Bridal Symbolism in Sultan Bahu’s Poetry

Everybody recites the kalima (or the basic formula of Muslim faith) verbally, but only the ‘āshiq (the lovers) recite it from their hearts, and they are very few. It is my mentor who has taught me how to recite it from the heart, which has made me sadā suhāgan (or the eternal bride).

It is this very concept of sadā suhāgan or the eternal bride which is the central theme of the present paper, with a particular emphasis on the symbolic or metaphorical usage of concepts related to bridehood in the poetic compositions of the Sufis, with particular reference to Sultan Bahu, in a historical perspective.

Hazrat Sultan Bahoo

Sufism is called the way of love, because Love for the Absolute, the Supreme Being, or God, is one of the core principles of Sufism, and it has also been a consistent theme in Sufi writings, particularly poetical works. Although the English term ‘love’ does not convey the Sufi concept of ‘Ishq, which refers to intensified love coupled with passionate longing, the term ‘love’ has been used in this paper for convenience. Coming back to the notion of Divine Love, the Sufis believe that the Divine love is reciprocal, and that is why they emphasize the Divine attribute of being ‘the Loving One’—al-Wudūd, which is one of the ninety-nine names of God.

Historically speaking, the notion of unconditional love for God was articulated for the first time by an eighth-century Sufi woman named Rābi‘ah al-‘Adawiyah of Basrah (d. 801) in her poetic compositions. She urged the people to worship God out of love, instead of owing to the fear of hell or greed for paradise. She taught that a Sufi must love God for Himself alone. The theme of Divine love was further elaborated by the great Sufi masters of subsequent times. The thirteenth-century Andalusian/Spanish Sufi master, Muhiyy al-Din Muhammad b. ‘Ali Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240) and Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d. 672/1273) elaborated on the theme of Divine love, which is based on the notion of the separation of the human soul from its Divine source of origin.

mahak-ul-faqr

The Sufis believe that the higher and subtle truths of Sufism, or the ‘mysteries of Divine Love’, revealed to the accomplished Sufi masters are essentially incommunicable, particularly the state of fanā fi Dhāt or fanā fi Allah, i.e. the spiritual union or the unitive experience. However, these truths and mysteries of love can only be articulated through rich symbols, often employing metaphors, allegories, and similes. Their symbolic representation through twined expressions does not make them objectionable in the eyes of the religious establishment, and may not mislead the laypersons.

The Sufi poets have represented the Real Love or Ishq-i Haqīqī through the language and terminology of Ishq-i Majāzī or human love. In other words, Divine Love is often articulated in human terms by borrowing expressions from the phenomenon of romantic love between a man and a woman. Therefore, the Sufi poets have used gendered imagery in their works, and have presented themselves as ardent lovers, and portrayed God as the Divine Beloved. Sometimes, the metaphor of husband or bridegroom is also evoked for God, whereas the wife or bride is used as a symbol of the human self.

Such bridal symbolism is common in many other mystical traditions of the world. It can be identified in the Old and the New Testaments, in Catholicism, in Jewish mystical literature as well as in Hindu and Bhakti mystical traditions. One striking example is that of the renowned sixteenth-century Rajput saint and poetess of Rajasthan, Mirabai (d. 1547) vividly portrays herself as the bride of Lord Krishna.[iv]

In Sufi tradition, the bridal symbolism metaphorically suggests the notion of spiritual marriage. The ninth-century Persian Sufi, Bayazid of Bistam (d. 874) referred to the Sufis as the brides of God for the first time. Bridal symbolism is also evident in works of Ibn al-Arabi and Rumi. It is worthy of note that such symbolic expressions are characterized by gender reversal since the male Sufi poets identified themselves with the feminine. Switching of masculine and feminine positions is a common characteristic of Sufi poetry.

It is interesting to note that the term ‘urs literally means wedding in Arabic, and it is traditionally used to refer to the death anniversary celebrations of Sufis. These death anniversaries are not merely observed, they are celebrated by the disciples and devotees like wedding occasions, and that is why there are much festivity and rejoicing. In the symbolic sense, it denotes the idea of a spiritual wedding, an i.e. union of the soul of the departed Sufi with God—the Primordial Beloved. The Sufi is considered the bride of God, who has left for his eternal abode, i.e. the house of Divine Groom.

