Lyrics as Travelogue beyond Boundaries: An Anthology of Punjab’s Mystical Wanderings

(Published in IJSR Volume 10 Issue 12 ISSN: 2319-7064 SJIF (2020): 7.803)

Dr Sanjay Dansalia

Abstract

The hallmark of Punjab’s mystical traditions is an amalgamation of religious materials of pluralistic mystical expressions like nirgun sampradaya, sahaja samadh, sahajaniya budhism, mahayana, vajarayana, tantric, hath yogis, nath panthi, kann phata yogis, sahajiya Vaishnavism, bouls of Bengal, chisti, qadri and sohrawardi sufi traditions amongst others. Punjab became the epicenter of these far flung regional expressions of mystical traditions within and outside India. Each tradition carried within itself a global world view represented through respective regionalities. However, these regionalities instead of being watertight compartments participated in a porous interpenetrative multicultural, philosophical, theological, socio-cultural, politico-economic terrain. Moreover, on Indian soil these varied mystical expressions, instead of relying on textuality, were highly oral, carrying within themselves components of cultural performances which engaged with regional myths, symbols, dialects, idioms, rituals, etc. Hence, these became mediums of the flow and sites for exchange of theological, philosophical, ideological and intellectual trends. Orality, as a cultural performance, found expression through lyrics. The paper attempts to analyze this exchange of ideas and mystical precepts through traditionalism and changing dynamics of contemporaneous East and West Punjab. Lyrics, as travelogues present an interesting field of study to analyze these changing platforms, within a globalizing world, where regionality fosters globalism. Acceptability of a variety of identities through myths, symbols, idioms, dialects, rituals points towards dissent and a deconstruction of identities in contemporaneous Punjab. Resistance to, and redefinition of traditionalism through dissent, placed mystical tradition in Punjab on multiple highways that connected both East and West Punjab through inter-continental and inter-regional mystical expressions. The paper attempts to explore lyrics as multiple travelogues on this highway of mystical expressions. Interestingly, religion as an identity, gets deconstructed on these travelling ideas, producing multiple images of collectivism. These travelling ideas painted a new canvas of collectivism. The paper attempts to analyze these images on the ‘lyrical-canvas’ by documenting the emerging lyrical imagery that redefined collectivism.

Keywords: Mystical, Lyrical, Oral, Travelogue, Collectivism, Regionalism, Globalism, Dissent, Punjab.

Language and religion share a symbiotic relationship with each other. Linguistic capabilities have adapted themselves to the evolutionary reality of the changing times. Noam Chomsky discerns similarities in the structure of all languages through the existence of a “universal grammar”. He regards grammar as a “deep structure” of human languages, which are innate to humans and their evolution.[1] Many religions are associated with a sacred language like ‘hebrew’ for Judaism, ‘classical arabic’ for Islam and ‘sanskrit’ for Hinduism. The antiquity of religion and their languages presupposes linguistic remoteness and their subsequent irruption into many vernaculars. Overtime languages acquired regional dialects just as religion acquired regional hues. Studying both the processes present a sort of a dichotomy between the elite from the popular, universal from the local, great from the little, and institutional from the diffused. Some scholars like Peter Brown and Stanley Tambiah instead look from a ‘total’ field of religion which glues together the entire society.[2]

Punjab stood at the crossroads of this interpenetrative popular, diverse, collaborative expression of mystical dimensions. Here, the varied vernacular lyrical expressions were based on multiple imageries drawn from the ‘universal deep structures’ that Chomsky refers to. Regarding Punjab, Harjot oberoi observes the existence of ‘region-wide multifaceted cultural system’. He further elaborates “it was a world in which members of different religious communities and people of diverse social backgrounds easily collaborated in order to face the uncertainties and afflictions of human life, their medium being the framework of a popular religion”.[3] Punjab saw the crystallization of various mystical expressions. Mystical ideas and practices of the nirgun sampradaya, of sahajiyani budhists, of mahayana vajrayana budhists, of tantric hath yog, of nath panthi kanphatta yogis, of sahajiya vaishnavs and tasawwuf found expression in the various dialects across regional boundaries. The lack of ‘domain-concern’ was based on the imagery of inclusivity of a shared universe which expressed ‘global’ interconnections. Guru Nanak chose esoteric terminology from a variety of traditions current during his time. The symbolism of this collectivism was ‘bhagat bani’. This internalized the religious journey through a universalistic imagery expressed in lyrical form.[4]

Indianists and Orientalists like Andre Wink and C.I. Beckwill as the ‘growth and development of a world economy in and around the Indian Ocean with India as its centre and the Middle East and China as its two dynamic poles’. Hence, this euro-asiatic chain of causation and global interdependence busts the idea of the medieval world as being made up of isolated Civilizations.[5] Andre wink has described medieval Islamic India as a “world on the move” … this world of overland connections that tied India to the cities and steppes of Central Asia and Iran, survived until the economic and geographical shifts that accompanied the onset of colonial rule.[6] According to Nile Green, urban spaces were in turn connected by long but effective culture roots that tied the peoples and places of muslim India into patterns of long term interaction, imaginary as well as actual, with a gedachtnisraum or ‘memory space’ composed of texts as much as territories.[7] He studies “different aspects of interdependence of communities and the narratives and places in which they creatively ‘located’ their senses of history and memory of belonging and home”. Regarding Islam, S.H. Siddiqui observed that the particularity of Islam’s spread narrates a million stories. “Islam as a religion, offers social mobility, it starks simplicity and cosmopolitanism provided space to cultural localism which in turn extended the boundaries of cultural interchange”.[8]

Punjab, in its geographical and ecological affinity, shared multiple commonalities (historical and sociological) with Sindh, Makran and Multan. These regions experienced not only a demographical influx, but also offered shelter to multiple deviant groups which were facing peripheralization. This process was on a global scale, which provided blurred boundaries of cultural interchange. Zakaria Al Kazwini writes in his Asar ul Bilad..

“Saimur, a city of Hind near the confines of Sindh. The people are very beautiful and handsome, from being born of Turk and Indian parents. There are Musalmans, Christians, Jews and fire worshippers there”.

Similarly, Ibn Khordadba mentions that..

“in Hind, there are ‘forty-two’ religious texts, part of them believe in a creator and prophets (blessings of God be upon them), part deny the mission of a prophet and part are atheists”.

In addition, the presence of heterodox ideological sects and numerous deviant groups like ‘khawarij’ or dissidents, zanadiqa or free thinkers, malahids or atheists, escapists, Ismailis, Fatimids took shelter in towns like Qudsar. These heterodoxies and their esotericism found a pervasive foreground in this frontier zone of Punjab, Sindh, Makran and Multan. Punjab and its frontier past with Sindh and Multan emerged “as the geo-cultural ground carrying this imprint of cultural dialogue based on fluidity of identity and practices”.[9]

Punjab absorbed pluralistic interpenetrative Indic spiritualistic traditions. Guru Nanak’s emphasis on intutionism and Guru Arjan Dev’s compilation of Adi Granth including Gurubani and Bhagat bani reflected this pluralism. This perception of collectivism engaged with diverse mystical utterings like those of Baba Fareed, Jaidev, Namdev, Trilochan, Parmanand, Sadana, Beni, Ramanand, Dhanna, Pipa, Sain, Kabir, Ravidas, Bhikan, Surdas. The uniqueness of this mystical anthology was their orality and devotional populism. These diverse traditions coalesced into the Sikh community. This participative orality redefined the dynamic of plurality. Subsequently Mian Mir’s presence at Harmandir Sahed, Amritsar indigenized, regionalized and universalized the diverse mystical popular tradition. The popular Sikh devotion to Sufi Pir Sakhi Sarvar and Gugga Pir and Goddess Devi, Durga, Kali, Sheetla, Kalka, Mahesri, Bawani and ‘bhoomia shrine’ and village deity-ancestor pointed towards the wider sacred universe. In the popular imagery, the Pir Sakhi Sarwar had Bairavi, Lord Shiva’s manifestation as his messenger. The shrine at Nagaha, near Dera Ghazi Khan besides having four tombs like those of the Sahaba of Prophet Mohammad, also has two sacred sites associated with Hazrat Ali.

Punjab specifically expressed these aesthetic forms of interaction through varied mystical lyrical genres. As Punjabi language evolved, these multiple mystical expressions borrowed from a variety of literary conventions including the Persian ‘qisse’ or antecdotes/latifas from the malfuzat, tazkiras, chands, sabds, dohe, sloka. A variety of oral traditions existed expounded by preachers like Sidhas of Tantric and Nathpanthi ideas who belonged to lower orders of the society. Anyone irrespective of caste, creed or sex could be enunciated by them. The oral tradition of Sidhas and the Yogis carried fantastic imagery of flying through the air over long distances and was widely accepted by the masses. Similar imagery was put forward by the sufi saints which gained popular credence. Satish Chandra mentions references of women from the category of ‘untouchables’ being accepted as Guru.[10] Similarly, the Nathpanthis provided the oral tradition for the growth of popular monotheism. The sufi emphasis on the monotheism and the significance of the Pir and the mystical union with the beloved coincided with many aspects of these multifarious mystical traditions on Indian soil.

The existence of this wide ‘global’ mosaic offers the foreground for an interpenetrative experiential domain where a variety of mystical traditions found connectivity. Spatially dispersed community experienced informal ties of a shared culture, language or kinship. Integration of small communities into great total community based on a shared mystical ideology defined this ‘global’ interdependence. Assertions of these blurred boundaries were constructed in defiance to peripheralization and the emerging elitism based on religious identities. This was a ‘global’ phenomenon which connected regionalities and their diversities into a syncretic mystical bondage. Expressions of these deviant assertions travelled throughout the various geo-cultural zones.[11] Lyrics mirror these travelling expressions of dissent and diverse assertions in various languages and dialects. Firdausi criticizing the Arabs called them –

ze shir e shutar khurdan o susmar

(drinkers of camel milk and lizard eaters).[12]

Esotericism became the language of heterodoxies which adapted the vernacular and local dialects to express defiance. This collectivism borrowed various genres of literary expression. Tradition of qissagoyi[13] connected regionality through narratology sharing concept of piety, ishq, mahabba, peer, mureed, qibla, tasbi, mulla, pandit, textuality, identity, inequality amongst others.

The geo-political location of Punjab provided spatial proximity to these heterodoxies. The lyrical tradition of Punjab carries the imprint of sociological and circumstantial factors through re-adaption and reinterpretation. In contemplating the construction of the self, diversity found uniformity through mystical expressions. Ibne Arabi’s verse resonated in Punjab:

“My heart has become receptacle of every form

It’s a pasture for gazelles, a convent for Christian monk

And a temple for idol and a pilgrim’s Kabah

And the tablets of the Torah

And the book of the Quran

I follow the religion of love

Whichever way its camels take

For this is my religion and my faith”[14]

Influences such as Neo-Platonism, Buddhist and Christian monastic traditions, and Vedantic and Yogic philosophy shaped this mystical tradition. This dynamism realigned various sub-cultures and sub-zones and stamped with the new regionality. This complex process engaged with regional substratum cultures which got represented in the lyrical and intellectual history of the region. Punjab’s lyrical tradition carries this imprint of cultural dialogues which points towards reinvention of collective identities beyond boundaries.

Punjab’s mystical lyrics used inter-religious imagery of pilgrimage to escape textual rigidity in an effort to establish blurred boundaries.

Lyrics

Haji lok makay nu jaande

Asan jana takht hazaray

Jis wal yaar us wal kabba

Asan phol kitaban charay

Translation

Hajji proceeds towards the Makka

However, I proceed to Takht Hazara

The Kabba is positioned where my beloved stays

I have researched all the texts.

The emphasis on the mursad shifted the focus from the hierarchical silsila orders to personalized Pir akin to the concept of Guru on the Indian soil thereby sharing the mystical space through indigenization.[15]

Lyrics

Dar mursad da khana qabba

Hajj zruri kariye

Taqwa rakh mehbuban vala

Chal dwara phariye

Translation

The place of the spiritual guide is equivalent to the Kabba

Where pilgrimage is imperative

Keeping the patience like a lover

Seek the shelter in his dwelling.

Lyrics

Mala lakad Thakur pathar

Tirtha hai sab paani

Rama mar gye Krishna mar gye

Chaaron veda kahani

Trtanslation

Rosary is wood, idol is stone

Pilgrimage sites are all water

Rama died, Krishna died

All four vedas are stories.

