August 8, 2004

THE new authenticated edition of Tazkara-i-Ghausiyah brought out by Sang-i-Meel reminds me of a tradition of prose writing in Urdu with peculiarities of its own. It had emanated from an oral tradition cultivated by the old sufis.

These sufis were teachers in their own way. They had no sermon to deliver and had no pulpit in their Khanqahs. Instead, sitting comfortably on their masnad with murids around them they talked in an inspired way. The wisdom they had gained through their spiritual labours flowed from their lips so often in the form of parables. In Persian and Urdu we call them hikayat.

Hikayat may be taken as a form of fiction, a tale far shorter than the short story. It seems most suited for communicating metaphysical truths and subtle points of wisdom the sufis were keen to communicate. Perhaps it was under the stress of this desire to communicate that this form of expression had come into existence. Hence much of the teachings of the sufis will be found couched in the form of hikayat.

This fictional form has perhaps found its finest expression, at least in Urdu, in Tazkara-i-Ghousiya. Syed Ghous Ali Shah was the sufi of the variety known as qalandars. He lived in Panipat, the city of Syed Bu Ali Shah Qalandar. Born in a Syed family on December 7, 1804, he died in 1880. Among the different proposed names, one was Bishan Das suggested by his foster mother, a Brahmin wife of Pandit Ram Sanaihi. But preference was given to the name of Ghous Ali proposed by his real mother.

His utterances were collected and compiled by his most favourite murid, Maulana Shah Gul Hasan, who came from the Frontier Province. He was assisted by another murid, the famous Maulvi Ismail Meeruthi who polished its expression and gave it form.

The complier of the present edition, Ikram Chaghtai, has taken pains to consult different old editions, more particularly the one preserved in Dargah-i-Ghausiya in Panipat, which is regarded as the most authentic. The text of the present edition has been based on the text of this edition.

Tazkara-i-Ghausiyah is first an autobiography in the oral tradition. Here Syed Ghaus Ali Shah is seen narrating to his disciples his life lived in a qalandarana style. The strangeness of his experiences, which he now narrates in a leisurely way, keeps his listeners spell-bound.

This man doesn’t appear to be the kind of sufi who, sitting in his hujra, is all the time lost in mystical contemplation. Instead, he has a passion for wandering. Possessed of a mystical quest, he is seen wandering from place to place, and each place offers something which adds to his knowledge. Whichever town he visits he soon finds out some queer soul, with whom he readily develops a personal relationship. Behaving as a disciple, he learns from him and then takes leave to go to the next town in search of some hidden mystic ready to teach him.

Ghaus Ali is not content to learn from faqirs and dervishes alone. With the same devotion he turns to yogis and sadhus and learns from them. On one occasion, he is seen wandering in Hardwar and taking a dip in the Ganges in accordance with the Hindu ritual. A shrewd pandit sees him and grows suspicious. He comes to him and says in a secretive way, “If people come to know who you are, you will be in trouble. You are surely a Muslim. Why have you come here?”

“Just to know and to learn”.

“Then come with me” and he obediently follows him. The pandit initiated him in the mystical knowledge of the Vaidanta. Then one night, he sees a dream as if he is attending the darbar of Sri Krishan. He marks him out and says, “You belong to the darbar of Mohammad (Peace be upon him). Why have you come here? I have nothing new and different to offer to you. Go back to the darbar you have come from”.

This, too, may be taken as part of his wanderings, which had broadened his outlook and had imparted depth to his mystical experience.

Thanks to these wanderings, he carried with him a rich stock of strange experiences, which helped him to initiate his disciples into the mystical world a sufi is expected to travel in. At the same time, he had at his disposal a big store of hikayat, which enabled him to explain things of a metaphysical nature in an easy way to the satisfaction of the questioner.

He had a deep sense of humour and liked to talk in a leisurely manner. That enlivened his narration. Credit should be given to Maulvi Ismail Meeruthi for successfully transferring this liveliness in the recorded version.

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