is no return for them.’12

Regarding the sufi doctrine of love as being a total obsession with God, al-Biruni
quotes interesting parallels from the Bhagavad Gita.13 The encounter of Shaikh
Safiud-Din Kaziruni with a yogi, also described earlier, demonstrates the type of
contacts early sufis had with yogis.

From the thirteenth century onwards Hindu mystical songs were recited at sama’
gatherings and many of the most talented musicians were newly converted Muslims.
Shaikh Ahmad from Naharwala in Gujarat, who gave expert renditions of Hindawi14
ragas, lived during this century. The Shaikh undoubtedly attended the most
significant sama’ performances, as is clear from his presence when a Persian verse
produced such powerful ecstasy in Shaikh Qutbud-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki that he died a
few days later. Ahmad was said to have been a disciple of Faqir Madhu, the Imam of
the Jami’ mosque in Ajmer, who retained his Hindu name even after conversion. 15

The recitation of Hindawi music at sama’ was popular at all sufi centres, particularly
those some distance from Delhi. Saiyid Gisu Daraz admitted that each language was
endowed with a characteristic of its own and to him none was as effective as Hindawi
for through it esoteric ideas could be so clearly expressed. Hindawi music, the Saiyid
believed, was also subtle and elegant, penetrating deeply into the heart and arousing
humility and gentleness. When hearing it people became more aware of their faults
and therefore, it was natural, to the Saiyid that Hindawi music was becoming
increasingly popular. 16

Most of the Hindawi songs recited at sama’ gatherings held during this period have
been lost, but afew verses that have survived have been ascribed to Shaikh Hamidud-
Din Nagauri and Baba Farid. What is significant, however, is the spontaneous
expression of subtle mystical beliefs through verses in regional dialects. Such songs
were not composed for propaganda purposes but were a natural evolution from the
deep and personal involvement of these two great mystics with their environment.
Hindawi was a more convenient language in which to utter the feelings of a heart
filled with divine love. In a Persian work, the Sururus-Sudur, Shaikh Hamid quotes a
touching verse emphasizing the fact that differences in nomenclature failed to
undermine the truth that Reality is One.17 An object could assume hundreds of
different forms and be known by the same number of names but this did not alter the
fact that they all emanated from One. Although earlier sufis had expressed this idea in
many different ways in both Persian poetry and prose, the later use of Hindawi in
further explanations of this concept was most probably a significant factor in the
arousal of Hindu interest in sufism.

In another verse on the misuse of drugs and medicinal herbs. Shaikh Hamid attacks
the yogi emphasis on the use of drugs and medicinal herbs, without denying their
efficacy in certain circumstances. A sick man could go to China, the original source of
Hindu theories of alchemy, and not being cured attribute the failure to the lack of
effectiveness of resayana (the compounding of the elixir vitae) but, argued the
Shaikh, a real understanding of the illness involved a belief that human effort operated
only within a very limited sphere.18

In Persian and Hindawi verses Shaikh Hamidud-Din emphasized that drugs were not
necessarily evil, only the people who misused them were. In a Hindawi verse the
Shaikh wrote that for all the claims to cure diseases it was impossible to transform a
sick person into a yogi.19

Although the famous poet of the romantic epic, Iliyas bin Yusuf Nizami of Ganja, in
Azerbayjan, died on 4 Ramazan 605/12 March 1209, his ghazals and masnawis
quickly reached India and aroused the interest of those Indians who had a knowledge
of Persian. Shaikh Hamidud-Din Nagauri made a free Hindi translation of one of
Nizami’s ghazals and included in the text both the Persian original and their
equivalent Hindawi dohas.20

The Siyarul-Auliya quotes a verse composed by Baba Farid in the Multani dialect
whose precise meaning is difficult to decipher.21 The Saba-Sanabil of Mir Abdul-
Wahid Bigarami contains two dohas by Baba Farid with a Persian translation. The
Mir himself was a good poet in Hindawi and his version makes the doha more
intelligible. Here are two verses of the baba’s translated from the Hindawi.

“You are yourself ignorant but you seek to make others your disciple,
You give a cap as a mark of initiation, and this indicaes that you are
presumptuous.
A mouse who is unable to enter into a narrow hole,
Puts a heavy load over his head, although he moves in a narrow place!”

The other doha says:

“You shave your head but what you should do is to cut lust from the heart,
By shaving the head, the path of faith is not acquired.
 Several thousand sheep whose wool are cut, move about in different
directions,
None of these is accepted in the court of the Master.”

Controversy surrounds more than a hundred slokas22 ascribed to Baba Farid Ganj-i
Shakar in the Guru Garanth, compiled by the fifth Sikh Guru, Arjan, in 1604. some
scholars assert they were composed by Baba Farid himself but the language indicates
they were the work of his successors who may have rewritten some of Baba Farid’s
original slokas into a more intelligible Multani. Some of these slokas are even
ascribed to Kabir. The Janam Sakhis includes a number of slokas which Guru Nanak
and his successors composed to support, rather than dispute, the ideas contained in
Baba Farid’s slokas. Others believe that the slokas in the Guru Garanth were
composed by Shaikh Ibrahim, a successor of Baba Farid, whom Guru Nanak visited at
Ajodhan. A careful analysis of Baba Farid’s slokas in the Guru Granth would tend to
suggest they were not composed by one individual. Therefore it is wrong to ascribe
them either to Shaikh Ibrahim or another of Baba Farid’s descendants, known as Farid
Sani. They represent the teachings of Baba Farid through the years from his own time
to the fifteenth century and were therefore composed by a number of different
descendants, all using Farid as their nom de plume.

The period in which the poetry of Shaikh Hamidud-Din Nagauri and Baba Farid was
written was preceded by one in which two significant poetic traditions were
established in north Indian dialects. Firstly there was the poetry of the Siddhacharyas,
followers of the Buddhist Sahajiya cult which began during the eighth century. This
literature continued to influence, in both style and spirit, the poetry written in local
dialects until the twelfth century. Secondly this type of poetry was succeeded by that
written by members of the Nath cult.

Sahajiya Buddhism was an offshoot of Tantric Buddhism, the Vajrayana or “Vehicle

of the Thunderbolt”, which was patronised by the Pala kings of Bengal. In northern
India Vajrayana, the third vehicle, superceded Mahayana Buddhism, the second. It
featured the worship of feminine deities and magico-religious practices by which
superhuman powers and salvation could be attained.

The supreme deity of the Vajrayana is the Vajra-Sattva (vajra-sunyata: vacuity;

sattva: quintessence), who is the nature of pure consciousness (the vijnapti-matrata of
the Vijnana Vadin Buddhists) as associated with sunyata23 in the form of the absence
of subjectivity and objectivity. The Vajra-Sattva is often identified with man’s self
and with the Ultimate Reality in the form of the Bodhi-citta. The latter: “presupposes
two elements in the citta, sunyata (the knowledge of the nature of things as pure void)
and karuna (universal compassion).”24 This is conceived as an extremely blissful state
of mind produced through sexo-yogic practices. The Sahajiyas differed from the
Vajrayanists because of the emphasis they laid on protesting against the formalities of
life and religion. According to them truth was to be unconventionally understood
through initiation in the tattva (secret truth) and the physical practice of Yoga. The
Sahajiva recommended the transformation and sublimation of sexual impulse, rather
than its annihilation. The dohas by Tillo-Pada and Saraha-Pada, who flourished
between the eight and ninth centuries AD emphasized that Truth could be realized
only through the individual. According to Saraha-Pada, the Brahmanical claims of
class superiority were unfounded, the naked Jaina Ksapanaka-Yogins were frauds, the
Buddhist monks were superstituous, the Tantras25 and the Mantras26 led to confusion
and only Sahaja helped a mystic to gain a true understanding of the real nature of
yogic discipline. Brahmanical sacrifices,27 pilgrimages and penances were of no avail,
what had to be done was to fix the mind to the Niranjana or Stainless One. The
Hevajra-tantra says:

“The whole world is of the nature of Sahaja—

for Sahaja is the quintessence (svarupa) of all;
this quintessence is nirvana to those who
possess the perfectly pure Citta.”28

A Sahajiya poet compared the Sahaja stage to the flowing of nectar; according to
Tillo-Pada: “Sahaja is a state where all thought—concentration is dead (that is,
destroyed) and the vital sind (which is the vehicle of the defiled Citta) is also
destroyed—the secret of this truth is to be intended by the self—how can it be
explained (by others)” Saraha-Pada continues by saying:

“In Sahaja there is no duality; it is perfect like the sky. The intuition of this
ultimate truth destroys all attachment and it shines through the darkness of
attachment like a full moon in the night. Sahaja cannot be heard with the ears,
neither can it be seen with the eyes; it is not affected by air nor burnt by fire; it
is not wet in intense rain, it neither increases nor decreases, it neither exists
nor does it die out with the decay of the body; the Sahaja bliss is only oneness
of emotions,--it is oneness in all. Our mind and the vital wind are unsteady
like the horse;--but in the Sahaja-nature both of them remain steady. When the
mind thus ceases to function and all other ties are torn aside, all the differences
in the nature of things vanish; and at that time there is neither the Brahman nor
the Sudra. Sahaja cannot be realized in any of its particular aspects—it is an
intuition of the whole, the one underlying reality pervading and permeating all
diversity. As the truth of the lotus can never be found either in the stalk or in
the leaves, or in the petals or in the smell of the lotus, or in the filament,--it
lies rather in the totality of all these parts,--so also Sahaja is the totality which
can only be realized in a perfectly non-dual state of mind. From it originate all,
in it all merge again, --but it itself is free from all existence and non-
existence,--it never originates at all.”29

The first step in achieving the Supreme Bliss of the Sahajiya was the selection of an
appropriate teacher. Sahajiya esoteric practices depended on the conception that the
human body was a microcosm of the macrocosm. The psycho-physical process of
yoga should be undertaken only by a mature body. The yogini of the Sahaja-damsel of
the Sahajiyas was not a woman of normal existence but an internal force of the nature
of vacuity (sunyata) or essencelessness (nairatma) and great bliss residing in the
different plexuses in different stages of yogic practices.30

Founded on the psycho-chemical of yoga in which the old Siddha cult of the yogis
specialized, the Shaivite Nath cult developed, assimilating elements from the
Buddhist Sahajiya cult. The Adi Nath, the First Lord of the Naths, is the Shiva of the
Hindus as is the Buddha, in the form of the Vajra-Sattava, of the Buddhists. The first
human guru of the cult was Matsyendra, reported to have lived in the tenth century
AD. According to legend, while swiming like a fish he overheard the esoteric
doctrines of the Nath which the Lord Shiva was imparting to his spouse, Parvati.
Matsyendra is therefore known by such names as Mananath or Lui-pa, meaning fish
Lord in Tibetan. Matsyendra’s weakness for women tended to associate him with the
left-handed cults of the female deities. These centred around Lakshinkara, a legendary
princess of the mythical kingdom of Indrabhuti which was successively ruled by
female issue. Lakshinkara has been compared to Eleanor of Aquitain. Gorakhnath,
Matsyendra’s disciple, believed to have been born from the sweat of Shiva’s breast,
saved his master, in whose service he had earlier lost an eye. Much mystery and legen
also surround Gorakhnath’s personality, but we know he wrote some treatises in
Sanskrit. A number of verses in Panjabi and Hindi also attributed to him were written
by successive generations of disciples using the name Gorakhnath in order to establish
a spiritual link with their master. A corpus of dohas with Farid as the nom de plume
which were compiled by a number of descendants of the Baba show that their authors
were also influenced by this trend. The same is true of the verses written by Guru
Nanak’s successors, which shall be discussed in subsequent pages. Gorakhnath’s
disciples were the authors of a number of treatises on magic, alchemy and left-handed
occultism and Hatha-Yoga. Of the Sanskrit treatises by Gorakhnath, unlike the Hatha-
Yoga, the Goraksha-Sataka has survived and has been edited and translated into
English.

Other names associated with the Nath cult are “Nimnath, probably Nemi, the twenty-
second Jain tirthankara; Parasnath, probably Parsava, the twenty-third Jain
tirthankara; Bhutanath, “Ghost Lord,” probably the Buddha; Dayanath,
“Compassionate Lord,” probably a form of a Bodhi-citta, Nagarjunanath, the
Bhuddist philosopher Nagarjuna (c. AD 100-200); Bharatinath, noted for his
asceticism; Ratannath, a contemporary of Gorakhnath, and the subject of many
miraculous tales; Dandanath, founder of a cult of staff-bearing yogis; Puranbhagat
who, with his half-brother Rasula, has inspired hundreds of miraculous tales; Charpati
(or Charpatinath), a rasavada or alchemist and poet, some of whose verses in Panjabi
are extant; Guga (or Guganath) whose power over serpents was phenomenal;
Manikchandra, a bania by caste, who left his wealth to join the Naths; Gahininath,
initiated by Gorakhnath, himself initiated Nivrittinath, brother of the Maratha saint
Jananadeva at Tryambaka; Dharamnath, probably the Lord Dharma of the crypto-
Buddhist Dharma cult of Bengal; Jalandhari-pa: Kanu-pa; Mainamati and Gopi-
Chand.

The framework of the order of the Kanphata (Split Ear Yogis) or the Naths founded
by Gorakhnath serves to illustrate the latter’s remarkable organizational capacity and
foresight. At the time of initiation, the ear cartilages of a novice were as is still
customary today split, and two enormous ear-rings were inserted in the holes. Ear
splitting was believed necessary to open a mystical channel in order to assist the
development of yogic powers. During the ceremony a knife was driven into the
ground and vows recited over it by the initiate; these included a vow to protect the
ears which, according to Hindu mysticism, were believed to contain a network of
invisible nadis (ganglia) connecting them with the inner organs of perception. The
rites also included the symbolic slaying of the neophyte, the washing of his entrails,
and the hanging of his body on a tree.

The traditions venerate nine Naths and eighty-four Siddhas but this does not imply the
historical authenticity of these figures. The eighty-four Siddhas represent the “totality
of a revelation.” The transmission of the Nath doctrine however is founded on the
trinity: Shiva, Matsyendra-nath and Gorakhnath. The Naths initiated members of all
castes, including those outside the Hindu caste system, such as Chandalas and
sweepers, into their non-hierarchical order. Generally it would seem the Brahman
caste were not attracted to the Naths. The Shaivite ascetics who haunted cemeteries,
ate from skulls and even consumed corpses at the burning ghats, known as Aghoris or
Aghora-panthis and the ascetic order of Kapalikas (wearers of skulls) are also known
as yogis but are basically different to the Naths.

From the elevent century the Nath yogis began to spread throughout northern India,
and from their centre at Peshawar moved to all parts of Central Asia and Iran, at the
same time influencing both qalandars and sufis. Aghoris and Kapalikas were
uniterested in Middle Eastern regions where there were no burning ghats. Some of the
yogis who thronged the court of the Mongols were Buddhist Tantrics, but they were
hardly distinguishable from the yogis. Many Naths might have indulged in
homosexuality, orgiastic practices, necrophilia, scatology, bestiality and other sexual
perversions, but there were many groups of sober Naths who disseminated the real
spiritual tenets of their foundres. All Naths however were hostile to Hindu caste
distinctions, particularly those practised by Brahmans and respected een the pariah
and the untouchable.

The Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati, and some authentic works by Gorakhnath’s

followers formed the basis of the doctrines of the puritanical Naths and offered a
common ground for the exchange of ideas with such sufis as Shaikh Hamidud-Din
Nagauri and Baba Farid. Discussion on the conception of the Ultimate Reality
enhanced the mutual respect of the Naths and the sufis.

According to Gorakhnath, Ultimate Reality could not be conceived by logical

reasoning; it was a super sensuous, super intellectual, direct experience in the state of
samadhi (trance) or a perfectly illuminated state of consciousness. Those who attained
the direct transcendental experience of Reality during samadhi, felt united with the
Absolute Truth:

“....Absolute Reality unveils Itself to our consciousness in its super-sensuous

super-mental super-intellectual transcendent state, in which the subject-object
relation vanishes and the consciousness realises itself as perfectly identified
with the Absolute Reality. The Absolute Reality is thus experienced as the
Absolute Consciousness, in which all time and space and all existences in time
and space are merged in perfect unity, and the One Infinite Eternal
Undifferentiated Changless Self-Effulgent Consciousness shines as the
Ultimate Reality.”31

Sat-Cit-Ananda-Murti (One who reveals Himself as Being, Consciousness and Bliss),

Goraknath believed was the highest form of God, the self-manifestation of the
Formless and Manifestationless One—Brahma, Shiva, parmatma, Parmeswara, the
holiest names of the Nameless One.

To Gorakhnath and the Siddhas the phenomenal cosmic system was not false or
illusory, nor did it have merely subjective Reality. Pure Will (icha-matra) inherent in
the perfect transcendental nature of the Supreme Spirit was the source of the entire
spatio-temporal order and of many different kinds of empirical realities. The Siddha
Siddhanta Paddhati demonstrated the relationship between advaita (non-dualism) and
dvaita (dualism) by using the analogy of water and bubbles familiar to that used by
sufis in the Wahdat al-Wujud system. Bubbles appear at the surface of the water, then
both bubbles and water appear merged with each other, the former loosing their
ephemeral identity. The changing multiplicity of bubbles fails to separate them from
the water. Thus:

Akulam kulam adhatte kulam cakulam icchati jala-budbuda-bat nyayat

ekakarah Parah Sivah.

Akula embraces Kula (the phenomenal self-expression of Reality) and Kula

yearns for Akula (the noumenal essence of Reality). The relation is analogous
to that between water and water bubbles. In reality Para-Siva (Supreme Spirit)
is absolutely one.32

In Nath terminology the Absolute Spirit is called Shiva and His Unique Power is
Shakti. There is no difference between the two, Shiva is the father of the universe and
Shakti is the mother. Creation or the origin of the cosmic system is in reality the
gradual revelation of Shiva’s inherent Shakti; the process of creation and dissolution
has no absolute beginning or end in time. The Physical Cosmic Body is the most
complicated and diversified form of free self-manifestation of the Absolute Spirit
through the gradual self-revelation of His infinite and eternal Spiritual Power. The
human body is the microcosm of the entire cosmic body of Shiva. The divine Shakti
who in the process of cosmic self-manifestation gradually descends from the highest
transcendent spiritual plane of Absolute Unity and Bliss to the lowest phenomenal
material level of endless diversities and imperfections, again ascends by means of the
self-conscious process and imperfections, again ascends by means of the self-
conscious process of Yoga Jnana (knowledge) and Bhakti (devotion) to the
transcendent spiritual plane where the divine spirit becomes perfectly and blissfully
united with the supreme spirit, Shiva. Man with his developed individuality can
experience Shiva, the supreme spirit, as his own true soul as well as the true soul of
the universe. Yogic introspection and meditation calls for the attainment of a real
understanding of the nature of the human body and of its esoteric aspects. These
consist of nine cakras or centres of psycho-vital forces. The supreme divine power,
dormant like a coiled serpent is located in the lowest muladhara cakra of every
human body; yogic discipline enables it to rise step by step to the higher planes of
spiritual illumination, finding its culmination in the highest cakra (sahasrara),33 the
plane of blissful union of Shakti and Shiva. The region below the navel is the region
of Shakti, while that above it is that of Shiva. Adhars,34 according to Goraknath, are
the main sources of the vital and psychical functions which have to be controlled.
Laksyas are objects on which a yogi should temporarily concentrate while summoning
his psycho-vital energy with the ultimate aim of elevating it to the highest spiritual
plane which can be internal, external or non-located. The processes of asana
(posture), dhauti (washing), bandha (different kinds of motionlessness), mudra
(gesture), pranayama (breathing) and other techniques of Hatha-Yoga are prescribed
so as to achieve the transformation of the body in order to achieve the full control of
the mind. The prerequisite of Nath discipline is the control of the vayu (the vital
wind). This entire philosophy is called Hatha-Yoga, the union of the moon (tha) and
the sun (ha).
The perfect yogi can transform his body according to his will and is therefore free of
all diseases and death. Siddhas, such as the disciples of Gorakhnath and others are
believed to have achieved the practical aspects of this philosophy while in the
foothills of the Himalayas and came to be known as the jivan-mukta (lebarated while
living). In fact it is the only state of true perfection in which the body is made whole
throughout by control of the vital wind.

Besides poetry which offered sufis an acquaintance with various aspects of the
discipline of Hatha-Yoga, the most significant impact of Hatha-Yoga was the treatise,
the Amrita-Kunda.35 It is believed that it was translated by Qazi Ruknud-Din
Samarqandi who was probably Qazi Ruknud-Din Abu Hamid Muhammad bin
Muhammad al-Amidi of Samarqand, the author of the Kitab al-Irshad who visited
Lakhnauti between 1209-10 and 1216-17 and was initiated into Hatha-Yogic
principles by a Siddha, called Bhojar Brahman. The work was later translated into
Persian. A further Arabic version was again prepared by a Brahman from Kamrup,
apparently in collaboration with a Muslim scholar. This version was retranslated into
Persian by Shaikh Muhammad Ghaus Shattari (906/1500-01-970/1562-63). Shaikh
Abdul-Quddus Gangohi who had an extensive knowledge of the Arabic and Persian
versions of the Amrita-Kunda, which were widespread before the translation by
Shaikh Muhammad Ghaus, imparted its essence to one of his disciples, Shaikh
Sulaiman.36

Laying special emphasis on the human body as the microcosm of the macrocosm, the
Amrita-Kunda deals at some length with importance of this belief. The work goes on
to prescribe exercises by which one could achieve the Nath-Yogic goal of
transubstantiation of the body into a state of samadhi. It main emphasis is on the
discipline of the body, the senses and the mind, and it prescribes methods for the
continued suppression of respiration, which involves inhaling and exhaling the breath
in a specialised manner, and fixed the eye on the tip of the nose in order to effect a
union between part of the vital spirit resideing in the body and that which pervades all
nature. A prerequisite for yogic discipline is the control of the semen, particularly in
the initial stages of ascetic exercises, and an accurate knowledge of the organs and
their functions. The goal of the yogi is to transmute the physical body into a subtle
body, enabling it to obtain the state of jivan-mukti.