Punjab’s mystical lyrics bordered on blasphemy, in an effort to redefine blurred collective identities. This alludes to the presence of transcontinental identities within a common mystical framework. The kaleidoscopic socio-religious mosaic of Punjab caused the prioritization of establishing the platform of collective identities through persistent pluralism.[16]

Lyrics

Bullya dharmsala adharmi rehnde

Thakurdware thug

Vich maseetan de rehn kusandhi

Ashiq rehn alag

Translation

Bullya Dharmsala is inhabited by impious

And Thakurdwara by the crooks

Mosque houses the sly

whereas lovers dwell elsewhere

A counter-narrative based on the construction of the concept of ‘ashiq’ is another rendition of defiance.

Lyrics

Ik jaan gange tey len pange

Pujan pathra vattya nu

Ik jaan makkay tey khan takkay

Chuman chaare kakhya nu

Ik devan baagan tey maran changan

Jiven majjan rondiya kattya nu

Bulla shah kon kehnda Rabb nyi milda

Nyi milda ullu deya pathya nu

Translation

One proceed to the ganges and seek trouble

By worshipping pebbles and stones

The other proceed to the makka getting pushed and shoved

While kisses the four sides

One crows and screams as the buffalo calls for its calf

Bulla shah who says God cannot be found

Only idiots cannot find him.

Similarly, the rendition of the concept of Ishq as a counter narrative to strict compliance of sharia in ‘qisse’ genre gets interwoven within the lyrics of the qawwali performance. The following are two such renditions using lyrics interspersed with ‘qissagoyi’--

In a qawwali[17] titled “vey sonay deya kangna” by Wadali Brothers, they narrated a ‘laila majnu qissa’ which is as follows;

Qawwals started by saying that for majnu, laila was his Rabb/Khuda and went on to narrate that when majnu was in school, he used to write laila on his slate and when maulvi wanted to correct him saying that its la ilah not lai la, majnu replied that for you its la ilah but for me its laila. God became happy upon majnu’s act and sent angels to call him. When angels went before majnu and told him God’s message, majnu replied that if God wants to see him, why should he go to God, rather God should come to him in the form of laila. Meanwhile the qawwals also narrated few couplets of Bulleh Shah with similar piety in order to make their point, which are as follows;

“na tun sada rabb, na asin tere bandhe,

jey tere maare na asin mardhe,

jeri Jannat da tun maan krda,

os Jannat vich na wardhe,

phar ke palla asin apne mursad da, ja dahishtan vich wardhe”.

(neither are you my God,

neither I am your creature,

had we not died as per your plan,

what was the worth of heaven?

that heaven we would not have entered rather followed our mursad and entered hell instead.)

In the same qawwali, Wadali Brothers also mentioned Guru Nanak’s qissa of ‘weighing 13kg (in the name of God) for all the customers, once when he was serving at a sarkari ration depot. Then he mentioned Guru Gobind Singh’s qissa when all of his four sons were martyred for the cause of dharm/qaum. Further going on to mention qissa of Khwaja Ghulam Fareed, narrating that where he used to sit, all day he kept watching faces of people (passing by him) and used to say that O’ dear God, how do you make such beautiful faces. When a random guy asked Baba, when do you worship? As the entire day you are only watching faces of people sitting here. The faqir replied that ‘I don’t count beads of the wooden rosary but these beautiful faces are the beads I count with my eyes and therefore this is my ibadat’. Again the qawwals here paused to narrate few couplets of Bulleh Shah with similar form of piety which are as follows,

“Bullya mandir dha, masiti dha, dha de jo kuch dhendha, par ik na dhaavin dil bandhe da, mera Rabb dilan vich rehnda”

(O Bullya! demolish the temple, demolish the mosque, demolish whatever can be demolished but never break a person’s heart as my Rabb resides there)

Again Bulleh Shah says;

“Bullya Rabb da naam bhavein lavo na lavo,

parayi surat nu dekh ke raazi tey ravo”

(O Bullya! it matters not whether you recite the divine name or not,

but remain amenable when you see other’s countenance)

