MADHURA BHAKTI AND SUFISM

Dr. N. Anantha Lakshmi

Unity in diversity is the basic character of Indian civilization. Though the regions, religions, languages and all other customs vary superficially, there is an underlying current that keeps all these things in oneness. The main stream in that current is the culture, in which religion and philosophy are very important components. Though the languages are many in India, multi-lingualism and cultural and philosophical language Sanskrit kept this vast sub-continent united. On this land, at different times, different religions originated, lived, loved and fought. But the togetherness and unity were sustained. Whenever a new religion, race or language came in contact with the natives of India, Indian thought and way of life which has no beginning (Sanathanadharma),interacts with it, and gets enriched by its ideology without any inhibition and in turn this rich repository of culture naturally influences the other. This interaction and convergence help in overcoming the barriers and realising the commonness of humanity in all.

The mutual enrichment of Indian philosophical thought and Sufism has political, social and cultural relevance as well.

Indian and Greek trade relations were the cause of the influence of Indian philosophy on Sufism. Sufism entered India in 9^th century, spread widely in 10^th century and bloomed after the Muslim rule.

Before we start the comparative study we must know the necessary and basic tenets of Sufism. Some defined the word Sufi as the people who stand in the front row. Some say that the ‘Fakirs’ who always stay in the premises of Madina are called Sufi. Still some say that Sufi is a morphologically changed form of ‘Sofia’ which means knowledge. Some others related the word to ‘Sofa’ which means cleanliness. According to some others it has come out of the word Suffah which denotes a variety of devotees. Some others related it to ‘Soof’ i.e. wool, as the pioneers of Sufism used to wear coarse woolen blankets, which is a symbol of renunciation of the material world. By all these definitions and meanings it can be concluded that sufism is a religion where cleanliness of the heart, knowledge etc., are given much importance.

Though Sufism is considered a part of Islam, it emerged as a reaction to the ‘shariyat’ i.e. Islamic rigid rituals. It is established that Sufism is influenced by four prominent ideals (1) Islamic mysticism (2) Adwaita and Visishtawaita of Indians (3) the new faith of great Greek philosopher Asfalthun and (4) Freedom of thought.

Among the branches of Sufism, Nakshbandi and Chisti traditions are popular in India. Sufism and Medieval Bhakti Movement of India share some features in common. Majority of these are the resultants of the Indian influence on Islam and some are the resultants of Islamic influence on Indian thought. In the medieval age, which is called ‘Bhakti kal’ in the history of Hindi literature, many Bhakti cults originated in India, specially in North India. Among these Bhakti Cults majority are the branches of Vaishnavism. There are exceptions like Sankara’s Adwaita, Basaveswara’s Veerashaiva etc. This was the time monks or sanyasis, or vedantins or saints also emerged. This was the necessity of that time.

The highly rigid vedic tradition kept the society and common man at bay from religion and philosophy. The Jaina and Boudha religions preached their philosophy to the common man and their influence was great on the society. Some Muslim rulers enforced their religion on their subjects, again with the rigid rules. Religious rigidity made people frustrated and the religious cleavage among the people in the society deepened. Already some Muslim rulers realised that through political authority they could achieve partially and total achievement could be through religion. But the rigidity of the rituals made it the other way.

At that juncture to soothe the frustration of the individuals and patch up the gap in the society a cultural harmony was needed. That need was realised in many forms like adoption of Sufism by poets, saints (Sants) who were the advocates for the realization of the Omnipresent and different Bhakti movements propounded by preachers like Ramanuja, Vallabha, Chaitanya, Basaveswara etc. Saints preached humanity which is above all the religions, and shunned the social evils. But the preachers of Bhakti Cults inculcated love towards Gods without saying anything against anything, which overcomes many barriers like religion, caste etc.

As Sufi was a reaction to ‘Shariyat’ Vaishnava Bhakti movements are the reactions to the rigid vedic rituals. The cause of origin itself is common to these two religions. One more great similarity is that both of them aimed at bringing harmony and equality in the society and achieved it to some extent. We find many saints who tried for the culmination of the two faiths like Saibaba and Ayyappa, who are being worshipped by both the religions. The exemplary unification of these faiths can be seen in Tirupati, the great pilgrimage centre to all Hindus, Bibi Nanchari being accepted and worshipped as the consort of Lord Venkateshwara. One can say it definitely that the present harmony between Hinduism and Islam is due to the Sufism and Vaishnava Bhakti movements. Both are open in their outlook and their approach is smooth and all-embracing.