The knowledge of some Indian sufis, such as Shaikh Abdul-Quddus and his Rudauli37
pirs, was not limited to understanding and practising pranayama or pas-i anfas and to
some semantic similarities and dissimilarities. The Shaikh’s Rushd-Nama38 which
consists of his own verses and some of his pirs identity sufi beliefs based on the
Wahdat al-Wujud with the philosophy and practices of Goraknath. In fact some verses
with slight variations are included in Nath poetry as well as in that of Kabir and
Gorakhnath. Such verses were regarded as the common property of both Muslim and
Hindu mystics. Of the many verses in the Rushd-Nama there are six references to
either “Gorakhnath,” “Shri Gorakh,” “Nath” and “O! Nath.” As in many Nath texts,
these words at five different places throughout the work imply Ultimate Reality and
Absolute Truth, while in the sixth place, the word refers to the Perfect Siddha or
Perfect Man.39 The term Sabad40 used by Shaikh Abdul-Quddus identifies mystic
contemplation with Shakti as well as Shiva and their union as the course of the
existence of the three worlds.41 In other words the union of Shakti, the sun, and Shiva,
the moon, according to the Shaikh, is the salat-i-ma’kus42 of the sufis. The yogi
equivalent is the ulti sadhna (regressive process) involving the “complete reversal of
human behaviour, from ‘respiratory behaviour’ (replaced by pranayama) to sexual
behaviour (annulled by the technique of the return of semen)”. In a Persian verse
Shaikh Abdul-Quddus says:

“Unless the brain comes down to the foot,

None can reach the doors of God.” 43

The Nath describes the Supreme Creator as Alakh-Nath (the Incomprehensible or

Unseeable One) or as Niranjana. Shaikh Abdul-Quddus also uses the name Alakh
Niranjan in the same sense. He says that his Lord is Unseeable (Alakh Niranjan) but
those who are able to comprehend Him are lost to themselves. In another verse the
Shaikh identifies Naranjan with Khuda and calls Him the creator of the different
worlds. 44

Like the Naths, Shaikh Abdul-Quddus attaches great importance to Onkar.45 To the
Naths the word represents Para-Brahma (transcendent Brahm or the undefinable
Absolute). The physical culture of the Naths is designed to make the body
incorruptible and purified; Onkar is the basis of pranayama. In the initial stages,
breath is drawn up through the left nostril, the ira, while the sacred Hindu syllable
“Om” is repeated slowly sixteen times. The breath is then suspended in the upper part
of the nose where the breath nostrils meet. The junction of the nostrils is called the
sukhmana. Just as the breath has been drawn up by theleft nostril, so it is forced down
through the right nostril to pingala, while the syllable is again repeated sixteen times.
The highest degree of perfection is extremely difficult to achieve, but Shaikh Abdul-
Quddus expects sufis to absorb themselves in Onkar through zikr. To him Onkar is the
Absolute Oneness, is interchangeable with Niranjana and indicates the state of
sunyata (void).46

Shaikh Abdul-Quddus also explains the concept of sahaja according to Nath

traditions. He emphasizes it in the sense of the union between Shakti and Shiva.
However, the realization of sahaja,47 says the Shaikh leads to the achieving of
ontological immortality or the sufi baqa’. A state of perfect equilibrium, it transcends
perceptual knowledge with positive and negative experience. The Nath in such a state
is simultaneously both the meditator and the meditation and the divinity meditated
upon. The sunya, or sahaja48 of the Shaikh is also identical with the sunya and the
sahaja of the Naths.

To both the Naths and Shaikh Abdul-Quddus, sabad stands for the indefinable divine
word. It is the source of all words, both heard and undeard, and is precieved by only
perfect mystics. Yogic exercises do help to register such mystical sounds but the most
important step in the comprehension of sabad is to make the Truth dwell in the heart
through centemplation. The Shaikh exhorts sufis to meditate on the True Name or
ism-i A’zam. In the words of Gorakh, Shaikh Abdul-Quddus warns yogis that wearing
rings in their ears and rosaries of Eleocarpus ganitrus around their necks, or the
recitation of sakhi and sabad (Nath poetry), fails to make one a yogi.49 These were
only means to achieve worldly ambitions and were not true Yoga. In the same strain
he warned the ulama that they were selling knowledge in return for a living, and
would not achieve Ma’rifa.
Muhammad was a deep mystery, believed Shaikh Abdul-Quddus and could not be
approached by the mere crying of his name.50 In fact Ahmad (Muhammad) and Ahad
(One or God) were the same and everyone in the world was misguided because of a
failure to understand the true significance of the intervening mim (M) in the wordss
Ahmad and Ahad. Although it was a Hindi version of some of Shabistari’s verses
from the Gulshan-i Raz, Shaikh Abdul-Quddus impressively expressed the same idea
of the truth in relevance to Nath verses. Shabistari says:

“All these varied forms arise only from your fancy,

They are but one point resolving qucikly in a circle.
It is but one circular line from first to last
Whereon the creatures of this world are journeying;
On this road the prophets are as princes,
Guides, leaders and counsellors.
And of them our lord Muhammad is the chief,
At once the first and the last in this matter.
The One (Ahad) was made manifest in the mim of Ahmad
In this circuit the first emanation became the last
A single mim divides Ahad from Ahmad
The world is immersed in that one mim.
In him is completed the end of this road,
In him is the station of the text ‘I call to God’.”51

Some verses ascribed to Gorakhnath in the Hindi Gorakhbani challenge qazis fro
mechanically crying the name “Muhammad”52 and remind them that it was most
improper for them to call themselves Muslims for they recited the Kalima without
gaining its real meaning. A true Muslim was expected to develop spirituality in the
same way as Muhammad and to die to self before the death of his earthly body.53

Shaikh Abdul-Quddus finds the teachings of the Naths identical to the Wahdat al-
Wujud. According to Gorakhnath the Absolute Truth realized in the highest spiritual
experience is above the concept of bhava (existence) and abhava (negation of
existence), absolutely devoid of origination and destruction, and beyond the reach of
all speculation and imagination. This is Paru-Brahma, which is without name, form,
ego, causality or activity, self-manifestation or internal and external differences. This
philosophy of Grakhnath and the Siddhas called the Dwaita-dwaita-vilakshana-vada
or Pakshapata-binirmukta-vada54 is nearest to the Wahdat al-Wujud. The simile of the
relationship between river water and bubbles applied to the Naths could also be used
to explain the Wahdat al-Wujud.

More Hindi verses in support of the Wahdat al-Wujud were added by the Shaikh in
the Rushd-Nama. He argued that steam rising from a river water from the cloud falls
into a vessel it s known as water of whatever receptacle it finds itself, it if falls in the
form of rain it is known as rain water.55 The following verses of the Quran continues
the same theme:

“Everyone that is thereon will pass away;

There remaineth but the countenance of thy Lord of Migh and Glory.”56
“And cry not unto any other god along with Allah.
There is no God save him.
 Everything will perish save His countenance.
His is the command, and unto Him ye will be brought back.”57

Duality according to the Shaikh Abdul-Quddus is a false concept and the idea of
anything besides God is misguided. People should believe only in the Unity of
Being.58

The sufi theory of creation is also neatly reconciled with the corresponding Nath
theory. All sufis believe in the following eplanation of creation, said to have been
revealed by God to David:

“I was a Hidden Treasure and I wished to be known,

so I created creation that I might be known.”

This desire is identical with the concept of divine will as held by the Naths. The Nath
theory of the Lord existing alone in a void is no different from Jili’s theory of al-Ama
(the dark mist and blindness).

To Shaikh Abdul-Quddus the Nath theory of cration was a replica of Ibn al-Arabi’s
theory which the former expressed this way:

“When God willed in respect of His Beautiful Names (attributes), which are
beyond enumeration, that their essences (a’yun)—or if you wish, you may say
“His essence (‘aynuhu)”—should be seen, He caused them to be seen in a
microcosmic being (kawn jami’) which, inasmuch as it is endowed with
existence, contains the whole object of vision, and through which the inmost
consciousness (sirr) of God becomes manifested to Him. This He did, because
the vision that consists in a thing’s seeing itself by means of itself is not like
its vision of itself in something else that serves as a mirror for it; therefore
God appears to Himself in a form given by the place in which He is seen (that
is, the mirror), and He would not appear thus (objectively) without the
existence of this place and His epiphany to Himself therein. God had already
brought the universe into being with an existence resembling that of a
fashioned soulless body, and it was like an unpolished mirror.”59

All the verses by Shaikh Abdul-Quddus relating to the simile of the mirror and the
polishing of the heart are based on ideas expressed by Ibn al-Arabi60 and Gorakhnath.

The pas-i anfas, founded on the yogic pranayama and the ontological physiology of
the Naths were subjects around which the Shaikh wrote a number of eloquent verses,
and his arguments were presented very forcefully. Quoting the sufi belief that those
who had no human pir were disciples of the devil, in a Hindi verse the Shaikh said
that if a blind man led another blind man, both were bound to fall into a well.61 A
ceaseless effort was needed to find the perfect guru whom the Shaikh likened to a
diamond mine—unless it was dug patiently and assiduously, the diamonds would
never be found.62

The Shaikh’s interest in Nath teaching was not merely theoretical. In several ways he
found Nath ascetic exercises compatible with Chishti practices. Besides obligatory
prayers the Shaikh would perform four hundred rak’ats63 of namaz during the day and
four hundred rak’ats at night. The clothes covering his knees would be threadbare
from kneeling Winter’s excessive cold and frost were no obstacle to his prayng. After
performing the evening namaz he would begin the zikr-i jahr. Those who joined him
would tire, but the Shaikh’s absorption in the Wahdat al-Wujud failed to quench his
enthusiasm. For years after the evening namaz he would perform the namaz-i ma’kus.
This was carried out by hanging, probably head downwards, and was generally
continued the whole night.64 Although Chishtis believed this type of namaz to be a
legacy from the Prophet, as pointed out earlier, Shaikh Abu Sa’id bin Abil-Khair was
the first known sufi to have practised it; the first Indian sufi to perform it was Baba
Farid. Shaikh Abdul-Quddus considered it to be the counterpart of the ulti sadhna.65
Continual performance of namaz-i ma’kus produced in the Shaikh a condition he
called sultan-i zikr in which one experienced strange changes in the physical and
spiritual condition including a deprivation of the senses and a lack of feeling of
consciousness. Repeated appearances of the sultan-i zikr led to the state of fana’ al-
fana. A description of this spiritual experience, given by Shaikh Ruknud-Din, would
tend to indicate that sultan-i zikr was comparable to the Nath Siddha’s nad,66 and that
fana’ al-fana was a state experienced by the jivan-mukta.

Sultan-i Zikr, Shaikh Ruknud-Din’s description contininued, would appear just before
walking. During that period external senses were very weak, the inner contemplation
made wakefulness and sleep appear identical. Later the state would reappear during
consciousness. Initially the contemplative was quite frightened, but gradually he
became accustomed to the condition. The seeker of God waited for the reappearance
of this state in which he could simultaneously percieve both the entire world and
identify those who were obsessed with it. Sometimes the mediator consciousness of
himself as a spatial entity and was plunged into the state of fana’ al-fana.

Shaikh Ruknud-Din then compared the condition of sulan-i zikr with that experienced
by the Prophet Muhammad when he received wahi.67 In short, he added that at the
commencement of sultan-i zikr, the meditator felt as if he were listening to the
humming of a bell whose sound then gradually became thunderous.68 According to
Shaikh Abdul-Quddus this had special relevance to nad and was a privelege of only a
few outstanding sufis.69

The author of this remarkable Nath Hindi poetry, Shaikh Abdul-Quddus Gangohi,
used Alakh as his Hindi nom de plume. The Shaikh was initiated into the Chishti-
Sabiri order of Shaikh Ahmad Abdul-Haqq wo, like his father, wrote Hindi verses,
some of which were incorporated by Shaikh Abdul-Quddus into the Rush-Nama.
Shaikh Arif’s successor was Shaikh Muhammad who was the same age as Shaikh
Abdul-Quddus. In order to have a living pir as a guide, the latter obtained initiation
from Shaikh Muhammad and also claimed to have directly obtained inspiration from
the spirit of Shaikh Ahmad Abdul-Haqq.

Shaikh Abdul-Quddus came from Rudauli and was born about AD 1456. His father
Shaikh Isma’il was an ‘alim but he was also a friend of Shaikh Ahmad Abdul-Haqq.
From his childhood, Shaikh Abdul-Quddus was drawn to a life of ascetism and
although he obtained a formal education from eminent ‘ulama his absorbing interest
was in the Wahdat al-Wujud. He decided to dedicate his life to the service of Shaikh
Ahmad’s khanqah and to live the life of a celibate. Forced by his parents to marry, the
Shaikh continuously neglected his family by spending every possible moment in
prayer and meditation. He seems to have written his two most significant works, the
Anwarul-Uyun and the Rush-Nama at Rudauli.

In c. 1491 Shaikh Abdul-Quddus migrated to Shahabad, in Ambala near Delhi. On 5

Jumada I 897/5 March 1492, his son Shaikh Ruknud-Din, the commentator of the
Rushd-Nama and the author of the Latif-i Quddusi, was born.70 The reason for the
Shaikh’s migration, as given in the Lata’if-i Quddusi, are emotional. The work states
that Rudauli had succumbed to the infiltration of kafirs, Islamic practices disappeared
and pork was openly sold in the bazaar. So converned was the Shaikh that he left
Rudauli for Sultan Sikandar Lodi’s camp at Nakhna. One of the Shakih’s servants
informed Umar Khan Sarwani, the vizier of Sultan Sikandar, of the situation, and he
invited him to settle in his pargana71 at Shahabad. It would appear, however, that the
move was precipitated more by expedient than pious motives and that it was Umar
Khan’s offer of hospitality rather than the threat to Islam in Rudauli that prompted the
Shaikh’s migration.

The relationship between Shaikh Abdul-Quddus and Umar Khan Sarwani was long-
standing. The latter had been an important Afghan chief under Sultan Bahlul and had
been despatched to serve Prince Nizam Khan, who later succeeded his father as Sultan
Sikandar. Umar Khan’s relations with Prince Nizam deteriorated and he fled to the
court of a rival, Prince Barbak Shah, the governor of Jaunpur. Not succeeding at
Jaunpur, Umar Khan sought shelter with the saints of Rudauli. There Shaikh Abdul-
Quddus prayed that Umar Khan’s fortune might change. Soon afterwards he was
reconciled with the Prince.

The Rajput invasion of Rudauli and other predominantly Muslim towns in the Sharqi
kingdom were commonplace occurences. In the lifetime of Shaikh Ahmad Abdul-
Haqq, Rudauli was invaded by a neighbouring Hindu chief.72 The Afghan wars with
the Sharqi kings, whom the Rajput chiefs supported, and later Barbak’s struggle to
succeed Sultan Bahlul, greatly assisted the consolidation of Rajput power in that
region.

After his succession, Sultan Sikandar defeated Barbak near Kanauj but in order to
further strengthe his position, he restored the throne of Jaunpur to Barbak. Barbak was
not however interested either in crushing the Rajput power or uprooting Husain Shah
Sharqi. The region remained torn with war until Barbak was finally expelled from
Jaunpur in 1493. It is little wonder therefore that Shaikh Abdul-Quddus preferred to
migrate to a more peaceful region and seized the opportunity when it arose. However,
he does not seem to have accepted either financial assistance or land grants. His
family then faced a severe economic crisis often starving for days. But like many
other outstanding sufis, the Shaikh’s meditation was undisturbed by such a situation.73

After settling in Shahabad, Shaikh Abdul-Quddus visited Ajodhan and Multan. He

seems to have visited Delhi more than once and became friendly with Sultan Sikandar
Lodi.

In a letter to the Sultan, the Shaikh reminded him of his duties as a ruler. His advice
was based on the traditional Perso-islamic political theories defined by Ghazali, but it
marks a departure from the traditional Chishti practice of unreserved non-involvement
in politics. Shaikh Abdul-Quddus wrote to Sikandar Lodi that an hour spent by rulers
in the pursuit of justice was more commendable than sixty hours of prayers by others.
He went on to write that religious faith and the well-being of the state depended on
the Sultan; in hs absence men would devour each other. Communities needed kings
just as the body needed the soul. Sultans were distinguished by the title “Shadow of
God on Earth.” If a monarch neglected to protect the weak, the holy, the ulama and
mystics, the world would become anarchic.74

The numbr of Shaikh Abdul-Quddus disciples increased and he corresponded with

many who lived away from Shahabad.

Babur’s victory over Dipalpur and Lahore in 1523-24 made regions around Delhi
exceedingly unsafe both to Muslims and non-Muslims. According to Shaikh Ruknud-
Din, a large number of ulama and holy men were killed and their libraries destroyed.75
A lot of Punjabi families moved to safer areas and amongst the emigrants was the
Shaikh who settled at Gangoh in the Saharanpur district of U.P. He returned to
Shahabad again when his house and thatched jama’at-khana there were burnt in an
accidental fire. Meanwhile, Babur marched to panipat where the Mughal army was
opposed by Ibrahim Lodi’s forces. Shaikh Abdul-Quddus and his family acoompanied
the rear of the Lodi army for safety. Sultan Ibrahim had the Shaikh brought to his
camp where the latter predicted his impending defeat. The Shaikh told his disciples
and family to flee to the eastern districts. Only the Shakh, his son and a Saiyid servant
remained at the Afghan camp. After Ibrahim Lodi’s defeat at panipat on 20 April
1526, the three were captured and taken to Delhi where they were released by Babur.
Leaving Delhi the Shaikh retired to Gangoh where he remained for the rest of his life.

There is no tangible evidence that Babur met the Shaikh, however, it is likely as the
Emperor always showed a great interest in sufis and holy men. Moreover a letter
written by the Shaikh to Babur indicates that they were acquainted with each other.
Apparently Babur had suggested the imposition of ushr76 upon the wajah-i ma’ash77
of the ulama and the sufis. While requesting the Emperor to honour, ulama, aima78
and the weak, the Shaikh commented, that the imposition of ushr upon the wajah-i
ma’ash of these classes should not be permitted and should be considered a heinous
sin; he added it was a particularly unwise act to ask for money from dervishes. The
tax should remitted so that all those people who would have fallen into such a
category could live peacefully and pray for the prosperity of the Emperor and the
Muslim community. The muhtasibs79 should be appointed in towns and bazaars so
that the Sharia could be enforced. The jama’80 should be realized according to the
traditions of the Khulfa-i Rashidun, the First Four Caliph, and their successors. Only
the pious should be appointed as government officers so that revenue could be
collected according to the Sharia. No kafir should be appointed to any post in the
diwan81 of a Muslim capital or should hold offices such as amirs82 and ‘amil.83 They
should receive no financial assistance from the government, and should live in a
miserable condition. Kafirs should be forced to pay regular revenue and taxes on their
agricultural and commercial undertakings, their dress should differ from Muslims,
their worship should be in secret and they should not openly indulge in heretical
practices. They should not draw salaries from the Baitul-mal84 but confine their
activities to their traditional trades and professions. Equal treatment with Muslims
was not to be given in the interests of Islam.85
The puritanically severe demands made by the Shaikh to Babur were matched only by
those emanating from the most conservative amongst the orthodox. No doubt his
attitude was prompted by the imposition of ‘ushr on the property held by the ulama
and sufis, and like many he considered the Hindu officers of the diwan responsible for
the financial difficulties of the upper class Muslims.

As we shall see, Guru Nanak exhibited more equanimity and resignation in the divine
will than Shaikh Abdul-Quddus. It is interesting that the Shaikh objected to Hindus
holding high administrative posts, at the same time failing to censure the Rajput
military classes and showing no concern for Hindus charging high interest rates as
long as they were involved in traditional roles. It would not be unfair to suggest that
theShaikh’s views were inconsistent and extreme and the result of a sufi theorist
indulging in politics in a polarized fashion.