Qawwals, then making their point, say ‘har surat vich aave yaar nazar’ (every face carries my beloved’s image) and therefore, the above mentioned person stood speechless before faqir. Then the qissa continued further, narrating that the faqir moved forward and saw a young girl combing her hair near her window. Upon watching her, the faqir said waah parvardigar Allah tallah, have you just created and sent her, how beautiful she is! When the people around saw this, they felt that this fakir is a fraud as they could not understand his way of ibadat. Immediately that girl called her maalik/husband complaining about the faqir’s comments. The husband quickly came down in anger and beat him up with his sandal, upon which the faqir laughed and said waah parvardigar Allah tallah, is this also your creation? And in a complaining mood questioned God, that the one who loves your creation does he gets beaten up? Qawwals further narrated that God listened to him and when the maalik/husband of that girl was going back upstairs, he slipped and fell unconscious. The girl now screamed and gathered people around complaining that this faqir has done something to my husband. When people questioned the faqir, he replied, “I have no power to do anything and this is a fight between the maaliks/husbands”. When people further asked him to explain, faqir replied that, when girl’s maalik/husband beat me, my maalik/husband i.e. God beat up her maalik/husband thereby equalling the account and thus finished the fight.

In an another qawwali[18] titled “koi esi namaz prha de” by Gulam Kibria qawwal, carries a narrative ‘qissa’ of Nizamuddin Auliya’s sandal where the qawwal also mentions that the purpose of the qawwal is actually ‘qauwl bayan karna’ i.e. to narrate the sayings of the Pir. In sufi qawwalis throughout the Punjab (both east and west) these stories specifically deal with the concept of Pir and Ishq, the latter being either majazi (illustrative) or haqiqi (actual). According to the qawwal, the purpose of such ‘qisse’ is to emphasise the precedence of Ishq over sharia in piety. There is a famous saying in Punjab that ‘ishq shara da bairi’ i.e. Ishq is always against sharia. Punjabi mystics gave so much importance to Ishq that there was a sufi nara/slogan popular during 18th-19th century in Punjab “la ilah lil l ishq” i.e. there is no God but Love.[19] The qawwal narrates that once a mureed/disciple of Nizammuddin Auliya who was a diwana/crazy lover of his murshad/mentor went to a cobbler to get a sandal repaired which belonged to his murshad i.e. Nizamuddin Auliya. The cobbler seeing the beautiful sandal, enquired whose was it? To which the mureed replied that ‘ae Rabb di jutti ae” i.e. this sandal belonged to God. The cobbler warned him that, “don’t you know rule of sharia is prevalent here and you can be jailed for saying this”. But when the mureed was still adamant, cobbler gathered a few people to look into the matter including the sipahis (policemen). When they all heard him claiming that the sandal belonged to God, the sipahis caught him and took him to the court of the qazi. Qazi then questioned the mureed and thought him to be mentally unstable. He sent him to the shahi mehmangah (the royal guest house) to be fed and to be questioned later again. Next day in the morning the mureed was called and the qazi questioned him tell me what is the time? To which the mureed answered correctly, then the qazi questioned what is in my hand? to which he again replied correctly by answering ‘kalam’. The qazi then asked now tell me whose sandal is this? But to this the mureed again replied it belongs to God. The qazi came to the conclusion that he is saying this deliberately. So he pronounced a death sentence and charged him for going against the sharia which during those days was done by hanging publicly. Meanwhile Nizamuddin Auliya while sitting with his mureeds suddenly decided to roam around the bazaar and while roaming around he saw a crowd and asked one of his mureeds to see what is happening there? The mureed enquired and told Nizamuddin Auliya that a public hanging is being given to someone for going against the sharia. Nizamuddin went forward to see and when the qazi saw him he stood up from his chair in honor and offered him to have a seat. However, Nizamuddin Auliya politely refused by saying that you are the haakim (judge) of the time hence you sit, let another chair come for me to sit. Then Nizamuddin enquired from him what is the offence he has committed for which he’s being given death sentence by hanging publicly to which the qazi replied that he’s crazy, he claims to have a sandal of God which is against sharia. To this Nizamuddin Auliya replied that how is this against sharia, haven’t you read the Holy Quran properly? As it says that everything between this earth and that heaven belongs to God, then how is a sandal separate? As it also is a thing between this earth and the heaven. The qazi replied, “yes it is true but you are not understanding his intention behind saying this”. To which Nizamuddin Auliya replied, “no its you who is unable to understand his intention”. Then turning towards the mureed, he enquired about his intention in saying this. The mureed replied by singing thus;

