englishcircle - Analysis: Unit 1

The Mad Lover by Sisir Kumar Das : General Idea of the Essay

In the essay “The Mad Lover” written by Dr. Sisir Kumar Das, the term ‘mad lover’ is not used in any negative sense. Instead this term is used in a positive, religious context for the devotee who longs for union with God. It is the intensity of his love for God that makes the devotee forget his own self and desire deeply for union with God. The devotee is considered as a lover while God is the beloved. The devotee becomes ecstatic in his love of God. In this ecstasy he wants to merge his identity in God. As this ecstasy is similar to madness so the devotee becomes ‘The Mad Lover’. This concept of ‘mad lover’ is common in both Bhakti Movement as well as in Sufism.

The concept of the mad lover in religious poetry came in the middle ages. It was the outcome of the Bhakti Movement in India and that of Sufism in the Middle East. The concept is quite new since the image of a devotee is of a calm , self-restrained sage sitting under a tree and lost in meditation. The concept of God also changed. Instead of a distant, transcendent and immanent reality, God began to be seen sometimes as a child and sometimes as a friend, but more often as a lover longing to meet his beloved.

This is clear from the way many saints and poets of the Bhakti Movement approach God. Radha and Mirabai considered themselves the brides of Lord Krishna. Some women saints in Tamil Nadu described themselves wives of Lord Shiva. Even sober male saints like Kabir declare himself “mad” in love of God.

A similar movement began in the Middle East in Islam at almost the same time. Like the Bhakti Movement , Sufism was a protest of the common man against the orthodoxy and rigidity of Quranic Law. Though both the movements began separately, they had much in common. The main features of Sufism are the concept of God as love, approach to God through love, dependence on God’s mercy and the idea of approaching God by loudly chanting His name with gestures. Dance and music and poetry become an expression of ecstatic love of the devotee in the religious poetry of these times. Due to common features Sufism was easily accepted in India as the same as Bhakti Movement.

The impact of the concepts of Bhakti and Sufi Movements can be seen in the religious poetry of the times. Poets picked up traditional stories of love such as Heer-Ranjha, Sohni-Mahiwal and Sassi-Punnu and presented them as variations of Radha-Krishan or Meera-Krishna stories of spiritual love. The idea of separation of the human soul from God developed into a love symbolism in which the soul ‘the female’ or ‘the feminine’ assumed the image of ‘the mad lover’ and the male represents God. Sometimes, there is also role reversal in this relationship. This separation is considered divine and it provides intensity of lyricism to Indian religious poetry.

Critical Summary of Kafi-7 by Bulleh Shah

Baba Bulleh Shah is considered the most remarkable Muslim Sufi poet, scholar, philosopher and humanist. He was not only a poet but also a great Sufi saint of the eighteenth century. Being a Sufi himself, he tries to project the doctrines of Sufism in his poems. The principal doctrine of Sufism is the merger of his identity by the devotee in God. Sufi saints, like many saints of Indian Bhakti movement, believe in the surrendering of self and union of soul with God. Kafi-7 of Bulleh Shah projects this doctrine and the poet gives his own example where he has become one with God and so feels His characteristics.

Bulleh Shah says that he is not a believer who goes to a mosque to recite the name of God. Nor is he a non-believer or atheist who denies the existence of God and follows his own wicked ways. He does not consider himself pure or impure, clean or unclean. He is not Moses who guides Israelites away from Egypt to Jerusalem. Nor is he an Egyptian Pharaoh of ancient times. Bulleh Shah says that his problem is that he has no knowledge of his own existence. He says that he even does not contain the four universal elements of nature-the earth, fire, water and air. Bulleh Shah does not adopt the ways of penance or ways of the wanderers making pilgrimages from one place to another. He does not think like them.

Further, Bulleh Shah says that he was there at the beginning when God created the universe. Also, he would be there when the world will dissolve into its elements. He adopts the attributes of God and being a Sufi, a mad lover, has merged his identity in God and has become one with God. This is the great secret that he knows and it has made him wiser than all those who try to reach God by other means. Sufis believe that God is love and it is only through love that God can be obtained.