Another letter was written by Shaikh Abdul-Quddus to Prince Humayun

recommending that he accord honourable status to the ulama and holy men. Humayun
paid a visit to the Shaikh’s hermitage in Gangoh. On 23 Jumada II 944/27 November
1537 the Shaikh died.86 Shaikh Ruknud-din was, however, critical of Humayun’s
religious policy. The Lata’if-i Quddusi was commenced a month before his father’s
death and completed after it. In it Humayun was accused of not making distinction
between the kufr and Islam.87

Shaikh Abdul-Quddus had a large number of sons who in turn had many disciples.
His successor was Shaikh Ruknud-Din who died in AD 1575-76. His khalifa was,
however, Shaikh Jalal Thaneswari, who died in 1581-82. Besides the Lataif-i
Quddusi, Shaikh Ruknud-Din compiled a commentary on the Rushd-Nama. His most
difficult problem was to justify the contents of his father’s above work. He was asked
how could the poetry of the yogis and sanniyasis embody truths about the Tawhid as
the moral principles of religions came from the prophets alone who were themselves
divinely inspired. The Shaikh’s reply was that a number of Quranic verses indicated
that from the time of Adam to Muhammad more than a hundred thousand prophets
were sent to guide different religious communities. Each country and nation received
its own prophet. The verses in the Quran say:

“Lo! We have sent thee with the Truth, a bearer of glad tidings and a warner;
and there is not a nation but a warner hath passed among them.”88
“Whosoever goeth right, it is only for (the good of) his own soul he goeth
right, and whsoever erreth, erreth only to its hurt. No laden soul can bear
another’s load. We never punish until We have sent a messenger.”89

The prophets taught their respective communities in the local language and also
received divine books in the vernacular. This was so that people might not be
reproachful on the Day of Ressurrection that the prophet had not taught them in their
own language. Thus the Quran says:

“And We never sent a messenger save with the language of his folk, that he
might make (the message) clear for them. Then Allah sendeth whom He will
astray, and guideth whom He will. He is the Mighty, the Wise.”90
Therefore argued Shaikh Ruknud-Din, it was impossible to believe that a prophet had
not been sent to India and that the Tawhid had not been taught in Indian languages.
Kafirs had distorted their prophets’ message and had reverted to idol worship because
of the interference of devils. The Quran states:
“And for every nation there is a messenger. And when their messenger cometh
(on the Day of Judgement) it will be judged between them fairly, and they will
not be wronged.”91

Shaikh Ruknud-Din reinforced his arguments by also quoting from works on Hadis
implying that Indian religions were founded on the Tawhid and must therefore contain
the essence of Reality.92

Turning now to other works of Shaikh Abdul-Quddus we should first mention his
earliest literary attemp which was begun before his migration to Shahabad. This was a
Persian poetical translation of the Chunda’in. The manuscript however was lost
during the upheavals in Rudauli caused by the wars between Sultan Bahlul and
Husain Shah Sharqi. A short treatise by the Shaikh entitled Nurul-Huda included an
account of creation and was intended to supplement the Rushd-Nama.93 The Qurratul-
Ain was another detailed work on the Wahdat al-Wujud.94 One of his treatises, the
Risala-i Qudsiyya, was mentioned by Shaikh Abdul-Haqq.95

The letters which Shaikh Abdul-Quddus wrote were collected by his disciple,
Buddhan, the son of Rukn Siddiqi of Jaunpur, under the title the Maktubat-i
Quddusiyya. The work contains 189 letters which deal with almost every significant
sufi theme. Also included are several Hindi verses. In a letter to Qazi Abdur-Rahman
Sufi of Shahabad the Shaikh wrote that the world was full of impostors and charlatans
and then quoted the verse from the Rushd-Nama relating to the blind leading the
blind, at the same time stating that it had been written by Shaikh Nur.96 A disciple
worshipping his pir was better than the worshipper of the Lord, argued the Shaikh, for
the latter was busy with the contemplation of his own self and therefore neglected
God; one who adored his pir, however, worshipped God through the contemplation of
His creature.97

A Hindi verse, Giri Purbat Bich Base Hamaro Mit, “Our Love Crosses Obstacles of
Mountains,” so strongly stimulated Shaikh Abdul-Quddus to meditate on the
Omnipotence of the Lord that this prompted him to write a long letter to Bahlul Sufi
explaining the subtleties contained in the Wahdat al-Wujud. He went on to say that
kufr and sin alone were not obstacles to the perception of the Wahdat al-Wujud; faith,
obedience, prayer, piety and so on, could also serve as great hindrances.98

The letters of Shaikh Abdul to Shaikh Jalal Thaneswari feature very subtle
explanations of the Unity of Being. They emphasize that love is the principal cause
for the creation of the world. From a superficial viewpoint love appears easy, in
reality, however, it reduces the lover to ashes. He supports this idea by quoting a
number of Hindi verses on the subject, some of which from the Rushd-Nama.99 In
another letter to Shaikh Jalal, Shaikh Abdul-Quddus quotes the verse “Had the idol
worshipper been able to know the truth about the idol, they would have not been
misled.” He adds that one who had learnt to perceive God saw nothing but Him,
however one who had learnt to see everything else but God failed to see Him at all.
To the Shaikh he who saw God and not a stone idol was in fact His worshipper,
whereas one who never saw God but stone was given to vanity and infidelity. He then
quoted the following Pesian verse by Shaikh Bu Ali Qalandar, and used a doha from
the Chanda’in to support it. The verse can be translated as follows:

“Whatever form Thous assumeth people prostrate

But they don’t eat any fruit from the garden of Thy love.”100

Contacts between Kashmiri Shaivism and Sufis

The Laila-Vakyani or the “Wise Sayings of Lal Ded or Lalla” had a strong effect on
local sufis. A Kashmiri Shaivite, popularly known as Lal Ded. Lal Didi, and Ma’i Lal
Diddi, Lalla is also known by her Sanskritized names, Lalla Yogishwari or
Laleshwari. Her family were Brahmans from Pompur and she appears to have been
born sometime in the middle of the fourteenth century. As was the custom of her
caste, at an early age Lalla was suitably married to a member of another Brahman
caste; however, spurning family life she became a Shaivite yegini.

Lalla began wandering around Kashmir in the typical garb of a mendicant. According
to legend she met Mir Saiyid Ali Hamadani on several occasions and modern scholars
such as R.C. Temple101 and Muhibbul-Hasan102 have mistakenly sought to prove a
sufi influence on Lalla’s verses composed while in a state of ecstasy. These, however,
so strongly express the teachings of the Kashmiri Shaivites that such a theory seems
implausible. Her themes include such beliefs that the Supreme Reality, identified as
Shiva, underlies the Changeless Reality and that He is Eternal and Infinite, All-
Pervading and All-Transcending. In His immanent aspect, Shiva is diffused
throughout the universe and in His transcendental state He is beyond all universal
manifestation. Shakti is an aspect of Shiva who is both He and She, a unity in duality,
and a duality in unity. The manifestation of the universe is “an expression of Shiva,
the highest Reality.” She says:

“Ice and snow and water: these be three

That to thy vision separate seem:
But they are one to the eyes that see
By light of the Consciousness Supreme.
What the cold doth part, the sun combines:
What the sun doth part, doth Shiva make whole:
What Shiva doth part, the Supreme confines
In one Shiva and Universe and Soul.

What are thing idols but lumps of stone?

What but stone the temples that are thine?
Venerable Brahman, who alone
Offerings to these to make Divine?
Hold the breaths that in thy body alone;
So thou be understanding wise
And thou know Him to be not of stone.”103

The cross fertilization of sufi beliefs with those expressed by Lalla throughout her
verses led to the establishment of the Rishi order of sufis in Kashmir. Its founder was
Shaikh Nurud-Din Rishi who, according to some authorities, was born on 10
Dzulhijja, 779/9 April 1378.104 Tradition has it that in his childhood Shaikh Nurud-
Din Rishi received an education in how to be both a robber and a wever but in both
fields he was to prove a poor pupil. Although he was brought up as a Muslim, he did
not obtain a formal religious education. Later he admitted that he did many penances
to atone for his illiteracy. Performing the usual ascetic exercises of a mystic, the
Shaikh lived in a cave in the village of Kaimuh near Srinagar, at the same time totally
abstaining from meat and gaining nourishment from wild spinach and leaves.105
Some Kubrawiyya sources attempt to show that Shaikh Nurud-Din was initiated into
the order by one of the khalifas of Mir Saiyid Ali Hamadani, while some
anachronistically make the Shaikh a disciple of the Mir himself.106 It would seem,
however, that the Shaikh obtained inspiration from Lalla who by that time was well-
known to Kashmiris. Serious differences between the attitude to religion and
mysticism of the Kubrawiyya and of Shaikh Nurud-Din would make any relationship
unlikely. Some early Rishi sources state that the Shaikh was an Uwaisi who obtained
inititiation directly from the spirit of the Prophet. According to Jonaraja, the Shaikh
was the greatest sage of his time.107 Shaikh Nurud-Din died on 26 Ramadan 82/12
March 1439, in the reign of sultan Zainul-Abidin.108

The Shaikh’s teachings are embodied in his Kashmiri verses, some of which are
almost identical to those written by Lalla. However, there are some verses which are
authoritatively attributed to Shaikh Nurud-Din. Through them the Shaikh emerges as
an ardent devotee of God trying to reach the Unknownablein the heart by lighting the
lamp of love. The ulama distinguished between the spirit and the flesh but the arif
(gnostic) emphasized the disparity between the desires of the spirit and those of the
flesh. To him the insects and worms in his cave were his companions in the adoration
of God. He also believed the lower self should be subdued mercilessly as it was man’s
greatest enemy. Like all ascetics, he considered mullas to be hypocrites who recited
the Quran for money and were unconcerned with its message.109 A true slave of God
depended on no one for his survival. To the Shaikh the Islamic profession of faith was
incomplete without a valid recognition of the reality of the self.

Shaikh Nurud-Din and his disciples preferred to call themselves Rishis not sufis. Of
his many disciples, Bamud-Din, Zainud-Din and Latifud-Din were Brahmans by birth
and had become Muslims under the influence of their pir’s intense spiritualism. The
stories of their conversions are like many others concerned with mystic conversion,
but all consistently portray Shaikh Nurud-Din as a spiritual beacon to Kashmiri
Muslims and Hindus alike. Shaikh Zainud-Din invented a distictive dress for Rishis
which consisted of a variegated woollen cloak with a black and white pattern running
through it.110

Among other eminent disciples of Shaikh Nurud-Din were Nasrud-Din and Qiyamud-
Din , who both had a number of important disciples of their own. A century later
many Rishis also began to live in khanqahs, accepting land and money from the
government and their own devotees. Nevertheless they remained dedicated servants of
the people, irrespective of class and religious distinctions. The Rishis strongly
impressed both Abul-Fazl and Emperor Jahangir. Both mention them planting fruit
trees for the benefit of the people.111 Rishi authors believed that members of their
order had turned Kashmir into a heaven for the people, although they themselves led
harshly austere lives. The contemplative life of the Rishis was founded on the pas-i
anfas or pranayana. Generally they remained celibate believing that a family was a
great impediment to the pursuit of a saintly life. Shaikh Nurud-Din admitted that
although meat eating was permitted by the Sharia to him it was cruelty to animals.112

Sufi and Nath interaction in Bengal

Bengal was the state in which Hatha-Yogic practices became known to the sufis
because of the early translation into Arabic and Persian of the Amrita-Kunda.
However, no Bengali work in prose or poetry on sufism written between the thirteenth
and fifteenth centuries has yet come to ligh. The social ethics of the yogis impressed
eminent sufis, such as Shaikh Ahmad Abdul-Haqq of Rudauli, but the leading sufis of
thirteenth and fourteenth century Bengal were all Persian scholars. They may have
taken some interest in the po;ular mystic poetry of Bengal but there is no evidence to
corroborate this view. The patronage of the Bengali language by the Hussain Shahi
Sultans (1494-1539 AD) was the greatest incentive for the emergence of a body of
Bengal literature. M.R. Tarafdar divides these works into the following categories:

(a) “the poems dealing with the snake cult,

(b) the versified translation of the Mahabharat,
(c) the Vaisnava Padavali,
(d) a poem on Yoga philosophy and
(e) romantic poems represented by the Vidya-Sundara of Shidhara.”113

Tarafdar adds that in 1498-99 Shaikh Zahir wrote a book on Yoga philosophy called
the Adya Parichaya. Although he is not certain of the date of its composition it would
seem to be the earliest of its genre, and is based on the Bahrul-Hayat. As a
microcosm, the human body is depicted as possessing all the attributes of the world.
In it are located earth, air, fire, heaven, the world and the lower world. It is the abode
of the four Yugas,114 the four Vedas and the four scriptures (the Old and the New
Testaments, the Psalms and the Quran).

One of the more important seventeenth century contributions is the Goraksha-Bijay,

based on the Sanskrit work said to have been composed by Gorakhnath.115 Shaikh
Chand wrote the Haragouri Sangbad, a work on the Nath esoteric ideas of physical
culture. Abdul Hakim (1620-90) of Svandvip was the author of a long Bengali poem
on the mysterious chakras in the Chari-Maqamer Bhed.116 He identified the Nath
chakras with the stations in sufism.

Better known is the Yoga Qalandar by Saiyid Muraza (1590-1662) from

Murshibabad.117 He traced the Qaladariyya discipline back to Shaikh Abu Ali
Qalandar. According to him the nasut was the abode of Izrail118 and could be
identified with the muladhara. Zikr based on the kalima purified the mind and
contributed to the development of mystical regeneration. The Malakut was identical
with the mampura cakra and was the navel of the region, which was connected with
angels. A guru chose the Sublime Name of God (Ism-i Azam) from the kalima and
prescribed it to disciples in order to make them perfect. The mystic state of Jabarut,
emanated from the cereblal region and was presided over by the angel Mikail; it was
also related to Allah and his great sakha (friend) Muhammad. Meditation with the
picture of the devotee’s guru in his mind enabled the seeker to hear the mystical
anahata sabda (sound) and see the divine light. The Lahut in the heart was identified
with the anahata-cakra of the yogis.119
Saiyid Sultan (1550-1648) of Chittagong, a leading sufi in that region, had geat power
to arouse human emotions through his expressive writing and composed a number of
Bengali poetical works on themes relating to the life of Muhammad. Some important
titles are the Shah-i Mi’raj (Night Journey of Muhammad to Heaven) of Wafat-i
Rasul120 (Death of the Prophet Muhammad) and the Iblis Nama121 (Iblis and the
Mysteries of Creation). His magnum opus is Nabibangsa122 or the Bengali translation
of the Qisas al-Ambiya123 (Legendary Tales of the Prophets). His mystical poems
such as Gnan Chautisa124 and Gnan Pradip125 were believed to have been written in
his old age in an attempt to reconcile Hatha-Yoga with sufism. The Gnana pradipa
gives a detailed analysis of the mystic physiology of Hatha-Yoga in order to make
sufi perception of the Pas-i Anfas more meaningful. He writes:

“Ingala and pingala are the two nerves running by the two sides of the spinal
chord and looking like two creeping plants hanging by the two sides of a tree.
The nerve ingala in the right may be compared with the sun and the pingala in
the left resembles the moon. The ingala is the flow of the Ganges and the
pingala that of the Jamna. The nerver running between the god and the demon
is called Suswnna. These three meet at a point which is regarded by the wise
as the confluence of the three sacred rivers.”126

Some Muslim Bengali scholars characterize the mystic themes in Bengali works as
heterodox127 but the term is hardly applicable to the sufi movement in any region.
Sufism had had a long tradition of borrowing both ideas and practices from other non-
Islamic mystical systems and Bengali sufis did not depart seriously from the path
shown by their predecessors. The works of the Bengali poets were similar to the
Rushd-Nama of Shaikh Abdul-Quddus Gangohi who, during his lifetime as today,
enjoys great respect from all classes of Muslims. To call Bengali sufism heterodox
amounts to the application of a concept on sufism which has no relevance to such a
system at all.

Yogic syncretism

The Naths and the Siddhas spread from the Panjab to Bengal lived in forests,
wandered in towns and also established permanent monasteries. By the fifteenth
century many groups of Muslims also became yogis, though not necessarily Naths or
Siddhas. Some became professional beggars and acrobats. Mixed with the Muslim
followers of Shah Madar and qalandars, a section of yogis also popularized syncretic
beliefs. They considered Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh to be both angels and disciples
og Gorakhnath. They also claimed all the prophets and apostles as his disciples. To
yogis the prophet Muhammad was a pupil and disciple of Gorakhnath but they
concealed this belief for fear of Muslim retribution. Baba Ratan Hajji was identified
with Gorakhnath and it was asserted that the Prophet had learnt Yoga through the
Baba.128

The Vaishnavites

The Vaishnavite influence on sufism made itself felt mainly through its devotional
poetry. This form of Hinduism involved the worship of Vishnu or Narayana, a major
god of the Hindu pantheon who was generally adored in the form of two of his ten
incarnations. Rama and Krishna, and also in the form of the worship of their consorts.
The Vaishnavism of al-Biruni’s days was founded on four works: the Vishnu-Purana,
the Bhagavata-Purana, the Bhagavad-Gita and the Harivamsa. Its earliest known
expression ws in the Pancharatra Agamas129 of Sandilya who lived around AD 100,
but the movement was temporarily checked by the influence of the great Vedantic
philosopher, and uncompromising monist, Shankaracharya.

In the tenth and eleventh centuries Vaishnavism was revived by Nathamuni, Yamuna
and most significantly by the philosopher and bhakta (Hindu devotee), Ramanuja. All
emphasized devotion through image worship and simple rituals rather than by means
of knowledge, the antithesis of Shankara’s philosophy. The hymns of the Alvars,130 in
South India during the seventh and ninth centuries became models for the latter
Marathi and Hindi Vaishnavite songs. The Alvars wandered from one town to the
next singing ecstatic songs and dancing rapturously. They advocated the personal
existence of the One Supreme Being and sang in praise of Narayana, Rama and of the
love beteen Krishna and the gopis (cowgirls). Rebels against the superior caste claims
of the Brahmans, the greatest of the Alvars was Namalvar (c. AD 800), himself a
lowly Sudra. Trimulisari, another Alvar, like Saraha-Pa wrote:

“Jains are ignorant: Buddhists have fallen into a snare; Shaivites are without
enlightenment and those who will not worship Vishnu are low indeed.”131

Ramanuja whose dates are believed to be 1050 and 1137, was born near what is now
Madras and was educated at Conjeeveram. Visiting all the Hindu centres of
pilgrimage in northern and southern India, he settled in Srirangam in the south
flaunting tradition he taught that all classes should be given access to the sacred
Vedas. Although he wrote in Sanskrit, his disciples used the vernacular Tamil.
Ramanuja permitted idol worship and accepted the Hindu division of society into
castes, but he admitted Sudras and outcastes to his order. Criticizing the theories of
Shankaracharya, a Shaivite, he scathingly wrote:

“This entire teaching is nothing but a web of false reasoning. His

understanding must have been disturbed by illusory imaginations arising from
sins he had committed in his previous births. He who knows the right relation
of things must reject such foolish doctrines.”132

Rumanuja preached that the individual human soul is not identical with the Supreme
but is a fragment of the latter. Dependant on the Supreme Being the human soul has a
separate identity but both possess Reality. His doctrine became known as the vishisht-
advaita, that is, qualified non-dualism, as opposed to the pure monism, advaita, that
is, qualified non-dualism, as opoosed to the pure monism, advaita (allowing no
second), of Shankara. The knowledge of this separation assisted in the practice of
devotion through which one could achieve mukti (redemption). To Ramanuja,
Shankara’s philosophy, involving salvation through knowledge, was on an inferior
level to the path of Bhakti.

Madhava (1197-1280) was a Kanarese Brahman who also opposed Shankara’s

advaita and formulated the idea of dvaita, total dualism. He emphasized that Brahma
or God was Supreme and the creator of the world and that assuch was in essence
different to the jiva or human soul. Although he did not reject devotion to Shiva,
Madhava was basically a Vaishnavite.

Nimbarka (c. 1130-1200), a Telugu Brahman, taught that Brahma had an independent
Reality, that he was absolute existence and the creator and sustainer of the universe.
The individual soul of man possessing self-consciousness was both created, finite and
sustained by Brahma, but not identical to Him. Devotion at the lotus-feet of Krishna
and his consort Radha was the most effective path to salvation and the end of the
eternal process of samsara (transmigration). Nimbarka’s philosophy was known as
dvaitadvaita (dualistic non-dualism).

A new dimension was added to Vaishnavite devotionalism by a contemporary of

Nimbarka, the Sanskrit poet Jayadeva (c. 1100) a protege of the Sena court in Bengal.
His masterpiece is the poetic drama the Gita-Govinda involving stories of Krishna,
Radha and the gopis. It has been suggested that Jayadeva’s Sanskrit version is based
on the Apbrahmsa (Transitional Vernacular or Archaic Bengali) and that the Krishna
cult had really begun much earlier than the twelfth century. The Granth Sahib
incorporates some hymns by Jayadeva in Hindi and gives the author a prominent
place in the list of bhaktas.

The great Marathi poet, Jnanadeva (1275-96), wrote a Marathi version of the
Bhagavad-Gita, fusing the poems with devotional philosophy. He also composed
emotive Vaishnavite songs in the same language. Born around 1270, Namdeva came
from a low caste family of Pandharpur tailors. His hymns in both Marathi and Hindi
are marked by a deep Vaishnavite faith and contain elements which were the basis of
the Nirguna Bhakti movement, discussed at the end of this chapter. To Namdeva the
invisible and wonderful God who alone is Reality speaks to every heart. There is a
story that once he fell into a trance and believed himself to be playing cymbals in
God’s honour; God finally appeared and took the instruments from him. On awaking
Namdeva composed the following hymn of praise:

“Come God, the Qalandar

Wearing the dress of an Abdali.133
The firmament is the hat on Thy head,
The seven nether regions Thy slippers;
All animals with skins are Thy temples; thus art
Thou decked out, O God!
The fifty-six millions of clouds are Thy robes and
The sixteen thousand queens of Krishan Thy waistbands;
The eighteen loads of vegetables are Thy clubs,
The whole world is Thy salver;
Nama’s body is Thy mosque, his heart They priest
Who tranquilly prayeth.
O Thou with and without form,
Thou who art wedded to lady Lakshmi,
While I was worshipping Thou had any cymbals taken from me:
To whom shall I complain?
Nama’s Lord is the searcher of all hearts,
And wandereth in every Land.”134
The traditions established by Ramanuja were put on a firm basis by Ramananda (c.
1360-1470). During his lifetime Ramananda travelled all over India spending some
time teaching in Banaras and Agra. He advocated devotion to the incarnation of
Vishnu in the form of Rama, and of his consort Sita. His disciples belonged both to
the Vaishnavite and Nirguna Bhakti north Indian sant (Hindu saint) traditions. His
influence was far-reaching and he helped to establish Ramanuja’s system of visisht-
advaita as a significant force in Indian classical philosophy and as an important
influence amongst the many emerging Bhakti cults.

The most prominent of Bengali Vaishnavites was Chaitanya (1485-1534), a native of

Navadvipa (Nadia). Chaitanya believed that knowledge, meditation, charity and virtue
should be subordinated to the devotion of Krishna and Radha. His favourite form of
worship as a bhakta was in kirtan or samkirtan (group singing) which was
accompanied by drums, cymbals or a one-stringed fiddle and during which the words
Hari and Krishna were constantly chanted. Chandidas135 (c. 1350-1430), and other
Vaishnavite poets preceding Chaitanya identified themselves with the Shaktis or
female companions of Krishna. Chaitanya became even more radical by personally
identifying himself with Radha and her love for Krishna, which gradually came to
symbolize the search of the soul for God. Chaitanya’s emotional attachment to the
Krishna led to prolonged spells of ecstasy and epileptic fits.

A theory called achinty bhedabheda (incomprehensible dualistic monism) was

developed by Chaitanya to express the relationship between God and the soul and he
drew the analogy of the connection between fire and a simple spark which neither
were identical nor different. Chaitanya’s followers defined their goal this way:

“At the mention of the word sayujya (loss of identity) the bhakta (believer)
feels fear. He prefers hell to it. At the word mukti (redemption) hatred arises in
the mind. But at the word Bhakti (devotion) he feels only joy.”136

Like the Alvars, Chaitanya was opposed to class distinctions, but his followers
allowed the practice to creep back into the movement. They not only worshipped
Vishnu, Krishna and Radha, but also relics associated with their founder.