Sufism and Madhura Bhakti of Vaishnavism look as if they are the two sides of the same coin in some aspects. In other aspects they look alike. In both love is the life line. In Sufism love for god can be realised through the love in the mundane world Madhura Bhakti itself means love for god or divine love. Here is observed the main difference. In Sufism god is symbolised as the bride and the devotee as bridegroom. The hero is only one but the heroines canbe many, as god may manifest in many forms as different heroines can be many. But in Madhura Bhakti the devotee is the nayika (female lover) and god the nayaka (the male counter part). In Vaishnava doctrine all this creation is considered feminine so the devotee, a part of this creation, is also feminine. In both the religions the description of the love in separation (Viyog shrungar) is more. In Madhura Bhakti, the love in union (Samyog shrungar) also appears.

Like the vedic seers Sufis are also nature lovers. The beauty of the Nature overwhelms the devotee with joy and he wants to see the original beauty, God. Even in Madhura Bhakti Nature plays a great role. The whole creation is feminine and wishes to unite with the only masculine beauty, the ‘Parama Purusha’, the God. In this process whenever a devotee is doing Sadhana, i.e. undergoing hardships of penance, Nature also takes part in it. Some poets described the beauty of the nature in different seasons and some described it as the evolution in the nature surrounding the devotee. For example in Panduranga Mahatyam, Tenali Rama Krishna Kavi describes the nature around Radha who was doing penance. Whatever she achieved reflected in the surrounding nature. The description of 2 months, 6 seasons seen in Sufi literature shows the influence of ‘Rutuvarnana, of Indian Prabandhas.

Mysticistm is one more common feature in both the religions. In Sufi literature the devotee always seeks to get the drink from the hands of the lady love. To a common man it looks different. But it has a noble meaning to the devotee. The wine is the love and lover is God. Mysticism is an important feature in Madhura Bhakti also, that is why in many places we find the word ‘Rasah Kreeda Rahogatha’etc.

Symbolism is also a common tenet. In Madhura Bhakti every mundane thing has a symbolic meaning like the colour of god, his dress, his ornaments, people, around etc. In Sufism also the jug of wine (madhupatra) the serpent and Satan are all symbolic expressions only.

Merging with god alone, is the highest achievement in Sufism. This can be compared to the ‘Ekantha Bhakti’, being alone with god. This is a concept of mysticism. When the entire creation becomes one female, where is the possibility of a third being to be present except god and devotee. This is the reason for the privacy of all gopis with Krishna in the group also.

Reading Quran, singing devotional songs, going on pilgrimages and creation of messengers (Duta and Duti) may be the influence of Indian thought.

One conspicuous contrast is that there is no female preacher or poet in Sufism. In Indian literary panorama we see some poetesses, and their number is considerably more in Madhura Bhakti branch.

One great feature seen in Indian Sufi literature is, the establishment of Sufi philosophy of love by narrating the stories of Indian families. The ultimate aim is to establish the philosophy of love, through the narration of the love story. This caused the harmony of the two communities.

A unique feature seen in both the religions, is that the devotee becomes frenzied (Unmada) by drinking the wine of god’s love or Bhakti Rasa. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu running amuck after experiencing Krishna is an example for this.

Radhacharita in Telugu was an off-shoot of Vaishnava Bhakti movement. So we find that many ‘Vaggeyakaras (a poet who can sing) works are full of Madhura Bhakti like Annamayya, Kshetrayya, Sarangapani etc.

Kshetrayya compares Bhakti with Madhu(wine) which is a Sufi belief. Unusual to Madhura Bhakti or Indian tradition in some of his ‘padas’, Kshetrayya depicts god as the heroine, and himself as the hero. “Etuvanti stree ka pondina, hitavidi yanduma…” “Yetuvanti mohamo kani yelanaga…” etc, can be given as examples of love of Nayaka towards divine Nayika. This might be due to the influence of Sufism which permeated in the society and became a part of the society.

The influence of Sufism on Telugu Literature has to be studied intensively which may throw new light on this subject.

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