CHAPTER IV

THE SUFI AND MYSTIC LITERATURE

WITH ARABIC AND MARATHI INFLUENCES

Introduction
Sufi Literature with Marathi influences
Mystic Literature with Arabo-Persian influences,
 161

Introduction
We have discussed before in the earlier Chapter

that Islam appeared in south Indian and Ceylon through

Arab traders and mystics. The Muslims had a strong

leaning towards the mystic way of life and Sufism, before

it entered India, had a pride of place in the Islamic

formulations. The Sufis had been in India even before the

north-western invasions in
the ,10th century. The Sufis
. 2
that came here had thorough Arabo-Persian groundings.

However, these activities got the phillip when

Muslim rule established itself in India. The Chishtiya and
Suhrav/ardiya orders were the major beginning of the
organised Sufi movements under the Sultanate period in

north India. The most prominent Sufis of the Chishti Order

were Mu'in al-din Chishti"^ (d.l236 A.D.), Bakhtiar Kaki'^

(d.l236 A.D.), Farid al-din popularly known as

Ganj-i-Shakar (1175-1265 A.D.), Nizam al-din Awliya^

(d.l323 A.D.) and his successor Shaykh Nasir al-din known

as 'Chirag-i-Dilli (d.l367 A.D.).

The prominent Sufis of the Suhrawardi 7 Order were

Shaykh Baha al-din Zakariya, Shaykh Ahmad Mashuq and the

well known scholar Sayyad Jalal al-din Surkh Bukhari

popularly known as Makhdumi-i-Jahaniyan Jahan Gasht

(d.l385 A.D.). The famous saints of Gujarat Qutb 'Alam

(d.l453 A.D.) and his son Shah 'Alam (d.l475 A.D.) also

belong to the Suhrawardiya order.

 IG.*^

In Maharashtra, the Chishti Order was represented

by Burhan al-din Gharib (d.l340 A.D.), the renowned Sufi

Saint Khwaja Banda Nawaz Gesu Daraz (d.l422 A.D.), the

9
scholar Sufi Saint Makhdum 'Ali Maha'imi (d.l431 A.D.),

Shaykh 'Ain al-din Ganj'ul-U'lum (d.795 A.H,) and Shaykh

Siraj al-din Junaydi (d.781/1380 A.D,),

One ought to mention here also the mystics and

Saints of Maharashtra belonging to the Bhakti movement.
These were numerous but the most famous of them are Namdev
(d.l350 A.D.), Eknath (d.l599 A.D.), Tukaram (d.l649
A.D.), Ramdas (d.l681 A.D.), Shaykh Muhammad (d.l645 A.D.)
and Husain'Ambar Khan (d.l653 A.D.).

The Mystics and the Sufis were of the masses and

for the masses. They lived like the common people. They
came in contact with the people and shared their pleasures
and pains. Being part and parcel of the people they
exercised a great influence on the lives of the people.
They left for us their compositions, their discourses and
records of their conversation and their letters in
Persian/Arabic or in the local languages.

Broadly, the writings of the Sufis and Mystics can

be divided into two categories viz.
(a) Mystical literature

(b) Popular literature

 1B3
The Sufi literature of the medieval period can be

found in five different categories viz.

i) Malfuzat

ii) Maktubat

ill) Tadhkiras or Sufi Hagiographies

iv) Treatises on Sufi doctrine and

v) Commentaries on Sufi classics.

The malfuzat are those collections which comprise

of the daily conversations of a Sufi with his disciples or

the people. These are usually compiled by one of his

disciples. These abound in his mystical pronouncements,

religious councils and ethical maxims. Only a few of them

can be mentioned here. The disciple of Khwaja Mu'in al-din

Chishti, Bakhtiar KaVi^ himself a well known mystic, has

collected his sayings in a volume called 'Dala ilu'l-

'Arifin'. Shaykh Farid al-din has compiled dicta of his

spiritual guide (murshid) Bakhtiar K^kT and called the

collections as 'Fawaidu's Salikin' . He has also left us a

record of his own mystic experiences called Asrarul Awliya

Amir Hasan Sijzi has compiled the malfuzat of Nizam al-din

_ -> > 11
Awliya under the title Fawaid al-fuad, while Hamid
Qalandar compiled Khayr al-majalis being the dicta of

Nasir al-din Chirag-i-Dilli.

In Maharashtra, the discourses of Shaykh Burhan

al-din Gharib (d.771 A.H.) are reported to have been

compiled by Rukn al-din 'Imad-e-Kashani under two titles

 KM

of Nafai^sul Anfas and Ahsanul Aqwal. The malfuzat or

renowned Chishti Sufi Khwaja Banda Nawaz Gesu Daraz are
found in Asmar al-Asr"ar, Jawami^ al-Kalim and
Khatima. An'amal al-Mulk al-Alam ba ahkam Hukum al-Ahkam
and Awal al-Tawhid of Makhdum 'Ali b. Ahmad Maha'imi
(d.l471 A.D.) and Malfuzat-i-Shah Sibghat Allah (Arabic),
Ma'rifat al-Suluk and Makhzan-i-Salikin, fall under this
category.

The second category e.g. maktub^t pertains to

collection of letters written by a Sufi to his spiritual
guide (Murhsid), his disciples and other contemporary
Sufis on topics of Sufi doctrine, religion and sometimes

on political matters. The collection of letters of Gesu

1 ft
Daraz entitled 'Maktubat-i-Khwaja Banda Nawaz' and those

of Makhdum'Ali Maha'imi have very useful information on

several facets of human life.
The third category consists of the biographical
literature of the Sufi Saints. These are called Tadhkiras.

To mention a few of the important Tadhkiras will suffice

— - 18
here. These are Akhabar al-Akhyar, Shawamil al-Jumal dar
> 19
Shamail al-Kalam, Sakinat al-Awliya and Safinat
- 20
al-Awliya, Atwar al-Abrar, Gulshan-elbrahimi and

Tadhkira i-Av^liya-i Daral-Zafar Bijapur and Khudnawisht wa

Nasl-nama.

Under the title Treatises on Sufi doctrine may be

cited the famous Kashf al-Mahjub. This is the first and

the foremost compilation on Sufism in Persian. 21
 le^j

The fifth category comprises of various

commentaries written on the Sufi classical compositions
by the Indian as well as non-Indian mystics. The famous
composition of Ibn al-Arabi's 'Fusus al-Hikam was
commented upon by Shahabuddin in his 'Awarif al-Marif.

Some of the important commentaries are (i)

22 - 23
Sharhe-Risalah-i- Qushayriyah (ii) Tafsir-i-Multaqat

(in Arabic) of Gesu Daraz and (iii) Khusu^ al-na*am fi

Sharhe-Fusus (This is another commentary on Fususal Hikam

and Zawarif al-Altaf fi Shar-i-'Awarif al Ma'rif of

Makhdum 'Ali Maha'imi. 24
Most of the mystical literature mentioned above is

in Persian language. But the popular literature was mainly

composed by the Sufis for the common folk of the Deccan

region. It was composed in the popularly used language

'Dakhni'. There are numerous collections of which may be

mentioned Mi'raj al-Ashiqin', Shikar Nama, Chakki Nama,

Sabras , Arai'sh Mahal, Gan j-i-Makhf i , Shahadat al-Tahqiq,
Khush Nama, Sukh Sahela, Manlaqan, Kalemat al-Haqai'q and
Man Samjhavan 27 etc.

