Roundabout: The temple and the mosque as seen by poets, lovers and wise minds

Love, hope and concern for humanity at large are at the very core of literature, across languages and cultures. There is no room for hate in literature for if that emotion was to seep in then, it would cease to be literature and turn into pamphleteering or propaganda. The saint-poet Kabir puts forward the ultimate truth of human existence in his famous bhajan, which is the prized hymn of Guru Granth Sahib. He says: “Awwal Allah Noor Upaya Qudrat Keh Sub Bande, Aik Noor Keh Sab Jag Upajiya Kaun Bhale Ko Mande”. In these two lines lies the oneness of all human existence and no one can be termed good or bad.

Yet, communal discord has been the reality the world over and also so in the turbulent history of South Asia, a region that has seen a multicultural history of different religions. The landscape has been dotted with temples, mosques, monasteries and more. This is the land that witnessed many invasions, subjugation, many prejudices, the bloodiest of divides in 1947 and as author VS Naipaul put it “A Million Mutinies Now”.

But talking of the role of the litterateurs across borders, the effort was to put balms on wounds, lay open the truth of warring communities, confess the excesses and nurture hope for a more peaceful existence worldwide.

Writing on the theme of religious coexistence, what comes to mind is the story by Premchand, the progressive Indian storyteller, who wrote in Urdu and Hindi in pre-Partition India. Many of his stories were based on communal discord and its amicable solution. The two finest in this genre were “Panch Parmeshwar (God Lives in the Panch)” and “Mandir Aur Masjid (The Temple and the Mosque)”. Mercifully, these are still a part of school curriculums in India. Talking of the latter, it is a classic story that tells of the importance of religious places and the need for tolerance to settle disputes amicably.

Search for one God

One of the most valuable happenings of mediaeval India is the coming together of two enlightened souls. They were Guru Arjun Dev, the fifth Guru of the Sikhs, and Hazrat Mian Mir, the Sufi saint of the Qadri order in Lahore.

Mir was a highly respected Sufi who was in touch with the fourth Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Ram Das, father of Guru Arjun Dev. The latter went to visit Mian Mir in Lahore and then began a long association in search of one God.

It is believed that Guru Arjun Dev requested Mian Mir to lay the foundation of Sikh shrine of Guru Harmandir Sahib (The Golden Temple) in Amritsar. He was thirteen years older to the Guru, but their camaraderie was well known. Dara Shikoh, son of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, is said to have led the funeral procession of the Saint who passed away in his mid-eighties in Lahore on August 11, 1635.

Sahir’s songs of oneness

It was Sahir’s, the boy rusticated from the Government College Ludhiana, who later became the pride of the institution. He brought his poetry on communal amity into the popular culture of Bollywood songs.

Interestingly, Sahir had migrated to Pakistan in 1947, but he returned after a short stay and went on to become the leading lyricist of Indian cinema. His songs of the 1950s and the 1960s passionately challenged communal forces and killings. In “Dhool Ka Phool” (1959), he wrote one of his best inspirational songs addressed to a child: “Tu Hindu banega na Musalmaan banega, Insan ki aulad hai Insaan banega (You will grow up to be neither Hindu nor Muslim, born to humans you will grow up humane)”. In the 1961 film made by the Chopra brothers, he wrote the song of firm condemnation of Partition killings: “Yeh kiska khoon hai, kaun mara? (Whose blood is this, Who has been killed)”. The same film had a qawali by him on the inclusive culture: “Kaabe mein raho ya Kaashi mein, Nisbat to usi ki zaat se hai (Live in Kaba or in Kashi, you are relating to one God)”.

Sahir’s anti-war bhajan for 1961 “Allah tero naam, Ishwar tero naam (Allah is God’s name and so is Ishwar)” is one of the gems of devotional music on screen.

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