Sufi Poetry and Kathak

PAPER 5 DANCE, POETS AND POETRY, RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY AND INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE MODULE 21: SUFI POETRY AND KATHAK Kathak, as the only Indian classic dance to draw from both Hindu and Islamic influences, has an opportunity to blend cultures, regardless of religious differences. This becomes important in wake of the fact that there has always been religious influence on Indian arts. While many saw Kathak as an ancient tradition traversing a long route, since times of ancient history and orality, Margaret Walker, director of the School of Music at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, disagrees. Having deconstructed the history of the classical dance, Walker argues that Kathak is a 20th-century revival dance form that draws from a variety of sources, harking specifically to Hinduism and Islam. As in the earlier part we have successfully established the fact that Kathak saw an unprecedented efflorescence during the bhakti period, could one say the same of Kathak and Sufi links. Meditative practices of the Sufis, especially the repetitive whirling and pirouetting, and the Sufi imagery of dance, would certainly suggest it. Emerging around the year 800, the Sufis were originally pious devotees, whose poor woolen clothes showed their humility. "Sufi" comes from the Arabic word “suf” which stands for wool. Above all, the Sufis sought the divine reality or ultimate truth that stands above all the illusions and deceptions of the material world. In order to achieve ecstatic union with God, they incorporated techniques of sound and movement -- chanting and music, swaying and dance. Believers joined in tight-knit brotherhoods or tariqhs / तारीकः, each following a charismatic leader (shaykh / श뵍ख). While the Islamic courts later went on to patronize music and dance, more is owed to the sufi shrines. It was the footprint of Sufi influence across India in the religious, meditative and performative practices, during the early centuries of Muslim rule in India. “Dhikr / धिक्र’ or “Zikr / ज़िक्र” is the repetition of God’s name as a meditative exercise. It was the prescribed method of devotion for the Sufis. “Dhikr” is usually done individually but in some Sufi orders or ‘silsilahs / सिऱसिऱा’ it is instituted as a ceremonial activity. In some silsilahs, particularly the popular Chistiya / धिज़ततया silsilah, music and dance were permitted forms of “Dhikr”. For this, while in other parts of the world the Sufis had been prosecuted, in India they found a more welcoming environment, and these mystical music sessions called ‘Sema / िेमा’, became a defining feature of Sufism in India. Sufism is believed to have passed through three stages in medieval India, of which the first was the Khanqah / खानगाह stage that lasted till the end of the 12th century. The Khanqah was a place where wandering Sufis congregated to pursue the devotional life under a master, although there was no special bond between master and student. The second stage was the Tariqa / ताररका stage, which began in the 13th century and was distinguished by the formation of schools around masters. There was a pir-murid / पीर-मुरीद (master- disciple) relationship and each Khanqah was defined by a degree of systematization, differentiation and specialization. At the time of Feroz Shah Tughlaq (1309-1388), one hundred and twenty Khanqahs were built. He built a major Madrasa at Hauz Khas that became one of the most important centres of Islamic learning. The third and final stage of Sufism was the Taifa / ताइफा stage, which commenced from 15th century onwards. Veneration of the Pir, who was an intermediary between the disciple and God, became the hallmark of this stage, resulting in the Pirs being recognized as saints. Their orders became hereditary and their shrines were empowered by the “barkat / बरकत” of the saint to become centres of devotion. This is also the period when women began visiting the shrines, and even though they were not allowed to enter, they were happy to make offerings from the outside, in the hope that the Pir would mediate with the supreme power, on their behalf. Many devotional practices at these shrines developed at this stage, which were similar to Hindu practices like circumambulation, touching relics, lighting lamps, candles and incense, fasting, witnessing miracles, offering ‘nazar / निर’ to the successors, and singing devotional songs. By this time, Sufism had really captured public attention and affection, and huge crowds would throng the shrines, participating in the Qawalis / कवाऱी and other mehfils / मेहफफऱ, or gatherings. Some of these mehfils also included songs that would be sung and performed by the renowned musicians and dancing girls of Delhi. While dancing girls had no direct association with religious