Travel
The Sweet Saint of Punjab:
Bhagat Baba Farid
HAROON KHALID
'Baba Farid Paint House', reads one of the shop signs. Another says, 'Shakar Ganj Meat House'. 'Baba Farid Stationery Shop' comes right after.
One soon learns that most of the City of Pakpattan is named after Fariduddin Shakarganj, or Baba Farid, as he is widely known.
The title of 'Shakarganj' refers to this 13th century Sufi's love for sugar. According to the folk legend, Baba Farid as a child didn't say his prayers regularly. As an incentive his mother offered him the treat of sugar every time he said his prayers. He liked the taste of sugar, so he obliged his mother.
The legend goes that on one occasion his mother forgot to place the sugar next to Farid's prayer mat; when she realized this, she prayed to God for help. According to the legend, when Farid completed his prayers, there was a pot of sugar next to him.
This is the popular explanation for the name of Shakarganj. 'Shakar' means sugar in Punjabi (it has the same root as 'sugar' and 'saccharine'), whereas 'ganj' is a Persian word that means treasure. Some historians, however, maintain that Baba Farid was given the title of Shakarganj because his speech and manner towards the people were always sweet, and it was the people who started calling him Shakarganj.
It seems at first that Pakpattan has nothing to boast other than the shrine of this Sufi dervish. Once upon a time, however, it was an important market town that stood on the bank of the river Sutlej and formed a stop on the route from Multan to Delhi. The old name of the city is Ajoodhun.
Ibn-e-Batuta, the famous Arab traveler, came here in
the 14th century and records this name in his travelogue. Another name
for the city was Ghar, which in Punjabi means important centre. Baba
Farid in his poetry refers to this name:
Ghar lutiya devade gaya bojha
The city has been robbed, the lamps extinguished
The name Pakpattan was given to the city because of Baba Farid. 'Pattan' is a place where the river crosses, and 'Pak' means pure. The Sutlej, which once flowed near the city, is now dry, only coming to life during the monsoon, when water is released from acroos the Pakistani-Indian border.
The old city is on a high mound, about 40-50 meters above the neighboring area. It must have been built over and over again on ancient ruins. It was originally inside a wall, with gateways. Now, however, the city has expanded far beyond its once-enclosing walls.
As one enters present-day Pakpattan, one has the feeling that the whole city is always celebrating Baba Farid. Most of the shops, hotels, restaurants and businesses are named after him. Their signs carry his picture and show him emaciated after the rigorous fasting that he used to undertake to enhance his spiritual prowess.
Edging closer to the shrine, the streets get denser and the shops closer. Several hundreds of devotees walk through the bazaar, while the cars, motorcycles and tongas struggle to pass through. On the way they are exhorted by the shopkeepers to buy flowers or chaadars that bear verses from the Holy Quran. Prayer beads of various lengths hang from the roofs of these shops, along with threads of red and green to be worn on the wrist as a supplication.
The shopkeepers wear green or white prayer caps. Most of them are clean-shaven, a few have moustaches and even fewer wear a neatly trimmed beard. The chaadar is available in many colors such as red, orange and green, and always bears sacred verses within a golden boundary. It is bought to be presented to the grave of the saint.
Women here are modestly covered, wearing shalwar kameez and their heads covered with dupattas. There is a considerable number of women in the market, some accompanied by male relatives, others with just their children.
Beggars stalk the devotees lingering around the bazaar for religious paraphernalia. They are mostly women, usually much darker in complexion than their counterparts at Lahori shrines. Their babies walk around with them naked, carrying their begging bowls for them. The beggar women usually roam in groups of 2-3 and get their food from the langar (community kitchen) of the shrine in plastic shopping bags. It is customary for beggars to angle for several bags at once, which they then take home for the rest of their family.
There are two separate entrances into the shrine, which is on a mound several meters above the ground. Two staircases lead to the top. The shrine sits on a rich historical mound which was never explored by archaeologists and probably never will be.
On this quiet mound, once outside the city, Baba Farid spent the last days of his life, engrossed in meditation and prayer. Often he would have come across some relic of pottery or other things from the civilization that is assumed to have flourished here many thousands of years ago. Now the mound is completely covered with the site of the shrine.