The Maharashtra poet mystics mainly composed in

28
Marathi and most important of them are Santgatha, Chokha

Mela, Arjdast, Manache Shlok, Yoga Sangram and ^Amber

Husaini.

The early part of the middle ages marks the

beginning of a new era of literary activity in India.

 IBb

Persian was introduced in the country by Perso-Turks. It

soon became popular and both Hindus and Muslims vied with
each other to learn this new language. According to ^Aziz

Ahmad, 29 there were two factors which contributed largely

to the rise of Persian language in India. Firstly, the

influx of the elite refugees from Transoxiana and Khurasan

on account of Mongol onslaught and secondly the

stabilization of the Muslim rule in the country.

Persian being the cultural medium of central Asia

and with the introduction of the Turko-Mughal dominions in

India, it became the language of the elite expression.

Although it had its relationship with Central Asian

medium, the Persian in India developed its individualistic

style and expression which is usually referred to ' Subuke

Hindi'. The Mughals, who followed the earlier Turko Afghan

rulers, had their mother tongue eastern Turki but they had

already adopted the Persian as their main vehicle of

expression and discourse and therefore

Persian the
literature prospered better during the Mughal rule. 30

With the establishment of Bahmani rule in Deccan

there was a continuous flow of poets, scholars and Sufis
coming directly from Persia. 31 Besides this, the

establishment of educational institutions in important

towns of the Bahmani kingdom helped both for the purposes

of general education as well as preparing people for

administrative, religious and political services. This

 18V

gave better currency to the Persian language. Since the

royal court did not depend on the services of Muslims, the
Hindus too were attracted towards learning the court
language and were inducted in it.
The same process continued during the the 'Adil
Shahis of Bijapur, the Nizam Shahis of Ahmadnagar and the
Qutb Shahis of Golkunda. The language received patronage
from medieval sultanate as well as their vazeirs and high
dignitaries of the Court.

All these factors were slowly exercising influence

not only on the elite society of the period but their
influences were percolating into the social and cultural
life of the people as well. The Sufis and many other holy
men also played an important role in bringing about the
Arabo-Persian influences in Deccani culture. They were the
people who were in one way or the other, the connecting
links between the masses and the elites of the society.

The Persian and through it the Arabic were slowly

exercising their influence on local languages, especially
Marathi. The most important effect of the spread of
Persian was that it led to an influx of many foreign words
of Arabo-Persian origin into Marathi. Many Marathi writers

of this period extensively used Arabic/Persian words in

thexr literary writings. 32

In the religious sphere too, Arabo-Persian

influence made its presence felt. So popular was the usage

 188

of Arabic words tht the poet saints of Maharashtra have

(«
used them freely in their hymns and prayers addressed to

the dieties. 33
The Sufis, who ususally came in contact with the
masses had also kept close relationship with the court and
the elites, had to use Persian for their compilations on
mystical lores and religious writings. Since these were
addressed not only to the religiously inclined scholars
but to the higher cultural elites of the region, that is
why we find that most of the Islamic and mystical
literature is in Persian.

With the conquest of the Deccan by 'Ala al-din

Khalji, the elites belonging to the cultural and literal
classes of the north came down to the Deccan. Among them
were many Sufis and Saints.

The enforced migration of Muhammad b. Tughluq in

shiftng his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad, brought in

its wake many a Sufi to the Deccan. 34

Among these emigrants was Burhan a l - d m Gharib 35

(d.771 A.H.) a prominent disciple of Shaykh Nizam al-din

Awliya. He was the leader of of a batch of emigrants to

Daulatabad. There are reports that many of saints used to

direct their disciples to incorporate local idioms and

usages in their works. It was Nizam al-din Awliya who

had asked Amir Khusrow to compose poetry in composite

language since all the people who came to Chishti

 IBi^

sanctuary were not familiar with Arabic and Persian,

Shaykh Nizam al-din Awliya's disciples continued this
tradition of promoting the local languges wherever they
went and in Deccan too after its conquest by 'Ala al-din
Khalji the Sufical orders were mostly responsible for
introducing a new indie vernacular in their assigned
regions. Moreover, there exists several traditions
asserting that the saint had directed his disciples to
incorporate local idioms in their works.

We find that between 1300 and 1700 A.D., a good

number of Sufis migrated to the Deccan. They were
affiliated with one or another of the Sufi orders that

had been developing throughout the Muslim world and

37 ..
India. A branch of Sufi orders had the tradition to use

certain type of music while chanting the mystical

formulae. In the ecstasy of the chanting of the mystical

formulae some of the orders used to dance around, who

became famous as 'Dancing Darvihes'. The accompliment of

music both for the Persian and Hindi incantations also

helped a great deal in popularising the Arabic words into

common usage. The music is called 'al-Sama' in Arabic

which very much sounds like Sanskrit ' Sama' , which also

refers to religious music. The word 'music' itself is a

metathesis of 'Sama'. Even Shaykh Nizam al-din Awliya was

also very fond of 'Sama' or audition of music, which was

one of the main spiritual disciplines of the Chishti

38
Khanqahs.
 170

The Sufis were popular because they preached

monotheism, equality, universal brotherhood and social

justice. They' preached love not hatred, peace not war.

Generally speaking these Sufis and Mystics kept themselves

aloof from politics and wars. Sufi Khanqahs were open to

all the communities irrespective of caste, creed or

religion. The khanqahs played an important role in

bringing both the Muslim and Hindu communities together on

the same platform. It is even reported that the Sajjada

Nashin of the Chishti tomb of Moi'n al-din Chishti at

Ajmer used to advise the Muslim visitors to put on a green

sacred cord so that the Hindu visitors to the tomb may not

find themselves out of place. Thus the Sufis served as a

link between Hindus and Muslims. Their interest in both

Hindu and Muslim learning and scholarship had profound

influence on the development of combined cultural

synthesis. Owing to their simplicity, meditation, piety

and purity, the Sufis had tremendous hold over the rich

and the poor. They used to attract a large number of local

people as their followers.

The Sufis in their relationsip with the local

population and in their preaching to them at their

hospices could not reach them effectively in Persian

alone. They had to evolve a medium of communication which

could be easily understood by the local people. The people

in the Deccan who had migrated from the north were quite
 171

familiar with the northern vernacular dialects such as

Br^j, Punjabi and Rajasthani and therefore slowly a common
Deccani dialect stated evolving.

It is generally agreed that the coming of the

Muslims in Punjab affected the local Punjabis with the
Persian vocabulary and the Persian had a heavy Arabic
content. The royal army was composed not only of the
foreign element but also of the local populace. This too
helped to develop a working language in which Brij, Khari
Boli and the other dilects contributed. The word 'Urdu'
itself is derived from the Turkish word ' Ordu' meaning an
army camp and the language that developed by the
association of different elements in the army was also
called 'Urdu'. It was this kind of 'Lingua franca' that
came to Deccan when Bahmani state was established. This
developed further and assimilated in it the regional
peculiarities.

The dialects referred to above viz. Brij Bhasa,

Khari Boli etc. were beginning to be freely used in
patriotic ballads, songs and for religious literature by

Buddhists, the yogis of the Gorakhpanti movement, the

Sadhus and the Bhaktas. 39 Consequently there evolved a

common dialect by a beautiful blending of languages of

India with sprinkling of Persian and Arabic, leading to

the formation and development of a dialect which came to

be termed as 'Dakhni or Deccani'. The syntax of this

 17:^

•Dakhni' was the same as that of early Delhi Urdu. It was

also written in Perso-Arabic script. Its content differed

from Delhi Urdu. It was also written in Perso-Arabic

script. Its content differed from Delhi Urdu in that it

retained much of the old Punjabi and other north Indian

dialects. It also absorbed a large number of Sanskrit

words. However, at present the words of Arabic and Persian

origin have been reduced in the usage with the growing

influence of the Sanskritised Hindi and regional

languages. The Arabic/Persian words when used were also at

times distorted to suit the local pronunciation.

However, this process was nothing new since we find

that it was working as early as the 11th century in all

the literary traditions of the area exteding from India to

40
Turkey. We find that 'Awfi relates that the famous poet
Mtlsu'di Sa' d-i-Salman (d.ll31 A.D.), wrote in Hindawi

besides Arabic and Persian. He had left a diwan in Hindawi

and this anthology unfortunately has not come down to us.

Amir Khurd also mentions in his Siyar al-Awliya that

Shaykh Farid al-din Ganj-i-Shakar (d.l265 A.D.) wrote a
few verses which are preserved in the Granth Saheb.
Hindawi was not only employed in the house hold of early
Saints like Shaykh Hamid al-din Nagouri (d.l274 A.D.) and
Abu 'Ali Qalandar (d.l323 A.D.) but was also used in the

'dhikr' formulae recited during meditation sessions. 42

 173

It v/as in the deccan that the first Sufi prose work

in Dakhni language was written in the reign of Sultan

Firoz Bahmani. It was called Mi'raj al-Ashiqin. The

tradition attributes this to the renowned Chishti Saint

43
of Gulbarga, Khwaja Banda Nawaz Gesu Daraz (d.l422
A.D.). He was the first Sufi of the Deccan to establish a

tradition of using the local language for writing mystic

literature. This tradition was folowed by his successors.

This significant contribution paved the way for the

foundation of the Deccani school of poetry that flourished

later during the contemporary kingdoms of 'Adil Shahis and

Qutub Shahis.

This tradition of writing mystic literature in

Dakhni was in a way unusual because the Sufis and mystics

mostly coming from Persia, Central Asia and Iraq wrote

either in Persian or Arabic. It was not possible for them

to write in any other languages than Arabic or Persian,

Persian being the language of elite and Arabic being the

language of religion. According to Maulavi 'Abdul Haqq the

Sufis were the first to demolish this notion saying that

the "Great things can develop from the most cotemptible

things". 44 The beginnings had however to be made because

of Sufic relationship with the masses and one of the

initial writers had to tender an apology to his readers

for making use of local language. It is reported that Sufi

Shams al-Ushshaq Miranji while presenting Shaha dat

al-Tahqiq, his poetic treatise on Sufism composed in

 174

Dakhni in late 15th century stated that the work was

written in Dakhni because mass?, of the people did not
understand either Arabic or Persian. According to him, one

ought not to go by the externals but should look at the

internals. Whatever be the language, one should ponder on
the meaning. 45 Tradition
. has atributed to Amir Khusrow,

Hindawi compositions which include dohas, riddles, songs,

ghazals and qawwalis with alternate Persian and Hindav/i

lines. His small poem, khaliq-i-Bari 46 is full of Arabic,

Persian and Hindawi synonyms.

The Dakhni or Hindawi dialects were not the only

local languages that were developing as literary languages

during the 13th and 14th centuries. In Punjab the Chishti

Sufi Shaykh Farid al-din Ganj-i-Shakar was the first to

use the Punjabi language as a literary vehicle in the mid

15th century. That is why he occupies a pride of place in

the hearts of the people of Punjab. 47
In Gujarat the migration from north had taken place

several times after the 10th century. Even before that

there had been a large population of Muslims who had

settled down on the western coast of Gujarat ad Konkan for

I

the purposes of trade. It was in the wake of invasion of

Timur that some Sufi Shaykhs came to Gujarat. Among them

were Shaykh Ahmad Khattu (d.l455 A.D.), Shah 'Alam and

Qutb 'Alam who belonged to the Suhrawardi Order. The early

Sufis of this order were staunch Hanafis and were

 175

initially opposed to the usage of local languages and the

general indigenization of the Islamic mystical tradition.

One of their leading Sufis Makhdum-i-Jahaniyan Jahangasht

(d.l385 A.D.) was against calling God with Indian

48
attributes such as 'Niranjan' or 'Gosa'in'. However, in
later period they too had to turn to the local languages

for their mystical composition; and Shaykh Ahmad Khattu,

Qutb 'Alam and his son Shah 'Alam started using Dakhni as

the vehicle of expression and this Dakhni was inlfuenced

by the local language and this can be perceived in the

verses attributed to them.

These Sufis played an important role in the

contribution of Gujarat to the development of Urdu
1
language. 49

In the Deccan, the Sufis had discarded all

distinction of creed and language and this can be deduced

by comparison of the poetic composition of Sufis and the

Hindu mystics in the area. The similarity of thought and

expression can be discerned in the composition of Muhammad

'Amber Husaini and Namdev. The Sufis in the area took up

the Dakhni language to reach all classes of people.

Most of the Sufis composed their mystic work in the

language of the common people. There was no attempt on the

part of the Sufis to attend to the literary finish. They

wrote as they felt with a view to imparting Sufi doctrines

 17b
and spiritual instructions. They began to write tracts,

pamphlets and even larger works like 'mathnawis' in

'Dakhni' introducing many Sufi terms in the language. The

earliest 'Dakhni' writings were of the Sufis. Inspite of

the fact that Persian was the court language, the court

itself was trying to encourage the local idioms. Many a

kings of 'Adil Shahis and Nizam Shahis used their poetical

talents for local languages. Many a anthology have been

ascribed to some of the rulers. Dakhni achieved literary

expression in the Deccan 400 years before north India

could bestow literary status to Urdu, though in north

India the beginning of a literary tradition in the spoken

language had commenced as early as 11th century. The

linguistic imortance of these mystical works is very great

for we see the Dakhni language in its original form, the

earliest known form. This achievement of Sufis and mystics

in the Deccan may be termed as a landmark in the literary

history of India.

However, the Sufis continued the medium of Persian

and Arabic when composing technical Sufi texts or

addressing fellow Sufis and writing Malfuzat. As far as

the poetical form is concerned the Sufis employed Dakhni

whereas for their prose composition they fell back on

Persian. Since poetry, from time immemorial, was an

important medium for influencing the illiterate masses,

many Sufi saints and mystics composed their mystical

 17ft

literature in verse form. However, we find that wherever

there was an attempt at prose in Dakhni in the early
period the Persian influence was preponderant. Whereas in

the Dakhni poetry of the same period it was almost

li . . .

negligible. Even the early potry was composed m Hindi

meters. But later on Persian verse techniques were
introduced in it which led to the Mathnawi form of poetry
in Dakhni literature.
The literary compositions of the Sufi saints and
mystics of the Deccan forms a significant part of the
Dakhni literature. The history of the Deccan literature
shows the prominent place the great Sufi saints occupy
in it. They contributed greatly to the development and
literally expression of the Dakhni language and
literature. It would be worthwhile to examine the mystic
literature of these Sufis and Mystics with both
Arabo/Persian and Marathi influences.

A. Sufi literature with Marathi influences

The first work in Dahni prose belongs to the later

half of the 14th century. Traditior^'attributes this work
Mi'raj al-Ashiqin, to a famous Chishti Saint Sayyad
Muhammad Husayni Gesu Daraz (d.l422 A.D.). It was written
in what Urdu philologists call Deccanese Urdu or
Dakhni Urdu.
 17^i

Khwaja Banda Nawaz (1318-1422 A.D.) came to Deccan

when Firoz Shah Bahmani had been crowned the Sultan in
Gulbarga. 52 When the Sultan heard of the arrival of the

Saint in Daulatabad he formally invited him to Gulbarga

and requested him to settle down in the

capital. The
authorship of works m Dakhni attributed to him are: 53

(1) Mi'r'aj al-Ashiqin

(2) Shikar Nama

(3) Ris'ala Seh Barah

(U) Chakki Nama and the few treatises.

While carefully examning the above mentioned

mystical literature in
Dakhni, we find that Saint
t- - 54
Gesudaraz m his work Mi'ra;] al-Ashiqin has used quite a

few workds of Arabic, Persian, Hindi and Marathi origin.

To give just a few examples:

Tuba (blessedness), Mumtene' (Forbidden), Mashshata

(women hair dresser), 'Adhab (punishment), Shari'at
(Islamic Law). These are Arabic words in their pure form.

The words of the local languages are: Ujyala

(Brightness), Andhyara (darkness), Anch (fire), Saukan
(second wife), Hor (And), Haat (hand), Tilak (dot), Baj
(music), Jiv (life), Purshis (reckonning) , Viswas
(belief), Nirgun (without attributes), Kunj (place), Jaga
(to be awaken).

We quote a few extracts from his prose work Mi'raj

al-Ashiqin, which show the actual usage of these Marathi

words:
 180

Jiv: (1) Cor ka push is dozakh ka adhab achega, Aye Aziz

aisa kaun mard hai khuda ki rah mein Jiv de

kar lave ga.

Viswas 2) Suno je Koie du'dh pivega so tumari pairvi karega

shariat par q'ay'am achega - Pani pivega so

viswas ke qatriyan mein dube ga.

One finds in his ' Shik"ar Nama' many Marathi words

viz. Jinnas (pi. Jinnas i.e. articles). Bat (vat) (place),

Jiv (life), Kadne (to remove), Upadya (to extract), Jana

(person, individual), Utar (to get down), Had (bone), Dev

(give), Handi (pot), Natha (absent), Binjane (brinjal).

Some of these words were employed in the earlier period in

the local languages, however, some of them have fallen out

of use now. Just a few extracts from the original text:

(1) Es bat mein char hiran the - Teen mote ekas ko Jiv

natha .

(2) Es mehrab mein ek handi thi - Ess Kadne ke vaste

hat anpadaye to hat nahi apadya.

(3) Vahan ek Jana milya.

(U) Hor boliya taqseem mera dev.

(5) Es ke hat mein se had nikal paoya.

In Marathi the alphabet "CH" is added to the words

ending with "d" to give additional emphasis to the meaning

of the word, especially warning or admonition. In Shikar-

Nama we find a number of such examples viz:

 181

(1) Ekas kon kapdach natha

(2) Wahan char ghar the, teen toote ek ghar bastach

nahi .

57
Another extract from his Risala Seh Barah,

wherein the following Marathi words are used viz. Akhand

(undivided), Karan (cause), Dhar (take), Dise (seen), Jiv

(Life), Arsi (mirror), Sukh (comfort), Dukh (sorrow). A

few example^ of the actual usage of these words are shown

below:

Marathi .
Words
Vxr^'J(-(i;^l
Akhand 1) Akhand hal thabiti hai

Karan 2) Daton karan missi kar

Khubi kan tu d i1 me in dhar

^
u u e< J
Chun t 3) Zeera mirchiyan satwa sunth

Katha ujla le kar ghont

Sukh 4) Joon Joon lagawe pawe sukh

Dukh Tujh danton ka jave dukh

 18:^

LU u^ >i r •-r-J^'j^
a
Ji V 5) Noor Nabi Rasool ka o'mere Jiv mein bahaya

Arsi Apas kon apne dekhne kaisi arsi laya

One also finds a good number of Marathi words in

his Chakkinama. A few examples will suffice:

J>

Dista 1) Alif Allah ka dista

Miyan-i-Muhammad hokar o'basta

Cyan 2) De kala dil gyan ka chara khila Iman ka

Dhiyan
dar I if am de kush dhiyan ka rakh bandh apne da r t u
• /

Baka 3) Dona rikaban nek wo bad

Chabuk Rakhta qadam tu ek had

tab ho pari ka ek jab

tu baka chabuk mar tu

We have noted earlier that the reputed mystic

scholar Khwaja Banda Nawaz Gesu Daraz was the first Sufi

of the Deccan to establish a tradition of using the local

 183

language 'Dakhni' for writing mystic literature. After his

passing away in 1422 A.D., a literary and prolific line of

his successors was maintained in Bijapur, the capital of

the 'Adil Shahi Kingdom.

The most important exponents of Chishti doctrine in

Bijapur during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries were Shah

Miranji Shams al-Ushshaq (d.l499 A.D.), his son and a

great mystic Shah Burhan al-din Janam (d.l597 A.D.) and

the latter's son Amin al-Din ""Ala (d.l675 A.D.) and Shaykh

Mahmud Khus Dahan (d.l617 A.D.), a Khalifa of Shah Burhan

al-din Janam. All these Sufis were responsible for the

revival of the Sufi practice of writing mystical

literature which in the Deccan had ceased after the death

of Saint Gesu Daraz.

The coming of Shah Miranji to Bijapur and his

earlier life is shrouded in mystry. However, it is

reported that on Jama al-din Maghribi (d.l424 A.D.) one of

the successors of Saint Gesu Daraz passed on the Chishti

spiritual succession to his disciple Kamal al-din Biyabani

(d.1462-63 A.D.) known as 'Shah Kamal'. After migrating to

Bijapur towards the end of the 15th century, Sufi Kamal

Shah met Shah Miranji Shams al-Ushshaq (d.l499 A.D.) and

according to Chishti tradition bestowed on him the Chishti

Khilafat.

Shah Miranji was a stranger to the other Sufis of

the Bijapur city where he settled at a hill known as

 184

Shahpur Hillock or Munawwarpur, 'City of Light'. As no one

knew the Sufis place of origin, Shah Miranji himself wrote

his own autobiography - Khud-nawisht wa Nasal Nama wherein

the Sufi has given a detailed account of his family

background.

Shah Miranji and his successors did not write

exclusively in Persian but re-established the importance

of the Dakhni language as a recognised medium of mystic

literature in the Deccan.

Shah Miranji is credited with many mystical works

composed in Dakhni. A few of his authentic works are:

1) Khush Nama

2) Khush Maghz

3) Sbahada t a 1-Tahqiq

A) Maghz-i-Marghub

5) Sharhe Marghub a 1-Ou tub

The first three works are lyrical poems, while

Maqhz-i-Marghub is a expository poem. The last Sharhe

Marghub al-Qutub is a prose work. Several prose works in

both Persian and Dakhni have been attributed to Shah

Miranji but their authenticity is doubtful.

While examining his works in Dakhni we find that

many words of the local languages especially Marathi have

been used. A few of them are enlisted below:

 18b

K.vran (cause), Dhaun (run), Antt (end), Mukh

(mouth), Achar (statement), Arth (meaning), Phechanne (to

recognise), Bachan (promise), Reet (custom), Neech (low),

Div (give), Chan (nice), Bhasa (language), Phokat (free),

Punn (virtue), Pap (wrong), Chinta (worry), Bhagvan

(lucky), Mati (soil), Subhav (savbhav, impression),

gunvanti (full of virtues), Murakh (idiot), Achamba

(surprise), Jivan (life). Raj (rule), Manus (man), Praqat

(appeared). Cyan (wisdom), Chor (thief), Sav (good

person), Gun (virtue), Asha (hope), Balak (child), Lab

(Labh - gain), Man (heart) etc.

