The Female Voice in Sufi Ritual: Devotional Practices of Pakistan and India

3 Female Myths in Sufism

G   Female Myths in Sufism Q , ,   The complexities of race, gender, class, and caste figure prominently in the narratives of the qawwāls and sufiānā-kalām performers. Sufi poetry in Pakistan and India was sometimes composed in opposition to the religious establishment and was expressed in subtle ways. It survived through representation in myth and the complex tropes of the female voices. Whether or not the Sufi poets were ‘‘feminists’’ cannot be claimed here as the term ‘‘feminism ’’ is a fairly recent one. However, the female myths in Sufi poetry certainly represent the voices of marginalized groups and continue to be used as representative frames even today.This is evident in Abida Parvin’s performance in Islamabad in  that I discuss in this chapter and in my interview with Alan Faqir, a singer of Sufi poetry in the Sind.1 The female myths in the Sufi poetry of Pakistan and India further give it an aesthetic quality that the musicians have claimed in their interviews with me. They sing the native myths of lovers like Sassi, Hir, Sohni, Mumal, Marvi, and Mira Bai because the myths have become metaphors for the polarities of gender, religious , sociopolitical, and economic hegemony. For instance, Sassi, Hir, and Mira Bai are all upper-class, aristocratic women whose lives end in tragedy, the frame of a classic Greek play. Hir violates her caste conduct to elope with a cowherd, thus bringing shame to her family. Should her society punish her? How is it sung and communicated in the oral Sufi tradition? Why do the musicians sing in the female voices? These are some of the questions that are explored in this chapter. Sassi’s story is also one of ‘‘tragically thwarted love.’’ Her voice, too, creates the mythical structures that give the Sufi poets the medium to express G        G their own conflicts and differences with the social values of their time. Sassi becomes the symbol of strength against patriarchy. Her death in the desert is in fact her struggle to seek respite against social injustice. She tries to reclaim her love. In the Sufi lore she becomes a paradigm of moral courage and spiritual triumph.2 I have not found one standard version of the myth nor specific dates for it as the myths have evolved over the centuries and each Sufi poet creates a context around a loosely structured story that exists in the written or oral sources. According to the myth, Sassi is the daughter of the king of Bhambor in Sind. When she was born, the astrologers predicted that she would bring shame on her family. (A similar prophecy was made about Oedipus when he was born.) Sassi’s shocked father consulted with his advisers and they agreed that rather than kill her, they would put her on a raft to float down the river Indus. The raft arrived at a place called Bhambor where a washerman saw it and was surprised to see a living child on it. He brought the girl-child home to his wife, and since they did not have any children of their own, they adopted her and called her Sassi, which means the Moon.3 In other versions of the story the chief of Bhambor adopted her himself and when she grew up, he gave her state authority and made her a ruler. The latter seems a more probable version of the narrative because Sassi is said to have been a powerful ruler. Once, there was a famine in the neighboring state of Kec Mekran, and the people from that territory came to buy corn in her dominion. She allowed them to take the food on the condition that they bring their handsome prince, Punnu, to her. Punnu’s father was the chief of the Hot tribe. Sassi held two men from the Kec hostage until they brought Punnu back with them. Punnu came to Sassi with all the pomp and glory that befitted his royal standing. They became married, and he refused to return to his people. His father was so outraged that he sent his brothers to bring him back. Punnu’s tribesmen came and stayed in Sassi’s palace for several days, pretending to be very cordial with her and her tribe.The tribe held great festivities in honor of Punnu and his tribesmen. At one of these nocturnal banquets, Punnu’s brothers drugged Punnu and Sassi, and when they were both incapacitated, they stole Punnu...