institutions, being patronized mostly by the court and the aristocracy, it became a custom for them to visit the shrines of saints revered by Hindus and Muslims. Here they sang songs in praise of the prophet and poems composed by Sufi poets. There was also a tradition of gatherings in the homes of living Sufi saints. Their shrines became important centres of cultural life of Delhi in the medieval times. As medieval Indian prospered with towns, marketplaces and cantonments coming into being, the sensibilities of the Indians moved from the fixity of Sanskrit to a more flexible environment with a lot of give and take of languages, traditions and features. This was the environment that gave the intellectual space for the rise of the Sufi faith and the bhakti movement. Even today, the Sufis are the power that has made Islam the world's second-largest religion, with perhaps 1.2 billion adherents. They are not a sect of Islam, but rather heirs of an ancient mystical tradition within both the Sunni and Shia branches of the faith. The word "Sufi" conjures up images of mystical poetry or dance. Thirteenth century poet Rumi was a legendary Sufi, as are Turkey's whirling dervishes. But these are just the most visible expressions of a movement that runs deeply through the last thousand years of Islam. Mention must be made of one of the less acknowledged strands of Indian Sufism- the mystical Krishnaite tradition developed by Muslim Sufis. In the verses that these Sufis composed, which are still widely sung in the north Indian country-side, the love [lila] between Krishna and his gopis forms the central image and motif, symbolising the perfect attachment between the Sufi and God. Two names stand out in this context- that of Malik Mohamed Jayasi and Ras Khan. Malik Muhammad Jayasi (1477-1542), who wrote the first significant work in the Awadhi dialect, established a flow of love-linked cult (Premashrayi Dhara) in 'Nirgun Brahmopasana / ननगुणु ब्राह्मोपािना' selecting the medium of the story of 'Padmawati / पद्मावती' and 'Ratnasen / र配नािेन'. By the metaphor of meeting and separation- 'Sanyoga' and 'Viyoga', he dictated the lesson of Gyan and Yoga. Accepting this very basic concept, Jayasi in his “Padmavat” wrote about erotic, worldly love and spiritual unworldly love in 'Masanavi Shaili / मािनावी शैऱी'. It is believed that his ancestors were resident of Arab, and they came into India probably in connection with their business. He lost his one eye due to attack of smallpox in his very early childhood. His parents left this world when he was a child and wandered here and there with saints and fakirs. Later, he lost all his sons to death following which he felt such severe detachment (Vairagya) from the world that he entered the world of the sufis. He made the Sufi saint Shekh Mubarak Bodle his Guru and accepted the path of Sufi religious faith. His fame as a Sufi saint spread abroad and from his works he explained the Sufi ideas. In using Krishnaite imagery, these Sufis performed a dual purpose: making their doctrines more intelligible to the masses, and bringing Hindus and Muslims closer to each other in a shared universe of discourse. The most well-known of the Indian Muslim Sufis who wrote principally in the Krishnaite mould was the sixteenth century Ras Khan. Ras Khan’s name means ‘mine of nectar’. Much of the little that we know about his life is shrouded in myth and mystery. His actual name is said to have been Ibrahim Khan, and he was born in the village of Pihani in the Hardoi district in what is now Uttar Pradesh. As to how he embarked on the Krishnaite path, there are great differences of opinions. According to one story, as contained in the medieval text Bhaktakalpadruma / भ啍तक쥍पद्रमु , he once travelled to Brindavan along with his Sufi preceptor. There he fell unconscious and had a vision of Krishna. Thereafter, he remained in Brindavan till he breathed his last. Another version has it that Ras Khan fell in love with a very proud woman, but later, on reading the Bhagwat Purana he was so deeply impressed by the unselfish love of the gopis for Krishna that he left his proud mistress and headed straight for Brindavan. There are several more, that can’t be recounted here in the interest of brevity. The fact is that Ras Khan began living in Brindavan, composing and singing the Krishnaite Sufi poetry for which he is still so fondly remembered. Raskhan spoke both Hindi and Persian, and wrote in Braj Bhasha. He translated the “Bhagwat Puran” into Persian. Ras Khan's verses, in his best known work “Premavatika / प्रेमवाटिका” which consists of fifty- three verses, mostly deal with the nature of true spiritual love, using the love between Radha and Krishna as a model. His verses in have become a part of the Kathak abhinaya repertoire.

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