Lalla Arifa

In the roll of notable women of Kashmir during Muslim rule, the place of honour certainly belongs to Lalla Arifa, who has influenced Kashmir to such an extent that her sayings are on the lips of all Kashmiris – Hindus and Muslims- and her memory is reverenced by all. Hindus claim her as theirs, while Muslims claim her as theirs. Though originally, a Hindu, she was greatly influenced by the Islamic Sufistic thought and may, in truth, be said to be above all formal religious conventionalities. She was the contemporary of Shah Hamadan at the time of his visit to Kashmir and Muslim affirm that she embraced Islam at his hands and inspired Shaikh Nur-ud-Din with her teachings. Her verses, as edited by Grierson and Barnett, show that she was imbued with Yoga Philosophy as propounded by the Shiva cult of Hinduism.

Lalla Arifa was born in 735AH (1355AC) in the time of Udyanadeva. In Indian history this was the time when Fakhr-ud-Din Jauna Ulugh Khan Muhammad Adil bin Tughluq commonly known as Muhammad Tughluq was the ruler of Hindustan. he had already founded Daulatabad in the Deccan in 1327 AC and to be precise, had, that vey year, left Delhi for the conquest of Madura down south. Khwaja Jahan, his minister, accompanied by the great traveller Ibn Battutah supressed the rebellion in the Punjab. The foundation of the great city of Vijaynagar took place in the following year, viz., 1336AC.

Lalla’s Parents lived at Panderethan, the old capital of Kashmir in Asoka’s time, four miles to the south-east of modern Srinagar. She is said to have been married in Pampar and to have been cruelly treated by her step-mother-in-law, who early starved her. Of this treatment, a story is told that poor Lalla had always “a stone to her dinner,” that is to say, her step-mother-in-law used to put a lumpy stone on her platter and thinly cover it with rice, so that it looked quite a big heap. And yet Lalla would never murmur! She appears to have brought her married life to a close by quitting her home. According to one account, Lalla was so named on account of her increased abdomen. Hindus call her Laleshwari, or Lalla Yogishwari, Muslim Lalla Ded or Lalla Maji or Mother Lalla.

Lalla used to wander about in rags and went about the country singing and dancing in a half nude condition. A student of Freud will find in this phase of Lalla’s life a  reaction from her domestic affliction sufficient to unbalance any mind. When remonstrated with for such disregard for decency, she is said to have replied that they only were men who feared God and that there were very few such men about. While she was roaming about naked, Shah Hamadan arrived in Kashmir. One day, she saw him from a distance and according to the commom Muslim tradition cried out “I have seen a Man,” and turned and fled. Thereafter she soon wore clothes and recognized Shah Hamadan to be “a Man,” and freely associated with him and other Muslim saints of the time. This incident is said to have taken place at Khanpor, pronounced by the Kashmiris Khampor and is the last stage on the road to Srinagar from the Punjab.

Lalla died at an advanced age at Bijbror or Bijbihara, 28 miles to the south-east of Srinagar, just outside the courtyard of the Jamia Masjid, near its south-eastern corner where her grave is shown today.

It is commonly avowed by Muslims in Kashmir that the verses of Lalla, as collected and published, are those which she composed before her contact with Shah Hamadan and other Muslim saints, that her verses after that contact are more expressly reflective of Muslim thought. It is noteworthy, here that, even the Pattron-Saint of Kashmir Shaikh Nur-ud-Din, is given the distinctly Hindu name of Nand Riosh, or Nand Rish, by the Pandits of the Valley.

The sayings of Lalla, as edited by Grierson and Barnett, says sir Richard Temple, commence with a narration of her own spiritual experience. She had wandered far and wide in search of truth, had made Pilgrimages to holy places and sought for salvation through formal rites, but all in vain! Then suddenly she found it in her own ‘home,’ her own soul. There she found her own self, which became to her the equivalent of a spiritual preceptor. And she learned that it and the Supreme Self (God) were one.

Sir Richard Temple has made a verse translation of her sayings, some of which are reproduced below. The reader will agree with Sir Richard that, in her method of teaching her doctrine by means of verse, Lalla is at once mystical and transcendental.

           Passionate, with longing in mine eyes,

                Searching wide and seeking nights and days,

               Lo: I beheld the Truthful One, the wise

                       Here in mine own House to fill my gaze.

                   That was the day of my lucky star.

                  Breathless, I held him my Guide to be.

  So my lamp of Knowledge blazed afar,

       Fanned by slow breath from the throat of me.

They, my bright soul to myself revealed,

Winnowed I abroad my inner light;

And with darkness all around me sealed

Did I garner Truth and hold Him tight.

Keep a little raiment for the cold.

And a little food for stomach’s sake:

Pickings for the crows thy body hold,

But thy mind a house of knowledge make.

Slay first the thieves-desire, lust and pride;

Slay first the thieves-desire, lust and pride;

Learn thou then to be slave of all.

Robbers only for a while abide;

Ever liveth the devoted call.

All a man’s gain here is nothing worth,

save when his service shall be his sword;

Ash from the fire is the sun of birth;

Gain thou then the knowledge of the lord.

Whatsoever thing I do of toil,

Burdens of completion on me lie;

Yet unto another fall the spoil

And gains he the fruit thereof, not I.

Yet if I toil with no thoughts of self,

All my works before the self I lay;

Setting faith and duty before help.

Well for me shall be the onward way.

“Think not on the things that are without;

Fix upon thy inner self thy Thought:

So shalt thou be freed from let or doubt.”

Precepts these that my Preceptor taught.

Dance then, Lalla, clothed but by the air:

Sing, then, Lalla, clad but in the sky.

Air and Sky: what garment is more fair?

“Cloth” Saith custom. Doth that sanctify?

Heedles ever that the Day Sublime

Cometh when the wicked looketh not

When the apples of the autumn time

Ripens with the summer apricot.

Reference: