Muslim Saints of South Asia: The eleventh to ... - blog blog blog

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THE WARRIOR SAINTS Having finally settled down in Bengal, Shah Jalal did not leave it till his very death, but people’s faith in his wonder-working powers was so great that the tradition, retold by Ibn Battuta, was maintained that every day he performed namāz in Mecca and then in the twinkling of an eye returned to Sylhet. For that matter, this ‘miracle’ is a commonplace of the entire Indian hagiography: even Amir Khurd, who usually endeavours to avoid stories about karāmāt, writes that every morning a flying camel used to carry away Nizamuddin Awliya to Ka‘ba and bring him back by the first breakfast (Amir Khurd 1978: 152). The cult of Shah Jalal’s veneration in no way reflects his military feats and his status as a ghāzī: in contrast to Bahraich, no banners and spears are held at his mazār in Sylhet. Like many other saints of East Bengal Shah Jalal gradually acquired the traits of a guardian of waters and patron of trades connected with water, for example fishermen and boatmen. The rites of the saint’s veneration are bound up with the sacred pond, adjacent to his tomb. In the pond, where the faithful perform ritual ablutions, there are huge fish, and the feeding of these fish is the principal pious act of ziyārat to Sylhet. If the fish eat the offering, the pilgrim’s supplication will be heard. In this sense Shah Jalal’s cult is quite similar to the rites of veneration of Mangho Pir or Bayazid Bistami in Chittagong and, again, is influenced by Hindu rituals. Connection of the saints of East Bengal with the element of water has manifested itself even in the image of the sailor saint Pir Badr (who died in 1420), the centre of whose activity became Chittagong (in the territory of what is now Bangladesh). Like Salar Mas‘ud and Shah Jalal, Shaikh Badruddin or Pir Badr-i ‘ālam is a historical person; references to him are to be found not only in hagiographic works but also in Badauni’s famous Muntakhab at-tawārīkh. This historian, in particular, refers to the saint’s grandfather, a certain Shihabuddin nicknamed ‘Haqq-go’ (Telling the truth or Truthful), who was executed on Muhammad bin Tughluq’s orders because he publicly called this Sultan a tyrant. Pir Badr spent his childhood in Meerut and was educated in Multan where he was initiated into the Suhrawardiyya order by Jalaluddin Bukhari. Later, at the invitation of Sharafuddin Yahya Maneri, he moved to Bihar where was initiated into the Firdawsiyya order, which was predominant in that province. He married into a Bihari Hindu family and set off for Sonargaon and Chittagong in East Bengal. In the second half of the fourteenth century the Sultan of Sonargaon, Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah (during whose rule Ibn Battuta visited Bengal), went on several military expeditions for the purpose of 165
THE WARRIOR SAINTS subjugating Chittagong. Pir Badr participated in one of these expeditions, having disembarked with a military detachment of mercenaries on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. At that time Chittagong was a small settlement, its environs were covered with thick humid forests, marshes and shallow bays. Constant floods and hurricanes made it an unattractive place, and no wonder that among Bengali Muslims it was considered to be an abode of evil spirits. Pir Badr’s decision to remain in this desolate territory puzzled his companions. However, Pir Badr’s ascetic life and preaching made a great impression upon the inhabitants of Assam, Tripura and the Hindus of the Magh 5 tribe who inhabited the Arakan region that borders on Burma. It was in their midst that the two main legends about the saint took shape, according to which he reached the shore of Chittagong atop a drifting rock and travelled to Arakan on the back of a huge fish, which is how his arrival in Bengal aboard a ship was interpreted by hagiographers. A gradual process of embellishment and the cyclic evolution of these legends led to the veneration of Pir Badr as the guardian saint of waters and the patron saint of sailors. Before setting off on a sea voyage sailors used to invoke the saint’s blessing in the prayer: Amara achchi popalan Gazi achche nigahman, Shire Ganga dariya Panch pir, Badr, Badr, Badr We are children and the Ghazi is our protector, The river Ganges is over us. Oh Panch Pir [Oh, the five saints], Oh Badr, Badr! (Rizvi 1986: 316) From this invocation follows, first, the recognition of the status of ghāzī in respect of Pir Badr; second, the connection of this saint with the aforementioned cult of Five Pīr; and third, the prevalence of Pir Badr’s cult amongst Hindus (in the reference to the Ganges as the sacred celestial river). Indeed the Bengali version of Five Pīrs is inclusive of Pir Badr (along with Ghazi Miyan, Jalaluddin Tabrizi, Shaikh Farid and Khwaja Khizr). Another invocation to Pir Badr is connected with the custom of sailors and boatmen to throw small coins into the water in order to ensure a safe voyage: Dariyā ke pānch paise kī qurbānī, Are Badr, Badr, Badr! We are sacrificing five paise to the river, oh Badr, Badr, Badr! (Asad ‘Ali 1979: 208) 166
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MUSLIM SAINTS OF SOUTH ASIA This bo
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MUSLIM SAINTS OF SOUTH ASIA The ele
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IN CHERISHED MEMORY OF MY FATHER, A
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FOREWORD Christopher Shackle In man
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FOREWORD keen literary sensibility
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1 THE INDIAN TOMB Everyone who has
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THE INDIAN TOMB deviation of an ind
