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Medieval Mysticism Of India
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260 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1930
About the author
Kshitimohan Sen
18 books8 followersSen, Kshitimohan (1880-1960) educationist and writer, was born on 2 December 1880 in Benares, son of Bhubanmohan Sen, a physician whose ancestral home was in Vikrampur, Dhaka.
Kshitimohan completed his MA in Sanskrit from Calcutta University in 1902 and got the title of 'Shastri'. In 1907 he started working as Education Secretary on the Chambaraj estate. On rabindranath tagore's invitation, he joined the Santiniketan Brahmacharya Ashram in 1908 as principal. He also accompanied Rabindranath during his travels in India and China. From 1953-1954 he was a temporary vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati.
Kshitimohan was fluent in Sanskrit, Bangla, Hindi, English, Gujrati, Rajasthani, Arabic and Persian. He did extensive research on medieval ascetics, mendicants, and bauls. He was extremely conversant with the vedas, the upanisads, tantra and smriti . He was also adept in music and Ayurveda. In 1946, he delivered the 'Lila Speech' at Calcutta University. Amartya Sen, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, is his grandson.
Kshitimohan wrote several books, among them Kabir (1910-11), Bharatiya Madhyayuger Sadhanar Dhara (1930), Bharater Sangskrti (1943), Banglar Sadhana (1945), Yuga Guru Rammohan (1945), Jatibhed (1946), Banglar Baul (1947), Hindu Sangskrtir Svarup (1947), Bharater Hindu-Mussalman Yukta Sadhana (1949), Prachin Bharate Nari (1950), Chinmay Banga (1957), Rabindra-Prasabga (1961), Hinduism (1963), Medieval Mysticism of India (1936) etc. He also wrote books in Hindi and Gujrati.
Kshitimohan received the Rabindra Memorial Gold Medal (1942) and the first Deshikottam from Visva-Bharati, the Mahatma Gandhi Prize (1953) from Wardhar Hindi Language Publicity Society, the Murarka Prize (1953) from Hindi Literary Conference of Proyag and Sarojini Basu Gold Medal (1954) from Calcutta University. He died on 12 March 1960.
[Manas Majumdar]
Kshitimohan completed his MA in Sanskrit from Calcutta University in 1902 and got the title of 'Shastri'. In 1907 he started working as Education Secretary on the Chambaraj estate. On rabindranath tagore's invitation, he joined the Santiniketan Brahmacharya Ashram in 1908 as principal. He also accompanied Rabindranath during his travels in India and China. From 1953-1954 he was a temporary vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati.
Kshitimohan was fluent in Sanskrit, Bangla, Hindi, English, Gujrati, Rajasthani, Arabic and Persian. He did extensive research on medieval ascetics, mendicants, and bauls. He was extremely conversant with the vedas, the upanisads, tantra and smriti . He was also adept in music and Ayurveda. In 1946, he delivered the 'Lila Speech' at Calcutta University. Amartya Sen, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, is his grandson.
Kshitimohan wrote several books, among them Kabir (1910-11), Bharatiya Madhyayuger Sadhanar Dhara (1930), Bharater Sangskrti (1943), Banglar Sadhana (1945), Yuga Guru Rammohan (1945), Jatibhed (1946), Banglar Baul (1947), Hindu Sangskrtir Svarup (1947), Bharater Hindu-Mussalman Yukta Sadhana (1949), Prachin Bharate Nari (1950), Chinmay Banga (1957), Rabindra-Prasabga (1961), Hinduism (1963), Medieval Mysticism of India (1936) etc. He also wrote books in Hindi and Gujrati.
Kshitimohan received the Rabindra Memorial Gold Medal (1942) and the first Deshikottam from Visva-Bharati, the Mahatma Gandhi Prize (1953) from Wardhar Hindi Language Publicity Society, the Murarka Prize (1953) from Hindi Literary Conference of Proyag and Sarojini Basu Gold Medal (1954) from Calcutta University. He died on 12 March 1960.
[Manas Majumdar]
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May 11, 2022
A good overview of the medieval mystic tradition in India, exploring its roots, beliefs, and development across the centuries. There is an appendix at the end with some interesting essays on particular concepts. However, towards the middle it comes across more as a catalogue of names than a true exploration of the rich cultural atmosphere of medieval India. The two-line explanations of each mystic's beliefs also come across as very homogeneous. Both of these criticisms are nevertheless acknowledged by the author himself.
The introductory few pages on how the rapid changes in government influenced a spiritual rebirth in the first few centuries of the millenium; as well as the appendix on Dadu and the Bauls are very interesting. It is fascinating to see how so many mixed Islamic and Hindu customs without concern, catered to all castes, spoke in local languages instead of Sanskrit or Arabic, and spoke out against powerful hierarchies. Many of these great men denounced sectarianism in every form and held that all faiths were just the path to the same god. After their deaths however, many of their followers frequently established sects in their own right. Some denounced idolatry but most viewed it as a partial sighting of the Godhead.
India truly seems to have had a freedom of spiritual culture, with unorthodoxy being common. The Sufis, the Hindu mystics, non-sectarians like Kabir, Nanak and the Bauls; it is quite difficult to draw definite thick lines of separation between these, as with communities like the Hussaini Brahmins. The adoration of the pir or the guru, perhaps even a deification was common among both communities whether Khizr or Satyanarayan/Satyapir. Love was the driving force of much mystical endeavour in the sense of a union with God, whether in the sensual poems of the Vaishnavites or the elimination of the Sunni doctrine of khuda-bande in the Sufis. They share a common unconcern for the outward marks of religiosity and a dislike of orthodoxy. The Bauls even despise temples and refuse to step in to them. Some compelling quotes from these idealists rejecting sectarian idols are:
"O Bulla, there will be no liberation from a visit to Mecca until you drive away vanity from your heart. Nor will liberation come from bathing in the Ganges though you may have hundreds of plunges in its waters. Liberation will come only when egoism has been given up."
