Paper short abstract:

The paper aims to examine the concept of ‘space’ and ethical experience from a sufi perspective and analyze its impact on Delhi as an urban landscape.It seeks to discover the dynamics of this legacy in the spiritual as well as the temporal sphere. The paper examines the impact of Sufi ethical experience in redefining aesthetically conceived territoriality and in reinventing collective identities of pre-colonial and colonial Delhi .

Paper long abstract:

The paper examines the sufi sense of relating 'space' with ethical experience and its translation into aesthetically conceived territory or wilayat.A study of the historical evolution of Delhi's physical space reveals significant linkages with its growth as an important sufi centre.The presence of three leading chishti saints in Delhi,viz: Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya and Nasiruddin Chirag Dehli established its position on the sacred geography of South Asian Islam. However this presence was not exclusively 'muslim space'. The paper examines the impact of Sufi ethical experience in redefining aesthetically conceived territoriality and in reinventing collective identities. Sufi presence in Delhi was marked by infusion of culture and ideas, which can best be understood as a regrouping of sub-cultures .This distinct pluralistic kaleidoscopic culture also infused the sufi concept of wilayat . Rooted in social realism the 'secular' inclusivity of this sufi urban culture pervaded the popular psyche thus imparting it a socially constructed legitimacy and psychologically accepted right to power. The paper examines its impact on the concept of 'power' and 'legitimacy' as evident in the morphological setting of Delhi's space. The paper will also explore the effect of the British colonial restructuring of the 'power' equation of Delhi as defined by the perceptions of 'space', of 'legitimacy' and of 'power'. Tearing away of this deeper 'space-fabric', and its effect on Delhi's socio-religious pluralism as defined by the aesthetics of 'space', will be analyzed.