By SADIA DEHLVI
Last week I was invited to give a talk on Sufism at the Nagaur Sufi music festival. The Festival, held at the magnificent Fort and hosted by the Mehrangarh Museum Trust is an initiative of Jodhpur’s royal family.
The three-day festival celebrated devotional expressions where over three hundred people from various parts of the globe participated. It included local Rajasthani folk singers and musicians from Egypt, Morocco, Syria and Turkey. The hosts chose Sufi music as an annual festive theme for Nagaur houses the dargah of Sufi Hamiduddin Nagauri. As the spiritual successor of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer, he is second in rank to Khwaja Qutub of Delhi.
Hearing Sufi music and watching the whirling dervishes of Egypt and Syria dance amidst the candle lit spaces of the fort was an amazing experience. Veiled in obscurity for years, the fort has recently been restored.
A two-hour drive from Jodhpur, Nagaur is one of Rajasthan’s oldest townships. It finds mention in the Mahabharata. It is said to be kingdom of Ahichhatrapur, which Pandav prince Arjun conquered and subsequently offered to his Guru Dronacharya. It is also the birthplace of Mira Bai, the fifteenth century princess, whose devotion to Krishna is legendary.
The fourth century mud fort of Ahichhatrapur, built by the Nagavanshis, was re-built in stone by the Ghaznivites, in the early twelfth century. It was held by the early Chauhans, Chalukayas, Ghazni, Ghori, Iltutmish, Balban, Allauddin Khilji, Lodhis, Sher Shah Suri and finally, the Mughals. From Akbar’s time up to the end of Mughal rule in India, Nagaur alternated between the Rathores of Jodhpur and Bikaner and the Mughals.
The architectural splendour of the Nagaur fort is in its variety of spaces interwoven with water systems. A fusion of Rajput and Mughal styles, the fort has aesthetic terraces, jharokhas, cusped bracket arches, carved stone jaalis, wall paintings and mirror work. The festival brought to life the inclusive Sufi traditions of Nagaur.
Sufi Hamiduddin lived in Suwali, a village near Nagaur, where he had bought a small piece of land. Refusing offerings of money from the Sultan, he lived off the earnings made from tilling his field. His wife would spin yarn for their simple clothing. Respecting the sentiments of the majority Hindu community, the Chishti Sufi advocated vegetarianism and ate no meat. He requested his followers that even after his death no meat should be cooked and distributed for the peace of his soul, a sentiment still respected at his dargah. Sufi Hamiduddin was a khalifa of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.
Born in 1192 AD at Lahore, Sufi Hamiduddin’s family migrated to Delhi where he studied under the famed religious scholars Maulana Shamsuddin Halwai and Muhammad Juwayini. He became fluent in Arabic, Persian and the Hindawi dialect spoken in Rajasthan.
At a young age the Sufi became a disciple of Khwaja Moinuddin, and began leading an ascetic life. He accompanied the Master on his first trip to Delhi, amazing audiences with his knowledge of mysticism. On one occasion, Khwaja asked his companions to request anything of God, assuring them it would be granted. Shaykh Hamiduddin replied that having surrendered to God’s will, he desired nothing. Pleased with the disciple’s annihilation of self-desire, Khwaja bestowed him with the title ‘Sultan Tariqin’ – Master of the Sufi Way.
‘The seekers of God have no will of their own and futuwwah; the qualities of the chivalrous were like a tree growing in a garden of friendship, the fruits are taken or given away without any feeling of honour.’ In contrast to the Chishtis, the Suharwardi Sufis enjoyed and accepted state patronage. Disturbed by the worldly possessions of Bahauddin Zakariya of Multan—the head of the Suharwardi Order, the Chishti mystic wrote him a number of letters but remained dissatisfied with the replies. The two mystics then met in Delhi where they engaged in a discussion on wealth. Sufi Hamiduddin compared money to a dangerous serpent, asserting that storing it was akin to rearing a snake. He reminded the Suharwardi Sufi Master of Prophet Muhammad’s proclamation, ‘Poverty is my pride.’
Equipped with a vast knowledge of Islamic law, Sufi Hamiduddin taught that Shariah and Tareeqah were similar to body and soul. ‘The seekers of God have no will of their own and futuwwah; the qualities of the chivalrous were like a tree growing in a garden of friendship, the fruits are taken or given away without any feeling of honour.’
He believed that ignorance remained the biggest curse and said, ‘Human beings without knowledge were no better than fossils.’
Sufi Hamiduddin died on 29 Rabi ath thani 673 Hijri/1274 AD and lies buried in Nagaur, the place where he spent most of his life. In the year 1330 AD, Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq constructed a beautiful gateway to the dargah. The festival gave me the opportunity to seek blessings at the dargah and I hope to visit Nagaur again.
