“Dama Dum Mast Kalandar” and the emergence of Sufism in India
Pallavi Mishra
Assistant Professor, Government PG College, Doiwala, Dehradun
Abstract: The song Dama
Dum Mast Kalander is an evident example of the presence of folk in the
city. Bearing a transnational nature, this folklore (as is a definite feature of
folklore), cannot be rooted out by modernity. Modernization as such, had been
traumatic for many social groups in the Asian nations. The inclusive, secular
note in the song has made it a number that is refreshing, energetic, universal
and permanent. It is liberating; emerging beyond groups, factions, boundaries,
identifying connections that would otherwise go unnoticed. Ever since it is
sung, the audience of the song has nodded and swayed to its lyrics and music.
As it is sung and played over any stage of the world, a spontaneous connection
between the audience and the singer gets created and the listening
automatically turns participatory. The song gets transformed into a cultural
behavior that gets communicated to the group through the mode of performance
that is ritualistic, verbal and expressive, personal joy that becomes public
sharing of that joy. Mysticism, being the temper inherent in an artist reveals
the element of cosmic oneness and its experience of it within him; it can be
called the source of the origin of the “Vision” that inspires him deep within
and bursts forth through the created artifact, which, in this context, is a
“song”. The singer of the song, inadvertently, becomes a mystic.
Key Words: Unio
mystica, Sufism, Dhamal, Customs, Rites, Collectivity, Folklore, Consciousness.
Almost every Sufi singer
over the sub-continent has immersed himself into the magic of “Lal Meri Pat
Rakhiyo Bala”. The universality inherent in the song and its mysticism has
touched the chord of every human heart irrespective of the border-lines
simultaneously overlapping all religious boundaries. It is the inherent
characteristic of any folk-song that it can bind people together and thus can
resonate with its global, local, national or international audience. Deeply
connected to the social process and its functioning any folk-song cannot exist
on its own and needs to work within the context of society and community;
simultaneously maintaining standard cultural values while doing so. In the
song, we can perceive an unending pursuit for that Divine that is omnipresent
in all elemental forms. A loving impulse for the Divine restricts the
moralizing strain to some extent and there is a sense of immersion in the love
and power of the Divine whose presence inside the hearts is in the form of
love. Passionate and ecstatic, spiritual and entrancing, Sufi music and this
song in particular, acts as a uniquely valuable bridge between East and West
reflecting the most accessible, liberal and pluralistic aspects of Islam. The
song acts as a strong cultural symbol that advocates national and ethnic pride.
Written and sung in the honor of Sufi mystic
saint, “Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalander” (Usman Marvandhi), every word of his name
used in the qawwali has a meaning- he was known as Hazrat (Holiness), Lal (he
wore red robes, also mothers fondly call their kid as Lal in Punjab and nearby
region, Shahbaz (Shah- King and Baz- Falcon, king of Falcons and in Iranian
mythology represent godly figure who led them to victory, divine spirit), and
finally Qalander (a Qalandari- a Sufi saint, poet, mystic, noble man). He
settled in Serwan (Sindh, now in Pakistan) and tried bringing peace between
Hindus and Muslims.
(O, Laal meri pat rakhio bla jhoole Laalan,
Sindri da Sehran da, Sakhi Shahabad Kalandar, Dama Dam Mast Qalander, Ali dam
dam de andar)
“O the red robed, may
I always have your benign protection, Jhulelal (as he was affectionately
called). O master, friend and Sire of Sind and Sehwan (Or Serwan), The Red
robed God- intoxicated Qalander, The Lord in every breath of mine, glory be to
you.”
Nicholson writes,
“...the Sufis adopt the symbolic style because there is no other possible way
of interpreting mystical experience. So little does knowledge of the infinite
revealed in ecstatic vision need an artificial disguise that it cannot be
communicated at all except through types and emblems drawn from the sensible
world, which, imperfect as they are, may suggest and shadow forth a deeper
meaning than appears on the surface.”
(Char Charaag tere
baran hamesha, Panjwa mein baaran aayi bala jhoole laalan O Panjwa mein baaran,
O panjwa mein baaran aayi bala jhoole Laalan, Sindri da Sehvan da, Sakhi
Shahabad Qalander, Dama dam mast Qalander, Ali dam dam de andar)
“Your shrine is always
lighted with four lamps, and here I come to light a fifth lamp in your honor.
Here, I come with fifth O master, friend and Sire of Sind and Sehwan (or
Serwan), the red robbed God- intoxicated Qalander, and The Lord in every breath
of mine, glory is to you.”
A deep, tender, ethereal feeling omnipresent
inside a poet, a singer of the soul and of the Divine, finds none who sings as
if he had a deep communion with the Over soul and has felt His presence, his
soothing calmness and divinity through this oneness. The song reflects the
inner truth of Sufism, a belief system and discipline free from the confines of
time and place, that people from diverse cultural backgrounds and all walks of
life, who are, yet, seeking a common pathway to an eternal and transcendent
truth, can call themselves Sufis.
