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Kanhavata, a K¤∑Iaite Sufi Text Attributed to Malik Muhammad Jayasi

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Kanhavata, a K¤∑Iaite Sufi Text Attributed to Malik Muhammad Jayasi KANHAVATA, A K¤∑ıAITE SUFI TEXT ATTRIBUTED TO MALIK MUHAMMAD JAYASI Kanhavata is a Sufi text in Hindi based on the story of K®Ò∞a. The author of this text is supposed to be Malik Muhammad Jayasi1 the author of Padmavata who composed this work in 947 A.H. (1540 A.D.). san nau sai saiµtaris ahi tahiya saras bacan kabi kahi2 “It was nine hundred forty seven (1540 A.D.) when the poet uttered this sweet narration”. The poet refers to the Mughal king Humayun as his contemporary king Dehli kahaã chatrapati naã badshah bar naã Humayun3 “The name of the great king of Dehli is Humayun. He is a great monarch.” He mentions the name of Shaikh Burhan as his Guru who belonged to the mehdavi4 sect of the Sufis in India. Mahadi ambrit mi†h guru shaikh Burahan pem panth ka di†h Muhamad ehi nicint path5 1 Malik Muhammad Jayasi is the most famous Sufi poet of Hindi literature and his Padmavata which depicts the love of Ratna Sen and Padmavati, in an allegorical manner, is a Sufi text. Padmavata was composed in 947A.H. (1540 A.D.). 2 Malik Muhammad Jayasi, Kanhavata, Vara∞asi, Annapur∞a Prakasan, 1981. There is another edition of the Kanhavata edited by Siv Sahay Pathak, Allahabad, Sahitya bha- van limited, 1981. san nau sai saitaris ahai tahiya saras bacan kavi kahai (verse 13/1). Pathak has ‘ahai' and ‘kahai' instead of ‘ahi' and ‘kahi' as Gupta has reconstructed the text. 3 GUPTA, Kanhavata, verse 5, Pathak verse 4. 4 Mehdavi movement was started was started in India by Saiyid Muhammad Jaunpuri (A.D. 1443-1509). It was a reformist movement. Shaikh Burhan belonged to this sect. He was a great ascetic and lived in Kalpi which is in Uttar Pradesh. For details on Mehdavi movement see ATHAR ABBAS RIZVI, Muslim Revivalist Movement in Northern India, Agra University Press, 1965, p. 68-106. For details on Malik Muhammad Jayasi's teacher, Burhan, see my Madhya Yugin Premakhyan, Allahabad, 1982, p. 97-98. In Citralekha which is attributed to Jayasi, Burhan has been referred to as a Guru who lived in Kalpi. Mahdi Guru Shaikh Burahanu, Kalpi nagar tohik asthanu. Ibid. p. 99. “Mahdi Burhan is my Guru. He lives in the city of Kalpi”. Burhan perhaps lived one hundred years and died in 970 A.H. (1562A.D.). 5 PA™HAK, Kanhavata, verse 5. This doha is not found in Gupta's edition and it seems to be an interpolation because this couplet is an additional one in the text. Pathak has 188 S.M. PANDEY “Mehdi Shaikh Burhan is my guru. His temperament is as sweet as nectar. He showed me the path of love. Muhammad is without any anxiety on this path”. The poet remembers Saiyyad Ashraf Jahangir6 as his pir who was a Chishtii saint and who died long before Jayasi in 808 A.H. (1406) during the reign of Ibrahim Shah Sharqi of Jaunpur. kahauµ sariat pir piyara Saiyad Ashraf jag ujiyara7 “My Pir Saiyad Ashraf loves Sariat. He is illuminated in this world”. The poet mentions his city of Jayas also, where he lived many years kahauµ nagar ba® apan †haã sada sohava Jayas naã8 “I tell you my city, Jayas, is great. Its name always pleases me”. From all these references it appears that Kanhavata was composed by Jayasi himself or by some one who knew Jayasi well. Shaikh Burhan, Saiyyid Ashraf and the city of Jayas all are mentioned in the Padmavata as well as in the Kanhavata and there are also some other lines common to both texts. However Kanhavata is very inferior in comparison to the Padmavata as far as poetry is concerned. Important manuscripts of the Padmavata refer to the date of its com- position as being 947 A.H. (1540 A.D.). Some other manuscrpts allude accepted this doha without critically examining the text. However, in the next verse Pa†hak (verse 6) and Gupta verse (7) Burhan has been referred to as the teacher of the poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi who is supposed to be the author of Kanhavata. Akhara- va†a and Citralekha also mention Shaikh Burhan. These two works are also attributed to Malik Muhammad Jayasi. 6 Saiyyad Ashaf Jahangir: He came from Simnan (Persia) to India. He was a king in Simanan (Persia), but at the age of twenty three he left his kingship. He met many Sufis in India and visited their tombs. He participated in the funeral of Shaikh Yahya Sarfuddin Maneri who died in 782 A.H. (1380) in Bihar. Later he went to Bengal and became the disciple of Shaikh Alaul Haq. His teacher sent him to Jafrabad in Jaunpur. From Jaunpur he went to Kachaucha, now in Faizabad district of U.P. where he died in A.D. 1406 (808 A.H.) during the period of Ibrahim Shah Sharqi. He is said to have lived 120 years which is hard to believe. Disciples generally try to give a long life to their teachers. For details see Madhyayugin Premakhyan, Allahabad 1982, p. 96, also ATHAR ABBAS RIZVI, A History of Sufism in India, Delhi, Munshiram and Manohar Lal, vol. 1 p. 266- 270. 7 GUPTA, Kanhavata, verse 6/1. Pa†hak, verse 5/1. 8 Gupta has some doubts about the reading Jayas (Note 137). His reading is Janas for Jayas. In fact, Jayas seems to be a correct reading. See Pathak verse 7/1. Jayas is a city in Raebareli (Ray bareli) district in Uttar Pradesh near Lakhnau (Lucknow). KANHAVATA, A K¤∑ıAITE SUFI TEXT 189 to 927 A.H. as being the date of composition. Mata Prasad Gupta accepted the date of the composition of the Padmavata9 as 947 A.H. The same date is found for the composition of the Kanhavata in the text although the contemporary king is Humayun here and not Shershah as in Padma- vata. It is unlikely that Jayasi would have started or completed these texts together. The language and style of the Kanhavata does not indicate that this work was composed by a great poet, despite the fact that a Doha meter of 24 Matras, Caupai of 16 Matras and Dohas appearing after seven lines is the same as in Padmavata. The detailed descriptions, imagery and the poetic excellence that we find in the Padmavata are not found in Kanhavata even though they are supposed to be the compositions of the same date 947 A.H. (1540 A.D.). At the end of the Kanhavata the poet says: Muhammad kavi kanhavata gaye ras bhakha kai sabahi sunaye11 “The poet Muhammad sang Kanhavata and made every one hear this sweet vernacular poetry (bhakha rasa)”. In the end of the Padmavata we also find the same kind of proclamation Muhammad yah kavi jori sunava suna jo pem pir ga pava12 “Muhammad composed and recited the poetry. He who heard it suffered from the pain of love (pem pir)”. 9 san nau sai santalis ahai. katha arambh bain kavi kahai. “It is the year 947 A.H. that the poet is telling the beginning part of the story (poem)”. Jayasi, Padmavata (ed.) Mata Prasad Gupta, Allahabad, Bhararti bhan∂ar 1963, verse 24/1. 10 During the year 947 A.H. (1540 A.D.) Humayun was not perhaps the king of Delhi. He was defeated by Sher Shah and he became a homeless wanderer, first in Sindh and then in Marva®, and finally in Sindh again. In the mist of the misery his son Akbar was born at Umarkot 1542. The author of the Kanhavata mentions Humayu as a contemporary king. In the Padmavata Malik Muhammad Jayasi alludes to Shershah as a contemporary king. But there is no proof that Sher Shah had assumed the kingship of Delhi definitely in 947A.H. Most probably Sher Shah was a crowned king in 948 A.H. P.L. Gupta argues on the basis of the contemporary coins that Humayuun was still the king at that time and Sher Shah formally ascended the throne in 947 A.H. though he had defeated Humayun. (see Gupta's edition of Kanhavata 1981, introduction p. 30-36. If the Kanhavata is the work of malik Muhammad Jayassi it could be argued that Humayun was not perhaps defeated in the earlier part of the year 947 A.H. May 1540). Any way this year was a transitional period, a poet could have his preference for any one of these two kings. 11 Kanhavata (ed.) P.L. Gupta, verse 362/1. 12 Jayasi, Padmavata (ed.) Mata Prasad Gupta, Allahabad, Bharati Bha∞∂ar, 1963, verse 652/1. 190 S.M. PANDEY Although there are some doubts about the author of the Kanhavata, and we cannot definitely say that Malik Muhammad Jayasi himself composed Kanhavata, still the importance of this work can not be min- imised since this is a work composed by a Muslim poet who adopts the story of K®Ò∞a for his composition. The date of the composition 1540, which is the period of Humayun and Sher Shah, also makes the work important. The K®Ò∞aite poems of Suradasa who lived during the period of Akbar (A.D. 1556-1605) belong to a relatively later date. The author of Kanhavata claims that he has used the ViÒ∞u, Padma, Siva, Agni and Harivµsa Pura∞as. In order to search for the path of love he claims to have also studied and heard the Bhagavata Pura∞a13. He admires Veda Vyasa and says ais prem kahani dosari jag mãh nahi turki arabi farasi sab dekhau avagahi 14 “I went through all the Turkish, Arabic and Persian sources but did not find any Prem Kahani (love story) like this in this world”.
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