topics: |  india | religion | history |

most of us growing up in india have a view of our religious history that
goes something like this:

   a. in the beginning there was hinduism, starting with the vedas, and
	progressing through the upanishads, the gita, saMkara, chaitanya, and
	others until we get to rAmAkriShNa in modern times.

   b. there were offshoots such as buddhists and jains.  these are viewed
	as being closely related to hinduism

   c. from about 1000 A.D. onwards, islamic soldiers started capturing
	parts of indian territory.  owing to aggressive policies such as
	forceful conversion, destroying temples, differential taxes etc.,
	many hindus converted to islam.

there are many inaccuracies and myths in this view.  problems with (a)
include the fact that "hinduism" was far from a single monolithic idea.
the peoples whom we see as "hindu" today all had (and have) different
beliefs and rituals.  there were hundreds of folk deities worshipped
intensely in regions or even more broadly.  

the brahmanic religion (the "great tradition") gradually adopted these
"little traditions" into its folds, in a process that Srinivasa
sanskritization.  the mother goddess does not appear in the vedas, and
shiva (as rudra) is a pale shadow of what he became later. he is little
mentioned, (compared to indra, agni, or mAruta), and is not associated with
yoga or knowledge.  The Rig Veda has only three riks on him.  he is feared
as the god of anger, disease, death, and destruction. Uttering his name was
inauspicious.
[see Jayaram V.: History of Shaivism ]

perhaps the greatest power of hinduism was the power of its stories - the
local gods were designated as a form of deity X in the great tradition and
the followers of the local gods incorporated. this process was often
preceded by years of struggle and contention.

there was a tradition then, of accepting and even integrating other religious
structures.  not only the buddhists and jains, but possibly even the jews
(who came to cochin in 500 BC and 70 BC) and also the early muslims in
Tamil Nadu and Kerala - were viewed by the local "hindus" of the time as
yet another sect with even more diverse beliefs.

of the three assumptions listed above, the third, that islams converted large
swathes of India by the sword that causes the greatest anguish among modern
day hindus (especially the militants).

while it is true that in part, some islamic rulerrs did try to convert
people by force and by tearing down temples, the vast majority of people in
india (and particularly in bengal) who were converted to islam did so not
because of coercion alone, but due to the influence of a large group of
islamic mystics, whose dargahs still attract thousands of devotees from
many faiths.

this thin volume notes how at the time of the muslim incursions, the
vedantic school was increasingly facing challenges from homegrown rebels in
the bhakti paradigm.  bhakti or the personal path to god (through
devotion) may have started in the south with the alvars (6th-9th c.) and
intensified with other lower caste rebels such as bAsavAnna (12th c.).
after the muslim incursions this faith religious leaders such as rAmAnanda
felt constrained to accept disciples from all castes.

it is surprising how little the average indian knows about the history of
these pirs and their similarities and interactions with the sufis who were
the bhakti face of islam.

The complexities within Hinduism are many: 

i. "hinduism" is NOT A SINGLE MONOLITHIC IDEA.  there was
   constant dispute, even among the various groups that took the vedas to be
   autoritative.  no one practicing "hinduism" knew they were doing that -
   some were praying to vishNu, others to Siva, and many more to local
   deities in various parts of the peninsula.  perhaps the jews who arrived
   in 400BC and the christians who came around 50 AD, were also thought of by
   the "hindus" as just another god in the hindu pantheon.  with time, many
   of these local deities got identified with the purANic pantheon.  if
   hinduism has a core, it may be more in the epics (which vary widely) than
   in the "holy" texts.  the "sanatan dharm" view of vedic hinduism was a
   19th c. idea.

ii. REBELS who were rejected - nAstikas: there were many rebellions against
   the brahmanical system.  in fact, the brahmanistic philosophical system
   admits of two schools - astikas who believe that the vedas are prAmANya
   or authoritative (nyAya, mimAMsa, vaisheSika, saMkhya, yoga, and
   vedAnta) and the nAstikas who don't (chArvakas or lokAyatas, buddhists,
   jains).  the chArvAkas are the most radical - they reject re-birth and
   the soul (even if there is a soul, it is extinguished along with the
   body).  they believe that the body is a material thing, and since there
   is no afterlife, there is no sin, or benediction, and the consequence is
   hedonism, that one should enjoy (the word "charv" means "to eat").  the
   buddhists and jains, though they do not accept everything in the vedas,
   they do accept the soul and re-birth.  buddhists reject caste.

iii. REBELS who were accepted : in addition, there are many others who
   rebelled against the brahmanical structure, but remained within the
   fold, particularly among the lower castes.  many of these, such as the
   lower-caste alvar saint thiruppAn (8th c.), or the saivite rebel
   bAsavAnna (12th c.)  spread the message of personal love as opposed to
   the vedantic tradition of mAyA being rooted in avidyA or ignorance.
   these groups had the same gods, except it did not admit the hegemony of
   brahmin priests.

   rebel groups like buddhists formed well-delineated processes for accepting
   others into their fold, thus becoming a proselytizing
   religion.  In fact it si this idea of a homogeneous "religion" which led
   to the notion of "religion" a source of identity.

iv. REBELS affected MAINSTREAM hinduism: buddhism became immensely
   successful (with occasional imperial support).  by the early centuries
   after christ, buddhism, with its clean casteless society and personal
   meditation, had become a serious threat to the brahmanical tradition.
   in fact, by the tenth century, hindu reformers like ramanuja were
   rejecting the shankarist stance and promoting bhakti - direct,
   unmediated, personal devotion - as a path of enlightenment, as opposed
   to sacrifices mediated by brahmaNs.

   (see, for example, a.k. ramanujan's fascinating text,
   speaking of siva (1973) which
   discusses and translates the devotional poetry of bAsavaNNa,
   dAsimayyA, mahAdeviyakka and allAma prabhu.

this work by kshitimohan sen (amartya sen's grandfather), takes us on a
journey to the muslim dargahs during the British era, and recounts the
fascinating history of the interaction between indian and islamic mysticism
in the early centuries of millennium starting 1000 A.D.

Excerpts

rich though it was from its early (upaniSadic) period, indian mysticism
became doubly [enriched] when islam came to be a power in india. impact
of this new and powerful faith released the latent forces of india's
religious life, and it was by her mystics that a synthesis was sought to
be brought about between the conflicting elements of the two.

those who achieved and guided this synthesis were persons who, due to
their birth in the so-called lower classes of society, were free from
the bondage of scriptures or of any institutional religion.  another very
important fact about them was that they had no ascetic aversion to life
and its responsibilities and, in this respect too, they stand in sharp
contrast to the christian mystics of europe.  these facts explain the
vigorous and marvellous development of mysticism in medieval
india. [preface]

---

in the Vedic mantras (hymns) where riSis (seers) like vasiSTha sang hymns
in praise of indra, varuNa and other deities we have bhakti in its
incipient stage. but the aryans on the one hand liked the formalism of
sacrifice and other rituals, and on the other hand sometimes they evinced
a leaning towards the pure knowledge of the brahman. an abundance of the
attitude of bhakti however existed among the dravidians and probably
other pre-aryan settlers of the land.  the intellectualism of the aryans
when it blended with the early cult of bhakti gradually began to make the
religious spirit of india deeper and broader. p.4

the religious experience of the mahomedans as well as their opposing
ideals resulted in the awakening of the same bhakti in the northern
india.  the great teacher rAmAnanda brought these two currents of bhakti
together.  he gave up the use of sanskrit, and preached in the peoples'
language about j~nAna (knowledge) and bhakti to all irrespective of
their castes.  and mahomedans also in their turn came to be influenced by
this kind of idealism.  the staunch puritanism and pure monotheistic faith
which they brought along with them gradually began to be tinged with the
colour of indian thoughts.  during her middle ages india began afresh to
replenish her treasure of ideas by a remarkable union of those two
different kinds of idealism.  p.8

sAdhakas from islam

many of course became converts to islam due either to greed and material
advantages or to a threat of death and oppression administered by the
invaders and their militant followers, but the true conquest of india's
heart could not be effected in this abominable way.  it needed the coming
of mahomedan saints and sAdhakas for accomplishing such a piece of work.·
and who but these people could satisfy them whose intense thirst for
idealism made them look for a new truth and a new ideal? for, we need not
repeat that conversion to islam was never restricted to those people only
who were guided in this matter merely by worldly interests or
considerations, either by a greed of wealth and position, or by a fear
of death and oppression, or by a feeling of revolt against the existing
social or religious organisation.

at a time when the socio-religious order came to be dissociated from a
great truth, the blind and lifeless society failed to solve the problem
of her neglected millions. had these latter no other means of escape they
would have become resigned to their fate and allowed themselves to be
trampled on for ages. but a new force came to give them
deliverance.  sAdhakas came from abroad with their different ideals and
began to settle in different parts of india.  under these circumstances
those people, who were still an unsolved problem with the hindu society,
collected round these sAdhakas.   places where the latter met their
disciples and guided them to the new truth gradually grew up to be places
of pilgrimage.  p.11

but among these newly arrived personages too, those who were orthodox and
intolerant mussulmans could not win the heart of people so much, as did
the sAdhakas full of sUfi idealism.  indeed there were many other factors
that led to the numerical strengthening of islam in india, but the root
of its spiritual influence is to be looked for in the efforts of the
latter class of idealists.

due to natural reasons these illustrious new-comers appeared first in
the punjab and sindh; for these places lay in the historic way by which
foreigners came down to india.

makhdum saiyad ali al hujwiri

an account of these sAdhakas must begin with the famous makhdum saiyad
ali al hujwiri popularly known as data-ganj bakhsh or al jullawi
(al jullabi).  he was an inhabitant of jullab and hujwir near ghazni.
during his early life he travelled over many countries and finally made
lahore the field of his spiritual activities.  it was here that his life
came to a close.  even to these days many pilgrims mahomedans as well as
hindus come to pay their homage to the saint at his tomb or mazar near
the bhATi darwAjA of lahore.  from an inscription on its door we learn
that he died in 1072 (465 a.h.).

many pilgrims assemble around the tomb on every thursday but the great
annual fair takes place on the fourth thursday in the month of srAvaNa
(august).  the story goes that saints like khwaja muinuddin, khwaja
kutabuddin kAki, khwaja or bAbA fariduddin realised the highest truth
after spiritual exercises on this very spot. p.12

hujwiri's great work was the kashf-al-mahjub or the mysteries unveiled.
it is a valuable help for the sAdhaka of the sUfi class.  according to
the local people he is the first preceptor of sUfism in india.

a few years ago the present lecturer was a pilgrim to the shrine of
hujwiri and he saw that pilgrims had come there from different parts of
the punjab, such as the places of saints like miAn mIr, shAhdar mAli
shah, muhammad goni, pak donA sAhib, madholal husain, khwaja sulaiman,
and from mazars of mir janjani and khwaja sulaiman tausi.  the last two
names belong to lahore and rawalpindi respectively.

teachings of al-hujwiri

in the kashf-al mahjub, hujwiri has taught that, for at least three years
the sAdhaka should be under the care of a proper teacher.  during the
first year he should free himself from pride and serve the humanity.  in
the next he should harmonise all his actions with divine idealism and
serve god.  in the third or the last year he will have to realise his
own true nature, that is, to see through his own heart or 'within'.

with the sUfis fanA is the term for a very deep mystic experience, and it
means, paradoxically enough, dying alive or a total annihilation of the
ego.  according to hujwiri, a vow of poverty with reference to spiritual
efforts means a complete dissociation from every worldly object and an
absolute abandonment of the ego with the intention of realising the
all-embracing unity.  by this kind of realisation the sAdhaka fully
develops his eternal life; his animal nature enveloped in ego disappears
and by the divine grace he overflows with a godly idealism.  then his
interest in things, as his own comes to an end; hence, an unnatural
relationship (such as that of possession and exploitation) with them
ceases altogether.  this is fanA.

he further says that one's individuality should be allowed to perish.  a
removal of all the worldly obstacles to spiritual efforts and a full
attainment of real truth and a perfectly passionless condition constitute
the state of fanA.  a state of progress towards fanA is called hAl or
dasA of the bAuls and the vaiSNavas respectively.  introspection,
meditation, control of breath, uttering of mantras are its various means;
but the success according to hujwiri depends on the divine grace which is
above all those means.

khwaja muinuddin chishti

the influence of the sUfis of the chishtiyya school reached india next.
indeed khwaja ahmadabdul chishti (died in 966) the great founder of this
school lived in the tenth century, but his doctrines were brought over to
india by khwaja muinuddin chishti who was born in seistan in 1142.  with
a view to be in touch with all sUfi teachers of the time he came via
khorasan to bagdad.  he met teachers like karmani, kubra, suhrawardi and
others.  in 1193 he was in delhi but as the place was not suitable for
his spiritual activities he went to live in pushkar, a place of hindu
pilgrimage in ajmer, where he died in 1236.

to the name of this saint indian sUfis accord an imperial honour.  they
call him AftAb-i-hind or 'the sun of india.' there assemble in his dargah
(tomb) a constant crowd of pilgrims, mahomedans as well as hindus.  akbar
the great is known to have travelled on foot to this place as a pilgrim.
a special fair lasting for six days comes off here every year.  a
remarkable feature of this sUfi shrine is that as in a hindu temple,
music is played here daily every three hours from the nawbatkhAnah of the
dargAh, and around the shrine professional female singers of talents sing
at the request of their rich pilgrim-patrons and earn enormous amounts in
fees.

the spiritual activities of muinuddin spread all over india, and even the
brAhmaNs were not outside his influence.  the present lecturer has seen
in pushkar, ajmer, a class of people who call themselves husaini
brAhmaNs.  they are neither orthodox hindus nor orthodox mahomedans.
they have hindu beliefs, customs and rituals,  together with mahomedan
ideas and practices.  they say, "we are brahmaNs, our scripture is the
atharva veda in which the hindu and the mahomedan doctrines have been
synthesised."

this admixture of rites and customs is the popular counterpart of the
higher synthesis which united the sAdhakas of those religions in a
religion of love.





---
Adhar Mookerji lectures delivered by the author at University of
Calcutta in March 1929.