A modern Muslim scholar who appears not to be conversant with the different forms
of Bhakti argues that Chaitanya was influenced by Shaikh Nur Qutb-i Alam.137 There
would seem to be little in common with the puritanical Vaishnavism of Chaitanya and
his follower and sufis such as Nur Qutb-i Alam and his khalifas. However, the deep
impact made by Chaitanya was felt on a more popular level, for example in the Baul
movement.

The Bauls were a popular group of Muslim and Hindu singers in Bengal who used
mainly songs in the tradition of Chaitanya. The Muslim Bauls followed sufi traditions
while the Hindu Bauls were Vaishnavites. The movement began in Nadia from where
it spread to all parts of Bengal. Among the beliefs of the Hindu Bauls was that
Bhirbhadra, a son of Nityananda (1473-1544) was their first guru and received the
Baul faith from a Muslim woman called Madhava Bibi. But the beginnings of the
movement are as shrouded in mystery as is the origin of the word Baul. The Sanskrit
words vatula (affected by wind-disease, that is, crazy) and vyakula (impatiently eager)
are suggested as possible roots of the word. A Hindi variation, baur138 (also meaning
crazy) has been suggested, as a closer Hindi equivalent baula, with the same
translation. All these words are compatible both with the poetry of the Bauls and their
philosophy of life. They borrowed ideas from the Vaishnava Shajiyas who prefereed
to achive the state of sahaja (the ultimate nature of the self) not through yogic
practices but by a process of the divinization of human love, as represented in the
Radha/Krishna union.

Both the Vaishnavite and sufi Bauls were regarded as “Men of the Hearts.” They were
non-dualistic, conceiving the body as the microcosm of the universe. A Baul poet
wrote:

“The Man of the house is dwelling in the house,--in vain have you become
mad by searching Him outside. It is... your own fault that you are roaming
about for ever. You have been to Gaya, Benares (Kasi) and Vrndavana,--and
have travelled through many rivers and forests and other places of pilgrimage;
but say,--have you seen in all these anything of Him of Whom you have
heard? Through false illusion you have lost all your power of understanding,--
with jewel tied in your own skirt, you have been swimming in search of it.
With care you might have easily got the gem,--but you are losing everything
carelessly,--the jewel shines sso near to your eyes, but alas! You are keeping
your eyes shut—and you do not see.”139

The popularity of Vaishnavite themes used in sufi sama’ rituals of Hindi speaking
regions is a most remarkable development. The sufis regarded them as welcome
additions to their devotional poetry to induce ecstasy. In 1566 Mir Abdul-Wahid
Birgarami compiled a Persian dictionary of Hindi songs which had been well-known
to sufis giving prominence to those known by Vaishnavites. The work is entitled the
Haqaiq-i Hindi and is divided into three sections. The first section gives a mystic
explanation of Hindi words used in Durpad140 songs. The second section allegorically
explains the words used in Vaishnavite songs in Braj Bhasha, the dialects of the
Mathura region.141 The Mir justifies the popularity of the names of kafirs used in sufi
sama’ on the grounds that the Quran itself uses the names of both kafirs and enemies.
The third section gives the sufi explanation of the words used in Hindi sufi poetry.

It was not, however, only to satisfy the orthodox that the need for an explanation of
Hindi terms was felt. The sufis used even Arabic and Persian words in a mystical and
technical sense which was vastly different from common usage. Several dictionaries
of sufi technical terms were written. The ancient Indian mystics such as the Sahajiyas,
Tantrics and the Nath-Yogis also compiled dictionaries of their own mystical and
technical terms. Nabhaji, the author of the Bhagat Mal, the celebrated biographical
dictionary of the sants written at the end of the sixteenth century also thought it
appropriate to explain allegorically the Gita-Govinda. He wrote:

“....the love scenes and rhetorical graces of the poet are not to be understood in
the sense that persons of evil minds and dispositions attach to them. Radhika
the heroine is heavenly wisdom. The milkmaids who divert Krishan from his
allegiance to her, are the senses of smell, sight, touch, taste and hearing.
Krishan represented as pursuing them is the human soul, which attaches itself
to earthly pleasures. The return of Krishan to his first love is the return of the
repentant sinner to God, which gives joy in heaven.”142
The Haqaiq-i Hindi of Mir Abdul-Wahid Bilgarami, was therefore written in the same
tradition. An explanation by Mir Abdul-Wahid about the Krishna theme is as follows:
Krishna: Sometimes Krishna and his other names in Hindawi (Hindi) indicate the
Prophet Muhammad and sometimes the (Perfect) Man. Often it indicates the Reality
of the creation of man which is related to the Unity of Being. Sometimes it represents
Iblis.143 Often it stands for idols, Christians or the sons of fire-worshippers, as the
following lines indicate:

Idol and Christian-boy represent manifestations of divine light

Which illuminate beautiful faces
This light which illuminates beautiful faces gives rest tothe heart;
Sometimes it is epitomized in a singer and sometimes in the saqi (cup
bearer).144

Gopi and Gujari (milkmaid): Sometimes these words represent angels; sometimes
they indicate the reality of mankind in relation to the Unity of Being. If wise men
perceive into them a different meaning, the source of difference is the intellect itself.
The symbols themselves do not warrant any difference. For example once Shibli145
recited the following verse:

“I ask about ‘Salma’ but none in the world answers me.”

It is evident that “Salma” in the above verse indicates a woman but to Shibli she
meant God. The sufis use several such symbols and give innumerable reasons for their
allegorical interpretations.

Kubrhi or Kubija (Hunch-backed Woman): These words indicate human beings and
their faults.

Uddhava (A companion and relation of Krishna): Sometimes it indicates the Prophet

Muhammad, sometimes it indicates his followers who are intermediaries between him
and God. Sometimes it indicates Gabriel.

Patiya (sent): Sometimes it indicates divine books, and sometimes it stands for the
book of mankind’s deeds, believed to have been maintained by observing angels and
to be produced on the Day of Judgment. Sometimes it indicates the divine command
censuring men for being engrossed in the thoughts of pleasures of heaven and
forgetting the vision of God. Sometimes it indicates the universe which is a
compendium of Essence and manifestations. In fact this in itself is the divine book.

Verse
One whose soul rests in the divine light,
Considers the entire universe as a divine book.
The vowels and diacritical marks and punctuations and pauses in this book are
the manifestation of the divine.

Each page of the book of the universe is a volume of Ma’rifa.

Verse
Consider esoteric and exoteric as the embodiment of Being and all objects in the
universe (such) as the Quran and its verses.
Sometimes this word symbolized those hearts which are steadfast in faith
Braj and Gokul (region of Mathura associated with Krishna’s life). These words stand
for the three ontological dominations of the Jabarut, representing the highest point in
the spiritual world; the nasut or physical world, and the Malakut or intermediary
psychic world.

The Jamuna, Ganga or Kalindi (rivers): Sometimes these indicate the river of the
Wahdat, sometimes the ocean of Ma’rifa, sometimes the streams of creation or
contingent existence. Truly all contingent existences are like waves and canals.

Murli or Bansuri (flute): This indicates the appearance of existence out of the void.

Verse
The entire world is the humming of His song
None has heard such a prologned voice

It also points to the contents of the Quranic verse: “.....and breathed into him
(Adam) of My Spirit”146 and the divine command in the Quran namely
“Be.”147

Verse
The world of creation and command emanates from a breath. This breath is
ephemeral.
Both worlds were created from the breath; the existence of Adam also took
place from the breath.
Breath is melody.

It does not contain any letter,

Sound or pulling and breathing.
There is no sound or letter in the song of spirit;
A unique mystery is concealed in it.

Kans: Sometimes the name symbolizes the nafs, sometimes the devil, sometimes it
indicates the aspects of the names of Allah related to His Majesty and Power.
Sometimes the name may indicate the Sharia of the prophets prior to the advent of
Muhammad.

Mathura: This indicates the temporary stations in the Ma’rifa which are related to
nasut. The permanent stations are Malakut or Jabarut. Starting from the temporary
stations, the sufi joerney leads to the permanent stations. The sufis accordingly say
that one who is not born twice does not enter the loftiest of spiritual stages.

Dwarika: This is the permanent station of sufis. The knowledge and ascetic exercises
of perfect sufis carry them to permanent stations. This it the ma’ad or ultimate state of
mystics.
Jasodha (Yashoda, mother of Krishna): This indicates divine mercy which God has
promised to the worldly.148

The author of this unique dictionary, Mir Abdul-Wahid was born in c. 915/1509-10.
he belonged to the family of eminent sufis from Bilgaram in Hardoi, near Lucknow.
He was married in Kanauj where he remained for many years. Mulla Abdul-Qadir
who met the Mir in 977/1569-70, latter indulged in ecstatic exercises and songs to
induce trance-like states. At Akbar’s invitation, he visited the Emperor’s court and
received a huge grant from him for his living expenses. The Mir died on 3 Ramazan
1017/11 December 1608.149

Mir Abdul-Wahid’s Persian work Saba-i Sanabil is a very famous treatise on sufi
doctrines and ethics. Written in 969/1562, it included many Hindi quotations. The Mir
also wrote another short treatise on sufism entitled the Kalimat’i Chand. A
commentary on the Nazhatul-Arwah of Fakhr-i Sadat Husaini, compiled by the Mir
and mentioned by Bada’uni, has not survived. Some works mentioned by Mir Ghulam
Ali Azad Bilgarami, such as a tale of four brothers, the Qissa-i Chahar Baradar, and
a commentary on the technical terms of the Persian sufi poet Khwaja Hafiz (c. 1325-
89) have also not been traced. A collection of the Mir’s ghazals is available in the
Aligarh University Library. His verses lack the lyrical impact of Hafiz and in some of
them, the mysticism is rather laboured. The Mir claimed that in a vision the Khwaja
had made him his disciple.

Much better understood and more widely known than the above work by Mir Abdul-
Wahid is the Hindi sufi poetry modelled on the Persian masnawis of Nizami Ganjawi.
The masnawis of the great sufi poets, Sana’i, Attar and Rumi mentioned earlier, were
characterized by a much greater degree of ecstasy and intense emotion expressed
through the use of anecdotes than the poems of Nizami. Ilyas bin Yusuf Nizami of
Ganja also began writing a collection of five epics (Khamsa) along the lines of Sana’i
masnawis, a trend which he continued in the Makhzanul-Asrar (Treasure Chamber of
Mysteries). Soon, however, he realized that parables and allegories did not offer him
enough scope for lyrical artistry.

He then decided to relate the adventures of the Sasanian king Khusraw Parviz (AD
591-628), his amours with the beautiful Shirin and the fate of his rival Farhad. The
work took four years between 573-6/1177-81 to complete. The success of this
masnawi prompted him to write the Arabian folk story the Lail-u Majnun; later he
produced the Haft-Paikar (Seven Portraits). The hero of this masnawi was again the
Sasanian king Bahram Gur (AD 421-39).

“The Seven Portraits in question, discovered by Bahram one day in a secret

chamber in his castle... represented seven princesses of incomparable beauty...
Bahram falls in love with these portraits, and, succeeding almost immediately
afterwards to the throne vacated by the death of his father.... he demands and
obtains these seven princessess in marriage from their respective fathers. Each
one, representing one of the Seven Climes... is lodged in a separate palace...
and Bahram visits earch of them on seven successive nights.... Each of the
seven princessess entertains him in turn with stories, somewhat after the
scheme of the Arabian Nights....”150
The last of Ilyas bin Yusuf Nizami’s epics was a poem of the Islamic legend of
Alexander the Great, which was written with excessive poetical and philosophical
depth.

The Persian poets left no stone unturned to imitate Nizami but even the great Amir
Khusraw was no match for him. Only Faizi (1547-95), succeeded in matching
Nizami’s genius by selecting the Indian romantic theme surrounding the love of Raja
Nal for his beloved Damyanti. From the fourteenth century the sufi poets who chose
Indian themes and wrote masnawis in Hindi and other regional languages were
prompted to do this because such themes offered them wide opportunities to express
their thoughts on mysticism. Indian imagery and symbolism were not only new but
were also artistic. The success of Nakhshabi’s Persian Tuti Nama was a further
incentive to them. Non-Indian sufis of the early centuries of Islam did not hesitate to
learn lessons from the Magian and Manichaean interaction of Being and non-Being
where the Phenomenal World emanated and also from the Christian Trinity typifying
the Light of Being, the Mirror of the purified Human soul and the rays of the divine
outpouring. They were impressed with the Buddhist nirvana as well as with the
enthusiasm for their idols. They believed in the well-known sufi saying al-majazu
quntartul Hhaqiqa (the phantasmal is the bridge to the Real). To them earthly beauty
was a mere reflection of Eternal Beauty, which appeared in thousands of mirrors, but
which essentially was One. Centuries earlier Amir Khusraw reminded sufis:

“Khusraw, in love rival the Hindu wife,

For the dead’s sake she burns herself in life.”

The motive of these sufi poets who wrote Hindi masnawis was to arouse indescribable
ecstasy both in themselves and in others thus obliterating the distinction between
“Thou” and “I.” Their writings were not designed to fulfil a missionary aim, as some
admirers have suggested. The works based on the model of Persian masnawis always
began with verses of gratitude to Allah, followed by praise for Muhammad and his
comapanions, the reigning monarch and lastly tributes to the particular pir. Then the
tale was related effusively but with great fervour.

The earliest known masnawi written in Hindi is the Chanda’in of Maulana Dawud,
popularly known as Mulla Dawud. He came from Dalmau in the Rae Bareli district,
near Lucknow and was a khalifa of Shaikh Zainud-Din who in turn was the son of the
sister of Shaikh Nasirud-Din Chiragh-i Dihli and his uncle’s khalifa. Probably the
work was started in 722/1370-71 and completed in 781/1379-80. Mulla Abdul-Qadir
Bada’uni says:

“In 722/1370 Khan-i Jahan, the wazir, died; and his son Juna obtained that
title. Maulana Dawud, wrote in his honour Chanda’in, a masnawi in Hindawi,
relating the story of the love of Lorak and Chanda. It is a very touching piece
indeed, and too well-known to need praise. Even Maulana Shaikh Taqiud-Din,
a godly preacher (wa’iz-i rabbani) used to recite its verses from the pulpit. It
had an indescribable ecstatic effect upon the audience. When certain learned
men asked the Shaikh why he chose that masnawi for his discourss, he replied,
‘the whole of it is divine truth and is not only agreeable to the taste of people
who are interested in divine Love, but it is compatible with the interpretation
 of some verses of the Quran. Even now sweet-singers of India captivate the
heart by reciting it.”151

The story is based on a Dalmau folk tale. The heroine of the masnawi lived in
Gobargarh and was married asa child of four. At twelve a beggar-bard chanced to see
her. So enchanted with her beauty was he that he composed songs lamenting the fact
that he could no longer see her. At the court of the Raja of Rajapur the bard’s songs of
Chanda’s beauty so inspired the monarch that he invaded Gobargarh. Chanda’s father
invited Laurik Vir, a neighbouring raja to Gobargarh’s assistance. Rup Chand was
defeated but the victor and Chanda fell in love. Leaving his wife, Laurik Vir and
Chanda remained together until the news of his wife’s intense anguish forced him to
return.

The most fascinating portions of the masnawi are the nakh-shikh (top to toe)
description of Chanda given by the bard at the Raja’s court. Maulana Dawud sees the
eye-brows of Arjuna in the heavens but finds those of Chanda even more beautiful.
As she walks, men prostrate themselves before her only to find their sins washed
away. Rishis and gods such as Indra, Brahma, Vishnu, Murari and Gandharya are
enchanted by her.

The nakh-shikh of the Chanda’in made a deep impact on later writers of Hindi
masnawis and were reproduced chiefly because of the great prestige of its author as a
mystic. Shaikh Abdul-Quddus, in a letter to Shaikh Jalal Thaneswari on the Wahdat-
al Wujud, quoted a doha from the Chanda’in to prove that although lovers sought to
meet their beloveds, they were always thwarted. The doha152 is immediately followed
by lines from a verse from the Quran in which Moses urges God to reveal Himself but
his request is rejected on the grounds that it was impossible for Moses to see his
Creator. In the sufi path, Arani153 and Lan Tarani154 represented constant conflict
between the devotee, who wished to see the divine vision, and God.155 In another
letter to Shah Muhammad about the spiritual ambitions of holy men, Shaikh Abdul-
Quddus argued, using for emphasis a doha from the Chanda’in, that only the
spiritually adventurous were real men.156

It is interesting that Shaikh Abdul-Quddus lectured on the Chanda’in with the same
intensity as when he lectured on the works of Ibn al-Arabi, Fakhrud-Din Iraqi and
Sa’di. As pointed out earlier, his Persian translation of the Chanda’in was not
available even to his son but three verses of the Persian translation that Shaikh
Ruknud-Din was able to quote, indicate the extent to which the Chanda’in could be
reconciled with Persian ideas on mysticism.

The verses translated by Shaikh Abdul-Quddus refer to Bajir’s sighting of Chanda for
the first time. The Persian translation allegorically describes Chanda as a piece of
unreachable fruit.

“A fruit is seen in the heavens on a lofty tree

Our hands cannot hope to reach it.
Anyone who is able to extend his hands high,
How can he touch the branches of that heavenly tree.
There are lots of people to guard the fruit throughout the day and nigh
He who tries even to look at it is likely to be killed.”157
The analogy is subtle: Mystics get a glimpse of the Supreme but God Himself is
beyond their reach.

Like the story of Chanda’in, that of Mrigawati is also based on local folklore. It
revolves round an Elysian beauty Mrigawati. Below is a general outline of the story.

Ganpati, the raja of Chandragiri, was finally blessed with a son because of his great
generosity. The child was named Raj Kunwar. Learned at the age of ten, he was
devoted to hunting. Once, chasing a doe, he became separated from his companions.
Reaching a lake the doe disappeared into the forest. Raj Kunwar, who had fallen in
love with the doe, waited for many months but she never re-appeared. The love-lorn
prince was miserable, so his father constructed a temple near the lake in which the
prince could live. One day seven fairies came to bathe in the lake; one of them was
called Mrigawati. An old woman told the Prince how to lure Mrigawati away from
her companions and while she bathed, he stole her clothes. The prince refused to
return them saying that he had waited two years for her, to which she leplied that she
had disguised herself as a doe to catch his eye. The two were married in the temple.

The Prince went to visit his father and to test his love Mrigawati donned the clothes
which had been stolen and disappeared. Hertbroken the Prince became a yogi and
after a hazardous journey found his wife at Kandrapur, her home town. Finally the
Prince returned to Chandragiri to comfort his lonely father and died after failing from
an elephant after a hunting expedition. Mrigawati and Princess Rukmani, who had
married the prince during Mrigawati’s absence, became satis by throwing themselves
on their husband’s funeral pyre.

The introduction gives a direct and more detailed description of sufi ideas. On the
analogy that the painting should arouse interest in the painter, it suggests and
promises that a genuine searcher will inevitably reach God. Mrigawati is the
reflection of Eternal Beauty and the symbol of divine. A true understanding of Beauty
is enjoyed by one who is prepared to become self annihilated and to see the beloved
through love.. lve is the embodiment of affiction and only the stupid anticipate an
eternity of happiness in love.

Like other sufis the author, Shaikh Qutb Ali Qutban, describes the Essence as Light
and using Hindu terminology he calls Him Niranjan, Kratar, Vidhata, pramesh, Ek-
Onkar, Alakh. Defining Muhammad as the cause of creation, the author draws on the
concept of Shiva and Shakti as two bodies.

The Shaikh was the disciple of Makhdum Shaikh Budhan, in turn the disciple of
Shaikh Muhammad Isa Taj of Jaunpur. Although Shaikh Isa Taj was a distinguished
Chishti, Shaikh Budhan seems to have been initiated into both the Chishtiyya and
Suhrawardiyya orders. Qutban preferred to call himself a Suhrawardi. According to
Shaikh Abdul-Quddus both Shaikh Buddhan and Shaikh Isa Taj were revered
personalities, expert in the interpretation of dreams. Qutban’s patron was Sultan
Husain Shah Sharqi of Jaunpur whom he considered to be a great and generous king,
and a wise and learned man. Qutban completed his masnawi in Muharram 909/June-
July 1503, after working on it for just over two months. At the time Sultan Husain
lived as a dethroned refugee in Kahalgaon in Bengal, and continued to issue coins like
a ruler. The loyal Qutban had not lost hope of his master regaining the throne and
wrote of him as if he were still a reigning monarch. Some scholars suggest that
Qutban also retired to Bengal with his master, although the paucity of evidence would
make such assertion difficult to sustain.158

Unlike the Chanda’in or Mrigawati, the story of the Pdumavati by Malik Muhammad
Ja’isi is based on the bardic songs of Rajasthan. The work begins with an invocation
in traditional sufi style to God, Muhammad and his companions, then it mentions Sher
Shah (1539-45) as the ruling king, introduces the author’s pirs and then states that the
poet commenced the work in 947/1540-41. The story, summed up by Ja’isi himself, is
as follows.

Queen Padmini or Padumavati came from Simhala-dvipa (Ceylon or Sri Lanka). She
was taken from there by Ratna-Sena to his Chitor Fort. At the time Alaud-Din
(Khalji) was the Sultan of Delhi. Raghava-Chaitan (an exiled Brahman from Chitor)
told the Sultan of Padmini’s enchanting beauty. The Sultan proceeded to lay siege to
Chitor and this led to a war between the Hindus and the Turks.

The story is divided into two parts. The first deals with Simhala-dvipa, the birth of
Padumavati and her love for her parrot, Hiramani, and the birth of Ratna-Sena at
Chitor. A Brahman accompanied by a merchant from Chitor goes to Simhala-dvipa
where he buys the parrot who had been taken from padumavati and had fallen into the
hands of fowlers. The Brahman returns to Chitor where Ratna-Sena who had
succeeded his father buys the parrot. One day in Ratna-Sena’s absense, the parrot
arouses the jealousy of his chief queen Nagamati by praising Padumavati’s beauty. So
incensed is the queen that she orders her maid-servant to kill the parrot, but the latter
decides to spare the bird’s life by concealing it. To her husband the Queen reports that
the parrot has been killed by a cat, but the fury of the king prompts her maid-servant
to restore the parrot. Again the parrot relates the loveliness of his former mistress and
the king, not being able to live without Padumavati, relinquishes his throne to become
a yogi. Taking the parrot with him, after a long and hazardous journey he reaches
Simhala-dvipa. The parrot visits Padumavati and trough the power of the king’s
austerities she falls in love with him. Although nine Naths and eighty-four Siddhas
also assist Ratna-Sena in his pursuit, in reality it is the parrot’s efforts which enable
him to marry padumavati.

The second part of the work deals with Ratna-Sena’s return to Chitor with
padumavati. There he banishes Raghava-Chaitan who immediately goes to Sultan
Alaud-Din Khalji and arouses his interest in the beauteous Padumavati. He invades
Chitor, seizes Ratna-Sena and has him imprisoned in Delhi. Padumavati appeals to
Gora and Badal, two Kshatriyas to help release Ratna-Sena. Accompanied by an army
the two invade Delhi and liberate Ratna-Sena. Gora is killed but Badal returns to
Chitor with Ratna-Sena. Shortly afterwards Ratna-Sena is killed in a battle against a
Rajput chief. As in the Chanda’in, the two widows, Padumavati and Nagmati,
immolate themselves on their husband’s pyre.

It was not only that Ratna-Sena became a yogi in the Padumavati which prompted
Ja’isi to describe Nath beliefs and practices but his own deep interest in Naths. The
author describes a number of other situations in a way which can only be
meaningfully interpreted in the light of the traditions and customs of Naths and sufis.
One such example is the comparison of Simhala-dvipa with Sumeru, the mythical
peak round which all the heavenly bodies revolve. Ja’isi goes on to say:

“The sun and moon (cannot go over Shimhala-dvipa Fort but) make a circuit
round it, or else the steeds and their chariots would be broken into dust. The
nine gate-ways are fortified with adamant, and a thousand thousand foot
soldiers sit at each. Five captains of the guard go round their watch, and the
gate-ways tremble at the trampling of their feet. At each gate-ways of the fort
is a molten image of a lion, filling the hearts of kings with fear. With great
ingenuity were these lions cast, in attitude as if roaring and about to leap upon
thy head. With lolling tongue they lash their tails. Elephants are filled with
terror at them, lest they should fall upon them with a roar. A staircase
fashioned of gold and lapis lazuli leadeth up into the castle, which shineth
above, up to the very sky.”159

According to Nath esoteric practices, the human body is a fort in its own right. There
the sun (Shakti) and the moon (Shiva) exist separately, but finally their union leads to
a state of bliss. The nine cakras are impregnable because of thousands of evil which
surround them. Five calamities, acting as guards, prevent the yogis from obtaining
control over the cakras. Yogic exercises are exceedingly difficult and call for great
caution. Each cakra is controlled by a goddess who is guarded by a lion, who refuses
to allow the yogis to penetrate the cakras. Elephants representing ignorance are
frightened by the lions. The golden staircase is Susumna-nadi (literally vessels, here
meaning nerve) whose substance is the three-fold gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas
which respectively produce virtue, passion and dullness, and whose form is the moon,
sun and fire.

Yogic obstacles and stages correspond with those along the sufi path. They are
numbered differently; the four stages of the sufi journey are nasut, Malakut, Jabarut
and Lahut. According to the sufis of Ibn al-Arabi’s school, nasut (human nature) is
like a vessel which contains the Lahut (Divine Nature).

In the Pdumavati Jai’si gives an interesting list of objects needed to complete the
outer appearance of a yogi. But through the parrot, Jai’si warns Ratna-Sena of the
difficulties of the life of a real yogi. The parrot says:

“But what is the use of telling the tale of Yoga; Ghee (butter clarified) is not
produced without churning curds. So long as a man does not lose himself, so
long will he not attain what he seeks. God has made the mountain of love
difficult of access: only he can ascend it who climbs with his head. On that
path the sharp point of a stake arises: a thief will be impaled thereon, or a
Mansur (Hallaj). You are a King: why should you clothe yourself in rags? You
have the ten ways at home (that is, in your body). Lust, anger, greed, pride and
delusion, these five thieves never leave your body. They are looking out for
the nine entrances, and will rob your house by night or by day.
Awake now, O senseless one, the night is becoming dawn. Nothing will come
to your hand when these thieves have robbed you.”160

Ja’isi says that a yogi becomes a Siddha only after meeting Gorakh, a counterpart of
the Mahdi. Both Gorakh and Siddhas exhibit the distinctive features of the Mahdi.
 “The Siddha is one on whose limbs flies do not settle: the Siddha does not
close his eyes for an instant. The Siddha is one who is not attended by a
shadow: The Siddha is one who feels neither hunger nor confusion of thought.
He whom the Lord has made a Siddha in this world, none can recognise him
whether he be revealed or disguised.”161

Malik Muhammad Ja’isi was also known as known as Muhaqqiq-i Hind (Researcher
of Indian Truth). Born in 900/1494-95 he began to write good poetry at thirty.
Padumavati, begun in 927H/520-21 was a preliminary literary exercise by its author,
who finally took it up seriously in the reign of Sher Shah completing it in 1540. Ja’isi
also wrote the Akhiri-Kalam in Babur’s reign and another work the Akhravat
apparently before the Padumavati. His other works in Hindi are the Kanhavat, the
Kahra-Nama, Pusti-Nama and Holi-Nama and other Sorathas162 which are still
unfounded. A Hindi masnawi entitled Chitra-Rekha which is not mentioned in the
Ma’arijul-Wilayat has been published. In his Ma’arijul-Wilayat, Qasuri reproduces a
number of Sorathas from the Akhravat and explains them on the basis of the Wahdat
al-Wujud. For example he quotes the following Soratha in Persian script and then
explains it this way:

Soratha
“Sa’in Kera Nav Hien Pur, Kaya Bhari,
Muhammad Raha na Thanv,
Dusar kahan sama’i-ab.”163

Explanation

The name Khundawand Ta’ala (God Most High) indicates one of His holy names.
God combines within Himself all aspects of negation and affirmation. His name is one
of the Beautiful Names (of Allah). It has rendered the heart accomplished and the
physical being is filled with the Name. The poet Muhammad says that in his physical
being there is no place where the name of Khundawand Ta’ala has not penetrated.
There is no place for anything else in his heart. Not only heart and body are filled with
His name. Anything other than God cannot be conceived anywhere in the world, in
the heart or in the body.

I became you, You became I; I became body,

You became spirit.
So that from now none is able to say I and You
are separate.164

Like some other members of the Chishti order, Malik Muhammad Ja’isi, also became
a Mahdawi165 under the influence of his Mahdawi pir, Shaikh Burhan of Kalpi.
Shaikh Burhan wrote Hindi poetry of a highly ecstatic nature. Although his works are
lost, he gave Ja’isi a taste for Hindi poetry which helped immortalize the works of his
disciple. According to the Ma’arijul-Wilayat, Ja’isi lived until the reign of Akbar. It
would seem he died sometime at the end of that period.

Shortly after the completion of Padumavati, Manjhan’s Madhumalti was written. We

shall be discussing Manjhan in the next volume. The traditions of the Hindi sufi poets
continued into the seventeenth century. Some eminent Hindi poets, such as Usman,
the author of the Chitravali, in 1022/1613-14 and Shaikh Nabi in 1023/1614-15 wrote
Gyandip.

Aesthetic sensitivity and taste combined with literary skill were a feature of
seventeenth century Bengali poets who were patronized at the Arakanese court. They
used these qualities to present such themes as those contained in the Chanda’in and
the Padumavati, Satimaina Lor-Chandrani166 was begun on the model of the
Chanda’in. Daulat Qazi, its author, was lucky enough to have a prominent patron,
Ashraf Khan, the laskkar wazir (war minister) of the Arakanese king, Thiri
Thudamma Raja (1622-38).

Daulat Qazi was unable to complete the Satimaina Lor-Chandrani and the task fell to
the celebrated Muslim Bengali poet, Alaol, a resident of the Arakanese court, after a
request by Srimat Sulaiman, a minister of the Arakanese king, Thanda Thudamma
(1652-84). Alaol’s masterpiece, however, was a Bengali version of the Padmavati
which the poet composed in 1651 at the insistence of Magan Thakur, the prime
minister of the Arakanese King, Thado Mintari Sad Umangdar (1645-52).

A distinctive contribution by the Bengali sufi poets was the creation of a corpus of
mystical poetry based on Persian mystical masnawis. Their models were Nizami
Ganjawi and Nurud-Din Abdur-Rahman Jami. The most popular theme was that
featured in Jami’s Yusuf-Zulaykha or the Romance of Yusuf (Joseph) and Zulaykha
(Poliphar’s Wife). The story based on the Yusuf chapter of the Quran had been
written earlier in poetic form by Firdawsi167 with great artistry. In Jami’s hands it
became a masterpice of mystic poetry. The Bengali poets were to add their own
delicate touches. Abdul-Hakim, the Bengali poet from Sandvip, wrote the Yusuf-
Zuleikha. Gharibullah, a poet of the eighteenth century also composed another Yusuf-
Zuleikha. Alaol, wrote the Haft-Paikar based on Nizami’s famous masnawi as well
as the Bengali Sikandar-Nama.

The theme of Muhammad’s Nur (Light) gave great scope to Bengali Muslim poets in
their expression of the mystic state. The Nur-Nama or the Nur-Kandil of Saiyid
Murtaza,168 the author of the Yoga-Qalandar, using Nath-sufi terminology presents
Muhammad’s light as the source of creation. The Nur-Nama169 of Razzaq Nandan
Abdul-Hakim is similar in approach but militantly seeks to assert it is misguided to
conceive that Bengali was one of the languages of Hindus.

In 1684 Abdun-Nabi composed the Dastan-i Amir Hamza. Its hero was often
confused with Hamza bin Abdul-Muttalib, the uncle of the Prophet. In reality he was
the Irani adventurer Hamza who rebelled against Caliph Harun ar-Rashid. In legend
his exploits are staged against such background as Ceylon, China, Central Asia and
Turkey. The work was very popular at Akbar’s court and became the theme for many
paintings.

We have referred already to the Nabi-Bangsa of Saiyid Sultan. Many other Bengali
poets also put into verse the legendary tales of the Prophets and apostles; one such
poet was a protege of the Arakanese war minister, Ashraf Khan.
Rasti Khan, a disciple of Saiyid Sultan, chose for his Bengali poetry themes from the
battle of Karbala. His Maqtul Husain170 is based on the Persian stories of the
martyrdom of Imam Husain. The Hanifar-Larai171 narrates the legendary wars of
Muhammad Hanifiyya, a son of Ali, the fourth Caliph, to avenge the cold-blooded
murder of his brother, Imam Husain.
Sayid Murtaza’s Kifayat-i Musallin172 is a theological work outlining rules for
prayers. It is founded on the Tuhfatun-Nasha’ih, a didactic poem written by the sufi,
Yusuf Gada,173 Alaol also composed a Bengali translation in 1664. the author of the
original work, Yusuf Gada, who completed it on 10 Rabi’ II 795/23 February 1393
was a disciple of Shaikh Nasirud-Din Chiragh-i Dihli. Yusuf Gada’s poem was
popular with both sufis and ulama and was therefore a wise choice for a Bengali
translation.

These spiritual trends and movements which we have discussed drew from each other
in a conscious and unconscious way; in general, however, they remained within a
framework of their respective religious traditions. For example Muslims never
subscribed to the Hindu belief in transmigration. Their main concern was with self-
realization through Yoga or love or both, and this goal was realized differently
according to the varying tenets of Islam and Hinduism.

An unending war against obstinate orthodoxy and meaningless ritualism was waged
by the Hindu bhaktas or sants of the fifteenth and sixteenth century in the Hindi and
Panjabi speaking regions of northern India. They were hostile to all idolatrous
practices and caste distinction and with equal vehemence ridiculed Muslim forms of
worship. Bhaktas came from all classes of Hindu society, but their devotionalism was
not concerned with any particular God or one of His incarnations. Their mystical
experience in local dialects was expressed in a lyrical form which showed little
adherence to conventional literary traditions of Sanskrit. The bhaktas were filled with
fervent and rapturous ideas of what they believed to be Reality or the Supreme.

The movement known as Nirguna Bhakti was founded on the movements which had
begun with the Alvars and developed through the thoughts of the medieval religious
reformer, Ramananda. In a verse, Kabir admitted that Bhakti had been born in the
Deccan and brought to northern India by Ramananda. Although Kabir was not the
founder of Nirguna Bhakti as such, he was the movement’s earliest known exponent
in medieval India which was to reach a climax with Guru Nanak.

In Hindu mystic tradition, the school was known as Nirguna (without attributes).
Nirgana bhaktas were concerned mainly with self-purification and self-realization.
The Nameless Supreme became the sole object of worship of the Nirguna bhaktas.
The Saguna bhaktas worshipped Vishnu and his different avatars (incarnations).

Sufis considered Kabir to be a muwahhid (follower of the Wahdat al-Wujud). Once

Shaikh Ruzqullah Mushtaqi (1491-c. 1581), asked his father, Shaikh Sa’dullah (d.
928/1522), a contemporary of Kabir, whether the celebrated Kabir, whose Bishunpads
were on everyone’s lips, was a Muslim or a Kafir. The reply was that he was a
muwahhid. The Shaikh then asked whether a muwahhid differed from both. Shaikh
Sa’dullah replied that the truth was difficult to understand and such knowledge could
only be acquired gradually.174
The A’in-i Akbari mentions Kabir in connection with the history of Orissa and
Awadh. In both states he is referred to as a muwahhid. At one place the author states
that many subtle truths relating to his sayings and exploits were current among the
people. Because of his catholicity of doctrine and charismatic personality he was a
friend to both Hindus and Muslims.175 At another place the author writes that Kabir
Muwahhid lived during the reign of Sikandar Lodi.176 Earlier Khwaja Ya’qub, a son
of Baba Farid, defined a muwahhid as follows:

“The muwahhid is he whose main concern is good action. Whatever he does

aims at seeking divine grace. Water does not drown him and fire doesn’t burn
him. Absorbed in Tawhid (Wahdat al-Wujud) he is in a state of self-
effacement. A sufi or a lover belonging to this category is concerned with
nothing. If he makes a quest for himself, he finds God, if he seeks God, he
finds himself. When the lover is completely absorbed in the Beloved, the
attributes of the lover and Beloved become identical.”177

Factual details of Kabir’s life and activities are few and far between His followers and
the authors of the biographical dictionaries. The bhatlas, the Bhaktamal, constructed
his life story mainly from legends and his own verses, which had generally been
intended to satisfy the thirst of the soul to attain the return to God from Whom it was
separated. They were also a teching device used to express beliefs. The Dabistan-i
Mazahib gives Kabir’s background according to the legends of the Vaishnavite
vairagis (mendicants) with whom he was later identified.178 The only reliable facts
about his life are that he lived in Banaras about the fifteenth century and was a
weaver. The earliest authentic collection of his hymns and slokas was compiled in the
Granth Sahib. A number of eighteenth century painters made portraits of him
according to suggestions from their patrons.

Some legends state Kabir was the illegitimate son of a Brahman widow. One version
of the legend is that he was conceived by a widow because of Ramananda’s blessings,
and that, like Christ, this occurred without a natural father. In order to protect herself
from public slander, the widow left her baby near a pond some way out of the city. A
Muslim weaver called Ali, popularity known as Niru, saw the baby and being
childless he and his wife Nima decided to adopt it as their own. This story is
reminiscent of the adoption of Moses by the Pharoah’s daughter after she had found
him abandoned in the bulrushes. The local qazi gave the child the name Kabir. This
story was an obvious invention and was an attempt to associate Kabir’s parentage in
some way with Hinduism. What is more probable is that Kabir was born into a
Muslim family, the membres of which were deeply imbued with Nath beliefs. That
his parents’ ancestors were yogis is not impossible. Of various dates for his birth 1425
is the most acceptable.

Considerable controversy surrounds the name of his guru. A pir called Pitambar has
been suggested as the person who filled this role. A Hindi scholar identified Pitambar
Pir with the Hindu god, Rama. According to the Khazinatul-Asfiya’, Kabir was the
disciple of Shaikh Taqi. Shaikh Taqi of Kara Manikpur, also a weaver by trade,
should not be identified as Kabir’s guru for he was a disciple of Shaikh Salim Chishti
(1479-1572). According to the Khazinatul-Asfiya, Shaikh Taqi died in 984/1576-77179
and Kabir died in 1003/1594-95. nothing can be said about the authenticity of Shaikh
Taqi’s date of death but that for Kabir is undoubtedly incorrect. Another Shaikh Taqi
lived in Jhusi, near Allahabad, although nothing else is known of him.

According to Vaishnavite devotional traditions, Kabir was a disciple of Ramananda,

however, legend fails to suggest he was formally initiated by the saint. Some authors
imply that Kabir had no earthly guru and like a Uwaisi sufi, was mystically initiated
by God. Kbari constantly travelled around the Banaras area and was directly in
contact with a number of eminent Hindu saints and sufis. It is not unlikely that he
exchanged ideas with eminent sufis of Kara, Manikpur and Rudauli whose views on
the Wahdat al-Wujud, expressed in Hindi, impressed Kabir.

The Hindi verses called sakhis, dohas and doctrinal poems, jointly known as
Ramai’ni, form the majority of Kabir’s poems. The most important of his verses were
generally memorized by his disciples after they had been uttered, and then written
down immediately or soon afterwards. This process gave rise to considerable
interpolation and naturally many unauthentic verses are included. The verses in the
Adi Granth, the Kabir Granthawali and the Bijas (Treasury) are the most reliable.

Kabir was married and although he was unhappy with his role as husband and father
he preached neither renunciation nor celibacy. Throughout his life when he was not
travelling he lived the traditional life of a married man. Before his death he is said to
have migrated from Banaras to Maghar. Some authors suggest that Maghar was close
to Banaras, others believe it was in the district of Basti, near Gorakhpur in U.P. the
decision was deliberately taken by Kabir in order to belie the current Hindu belief that
one who died in Maghar would return in a following life as an ass. Of the many dates
given for Kabir’s death 1505 is the most reliable.

After his death Kabir’s body was claimed by both Muslims and Hindus the former
wishing to bury it and the latter to cremate it and the latter to cremate it. When the
door of the room where the ded body was lying was opened it was missing. According
to tradition only a bunch of lowers was found under the sheet and these were divided
amongst the two groups. The story undoubtedly owes much to the tale mentioned in
Chapter One of the bier of Ma’ruf Karkhi which was fought over by Muslims and
non-Muslims alike, and may therefore be of sufi origin.

Abu’l-Fazl refers to two different tombs of Kabir; one at Puri in Orissa and the other
at Ratanpur in Awadh.

Kabir’s concept of Absoulte Reality was founded on the dvaitadvaita-vilakshana-

vada of the Naths. Its compatibility with the Wahdat al-Wujud was responsible for
Kabir’s fame as a muwahhid. He says:

“As the bubbles of the river are accounted water and

blend with the water of the ocean,
So the man who looketh on all with an equal eye,
Shall become pure and blend with the Infinite.”180

Another of Kabir’s hymns states:

“When a stream is lost in the Ganges,

 It becometh as the Ganges itself;
Kabir is similarly lost in God by invoking Him;
I have become as the True One and need not go elsewhere.
The perfume of the sandal is communicated to other trees;
They then become as the sandal itself.
When the philosopher’s stone is applied to copper,
It becometh gold;
So Kabir having met the saints,
Hath become as God.”181

On the basis of the analogy of ice and water, Kabir wrote:

“Water coagulates into ice

And ice melts into water
It (the water) only changes its form
Now, nothing more can be added.182

Kabir’s Nirguna Brahma has both a transcendental and immanent nature. He is God
of gods, Supreme Lord, primal and omnipotent. He is unfathomable, unknowable,
stainless and changeless. He is neither low nor high; in Him is neither honour nor
dishonour. He is eternal all-pervading, diffused and equally contained in all things. He
extinguishes worldly sparks from the hearts of his saints and dwells in their hearts
permanently. Their music is intoxicated with God’s elixir. The man in whose heart
nothing dwells but God is perfect.183 To sum up are Kabir’s own words:

“Though styled inaccessible and invisible, dwelleth within the heart.

