Malik Muhammad Jayasi was a Sufi who was influenced by two Sufi masters of the Chisti and Mahdavi silsila (spiritual lineage) respectively. One was Sayyid Ashraf Jahangir Simnani of Jaunpur, and Jayasi’s Pir-o-Murshid was Shaikh Mubarak Shah Bodale, probably a descendant of Simnani.

The second murshid was Sheikh Burhanuddin Ansari, the disciple of Sayyid Muhammad of Jaunpur.

The Chisti silsila is noted for adopting yogic practices, in particular, the breathing exercises of Hath yoga, as practiced by the nath panthis of Gorakhnath.

Padmavat was written in 1540 AD. Muhammad Ghawth Gwalior wrote Bahr-ul-Hayat, a Persian rendering of the Amrtakunda, a Sanskrit text on yoga with illustrations a few years later showing that yoga was very much present in Sufi circles.

A Sufi’s journey to his/her ultimate destination is divided into four stages: shariah (religious law), tariqah (path) , haqeeqat (truth) and marifah (gnosis, or being one with the beloved).

The religious laws which teach ethical behaviour and piety are the basis on which a Sufi builds his journey. Tariqah is the oath of allegiance with a Sufi master who helps guide the traveller on his journey. Control of ego and haqeeqat is the realisation of truth that God is within oneself. Marifah is a stage very rarely achieved except by Sufi saints which is when the veil is lifted from the seeker’s heart and the seeker becomes one with the divine.

The love of a mortal for the divine is known as ishq-e-haqeeqi and is the only love worth seeking since only God is worthy of adoration.

All Sufi allegories are based on this. That’s why a Sufi saint’s death anniversary is celebrated as an urs, or marriage ceremony, as now the soul travels to the beloved ‘s house and achieves union, or wisaal, with the beloved.

On the way, the traveller overcomes many obstacles by his steadfast devotion and continuous remembrance of the divine and control of nafs, or ego.

Jayasi’s Padmavat was an allegorical poem based on this premise. It was written in Awadhi, the dialect spoken in Allahabad, Jaunpur and Ayodhya. Amethi and Rae Bareli, areas where Jayasi lived, were part of this.

The choice of language as Awadhi instead of Persian is perhaps for greater reach considering his target audience were the common folks and it was their singing of it that spread the word until it reached far and wide.

However, the first known manuscript of this is written in the Persian script and found in Rampur Raza Library. It was copied in 1675 by a Muhammad Shakir in the Khanqah of Abdul Qadir Jalali at Amroha, another town in Uttar Pradesh.

After that many manuscripts were copied, and adaptations and translations were made. In some of them, there was an element of “lost in translation” and that was the Sufi element of the epic.

Jayasi’s Padmavat is the first reference that one finds historically of a Rajput queen called Padmavati/Padmini living in Chittor.

The epic begins in the tradition of Persian masnavis with praise for Allah and the Prophet.

According to Aditya Behl in “The Soul’s Quest in Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s Hindavi Romance”, the Hindavi Sufi romance “drew on local languages of asceticism and devotion, drawing symbolism and imagery from Gorakhnathi yogis and worshippers of Krishna”.

The story of Padmavat is about a young princess living in the island of Sinhaldvip, a land famous for its ideal woman, Padmini. She had a parrot, Hiraman, of whom she was so fond that her father, the king  got jealous and tried to kill it.

Hiraman managed to fly away to safety and was sold by a bird dealer to Ratansen, the king of Chittor.

Ratansen was soon enraptured by the descriptions of Padmini and was determined to marry her. He renounced his kingdom and led by Hiraman, left with 16,000 warriors and princes on his quest.

This quest had the overtones of a Sufi’s spiritual journey in search of his beloved.

After some setbacks, he attacked the kingdom of Sinhaldvip and the king Gandharvsen after seeing the strength of Ratansen’s love married off Padmini to him. The young princess too had already seen him and reciprocated his feelings.

After some more trials, he returned to Chittor with his new wife. His first wife Nagmati was naturally jealous until one day Ratansen admonished both his wives after which they became friends. Perhaps signifying  the balancing of the spiritual and temporal life.

There was a Brahmin in the court of Ratansen named Raghav Chetan, who won a contest by duplicity which led Ratansen to banish him from the kingdom. Padmini gifted him her bangle to soften the humiliation. The Brahmin saw her and was captivated by her beauty.

Raghav went to the court of Alauddin Khilji in Delhi and his description of the queen made Khilji passionately fall in love with her and determined to have her. As per Sufi teachings, the most important step towards haqeeqat and marifat is the conquering of nafs, or ego.

This was the difference between the ascetic Ratansen, who is the hero, and the lustful Alauddin Khilji, who is the villain. Khilji could not control his nafs.

This led him to lay siege to Chittor and demand the surrender of Padmini which Ratansen rejected. In turn, Khilji rejected Ratansen’s offer of tribute instead.

Against the better advice of his vassals, Gora and Badal, Ratansen invited Khilji inside the fort where the latter caught a glimpse of the queen in a mirror. Unable to get the queen with whom he is now even more obsessed, Khilji captured Ratansen and took him as a prisoner to Delhi.

The queen sent Gora and Badal to rescue him. They went in palanquins disguised as Padmini and her attendants.

Meanwhile, Devpal, the ruler of neighbouring kingdom of Kumbhalner, who too had heard tales of her beauty, sent a marriage proposal to Padmini which she promptly rejected.

Gora and Badal managed to free Ratansen, though Gora was killed. On his return, when Ratansen came to know of Devpal’s importune advances, he decides to punish him and challenges him to a duel, thinking he’d be back before Khilji attacks Chittor, as he was bound to. But both the Rajput kings die in this single combat.

On hearing the news, the two distraught widows of Ratansen committed sati on their husband’s pyre.

Meanwhile, Alauddin Khilji once again attacked Chittor and managed to conquer it. The men are killed and the women commit jauhar by throwing themselves into a burning fire.

All that Khilji got was an “empty victory” as Padmini, the object of his desire, had been reduced to ashes.

Such heroic tales were very popular in Awadh, and Jayasi used it to weave in his Sufi philosophy.

Jayasi himself has given a key to the poem where Chittor stands for the body and Sinhaldvip for the heart; Padmini symbolises wisdom and the parrot represents the spiritual teacher who shows the way.

Nagmati is materialism that pulls the seeker, the magician Raghav represents the devil, and Khilji stands for a temporary world or illusion.

His love for Padmini was selfish and driven by lust, whereas Ratansen’s love was ishq-e-haqeeqi and pure.

The marriage of Ratansen and Padmini was the union of souls with the divine.

Padmavati’s death by fire symbolised the Sufi philosophy of fana, or annihilation, in the fire of love to become one with the divine.

Sinhaldvip is an imaginary land where the seeker is on his spiritual journey. Chittor is probably chosen for its symbolic meaning – “Chit” or mind and “aur” or heart.

Now, the historical references. Jayasi was writing his poem in 1540 when Sher Shah Suri was ruling Delhi as mentioned by him in the poem.

While Alauddin Khilji had defeated raja Ratansen of Chittor in 1303, there was another Ratansen ruling Chittor in 1527-32.

Bahadur Shah of Gujarat had invaded Chittor in 1531 and the women had committed jauhar.

According to Baburnama, Rana Sanga’s wife was named Padmavati.

In 1537, during the siege of Rohtas, Sher Shah Suri had entered the enemy’s fort in palanquins with soldiers wearing women’s clothes.

Although Amir Khusrau describes jauhar during the siege of Ranthambhore, he makes no mention of it in Chittor.

Now comes a shocker. According to Sreenivasan, there  could have been “an unconscious confounding (mix up) in Jayasi’s mind between Alauddin Khilji and Ghiyath al-din Khilji of Malwa (1469–1500) who had a roving eye, and is reported to have undertaken the quest for Padmini, not a particular Rajput princess, but the ideal type of woman according to Hindu erotology. Ghiyath al-din Khilji, according to a Hindu inscription in the Udaipur area, was defeated in battle in 1488 by a Rajput chieftain, Badal-Gora, which incidentally also happened to be the names of the twins, Badal and Gora, the vassals of Ratansen”.

Sreenivasan also feels that there is also a possibility that Khilji was taken as the villain to signify the insecurity felt by local Rajput kings and locals – who were Jayasi’s patrons and audience – about the expansionist designs of the new rulers.

Khilji was an expansionist who saw himself as a second Alexander and was famous for his market policy and land reforms, not romantic disposition.

In fact, he’d probably be surprised if he were to somehow come to know of it. So did Jayasi get the wrong Khilji, or was it a deliberate attempt to warn those who were eyeing the throne of Delhi?

So many elements from Sufism, yogic texts, historical events and classical Persian literature were taken by Jayasi and strung together in the local dialect to reach the largest audience.

The epic ends on the verse that Chittor has become Islamic. In material terms, it would be the result of Alauddin Khilji ‘s victory and so the establishment of Islam, but in the Sufi poet’s mind, it would probably  be the result of the triumph of ishq-e-haqeeqi over nafs.

Violence can never triumph and any victory gained by it can only be pyrrhic as Alauddin Khilji found out. Jayasi may very well be surprised to see his Sufi allegorical poem in the eye of a storm involving so much violence and threats.

Sufism teaches controlling of nafs. The Rajputs protesting against the film should perhaps read the epic and draw some lessons from it.

Published on DailyO.in

When Ahmed Shah (1410-43) was establishing the Gujarat Sultanate his chief spiritual advisor was Shaikh Ahmed Khattu Ganj Baksh a Sufi saint. The saint was born in Delhi in 1338 and named Malik Nasiruddin. As a child he was separated from his family and adopted by a saint Baba Ishaq Maghrebi of Khattu ( Rajasthan). Baba named him Ahmed. He supervised the child’s education and under him Ahmed received and attained educational and spiritual excellence.

He came to Delhi but later left for the Deccan in the aftermath of Timur’s invasion. He settled in the village of Sarkhej and established his khanqah there. He became the spiritual advisor of Ahmed Shah.

In 1411 Ahmed Shah ascended the throne of Gujarat and laid the foundation of the Gujarat Sultanate. It was on the advise of the saint that the city of Ahmedabad was founded on the banks of the Sabarmati river.

The saint became very famous in his lifetime and ran an open house. His generosity got him the sobriquet of Gnj Baksh ( treasure house).

