The Thread of Love Stands Broken from Sambhal to Ajmer and Beyond

Senior Journalist and author Nalin Verma starts a new fortnightly column in The AIDEM titled ‘Everything Under The Sun’. As the title suggests the column would address diverse issues ranging from politics, social issues, culture and literature, all abiding passions of this veteran writer and teacher.

In this first article of the column Nalin Verma highlights how the rampant practitioners of Hindutva politics, aided and abetted by sections of the Executive and judiciary, are undermining the very essence of Bharatiyata or Indianness.

“Moh-e Kanha sa Diyo Lalla, Ya Rasul-Allah” 

(You have gifted me a Kanha-like son, Hail you Rasul-Allah) 

Kanha played with ranchers’ children on the streets of Vrindavan and grew up to become the Almighty Lord Krishna whose sermon to Arjuna in the Mahabharata war is treated as the core of the Hindu philosophical system.

While village folks adore the pranks of the flute playing Krishna, his dalliance with Radha and her fellow pastoral friends, the saints, philosophers and scholars delve into the deeper meaning of Krishna’s life and messages.

But the playful Krishna—known as Kanha or Kanhiya during his childhood—has fascinated the bards, folklorists, and the common village folks for centuries. The love for the jolly Kanha transcends beyond the boundaries of religious communities and creeds. 

In fact, flute-playing and fun-loving Kanha constitute the core theme of the Bhakti and Sufi movements. The Bhakt and Sufi saints—particularly Surdas, Meerabai, Raskhan (Syed Ibrahim Khan), and Malik Muhammad Jayasi—produced soulful songs that still dominate the folklore in the North Indian hinterlands, besides the literary discourses in Hindi and Urdu.

The Muslim women in the villages of the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh sing the folksong—“Mohe-Kanha sa Diyo Lalla, Ya Rasul-Allah-in chorus while dancing to the tune of dhol and majira when a son is born in a Muslim family. The community women join the ‘blessed’ mother and her family members in celebrating the birth of a son and thank the Almighty Rasul-Allah for blessing them with a ‘Kanha-like’ son.

Nina Shrivastav who runs a non-governmental forum working for women and children, recently shared this popular folk song on her Facebook timeline saying that, “till recently, moh-e Kanha sa Diyo….song was sung when a child was born in a Muslim family”. Nina who is the wife of former Bihar cadre IAS officer late Manoj Shrivastav, rues that such a sweet song that also reflects the syncretic culture of Uttar Pradesh has, of late, lost its charm.

Common Thread Through Gyanvapi, Shahi Mosque, and Ajmer Shrine:

The period of Muslim rule in India, which lasted for nearly 800 years (from 12th century to 19th century) witnessed the emergence of the Bhakti and Sufi movements that influenced every sphere of life. Be it art, literature, architecture, music, songs, festivals, cuisine, dress and fashion, all underwent revolutionary transformation in this period.

 If Amir Khushro invented myriad musical instruments besides literature in Hindawi—a precursor of modern Hindi and Urdu—the Bhakti poets, bards, Sufi fakirs and aulias viz Kabir, Surdas, Tulsidas, Meera, Rasouan, Raidas and Nanaka —produced the lore and literature that attacked the old dogmas in the lingo of common folks. In many ways, it also served as sweet soup to the soul. 

Instead of giving sermons from the high domes of temples and mosques, these bards lived among the people weaving their verses and songs on love, kindness, compassion and unity of mankind. Their verses celebrated the oneness of Ram and Rahim and stressed that both were accessible through love, bhakti (devotion), forgiveness, kindness and compassion. They were far removed from the elitism of the rulers and nobility as well as the orthodoxy of conservative Brahmins and archetypal mullahs. More importantly, they carried on with their vocation to earn a living while continuing with their spiritual journey. For instance, Kabir—his origin is claimed by both Hindus and Muslims—was a weaver while Raidas tanned leather. They told their verses and sang their songs in local dialects occupying space in the people’s hearts, but at the same time antagonised the ruling and religious elites.

While the kings and their soldiers fought the wars of supremacy which were the order of that era, the bhakts, bards and fakirs wandered without caring for the borders and boundaries, singing their songs and reciting their verses laced with love, devotion, kindness and compassion. In a way, the Bhakti-Sufi movement played the key role in what came to be referred to as the “Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb” which is at the core of the Constitution. The very opening of the Constitution stating that “we the people have solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic” resonates with this” Tehzeeb”. 

Be it the Sambhal and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh or Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan, this sweet thread of love, devotion, kindness and compassion flowed for centuries. Now, the thread stands broken with the rulers at the helm spreading their toxin of hate in a systematic manner. The Hindutva zealots, enjoying the patronage of the powers that be, have been smashing this unifying thread with venom and vengeance.

The Rashriya Swayamsevak Sangh which prides itself as the moral and ideological guardian of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party claims that it’s dedicated to protecting “Bhartiya sanskriti ”. The irony is myriad Hindutva vandals associated with one or other of the ubiquitous wings of the RSS are involved in smashing what “Bharatitiyata (Indianness)” stands for with ferocity.

Bharatiya Sanksriti:

Was not Moinuddin Chishti, a Sufi sant, revered by Hindus and Muslims both? Is not the Ajmer shrine (dargah) not visited by Hindus and Muslims both? Is Amir Khushro, his music and his verses not part of Bharatiya Sanskriti? Are the verses of Raskhan and Jayesee in devotion of Krishna, not Bharatiya? Was the shehnai maestro Bimillah Khan who played his shehnai in the Shiva temple, loved the Ganga and offered namaz in the Gyanwapi mosque in Varanasi not a part of Bhartiya Sanskriti? Did Allama Iqbal not accept Rama as Maryada Purushottam of Bharat when he wrote, “Hai Ram ke wazood pe Hindosta ko naaz?” Is shervani that the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru wore and the grooms of Hindus and Muslims still wear not a ceremonial dress of Bharat? Are not Mughalai paratha, mouth watering kebab, and mutton rogan josh part of Bharatiya cuisine ? 

The genuine scholars of History, culture, society and literature are flummoxed at the RSS’s version of Bharatiya. “We must inculcate a sense of co-existence among our students. Our saints and bards have taught us to live together in the bond of love, unity, cooperation and compassion”, said Prof Mohammad Afshar Alam, a computer scientist of repute and vice-chancellor of Jamia Hamdard University in an informal conversation with this writer. Reshma Nasreen, a Professor of Management also echoes the same sentiment, emphasizing the virtue of unity in diversity and coexistence.

However, the fact remains that only few scholars comprehend how the Hindutva zealots have succeeded in smashing systematically what Bharatiyata (Indianness) actually stands for. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, disgraced for his mercy petitions from prison to the colonial rulers and his alleged role in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, coined Hindutva, which paradoxically, has become a guiding mantra of the ruling dispensation in India.

Even as the Supreme Court has stayed the action on the survey of the Shahi Masjid at Sambhal allowed by a trial court, the admission of a petition by the local court of Ajmer threatens to raise another bout of communal fire. The petition claims that there is a Shiva temple under the dargah of the sufi saint, Moinuddin Chishti.

It’s too much to expect the Supreme Court—an institution empowered to guard the Constitution and interpret the laws—to clear the Augean stables. It’s hard for the institutions to sustain when the mandarins of the system are systematically destroying the uniting threads on which the social, political, economic and cultural edifice of what is known as “India that’s Bharat” stands.