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THE INDIAN TOMB an active syncretis
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THE INDIAN TOMB saints’ cult in I
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THE INDIAN TOMB Probably the most o
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THE INDIAN TOMB another saint of De
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THE INDIAN TOMB indication of the c
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THE INDIAN TOMB 1276. 9 Hagiographi
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THE INDIAN TOMB form with a dome in
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THE INDIAN TOMB Some of the saints
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THE INDIAN TOMB A powerful religion
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THE INDIAN TOMB They were known by
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THE INDIAN TOMB cenotaph of Sayyid
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THE INDIAN TOMB Mazhar Janjanan, he
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THE INDIAN TOMB The cult of saints
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THE INDIAN TOMB As a scholarly prob
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THE INDIAN TOMB realized. The form
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2 THE HERMIT OF LAHORE Everywhere a
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE These examples
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE difference bet
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE almost every c
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE in the practic
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE condemned them
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE response to th
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE have composed
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE that I have su
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE in particular
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE The saint of H
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THE HERMIT OF LAHORE and order, the
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3 THE OLD MAN OF AJMER A pious erud
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER silsila, Iraqi
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER was at the hea
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER this hall of p
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER Prithviraj’s
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER he unreservedl
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER During Akbar
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER on the saint
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER and estate man
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER former, but ri
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THE OLD MAN OF AJMER 7 One should c
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4 THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN There is
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN In the ear
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN Maqșūd-i
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN the newcom
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN pebbles, w
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN respectful
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN in good ti
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN told him:
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN This, for
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN in 1604) a
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN landscape,
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THE ASCETIC OF PAKPATTAN days of
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5 THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI It is dif
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI There are t
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI dervishes,
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI At the same
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THE PEACEMAKER OF DELHI In contrast
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Page 168 and 169: 7 THE WARRIOR SAINTS When Hindus an
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Page 192 and 193: THE MENDICANT SAINTS And, finally,
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Page 212 and 213: EPILOGUE As I have tried to show in
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NOTES 6 In the last year of ‘Ala
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NOTES life). Here his opponent lost
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NOTES in his creative writings. Aft
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NOTES 5 The Hyderis of Khurasan der
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GLOSSARY bārahmāsa poems that dea
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GLOSSARY ī mān faith, creed inkā
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GLOSSARY nafs-i ammāra unregenerat
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GLOSSARY tarāwih˝ supererogatory
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BIBLIOGRAPHY u’d-dīn Chirāgh-i-
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Delvoye, F., ‘Nalini
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BIBLIOGRAPHY —— (1965) ‘Malf
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‘Abdar Rahim 164 ‘Abdul ‘Aziz
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cenotaphs (fake graves) 23-4 Chanda
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Jhelum 12 Jinnah, Muhammad ‘Ali 3
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Pir Badr 13, 165-9, 177, 201 Pir Bu
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