Paper short abstract

The paper will present a survey of representative examples of historical and imaginary encounters between Sufi saints and court musicians from the time of Shaikh Nizamuddin and Amir Khusrau (13th-14th c.) onwards, as documented by Indo-Persian and vernacular chronicles, hagiographies and song texts.

Paper long abstract

The paper will present a survey of representative examples of historical and imaginary encounters between Sufi saints and court musicians from the time of Shaikh Nizamuddin and Amir Khusrau (13th-14th c.) onwards. Two case-studies from the 16th-17th centuries documented by Indo-Persian and vernacular chronicles, hagiographies and song texts will exemplify the contribution of such encounters to Indo-Persian cultural history.

The appropriation of legendary court poet-composers by hereditary musicians invite scholars to be extremely 'careful' in their assessment and interpretation of documents selected from a wide range of written and iconographic sources and later representations. Research based on medieval and pre-modern sources may be contradictory to the oral transmission of musicians and raise sensitive ideological issues, that are worthy of being discussed with the panel participants and the audience.