The saint died at the age of 111 in 1445. Mohammed Shah the reigning monarch got a dargah built for the saint.

It is a beautiful example of Indo-Saracenic architecture, with Hindu craftsmanship married to Islamic sense of scale and geometry.

The word is derived from the Persian word zarkhez which means fertile. It was inhabited by indigo weavers and dyers.

And they honored the shrine of the saint who had chosen to live amongst them by dying the ceiling of his dargah with indigo. The colors and design still live on through the ages.

Famous City designer Asif Shaikh told me about it and showed me his tribute to the Roza with his Indigo design series inspired by it.

This blog was inspired by that submission of self to the spiritual.

The shrine is extremely beautiful and a Centre of spiritual solace for the populace of Ahmedabad and nearby areas.

It’s intricate stone jaalis or lattice screens are a trademark of the Gujarati artisans and to be found in all the religious and secular buildings of the Sultanate Era.

Their light as it filters in provides the mystic environment necessary for meditation. It also provides shade and shelter from prying eyes.

The shrine is surrounded by a broad pillar Ed verandah on all four sides.

A drum used during festivals and urs.

As is normal with shrines of important saints a Mosque was also built alongside. Both the monuments were completed in 1451 CE by his successor Qutb’ud-din Ahmed Shah. 

The Mosque is quite large with the Sultanate design of a huge courtyard and aisles running around it.

The entrance of the mosque

Since many of the royal family including ladies were the saints devotees a separate floor was built for them. It is ironical that today ladies are not allowed to enter it.

Sultan Mahmud Begada expanded the shrine and excavated a central tank around it adding a 17-acre large lake with stone steps

He added many pavilions and buildings on the opposite side of the lake. It became a royal retreat.

Looking out onto the tank.

The Sultan also added a Baradari ( 12 arched pavilion) in front and that becomes a popular spoof for locals to come and picnic and pray.

This is how shrines used to be in olden days : an integral part not just of spiritual life but social life as well.

Sultan Mahmud Begada himself is buried in a pavilion on the opposite side of the shrine overlooking the tank he built.

His son Muzzaffar II and his queen, Rajabai are also buried alongside him.

Once again jaalis and columns decorate the tomb of the Sultan.

When Akbar defeated Muzaffar III the Sultan of Gujarat in 1584 he added a mansion and garden.

Gallery:

A tomb outside the complex.

Further reading

https://www.sarkhejroza.org/live.pdf

A contemporary of Hazrat Amir Khusrau and just as great

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/sufism-in-the-simplest-terms/article22920256.ece

Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, who lived from 1238 to 1325, is an extremely popular Sufi saint of the Chishti Order. The Nizamuddin Dargah (mausoleum) in New Delhi is visited by thousands every week. He had two disciples, both well-known poets of their time: Amir Khusrau and Amir Hasan Sijzi. Next to Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s shrine lies the shrine of Hazrat Amir Khusrau. It is called the Choti Dargah. This is the story of the shrine of Auliya’s other disciple, Amir Hasan Sijzi.

On a recent trip to Aurangabad, I visited Khuldabad, also referred to as the valley of saints. Most people know it as the burial place of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, but there is much more to the area. There is a reason why Aurangzeb had asked to be buried there.

The valley of saints

When Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq ordered in 1327 that his capital be shifted from Delhi to Deogir, which he named Daulatabad, he instructed the elites, nobles, officers, common men, and even the saints to shift with him.

The Sufi saints, 1,400 of them, decided to settle in an area near Daulatabad. The shrines of these saints dot the area, which is why that place was initially called Rauza (shrine). After Aurangzeb’s burial it was renamed Khuldabad as he was given the posthumous title of khuld-makani (hw who resides in paradise). Famous saints such as Shah Raja Qattal, Shaikh Burhanuddin Gharib, Shaikh Muntajibuddin and Aurangzeb’s spiritual master, Shaikh Zaynuddin Shirazi, are buried there.

It was while I was researching why this place is called the valley of saints that I found that Amir Najm al-Din Hasan Dihlavi ibn Khwaja Ala al-Din Sistani, commonly known as Amir Hasan Sijzi or Hazrat Amir Hasan Dehlvi, was also buried there. He too had been ordered to leave Delhi for Daulatabad, and was never to return.

If Amir Khusrau captured Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s teachings in his songs and poetry, Amir Sijzi did the same in the famous compilation titled Fawa’id-al-Fu’ad, which contains the literary discourses of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. Unlike Amir Khusrau who became his disciple when he was around eight years old, Amir Sijzi became Auliya’s disciple quite late in life, when he was already an established poet and called the Saadi-e-Hind. Amir Sijzi was born in Badaun in Uttar Pradesh in 1254 and died in Daulatabad in 1337.

Saiyid Zaheer Husain Jafri, professor at the department of history at Delhi University, says that Fu’ad was the first book of its kind in India. It was for the first time that anyone had written about the day-to-day interactions, reactions and teachings of a Sufi Shaikh in his khanqah. He says: “In this book, you find the principles of Sufism being talked about in the simplest of terms by the great Shaikh, and we also see that every section of society is represented. The Shaikh is not only talking to the elites but to the common man as well. It’s not that Shaikhs didn’t speak earlier, but a mature scholar, recognising the value of these discourses, recorded it for posterity. The entire book is in the form of conversations supported by examples. It is a lively speech that captures the reader’s imagination.” It is also important because the saint himself checked the account for veracity. Very simply written, this book is an important historical, social and literary document as it records contemporary life and society.