(Hind Sind (some
also sing Ghanan ghanan) peera Teri naubat vaaje, Naal vaje ghadiyaal bala
jhoole laalan, O naal vaje, O naal vaje ghadiyaal bala jhoole Laalan)
“Let your heroic name
ring out in Hind Sind (or lets the gongs bell loud), Let the gong ring loud for
your glory day and night by the people (ghadiyaal- watchman, symbolism of
night.”
(Har dam peera Teri khair hove, Naam-e- Ali
Beda paar laga jhoole laalan, O naam-e-mAli, O naam-e-Ali Beda paar laga jhoole
Laalan, Sindri da Sehran da Sakhi Shabaaz Qalander, Dama dam mast Qalander, Ali
dam dam de andar)
“ O Lord, may you
prevail every time, everywhere, I pray of your well-being, In the name of Ali,
I pray to you to help my boat cross in safety (in the river of life)” A mystic
has apprehensions of a world of divine reality behind and within the ordinary
world sense perceptions.
The song, a replica of
the love for God is the quest for the absolute truth as the truth finds its
absoluteness in God. Love can happen when there is a foundation of faith that
becomes the basis of the relation between the seeker and the sought. As E. Underhill
remarks, “It is name of the organic process which involves the perfect
consummation of the love of God...it is the art off establishing his conscious
relation with the absolute.”
McGinn notes that the term
unio mystica, although it has Christian origins, is primarily a modern
expression. McGinn argues that ‘presence’ is more accurate than union since not
all mystics spoke of union with God, and since many visions and miracles were
not necessarily related to union. He also argues that we should speak of
“consciousness’ of God’s presence, rather than of “experience”, since mystical
activity is not simply about the sensation of God as an external object, but
more broadly about “new ways of owing and loving based on states of awareness
in which God becomes present in our inner acts.
It is necessary to
remember that the verbal explanation of an experience is different from the
experience itself. The word ‘water’ or its description does not quench thirst,
its drinking does. Imagining the Divine will not lead to understanding the
Divine, inner discovery will. Ceremonies will not open the door towards unity;
Divine unity is attained through passing from the limited self and dissolving
in Divinity, without any medium.
Sung by Sayed Muhammad Usman Marwandi, also
known as Lal Shahbaz Qalander, a Sufi philosopher poet; the mysticism and the
quest for divinity in the song made it into an immortal piece with which every
human soul connects spontaneously. Lal Shahbaz Qalander belonged to the
Suhrawardi order of Sufis and Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Makhdoom Bilawal and
Sachal Sarmast were his noted disciples. ‘Qalander’ is a type of dervish who is
generally dressed in beggars’ clothes, likes poverty and austerity and has no
permanent dwelling. He was lal(red) because of his red attire, Shahbaz due to
his noble and divine spirit that soared like a falcon higher and higher in the
boundless heavens and Qalander since he belonged to Qalandria order of Sufis
and was saintly exalted and intoxicated with love for eternal being of God.
Preaching brotherhood
among Muslims and Hindus; this mysticism attracted people from all religions.
“Shahbaz” denotes a noble and divine spirit and Qalander his Sufi affiliation.
The inner sanctum of his shrine is about 100 yards square with the silver
canopied grave in the middle. On one side of the marble floor is a row of about
12 inch high folding wooden stands on which are set copies of Quraan for
devotees to read. Folk architecture is concerned with all traditional aspects
of buildings, the shapes, sizes and its lay outs, the material used and the
tools and techniques of building, the sites chosen and the placement of these
buildings. On the other side of the marble floor, beside a bundle of burning
joss sticks are rows of diyas lighted by Hindu devotees. The Hindus regarded
him as the incarnation of Bhartihari, the saintly brother of King Vikramaditya,
who is believed to have worshipped Shiva at the venue where lal Shahbaz’s
shrine is situated with all its glory and grandeur.
Customs evolve
gradually and hence they are obeyed mostly in a natural, spontaneous manner.
Once established, they gain grounds to become firm and are implicitly obeyed
with least resistance by the majority of the people. The sole justification for
following the custom is that it has been in existence since a long time. To
quote McDougall, “The ends and purposes of many customs are lost in the midst
of antiquity. No single theory or explanation can be offered about the origin
of custom. Numerous customs have arisen in different ways to satisfy the varied
needs of man.” The art, crafts, songs of the folk denotes a connectivity that
renders unity and a sense of oneness implying a strong sense of collectivity
amongst the masses.
A devotional dance
known as dhamal, being a frenzied and ecstatic swirl of the head and body, is a
special ritual that is performed at the rhythmic beat of the dhol (a big barrel
shaped drum), some of them being of giant size and placed in the courtyard of
the shrine.
Any item having
artistic or utilitarian functions that is handmade and has been passed down by
tradition come under crafts as it has immense aesthetic appeal and requires
workmanship. Bells, gongs, cymbals and horns make a thunderous din, and the
dervishes, clad in long robes, beads, bracelets and colored head-bands whirl
faster and faster in a hypnotic trance, until with a final deafening scream
they run wildly through the doors of the shrine to the courtyard beyond. The
clothing worn for the ritual and the positions of the body during the spinning
is highly symbolic. The song creates a strong sense of body- awareness and is
psychologically determined.
Despite being a dance,
drama and theatricality are absent, while a genuine self-assurance takes over
with a frank satisfaction in the participatory music. For instance, the tall
camel-hair hat represents the tomb of the ego, the white cloak represents the
ego’s shroud, and the uplifted right hand indicates readiness to receive grace
from visionary God. Mysticism involves an explanatory context, which provides
meaning for so-called mystical and visionary experiences, and related
experiences like trances. Dan Merkur writes, Mysticism may relate to any kind
of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness and the ideas and explanations
related to them. In a similar vein, Peter Moore asserts that mystical
experience may also happen in a spontaneous and natural way, to people who are
not committed to any religious tradition. These experiences are not necessarily
interpreted in a religious framework.
Human love provides a
paradigm for divine love in many bhakti traditions, and folk versions of great
love-tales are continuous with these traditions. In Sufism, great seers and
mystics have penned immortal lyrics celebrating God as the eternal lover and
the aspirant soul as the eager bride or expectant lover. The seers
significantly compose their lyrics in colloquial idioms and regional languages
as opposed to priestly and ritual languages. Any kind of folklore has been
continuously enriched by this mystic stream and ordinary feelings are often
clothed in the words of traditions. Through their transcendence, their relation
to God is such that in them the Divine personality seems to reflect itself and
through them is revealed to his followers, and the Grace of God is dispensed to
those who invoke God in his name. The song is a dance with mysticism ushering
in a quest for direct personal experience of God.
Born in Arabia, it
came to India following the Muslim conquerors. The Sufi saints of India belong
to the category of “Good- conscious men” as characterized by Tagore, who stood
above all narrow and parochial divisions of society, stroving to find a unity
for the heterogeneous elements that make up its totality. The Arabs laid stress
on asceticism and disciplining of the body, while the later Sufis in Iran and
India; under influence of Greek philosophy, Platonic Ideology, Christian faith,
Vedantist thinking, Buddhist lore etc. believed in leading an emotionally rich
life. They wrote poetry, read it aloud in Dayars (circles), sang and danced.
They had faith in God, loved the Prophet but maintained that the Murshid or
Guru could also lead to realization of the Divine reality. The Indian Sufis
laid stress on repeating the holy name (Jaap), concentration (Dhyan) and
meditation (Habsk,m-i-dam). Sufi maintained that the soul has been separated
from the Divine reality and supreme mission of human life is to achieve reunion
with God.
Sufis have the belief
that there are four stages in one’s journey to realization.
(a) Leading a
disciplined life as prescribed in Islam. (Shariat)
(b) Following the path
delineated by the Murshid or Guru (Tariqat)
(c) Attaining
enlightenment (Haqiqat)
(d) On realization of
truth, getting merged with Divine Reality (Mariat).
Sufism in India was
not confined to influencing a specific place or a shrine or a mosque and its
units. Its impact was felt on the culture of the people, on the entire
interlocking aspects such as environmental, geographical, social, artistic,
economic and devotional.
Sufis helped Islam
spread generously into prior polytheistic populations. Following the entrance
of Islam in the early 8th century, Sufi mystic traditions became
more visible during the 10th and 11th centuries of the
Delhi Sultanate and after it to the rest of India. A conglomeration of four
chronologically separate dynasties, the early Delhi Sultanate consisted of
rulers from Turkic and Afghan lands. This Persian influence flooded South Asia
with Islam, Sufi thought, syncretic values, literature, education and
entertainment that created an enduring impact on the presence of Islam in India
today. Sufi preachers, merchants and missionaries also settled in coastal
Bengal and Gujarat through maritime voyages and trade. Various leaders of Sufi
orders, Tariqa, chartered the first organized activities to introduce
localities to Islam through Sufism. Saint figures and mythical stories provided
solace and inspiration to Hindu caste communities often in rural villages of
India. The Sufi teaching of divine spirituality, cosmic harmony, love and
humanity resonated with the common people and still does so today. Sufism
invoked secular and value based traditions, contributing to social harmony and
peaceful co-existence when it was most needed. It helped in the process of
acculturation and assimilation of a large mass of population that settled in
India followed by the attacks on South Asia. The roots of Sufism espouses a
well-founded and thorough going interpretation of religion focusing on love,
tolerance, worship of God, community development and personal development
through self-discipline and responsibility.
Music has always been
present as a rich tradition among all Indian religions. As an influential
medium to disperse ideas, music has appealed to people for generations. The
audience in India was already familiar with hymns in their own languages. Thus,
Sufi devotional singing was instantly successful among the populations. Music
transmitted Sufi ideals seamlessly and sufi traditions encouraged poetry and
music as part of education. ‘Sema’, is a ritual that began with the inspiration
of Merlana Jalaluddin Rumi (1207- 1273) and was influenced by Turkish customs
and culture. Rituals have social dimensions and can be easily observed in a
group as it keeps the personal actions of an individual at bay and refrains
from the recognition of personal egos and interests. Being an expressive form
of a religion, rituals consist of a number of rites and a number of verbal or
non- verbal communications. Contrary to popular belief, the Semazen’s goal is
not to lose consciousness or to fall into a state of ecstasy. Instead, by
revolving in harmony with all things in nature- with the smallest cells and
with the stars in the firmament- the semazen testifies to the existence and the
majesty of the Creator, thinks of Him, gives thanks to Him, and prays to Him.
An important characteristic of this seven centuries old ritual, is that it
unites the three fundamental component of human nature: the mind (as knowledge
and thought), the heart (through the expression of feelings, poetry and music),
and the body (by activating life, by the turning). These three elements are
thoroughly joined both in theory and in practice as perhaps in no other ritual
or system of thought.
Sufism spread widely
with their teachings packaged in popular songs accessing mass demographies.
Women were especially affected; often used to sing Sufi songs during the day
and in female gatherings. These songs lift a barrier between gender and
mystical experience. It makes it possible for women to be able to spiritually
eschew a patriarchal ecclesiastical structure while remaining privy to mainstream
interpretations of doctrine in the development of their spirituality. The
experience of knowing God mystically comes from experiencing a feeling of pure
love, regardless of gender. It rejects the connotation of vulnerability
associated with women; by giving a meaning to their freedom. The tendency to be
behind veil maintaining their Muslim identity gets subdued when it comes to
participate and sing this song.
One of the biggest contributors to the musical
Sufi tradition was Amir Khusro (d.1325) known as the disciple of Nizamuddin
Chisti. Amir was known as the most talented musical poet in the early Muslim
period in India. Amir Khusro furthered the Chisti affiliation through this
rising Sufi pop culture within India. Sufi scholars travelling from all over
continental Asia were instrumental and influential in the social, economic and
philosophic development of India. Besides preaching in major cities and centers
of intellectual thought, Sufis reached out to poor and marginalized rural
communities and preached in local dialects such as Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi,
Persian, Turkish and Arabic. Sufism emerged as a moral and comprehensive socio
religious force that even influenced other religious traditions such as
Hinduism. Their traditions of devotional practices and modest living attracted
all people. Their teachings of humanity, love for God and Prophet continue to
be surrounded by mystical tales and folk songs of today. They were firm in
abstaining from religious and communal conflict and strived to be peaceful elements
of civil society. Furthermore, it is the attitude of accommodation, adaptation,
piety and charisma that continues to help Sufism remain as a pillar of mystical
Islam in India.
Rumi, Hafiz, Bulleh
Shah, Amir Khusrow, Khwaza Ghulam Farid are prominent Sufi poets. Deeply
connected to the tradition of Sufism, this song undergoes continuous change in
the way it is sung by different singers and is simultaneously continuous.
Abida Parveen, a
Pakistani Sufi singer is one of the foremost exponents of Sufi music,
considered the finest Sufi vocalists of the modern era. Sanam Marvi, another Pakistani
singer has recently gained recognition for her Sufi vocal performances.
There have been
instances of syncretic cooperation on music on Islamic and Hindu theme. The
national poet of Bangladesh, Kazi Nazrul Islam, wrote a lot of Islamic
devotional songs for the mainstream of Bengali folk music. He also explored
Hindu devotional music by composing Shams Sangat, bhajans and kirtans, often
merging Islamic and Hindu values. Nazrul’s poetry and songs explored the
philosophy of Islam and Hinduism. A. R. Rahman, Asrar Shah, a Lahore based Sufi
singer, Bengali singer Lalan Fakir, Junoon, a band from Pakistan, created the
genre of Sufi rock by combining elements of modern hard rock and traditional
folk music with Sufi poetry. Rabbi Shergill released a Sufi rock song called
“Bulla ki Jaana” which became a chart- topper in India and Pakistan. Today,
India is a contemporary epicenter for Sufi culture. Listening to the song is a
cultural trip across the globe. The song satiates the desire of every
individual soul of having a deepening relationship with the creator. It
invariably, attempts to unite the musician and the listener with the Divine.
Works Cited:
