A syncretic vision to heal our divided world
This week, I felt the urge to revisit a Sufi bridge-builder between Hinduism and Islam just to see if I still felt hopeful about his syncretic ideas. Bulle Shah (1680–1735) was born into a noble family of Syeds at Qasur, now in Pakistan. As a child, Bulle Shah, colloquially known as 'Bulla' and 'Bulleya' in Punjabi, was reportedly lost in thought frequently, which worried his family.
In the course of his restless youth, Bulla was tormented by inchoate spiritual longings while urged by his concerned family to live his life as a nobleman with all its attendant pleasures and privileges. One day, he went on a long ride to clear his head and get away from home for a bit. He happened to notice a line of ants diligently carrying grain to their anthill. He paused, his attention caught, and wondered, "All that industry just to feed oneself?" Why was every living creature, from insects to birds, animals and human beings, relentlessly driven by the same mission-–to find food, to sustain life, to perpetuate its species? The mystery of Creation beckoned strongly to him, and he set out to find a spiritual guide.
Bulla found his spiritual master by chance in a vegetable garden of all places. His name was Inayat Qadiri, from the Qadiri order of Sufis. It was a historically influential order, for it was a Qadiri Sufi who had taught Prince Dara Shikoh and led him to explore attempts to syncretise Hinduism and Islam – as in the work Majma ul-Bahrain, meaning The Mingling of Oceans. However, that well-meant book had not reached the ordinary people; it had stayed in high-class circles, where it had little or no influence. It was not for the hoi polloi, just as albums of miniature paintings were not for ordinary folk those days, but were expensive collectables for kings, nobles and wealthy merchants.
Bulla's noble family was outraged that he should so adore a lowly market gardener, but he was not to be dissuaded. His youth and early adulthood coincided with the last harsh years of Aurangzeb's reign. This unpleasant legacy may have further influenced his preference to follow Dara's syncretic path rather than Aurangzeb's divisive and intolerant route. Dara was the 'might-have-been', the lost prince who would forever symbolise an attempt at Hindu-Muslim amity. Somebody would have to articulate the Qadiri vision to the common folk, and Bulla took it upon himself to do so.
Bulle Shah wrote highly romantic poetry in Punjabi, allegorising God on the pattern of Krishna Bhakti. He drew on the popular Punjabi imagery of the folkloric heroine, Heer, pining for her lover, Ranjha, which also resonated with Advaita philosophy – specifically, the concept of the jivatma, or individual soul, seeking to merge into the Paramatma, the Universal Soul.
Bulla's poems soon caught on in Punjabi circles, like the heartfelt "Masjid dhaade, mandir dhaade/ Dhaade jo kuch dhainda/ Ik kisi da dil na dhaanvin/ Rab dilaanvichrehnda." This translates as, "Break the mosque and break the temple, break what can be broken; but do not break the human heart, within which God abides."
This did not go down well with conservative clerics, and Bulla faced considerable resistance, but he was determined to express his thoughts and have his say. Typically, he answered in verse, with "Mullah, maar naboliyaan/Sannuapnayaar rijhaavan de/Kanjri baniyaan meri ijjat na ghat di/Mujhenachkeyaarmanaavan de." This means, "Mullah, call me not to prayer/Let me please my Beloved/Though I become a dancing girl, I lose no honour/Let me win him over with my dance."
According to Bulla, the objective of social unity was a worthwhile goal, and its secret lay in realising that 'God is One'. This short, illuminating verse struck a chord with several people: "Jit jitumargawaai/Hun tuhaarfakira/Jitte da muladhkasira/Haare da mulhira."
The literal, if bumpy, translation of that is, "Life has slipped by chasing victory/Now learn to lose, o seeker/Victory's worth but half a grain/While 'defeat' is a diamond." Its message to everyday folk was to let their inner moral and spiritual convictions triumph and not surrender to the forceful rules of orthodoxy.
Bulla got more noticed in the second half of the 20th century, thanks to Bollywood. His first airing outside Punjab was in the film Bobby in 1973. His verse, ‘Masjid dhaade, mandir dhaade’, was translated in Hindi as the song Beshaq mandir-masjid todo. His lyrics scored another hit through AR Rahman's Tere ishq nachaya chhaiyyachhaiyya (Your love set me dancing) in the movie Dil Se back in 1998. Bulla's verses were even transposed to the classical realms of Kathak, wherein 'Sufi Kathak' was quite the vogue in Delhi in the noughties. But it is as a political message that his words carry significance today for communal relations. That's because they seem to urge a deeper sense of nationhood through uniting the God-seeking impulses of differing religions.
Another verse that highlights his syncretic mission is addressed straight to 'God' as Bulla wished to see him: "Bindrabanmeingaucharave, Lanka chadkarnaadbajave/ Makke da bann Haji aave/Wah-wah rang vataida/Hun kitti aap chhupaida?" Meaning, "You appeared as Krishna, Rama, and the Pilgrim of Mecca, showing so many colours; Where do You hide now?"
Are Bulla's ideas remotely doable today? It's likely that many will not buy his fuzzy love. Deep differences exist in both theory and practice despite sporadic inter-faith initiatives. But maybe, just maybe, we can 'fake it till we make it' for the sake of national interest.
Renuka Narayanan,
Senior journalist
shebaba09@gmail.com
(Views are personal)