Professor K.A. Nizami has written in his preface to the English translation of Fu’ad by Bruce Lawrence: “It soon found a distinctive place in Muslim mystic literature.” In fact, Amir Khusrau offered to exchange all his works for it.

The shrine and some sugar

When I reached Khuldabad, I had to ask many people about this shrine. I was told to look out for a big gate with an old man sitting in front of it. This was to the west of Khuldabad and it seemed as though not many people visit this place. I found the old man, the caretaker, sitting in front of a big gate, which he opened when my car stopped there. He took me inside and I offered my prayers.

It is believed that the original copy of the Fawa’id-al-Fu’ad is buried with Amir Hasan Sijzi as per his will. The caretaker told me that children who can’t talk are brought to this shrine and given sugar, which is believed to give them the power of speech. On hearing that I was a writer, the caretaker offered me some sugar to sweeten my pen. I pray that it works.

A baby was born in Sijistan (modern-day Sistan) in Iran around 536 AH or 1141/42 AD. His parents named him Moinuddin Hasan, and are said to have affectionately called him Hasan. Today, he is known by many names, the most famous of them being Khwaja Garib Nawaz and Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti. His life is described in the famous book Siyar ul Arifin (Biographies of Mystics) written in the 16th century by the famous Sufi saint, Jamali, who collected stories from Iran and India.

The little child was special and showed his famous earth-like generosity right from his infancy itself. It is said that whenever any woman with a child came to his house and that child cried for milk, he would signal to his mother to give his share to that baby.

The turning point in his life came when he was in his teens. His father Saiyed Ghiyasuddin Hasan had died, and Moinuddin Hasan lived on his earnings from a garden and water mill, left to him by his father. A mazjub or a saint, Ibrahim Qandoozi, intoxicated by the thought or nearness of God came into that garden as Hasan was watering it. The young Moinuddin Hasan welcomed him and offered him some grapes. The saint was greatly pleased and taking out a piece of cake from his bag, chewed on a piece of it and then put it in the mouth of the young boy. As soon as he ate it, he experienced a change within him – a strange repulsion for worldly goods. He sold his garden and water mill and distributed the proceeds among the local mendicants.

He started living in Samarqand and Bukhara and studied the Quran and religious texts. After some years he went to Harwan in Nishapur (Iran) where he practised austerities under Sheikh Usman Harawani. He served his sheikh for many years. The search for knowledge led Moinuddin Hasan to many cities and he spent some time with the famed Baghdad Sufi saint Ghaus ul Azam of Abdul Qadir Jilani. Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan became very famous as a mystic and thousands would flock to him for guidance.

He was 52 years old when Sheikh Usman Harawani, who was pleased with him, gave him a khirqah or patched cloak of successor ship and appointed him his khalifa or spiritual successor. Once again he left on his travels and went to Ush, Isfahan, and then Mecca for Hajj and Medina.

In the Prophet’s mosque in Medina, while he was praying he is said to have heard the Prophet’s voice telling him to to go to Hindustan and to the city of Ajmer.

At that time he had no idea where Ajmer was. However, he proceeded via Baghdad and Herat to Lahore and thence to Delhi and Ajmer. Muizuddin Muhammad bin Sam of Ghor had already defeated Prithviraj Chauhan and established his rule in Delhi.

Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti started living and preaching in Ajmer. His illuminating and instructive discourses, full of spiritual insights, soon drew the local populace to him and he began to attract devotees from far and wide.

Some of his teachings were:

“Awwal sakhawate chun sakhawate dariya, dom shafqat-e-chun shafqat-e-aftab, siwam tawazo-e-chun tawazo-e-zameen (First, river like generosity; second, sun-like affection, and third, earth like hospitality).”

When once asked about the highest devotion of God, Gharib Nawaz remarked that it was nothing but: “Dar mandgaan ra fariyad raseedan wa haajat-e-baichaargaan ra rawa kardan wa gursingaan ra sair gardaneedan (To redress the misery of those in distress, to fulfil the needs of the helpless and to feed the hungry).”

He earned the soubriquet of Garib Nawaz or patron of the poor; even today thousands are fed in his dargah daily. The two huge deghs or pots donated by Mughal emperors, Akbar and Jahangir, in which rice is cooked and distributed daily are world famous. The pot presented by Akbar holds 4800kg of food and the one by Jahangir holds 2,400kg of food. Many grateful devotees whose prayers have been fulfilled contribute to it daily.

This year his urs falls on March 24, and is celebrated by millions from across the world. I get many questions on why a death anniversary is celebrated or what is an “Urs”. So here is a little explanation on that.

Urs comes from Arabic and literally means “wedding”.  The death anniversary of a Sufi saint in South Asia, is usually celebrated as a wedding anniversary at the saint’s dargah (shrine or tomb).

Why a wedding anniversary?

To understand that we must understand that a Sufi saint’s beloved is Allah and he/she spends their entire lifetime perfecting and preparing themselves for that union, which will be attained after death when the soul achieves union with the beloved divine.