The appendix of Bauls, the wandering minstrels of Bengal and their cult of Man, 'There is nothing above man', was especially fascinating. The 'madcap' Bauls seem to have one of the healthiest ideals of spirituality I have come across- despising idols, sectarianism, asceticism, casteism, any hierarchizing; caring of both the body and the mind and devoted to Love above all. The body is a temple and they do not tend to ascetic excesses like certain other sects do. They mix elements of Vaishnavism and Sufism and of course their music still moves hearts all over Bengal. Another healthy aspect: while they appreciate the necessity of a guru to guide younger initiates, they retain a healthy scepticism of actual gurus, and refuse to surrender their independence. Even Sufis seem to have a strict hierarchy of Shaykh-disciple domination, which would be incomprehensible for the Bauls, who believe in a personal God ('moner manush', the man of my heart), the path to whom is open beyond the temple and the mosque, beyond the rosary or the mala, and beyond caste, creed and gender. Women are an integral part of their community.
"Where shall I meet him, the Man of my Heart?
He is lost to me and I seek him wandering from land to land.
I am listless for that moonrise of beauty,
which is to light my life,
which I long to see in the fullness of vision
in gladness of heart."
(from a Baul song, translated by Rabindranath Tagore)"
From Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti and Nizamuddin Auliya; Kabir, Dadu and Nanak and even to the modern day with Ramakrishna, this torrent of mystic love seems to have flowed strong. However, with the depredations of modernity, much of it seems to have passed or is passing away, and one wonders how much the Bauls and Sadhakas of today really live up to the ideals of yore. Nevertheless, this book was an interesting read, only let down by the long catalogue of names in the middle. It could also perhaps have benefited from a more sustained exposition of the general atmosphere rather than as a list of beliefs.
P.S. I was quite surprised how there was no mention of the sustained tradition of music in Indian mysticism viz. Qawwali! However, I guess the author's intent was to catalogue the vanishing aspects of mass spirituality, while classical music still continues as a strong tradition.
The introductory few pages on how the rapid changes in government influenced a spiritual rebirth in the first few centuries of the millenium; as well as the appendix on Dadu and the Bauls are very interesting. It is fascinating to see how so many mixed Islamic and Hindu customs without concern, catered to all castes, spoke in local languages instead of Sanskrit or Arabic, and spoke out against powerful hierarchies. Many of these great men denounced sectarianism in every form and held that all faiths were just the path to the same god. After their deaths however, many of their followers frequently established sects in their own right. Some denounced idolatry but most viewed it as a partial sighting of the Godhead.
India truly seems to have had a freedom of spiritual culture, with unorthodoxy being common. The Sufis, the Hindu mystics, non-sectarians like Kabir, Nanak and the Bauls; it is quite difficult to draw definite thick lines of separation between these, as with communities like the Hussaini Brahmins. The adoration of the pir or the guru, perhaps even a deification was common among both communities whether Khizr or Satyanarayan/Satyapir. Love was the driving force of much mystical endeavour in the sense of a union with God, whether in the sensual poems of the Vaishnavites or the elimination of the Sunni doctrine of khuda-bande in the Sufis. They share a common unconcern for the outward marks of religiosity and a dislike of orthodoxy. The Bauls even despise temples and refuse to step in to them. Some compelling quotes from these idealists rejecting sectarian idols are:
"O Bulla, there will be no liberation from a visit to Mecca until you drive away vanity from your heart. Nor will liberation come from bathing in the Ganges though you may have hundreds of plunges in its waters. Liberation will come only when egoism has been given up."
The appendix of Bauls, the wandering minstrels of Bengal and their cult of Man, 'There is nothing above man', was especially fascinating. The 'madcap' Bauls seem to have one of the healthiest ideals of spirituality I have come across- despising idols, sectarianism, asceticism, casteism, any hierarchizing; caring of both the body and the mind and devoted to Love above all. The body is a temple and they do not tend to ascetic excesses like certain other sects do. They mix elements of Vaishnavism and Sufism and of course their music still moves hearts all over Bengal. Another healthy aspect: while they appreciate the necessity of a guru to guide younger initiates, they retain a healthy scepticism of actual gurus, and refuse to surrender their independence. Even Sufis seem to have a strict hierarchy of Shaykh-disciple domination, which would be incomprehensible for the Bauls, who believe in a personal God ('moner manush', the man of my heart), the path to whom is open beyond the temple and the mosque, beyond the rosary or the mala, and beyond caste, creed and gender. Women are an integral part of their community.
"Where shall I meet him, the Man of my Heart?
He is lost to me and I seek him wandering from land to land.
I am listless for that moonrise of beauty,
which is to light my life,
which I long to see in the fullness of vision
in gladness of heart."
(from a Baul song, translated by Rabindranath Tagore)"
From Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti and Nizamuddin Auliya; Kabir, Dadu and Nanak and even to the modern day with Ramakrishna, this torrent of mystic love seems to have flowed strong. However, with the depredations of modernity, much of it seems to have passed or is passing away, and one wonders how much the Bauls and Sadhakas of today really live up to the ideals of yore. Nevertheless, this book was an interesting read, only let down by the long catalogue of names in the middle. It could also perhaps have benefited from a more sustained exposition of the general atmosphere rather than as a list of beliefs.
P.S. I was quite surprised how there was no mention of the sustained tradition of music in Indian mysticism viz. Qawwali! However, I guess the author's intent was to catalogue the vanishing aspects of mass spirituality, while classical music still continues as a strong tradition.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review