A few extracts of the actual usages of the above

mentioned Marathi words are given below:

Marathi
words

Karan 1) Is karan tujh ko dhaon

Aur tera naam leyun

I ^c^lrll^
Antt 2) Hai tera antt na par
mukh
ucbar Kis mukhon karon uchar
 18b

^J U
I
64
Mali 3) Ya woh dekhe chare

Es Ma ti ka pasara

65
Chan 4j ye Chan sanna leve

Aur bade naka deve

Gunvanti 5) Aus ki basa hum ko basa phool

Murakh , , ^ ,. .66
phoka t k 1 aani
Ai si ba ten ka ren gunvanti murakh boj hen sudh

^JAUJ^CTC

Bol S) Main Arabi bol keray

Aur Farsi behtairay.

Arth 7) Ye Hindi bolun sab

Es arton ke sabab

x^ ^
'^(J.
69
Nirgun 8) Je nirgun gunon ka saban gun kon so bojhe ab
gunon
 18V

^ J
•UJ^r •li^>J:^^[(^,
70
Pun- 9) Pun -pap sat d i j iye ab sha i son ma i la Hove tab
Pap

^^> cr::Juiy:^u^o^-
Cbinta 71
10) Sab hi chinta tujh kon lagi j a i se
Jl V
J iv Jivan Sab k i Jan Subh a n tu nah i
Ji van
de j ej e j i ske man.

Besides Maratbi words, Shah N i r a nj i has also used

Arabo-Persian terminology. A few extracts are given belov/:

72
1) Bismi1 lab Ar-Rahman

Ar-Rahim tu Subb'an

^-^ - 73
2)
Je hamari iradat ki un ka ye ahkam
Namaz, tasbib, n iya tan, dhikr Allah Ek nam

iU.
'^•Zy'^^'zJ'K^^-
IMJ^
^P'/^':^^ \^y^/:u(^i
-r:^ 74
3) Arsb Kursi Lob qalam dozhakh bahisht na pay a
Aswan par chandr tare sub par hukum chalaya

4; Es nam hai tahqiq

Sun Shabadat al-Tabqiq

5) Ispar jeeta rahe sadaq so ota ache labyr-

Din, duniya, deedar, bahi sbtan pave be bisab
 188
77
6) Khusb khush halon khush kbushiyan khushi rahe bbarpur

Ye kbush kbusbiyan Allab kera Noorun ala Noor

7) Sbariat ka bojb pura tarigat kucb kare

Haqiqat wob nicha dekbe Ma'ri fat son tbare

An extract from his prose work entitled 'Sharhe

Marqhub al-Qulub' 79 is cited to show the influence of the

local language viz. 'Khuda Kahiya' tahqiq ma'1 aur pangde

(progeny-children) tumhare dushman hai, chor dev dushmana

ko, aiy kaisa ghaflat hai jo tujhe andhla kiya, mout ki

yad se tujhe bisra (visra) kar'.

After the demise of Shah Miranji Shams al-^Ushshaq

in 1499 A.D., the Chishti Khilafat was passed on to his

disciple and son Burhan al-din Janara. Like his father Shah

Miranji, Burhan al-diji Janam was regarded as the most

important propounder of Chishti doctrine at Munawwarpur.

He was the most prolific and profound writer of mystic

literature during the 16th century in the Deccan. During

the reign of 'Ali 'Adil Shah I, Burhan al-din Janam was

already established as one of the great Sufis of the

Deccan. Many disciples from different parts of the

sub-continent v/ere studying in his Khanqah at Shahpur

hillock.

Burhan al-din Janam has composed a dozen works on

mysticism and has used Dakhni for his verse and either

Dakhni or Persian for his prose. Like his father. Shah

Miranji, we find that his Dakhni works were generally

 18.S

addressed to wider, non-sufi audience while the Persian

prose writings dealt exclusively with Sufi doctrines and
were intended for more advanced disciples and fellow
Sufis. This shows the importance of oral value of the

Dakhni verse in the mystical literature of the medieval

80
Deccan.
Burhan al-din Janam's mystic compositions in Dakhni

are:

(1) Was'iat al-Hadi

(2) Naseem a 1-Kalam

(2) Munfiit al-Im~an

{h) Sukh Suhela

(5) Hajjat a 1-bag a

A

(6) Basharat al-Dhikr

(7) Rumuz a1-Wasi1 in

(8) Kufr Nama

(9) Irsh'ad Nama

(10) Kalimat al-Haqayiq

The first eight works mentioned above are in verse

form while Irshad Nama and Kalimat al-Haqayiq, both highly

technical expositions of Chishti doctrine, are in prose.

Sufi Burhan al-din Janam too had to apologize for

using Dakhni which he called 'Hindi' or 'Gujari'. He

argued that "there is nothing the matter with speaking

Hindi. Open your eyes to the meaning in the treasure. If

ocean diamonds are found in the garbage, a wise man v/ill

81
not leave them".
 19/)

We shall now discuss the influence of Marathi and

Arabo-Persian terminology on the Sufi Burhan al-din's

mystic works in Dakhni. On going through the above works

especially the works in verse, we find the following Vi/ords

of the local languages. A few of them are:

Sangat (company) Sandesa (message)

Sagla (all) Bhoj an (dinnar)

Nhave (not present) So tantra (independent)

Marg (path) Roop (form)

Sadhu (Mystic) Cheshta (attempt)

Pragat (appear) Antar (distance)

Jiv (life) Cha ttr (wise)

Phokat (free) Gun (virtue)

Akas (sky) Arsi (mirror)

Angan (courtyard) Upaye (solution)

f
Aproop (priceless) Amr i t (life-giving ligu.id)
Akar (form) Utapat (produced)

Aj i t (Conguered) G iyan (wisdom)

Bara (vara-wind) Alpat (less)

Preet (love) Bais (sit)

Parcheet (test) Bhavit kar

Turat (immediate) Surup (beautiful figure)

Tisra (third) Kathin (difficult)

Jasi (to go) Yekach (only one)

 191

Jaga (awake) Bhandar (Emporium)

Joti (light) Andhla (blind)

Jolak (till then) Drisht (outlook)

Sav (good person) Disna (see)

Sevak (servant) Diva (lamp)

Halad (turmeric) Raman (engrossed)

Budhara (wise) Rahan (place)
Bisarna (forget) Santi (peace)
Bhakar (food,chapati) Sahej (easy)
Bhanda (vessel) Khara (right)
Bhav (rate) Kadhna (to remove)

A) A few examples of the actual usage of the above

mentioned words are given below:

Sangat 82
1) Aisiyan Siftan son hai zat

Joonke chandna chand sangat

Sandesa 2) Ab sandesa mujh hai shai ka

antar jab kab bhagoon antar milay

Roop 3) Ye roop pargat aap chupaya koi napaya antt

Pargat
Antt Maya moh men sab jug bhandiya kiunkar sujhe
Maya
pant.
 l,9;i

Jiv 4) Jiv men mere tu hi oase

Dise Khilvat men tu aap dise.

J ^^ or

Yekat 5) Aap wahid wahi yekat

Bikat Dekh Qudrat kya bikat.