This is ishq-e-haqeeqi which literally means “the real love” metaphorically signifies “the love of God”. It refers to the belief that only God is worth loving and he is the only one who can return his creature’s love for him.

https://www.dailyo.in/arts/sufism-saints-islam-khwaja-garib-nawaz-khwaja-moinuddin-chisti-urs-wedding-anniversary/story/1/23053.html

A baby was born in Sijistan (modern-day Sistan) in Iran around 536 AH or 1141/42 AD. His parents named him Moinuddin Hasan, and are said to have affectionately called him Hasan. Today, he is known by many names, the most famous of them being Khwaja Garib Nawaz and Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti. His life is described in the famous book Siyar ul Arifin (Biographies of Mystics) written in the 16th century by the famous Sufi saint, Jamali, who collected stories from Iran and India.

The little child was special and showed his famous earth-like generosity right from his infancy itself. It is said that whenever any woman with a child came to his house and that child cried for milk, he would signal to his mother to give his share to that baby.

The turning point in his life came when he was in his teens. His father Saiyed Ghiyasuddin Hasan had died, and Moinuddin Hasan lived on his earnings from a garden and water mill, left to him by his father. A mazjub or a saint, Ibrahim Qandoozi, intoxicated by the thought or nearness of God came into that garden as Hasan was watering it. The young Moinuddin Hasan welcomed him and offered him some grapes. The saint was greatly pleased and taking out a piece of cake from his bag, chewed on a piece of it and then put it in the mouth of the young boy. As soon as he ate it, he experienced a change within him – a strange repulsion for worldly goods. He sold his garden and water mill and distributed the proceeds among the local mendicants.

He started living in Samarqand and Bukhara and studied the Quran and religious texts. After some years he went to Harwan in Nishapur (Iran) where he practised austerities under Sheikh Usman Harawani. He served his sheikh for many years. The search for knowledge led Moinuddin Hasan to many cities and he spent some time with the famed Baghdad Sufi saint Ghaus ul Azam of Abdul Qadir Jilani. Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan became very famous as a mystic and thousands would flock to him for guidance.

He was 52 years old when Sheikh Usman Harawani, who was pleased with him, gave him a khirqah or patched cloak of successor ship and appointed him his khalifa or spiritual successor. Once again he left on his travels and went to Ush, Isfahan, and then Mecca for Hajj and Medina.

In the Prophet’s mosque in Medina, while he was praying he is said to have heard the Prophet’s voice telling him to to go to Hindustan and to the city of Ajmer.

At that time he had no idea where Ajmer was. However, he proceeded via Baghdad and Herat to Lahore and thence to Delhi and Ajmer. Muizuddin Muhammad bin Sam of Ghor had already defeated Prithviraj Chauhan and established his rule in Delhi.

Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti started living and preaching in Ajmer. His illuminating and instructive discourses, full of spiritual insights, soon drew the local populace to him and he began to attract devotees from far and wide.

Some of his teachings were:

“Awwal sakhawate chun sakhawate dariya, dom shafqat-e-chun shafqat-e-aftab, siwam tawazo-e-chun tawazo-e-zameen (First, river like generosity; second, sun-like affection, and third, earth like hospitality).”

When once asked about the highest devotion of God, Gharib Nawaz remarked that it was nothing but: “Dar mandgaan ra fariyad raseedan wa haajat-e-baichaargaan ra rawa kardan wa gursingaan ra sair gardaneedan (To redress the misery of those in distress, to fulfil the needs of the helpless and to feed the hungry).”

He earned the soubriquet of Garib Nawaz or patron of the poor; even today thousands are fed in his dargah daily. The two huge deghs or pots donated by Mughal emperors, Akbar and Jahangir, in which rice is cooked and distributed daily are world famous. The pot presented by Akbar holds 4800kg of food and the one by Jahangir holds 2,400kg of food. Many grateful devotees whose prayers have been fulfilled contribute to it daily.

This year his urs falls on March 24, and is celebrated by millions from across the world. I get many questions on why a death anniversary is celebrated or what is an “Urs”. So here is a little explanation on that.

Urs comes from Arabic and literally means “wedding”.  The death anniversary of a Sufi saint in South Asia, is usually celebrated as a wedding anniversary at the saint’s dargah (shrine or tomb).

Why a wedding anniversary?

To understand that we must understand that a Sufi saint’s beloved is Allah and he/she spends their entire lifetime perfecting and preparing themselves for that union, which will be attained after death when the soul achieves union with the beloved divine.

This is ishq-e-haqeeqi which literally means “the real love” metaphorically signifies “the love of God”. It refers to the belief that only God is worth loving and he is the only one who can return his creature’s love for him.

https://www.dailyo.in/arts/sufism-saints-islam-khwaja-garib-nawaz-khwaja-moinuddin-chisti-urs-wedding-anniversary/story/1/23053.html

A baby was born in Sijistan (modern-day Sistan) in Iran around 536 AH or 1141/42 AD. His parents named him Moinuddin Hasan, and are said to have affectionately called him Hasan. Today, he is known by many names, the most famous of them being Khwaja Garib Nawaz and Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti. His life is described in the famous book Siyar ul Arifin (Biographies of Mystics) written in the 16th century by the famous Sufi saint, Jamali, who collected stories from Iran and India.

The little child was special and showed his famous earth-like generosity right from his infancy itself. It is said that whenever any woman with a child came to his house and that child cried for milk, he would signal to his mother to give his share to that baby.

The turning point in his life came when he was in his teens. His father Saiyed Ghiyasuddin Hasan had died, and Moinuddin Hasan lived on his earnings from a garden and water mill, left to him by his father. A mazjub or a saint, Ibrahim Qandoozi, intoxicated by the thought or nearness of God came into that garden as Hasan was watering it. The young Moinuddin Hasan welcomed him and offered him some grapes. The saint was greatly pleased and taking out a piece of cake from his bag, chewed on a piece of it and then put it in the mouth of the young boy. As soon as he ate it, he experienced a change within him – a strange repulsion for worldly goods. He sold his garden and water mill and distributed the proceeds among the local mendicants.

He started living in Samarqand and Bukhara and studied the Quran and religious texts. After some years he went to Harwan in Nishapur (Iran) where he practised austerities under Sheikh Usman Harawani. He served his sheikh for many years. The search for knowledge led Moinuddin Hasan to many cities and he spent some time with the famed Baghdad Sufi saint Ghaus ul Azam of Abdul Qadir Jilani. Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan became very famous as a mystic and thousands would flock to him for guidance.

He was 52 years old when Sheikh Usman Harawani, who was pleased with him, gave him a khirqah or patched cloak of successor ship and appointed him his khalifa or spiritual successor. Once again he left on his travels and went to Ush, Isfahan, and then Mecca for Hajj and Medina.

In the Prophet’s mosque in Medina, while he was praying he is said to have heard the Prophet’s voice telling him to to go to Hindustan and to the city of Ajmer.

At that time he had no idea where Ajmer was. However, he proceeded via Baghdad and Herat to Lahore and thence to Delhi and Ajmer. Muizuddin Muhammad bin Sam of Ghor had already defeated Prithviraj Chauhan and established his rule in Delhi.

Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti started living and preaching in Ajmer. His illuminating and instructive discourses, full of spiritual insights, soon drew the local populace to him and he began to attract devotees from far and wide.

Some of his teachings were:

“Awwal sakhawate chun sakhawate dariya, dom shafqat-e-chun shafqat-e-aftab, siwam tawazo-e-chun tawazo-e-zameen (First, river like generosity; second, sun-like affection, and third, earth like hospitality).”

When once asked about the highest devotion of God, Gharib Nawaz remarked that it was nothing but: “Dar mandgaan ra fariyad raseedan wa haajat-e-baichaargaan ra rawa kardan wa gursingaan ra sair gardaneedan (To redress the misery of those in distress, to fulfil the needs of the helpless and to feed the hungry).”

He earned the soubriquet of Garib Nawaz or patron of the poor; even today thousands are fed in his dargah daily. The two huge deghs or pots donated by Mughal emperors, Akbar and Jahangir, in which rice is cooked and distributed daily are world famous. The pot presented by Akbar holds 4800kg of food and the one by Jahangir holds 2,400kg of food. Many grateful devotees whose prayers have been fulfilled contribute to it daily.

This year his urs falls on March 24, and is celebrated by millions from across the world. I get many questions on why a death anniversary is celebrated or what is an “Urs”. So here is a little explanation on that.

Urs comes from Arabic and literally means “wedding”.  The death anniversary of a Sufi saint in South Asia, is usually celebrated as a wedding anniversary at the saint’s dargah (shrine or tomb).

Why a wedding anniversary?

To understand that we must understand that a Sufi saint’s beloved is Allah and he/she spends their entire lifetime perfecting and preparing themselves for that union, which will be attained after death when the soul achieves union with the beloved divine.

This is ishq-e-haqeeqi which literally means “the real love” metaphorically signifies “the love of God”. It refers to the belief that only God is worth loving and he is the only one who can return his creature’s love for him.

https://www.dailyo.in/arts/sufism-saints-islam-khwaja-garib-nawaz-khwaja-moinuddin-chisti-urs-wedding-anniversary/story/1/23053.html

Ghalib himself always confessed to his weakness for wine and mocked himself for it.

“Yeh Masail-e-Tasawwuf..Yeh tera bayaan Ghalib,

Tujhe hum wali samajhte, jo na baadakhwaar hota”

(These profound philosophies that you propound Ghalib

We would have taken you for a saint if you weren’t a drunkard)

Many uninitiated fans of Urdu/Sufi poetry feel that the poets were living in a drunken stupor and produced their best poetry under the influence of wine. Though many Urdu poets such as Ghalib were very fond of wine, their allusion to wine was also on another plane.

Of course, nowadays wine is mostly used in the sense of alcohol itself.

Sharaab in Urdu comes from the Arabic word Sharb, which simply means a drink and the word sherbet in Urdu and sorbet in English originates from this word as a non-alcoholic drink while sharaab itself becomes any drink containing alcohol.

The Arabic word for wine is khamar from which the Urdu word khumaar or nasha or state of drunkenness originates or Nebidh. In fact the word for “alcohol” has origins in Arabic – الكحول (alkuHuul).