“pa leya main Ishq da chola jerha kadhi maila na hovay,

milya sanu husn e haqiqi jerha kadhi fana na hovay,

milya o mehbub pyara jerha kadhi juda na hovay,

ishq namaz main niti jerhi kadhi qaza na hovay”

(I have found the cloak of love which never gets dirty,

I have found the eternal beauty which never dies,

Found a beloved who never separates from me,

I perform the prayer of love which I never miss)

On hearing this, Nizamuddin Auliya stated that the mureed’s intention is pure and that he is at a stage where he see/feels the presence of God everywhere. The qazi humbly requested Nizamuddin Auliya to grant him this ilm/knowledge. However, Nizamuddin Auliya recommended him to pray before God and request him rather to bestow upon you this ilm/knowledge. The qazi then prayed and that prayer, the qawwals actually sang in their performance, the beginning lyrics of which are as follows;

“rabba merya o ilm sikha de jis di inteha na hovay,

koi esi namaz prha de jerhi qaza na hovay”

(O Lord! Grant me that knowledge which has no limits,

Teach me to pray that prayer which never ends)

A deliberate variety of sacred imagery from various religions was adopted to create a supra-identity based on humanhood rather than sacred piety.

Lyrics

Ganga gya gall mukdi nyi

Bhavain sou sou ghotay khayiye

Makkay gya gall mukdi nyi

Bhavain sou sou juma parh ayiye

Bulla shah gall tan mukdi

Jadh ‘main’ nu dilon bhulayiye

Translation

Pilgrimage to ganga will not save you

Even if you take hundreds of dips there

Going to makka does not save you

Even if you offer hundreds of Friday prayers

O Bulla shah you achieve the final goal

Only by self-abnegation.

Another universalistic concept which portrays this supra-identity of the self was the deconstruction of extreme intellectualism through the concept of ‘ilm’ and the text. The concept of ‘ilm’ was posited against the concept gnostic knowledge.[20]

Lyrics

Parh parh ilm hazar kitaaban

Naam rakha lya qazi

Farh shamsheer mujahid vali

Naam rakha lya ghazi

Makkay ja ja hajj guzaray

Naam rakha lya hajji

Par ajje vi Bullya kuj nyi banya

Jey tun yaar na kita raazi

Translation

After studying thousands of books

You claimed yourself to be a qazi

Carrying the sword like a crusader

You claimed to be a ghazi

Performing multiple hajjs in makka

You claimed the stature of a hajji

Even then you became nothing

If you did not please the beloved.

Similarly, the obsession with ritualism was counter posed with the concept of intuitionism.

Lyrics

Jey rabb milda nahateya dhotyan

Milda daduyan machiyan nu

Jey rabb milda mandir masiti

Milda cham chrikiyan nu

Jey rabb milda jungle firyan

Milda gayiyan bachiyan nu

Bulla shah rabb ona nu milda

Niyyta achiyan sachiyan nu

Translation

If ablutions ensured attainment of Divine

Then frogs and fishes would have attained Him

If temples and mosques house the Divine

Then bats and birds would have attained Him

Had access to Divine been through wandering in forests

Then cows and calves would have gained his presence

Bulla shah Divine is attained by those

Who have honest and pure intentions

Lyrics

Nafal namazan kam zanana

Rozay sarfa rote hoo

Makke de wal oyi jaande

Gharon jinha tarotee hoo

Uchiyan bangan soyi dende

Neeyay jinha di khotee hoo

Kee parvah tinhan noo

Jinha ghar vich ladhi bauti hoo

Translation

Formal prayers are feeble pursuits

Fasting has little merit except saving food

Only they go on pilgrimage

Who are not wanted at home

Only they pray loudly

Who are deceptive of intent

But those who have found God in their hearts

Care not to perform all these activities.