None can find the limit or the secret of the Sustainer or the earth;
He shineth in the plantain blossom and in the sunshine,
And hath taken His dwelling in the pollen of the lotus.
God’s spell is within the twelve petals of the heart
Where the holy Lord of Lakshmi reposeth.
The great God recheth from the lower to the upper regions of the firmament:

He illumineth the silen realm,

Where there is neither sun nor moon.
He was in the beginning; He is without stain and happy.
Know that He pervadeth the body as well as the universe.
He batheth in Mansarowar (the lake of the heart);
His pass-word is ‘Soham’ (I am He);
He is not subject to merits or demerits,
Nor concerned with caste, with sunshine, or with shade;
He is only found in the guru’s asylum.
He who fixeth his attention on Him removeth it not,
Becometh released from trasmigration.
And absorbed in the Infinite.
He who knoweth God in his heart
And repeateth His name, becometh as He
Saith Kabir, the mortal shall be saved
Who fixeth in his heart God’s light and spell.”184
Kabir’s void referred to sunya, a concept in Mahayana Buddhism and to Hindu
esoteric philosophy. It represented his concept of the Ultimate Reality. In order to
convey the idea of Reality transcending the causal relationship, he indulged in the
ancient Indian practice of describing Reality through negatives: neti, neti (not this, not
this). It was only to explain Reality in more commonly known terminology that he
used such words as Brahma, Om, Niranjan, Kartar, Sa’in, Vishnu, Rama, Krishna,
Hari, Govind, Murari, Visambhar, Gopinath, Jagannath, Madhava, Allah, Rahim,
Karim dan Khuda. The name most frequently used is Rama who, as he himself
explains, is Nirguna Rama. He reminds:

“Kabir, call Him Ram who is omnipresent;

we must discriminate in mentioning the two Rams;
The one Ram (God) is contained in all things;
The other (Ram Chandar) is only contained in one thing, himself.”185

Again drawing on an everday analogy in a sloka, Kabir wrote that God was like sugar
scattered in sand, elephants could not find it, but the lowly ants could.186 Another
example used was that he could feel himself absorbed in God just as the sound of a
bronze vessel was absorbed back into the pieces after it was broken.187

Fearlessly and cuttingly Kabir criticized ritualism and priest-craft, refusing to spare
even monasticism in his scathing attacks. He also denounced hypocrisy, falsehood
and deceitfulness in both religious and social ethics. Devotion, penance, austerity,
fasting and ablutions were meaningless without knowing the way to love and serve
God.188

Frequently Kabir came into contact with yogis, but he always remained unimpressed
by their matted locks and unkempt appearance. In their emphasis on ascetic pursuits
and obsession with physical exercises, he believed they had failed to inherit Gorak’s
real absorption with the Supreme. To Kabir, one who was united with God was the
real yogi.189 Using the technical terms of yogis in his verses, Kabir often argued with
their beliefs. One such hymn is as follows:

“Meditation and rememberance of God are my two ear-rings,

independence of the world my patched coat;
Dwelling in a silent cave my devotional posture,
The abandonment of worldly desires my sect.
My king, I am a (Jogi) without temporal love;
I repine not at death and separation.
In the region of the universe I find my horn;
The whole world, which I hold as ashes, is my wallet;
Riddance of the three qualities and release from
The world are my contemplative attitude.
I have made my heart and breath the two gourds of my lyre,
And unbroken atention on God its frame.
The strings are strong and break not;
The lyre playeth spontaneously;
On hearing it the perfect are enraptured,
And I no longer feel the swaying of worldly love.
Saith Kabir, the soul which hath played in this way
 Shall not be born again.”190

Kabir strongly denounced idol worship. Often he said that if God was found
worshipping stone, he would worship a mountain. He goes on to say:

“Better than that stone is a hand-mill which

grindeth corn for the world to eat.”191

Kabir noted that sculptor while carving idols stood on them yet were not instantly
struck dead.192 Idol worshippers offered food to their gods, which in reality was eaten
by Brahmans, said Kabir and he expressed shock to see that people killed creatures in
ordr to feed these clay gods.

To Kabir, the prayers, pilgrimages and fasting of the Muslims were equally
abominable. He was critical of qazis, mullas and Shaikhs and reminded them:

“Make thy mind thy Kaaba, thy body its enclosing temple,
Conscience its prime teacher;
Then, O priest, call men to pray to that mosque
Which hath ten gates.
Sacrifice wrath, doubt, and malice;
Make patience thine utterance of the five prayers.
The Hindus and the Musalmans have the same Lord;
What can the Mulla, what can the Shaikh do for man?
Saith Kabir, I have become mad;
Stealing my mind away from the world I have become blended with God.”193

In one of his hymns Kabir tells Brahmans and mullas alike that they should not
condemn each other’s religious texts as false. What was untrue was the attitude which
prevented the understanding of the Reality.194 According to Kabir, jnana (knowledge)
and bhakti complemented each other, but jnana was a spiritual experience not to be
acquired through books. The Hindu Vedas and the Gayatris to Kabir helped their
readers forget God and he argued that he himself had beensaved through the
repetition of God’s name, one who relied totally on the Vedas would be lost.195 In the
same strain he declared that Smriti, “the daughter of the Vedas,” was a fetter for men,
and could even be called a serpent. Those who kept themselves aloof from the Vedas
and the sacred books of Islam were pure. His own goal was described as follows:

“The Musalmans accept the Tariqat;

the Hindus, the Vedas and Purans;
but for me the books of both religions are useless.
A man ought to study divine knowledge
to some extent to instruct his heart.”196

Kabir’s criticism of contemporary religious beliefs and his faith in his own salvation
do not imply an arrogance on his part. He considered himself to be the worst person
alive and that everyone else was worthy. But he advised others to also hold this
view,197 and even went to the extent of asking people to slander him,198 so his egoism
could be reduced to nothing and his salvation secured. There is on story that he
became so disturbed by visitors that, in true malamati style, he pretended to be drunk
and walked round the city with his arm around the neck of a courtesan.199 Among the
criticism levelled against him were that his severity made him like a police inspector
and that his words were reminiscent of a dog’s bark.200

Although Kabir’s earthly guru is unknown, in his verses he speaks frequently of the
necessity of a guru to assist in the search for the Absoulute, rather than to merely
relay on Yoga. Without such a teacher, a man would slip and perish. Through the
guru’s instructions, a man was taught to remember God’s name in his heart and was
released from eternal transmigration. On meeting his guru, Kabir relates a feeling of
great comfort and peae of mind. He believed that if Hari (God) was estranged one
could seek refuge in a guru, but if the guru was alienated there was no shelter. Only
true saints should be sought as companions and those who even spoke to them
received blessings transferred by them.201 One of Kabir’s slokas says:

”Kabir, associated with holy men even though

thou eat only barley bran:
What will be, will be; associate not with the apostate
Even though he give thee better fare.202

When Kabir’s wife criticized him for neglecting his profession and associating with
shaven headed saints Kabir told her they helped the spiritually needy, hence he
accepted their protection.203 Breeding was unimportant in saintliness. The dust from a
saint’s foot had more value than a rosary or any other such objects. To Kabir saints
didn’t really die they just returned home, while infidels and the unholy remained
subject to the endless cycle of transmigration.204

With regard to death, Kabir compared the body with an earthen pot filled with water
which inevitably would burst. Death came suddenly the things of this world were
fleeting and it was then too late to repent for ignoring God’s name.205 As one had to
account for one’s deeds in this life, it was necessary to work for an end to
transmigration. A saint’s life says Kabir, was a triumph over continual re-birth for it
resulted in supreme bliss.

“If while living thou be dead, while dead return

to life by means of divine knowledge,
and thus become absorbed in God;
If thou abide pure amid impurity,
thou shalt not again fall into
The terrible ocean of the world.206

According to Kabir the remembrance of God in the form of the repetition of his name
succeeded in annihilating transmigration for through it sins could be obliterated.
Although Kabir described heaven through the use of negatives, to him it was a society
of saints; he himself, however, craved only absorption with God. He says:

“Everybody saith he is going thither (to heaven);

I know now where heaven is.
who know not the secrets of their own hearts
Glibly talk of heaven.
As long as man desireth heaven,
 He shall not dwell at God’s feet.
I know not where heaven’s gate is,
Nor its moat, nor its plastered fortress.
Saith Kabir, what more can I now say
Than that the society of saints is heaven?”207

Essentially a bhakta, Kabir was totally absorbed in his quest for the Supreme. But he
was also deeply concerned with the religious differences between the Hindus and
Muslims which, according to him were founded on false notions of religious
superiority, while each lost the essence of their own beliefs. A man was courageous
who ignored the rituals of his own caste and this could lead to saintliness and he
rebuked Brahmans who found defilement in almost everything, reminding them that
no impurity was attached to those who had God in their hearts.208 Being a member of
a lowly caste of weavers was a source of great pride to Kabir. He advised people to
seek a simple existence through God in the fields, in the weaver’s shop and in humble
households. 209 Poverty, patience and humility were the marks of a saint; men of high
rank were strangers to religion. They were like animals who stuffed themselves with
food, forgetting their human nature and so making their salvation difficult.210
Although not specifically stated, Kabir’s above criticism were directed aginst Muslim
state officials. Those who accumulated wealth and property without spending it, were
also targets for Kabir’s attack.

“God gave the miser wealth to keep,

but the blockhead calleth it his own.
When Death’s mace toucheth his head,
It shall be decided in a moment whose wealth it is.”211

Again, he reminds the wealthy:

“Kabir, this body shall depart; put it on some road

On which it may either hold converse with saints, or
sing God’s praises.”212

Kabir frequently referred to maya. In the Rig Veda, the term is used in the sense of
magical power and the Upanishad use it in the sense of false knowledge. In Shankar’s
advaita, the phenomenal world of nature and all beings which have no real existence
emanate from maya. According to a general interpretation, maya leads created beings
to an infatuation with the transitory pleasures of the world and the flesh. It is the
counterpart of the sufi nafs-i lawwama, and Kabir uses it in this sense. He calls it a
thief which breaks into the hearts of the worldly and deprives them of their virtue. In a
hymn Kabir describes maya as a hideous and repulsive (woman), whose nose he says
only a few discriminating people could chop off.213

Kabir lived far from the Lodi capital. During the last days of the Sharqis and in the
reign of Bahlul Lodi, the Banaras region where Kabir lived was plagued with civil
war and political struggle. The saint remained detached from this situation, his main
concern being only with social and ethical regeration. Kabir noted with distress how
people dealt in bronze, copper, cloves and betel nuts. Thakurs214 measured the fields
and the villagers were never free of debts entered in the Patwari’s215 books. To him
the most important accounts216 were those with God.217
According to tradition, early in the reign of Sikandar Lodi, after crushing his rival,
Barbak, the Sultan remained for a period in Banaras. There the Muslims, led by
Shaikh Taqi and the Brahman community, complained that those who accepted
Kabir’s ideas automatically ceased to be Hindus or Muslims. Kabir was imprisoned
but various super-natural feats saved his life. Although such a story would seem
mythical, according to historical sources during Sikandar Lodi’s reign, a Brahman
called Bodhan or Lodhan declared Islam and Hinduism as both true religions. The
Brahman may have come from either Lakhnauti in the Bijnor district or Lakhnur in
Sambhal. In both these regions the impact of Kabir’s ideas was not great. Lodhan
seems instead to have been influenced by the spiritual milleu of the fifteenth century.
Qazi Piyara and Shaikh Budh gave conflicting fatwas as appropriate retribution for
such heresy. At his camp at Sambhal the Sultan convened an assembly of the empire’s
leading ulama. The result was that Lodhan was imprisoned, instructed in Islam and
after he refused to convert, was executed.218 Persecution, however, did not silence the
bhaktas and sants and they continued to increase both in number and significance.

With a faith as strong as the Prophet’s and belief that he was the vehicle for divine
inspiration, Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, asserted that there was neither
Hindu nor Musalman. Although he did not denounce Hinduism or Islam, like Kabir,
he condemned everything he believed interfered with the essential message of these
religions. In Guru Nanak’s view, only realization of the divine mystery which brought
seekers near Ultimate Reality and Creative Truth merited attention; the literal
meaning of the Vedas or the Qur’an was no help. They should not necessarily be
rejected, but the perception of Reality and Being which he called Ek-Onkar or Par-
Brahm, should not be confined to narrow religious principles.

Unlike Kabir, the broad outline of Guru Nanak’s life is reasonably clear. The fifth
Guru, Arjan Dev (1563-81-1606) collected the inspiring hymns written by Guru
Nanak and his disciples in the Sikh “Bible,” the Adi-Granth which is also known as
the Granth-Saheb or the Guru-Granth. He also went to the extent of incorporating the
authentic poems of the foruteen bhaktas preceding Guru Nanak. This appendix to the
Guru-Granth is the most authentic anthology of the movement and a memorable
collection of medieval devotional literature. The Guru-Granth was completed at
Amritsar in 1604 and gradually came to be considered divine revelation. It is
disappointing for one, like W.H. McLeod who wishes to find historical details
amongst its pages, particularly of events in the Guru’s life. The Janam-Sakhis, as
W.H. McLeod states, are hagio-graphic accounts from the life of Guru Nanak and like
all such writings are intended to fulfil the spiritual cravings of the Guru’s followers.
They were modelled on the pattern of the Maulid-Namas219 of the Prophet
Muhammad, the Puranas and the legendary sufi hagiologies. Inevitably supernatural
and miraculous material predominates, in order to inspire devotion to the Guru. The
disinterring of the “historical Nanak” is an interesting intellectual exercise, attempted
by many scholars, the latest being W.H. McLedo. What is disconcerting is the general
dependance, notably by McLeod, on historically unreliable material and an
interpretation founded on nineteenth and twentieth century condition.

Guru Nanak was born in 1469 in the village of Talwandi later known as Nankana
Sahib, about forty miles south-west of Lahore, now part of Pakistan. Most of his life
occurred during the reign of the Lodis. The earliest account of this age is in the
Waqi’at-i Mushtaqi, a collection of anecdotes, interesting for ist social history rather
than the general recreation of the period. It is the work of Shaikh Rizqullah Mushtaqi
and was completed some time before the author’s death in 1581. The board of
scholars appointed by Akbar to write one thousand years of Islamic history from the
time of the death of the Prophet, admitted that they had no written record of the
Afghan days220 and compiled an accoun of that period from Mughal sources and oral
traditions. Nizamud-Din Ahmad’s Tabaqat-i Akbari, completed in 1592-93, draws
upon the Tarikh-i Alfi. Afghan historians who wrote during Jahangir’s reign based
their compilations on the Tabaqat-i Akbari with occasional recourse to Waqia’at-i
Mushtaqi and anecdotes from members of old Afghan families. This material cannot
be safely relied on to dispute the account written by Bhai Gurdas Bhalia, who assisted
in the compilation of the Adi-Granth. The account known as Bhai Gurdas’ Var I was
written in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. In the seventeenth century, the
protracted political struggles between the Sikhs and the Mughals warranted self-
confidence rather than humility and the Janam-Sakhis writers of that century naturally
represented the founder of their faith as supernatural being. The authors of the Janam-
Sakhis were not aware of the geography, history and customs of the regions in which
Guru Nanak had travelled and gaps were filled in on the basis of his hymns. This does
not necessarily imply that he basic outline of Guru Nanak’s itinerary is unreliable.

In the fifteenth century, the Panjab enjoyed a peaceful period due to Afghan rule. The
Mongoli invasions between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries had devastated
portions of the Panjab and the Afghans had successfully contributed to its re-
settlement and urbanization by founding many new towns and promoting trade and
commerce. The parents of Guru Nanak came from the Khattri community which was
closely connected with the Afghan rulers in the fields of commerce and
administration. Guru Nanak’s father, Kalu, was a village accountant and as was
customary with members of that profession he supplemented his income through
agriculture. When seven years old, Nanak was taken by his father to receive
instruction in Hinduism. Two years later, attempts were made to teach him Persian.
Following Islamic traditions that Prophet Muhammad was an ummi,221 the Janam-
Sakhis imply that Guru Nanak failed to benefit from such a formal education. It
would, however, seem that he learnt both Sanskrit and Persian. In those days Sa’di’s
Karima and the Gulistan, as well as general sufi verses were taught to both Hindu and
Muslim youths. But the Guru’s heart was in meditation, not learning. Moreover he
whosed no interest in a worldly profession. When about sixteen, Nanak was married
by his parents and under pressure from his family he later became: trader and farmer.
Nevertheless most of Nanak’s time was spent with yogis who lived in the surrounding
jugnles.

Guru Nanak’s brother-in-law, Jai Ram, a steward of Daulat Khan222 in Sultanpur

secured for him a position in the Khan’s commissariat. There the minstrel, Bhai
Mardana, a favourite friend of the Guru’s, joined him. While at Sultanpur the Guru
shocked both Muslims and Hindus by declaring that there was neither a (true) Hindu
not a (true) Muslim. He also incensed a qazi who forced him to perform
congregational prayers by telling him that his namaz was mechanical as he had been
busy thinking only of his business ventures.223 Soon afterwards, accompanied by Bhai
Mardana, Nanak left Sultanpur. En route to Panipat, after hearing Nanak’s hymns,
Shaikh Sajjan relinquished his life as a robber and became a sufi saint.224 In keeping
with recognized sufi practices, Guru Nanak advised Sajjan to openly confess his sins
and make reparation to his victims.225 At Panipat Nanak also had discussion with the
spirit of Shaikh Sharafud-Din Abu Ali Qalandar.226

When Guru Nanak reached Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi (1517-26) was on the throne. The
Guru was dressed like a malamati. His itinerary from Panipat to Assam is related in a
confused way by different Janam-Sakhis but he seems to have visited the main
centres of Hindu pilgrimage as well as the monasteries of leading Hindu and Muslim
saints. The Janam-Sakhis give the impression that the Guru conversed with deceased
bhaktas, but what really is implied is that he did so in a spiritual sense. About 1520
Guru Nanak returned from his visit to eastern India only to find the Panjab plunged
into a number of significant political crises. Zahirud-Din Muhammad Babur (b. 6
Muharram 888/14 February 1483) who had legitimately succeeded to his father’s
throne in Farghana in June 1494 was driven from his kingdom. In June 1504 he seized
Kabul but thereafter followed twelve years of frustrated struggle in Khurasan and
central Asia. Finally he turned his attention to India and started unsuccessful
negotiations with Ibrahim to annex west Panjab to Kabul. After two minor raids
around the region between the Indus and Jhelum, Babur invaded a third time over the
Panjab in 926/1520 reaching as far as Sialkot.227 Guru Nanak and Mardana witnessed
the massacre of the inhabitants of Saiyidpur (Amanabad) and were taken captive. Six
years later even a sufi of such prominence as Shaikh Abdul-Quddus was forced to
undergo similar hardships at the hands of the Mughal troops. Along with other
prisoners. The Babur-Vani chapter in the Adi-Granth fills in the gaps of the existing
political histories, which tend to describe military details rather than the sufferings of
the common people. The Lata’if-i Quddusi228 supports the evidence by Guru Nanak
contained in the Babur-Vani. Here is part of his description of his period:

“Millions of priests tried by their miraculous power

to restrain the Emperor when they heard of his approach.
He burned houses, mansions, and palaces;
he cut princes to pieces, and had them rolled in the dust.
No Mughal hath become blind;
no priest hath wrought a miracle.
There was a contest between the Mughals and Pathans:
The sword has wielded in the battle.
One side aimed and discharged their guns,
the other also handled their weapons:
They whose letter (death notice) hath been torn in
God’s court must die my brethren.
There were the wives of Hindus, of Turks,
of Bhattis, and of Rajputs.
The robes of some were torn from head to foot;
the dwellings of others were their places of creamtion.
How did they whose husband came
not home pass the night?
The Creator acteth and causeth others to act;
to whom shall man complain?
Misery and happiness are according to Thy pleasure;
to who shall we go to cry?
The Commander is pleased issuing His orders;
Nanak, man obtaineth what is allotted him.”229
There can be no better comment on Shaikh Abdul-Quddus’ letter protesting the
imposition of ushr on Muslim rent-free grants than the following hymns of Guru
Nanak:

“The Primal Being is now called Allah;

the turn of the Shaikhs hath come.
There is a tax on the shrines of the gods;
Such is the practice established.
There are ablution-pots, calls to prayer, five daily prayers,
prayer-carpets, and God appeareth dressed in blue.
In every house all say Mian (a Muslim title);
your language hath been changed.
Since Thou, who art Lord of the earth has appointed Babar
a Mir (Lord) what power have we?
In the four directions men make Thee obeisance, and
Thy prasies are uttered in every house.
The profit which is obtained from pilgrimages,
repeating the Smritis, and bewtowing alms all day long,
Is, O Nanak, obtained in one ghari by remembering the Name
Which conferreth greatness.” 230

Guru Nanak’s second journey took him down south, perhaps as far as Ceylon. The
fact that there was no ruler named Sivanabh in Ceylon at the time as mentioned in the
Janam-Sakhis231 does not make such a trip unlikely. Besides Hindu Tamils there were
Muslim immigrants from the Persian Gulf and regions around the Indian Ocean,
known by the Portuguese and Spaniards as Moors. In the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries a number of sufis are known to have visited Ceylon to pay homage to the
legendary foot-prints of Adam. According to Ibn Battuta, Adam was known in Ceylon
as Baba (Father) and Eve as Mama (Mother). The exploits of a sufi named Shaikh
Abu Abdullah bin Khafif had helped to make Islam respectable in Ceylon. Near the
footprints were several caves associated with legendary Muslim holy men and Ibn
Battuta reports of a famous Hindu temple in a town nearby where he found three
thousand Brahmans and yogis and five hundred Devadasis232 dancing before an idol.
The town’s entire revenue from taxes was spent on this temple. 233 Trumpp says that
the account of the trip was unhistorical and a later invention. His remark that the Sikh
authors were generally unaware of the fact that the popular religion in Ceylon was
Buddhism234 proves his ignorance of the Ceylonese religious and racial composition.

After his return from Ceylon, Guru Nanak seems to have visited Kashmir. Trumpp
concurs with this but is sceptical that he may have visited the legendary Mount
Sumeru or Maru where he was alleged to have held with Naths and Siddhas. In fact
the Janam-Sakhis were concerned with providing a geographical background for Guru
Nanak’s criticism of what he believed to be deviation of the Naths and Siddhas from
the true teachings of their masters, and the suggestion of a visit to Sumeru need not be
accepted literally.

Guru Nanak’s second and third visits seem to have been completed between 1520 and
1527. By 1528 he was back in the Panjab and Babur, having defeated Ibrahim Lodi
and Rana Sanga, had become the Padhah of Hindustan. Babur’s extravagance
neccessitated the imposition of new taxes including ‘ushr on the madad-i ma’ash.
Although this distressed the Muslim community, Guru Nanak saw it was the divine
will.

Later the Guru went to Mecca and Baghdad. Trumpp summarily dismisses this as
impossible, but McLeod, based on his knowledge of the adventures of Barton and
Keane235 and using his own intuition, argues that the account in the Janam-Sakhis is
untrustworthy. To him it is highly improbable that a non-Muslim could openly enter
Mecca in the manner indicated in the Janam-Sakhis, and he adds that the entry of
Guru Nanak in a complete disguise would have been “altoghether uncharacteristic of
him.”236 McLeod’s arguments are founded on an ignorance of contemporary sufi
account. For example, the Sirajul-Hidaya mentions a yogi accompanying a Muslim
saint to the Ka’ba.237 Moreover to Muslims travelling to Mecca, Guru Nanak would
not have been considered a Hindu, but a muwahhid dressed as a malamati so as to
edify them through his example. Qalandars, malamatis and majzubs frequently visited
Mecca dressed in a manner which might appear bizarre, fantastic and even ludicrous
to some, but from the time of Hallaj to Jamali, many sufis travelled to Mecca barely
clad and their bodies encrusted in dust.

The legend that the Ka’ba or the mihrab238 of the principal mosque, moved in the
direction of the Guru’s feet need not be interpreted literally. The story is based on the
sufi belief that great saints did not need to circumambulate the Ka’ba, for whichever
way they looked it would appear before them. In fact sufis believed that eminent
saints and holy men were recipients of the divine light, while the Ka’ba itself was a
building of mere stone and rubble.

The discourses in the Janam-Sakhis are obviously meant as a teaching device to show
Indians that Ram and Rahim were the same Being, and one too pedantic to be
interpereted literally. Some Sikh scholars have sought archeological confirmation of
Guru Nanak’s journey to Baghdad and their attempt shows more enthusiasm than
judgement. The better type of sufis and saints or bhaktas always shrank from
publicity; service to mankind was their aim, not personal glory. The Arabic
inscription at Baghdad which is alleged by some to refer to the Guru in fact does not
and is in sixteenth century Turkish.239 Guru Nanak travelled to Baghdad to obtain
first-hand knowledge of the centre of the Qadiri order of Pir-i Dastgir Shaikh Abdul-
Qadir Jilani. He could not become interested in Bahlul Dana. Guru Nanak,
preoccupied with discovering and disseminating Truth, would not have cared about a
lasting material memorial to himself and certainly nothing of this kind was left by him
in his own country.

A similar effort is made by other scholars to authenticate Guru Nanak’s visit to

Ceylon on the basis of epigraphical evidence but such pursuits have no real relevance
to the great Guru’s life.

After his return from the Middle East, Guru Nanak seems to have remained in the
Panjab, occasionally visiting Ajodhan, Multan and a place called Gorakhtari.
According to Trumpp the existence of such a town has not been substantiated by
modern geographers.240 McLeod rightly locates the site in Peshawar.241 Babur
mentions his visit to a place which according to Persian script is either “Gorkhattari”
or perhap “Gorakhtari.” 242 According to Dani the spot was associated with “the tower
of Buddha’s bowl.”243 Like other Buddhist sites accupied by hogis, it became a centre
for their activities. In the reign of Akbar and Jahangir it was an important yogi centre
of pilgrimage.

At Ajodhan and Multan, Guru Nanak was reported to have had discussions with Baba
Farid and Shaikh Baha’ud-Din Zakariyya. Some scholars have suggested that there
may have been some descendants of the two great saints with the same names with
whom the Guru may have exchanged ideas. The suggestion is far-fetched although
Guru Nanak did undoubtedly enjoy the company of sufis in these towns. The suhbat
(company of the pious) was as important a spiritual institution to sufis as the satsang
(society of holy men) was to the bhaktas. However, the Janam-Sakhis expressed the
sufi and Nath belief that great saints did not die but remained accessible to important
mystics in later ages through spiritual conversation. Affifi says:

“’His (Ibn al-Arabi’s) own imagination was an active in his dreams as in his
waking life. He tells us the dates when and the places where he had the
visions, in which he saw prophets and saints and discoursed with them; and
others in which a whole book like the Fusus was handed to him by the Prophet
Muhammad who bade him ‘take it and go forth, with it to the people that they
may make use thereof.’”244

Thus when the Janam –Sakhis describe Guru Nanak’s conversation with the saints of
the past, this should invariably be interpreted as a mystic experience or, in the sufi
sense, a chat with the spirits, although presented as if taken place by two living
people.

Although Guru Nanak was a monotheist, it was not the Unity of God which the
orthodox Muslims believed to be his main interest but the Unity of Being or the
Wahdat al-Wujud represented as Dvaitadvaita-villakshana-vada by the Nath sages.
Beased on Om, the Absolute of Nanak’s teachings is Ek-Onkar (The One Indivisible
Absolute Being) or the Absolute Reality. The Absolute is beyond the time process, is
unincarnated and named Par-Brahm (Transcendent). The Japji, the opening chapter
of the Adi Granth which all Sikhs are required to repeat in the morning, reminds
them:

“There is but one God whose name is true, the Creator, devoid of fear and
enmity, immortal, unborn, self-existent; by the favour of the Guru.”

:Like the God of Ibn al-Arabi, Guru Nanak’s God creates, but He also manifest
Himself in an infinite number of forms. The divine essence is the knower, the known
and the knowing:

“And Filling all, He Upholdeth all,

and is yet Detached:
O, He is the One who is both
Manifest and Unmanifest all over.”245

Guru Nanak’s Lord is self-existent, infinite, unfathomable, creator, sustainer,

destroyer, formless, imperceptible, without family, immaculate, transcendent,
immanent and ineffable. In His primal aspect He is the eternally unchanging formless
one (Nirankar), inscrutable (agam), boundless (apar) and beyond time (akal). He is
the ‘one husband.’ His Qudrat246 in the technical sense of sufism is beyond
comprehension. He is immanent and should not be sought outside the soul. His light
pervades and illuminates all hearts. He is revealed only through the True Word and
accodingly Guru Nanak’s theology gives the highest importance to the True Name.
Muslims assigned ninety-nine Most Beautiful names to God. However Rumi warns:

“’God has called Himself Basir (Seeing), in order that His seeing thee may at
every moment be a deterrent (against sin). God has called Himself Sami’
(Hearing), in order that thou mayst close thy lips (and refrain) from foul
speech. God has called Himself Alim (Knowing), in order that thou mayst fear
to meditate a wicked deed. These are not proper names applicable to God:
(proper names are merely designations), for even a negro may have the name
Kafur (Camphor).”’247

Of the ninety-nine names, it is believed that one is the Ism-i A’zam (The Great Name).
Sufi literature has taken great pains to search for that One name. Ibrahim bin Adham,
who was once asked about Ism-i A’zam, said:

“’Keep your belly free from unlawful food; exclude the world from your heart;
then whatever name you use to invoke Him will be Ism-i A’zam.”’248

Like sufis, Guru Nanak considered everything other than God untrue. According to
the nature of the occasion, his audience of his message, he selected traditional terms
used by Hindus and Muslims to invoke God, such as Allah, Khuda, Sahib, Hari and
Rama and so on, but Guru ka sabad or Guru’s Word,’ inexplicable and undefinable,
is his Ism-i A’zam. He warns:

“’ Pilgrimages, Austerities, Mercy, Charity,

Bring but honour small and paltry.
One must Hear, Believe, Love the Name,
And Bathe at the sacred fount within one’s frame.
For worship there cannot be till virtues shine.
So pray: “Thine art all the Virtues, Thine.
O Primal Word, Maya, Brahma, Hail to Thee.
Thou that art Truth, Ever-Joy, Beauty.’
What the time, season, day, month of Creation?
Knows None.
Not the Pundits, even if it be in the text of a Puran,
Nor the Qazi does who interprets the Qur’an.
Nor Yogi knows the date, season, month, but the One
Who created the Universe, Knoweth alone.
How to describe Him, Praise Him, speak of him, Know Him best?
Yea, say they, all they know, one wiser than the rest.
Great is the Master, Great His Name.
All that is, procedds from Him.
He, who thinks of himself much, is vain,
And will look small in God’s Domain.”’249

Describing the creative activity of God, Guru Nanak says:

 ‘And He, the Lord Himself was the Merchant and Himself
the Pedlar: for, such was His will.
Neither Smritis nor the Shastras;
Nor the reading of the Puranas, neither the sunsrise
nor the sundown.
He, the Lord, alone uttered Himself remaining Unperceived
Knowing only Himself His Unknowable.
When such was His Will, He brought the Universe into being,
And without a seeming contraption, Upheld He its Vast
Expanse.
And created He also the Brahma, Vishnu and the Shiva, and
instilled in men the ever-mounting desire for being attached.
But rare’s the one whom the Guru caused to hear His Word.
For, the Lord Grave the Command and Saw it Happen and be all over.
And (thus) He Created all the universe and their parts
And the underworlds, and from the Absolute Self He Became
Manifest
O, no one knoweth the Extent of my God:
And ‘tis only through the perfect Guru that He’s
Revealed unto us.
Sayeth Nanak: “They who’re Imbued with His Truth are
Inebriated with His Wonder: and thus wonderstruck,
They sing over His Praise.”’250

The sufi interpretation of the divine will (Riza) and Guru Nanak’s concept of Hukam
answer a very wide range of questions relating to human consciousness and to the
Creative Activity of the Supreme. Some hymns use Hukam and Riza as
interchangeable terms.251 For the last thirteen hundred years, Muslim scholars have
been divided over what constitutes the nature and scope of Riza, and many schools of
thought have emerged supporting contradictory theories. Sufis interpret Riza as an
aspect of God’s infinite mercy and grace, this would constitute anormal response to
the yearnings of a loving heart.252 In their interpretation of Riza the sufi poets
associate it with the Jamal (Divine Beauty) of the Supreme. The teachings of Guru
Nanak on Hukam and Riza are comprehensive and broadly based. They incorporate
all important aspects of riza found in sufi works. McLeod’s observation that: “In
Islam the divine will, if not actually capricious, is at least ‘upledged,’ whereas the
Hukam of Guru Nanak’s usage is definitely pledged and dependable,’253 fails to show
an understanding of either the theological Riza or the mystical Riza which is
equivalent to Hukam.

The Guru urged his followers to worship the True One with adoring love and yearn
for Him as a bride for her bridegroom. There is an element of fear in his bhakti which
is absent from the love for God of such great sufis as Rabi’a.

Guru Nanak’s perception of man is based on the sufi qalb, as opposed to a physical
heart, and is therefore identical to that of the Naths and of Kabir. Repeatedly he urged
men to sing God’s praise. The haumai (I), in the sense used by Abu Yazid Bastami, is
the main obstacle to man becoming a mirror in which God is reflected. Pride,
anger,lust (lobh) and attachment are also great enemies but not to the same extent as
haumai.254 Maya in Kabir’s terms prevents the return of the soul to its “home” and
keeps it on the treadmill of transmigration. A guru, however, helps to overcome both
haumai and maya and to dispell the darkness. In Guru Nanak’s technical terminology
a guru is not a person but either God Himself, or His Voice and His Name
personified.

Nanak’s teachings are distinguished by a stern ethical tone and a practical approach to
the problems of life. He rejects asceticism and advocates living a normal life
accompanied by piety and righteousness. He says:

“He alone, O Nanak, Knoweth the Way,

Who earneth with the sweat of his brow,
And then shareth it with the others.”255

The teachings of the Chishtis on this subject were identical. The great Guru
emphasized honest work and deprecated mullas, pirs and yogis who lived on charity.
Of those who laboured he said:

“They who eat the fruit of their labour and bestow something,
O Nanak, recognize the right way.”256

Guru Nanak envisaged a society in which cultivators prepared the soil for sowing
properly and merchants were honest. Income earned from dishonest means were the
forbidden products of pork and beef to Muslims and Hindus respectively.257 The
wearing of impressive white garments did not help to cleanse the heart. Learning the
Vedas, the Puranas and the Qur’an without following the truth contained in these
works was useless. Likewise Hindus and Muslims would gain no spiritual benefit
from their purification rituals for ritual impurity was greed, falsehood and degrading
sensual passions. The essence of goodness was humility and service to others.

Guru Nanak accepted the caste structure in a spirit of resignation to the divine will but
condemned the social prejudices surrounding the concepts of high and low castes
believing that only those who considered themselves nich (low) before God attained
salvation. Guru Nanak’s social and economic ideas were devised completely around
the goal of salvation and were intended to be universal and apply to every age.

Unlike Kabir, Nanak’s political teachings were broadly based. Like his social and
economic ideas, Nanak’s political views were well-founded on a drive for spiritual
regeneration towards a new life of grace (nadar), nevertheless he drew a large number
of religion metaphors from political life. To Guru Nanak, the true king or the kings
(padshah) was God, in whose presence Sultans, Khans and other officers became
dust. God Himself elevated some people to rule and others to become wandering
beggars, therefore kingship in Guru Nanak’s world-view was not evil. Like all sufis,
he reminded rulers to be just and not only concerned with the acquisition of power.
Drawing upon the mixed Lodi and Mughal political and administrative terminology
he ascribed the existence of blood-sucking rajas and dog-like muqaddams258 to the
Kaliyuga;259 similarly sufis blamed religious and ethical degeneration to their age’s
remoteness from the golden era of the Prophet and the Khulafa-i Rashidun, and
awaited a Mahdi or Messiah.
Guru Nanak died at Kartarpur in 1539. before his death he appointed Lehna his
successor. Although Lehna came from a rich family, after becoming the Guru’s
disciple, in accordance with sufi traditions, he was made to perform such humiliating
tasks as carrying loads of wet grass.

As the First Guru he was known as Guru Angad (1539-52). Although the word
“Guru” in Nanak’s teachings stood for the voice of God and not necessarily for an
individual, posterity recognized him as the porsinification of the light of God. It came
to be believed that the mingling of “the light” of the Guru with that of Guru Angad
was in accordance with God’s Riza. The idea of the transmission of light helped to
form the disciples of Guru Nanak and his successors into a panth or order.

After the death of the Fifth Guru, Arjan, at the hands of the Mughal Jahangir, the
Sikhs dropped their pacifist policy and adopted their famous and the Mughals which
soon took the form of a religious war. Gradually the Sikhs came to see themselves as
a reformed Hindu sect, tracing the source of their beliefs chiefly from the Vedas, the
Upanishads and later Sanskrit classics. The sants are often referred to in passing,
however, the superiority of Sikhism as a religion was asserted over other faiths.
McLeod however noting some similarities between sufi ideas and those of Guru
Nanak adds:

“The appearance is, however, misleading. Affinities certainly exist, but we

cannot assume that they are necessarily the result of Sufi influence. Other
factors suggest that Sufism was at most a marginal influence, encouraging
certain developments but in no case providing the actual source of a significat
element.”

The following remarks, however, make McLeod’s understanding of sufism clear. He

says:

“In the first place, there is the fact that the Panjabi sufism of Guru Nanak’s
period had evidently departed radically from the classical pattern of Arab and
Persian Sufism. Guru Nanak himself indicates this condition in references
which place Sufis under the same condemnation as the conventional qazis and
mullahs. Classical Sufism evidently had little opportunity to influence him, for
there is no evidence to suggest that he came in contact with it during his
formative years, nor even in subsequent years.
The evidence which can be derived from his works points not to a regular
direct contact with members of Sufi orders, but rather to the kind of informal
contact with ordinary Muslims, which would have been inevitable in his
circumstances. Amongst those Muslims there would certainly be some strict
Sunnis and we can assume that there would also be a number who might fitly
be described as Sufis. The majority would, however, represent in varying
degrees the blend of modified orthodoxy and debased Sufism which was
dominant in the Muslim community of the Panjab during this period.”260

These remarks introduce a number of ideas which are founded on a total ignorance of
both sunni orthodoxy and sufism in India. Readers of the previous pages need not be
reminded that there was no classical pattern of Arab and Persian sufism. If by
classical sufism, McLeod was referring to the thoughts of sufis such as “Attar, Rumi
and Sa’di who were also poets in the classical Persian mould all literate Panjabis, both
Hindus and Muslims, at the time of Guru Nanak were conversant with them. Certainly
the Guru belonged to a literate family. A large number of sufi centres had emerged all
over the Islamic world which had established their own particular features and the
developments in India were significant in their own right. McLeod’s remark that
amongst the Muslims who came into contract with Guru Nanak: “There would
certainly be some strict sunnis” and some who “might fitly be described as Sufis”
tends to indicate that in his mind Sunni orthodoxy and sufism were identical. What
McLeod is sure of is the existence of a debased sufism in the Muslim community of
the Panjab. He seems to be unaware of Shaikh Abdul-Quddus Gangohi who lived in
Shahabad, his disciple, Shaikh Jalal of Thaneswar, and the Qadiris who had made the
Panjab the main centre of their activities. Although the Janam-Sakhis of the
seventeenth century do not mention Guru Nanak’s visit to these personalities, it is
unbelievable that he made “informal contacts with ordinary Muslims” alone and not
with the great sufi saints of his own days. It is therefore not surprising that McLeod,
whose main concern was to find flaws with the accounts in the Janam-Sakhis of Guru
Nanak’s visit to Ajodhan, Multan and Panipat, failed to undoubtedly criticized sufis at
several places as suggested by McLeod but he intended to denounce only impostors
and charlatans who made a living out of mysticism. Great sufis also attacked such
people, along with mullas and qazis. Nanak did likewise.

Our analysis of Guru Nanak’s teachings in the light of sufi beliefs should not be
construed as an assertion that the great Guru borrowed his ideas from sufis. It would
indicate that Guru Nanak, through his own meditation, arrived at the same
conclusions as had laready been reached by sufis such as Rumi, Sa’di, Iraqi, Jami and
Hafiz. Guru Nanak presents his thoughts with remarkable consistency. Although some
hymns in the Adi-Granth read like portions of the Masnawi of Maulana Rumi, which
Jami called the Qur’an in Persian,” there is nothing to indicate that Guru Nanak was
imitating the great poet. The spiritual life of India discussed in this chapter bears out
the Rig Vedic assertion:

“The One Reality, the learned speak of in many ways.”

CONCLUSION

Sufism, as we have seen, is a very complex phenomenon. In India it took root in both
the rural and urban areas. In some cases, the deep impact among the masses
transformed rural regions, such as Uch, Nagaur and Sylhet, into flourishing urban
centeres. In the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq, while in Damascus Shihabud-Din
Ahmad al-Umari was told that in Delhi there were two thousand large khanqahs.261
The number may have been exaggerated, but it is clear that by that time khanqahs
exercised a deep social, political, economic and cultural influence in India.

Sufi disciples gathered round their Murshids, Shaikhs or pirs to learn the rites, rituals
and rules of each order, which were designed to stabilize their emotional and
intellectual faculties and to enable them to realize Reality or the direct intuitive
recognizion of God. Sufi disciples tended to deify their pirs, even though the latter
were totally disinterested in turning themselves into Godheads. The reliance of sufis
on God, particularly in the material sense, attracted both people from economically
deprived classes and members of the oppressed elite into orders. Khanqahs gave to
most people a feeling of hope and a vision of a bright future, both in this world and
the one to come.

R.C. Majumdar suggests:

“... the role of both medieval mysticism and sufism in the history of Indian
culture is often exaggerated beyond all proportions. Whatever might have
been the value of either as a distinctive phase of Hinduism and Islam, from
moral, spiritual and philosophical points of view, their historical importance is
considerably limited by the fact that the number of Indians directly affected by
them, even at their heyday which was shortlived, could not be very large. The
number dwindled very appreciably in (the) course of time, and the two
orthodox religions showed no visible signs of being seriuosly affected by this
sudden intrusion of radical elements. They pursued their even tenor,
resembling the two banks of a river, separated by the stream that flows
between them. Attempts were made to build a bridge connecting the two, but
ended in failure. Even if these were any temporary bridge, it collapsed in no
time.”262

This is not the place to discuss the circumstances which may have made, as Majumdar
suggests, the so-called temporary bridge collapse, however, two observations should
be made. Firstly, the influence of sufism was not short-lived; secondly, members of
the orthodox sections of both Hinduism and Islam moved in different spheres, while
both sufis and Hindu saints (bhaktas) remained unconcerned with the activities
pursued by the orthodox.

As we have seen, the Suhrawardi and other dervishes, such as Shaikh Aiyub and Sidi
Maula, played an important role in the power struggles and political upheavals of the
ruling classes and the aristocracy. They also amassed large fortunes and tried to
prossurize the government into taking a very narrow view of the world. Through the
Suhrawardis petitions from the people were presented to rulers and their periodic
visits to Delhi were eagerly awaited. Assistance from the withdrawn and ascetic
Chishtis who had turned their backs on the world was also sought to avert such
calamities as drought and panic, for example, during times of political crises. They
offered consolation to the masses and reminded them, as well as members of the
ruling classes, through their own advice and example, of the ethical side of Islam.

Until the death of Shaikh Nizamud-Din Auliya, the Chishtis had also refused to play
any role in the conversion of Hindus to Islam. They believed that contact with the
saintly was the only means by which people would renounce evil or adopt Islam.
Large numbers of Chishtis continued to follow this policy, but some eminent
members of the order, such as Gisu Daraz, unsuccessfully tried to convert Brahmans
to Islam. What is noteworthy is that both Chishtis and Suhrawardis only managed to
convert high caste Hindus. The theory that the influece of sufism and of Islamic
“egalitarianism” were significant factors which led members of the Hindu lower
classes to embrace Islam is unfounded. The Muslim conquests did not unleash forces
of liberation or change the position of the exploited castes of Hindus and of the
untouchables. The social and economic position of the masses of Muslim converts
who accepted Islam under a variety of pressures, all which have been analysed by the
Chishti khanqahs did offer consolation, peace and nourishment to the thousands of
Muslims who crowded the towns.

From the time of the Khurasanian, Abu Said, khanqahs were rendezvous for artisans
and merchants. All khanqahs in India followed this Khurasanian tradition for the
mutual benefit of both sufis and their visitors. Merchants at this time were continually
undertaking hazardous journeys to distant countries, while engaged in risky
commercial ventures. Some khanqahs operated a type of “spiritual insurance” scheme
in which financial pledges were made by merchants in return fro sufi prayers for chain
of khanqahs of Shaikh Abu Ishaq from Kazirun to China is one case in point.
Naturally the system was one-sided and hardly compares with a modern insurance
scheme. If the prayers of a great sufi saint failed, the unfortunate merchants and
travellers were killed, and there was no means by which the money advanced could be
restored. Nevertheless the network of Chishtiyya, Suhrawardiyya and Firdawsiyya
khanqahs in India and those of the Kubrawiyya and of other orders in Kashmir,
offered greatly needed psychological comfort to merchants and other travellers during
this period.

The ‘urs ceremonies and other anniversaries celebrated in khanqahs developed into
significant cultural institutions and were eagerly awaited by both the poor and affluent
alike. Sufism gave birth to a very wide range of mystic symbolism and became an
indispensable part of Persian poetry. This poetry was not only an expression of the
mystic love of a thirsty soul seeking an intuitive understanding of God, but an avenue
for emotions and feelings which would otherwise have neer been expressed due to the
fury of the orthodox, social inhibitions and political repression. Although this form of
poetry gradually tended to degenerate as it became conventionalized and developed
grotesque language, erotic obsessions and imitative and repetitive thinking,
nevertheless it served to manifest the personal emetions and judgements of individual
sufis.

Sufi poetry written in Hindi added a new dimension to Indian mysticism and a new
lyrical and colourful way by which to achieve an ecstatic state. The subtle refinement
of Hindi music, combined with Persian conventions and artistry, gave fresh meaning
and depth to Indian sufi thought. The use of ancient Indian music and language was
not chosen with a missionary intent for the recital of the Chanda’in in mosques could
in no way serve Islamic proselytization. Hindi offered to sufis at that time a spiritual
satisfaction they could then share with Hindu bhaktas, whose spirits equally thirsted
for the higher reaches of Reality. The Hindi sufi poets and the bhaktas rebelled
against all forms of religious formalism, orthodoxy, falsehood, hypocrisy and
stupidity and tried to create a new world in which spiritual bliss was the all-
consuming goal. They were unconcerned with the idea of achieving any form of union
between the two religions and instead tended to work within their respective religious
communities for an understanding of the spiritual and social values of each other.

The Ghazalian tradition in sufism in India did inculcate hostility towards philosophy.
The sufi movement tended to promote gullibility and credulity and discourage self-
reliance. Most sufi khanqahs urged their disciples to pursue hard manual labour in
order to crush the lower self, but unlike medieval Christian monasteries they did not
invent labour saving devices, for example in a field like agriculture. The continual
flow of futuh became a source of degeneration to khanqahs and led to the gradual
dependence of their inmates on the state, merchants and the nobility.

The most serious threats to the survival of sufism were the presumptuous and
preposterous claims of sufi charlatans and impostors. The latter exploited the
influence of sufism, and the popular passion for the occult and thamaturity, to their
own advantage. Their poetry and music promoted immoral practices, the use of drugs
and the practice of homosexuality. Such developments shocked genuine and
spiritually gifted sufis, however, they faced all challenges with an awareness of the
magnitude of these problems, and worked for the eradication of evil from society and
a minimization of the hardships experiened by the people through practical wisdom,
rather than their mystical intuition.

Sufis in this period also sheltered both the politically and socially persecuted at the
risk of their own popularity or reprisals from the government, at the same time
helping Muslims to stabilize their emotions.

***
1
Sholomo Pines and Tubia Gelblum, “Al-Biruni’s Arabic version of Paanjali’s Yogasutra, Bulletin of
the School of Oriental and African Studies, XXIX, pt. 2, University of London, 1966, p. 305, See H.
Ritter, “Al-Biruni’s Ubersetzung des yoga-Sutra des Patanjali, Oriens, IX, 1956, pp. 165-200.
2
E.C. Sachau, Alberuni’s India, I, 1964, p. 55.
3
Ibid, pp. 57-8.
4
Ibid, pp. 62-3.
5
Ibid, pp. 68-9
6
Ibid, p. 69
7
E.C. Sachau, Alberuni’s India, I, 1964, pp. 82-3.
8
Ibid, pp 83.
9
The originial word is muwahhid, meaning one who is absorbed in Divine Unity rather than monism.
10
Ittihad in original.
11
Quran, iI, 73. the meaning is controversial, some commentators consider it refers to the martyrdom
of Jesus Christ.
12
Alberuni’s India, I, p. 87; Fi Tahqiq Ma Li’l Hindi, Hyderabad, 1958, p. 66.
13
Alberuni’s India, I, p. 76.
14
Hindawi is a generic term referring to indigenous dialects in northern India.
15
Fawidul-Fu’ad, pp. 186-87.
16
Jawamiul-Kilam, pp. 172-73.
17
Sururus-Sudur, p. 69
18
Ibid, p. 74.
19
Ibid, p. 302.
20
Ibid
21
Sururu’s-Sudur, pp. 50-1; SA, p. 367.
22
Mir Abdul-Wahid Bilgarami, Saba’ Sanabil, Kanpur, 1299/1881-82, p. 58; Mohan Singh Diwana,
“Baba Farid Ganj Shakar, Shaikh Ibrahim Aur Farid Sani”. Oriental College Magazine, Lahore,
February, 1938, May, 1938 and February, 1939.
23
Sunya (void) is not simply “non-being” but has an affinity with the Brahman (World Spirit) of the
Vedanta. It is formed of an impenetrable essence and is therefore called vajra (diamon). “Sunyata,
which is firm, substantial, indivisible, impregnable fire-proof and imperishable, is also called vajra,”
Shastri, H., ed., “Advayavajra-Samgraha” quoted in Mircea Eliade, Yoga, translated from the French
by W.R. Trask, New York, 1958, p. 206.
24
S. Dasgupta, Obscure religious cults, Calcutta, 1962, p. 27.
25
. Tantricism is the cult followed by certain left-handed sects of Hindus and Buddhists. Although not
hostile to the Vedas, Tantricists do not approve of the conventional schools of Hindu philosophy.
Tantric doctrines are opposed to caste and class distinctions.
26
. These form the main body of the Vedic samhita or “collections” and are an integral part of Hindu
esoteric studies. They are composed of the names of deities, which are arbitrarily classified as male and
female. The most powerful of all mantras is the syllable Om
27
. Obscure religious, pp. 54-5.
28
Ibid, p. 78.
29
Obscure religious cults, p. 82-3.
30
.Ibid, p. 99.
31
A.K. Banerjee, Philosophy of Gorakhnath, Gorakhpur, n.d., p. 36. See also B. Walker, Hindu World,
II, London, 1968, pp. 128-29
32
. Philosophy of Graknath, p. 69.
33
According to yogic mysticism it is at the top of the head, in the form of a thousand petalled lotus
sahsra, thousand, Yoga, p. 243
34
Supports or receptacles, situated between the cakras oridentified with them, ibid, pp. 243-45, 410.
35
Catalogue Codicum Orientatium, O.F. 113 (3) ff. 29a-47a; Bibliotheque Nationale Paris, 7732; T.W.
Arnold, A Catalogue of Indian miniatures, I and III, revised and edited by J.V.S. Wilkinson, library of
A. Chester Beatty, London, 1936.
36
Shaikh Abdul-Quddus is Hauzul-Hayat, an exact, an exact equivalent of the Amrita-Kinda. Another
title of the book is Bahrud-Hayat (Ocean of Life or Importality).
37
Ibid.
38
Alakhbani or Rushd-Nama, edited by S.A.A. Rizvi and S. Zaidi, Aligarh, 1971.
39
Op. cit.
40
Sabad or sabda word, but it may also mean a hymn.
41
Ibid
42
Nama: performed hanging upside down with the legs suspended from a roof or a branh of a tree.
43
Alakhbani, pp. 66-7.
44
Ibid
45
In medieval devotional literature Onkar is an equivalent to Om or Omkar. This mystical syllable
incarnates the mystical essence of the entire cosmos. It has been referred to in many classical Sanskrit
works, including the Mandukya-Upanisad.
46
Ibid.
47
Like the Brahman of the Upanishad and Vedanta and the Irvana on the Mahayanists, the state of
Sahaja is indefinable and cannot be understood dialectically but only through actual experience. The
state of Sahaja is achieved by transcending dialectics. According to Kanha: “He who had immobilized
the king of his spirit through identity of enjoyment (samarasa) in the state of the Innate (Sahaja),
instantly becomes a magician; he fears not old age and death.” Yoga, pp. 268-69.
48
Ibid
49
Ibid.
50
Ibid
51
Ibid
52
Gulshan-i Raz, English translation, p. 2. the reference to the Quran is from XII, 108.
53
Alakhbani, pp. 72-5.
54
Philosophy of Gorakhnath, p. 55.
55
Ibid
56
Quran, LV, no. 26-7.
57
Quran, XXVIII, no. 88
58
Ibid.
59
Studies in Islamic mysticism, pp. 154-55.
60
Ibid.
61
Ibid
62
Ibid
63
The word comes from ruku or the inclination of the head in prayers (salat) with the palms of the
hands resting on the knees. The number of raka’ats or rak’as (genuflections) for different prayers vary.
64
Shaikh Ruknud-Din, Lata’if-i Quddusi, 1311/1894, pp. 15-16.
65
“Going against the current” (ujana sadhna) or a “regressive” process, implying a complete
“inversion” of all psychophysiological processes. Yoga, p. 270.
66
A mystical voice.
67
Inspirational received from the angel Gabriel by the ears of the Prophet Muhammad; the occasion
engendered a supernatural condition in the Prophet.
68
Lataif-i Quddusi, pp. 16-7.
69
Ibid.
70
Lataif-i Quddusi, p. 31.
71
A grouping of villages for purposes of revenue collection and administration.
72
Anwarul-Uyun, p. 24.
73
Lataif-i Quddusi, p. 31.
74
Maktubat-i Quddusiyah, pp. 44-6.
75
Lataif-i Quddusi, pp. 63-4; Ghulsan-i Ibrahimi, p. 202.
76
One-tenth of the produce.
77
Rent-free grants to holy men and the ulama.
78
Holy men.
79
Officers for the enforcement of Islamic law in urban areas.
80
Land revenue.
81
A chancery, concerning civil administration.
82
Governors.
83
A revenue official.
84
The treasury of the Muslim state.
85
Maktubat-i Quddusiya, pp. 236-37.
86
A’in, III, p. 176; Lataif-i Quddusi, p. 70.
87
Ibid, pp. 79-81.
88
Qur’an, XXXV, 24.
89
XVII, 15.
90
XIV, 4.
91
X, 48
92
Rushd Nama, Aligarh MS., ff. 50a-2a.
93
Ethe, 1924 (14).
94
Ethe, 1924 (16).
95
AA, p. 223..
96
Maktubat-i Quddusiya, p. 124.
97
Ibid, p. 125.
98
Ibid, pp. 46-7.
99
Ibid, pp. 89-90, 101.
100
Maktubat-i Quddusiyya, pp. 171-73.
101
R.C. Temple, The Words of Lalla, Cambridge, 1924, pp. 1-5.
102
M. Hasan, Kashmir under the Sultans, Calcutta, 1959, pp. 238-39.
103
The Words of Lalla, pp. 113, 115, 177-78; the verses are on p. 179.
104
Baba Nasib, Rishi Nama, India Office, Delhi, Persian no. 731, f. 129a-138a; ‘Abd i-l Wahhab Nuri,
Futuhat-i Kubrawiyya, Srinagar MS, ff. 84b-6b.
105
Futuhati-i Kubrawiyya, ff. 69b.
106
ibid, f. 82a.
107
Futuhat-i Kubrawiyya, ff. 92a-96b.
108
Rajatarangini, p. 126.
109
Rishi Nama’, ff. 152b-55b; Muhammad A’zam, Tarikhi A’zami, Lahore, 1303/1885-86, p. 64.
110
Rishi Nama, ff. 173a-b.
111
Dawud Mishkati, Asrarul-Abrar, ff. 236a-b.
112
A’in, II, p. 170, III, p. 549; Tuzuk-i Jahangir, p. 302.
113
M.R. Tarafdar, Husain shahi Bengal, Dacca, 1965, p. 240.
114
An Epoch or era according to Hindu cosmology. There are four ages of the world; the present age,
the Kaliyuga, began in 3102 BC and is a period of confusion and strife.
115
Written by Shaikh Faizullah; see S.S. Husain, Description catalogue of Bengali manuscripts, in
Munshi Abdul Karim’s Collection, Dacca, 1960, pp. 111-19. All Bengali titles and names have been
transliterated according to the system in the catalogue.
116
Ibid, pp. 251-52.
117
Ibid, pp. 386, 388,, 391-95.
118
Name of the angel of death, also spelt ‘Azrail’ in European literature.
119
Asim Roy, Islam in the environment of medieval Bengal, unpublished Australian National
University Ph.D Thesis, 1970, p. 233.
120
Description catalogue of Bengali manuscripts, pp. 36-42, 44-7.
121
Ibid, pp. 30-3.
122
Ibid, pp. 222-25, 227-32.
123
Ibid, pp. 225.
124
Ibid, pp. 123, 157-58.
125
M.A. Rahim, Social and cultural history of Being, I, II, Karachi, 1967, pp. 331-32.
126
M.A. Rahim, Social and cultural history of Being, I, II, Karachi, 1967, pp. 331-32.
127
Social and cultural history of Bengal, II, pp. 341-56.
128
Dabistan-i Mazahib, pp. 179-80. In fact Ratannath, a contemporary of Gorakhnath, was a very
important figure of the movement.
129
B. Walker, Hindu world, II, London, 1968, pp. 176-77.
130
Ibid, I, pp. 32-3.
131
B. Walker, Hindu world, I, London, 1968, p. 33.
132
Ibid, II, p. 350.
133
Abdul, mystical officers of the Divine court, see p. 40. The use of these Sufi rituals shows a deep
sufi influence on Namdeva.
134
M.A. Macauliffe, The Sikh religion, VI, Oxford, 1909, pp. 69-70.
135
A Bengali Shakta poet.
136
Hindi world, I, p. 216.
137
K.A. Nizami, Tarikh-i Masha’ikh-i Chisht, 1935, p. 202. A.K. Majumdar rightly comments on
Nizami’s conclusions (in a different work) as follows: “Probably never before in the long history of
Hinduism, religious leaders had sprung from those strata of society to which Caitanya,
Kabir...belonged. There was hardly any saint of the bhakti school who had not passed some of his time
in a khanqah.”
138
Obscure religious cults, p. 161.
139
Ibid, p. 174.
140
A kind of musical note.
141
The author calls them Vishnu-Pad, but Rudr Kashike says that he was not aware of the Vishnu
Phadhati (style) in Hindi music. Introduction to the author’s Hindi translation of the Haqa’iq-i Hindi,
Kashi, 1957, p. 19. Sufi literature includes numerous references to the Vishnu-Pad.
142
Macauliffe, VI, p. 10.
143
Iblis is the devil. Many sufis ascribe his disobedience the divine command to his unflicting
adherence to the Unity of God.
144
Haqa’iq-i Hindi; p. 73.
145
Ibid, p. 80.
146
Qur’an, XXXVIII, 73.
147
Qur’an, II, 117.
148
Haqa’iq-i Hindi, pp. 73-85.
149
Muntakhabu’i-Tawarikh, III, p. 66; Ghulam Ali Azad Bilgarani, Ma’asiru’l-Kiran, I, Agra, 1889,
pp. 36-51.
150
Literary history of Persia, II, p. 409.
151
Muntakhabu’t-Tawarikh, I, p. 250.
152
Ibid, p. 260.
153
Moses’ request to see God.
154
God’s rejection. The words occur in the following verse from Chapter VII of the Quran, the greater
part of which deals with the history of Moses and the Israelites.
155
Maktubat-i Quddusiyya, p. 309.
156
Ibid, pp. 173-74.
157
Lataif-i Quddusi, p. 100; Mataprasad Gupta, ed. Chanda’in, p. 14.
158
S.H. Askari, “Qutban’s Mrigarat,’ Journal of the Bihar research society, 1955, pp. 452-87.
159
A.G. Shirreff, Padmavati, Calcutta, 1944, p. 32.
160
A.G. Shirreff, Padmavati, Calcutta, 1944, p. 86.
161
Ibid, p. 133.
162
The name of a metre used in Hindi poetry.
163
Slight variaton in the reading of the Akhrawat, Mataprasad Gupta, Ja’isi Granthawali, Allahabad,
1951, p. 654.
164
Ma’ariju’l-Wilayat, ff. 341b-342a.
165
Muslim revivalist movement in northern India, pp. 131-33, 272
166
Descriptive catalogue of Bengali manuscripts, pp. 468-84, 486-89.
167
See details in Rieu, II, pp. 545-46.
168
Descriptive catalogue of Bengali manuscripts, p. 230.
169
Ibid, pp. 233-34.
170
Descriptive catalogue of Bengali manuscripts, p. 138.
171
Ibid, pp. 265-66.
172
Ibid, pp. 53-60, 62-65.
173
Ethe, nos. 1276-77.
174
A.A. p. 300.
175
Ahl-i Akbari, II, p. 53.
176
Ibid, p 78.
177
Ma’arij’l-Wilayat, f. 15a. 177
178
Dabistan-i Mazahib, p. 200.
179
Khazinatu’l-Asfiya’, pp. 446-47.
180
Macauliffe, VI, p. 249.
181
Ibid, p. 259.
182
Kabir Granthawali, Sakhi, 5, 17-1.
183
Macauliffe, VI, pp. 143, 160, 182-83, 190, 193, 277.
184
Ibid, p. 308.
185
Ibid., p. 308.
186
Ibid., p. 315.
187
Ibid., p. 232.
188
Ibid, p. 175.
189
Macauliffe, VI, p. 231.
190
Ibid, pp. 168-69.
191
Ibid, p. 141.
192
Ibid., p. 203.
193
Macauliffe, VI, pp. 258-89.
194
Ibid, p. 277.
195
Ibid, p. 242.
196
Ibid, p. 182.
197
Ibid, p. 279.
198
Ibid, p. 179.
199
Ibid, p. 131.
200
Ibid, p. 241.
201
Kabir Granthavali, p. 1-4.
202
Macauliffe, p. 293.
203
Ibid, p. 236.
204
Ibid, p. 280.
205
Ibid, p. pp. 213, 289.
206
Ibid, p. 163.
207
Macauliffe, pp. 265-66.
208
Ibid, p. 161.
209
Ibid, pp. 154-56.
210
Ibid, p. 253.
211
Ibid, p. 204.
212
Macauliffe, p. 282.
213
Ibid, p. 197.
214
Village leaders subordinate to revenue officials.
215
A village revenue official.
216
An important case in point is the concern of Farid over the tyranny of village officials. He later
became Sher Shah. Tarikh-i Sher Shahi, pp. 16-25.
217
Macauliffe, p. 251. See also Kabir-Granthawali, p. 251.
218
Tabaqat-i Akbari, I, pp. 222-23.
219
The legendary account of the Prophet Muhammad’s birth and life.
220
Tarikh-i Alfi, India Office, MS. Ethe, 112, f. 373a.
221
The word means illiterate but when referring to Muhammad it means a lack of knowledge of the
religious scriptures.
222
He was the son of Tatar Khan Yusuf Khail whom Bahlul had appointed governor of the region
between Sarhind and Dipalpur.
223
The story is reminiscent of Shaikh Hasan Afghan’s encounter with the Imam.
224
See the biography of Shaikh Fuzayl bin Iyaz.
225
This was a recognized sufi custom; see Baba Farid’s instruction to Shaikh Nizamu’d-Din Auliya.
226
A conversation with the Shaikh’s spirit, in keeping with sufi traditions.
227
Gulshan-i Ibrahim, p. 202.
228
Lata’if-i Quddusi, p. 63.
229
Macauliffe, I, pp. 115-16.
230
Macauliffe, I, p. 117. These hymns seem to have been written sometime after 1526.
231
W.H.McLeod, Guru Nanak and the Sikh religion, Oxford, 1968, p. 114.
232
Banat al-Hinaud, girls who dedicated themselves to singing and dancing before temple gods.
233
Voyages d’ibn Batoutah, IV, pp. 165-85.
234
F. Trumpp, The Adi Granth, 2nd edition, New Delhi, 1970, p. VI.
235
R.F. Burton, A Pilgrimage to al-Madinah and Mecca; J.F. Keane, Six months in the Hejaz.
236
Guru Nanak and the Sikh religion, ipp. 124-25.
237
Siraju’l-Hidaya, India Office, Delhi, Persian, 1938, p. 51.
238
A niche in the centre of a wall in a mosque, marking the direction of Mecca and in front of which
the Imam leads the congregation in prayer. Dictionary of Islam, p. 348.
239
Comments by Dr. V.L. Menage, Readr, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of
London, in Guru Nanak and the Sikh religion, pp. 130-131.
240
Adi Granth, p. VI.
241
Guru Nanak and the Sikhs, p. 45.
242
S.A.A. Rizvi, Babur Nama in Mughal kalin Bharat-Babur, Aigarh, 1965, pp. 10.
243
A.H. Dani, Peshawar, historic city of the Frontier, Peshawar, 1969, p. 36.
244
A.E. Affifi, Ibn Arabi in a history of Muslim philosophy, I, pp. 403-04.
245
Gopal Singh, Sir Guru-Gdranth Sahib, IV, p. 974.
246
In orthodox Islamic terminology it is one of the attributes of God which represents His power. To
sufis it is the inomprehensible Divine Will, Jili, Insan al-Kamil, Cairo, 1300/1882-88, p. 62; p. 62;
Kitab al-Ta’rifat, Beirut, 1969, p. 180.
247
R.A. Nicholson, The Mathnawi of Jalalud-Din Rumi, IV, Cambridge, p. 284.
248
Fawaidul-Fu’ad, pp. 110-11.
249
Sri Guru Granth Sahib, I, p. 6.
250
Ibid, IV, pp. 988-89.
251
Japji, Adi Granth, Rag Vadhans, I, Rag Asa 579, Rag Parbhati, 1328, 1330, Rag Dhanasari, 685.
252
Ghazali, Ihya al-Ulum, IV, pp. 333-41.
253
Guru Nanak and the Sikh religion, p. 201. McLeod owes his definition of the divine will to Canon
Kenneth Gragg but fails to acknowledge any reference to any of the latter’s works.
254
Adi Granth, Japji, I, Astpadian 272; Rag Basant, 1188; Rag Gauri, 225; Rag Parbhati, 1342, Rag
Asa (Astpadian), 60; Var Malar, 1289, Var 4, Gauri 3.
255
Sri Guru Granth Sahib, IV, p. 1191.
256
Macauliffe, I, p. 39.
257
Adi Granth, Sri Rag, 14, 16, Rag Gauri (Astpadian), 225-27.
258
Traditional village leaders.
259
The present age of mankind; Adi Granth, Var Majh 142, Var Malar 1288, Rag Asa, 350, Rag Basant
1191.
260
Guru Nanak and the Sikh religion, pp. 1, 8-59.
261
Shihabud-Din al-Umari, Masalik ul-Absar Fi Mamalik ul-Amsar, English translation of information
relating to India by Otto Spies. Muslim University Journal, Aligarh, p. 24.
262
R.C. Majumdar, ed., The Delhi Sultanate, second edition, Bombay, 1967, p. 555. Aziz Ahmad also
endorses Majumdar’s view in Studies in Islamic culture, p. 134.