One entrance is for men while the other is for women. Families who have come together separate here and then meet inside after passing the rigorous security search: there are metal detectors and the frisking hands of policemen; for women the frisking is done by policewomen inside a curtained enclosure. No cameras are allowed inside the shrine.
Nowadays there is always one police officer sitting on a chair and surveying the checking process with his gun laid in front of him in preparation for any untoward incident.
At the base of the second staircase that leads to the final floor is a counter where shoes are handed in. One needs to pay Rs. 10 here and is given a token which is used for collecting one's shoes on the way back. No one can enter the shrine with their shoes on.
Midway on the stairs there is a space to perform the ritual ablution; many visitors purify their bodies here before entering the sacred space.
There is another police personnel deployed here. The security of the shrine has been beefed up in recent years, as it has at many other shrines in Pakistan. On the 25th of October, 2010, there was a bomb blast at the entrance of this shrine that killed 6 people. This was after similar attacks had already occurred at Data Darbar in Lahore and Shah Ghazi's shrine in Karachi, two of the most important Sufi shrines in the country. Hard-line Muslims who follow the Deobandi, Wahabi and Ahl-e-Hadith schools of thought, look down upon the shrine culture, which includes music, dance and other "un-Islamic" activities.Al-Qaeda and Taliban cadres often come from these aforementioned schools of thought.
On the other hand, the Ahle-Sunnat and Barelvi sects give particular importance to Sufi saints and their shrines.
With the rise in extremism after 9/11 the battle between the sects has come to the fore. Many shrines have been attacked in the recent past, which has played a major role in affecting the culture of Sufi shrines. Earlier these places acted as a refuge for the distressed and the oppressed. Now they have become forts, always manned by security officials who keep an eye on all the visitors.
The stairs lead into an open courtyard, where several hundred people are scattered all around and engaged in different activities. From the top one gets a panoramic view of the city below. On the left side is the huge mosque, a recent construction.
There is a board at the main entrance of the mosque that
says: "It is prohibited to sit idly at the mosque." The mosque is just
one big prayer room. There are several fans inside, inviting the
devotees to take a nap in the summer afternoons; but the administration
at the shrine makes sure no one does that.
The administration of
the shrine is the responsibility of the Auqaf Department. This
government department was set up during the tenure of General Ayub Khan
in the 1960s to look after Muslim shrines and historical mosques. They
are also responsible for collecting revenues from here and do the
necessary maintenance work. Before the Auqaf Department was formed, the
revenue collection and administration were the responsibility of the
successors of the Sufi saints.
It is argued that the government created this department to weaken the traditional power structures, which the military government of the time saw as a threat. The current Prime Minister of the country, Yousuf Raza Gillani, and the former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureishi are both direct descendents of two highly popular Sufi saints from Multan.
The annual revenue from these shrines
runs into several millions of rupees. According to the data provided by
the department, it currently looks after 320 shrines in the country,
which together provide an annual income of Rs. 800 million.
This
new-looking mosque, built by the Auqaf Department, was the site of an
historical mosque said to be from the time of Baba Farid. In the 1980s,
during General Zia's rule, the old mosque was destroyed and this new
one was constructed amidst a strong protest by several sections of
society. But the Auqaf Department
cited damage beyond repair as its reason and refused to heed to
suggestions.
Sikhs take a keen interest in the
shrine of Baba Farid because of his close ties to the Sikh Faith. Nanak traveled to Pakpattan about 300 years
after the Sufi saint and collected Baba Farid's poetry from there. The spot where
he did so is towards the Western side of the city and is now known as
Tibba Baba Nanak.
A gurdwara was constructed here much later by Sikh devotees to commemorate the spot. By collecting Farid's poetry, Nanak was able to preserve it. Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of the Sikhs, is the primary source of Farid's poetry now, the only written record of it we have. Because it was included by Nanak in what later became the Guru Granth, the Sikhs regard Farid's poetry as divine; the word of God said through his men.
Baba Farid wrote all his poetry in sloke. This is a form of
poetry which only has 2 verses. Farid is the founder of this form. He
also happens to be the first properly recorded poet of the Punjabi language. One of
the regular demands of Sikhs has been to grant
special visas to pilgrims on the occasion of Farid's annual urs, like they are
granted on the occasions of Guru Nanak's birthday and the celebration of
Vaisakhi at Hassan Abdal.