Theme/Critical Summary/Main Idea of the "Vachana"

Mahadeviyakka was a famous twelfth century poetess from Karnataka. She was a leading poetess of Virasaivism, a branch of Saivite Hindu Religious movement. She was a mystic also. Her writings are in the form of Vachana (vcn), a kind of prose poem that has a rhythmic structure. Her Vachanas are highly personal, poetical and imaginative expressions of her mystical experiences and spiritual insights. She is both a poet and a saint. Like other proponents of the Bhakti Movement she believed that the best way to approach God was through love. Like Mirabai, Mahadeviyakka considers herself wedded to God or specifically to Shiva.

Using the conversational form, the speaker in this poem tells her mother that she will not accept any man as her husband. She can love only God with all His attributes. Her God is the “Handsome One”. He is free from death and decay. He has no form, place or side. He has no beginning, birth and birthmarks. He is the “Beautiful One”. He is infinite and fearless. He does not belong to any tribe or country. His beauty has no comparison or particular landmark. Her husband is white as jasmine. The speaker (Mahadeviyakka) is not interested in any worldly mortal husbands because these earthly husbands decay and die so she asks her mother to put all these earthly men into the kitchen fire. It simply tells us about the mortality of human beings. But her husband God (Shiva) is free from these human weaknesses.

The Bhakti movement was a kind of protest against the orthodoxy of the Brahmanical system. Mahadeviyakka, like other women poets and saints of Bhakti Movement and Sufism considers God as her lover and husband. However, the God or beloved of Mahadeviyakka is “formless” whereas in the case of Mirabai the God appears in human shape. The other attributes associated with her God indicate the same formlessness.

Sample Paragraph from the poem:

I love the Handsome One;

He has no death

Decay nor form

No place or side

No end, nor birthmarks,

I love him, O mother! Listen.

Reference to the context: These lines have been taken from the poem ‘Vachana’. This Vachana has been written by Mahadeviyakka.She is both a poet and a saint. Like other proponents of the Bhakti Movement she believed that the best way to approach God was through love. Like Mirabai, Mahadeviyakka considers herself wedded to God or specifically to Shiva.

Explanation: The poet tells her mother that she loves the Handsome One. He has no death, decay or form. God has no place or side or end. God has no birthmarks. She further tells her mother to listen that she loves Him.

Critical Comments: Using the conversational form, the speaker in this poem tells her mother that she will not accept any man as her husband. She can love only God with all His attributes. Her God is the “Handsome One”. He is free from death and decay. He has no form, place or side. He has no beginning, birth and birthmarks. Mahadeviyakka, like other women poets and saints of Bhakti Movement and Sufism considers God as her lover and husband. However, the God or beloved of Mahadeviyakka is “formless” whereas in the case of Mirabai the God appears in human shape.

Main Idea/Summary/Theme of "Baul Song"

This Baul song is anonymous. It is so as it belongs to the oral tradition and passed on from generation to generation of mendicant singers of Baul people. The anonymous poet of the “Baul Song” has profound faith in God. He uses the traditional comparison of the boat for himself and of the boatman for God. Also he uses the image of the sea for God. He believes that his boat or body is in the hands of God, so, it really does not matter if he reaches the shore or sinks in the sea. The poet feels that he should not be afraid or be foolish and should not complain because if he sinks he will merge with God himself and so will be more fortunate than reaching the shore. The poet expresses his profound belief in God and, like the poets of Bhakti Movement and Sufism, wants to merge his identity in God.

The poet further says that God Himself is the safest place of rest for him and so the sea can not harm him. Even if the sea is stormy and tosses the boat over surging waves, he should not be afraid. On the contrary he feels satisfied that he will live in God in whatever form He may appear. The poet only wants to be in the hands of God and requests Him to never leave him. The post has surrendered himself completely to the will of God. He says that he does not care anymore if God saves him or kills him rather he is happy the way God will keep him. So the poet has a strong desire to merge his self in God.

This Baul song sums up in a nutshell one of the principal doctrines of the Bhakti Movement and Sufism; the doctrine that God can be achieved only through complete surrender of the self by the devotee. The basic idea is of love and surrender of identity. God can be reached only through love and complete surrender. It is the main idea of this poem.

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