Sufi-Shaivite Woman Mystic Lal Ded/Lalla Arifa Who Inspired Rishi-Sufi Saint Shaikh-Ul-Alam
By Ghulam Rasool
Dehlvi, New Age Islam
10 June
2024
Shaping the Collective Spiritual Consciousness
in Kashmir!
Significantly, it was the Sufi-Shaivite woman mystic—Lalla Arifa—who rendered deep experiences of Shah-e-Hamadan who introduced Sufism to the Valley of Kashmir and greatly influenced her spiritual journey and mystical thoughts, into local poetry in Kashmiri language called, Vakh. The Vakhs of Lalleshwari (Lall’e Vakh) and Sheikh Shruki (The sayings of Sheikh Ul Aalam) unravel limitless devotion, illumination and spiritual ecstasy (wajd) in the search for a deeper personal relationship with the Divine. This rich oral tradition of Divine Union (wisal-e-ilahi) birthed by Shah-e-Hamadan and imbibed by Lalla Arifa and later her disciples like Nund-Rishi has shaped the collective spiritual consciousness of Kashmir
…….
Sufi-Shaivite woman mystic—Lalla Arifa
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One of the
key preceptors of Rishi-Sufi mysticism in Kashmir was the celebrated female
Sufi poet Lalla Arifa—more popularly known as Lal Ded, and Lal Diddi and Lalleshwari.
For around seven centuries, Lalla Arifa has been venerated both by Muslims and
Hindus of Kashmir and is indisputably regarded a proponent of a plural ethos in
the valley.
Born in a
brahmin family in 1335 AD near Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, she renounced
her domestic material life at the age of 24 after she suffered cruelty from her
mother-in-law. Hence, she chose to be a devotee of the Shaivite saint Siddha
Srikantha, who was also called Sed Bayu. She learnt from him high moral truths
and thus practiced Yoga philosophy. It is narrated that in her rebellious
renouncement of domestic life, Lalla turned into a celibate mystic. However,
she encountered Sufism when she met Shah-e-Hamadan—thefirst and foremost Sufi
Muslim mystic of the highest stature in Kashmir who came from Central Asia
after Bulbul Shah RA—Mir Syed Ali Hamadani, also called Ameer-e-Kabir and
Syyedus Sadaat (head of the Prophet’s progeny in Kashmir) as envisaged by
Allama Iqbal, himself a Kashmiri-origin Muslim philosopher whose ancestors came
from among the Kashmiri Brahmins. After meeting Shah-e-Hamadan, Lalded who used
to live a naked life, reportedly gave up celibacy and began to wear a proper
dress. Asked why, she said she had seen ‘a man for the first time’!
Famously
known as Nund-Rishi by Hindus and Sheikh-ul-Alam by Muslims, the prominent
Kashmiri Rishi-Sufi mystic of the 14th century, Sultan ul Arifin Nooruddin
Noorani gave the first direct reference to Lalla in his Vakhas (Kashmiri
verses):
Admaanpora Chai Tem Lalia
Yem Gali
Gali Amrit Chau
Soa
Saain Autar Te Lalie
Theith War Mai
Detam Dewao
Translation:
That Lalla
from Padmaanpora (Pampore),
did drink
nectar tumbler after tumbler.
She was a
saint and she did bring up a saint,
O’ God,
give me her vision and knowledge.
Here, it is
noteworthy that Nund-Rishi Nooruddin Noorani or Nooruddin Wali himself was the
biggest adherent and one of the closest disciples of Lalla Arifa. He greatly
benefitted from her wisdom right from his childhood, as she happened to be not
only his spiritual but also a foster mother. Thus, she suckled Nund- Rishi a
lot of divine drink and spiritual nectar from her blessed breast. As a result,
much like the Lalla, NundRishi also etched the essence of Rishi-Sufi wisdom
into the hearts and minds of Kashmiris preserving their local and cultural
ethos. In fact, he extracted the nectar of the Qur’aninto his poetry, and
therefore his Kashmiri Kalaam—Kalaam-e-Sheikhul A’alam—is called the ‘Kashmiri
Qur’an’ and ‘Qur’an-e-Sani’.
Significantly,
it was the Sufi-Shaivite lady—Lalla Arifa—who rendered deep experiences of
Shah-e-Hamadan who brought Sufism to the Valley of Kashmir and greatly
influenced her spiritual journey and mystical thoughts, into local poetry in
Kashmiri language called, Vakh. The Vakhs of Lalleshwari (Lall’e Vakh) and
Sheikh Shruki (The sayings of Sheikh Ul Aalam) unravel limitless devotion,
illumination and spiritual ecstasy (wajd) in the search for a deeper personal
relationship with the Divine. This rich oral tradition of Divine Union
(wisal-e-ilahi) birthed by Shah-e-Hamadan and imbibed by Lalla Arifa and later
her disciples like Nund-Rishihas shaped the collective spiritual consciousness
of Kashmir.She says in her Vakhas (Kashmiri poetry):
Yi Yi Karu’m Suy Artsun
Yi Rasini Vichoarum Thi Mantar
Yihay Lagamo Dhahas Partsun
Suy Parasivun Tanthar
(Whatever
work I did, became worship of the Lord. Whatever word I uttered became a
prayer; Whatever my body experienced became the Sadhana/devotion of Saiva
Tantra, illumining my path to Parmasiva/Supreme Being).
At the same
time, Lalla’s poetry came crashing down on the parasitic forms of ritualism and
false religiosity. She strongly believed in the Divine but equally discarded
the priestly class. One of her verses reads: It covers your shame, keeps you
from shivering. Grass and water are all the food it asks. Who taught you,
priest-man, to feed this breathing thing to your thing of stone? In fact, the
Saivite-Sufi mystics like Lalla and Rishi-Sufi saints such as Shaikh-ul-Alam
strengthened unity in diversity in Kashmir’s plural society for centuries.
While
Shaikh was an ardent believer in Tawheed (Oneness of God and Oneness of
Mankind), Lalla was a follower of the monotheistic Shaivism known as Turka
Shastra. Albeit the difference in their spiritual disciplines, both believed in
one Creator, loved all His creations, dismissed violent religious extremism,
practised self-introspection and rejected all dogmatic and retrogressive
ideologies. This was the result of an elevating experience of spiritual
enlightenment. Prominent historian Azam Dedmari writes in his book, Waaqea’at-e-Kashmir (Events in
Kashmir): Lalla was buried in a tomb in the premises of the Sufi shrine of Baba
Naseebuddin Gazi — a disciple of Sultan-ul-Arifeen Sheikh Hamza Makhdumi. But
the common Kashmiri people told this writer that her dead body was not found
out as she was claimed by both Muslims and Hindus just as Sufi mystics like
Sant Kabir. This can be further corroborated by the popular Kashmiri folk Sufi
songs which have been written about her in abundance!
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A
Regular Columnist with Newageislam.com, Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi is an Indo-Islamic
scholar, Sufi poet and English-Arabic-Urdu-Hindi writer with a background in a
leading Sufi Islamic seminary in India. He is currently serving as Head of
International Affairs at Voice for Peace & Justice, Jammu & Kashmir.
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism