Adaptation of Indian Mysticism in Persian Sufi Text of Rushd-Nāma of ‘Abd al-Quddūs Gāngohī (d. 1537)

‘Abd al-Quddūs Gāngohī, a pivotal Ṣābirī Sufi of late fifteenth and early sixteenth century North India is the author of valuable Persian texts in the field of Sufism, best known for his endorsement of the doctrine of unity of being (waḥdat al-wujūd). Originated in the philosophical mysticism of the Andalusian Sufi Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 1240), this doctrine formed a major theme for a variety of Persian Sufi texts produced in India, including Rushd-Nāma of ‘Abd al-Quddūs, and paves the way for interactions between Islamic and Indian mystical traditions. Being a treatise on mystical unity, Rushd-Nāma aims to instruct the spiritual seeker (tālib) to the extent that he becomes able to enter the spiritual state of unity. The educational goal of the text is propounded through ornate Persian prose interspersed with Persian and Hindi verses.

Rushd-Nāma was written around 1480 in Rūdāwlī, during an era when interactions between Sufism and indigenous forms of Indian mysticism, particularly Yoga, had gained considerable status. In this treatise, the author consults non-Muslim Indian mystical heritage to support his Sufi instructions for acquiring the knowledge of spiritual unity. It consists of 150 Hindi couplets including ‘Abd al-Quddūs’ own verses and those of some of his masters, and these couplets alongside with Sufi instructions proposed in the text in prose manifest the writer’s endeavor to use techniques and concepts from both Hatha Yoga and Sufism in the way of mystical advancement. This paper examines how this treatise forms a ground for Indian-Muslim hybrid mysticism through accommodation and adaptation of ideas and practices related to Indian Mysticism and Yoga, while fitting them into a Sufi theological framework.