A Wedding with the Divine

Text by Yousuf Saeed

About 16 days after Id-ul-fitr, many Muslims and some non-Muslims in and around Delhi take part in another festive occasion they call the Satrahvin Sharif - literally Holy Seventeenth. This is the Urs or death anniversary of Hazrat Amir Khusrau, the favourite companion of 12th century Saint Nizamuddin Aulia. Thousands of people throng the twin Dargah (tomb) and offer their nazrana (of flowers, chadurs and sweets), say the fatehas (oblation), tie threads of mannat (vow) on the tomb’s jali, or just sit there listening to ecstatic qawwalis. There is also Charaghan (illumination with lamps) inside the tomb, and outside, everyone makes merry in a colourful fete, which goes on for three to four days.

One might ask as to why someone’s death is celebrated and not mourned. According to Khwaja Hasan Sani of Dargah Nizamuddin, the death for common people could be a sad, mournful affair, but for a Sufi it is only a transition – the final step to the soul’s communion with God, a milan or wedding with the divine which the Sufi had been aspiring his/her entire life – hence the celebration. In fact the Arabic word Uroos from which Urs is taken, literally means a wedding.

There may be thousands of saints in Indian subcontinent whose tombs become centre of such occasions at least once every year, yet the legend of Amir Khusrau and Nizamuddin Aulia is something special in the history of Indian Sufism. Amir Khusrau, according to the popular belief, was a steadfast Sufi and the most favourite disciple of Nizamuddin Aulia. However, the contemporary scholars of History and Persian language know him as a court poet who successfully managed to appease more than seven rulers of Delhi Sultanate with his charming poetry that can still be considered some of the best literature produced in the entire Persian world, apart from being a mine of source-material for historians.

A typical devotee visiting the tomb, who may not be aware of this reality, continues to respect Amir Khusrau as a saint, of no lesser degree than Nizamuddin Aulia himself, and requests him to mediate between him (i.e. the devotee) and the God – a plea that is made on the tombs of almost all saints due to their supposed proximity with God. The creation of this legendary image of Khusrau has probably to do with the special place he had in his spiritual master’s heart for him. As an Amir (noble) in the court, Khusrau may have indulged in all sorts of material pursuits, but only in his pir’s Khaneqah he found the real love and an atmosphere for the evolution of his creative and spiritual faculties.

Khusrau who had an Indo-Turkish parentage was introduced to Khwaja Nizamuddin at an early age. There are endless anecdotes – in oral tradition as well as documented history – as to how passionately the two loved each other, right from their first meeting till the moment of their death. Nizamuddin Aulia who was visited in his monastery by thousands of people every day, used to say that he often gets fed up with every one including sometimes himself – but with Khusrau! Never. He also wished if his religion allowed, he would have Khusrau and himself buried in the same grave after their death.

Whether Khusrau was a formal Sufi or not, and whether he received the Khilafat (deputation in the Sufi order) from Nizamuddin Aulia, has always been debated especially by the scholars. Culling out from the myths and authentic history it can be assumed that Khusrau must have made an impact by using his creative genius in not only bridging a gap between the court and Nizamuddin Aulia, but also in making a number of innovations in poetry and music – an impact so large that it has made his name immortal with Nizamuddin Aulia.

The death of the two was also a peculiar event. It is narrated that when Nizamuddin Aulia breathed his last, Khusrau was away in Bengal on Mohammad Tughlaq’s royal mission. When he heard the sad news, he couldn’t control himself, and rushed back to Delhi. On seeing his pir’s grave he is supposed to have read the following Hindvi doha impromptu:

Gori sovay sej par,
Mukh par daray kes;
Chal Khusrau ghar aapnay, saanjh bhaee chahu des.
(The fair maiden rests
On a bed of roses,
Her face covered
With a lock of hair;
Let us oh Khusrau, return home now,
the dark dusk settles in four corners of the world).

After this, it is said, Khusrau’s condition started deteriorating and within exactly six months he expired, or rather his love met with the ultimate consummation. This incidence and the above couplet is remembered as the highest point in Khusrau’s relationship with Nizamuddin and also probably the reason for their becoming a combined legend. For last seven centuries, every year the Urs of both saints is celebrated with a gap of exactly six months – Nizamuddin Aulia’a Urs too being called the Satrahvin Sharif. And on both occasions qawwals begin by reciting the above Doha, before singing any other qawwali.

Interestingly there are many other dohas and songs of folk nature ascribed to Khusrau, especially the Babul (sung by many North Indian women at the bidaee or departure of their daughter on her wedding) that are sung by qawwals in the Dargah too. For instance:

Bahut rahi babul ghar dulhan chal tere pi ne bulaee
Khusrau chali sasurari sajni, sang nahin koi jaee

(You have stayed in your father’s home too long; come, your beloved calls for you;
dear Khusrau, you have to go to your in-law’s alone; no friends will accompany you now).

Sufis in the Dargah enjoy songs like this to their own end. Imagining themselves as dulhan (the bride), they interpret Babul ghar (father’s home) as the material world and pi (beloved) as God or sometimes the spiritual master - the Sasural being the final abode where they have to go alone – a true wedding with the divine.

© Yousuf Saeed, 2001-2007