Bridal symbolism is a consistent theme in South Asian Sufi poetry in Indo-Persian, Hindavi, Urdu, as well as vernacular languages like Sindhi, Punjabi, and Gujarati. Traditionally speaking, in South Asian cultural context, the relationship of a wife to a husband is like the relationship of a Sufi to God, which is characterized by extreme submission and intense devotion. Moreover, according to South Asian cultural traditions and norms, a husband is supposed to be kind and considerate to his wife, whereas a wife is expected to be loyal, faithful and devoted to her husband. The bridal symbolism in Sufi poetry was indigenized by the Sufi poets of South Asia by employing the concepts of suhāg and suhāgan in Sufi poetry. In the Hindi language, the term suhāgan refers to a happily married lady (who has achieved the love of her husband), whereas suhāg means a state of marital bliss or wifehood.

The fourteenth-century Chishti Sufi poet, Amir Khusrau (d. 1325) evoked the bride and groom metaphor in his Persian, and particularly Hindavi, poetry. He used the bridal symbol for explaining his spiritual relationship and emotional bonding with his murshid Shaykh Nizam al-Din Auliya of Delhi (d. 1325). Khusrau conceived of himself as a suhāgan, and also referred to the concept of suhāg. Here one may recall a statement of Baba Farid (the murshid of Shaykh Nizam al-Din Auliya) in Fawaid al-Fuad wherein he likened/compared a Sufi Shaykh to a mashshata,[vii] i.e. the hairdresser of the brides, who adorns and prepares them before their final meeting with the bridegroom. In a symbolic sense, to Baba Farid, it is the murshid who cleanses, embellishes and beautifies the human soul, and prepares it for its possible union with the Divine.

In the fifteenth century, a Gujarati poet, Shah Ali Muhammad Jiw Jan (d. 1515) used the metaphor of a longing bride to symbolize the longing soul. Through the use of bride-groom symbols in his poetic compositions, he tried to explain the mysteries of Wahdat al-Wujūd.

Here one may recall the poetic compositions of Guru Nanak (1469-1539), who also uses the bridal metaphor, and evokes the concept of suhāg. According to a shabd (a hymn) of Guru Granth, Nanak symbolically classifies the human beings or souls in two categories: duhāngan and suhāgan. In a literal sense, duhāngan refers to those unlucky women, whose love remained unfulfilled, who failed to achieve their love, or are deserted by their husbands, whereas suhāgan refers to those lucky women who enjoy union with their husbands, achieve their love and thus, reap the fruit of their past actions. Symbolically, in spiritual terms, duhāngan are the unlucky souls who fail to achieve the Divine love, whereas suhāgan are the lucky ones who achieve it.

Bridal symbolism is evident in the poetry of Shaykh Farid ‘Thani’ (literally the Second; 1450-1554) is a celebrated sixteenth-century Sufi poet of Punjab. He employs the bridal metaphor for the human soul and God in his poetry. In sixteenth-century Shah Husayn (1538-1599) of Lahore used bridal symbols in his poetry. He referred to the triumphant human soul as a suhāgan or suhāganī, happily married woman, enjoying marital bliss. Shah Husayn expanded the use of bridal symbolism by using the concepts of dāj [xi](dowry) for good deeds, dōlī for a coffin, maika and sasurāl to symbolize the life, and life after death respectively.[xii]

In seventeenth-century Punjab, Sultan Bahu (1629-1691) further indigenized the concept of suhāgan, particularly in his Punjabi siharfīs or abiyāt. As pointed out earlier, Sultan Bahu also evokes the bridal metaphor in his poetry, and he states that people recite the kalima verbally, but only the ‘āshiq or the true lovers of God recite it from their hearts. He acknowledges that it is his murshid who has taught him to recite it from the heart, and this very fact has made him sadā suhāgan or the eternal bride.