In the Shadow of the Sultanate

Abstract

Abstract This chapter discusses the practice of Sufi rituals in north India during the period of the Delhi Sultanate. The discussion is set against the historical backdrop of the dispersal of Sufi masters across Central Asia and Afghanistan into South Asia, where they subsequently established independent Sufi orders. The focus of this chapter is on the rise of the Chishti Sufi order, through its earliest masters—Muinuddin Chishti, Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakr, and Nizamuddin Awliya. These masters, whose biographies are briefly discussed, were responsible for patronizing sama as the leading spiritual practice of the Chishti order. The chapter discusses in detail the formalization of the Sufi ritual of sama, the views of these masters on the practice of sama, the theoretical and performative aspects of this ritual, and finally the elaborate rules under which the performance of sama needed to be undertaken. The chapter also takes up the issue of criticism expressed by the religious clergy against the practice of sama, questioning its legality as a religious practice. This eventually led to an arbitration council in the court of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Tughluq, where the religious leaders confronted Nizamuddin Awliya on the issue of sama.