This is a powerful imagery for establishing a populist counter-narrative of piety beyond identities. This was also a non- elitist statement targeting the structural elitism.[21] The cohesion that these centres provide cut across all identities. These centres provide a counter narrative of cohesion through dissent based on rejection which is well expressed in the Qawwali lyrics.[22]

Bulle nu loki matti dende

Bullya aa baeja vich maseeti

Vich maseeti tey ki kuj hunda

Je dilon namaz na neeti

Bahar tovay lattan goday

Andar rahe paleeti

Bina kamil mursad bullya

Awein gyi ibadat kiti

People offer advice to bullah

Come and sit inside the mosque

What can a mosque offer?

If the heart is not inclined to pray

Washing the outer surface does not clean the inner self

Without a perfect Spiritual Guide All worship is in vain

Here, oral lyrical tradition and cultural space acted as mirrors to these commonalities.[23]

Lyrics

Hindu ki rabb da saura lgda

Musalman ki sala

Amlan vaajo baba bullya

Dohan da munh kala

Translation

what special proximity does Hindu possess with God

Or what special relationship does a Musalman possess with God

Without deeds baba bulla, faces of both are blackened

Punjab placed at the crossroad of centuries of demographic movement across continents and its geo-cultural mosaic provided the foreground for the incorporation of transcontinental haven of ideologies, cultures and religious discourses over a period of centuries. Cultural dialogues on multiple plains – socio-cultural, religious and so forth was a complex phenomenon. Linguistic and literary tradition of Punjab reflected the various hues of this cultural dialogue. The mystical wanderings evident in the lyrical traditions of Punjab exposed a wide canvas of genres borrowed from Arab-Persian traditions and Indic traditions like Nirgun Sampradaya, of Sahajiyani Budhists, of Mahayana Vajrayana Budhists, of Tantric Hath Yoga, of Nath Panthi - Kanphatta Yogis, of Sahajiya Vaishnavs. Similarly, the peripheral and frontier zone regionality of Punjab attracted heterodoxies from around the globe including khawarij or dissidents, zanadiqa or free thinkers, malahids or atheists, escapists, Ismailis, Fatimids.[24] Esotericism became the language of heterodoxies which adapted the vernacular and local dialects to express defiance. Vernacularization of mystical discourse in Punjab engaged its multilingual literary and linguistic traditions.[25] The dialogic narration of lyrics engaged with the regional milieu, giving expression to multiplicity, collectivism, dissent, etc. through lyrical re-tellings featuring Baba Farid, Bulleh Shah, Hazrat Sultan Bahoo and Shah Hussain amongst others. A defiant populism expressed a beyond boundaries collectivism which found individual and local concerns far more relevant than a universalistic cosmological concept of piety. This was a conscious effort towards a deliberate distance creation from universalistic piety, and in the process create space for a new collectivism which defied boundaries and identities beyond the self.

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[1] Noam Chomsky, Language and Mind: Enlarged ed. (New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1972) pg.11-25

[2] Harjot Oberoi, construction of religious boundaries: culture, identity and diversity in sikh tradition (Chicago, University of Chicago press, 1994) pg. 138

[3] Ibid. pg.160

[4] Sameena H. Siddiqui, Sufi Sybolism and representation of power in pre-colonial and colonial Delhi ed. Susan Visvanathan, Art, Politics, Symbols and Religion (New Delhi, Winshield Press, 2019) p.252

[5] Nile Green, Making Space: Sufis and settlers in early modern India (New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2012) pg. X preface

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Sameena H. Siddiqui, Sufi Sybolism and representation of power in pre-colonial and colonial Delhi ed. Susan Visvanathan, Art, Politics, Symbols and Religion (New Delhi, Winshield Press, 2019) p.252

[9] Ibid.

[10] Satish Chandra, Historiography: Religion, and State in medieval India (New Delhi, Har Anand Publications, 1996) pg. 120

[11] Acc. to Earl Miner (2000) “lyric is the foundation genre for the poetic or literary assumptions of cultures throughout the world”.

[12] Irfan Habib, “Questionings within Religious Thought: The Experience of Islam.” Social Scientist, vol. 41, no. 5/6, 2013, pp. 3–13. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23611114. Further he quotes; Amir khusrau defiantly asserted – “khalq mi goyad ke khusrau butt parasti mi kunad ari ari! mi kunam, ba khalq e alam kar nist”.

Hafiz expresses his deviant assertion “badeh saqi meye baqi, ke ghar Jannat na khawahi waft, kinar i aab e ruknabad o gulgasht i musala ra”.