There is an enclosed room next to the
stairs. The room is locked, but the devotees can look into it through
the window panel. Devotees cling to this panel. Some have tied a red
string on it for the grant of a particular wish. There is nothing inside
the room, but money put by the devotees through the window. (The
officials of the Auqaf Department will come later in the day and take
the money away.)
Next to it, under the shade of the building, sitting on the cool marble floor, are the qawwals (minstrels). Dressed in light brown shalwar kameez with white prayer caps on their heads, they sing songs of devotion to Baba Farid while facing his shrine on the opposite side of the courtyard. Visitors have collected around them, leaving a space between them and the shrine.
The mouths of the qawwals are are reddened by the constant consumption of paan. The main singer takes the lead with his harmonium, while there is one dholki-wala accompanying him. The rest, younger in age, repeat after the singer, clapping their hands in a distinctive qawwal style, in which the fingers are held wide and the clap is loud and firm, providing a regular beat.
Qawwali is an essential feature of Muslim shrines; from Nizamuddin Auliya's in Delhi to Data Darbar's in Lahore to Bulleh Shah's in Kasur to Baba Farid's in Pakpattan. This musical and poetical enactment of devotion and spirituality is said to send the devotee into an out-worldly trance that other methods of prayer cannot achieve. A man having slipped into that trance stands up and starts moving fanatically in front of the qawwals and in what may be described as an un-rhythmic dance.
This state is called haal, which literally means condition; the condition of the devotee's trance. No one stops him. Encouraged, another man joins him.
The police personnel who
are roaming around the shrine and stopping people from photographing one
another on the premises stop and look at the dancers. After a little
while they move on, continuing with their patrolling.
Qawwali in
the Sufi shrines was initiated by the Chishti branch of Sufi Islam, to
which Baba Farid belonged. The branch derives its name from the city of
Chisht in present day Afghanistan, where it was first expounded by the
its founder, Abu Ishaq Shami. The Chishti order, as it is known,
emphasizes love, peace and tolerance.
Other famous Sufi saints
following
this order are Moinuddin Chishti (12th century) of Ajmer Sharif and
Nizamuddin Auliya (13th century CE) of Delhi. Two important
traditions that this order introduced were the serving of langar and the
performance of qawwali.
Next to this chamber are ancient waan
trees whose fruit Baba Farid is said to have enjoyed. Waans can live up
to several centuries. There are a few graves underneath.
The great irony is that rich people have purchased the right to be buried next to the wealth-renouncing Sufi. The grave of Baba Farid is inside a modest building, which is adjacent to the waan trees. There is a covered courtyard next to it from where women can see the grave as they are not allowed to enter. Other visitors can also rest here, escaping the tormenting heat of South Punjab during the summers.
There is a long queue of devotees vying to enter and see the grave of Baba Farid to pay their respect to him. There are 2 entrances to the shrine.
One of them, called the Bahishti darwaza, is always locked, and is opened only during Farid's urs on the 5th of Muharram. It literally means the Gateway to Heaven. It is believed that if one passes through that door, one is assured a place in heaven.
Millions of devotees push and
shove during Farid's urs to pass through this door. Inside the tomb,
Baba Farid is buried with his elder son.
Surrounding the modest
tomb of the saint are the more elaborate tombs of his descendants. This
is a later construction from the 13th century, when the subcontinent was ruled by
the Mughal Sultanate. Made out of red bricks and a white dome on
the top, the architectural style of the construction is akin to the
shrine of Baha-ud-din Zakariya and his descendant Shah Rukn-e-Alam, the
patron saints of Multan.
No women are permitted inside this shrine. However, despite its aura and splendor, more devotees choose to visit the simpler grave of Baba Farid which, eight hundred years after his death, continues to inspire their devotion.
[Courtesy: The Friday Times. Edited for sikhchic.com]
May 4, 2012
Conversation about this article
1: Roopinder Singh Bains (Surrey, British Columbia, Canada), May 04, 2012, 1:10 PM.
Tiger Jatha (UK) have uploaded a discussion of Guru Nanak's visit to Mecca. In the discussion Bhagat Sheikh Farid and his importance to Sikhs and Sufis is discussed.