This week begins with a sākhi (essentially a didactic dohā or couplet) by the poet-saint Sundardas (1596-1689) of the Dadu Panth religious tradition of Rajasthan. Sundardas is known for bringing a highly literary and scholastic style to the so-called nirguṇ (‘without-qualities’) tradition of bhakti in north India. This nirguṇ tradition of thought (developed among several religious communities of the period) espouses a belief in an ineffable Divine that lies beyond everyday sensory experience; the tradition correspondingly criticizes saguṇ (‘with-qualities’) conceptions of God, including those that imagine God in anthropomorphic forms. This often includes critiques of image-worship and temple-based ritual, and the social structures that are implicated within them.
रचना करी अनेक बिधि भलौ बनायौ धाम ।
सुन्दर मूरति बाहरी देवल कौंनैं काम ।।
racanā karī aneka bidhi bhalau banāyau dhāma
sundara mūrati bāharī devala kauṁnaiṁ kām
Composing in many styles, one builds a good abode for God.
What use is a beautiful icon if it’s outside the temple?
(Alternative reading: Sundardas says, What is the use of outer/distant icons and temples?)
What is so clever about this compact verse is the use of the terms dhām (lit. abode, used both for a place of pilgrimage and for a temple) and bāharī, which means both ‘outside’ and ‘distant’ (not to mention the double valence of the poet’s chāp or nom de plume, ‘Sundar’, which means ‘beautiful’). This allows the poet to simultaneously suggest that poems in praise of God are the best kind of temple, because they exist ‘inside’ the devotee, and that composing sophisticated poems in multiple styles is important, since devotional feeling (the murati or icon) doesn’t make sense outside of a well-hewn poem (the deval or temple).
The second composition is by Kabir (15th/16th century), the famous and fierce critic of both Indic and Islamic ritual cultures. That hard-nosed critique is on display in this pad (lyrical poem), that parodies both the Hindu ascetic and the Muslim qāzī, but with some interesting twists. I give two versions below: the first is from the Bījak, the anthology of Kabir’s poetry that is the scriptural canon of the Kabir Panth sectarian community; the second is from the Kabīr Granthāvalī edited by Shyamsundardas, primarily from manuscripts of the Dadu Panth. (Both versions can be found in Callewaert and Op De Beeck, Nirguṇ Bhakti Sāgar, pp 368-69 and p 332 respectively.) I give only one translation based on the Bījak version, but informed by readings in the Kabīr Granthāvalī version.
अल्ला राम जीव तेरी नाइँ जा पर मेहर होहु तुम साइँ ।। टेक
क्या मूडी भूमी सिर नाये क्या जल देह नहाये ।
षून करै मसकीन कहावै औगुन रहत छिपाये ।।१।।
क्या उजुब जप मंजन कीये क्या मसजिद सिर नाये ।
हृदय कपट निमाज गुजारे क्या हज मक्के जाये ।।२।।
हिंदू ब्रत एकादसि चौबिस तीस रोजा मुसलमाना ।
ग्यारह मास कहो किन टारे एक महीना आना ।।३।।
जो षुदाय मसजीद बसतु हैं और भुलुक केहि केरा ।
तीरथ मूरत राम निवासी दुइ में किनहु न हेरा ।।४।।
पूरब दिसों में हरि का बासा पच्छिम अलह मुकामा ।
दिल में षोजि दिलहि मा षोजो इहै करीमा रामा ।।५।।
बेद किताब कहो किन झूठा झूठा जौन विचारे ।
सब घट एक एक कै लषै मैं दूजा करि मारै ।।६।।
जेते औरत मर्द उपानी सो सब रूप तुम्हारा ।
कबीर पोंगरा अलह राम का सो गुरु पीर हमारा ।।७।।
अल्ला रांम जिऊं तेरै नाइँ बंदै ऊपरि मिहिर करौ मेरै साइँ ।। टेक
क्या लै माटी भुइं सौं मारें क्या जल देह न्हवाएं ।
षून करै मिसकीन कहावै गुनही रहै छिपाएं ।।१।।
क्या ऊजू जप मंजन कीएं क्या मसीति सिरु नाएं ।
दिल महिं कपट निवाज गुजारै क्या हज काबै जाएं ।।२।।
बांह्मन ग्यारसि करै चौबिसौं काजी महं रमजांना ।
ग्यारह मास कहौ क्यूं षाली एकहि मांहिं नियांनां ।।३।।
जौ रे षुदाय मसीति बसतु हैं और मुलुक किस केरा ।
तीरथि मूरति राम निवासी दुइ महिं किनहुं न हेरा ।।४।।
पूरब दिसा हरि का बासा पच्छिमि अलह मुकांमां ।
दिल महिं षोजि दिलै दिलि षोजहु इहंई रहीमां रांमां ।।५।।
जेते औरति मरद उपानें सो सभ रूप तुम्हारा ।
कबीर पुंगरा अलह रांम का सोइ गुरु पीर हमारा ।।६।।
Allah-Ram: I live by your Name!
You are the master
Of those whom you show mercy.
What is this bowing your head to the ground?
What is this cleansing yourself with water?
You may murder but they call you a saint
As long as you keep your vices hidden.
What is this strange chanting and ablutions?
What is this bowing your head in the mosque?
What is this going on the Hajj to Mecca,
While you entreat God with deceit in your heart?
The Hindu keeps the ekādaśī fast on twenty-four days,
The Muslim keeps the rozā fast for thirty.
Why do you put off for eleven months
That which comes in one month?
If God dwells in the mosque,
Then to whom does the rest of the world belong?
Ram lives in the pilgrimage place and in the icon?
You won’t find anyone in either!
Hari’s dwelling is in the East,
And Allah’s place is in the West.
Search in your heart, search in your heart,
Karim and Ram are right there.
What falsehoods the Veda and Qur’an utter,
What falsehoods have they imagined.
Seeing each body as separate
One kills the other.
All the women and men ever born
Are all just forms of You.
Kabir says: my guru, my pir,
Is the loom-shuttle* of Allah and Ram.
*poṁgarā / puṁgarā — this term most likely refers to the ‘shuttle’, the large needle-like piece of wood that one uses to thread the weft through the warp on a loom. This resonates both with Kabir’s identity as a member of the julāhā caste of weavers, and with the yogic imagery for which Kabir is famous: the ‘shuttle’ is the movement of substances back and forth along the axis of the subtle yogic body. The term can also refer to type of reed flute, which is also found as a symbol for the aforementioned axis.