Amir Sijzi writes “har qoum rast rahe, deen o qibla gahe.. man qibla rast kardam, bar simt i kaj kulahe”.

Hafiz writes “ba maye sajjada rangeen kum, agar peer e mughan goyad.. ke salik bekhabr na bood, ze rah o rasm i manzil ah”.

Dara shikoh asserted “bahist anja ke mullae na bashad, ze mulla bahs o ghaughai na bashad.. dar an shehar ke mulla khana darad, dar anja hech danae na bashad”.

[13] Farina Mir (2006) Punjabi ‘qisse’ are integral to understand aesthetic and religious culture of colonial Punjab where representation of piety is a central motif of ‘qissa’ narratives. These Punjabi language ‘qisse’ lie at the nexus of perso-islamic and local Punjabi aesthetic forms. She argues that Punjabi ‘qissa’ writers drew heavily upon the literary conventions of Persian ‘qisse’ thus, drawing their compositions into the sphere of perso-islamic literary aesthetics. At the same time, Punjabi ‘qisse’ constitute a regional tradition, one that incorporated local aesthetic principles and responded to the religious plurality and social organization of the Punjab. Term ‘qissa’ used widely in north indian languages to mean story, is derived from Arabic. In early Islamic era, the term ‘qissa’ was used to describe tales told by popular religious storytellers. With time, however, arab storytellers (qussas) increasingly narrated tales with no religious character and the term ‘qissa’ came to mean story more generally. Adopted into the Persian lexicon with the spread of islam, the term follows a somewhat similar trajectory, initially carrying religious overtones, but by 2nd millennium C.E, increasingly used outside a religious context particularly romantic stories. This romance tradition was refined by the eminent Persian poets ‘gurgani’ (d. after 1055) and ‘ansari’ (d. 1088) and reached its apogee with the compositions of ‘nezami’ (d. 1209). These romances drew on both arab and Persian tales for e.g. ‘laila majnu’ (Arabic) and ‘khusrau shirin’ (Persian) and shared a specific poetic form ‘masnavi’ or epic poem in rhymed couplets. Whether ‘qisse’ first entered south asia’s vernacular literature through texts or orally is impossible to discern. What is clear though is that by the 17th century ‘qisse’ were circulating in India’s vernacular languages both orally and in textual form.

[14] SAA Rizvi, History of Sufism in India vol.1 (New Delhi, Manohar Lal Publishers, 2003) pg. 108-109

[15] Sanjay Dansalia, “Mystical oral re-tellings and its lyrical representation ar dera baba murad shah, nakoder, in contemporary east Punjab” paper presented at JTA Conference March 2020, Visit https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340435661_Mystical_oral_re-tellings_and_its_lyrical_representation_ar_dera_baba_murad_shah_nakoder_in_contemporary_east_punjab

[16] Ibid.

[17] Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC9LpHQ8O7A

[18] Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2flIUoJajzk

[19] Originally attributed to Fakhruddin Iraqi and mentioned in the lama’at: Divine Flashes.

[20] Ibid.

[21] Poetry alone offered an outlet for the expression of individualistic mystical experiences (Rizvi 1978:84).[21] From the thirteenth century onwards Hindu mystical songs were recited at ‘sama’ gatherings. The recitation of Hindawi music at ‘sama’ was popular at major Sufi centres.[21]

[22] Sanjay Dansalia, “Mystical oral re-tellings and its lyrical representation ar dera baba murad shah, nakoder, in contemporary east Punjab” paper presented at JTA Conference March 2020, Visit https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340435661_Mystical_oral_re-tellings_and_its_lyrical_representation_ar_dera_baba_murad_shah_nakoder_in_contemporary_east_punjab

[23] Ibid.

[24] S.H. Siddiqui, “Literature, culture and society” Third Frame, Islam and Frontier zone? Vol.2 No.2 April June 2009. Pg. 74-75

[25] Harjot Oberoi (1994) “From the time of the so-called ‘Sapir-Whorf’ hypothesis, it has been widely acknowledged that language plays a pivotal role in our construction of reality and the way we act on that reality. This insight has been further consolidated in the field of ethno semantics whose proponents assert that all culturally significant phenomena tend to be reflected in lexical, grammatical or syntactic structures”.