'\:^J~-'j

— ^ 87
Sahej 5) Ye charo tute band
Anand Manje hua Sahej anand

Q O

Diva 7) Bin tail diva kiyun Jale bin dunke pankhi Jun phire
Jiv Yu Jiv baval Tujh bina, bin Jal machli tadpa kare

^ 89
Sangat 8) So beech jeena sanch kar Sangat tere ji base

Roop •>
9) Jaisa tera roop 90

Swarup Hai eska waheech swarup,

 193

Bhandar 10) Woh faham ka bhandar

Anth Es qudrat anth na par

> ^ ^ 92
Akas 11) Are tu es safa men noor

Surya ke jaisa akas surya.

Dirashta 12) Us ka bhi to dirashta 93

Chaj Woh Jun chaj men maska

B) A few extracts from his Dhakni prose work are;

Aikach Aikach sab men kiun 94

Nahve Ye dhikr nahve

Andhla ' 95
Awal andhla wohi, ki jis ke yaqin men
Dharta Shak ache ke khuda ki hasti men guman dharta
 194

C) The influence of Arabo-Persian terminology is quite

evident in both of his prose as well as verse compositions

viz.

1) Sakta, Qadir Qudrat son sanjhe tujh kon koi kya"

Jis kon lore deve rah kahiya Yahdi man yasha

2) Allah, pak munazzahh zat Es son sifatan qay

qayam '^sat
Ilm, Iradat, Qudrat bar sunta dekhta, bolan har.

2^\^_y U:i'^'o/iri <2^Uuk^

* 98
3) Haiye Sifat ye Jan hayat - Is kon na hein kad mumat

4) Koi kahe ye dekh muqeem Yo sab alam ahe Qadeem 99

Na es khaliq makhluq koye jaisa taisa samjha hove

X
l^ (j;y^o;c>Uo^^- ^ -
I^ LT, •>> u;r/^y'y
5) Dhikr f ikr mein rahen sada - Rab ki rah mein honye f ida
 195

It will be seen that the influence of Arabo-Persian

terminology is tremendous.

When Sufi Burhan al-din Janam died in 1597 A.D.,

the Chishti Khilafat was then passed on to his son Amin
al-din A'la (d.l675 A.D.), who continued the tradition
of his fore-fathers of writing Sufi works in Dakhni. His
mystic works both in prose and poetry were composed during
the reign of Sultan 'Ali 'Adil Shah II.
Some of his compositions in verse form are:

1) Risala Qarbia

2) Risala Wujiidia

3) Mohib Nama or (Muhabbat Nama)

^) Wasal Nama

5) Noor Nama

6) Rumuz al-Salikin

7) Rumuz al-'Arifin

8) Ganj-e-Makbfi

Besides, his 'Sayings or Mulfuzat' have been

collected and preserved by his disciples under the title

'Jawahar al-Asrar'.

A) A few extracts of his compositions in verse form

are given here wherein a good number of words from the

local languages have been utilized viz.

Words

Seema sahave
1) Seema arsh alamat kursi mukat sahave"

Mukat Roshan shama munawwar parwane jalne kon

 19b

6) Ye Shahad yan jis mein bar - Ye Sabhon Sarjan har

Eis hawai safa mein zuhur Wohi isi ka noor.

D) Some extracts from his prose works 'Kalemat al-

Haqaiq' written in the form of 'Questions and Answers' in

Dakhni are as follows:

1) Question: Shahid gawah dar wa asal shahid soch aqal

Answer: Sahih woh, hidayat Qadim mustaqim

So yu faham hai ama 'arif al-wajud nahve,

^evJ'^-"Jir-
2) Question: Dil kaun ? 103

li^^^U^ '07^>^^^>'-:^l
^ < ^ ^^c^cf-^xO J-^cri

Answer: Qulub al-Momineen, Arsh Allah ta'ala,

es dil ki buzurgi kase ra nihayat

na rasad ke 'Al Qalb bait al Rab'.

 19 V

Jaga 2) Nafas ko liya wo to dam ki Jaga 106

Bhaga Layen dhikr nahi to jave bhaga

. •'. "^ ., 107

Gyan 3) Aye Subhan de tun mujhe gyan"

Main dekhun tujhko pahchan

Abhiman 4 ) Sab son ban sab aap abhiman dekho aap pehchan108
Roop
Bharpoor Burhan mukammal surat ayan aste qayam qurb makan
Aste
Aage Shah Amin den roop bharpur apen nidhan.

\^uj^ (^uyv^v^^ 109

Tan 5) Tan mera tujh par fida"

Man Har dam mil rahon tujh sou juda

Na rakh mujh kon tujh sou juda

Piu 6) Piu kon bojhia main ho fani

Bojhia
Piya Piya dista hai wajhe Allah ke mani
Dista
Piu muhrat kul shai samani
 188

Sufi Amin al-din A'la has also composed some Dohas,

A few of them are:

^ U / ^ .^L(>
^

1) Marna har, Jivna bisar

Jivna har, marna basar

Apas mein dekh aap ganvave

Man rani hazarat qaul bhavave

One finds a lot of Arabic terms in his another doha

VIZ:

112
2) Nabi pragat zat zahur hai
Ma'shuq haq Allah Noorun ala noor hai
Haqiqat haqaiq zat kamal hai
Surat ma'na Zul Jalal hai

C^^ U j\ ^

O-i^aJi-^/^
3) Wa fi anfusakum au Kahavi 113

Nahnu aqrab nazdeek pawe,

 19ii

After the death of Amin al-din A' la in 1675 A.D.,

the tradition of writing mystic literature in Dakhni was
continued by his discendents who lived in the seventeenth
«
. 114
and eighteenth centuries. His contemporary Mahmud Bahri
(d.l718 A.D.) composed a poem Man Lagan in Sankritised

Dakhni. Similarly Shah Turab, a Khalifa of Peer Pasha

Husaini, a much later Chishti Sufi of the same tradition

•

composed his mystic verse in Dakhni. Some of his works

are:

(i) Ganj al-Asrar

(ii) Zuhur-i-Kuli

(iii) A' een-i-Kasrat

(iv) Man Samjhavan

(v) Gulzar-i-Wahdat

(vi) Cyan Swarup

Shah Turab like his spiritual forefather Amin

al-din A'la has stated in his 'Gulzar-i-Wahdat' that he is
not worried whether he talks in Dakhni or Persian. His
object was to see that his friends understand his message
.
he says: 116

a) Garaj Kutch hai na Hindi Farsi su

Ahe darkar yaran ki khabar su

 2 (J U

In the above works, Shah Turab has used Marathi as

well as Arabo-Persian terminology to a great extent. A few

extracts of the actual use of such words are shown below:

Words

b)

Alakh
Niranjan 1) Alak(h) nam Allah niranjan hari hai 117
Hari
Nirankar Nirankar nirgun woh parmesari hai
Nirgun
Parmesari

y'y^ Jipjy I
';

Bisar 2) Bisar lung apna phire bandh dhotar'118

Dhotar Ai kaise nikale ho ghut do akshar
Akshar
Shankh Batao mujhe koi yeh bhed aakar
Phirun bandh dhotar baja shankh gharghar

Balak 3) Phir balak bala bhola hun

Bala
Bhola Gun pustak Jiv ke tola hun
Gun
Pustak
Jiv

Sakel ij ^x.
Veech 4) Sakel muluk ke veech hai phera"120
Phera
Pida Pida ka ahe dard mujh main ghanera
 2 01

c) Sufi Shah Turab has also used some Marathi idioms

viz:

121
Bisar 5) Badi ke tukham bagh manke mein bo mat
Gyan
Kasav Bisar gyan ko kasav chi Jhope so mat
Chi
Jhope

d) We also find a good number of words of

Arabo-Persian origin in his above works viz:

(6) Bhi padhte*^ilm sab sarf nahv ka

Bisar gaye shouq raz-i-man '"arafa ka

Khiyale fa'il wa mafw'ul rakhte

Kamal-i-Saighai mujhul rakhte

7) Kiya Insan ko Haq ne apni surat 123

Uthaye lake wo bar-i-amanat

Joi arsh-wo-farsh mein na koi qubula

Qubula wo zaluman or jahula

 20:^

u [^
c
yhc^hc^-^U^l

124
8) Aye Turab-i-Wakife Raz-i-nihan

Hal wo qal sabka hai tere par 'ayan

B. Mystic literature with Arabo/Persian influence

As we have said, the beginning of the 11th century

may be regarded as the turning point in the literary

tradition of the language all over India, both literary as

well as folk. The Sanskrit, gave way to the popular Indian

regional languages which grew in favourable environments

in different parts of the country. These languages

gradually but certainly became the vehiles of popular

thought and expression.

By the end of the 13th century the Marathi language

had fully developed as a medium of literary expression.

The famous poet sainsts of Maharashtra, Jnaneshwar, 125who

1 9 fi

composed Jnaneshwari and Chakradhar, the pioneer of the

Mahanubhav sect, championed the cause of Marathi by
composing several works. They and their followers, working
independently of each other led the literary movement in
Maharashtra during the closing years of 13th century and
the first half of the 14th century. The different writers
of the Mahanubhav sect not only produced valuable Marathi
literature but created interest among the educated.
 203

Jnaneshwar, also known as Jnandev with his

Bhagavata cult worshipped the diety of Vitthal at

Pandharpur, whereas the Mahanubhavas were devoted to

Krishna. However, the elemnt of Bhakti or devotion was

common to both.
According to Bahina Bai,127 disciple of saint

Tukaram and a poetess of 17th century, it was jnaneshwar,

who laid the foundation of the Marathi literature in

general. Besides Jnaneshwari which is a commentary of

Bhagvad Gita, Jnaneshwar has several compositions to his

credit most famous of them being Amritanubhav, which

contains Abhangas or spiritual lyrics. They are full of

devotion and divine love.

129 is the another famous name in the
Namdev

Bhagwata cult. A poor tailor from Pandharpur, he was a

contemporary of Jnaneshwar. According to tradition, he
went to Punjab after the demise of Jnaneshwar and lived

there for about twenty years. He is also supposed to have

composed some devotional literature in Punjabi and proto

130
Hindi dialect. The Granth Sahib of the Sikhs, contains
some 'padas' or devotional songs attributed to Namdev.

After the establishment of the Muslim rule in

Maharashtra in 1296 A.D., Persian became the court

language. Due to the social and intellectual impact of the

Muslim rule, an interesting linguistic trend of

introduction of Arabic, Persian words in the Marathi

language had commenced, this we have already mentioned

 204

before. In due course this process went on progressing

and the influence of Persian and Arabic on Marathi
language increased. This affected the progress of Marathi

literature. Thus we find that no

work ofMarathi any
131
literary merit was produced in the 14th century.
The early phase of the 16th century is regarded as
132
the age of reival of Marathi literature. Eknath
(1533-1599 A.D.), the scholarly poet Saint was initiated

by his guru in the art of writing. Eknath is known for his

work Rukmini Svayamvara, a metaphorical poem describing

the marriage of Krishna and Rukmini. The more important of

his work is Bharudas, which consists of folk songs and

had philosophical content. He is also credited with the

revised text of Jnaneshwari which has gone through changes

in the course of time. Eknath inspired, quite a number of

devotional poets, who gathered around him, to write in

Marathi literature. One such disciple was Dasopanta 133
(1515-1615 A.D.) who has written about five or six
commentaries on the Bhagvad Gita.

We have seen in chapter three that since the 13th

century the temple of deity Vithoba at Pandharpur was the

main centre of the Bhakti movement in Maharashtra. This

movement became immensely popular among the Potters,

Barbars, Vaishyas and Mahars population of Mahrashtra. The

Bhak-ti movement in Maharashtra reached its zenith in the

17th century which experienced a period of religious

 205
134
reforms and revival. The temple at Pandharpur was
rebuilt in 1659 A.D. The Muslim rulers were aware of the

importance of this temple and the devotion of non-Muslims

of Maharashtra attached to it. The attitude of the 'Adil

Shahi administrations to whom the city of Pandharpur was

transferred from Nizam Shahi administration, was

»
essentially secular in approach and
spirit towards the
135
Hindu shrines m various parts of the State.
The early years of 17th century were dominated by
1 3 fi
two prominent poet saints of Maharashtra, Tukaram and

Ramdas. 137 The former was influenced by the monotheism of

the Sufi doctrine. He preached that there are no ranks or

classes before God and all are equal before Him. He
rejected ceremonies, offering vedic sacrifices, fasts,

worshipping stones and showed the way to true worship. His

teachings are in the form of spiritual lyrics or

'Abhangas'.

„ , 138 (1608-1681 A.D.) is reported to have

Ramdas '^

initiated Shivaji into the pathway of mysticism in the

year 1649 A.D. and continued to be his political and

spiritual guide upto the end of his life. The outstanding

poetical composition of Ramdas is 'Dasabodha' 139

containing about 7752 verses.

 20G

The beginning of the 17th century is also

significant because of an important phenomenon. Uptill

now only non-Muslims were the authors of Marathi mystic

literature. But with the turn of the century, we find that

some Muslim mystics also started composing their poetical

works in Marathi language. Most prominent among them were

Sufi Shah Muntoji Brahmani"'"'*^ (1575-1650 A.D.), Shaykh

Muhammad, 141 the author of 'Yoga-Sangrama' (16 4 5 A.D.),
f 142
Husain Ambar Khan, the author of 'Ambar Husaini' (1653
• «

A.D.) and Latif Shah. Latif Shah was a contemporary of

Aurangzeb.

These poet saints of Maharashtra had made a great

contribution of social progress. These saints, apart from

uniting -and inspiring the masses and giving them a sense

of identity to the region have not only made use of local

media but also greatly enriched and popularised it.

The distinguishing feature of the Marathi mystical

literature is the usage or presence of a large number of

words of Arabic and Persian origin. There is certainly

nothing wrong in borrowing the vocabulary of another

religious creed to bring home the point.

In the following pages we will discuss the Arabic
and Persian influences on the Marathi mystical literature.
 20 V

We will now take up the Marathi mystical

compositions of the poet-saints of Maharashtra viz. (1)

Eknath (2) Tukaram (3) Ramdas (4) Shaykh Muhammad and (5)

Shaykh Sultan.

Sant Eknath (1538-1599 A.D.)^'^-^

Eknath was a great scholar of Marathi and Sanskrit.

