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Accepted Paper:

Encounters between Sufis and Yogis in the Sufi hagiography of the Deccan: a preliminary analysis  
Mauro Valdinoci (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)

Paper short abstract:

By analyzing two narratives of encounters between Sufis and Yogis in an anthology of Sufi saints’ lives of the 19th century, this paper aims to explore how the author reproduces the dynamics of exchange between these religious figures and how he views and portrays Yogis and their spiritual powers.

Paper long abstract:

It has been pointed out that Sufi hagiographies contain much of the historical evidence for the interaction of Sufis and Yogis and that such material definitely reflects the Sufi point of view (Ernst 2005: 33). Attempts to analyze accounts of encounters between Sufis and Yogis have been made since the 1970s (Digby 1970, Rizvi 1970), these studies have highlighted significant features of these tales, however they rely mostly on sources produced in Northern India and dating to the Delhi Sultanate period. This research intends to enrich this field of studies by focusing on a more recent text, written in the Deccan in the 19th century. What local sources tell us about Sufis-Yogis interaction in the Deccan? Are the key issues and typologies put forward by previous studies valid also in this context? This paper is based on an anthology of Sufi saints' lives named Mishkat al-nubuwwat, written by Sayyid Shah Ghulam 'Ali Qadiri (d. 1842) of Hyderabad. By focusing on two tales of encounters between Sufis and Yogis, it aims to explore how the author reproduces the dynamics of exchange between them. A further aim of the paper is to show how this author viewed and portrayed Yogis and their spiritual powers. There seems to be a continuity between the stories included in the medieval biographies and those related in the aforementioned text. The depiction of the Yogi acknowledging the superior spiritual power of the Sufi is a striking common element both in older and in more recent hagiography.

Panel P23
Yogis, sufis, devotees: religious/literary encounters in pre-modern and modern South Asia
  Session 1