Accommodation and appropriation

Perhaps the most visible result of the Islamic presence in India was the way in which mutual borrowings and appropriations occurred leading to new creativity in the arts, architecture, languages, lifestyle, and, of course, religion.

The emergence of new languages is one illustration of this phenomenon. By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a variety of Indo-Aryan or Indo­Persian dialects was emerging. These included Braj-bhasha, the vehicle of medieval Vaisnava literature and of classical Hindustani music^3Sand Avadhl in which both Hindu and Muslim bhakti poetry was written.³⁶ Dakhini (or Deccani), a language used primarily by Muslims in Central India by the fifteenth century, was part of the mix.³⁷ Such dialects as these evolved into Hindi and Urdu, first as spoken, then written languages. Urdu used an Arabic script but borrowed its vocabulary from Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Sanskritic sources; its grammar reflects Sanskritic roots as well as others. Hindi, on the other hand, used a Devanagari (Sanskritic) script and borrowed words from Arabic, Persian, and Turkish sources and grammar from Prakritic as well as other sources. As we have observed, poetry and various forms of literature were rich, particularly by the sixteenth century. Similarly, the libraries to be found in Delhi were among the best in Asia as, under royal patronage, manuscripts were collected and vernacular materials were brought together from the Hindu and Islamic worlds.

Science flourished under Mughal and/or Rajput patronage. There was a combination of Sanskritic and Arabic medical traditions as medical texts from both traditions were translated and made available. It may not be an exaggeration to suggest that by the seventeenth century, Delhi was one of the finest medical centers in the world. Astronomy also flourished. Some five observatories were to be found in the Delhi area by the seventeenth century and Sanskritic and Arabic traditions of astronomy were in contact in ways seldom seen since the scientific heyday of ninth-century Baghdad.³⁸

Accommodation and mutual influence were especially apparent in the arts. Musical forms were synthesized, for example, creating a “new” mode of “classical” music sometimes known as Hindustani or Indo-Islamic, in contrast to the southern Carnatic musical tradition. Sufis used the Indian musical scale while offering sentiments reflecting Persian roots. Several new musical instruments appeared - the sitar, the tambura and the tabla, for example. Music was patronized in the courts and by the sultans.³⁹ The same was true of dance - a “new” dance form emerged known as kathak in which Persian motifs mingled with Hindu themes. Muslims and Hindus alike sang and danced the stories of Krsna and Radha.

Architecture also combined Islamic (especially Persian) forms with Indian ones. A common style was the “tent motif’ in which four pillars and a dome replicate the imagery of a tent in the desert. Tombs (thought inappropriate in orthoprax Islamic culture) were common in India. Geometric designs shared by both Muslim and Hindu traditions were found on these structures. Craftsmen were both Muslim and Hindu.

In the meanwhile, as we have noted, poetry proliferated in Hindi, Urdu, and various vernaculars. Not least important, translations had become a significant contribution to the literary landscape. These translations went both ways, from Persian into the vernacular and Sanskrit texts into Persian.

The lifestyle, especially of North India, was impacted by the presence of Islamic “culture.” The purdah (segregating women by the wearing of outer clothes) was adapted in some Hindu families. The pajama-style of dress for both men and women had extra-Indian origins. The use of wine and smoking of the huqqah (pipe) became a shared part of North Indian culture, as did the preparation of various foods from biryani to tandoori chicken.

It should not be a surprise then that religion was also accommodated to the ambiance of the period. Amongst “Hindu” bhaktas and saints, one finds an increased impatience with caste, iconography, brahmanic orthopraxy, and expressions of sectarian identity. Amongst Muslims, especially Sufis, one finds the incorporation of music, legends, and myths derived from “Hindu” sources. Pilgrimage sites came to share stories of Hindu deities and Muslim saints (pm). The building of tombs and visiting these sites (dargahs) on regular occasions was commonplace as was the conducting of ‘urs - the annual fair or festival performed on the anniversary of the saint’s death. Many rites of passage performed by Muslims, from the naming of a child to marriage, shared many rituals and customs with those of Hindus who lived in the same region. There was even the rather loose development of a “caste” system within Islam based, in part, on a perceived distinction between the descendants of immigrants (known as ashraf) and those who were converted in India. Occupational distinctions also became part of the mix - virtual castes based on the work of the family into which one was born.

These accommodations were particularly striking in the case of Sufis who borrowed freely from their Hindu counterparts. Nowhere, perhaps, was this trend more dramatic than in the “theological” system developed by Dara Shikoh. Dara Shikoh adapted many traditional Hindu elements into his Sufi vision: the Vedas and Upanisads were sources of revelation; Brahma, Visnu, Siva were among the angels; Hindu thinkers could be counted among prophets. Allah was paramatman, the highest form of the divine; Muhammad the avatar of Allah’s word.