Pirana in chains
A Gujarat village that follows a Sufi-inspired faith, a blend of Islam and Hinduism, is in danger of being swamped by Hindu fundamentalism.
Dionne Bunsha
In Pirana
Pir Imam Shah Bawa’s devotees are chained at the feet. Then, they close their eyes and pray fervently while walking towards the Sufi saint’s tomb, the Hajrat Pir Imam Shah Bawa Roza in Pirana village, outside Ahmedabad. If the chain disentangles in the first few steps, it means that your prayer will be granted soon. If not, it’s a sign that it will take some time.
Today, the Pir’s followers are entangled in a dispute that could threaten the existence of their faith. Pirana’s residents still follow Imam Shah Bawa’s teachings of love and harmony, a Sufi-inspired amalgam of both Islam and Hinduism. But powerful religious heads close to the Sangh Parivar are trying to communalise their belief, reducing it to little more than a sect of Hinduism. In the heat of the conflict, the Quran hand-written by the Pir, which used to lie near his tomb, mysteriously disappeared. It’s called the ‘mini-Ayodhya’.
Pir Imam Shah Bawa founded the Satpanth (meaning: ‘true path’) faith around 600 years back. He taught tolerance and the universality of all religions. The sect is an offshoot of Ismaili teachings, a liberal branch of Shiite Islam followed by the Aga Khani Khojas. It is a blend of both Hinduism and Islam and attracted devotees from other religions.
All 18 communities living in Pirana, from different castes and religions, are devotees of Imam Shah Bawa. The shrine also attracts followers from different parts of India. Hindu followers, called ‘Satpanthis’, comprise 85% of the sect. Many are not from Pirana village. Several are from the Kutchi Patel community. Muslim followers, called ‘Saiyeds’, are considered to be the saint’s direct descendents. Devotees did not define themselves as Hindu or Muslim until they were forced to do so by the British census in the mid-19th century. The pressure of Islamic reforms and the rise of Hindu revivalist groups also made them adopt clearly defined religious identities.
After the death of the saint, a shrine was built over Imam Shah Bawa’s tomb in Pirana. Within the complex, they also built a Dholia where he used to sleep, a mosque and a graveyard. Till 1931, the durgah complex was private property belonging to the Saiyeds, and was administrated by the head of the Satpanthis called ‘Kaka’, according to Dominique Sila-Khan who has done research on the sect. Some Satpanthis filed a case against the then Kaka Ramji Laxman (also a Patel) for misusing funds. The court ordered that a public trust be set up to manage the property. The committee was to consist of seven Satpanthi and three Saiyed representatives elected every five years. But elections haven’t been held for the last 15 years.
A conflict between the Satpanthis and the Saiyeds emerged when the last religious leader Karsan Das Kaka tried to Hinduise the belief. The dispute has resulted in a spate of legal battles. In the late 1980s, the Kaka made several changes to the literature, rituals and prayers, removing any hint of an Islamic influence. When I visited the shrine, the guide appointed by the trust made it a point to keep telling me, “This is a Hindu samadhi mandir. It has no connection with Islam.”
“Our prayers had words like Om as well as Rehman and Rahim. The shrine administration have taken out the Islamic words. They are destroying the meaning of the philosophy,” said Bharat Patel, a carpenter who lives in Pirana. He is also a Satpanthi, but resents the hijacking of the sect by a few powerful Kutchi Patels. “They are like a gang. It’s become very political. The VHP, Bajrang Dal and the police are with them. Anyone who questions them is taken to the police station. There is no meaning to the Satpant anymore. It has become very casteist. In the gurukul, they only look after the children of Kutchi Patels, not others. I used to go to the shrine everyday. But since they have destroyed it all, I don’t go there. We don’t get any respect.”
In the post-Babri Masjid demolition fervour, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad allied with Karsan Kaka and shrine trustees to arrange a huge Sadhu Sammelan inside the durgah complex in 1993. They pledged to ‘re-convert’ to Hinduism and change the shrine into a temple.
The durgah was re-named ‘Prerna Pith’ or ‘samadhi mandir’. The Kaka discarded his old title and re-appointed himself ‘Maharaj’ and ‘Acharya’. The trust cut off water and electricity supply to the masjid, saying that it was not part of the durgah complex. The Om symbol was painted all over the shrine. The Dholia where Imam Shah Bawa used to sleep was renovated with pictures of Hindu gods.
The 2002 communal violence further emboldened the VHP. Led by Babu Bajrangi, an accused in the Naroda Patiya massacre (the worst mass murder in Gujarat), they stopped the traditional Tazia procession from the masjid to the durgah on Moharram in Jan 2003. Both Hindu and Muslim devotees participate in this procession. A barbed wire fence was built separating the masjid from the durgah. Two entrances to the durgah were sealed off. 
“In our village, there is no discrimination. Only they are creating it within the shrine,” said Chandrakant Patel, a Pirana resident from the Kutchi Patel community. “We used to pray at both the masjid and the durgah. After they put up the fence, it has become difficult to walk across and pray in both. They blocked the route of the Tazia procession. Both Hindus and Muslims haven’t done Tazia for two years. They are doing this to harass us. They want to cut off the Saiyeds totally and gain full control.”
Two Qurans placed near the Pir’s tomb mysteriously disappeared. One of them was handwritten by Imam Shah Bawa. Other Islamic books lying near the tomb were also removed. A wooden box with silver used during the Moharram procession also disappeared. Framed copies of a farman, a document from King Aurangzeb donating 45 acres of land and money to the trust also vanished. The original copy of this document is written on a silver plate which is in the trust’s possession. The 50-year-old tomb of Saiyed Taskdukhusain, a trustee, located just 20 feet from the durgah, was demolished. There is no sign of its existence.
Ironically, Saiyeds in Pirana who filed a case against the disappearance of these historic treasures were arrested for looting and sent to Sabarmati Central Jail. What did they supposedly loot? Prasad from the temple – jaggery, sugar, coconuts. Everyday, prasad from the durgah is supposed to be given to the Saiyeds. It is an old custom. But in 1998, the administration stopped the practice, in a move to further isolate the Saiyeds. After an argument, they got the Saiyeds arrested for armed robbery.
When I met the present religious head, known as Nanakdas Kaka, who calls himself Guru Maharaj Jagatguru Satpant Acharya, he denied that the missing documents or monuments ever existed. He said that the Satpanthi faith was a ‘Vedic religion’, which had followers from various communities, including Muslim. When I asked him whether the shrine was a durgah or a mandir, he said, “Muslim followers call it durgah. It’s a difference in language. But all donations are given by Hindus, not Muslims.”
The durgah administration is adamant on discarding its 600-year-old historian. But many devotees won’t let them forget the past. The chains now binding Imam Shah Bawa’s devotee’s are man-made. It would take a miracle to free them.
Frontline, Aug. 28 - Sep. 10, 2004 Also available here
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