There are two types of sharaab: One is the ‘sharaab’ or wine and the other is Sharaab-e-tahoor or the mythical river of wine that flows in heaven.

From the time that Persian and Urdu poetry took shape, wine was used as a major symbol in it to allude to love/devotion to God. Just as a drunkard loses sense of himself when in the cups, a true worshipper is supposed to lose himself when his soul is intoxicated with God’s love.

There is a very famous story about Majnu, who once lost in his thoughts about Laila, walked in front of a man performing namaaz. The worshipper called out to complain that his prayers were spoilt because Majnu walked in front of him.

Majnu apologised but asked one pertinent question. He said that he was lost in his love for Leila and could not see the namaazi, how was it that a man who should be lost in the love of his maker could see him?

As Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, the Sufi saint said,

“Remember God so much

That you are forgotten.

Let the caller and

The called disappear,

Be lost in the call.”

Such should be the intoxication of love for the Divine and such love can only be explained to the layman in terms of “wine“ or “sharaab.”

Once ‘sharaab’/wine is taken as an allegory for love for the divine, it’s only a natural corollary that other things associated with it also get employed to convey the poet’s message.

So it’s a natural step that the ‘saqi’ or wine dispenser/cup bearer becomes Divine Grace and in some cases the Divine Himself. The cup which is used to pour the wine in thus becomes the drinker’s soul/body and the ‘maikhana’ or tavern becomes the world or worldly trappings of life.

As Ghalib writes:

“Mai’n aur bazm-e-mai se yoo’n tishna kaam aaoo’n,

Gar mai’n ne ki thi tauba, saqi ho Kya hua tha.”

(I and leave the gathering of wine drinkers, thirsty?

If I had given it up, what happened to the Cup Bearer?)

A very clear reference to the quality of Divine Mercy which is promised to all including Sinners.

The drinker then becomes the lover and the Divine becomes the Beloved.

“Mai se garz nishat hai kis roo-seah ko,

Ik gona bekhudi mujhe din raat chaahieye”

(Which black faced scoundrel refers to intoxication of wine?

A cup leading to total unawareness of self is all I want)

One of Ghalib’s finest verses saying that all he wants is the cup which will help him lose himself in the Beloved, the Divine.

Once the relation to the Divine is established it’s a small step to mocking and exposing the hypocrisy of the established religion with its emphasis on rituals and rigidity regarding behavioural norms.

Ghalib wrote some of his best lines at the expense of the Waaiz or preacher and Zaahid or the Abstemious One/teetotaller.

“Waaiz na khud peo, na kisi ko pila sako,

Kya baat hai tumhari sharaab-e-tahoor ki.”

(O Preacher, neither could you drink it, nor could you offer it

What is the use of your Pristine Wine?)

In this verse Ghalib questions the rigid method of reaching God through mindless prayers and rituals, which often drive people away, as opposed to simply losing oneself in His worship.

“kahaan maikhaane ka darwaaza ‘GHalib’ aur kahaan waaiz?

par itana jaante hain kal wo jaata tha ke ham nikle”

(What is the commonality between the door of the tavern, Ghalib and the preacher?

Yet I remember that yesterday he was entering as I came out.)

There are two possible meanings here, one that the Preacher is a hypocrite and in spite of preaching that wine is forbidden, he himself enters it covertly. The other is that while the sinner has already found a way to reach the Divine through losing himself in His love, the Preacher is just discovering this road.

“Zauq jo madrason ke bigre hue hain mulla

unhein maikhane le aao, sanvar jayeinge”

(Zauq those preachers, spoilt by the religious schools

Bring them to the tavern and they will improve)

This verse by Zauq seems to have been written for the present day! Today rigid teachings and narrow thought processes have restricted man’s vision and given rise to all kinds of sectarian conflicts. The ‘quality of mercy’ is indeed strained.

As Daagh Dehalvi, Ghalib’s contemporary says:

“Aashiqi se milega aey zaahid

Bandagi se Khuda nahi’n milta…”

(Oh Abstentious One, it’s through love

And not worship that you will find God)

Challenging the concept that God is confined to mosques, an unknown poet asks:

“Zaahid sharaab piine de masjid men baiTh kar

yaa vo jagah bataa jahaan par Khudaa na ho”

(O Abstentious One let me drink wine in the mosque

Or tell me of a place where God isn’t present!)

“raat pee zamzam pe mai aur subh_dam

dhoye dhab’be jaam-e-’eharaam ke” – Ghalib

(At night I drank wine from the holy Zamzam and at dawn

I washed off the stains from my dress)

(zamzam – a well in Kaaba whose water is considered holy, ‘eharaam – dress for ‘haj’)

Here the allusion is clearly to devotion and the belief that after performing Hajj all sins are supposed to have been washed away.

“meri sharaab ki kyaa qadr tujh ko ai vaaiz

jise main pii ke duaa duun vo jannatii ho jaaye” – Unknown

(O preacher, you do not know the price of my wine

The one whom I bless in a state of intoxication, becomes deserving of Heaven)

“Lutf-e-mai tujh se kya kahu’n, zahid,

Haae kambakht tu ne pi hi nahi’n.”

(How can I explain the pleasures of wine, O Abstentious One

Aah you wretched one, you have never tasted it)

How does one explain the joys of getting intoxicated in the love of the Beloved to one who insists on going by the Book? Asks Daagh Dehalvi

“ye janab-e-sheikh ka falsafa bhi alag hai saare jahan se

jo wahan piyo to halaal hai jo yahan piyo to haraam ha”

(The philosophy of the esteemed Sheikh is indeed different from the rest

If you drink there it’s legitimate, if you drink it here it’s forbidden)

Jigar Moradabadi seems to be questioning the rigidity of religious rituals, which place much importance on time and place as opposed to uninhibited, spontaneous, intoxicating love as a form of worshipping the Divine.

Sufis used qawwali as a form of inducing a state of trance or ‘haal’ or ‘samaa’ and these qawwalis employed sharaab as a symbol of love for the Divine.

Main Sharaabi by Aziz Mian also explains this concept of sharaab as devotion and love of the Divine and infallibles

“Abbas ne dariya pe shaane kata ke pee

Shabeer ne namaaz mein sar kata ke pee”

(*Abbas sacrificed his arms at the river, and drank

Shabbir sacrificed his neck in a state of namaz and drank)

(*Reference to the martyrdom of Hazrat Abbas and Imam Hussain in Karbala)

It is true that Sufis are intoxicated but that intoxication is the heady sense of feeling the presence of One True God, the eternal truth and a union with Him.

“The grapes of my body can only become wine

After the winemaker tramples me.

I surrender my spirit like grapes to his trampling

So my inmost heart can blaze and dance with joy.

Although the grapes go on weeping blood and sobbing

“I cannot bear any more anguish, any more cruelty”

The trampler stuffs cotton in his ears: “I am not working in ignorance

You can deny me if you want, you have every excuse,

But it is I who am the Master of this Work.

And when through my Passion you reach Perfection,

You will never be done praising my name.” – Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi

“Dreaming when Dawn’s Left Hand was in the Sky

I heard a voice within the Tavern cry,

Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup

Before Life’s Liquor in its Cup be dry.” – Omar Khayyam

“In Allah’s garden you gather roses,

Being drunk with divine mysteries:

Hazrat Mehboob-e-Elahi — the beloved of Allah,

O, how I long for the attar of your company.” – Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia

“O Winebringer, throw some of Your best wine in our face,

For it is time to wake up!” – Hafez

“So what if love’s idol is hidden? One’s heart will never be far away.

My guide lives many mountains away, but he is visible before me.

Whoever has one grain of love is drunk without wine.

They are true mystics, Bahu, whose graves are alive.” – Sultan Bahu

NOTE: These sms verses are not by the greats under whose names they are floated around:

Note: All translations of Urdu verses done by me. The English translations of the Sufi poets have been sourced from the internet, and the links are mentioned below

1. http://www.countercurrents.org/rism290410.htm

1. http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Themes/Wine.htm

2. http://globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/rumi/intro_star.html

• See more at: http://blog.tehelka.com/sharaab-sufism-and-shayari/#sthash.4WV6sljx.dpuf

This article first published in Tehelka blogs

http://blog.tehelka.com/sharaab-sufism-and-shayari/

It was covered in the Urdu newspapers Inqilaab,  Sahafat aur Siyasi Taqdeer

Since students clapped at a number of places I am presuming it was well received

But what is a qawwali?
Its a genre which has its origin in India and is most popular in the sub continent.
Sufi ‘sama mehfils’ always used music as a means of inducing trance – ‘haal’.
Those who go into state of ‘haal’ trance and dance are very popularly known as the Whirling Dervish.

There are various stories about the origin of qawwali. I give one below.
Be as it may it was developed by Hazrat Amir Khusrau from the Prophets qaul.
It is narrated that Hazrat Amir Khusrau went to the khanqah of Hazrat Bu Ali Shah Qalandar , who asked him to sing something in praise of Amirul Momineen Hazrat Ali.Hazrat Bu Ali Shah was a famous Chisti sufi saint.Amir Khusrau obeyed Hazrat Bu Qalander and set Rasool e Khuda, pbuh s qaul to music
Note : Qaul literally means a saying and this name is bestowed to the sayings of the Prophet pbuh.

The most popular qaul of the Prophet
“Man kunto maula,
Fa haza Ali-un maula ”
”whoever accepts me as a maul (master), Ali is his master too”.
was set to music by the genius Amir Khusrau on the spot. He added the famous tarana

“Dara dil-e dara dil-e dar-e daani.
Hum tum tanana nana, nana nana ray
Yalali yalali yala, yala ray “

to give body and soul to the music and help to induce a trance.

I have 13 versions of Man Kunto Maula and my favourite versions are by Aziz Mian, Abida Parween, Ustad Shujaat Hussain and Abbas Ali Khan.
Amir Khusrau was entrusted with the work of developing Qawwali as a complete form of music and he selected 12 young students whom he called qawwal bachcha. It is through them that he presented Qaul Qalbana and other forms of Qawwali.
Munshi Raziuddin and his sons Farid Ayaz and Abu mohamed are descendants from those qawwal bachchas
Farid Ayaz and Abu Mohammed
Famous scions of the Qawwal bachcha also include Ustad Bahauddin Khan Qawwal and Ustad Meraj Ahmed Nizami