Though he belonged to the Bhakti cult, he did not become

an ascetic and lived the life of a householder. In his

Marathi mystic poetry one comes across the following

Arabo-Persian terminology:

Qaul Kam 'Aqal

Sikka Hila

Hadhrat Khulasa

Maula 'Ali

Gharib Nawaz Dil

Duniya Allah

Khuda Mushkil

Dhikr Faqir

Dhat Qabul

Kafir Gharib

Turk Awliya

Wall Paigambar

Hadi Malang

Extracts from his Bhakti poetry showing the actual

usage of Arabo-Persian words are given below: 144

 ^08

gitcT : 3859 ET VN m^Q ^ I

fFrrWfT t-pqwr trtrar i

?tt^:STT ? T ^ I I I II

113 "qfrgflr 395 1 ?^5iTcT ift?rr Tffrrr i

Trft^ ^{iiT^ t T ^ rrrr i

rft ^ITtJW TeTcrnTr I 131 1

va

3958 JTRT 3n7R 1 ^ 1

t^Rr^TTT giT^nr^ l^rf^ 11211

t TFiTTft TTT^ mri^ "trer 112511

t i t cTteTTqT^ ^sT^ 2Tt I

t iT^ ^mr ^ ^ II26II adrflyi I

3rracfkr T U E P T I ^ aneft i

^ g^r ^ "3^3^ 1

^ ^WJ\v\ ^^TM 1

^ WT W I T 11311
 20,S

3970. f i ^ rfT^ 9 ^ iJmfiT I

fTT T ^ f^CTW gt#FT I

"CfTfTT fTT I

•&gT^ t f t r Jn%orr 1120

Sant Tukaram (1608-1651 A.D.)''"'*^

Tukaram is regarded as one of the greatest poet
saints of Maharashtra. He played a great part in the
spreading of the Bhakti cult through his devotional hymes
known as 'Abhangas' amongst the people of the villages in
Maharashtra. Though he was illiterate, he has used a good
number of Arabo-Persian terminology in his popular
Abhangas e.g.

Allah Dukan
Qarar Padshah
Jama* Naubat
Danishwar Gawahi
Ruqa'* Darwaish
Meerath Hammal
Jins ^Abeer
Bazar Nishan
Dhikr Fadeehat
Sikka "^Aain
Jatan Dagha
Data Guman
 210

Extracts from his Bhakti poetry showing the actual

146
usage of ?.rabo-Persian words are given below:

332- $Tft ^rr?r %cm i

ft^ Wpn pRsf] T^ I 131 I

33k- "qrlHtr 3-TfsTT M-uNi rr ITM

^t ift E^m 3nTcrr^ i 131 i

37t+0. q i t 5r?r TTT^ I

^tTgrrr^ 3ni i

cirr ^ ^ mYk 11211

1+7- cWr T:^ wf\ 4iR)t!l^ t l f t I

fi^ifeciiH ^ ?#T g r t 11

52. mfT T:?trt- j f ^ ffft |

336. MTCqn Mdl4)M 3-TlT

(TwftirnTr 3n1&T af^tr

228. ic!t^f\ -^^m^ W3^ ?fflTq

TFnt W r q - q r ^ t ? i ^ 1

wff T i t gf^T q r t TnfT 11

 325. ?Trff t "t#T CTTI^ ftTTFl I

rT 5 ^ MTe'tH ^ ^ZJ

327. ^TrT^ iffoT crmT "fTgiT I

387. ^T^ wr^^ I

^TT^ g i f T T ^ f f n T II

203. V*TVtfn tfcTT ftrrfftaT f-Tft I

q r f ^ dfJIdPi S-TTT W ^ 1 I

2 0 6 . •Piwfert grsT 3-^ 1

251 . ^HWT RlrdNl I

t ^ T ^ ^ arrgrrr 11

2t+8. t-flT 3r^ ^^TTT m^ rUTTft i M I

Sant Ramdas (1608-1681 A-D.)""^^^

Ramdas was directly connected with the Marathi

resurgence and supported Shivaji, who regarded him as his

guru. He also wrote 'Abhangas' and 'Bhajans'. His most

 21'/

celebrated mystical work is 'Dasobodha' wherein a number

of Arabo-Persian words are interpolated into Marathi
poetry viz:

Hisab Dagha
Fauj Nafa'

Radi Nishan

Jins Majalis

Mulki 'Aqal
Ghanim Aan

*Aqalmand Taqada

Muamla Qabul
Khalaq Pak

Ghazi

A few extracts from his mystical work

'Dasabodha' 148 are given below to show the actual usage of

Arabo-Persian words:

M ^ ^?TcTr mtrar i

giYt 1^Ff?T W^ I

tTTC" YTJTT^ ftTTFT I

annnTnT ITRLTT I
 213

tTgrrtr*1ur mTTfrr i

t?rr cr^ anctTiidr 11

Strrm rrm" ^ r a r j-t^" i

1%fT^ JJFW JJiqicI I

jRTPTTffrT iTff ^ I

"fRT 3m?Tf ITrU STnTT I

oTerr g s t ^ ^^TT Gnrrr i

frfhr gn¥t UT grsewr i

ETUT^ 3WrraT " ^ ^ 1 ^ I

mws rfhr anife" TFft I

?Tqrr ? r ^ s r r g ^ n r ^ i

yiPi^i>irJl I
 ^14

TIFTunTtlT rTTTCT H (i'lcjlcll |

M^ ^ I 1

gt?r Jirraff grra m i r ? i

ri]*ic|j|cS f t ^ Trrr^ : i

149
Shaykh Muhammad (d.l645 A.D.)
Shaykh Muhanunad was born at Beed district but

settled down at Daulatabad. He was reported to be the

follower of Qadriya order. He was very popular among the

Hindus, who regarded him as an incarnation of Kabir

(Kabiracha autar). Though very little is known about his

early life, his poetical works which have survived speak

for his mind. He had established his hospice at Shrigonda

village of Ahmadnagar with the help of a grant from Maloji

Raje Bhosle, the grand-father of Shivaji, who had accepted
him as his Guru.
Shaykh Muhammad was a contemporary of Sant Tukaram.
He is chiefly remembered for his mystical composition
'Yoga Sanqram'
Shaykh Muhammad wrote his mystical works mostly in
Mairathi language, wherein he has made use of Arabo Persian
terminology.

Qur'an V^ali

Qasb6. Madhkur

r.haiil Sachcha

Ilahi Fikr
 21b

Pir Musa.lman

Faqir Nabi

Duniya Tawwakkal

Hadarat Mehman

Fakhar Ne'mat
A few extracts from his mystical works showing
150
usage of Arabo-Persian terminology are given below:

aft^i iiTrfk ftTWrrf 1

^iTFT TTTFT 57Wf tTPIrff

SFfN JTIW 3-1^,ffETTTH ? T ^ ^51 I

Shaykh Sultan-'-^ "'•

feididtM 3r%rr ^ , ? T ^ J-T^f :L=r 11
Shaikh Sultan was born at village Karve near Karad

town in Maharashtra. He was a popular hymn singer during

the reign of Shahu Chhattrapati.

n - i T ^ TgTJTfft fre-^TTT W I
He has composed mystical poetry both in Marathi and

Hindi in praise of his Guru Gopal Nath, a Nagpanti saint,

who afterwards embraced Islam and was known as Sufi Nur

al-din.
 Shaykh Sultan has used a good number of

Arabo-Persian terminology in Marathi as well as Hindi

poetry viz.

Saheb Nabi

Faqir Ghaibi

Shahar Khasa

Nabi Pir

Qabar Dil

A few extracts from his poetical works are given

below:

?tST ^cidHI cTRsrMt I 131 I

?nnrr ^ t T ^ gn ifNrrfrr i

T:?rl%T tTTcftr I 121 I

^Ttm^RT?-! ^ "cftr tlTT I