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

THE MENDICANT SAINTS
The ‘old’ eastern entrance, adorned with dark blue and white tiles
and two flanking minarets, leads to the tomb proper. Inside the tomb
lamps are placed on high consoles, from which burning hot oil falls
in drops into special vessels. The pilgrims, taking the risk of being
scalded, dip their fingers in it and smear it on their forehead and lips.
The origin of this ritual is connected with the fact that in his lifetime
the saint, consumed by the flame of divine love, literally used to drink
boiling sesame oil and pour it on his chest. Under the canopy of the
cenotaph a big stone is suspended, which seems to be quite heavy
and which the saint used to carry on his chest during his lifetime. 6
Going round the mazār, the faithful reverentially touch this stone
with their hand.
At six thirty in the evening the thunder of the big drums heralds
the commencement of the daily dhammal. On weekdays the dervishes
and pilgrims dance for only half an hour, apart from on Thursdays
when they dance for a whole hour. Men and women sit down on
different sides of the courtyard; for the time being they interchange
remarks, but in only a few minutes they will be in the grip of wild
excitement, turning into a somnambulistic trance. At first the
dervishes come to the centre of the courtyard. From time to time
they jump high, bending their legs in the air at the knees, while
performing lezginka (a lively Caucasian folk dance). They touch
down not flat on the whole foot, but on their toes, and then till the
next jump they jig at a fast tempo, as if performing a toe dance, with
the only difference being that they are barefoot.
The heads and hands of the dancers twitch abruptly in time with
the quickening roll of the drums; faces are distorted with the grimace
of ecstasy. Gradually the pilgrims sitting around join the dancing
dervishes. Men get up and clumsily jump, mark time and go into a
spin; often amongst them hījr¸as (transvestites) are to be seen who
move with affectedly dainty steps. Women, on their knees, rotate
their heads in a state of frenzy, and their long, loose, flowing hair
cuts the air with a whistling sound. Some of them fall into a deep
trance and sit slumped on the ground in a catatonic stupor.
Everywhere one can see crooked hands and legs, mouths wide
open, eyes coming out of their sockets, like a living visual aid for a
psychiatrist learning his trade. However, with the stroke of the gong
this entire frightening dance of death abruptly comes to an end. First
to leave are the dervishes, the instigators, and then the pilgrims also
collect their belongings, disperse and go home. The woman who was
just now rolling on the ground, having gone mad in ecstasy, tucks her
hair under her black chaddar in a business-like manner, wraps herself
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