The Origins and Evolution of Sufi Communities in South Asia Revisited

Abstract

Abstract This article offers a reevaluation of studies on the origins of Sufism in South Asia. Generally, scholars have pointed to the thirteenth century as the genesis of Sufi orders in Northern India. However, this period supplies no textual evidence to support this claim. The vague picture of the thirteenth century is one of individual shaykhs unattached to specific Sufi orders or distinct religious teachings. By contrast, in the fourteenth century there is a wealth of Sufi textual sources available in the genres of malfūẓāt, letters and biographical texts that seek to institutionalize Sufi teachings and create genealogies of learning. Based on textual and archeological sources this author demonstrates that it was during the fourteenth century that we see the development of institutionalized forms of Sufism. Special attention is given to the origins and development of the Chishtiyya lineage of shaykhs during this critical period.