Was A Defiant ‘Naked Fakir’ India’s Gay Icon Of The 17th Century?

Amidst the bustling Delhi-6; the Meena Bazaar, tea and food stalls, and newspaper vendors, in the looming shadow of the glorious Jama Masjid lies a dargah unknown to most passersby. Unassuming, sans marble, jaali walls and domes, it makes an odd sight, painted half green and half red to commemorate the two men laid to rest in the space. The entire shrine is divided to accommodate the lives and trials of the two Sufi saints, Hazrat Hare Bhare Shah, the ‘evergreen one’ and Hazrat Sufi Sarmad Shaheed, the ‘naked fakir’.

While Hare Bhare Shah’s tomb adorns his namesake green, the Sarmad-side of the shrine is coloured red – the walls, tiles, doorway – memorialising his martyrdom, hence the epithet Shaheed’, as he was executed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1661.

The life of Sarmad Kashani, from his birth into an Armenian Jewish family, his religious beliefs (or lack thereof), relationship with Abhai Chand and Dara Shikoh, and the legend of his peculiar ‘dance of death’.

A mystic and poet, Kashani is said to have made his way to India for trade, hearing of the riches of the land. In 1634 he came to Thatta, in Sindh, where at a musical concert he saw a Hindu boy, Abhai Chand and instantly fell in love. The two were inseparable, say some accounts, but Chand’s parents, unhappy with the relationship separated their son from Kashani who later sat outside their how longing for their reunion. Their relationship is penned down in the Dabistan, written by Mubad Shah and translated by David Shea; “Abandoning all other things, like a Sanyasi, naked as he came from his mother, he sat down before the door of his beloved. The father of the object of his love, after having found by investigation the purity of the attachment manifested for his son, admitted Sarmad into his house, and Abhai Chand became Sarmad’s student, studying Jewish religion and the Hebrew and Persian languages well enough to translate sections of the Hebrew Bible into Persian.”

In a state of happiness and bliss, Kashani is said to have given up his worldly possessions, including his clothes. The ‘naked fakir’ would travel with Chand to Lahore, apparently driven out of Thatta, seeking spiritual truths of multiple religious beliefs and imparting his wisdom and teachings to other, slowly garnering quite a following, including Dara Shikoh, heir apparent of the Mughal empire. Some believe that Shikoh was drawn to Kashani, and vice versa, for their secular beliefs and approach to spiritualism. Aurangzeb, his brother, on the other hand, was viewed as the more orthodox, puritanical of the two.

Getting closer to Dara Shikoh, and more popular with the people, Kashani found himself in a space of politics and a battle for the throne that ended bloody. Some say that he prophesied Dara Shikohs victory in a battle for succession against Aurangzeb, however, that didn’t end up being the case. Kashani was still seen as a foe to Aurangzeb, someone that could possibly trigger a revolt and he ordered the Qazi to find something to charge Kashani with to validate an execution.

Under a Muslim ruler, Kashani’s spiritual spoutings and lifestyle were that of a heretic. In ‘Stories of Sarmad’, Bilal Tanweer writes that the final straw that led to Kashani’s death – Aurangzeb citing Kashani’s nakedness as a defiance of Shariat law, and the fakir’s biting rebuttal. “As Aurengzeb’s procession was passing through the streets of Delhi, he saw Sarmad sitting on the roadside. The king ordered the march to halt and demanded the mystic to cover himself. The saint looked at him with wrathful eyes and said, ‘If you think I need to cover my nudity so badly why don’t you cover me yourself?’ When the Emperor lifted the blanket on Sarmad’s side, the king saw the bloodied heads of all the family members he had secretly murdered. Aurangzeb looked at Sarmad who said, ‘Now tell me what should I cover – your sins or my thighs?’”

His nudity wasn’t enough to warrant an execution, nor was being with Chand and Aurangzeb feared public reaction to an order of death for Kashani on these charges. Dragged to the court steps, the Qazi demanded Kashani recite the Kalima Tayyab, which says “La Ilaha Illallah, Muhammad-ur Rasool Allah” meaning “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger”. Kashani was known to only recite the first half of the beginning, La Ilaha, saying ‘there is no God’, and refused to say anything more, adding that he was still on his search and couldn’t in good faith complete the Kalima without being dishonest. Infuriated at his denial and rejection of the religious foundation of the region, he was executed on the steps of Jama Masjid in front of the public, Chand among them.

The story goes that following the execution Kashani’s body picked up the severed head as he finally mouthed the complete Kalima, having found God in his demise. Legend says that he danced around holding his head, making his way up the steps into the Jama Masjid, all the way mocking Aurangzeb. It is only when he was called to halt by his preceptor Hare Bhare Shah that he retreated.

There are many stories that loom around his trial and death. Some believe that his love for Chand was real, queer relations being quite common in that era and not something that was really that condemned as it later was during colonial times. Others say that their relationship was negatively tagged as homosexual by the orthodox court to twist public perceptions for validation of Kashani’s trial and execution. Other’s say that their relationship was purely platonic and loving in the form of Mentor and pupil. Observed as a “relationship between Murshid– Murid has always been close in Sufism, it is a spiritual relationship and not of any sexual nature. There are many examples in this regard. Such as relationship between Amir Khusro and his master Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia.”

So, was Kashani a gay icon of the time? We can’t be sure of his sexuality or relationship with Chand, but his defiance of a zealotry ruler and search for religious syncretism is something we could all learn a thing or two from.

Feature image courtesy of The Walters Art Museum.

Edit: A previous version of the article consisted of a typographical error that stated Sarmad Kashani was executed in 1961 – when it is 1661. The error has been corrected.

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