History of Science in South Asia

A journal for the history of all forms of scientific thought and action, ancient and modern, in all regions of South Asia

Special issue:
Transmutations: Rejuvenation, Longevity, and
Immortality Practices in South and Inner Asia
Edited by Dagmar Wujastyk, Suzanne Newcombe,
and Christèle Barois

The Flame and the Breeze: Life and Longevity

Practices in Three Bengali Sufi Texts from the
Long Seventeenth Century

Projit Bihari Mukharji

University of Pennsylvania

MLA style citation form: Projit Bihari Mukharji. “The Flame and the Breeze: Life and Longevity Practices
in Three Bengali Sufi Texts from the Long Seventeenth Century.” History of Science in South Asia, 5.2 (2017):
234–264. doi: 10.18732/hssa.v5i2.30.
Online version available at: http://hssa-journal.org
HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN SOUTH ASIA
A journal for the history of all forms of scientific thought and action, ancient and modern, in all
regions of South Asia, published online at http://hssa-journal.org

ISSN 2369-775X

Editorial Board:

• Dominik Wujastyk, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

• Kim Plofker, Union College, Schenectady, United States
• Dhruv Raina, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
• Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma, formerly Aligarh Muslim University, Düsseldorf, Germany
• Fabrizio Speziale, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – CNRS, Paris, France
• Michio Yano, Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto, Japan

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History of Science in South Asia
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 The Flame and the Breeze: Life and Longevity
Practices in Three Bengali Sufi Texts from the
Long Seventeenth Century
Projit Bihari Mukharji
University of Pennsylvania

traddling the artificial boundary between South and South East Asia
S from 1430 to 1784 there existed a powerful, multicultural kingdom called
Roshang.1 Its Buddhist kings directly and indirectly patronized generations
of Muslim Bengali scholars. Many of these scholars were deeply interested in
braiding together Islamic and Indic traditions of spiritual praxis. A crucial part
of these spiritual praxes were longevity practices that were tied up with ritual
performance. Drawing variously from tantric, Sufi, Nāth and yogic traditions,
these authors created a new set of Islamic yogic longevity practices.2
These texts unfortunately remain woefully understudied. The little schol-
arship that does exist on the matter is overwhelmingly in Bengali.3 Moreover,
scholarly accounts of this literature have been almost entirely focused on the
theological and literary dimensions of the texts.4 Yet, as France Bhattacharya
points out, “A l’époque, les Soufis comme les yogis étaient aussi crédités de savoirs
d’ordre plus ‘mondains’”.5 Naturally, therefore, the texts produced by Bengali Sufis
contain a wealth of information about topics such as the mysteries of concep-
tion, birth and death, general cosmology and what may be called “long-life” or
“longevity practices.”
Long-life or longevity practices are a set of practices found across South Asia
and beyond. As Geoffrey Samuel points out, many of these practices seem to be

1 Today historians generally refer to the 3 The best-known and most detailed work
kingdom either as the “Arakan kingdom or remains Huq 1993.
the “Mrauk-U kingdom.” The Bengali au- 4 See, for instance, Hatley 2007; D’Hubert
thors who lived and wrote there, however, 2014.
almost always called it Roshang and so I 5 “At the time, Sufis and yogis were also
shall stick to their name in this article. See, credited with more “mundane” powers,”
for instance, Huq 1993. Bhattacharya 2003: 69.
2 See, for instance, Bhattacharya 2003.

history of science in south asia 5.2 (2017) 234–264

 projit bihari mukharji 235

connected in one way or another with Indian tantric techniques.6 In this regard,
it is also worth noting that the ideal of the jīvanmukta, pursued by Nāth Siddhas,
entailed much that was akin to life prolongation practices.
According to the Nāth philosophy the state of jīvanmukti is the ideal
… The Nāths say that the body in which the supreme wisdom has
been received (parampadprāpti) must be kept disease-free (ajara), im-
mortal (amara) and capable to travelling wherever they please….7
As a result, the Nāths discuss longevity and immortality at great length, includ-
ing actual techniques for achieving these ends.8 But the relationship of the Nāth
traditions with tantrism and Sanskrit culture, not to mention between its own
various regional variants, remain very ill-understood to date.9
Much of the extant scholarship on such longevity practices has been focused
specifically on Buddhist practices.10 Dagmar Wujastyk and Lawrence Cohen,
however, have studied longevity practices, and particularly longevity tonics, as
components of Indian medicine.11 Some of the emergent work on the histor-
ies of yoga has also discussed longevity practices in passing.12 Islamic longevity
practices too have recently begun receiving some attention. Y. Tzvi Langerman
for instance, has discussed rasāyana in an eighteenth-century Shi’ite text, whilst
Fabrizio Speziale has discussed a fascinating Indo-Persian alchemical treatise at-
tributed to the thirteenth-century saint Hamid al Din Nagawri and others.13
In the present paper I wish to add to this discussion by focusing on three
Bengali Islamic texts produced in the kingdom of Roshang in the period between
the late sixteenth century and the early eighteenth century. These three texts are
complex, lengthy works that cover a number of different topics. So it is best to
clarify at the very outset that I do not intend to study them as a whole. My
interest is mainly in their discussions of life and longevity practices. I want to
compare how each of these texts conceptualize the entity called “life” and what
kind of practices they recommend for prolonging life.
The paper is divided into seven principal sections. Section one introduces the
three texts I will be discussing, giving brief outlines of their content, provenance

6 Samuel 2012: 264. Asia, which I find problematic for a tradi-

7 Mallik 1986: 292. tion as diverse, plural and widespread as
8 Mallik 1986: 310–19. the Nāth and tantric traditions, see White
9 For Bengal see Mallik 1986. For accounts 1996.
of the Nāth tradition more generally see 10 Gerke 2012; Samuel 2012.
Lorenzen and Munoz 2011. On Nāth texts 11 Wujastyk 2015, 2017: (in this volume);
see Bouy 1994. For an effort to work out Cohen 1998.
a single, coherent and linear chronology 12 Mallinson and Singleton 2017.
for Nāth and tantric traditions across South 13 Speziale 2006; Langermann 2018.

history of science in south asia 5.2 (2017) 234–264

236 the flame and the breeze

and some general introduction to the available scholarship on these texts. Section
two will then provide a general historical context of the kingdom of Roshang
and its fascinating polycultural political order. Sections three, four and five will
respectively describe the longevity practices discussed in each of the three texts.
The sixth section then explores the way “life” and “longevity” are conceptualized
in these texts in general. Finally, the seventh section locates these texts within the
material culture in which they were produced and suggests that the images of
life and longevity reflect the actual material culture of the times.

1 . T H E T H R EE T E X T S

he three texts I will be discussing here are, respectively, an anonymous work

T called Joga Kalandara/Yoga Kalandar, a text entitled Nurjāmāl bā Suratnāmā by
Haji Muhammad and finally, the Sirnāmā by Kaji Sheikh Monsur. My reason for
choosing these three works is that each of them uses certain strikingly similar
metaphors and images, suggesting that they participated in a common tradi-
tion. Of course, such participation might have meant direct knowledge of earlier
works by later authors or affiliation or acquaintance with a common oral tradi-
tion.
The Joga Kalandara is generally held to be the oldest of the three texts, though
its own history is a matter of some dispute. Ahmed Sharif, who had collected,
collated and published all these texts, argued that the text derived from a Persian
original written by Shaffaruddin Bu Ali Kalandar (d. 1324) who is buried in Pan-
ipat in north India and is credited with several Persian works in a similar vein.
The lack of a colophon, as was customary at the time, suggests, however, that
the text circulated orally for some time before it was finally committed to writ-
ing. Sharif’s uncle, Abdul Karim Shahityavisharad, who first discovered many
of these Bengali texts in manuscript form in the early twentieth century, found
nearly three hundred manuscript copies of the Joga Kalandara in the south-eastern
corner of Bengal, i.e., in Chittagong. Another Bengali scholar, Enamul Huq,
however, disagreed with Sharif and argued that the author of the Bengali Joga
Kalandara was one Saiyid Murtuza in the seventeenth century (Huq 1993). Huq
identified his author as one who lived in the western Bengali city of Murshidabad
and wrote poems influenced by Vaishnavite devotees of Krishna. However, Huq
failed to explain why the manuscripts of the work are concentrated in the Chit-
tagong area if the author had actually lived in Murshidabad. The two cities were
not only geographically distant, but also politically part of different kingdoms
at the time. To complicate matters further, when France Bhattacharya chose to
translate the Bengali Joga Kalandara into French, she found there were significant
discrepancies between the manuscript versions used by Sharif and Huq. All this
tends to confirm that the Joga Kalandara existed as an oral text in the region and

history of science in south asia 5.2 (2017) 234–264

 projit bihari mukharji 237

that the manuscripts probably drew variously and independently upon that oral
tradition. This also makes dating the text difficult. Yet, given its popularity, it is
probably not unfair to assume that it is the oldest of the three texts that deploy
similar phrases and images, in other words that the Joga Kalandara is the source
of these images.
We are on firmer grounds with the Nurjāmāl ba Suratnāmā. Ahmed Sharif,
who edited and published the Nurjāmāl, cited circumstantial evidence such
as poet Mir Muhammad Shafi’s reference to his own discipleship to one
Haji Muhammad as the basis for estimating Haji Muhammad to have lived
approximately between 1565 and 1630. Sharif also estimated that the Nurjāmāl
was written in the 1590s.14 The surviving manuscripts of the text were all found
in Chittagong and clearly evinced the text’s connections to the Arakanese court.
A copyist with a distinctly Arakanese-sounding name, viz. “Mongarpong”, had
produced the manuscript upon which Sharif based his published version.15 In
any case, if the dating of the text is correct and it was in fact written in 1590, then
Chittagong itself would have been part of the Roshang kingdom at the time.
Sharif and Huq, however, disagree once again upon the identity of the Nurjāmāl
ba Suratnāmā. Huq was of the opinion that the Nurjāmāl and the Suratnāmā were
in fact two distinct texts, rather than two alternate names for the same text.
The Nurjāmāl (“Divine Light”) is part of a medieval Bengali textual tradition
of writings on “divine illumination.” Razia Sultana mentions the existence
of at least five known Nurnamas by five different authors, excluding Haji
Muhammad’s work. The best-known of these Nurnamas was a seventeenth-
century iteration by Abdul Hakim, whilst other authors included Sheikh Paran
(1550–1615), Mir Muhammad Shafi (1559–1630) and even one by the brahmin
author Dwija Ramtanu.16 Recently, Ayesha Irani has explored the theological
and ontological evolution of what she terms the “prophetic principle of light and
love” in the hands of Bengali authors in splendid detail.17 Despite the volume,
diversity and complexity of this tradition, many scholars have recognized Haji
Muhammad’s work as being particularly significant. Thus, Sharif, for instance,
wrote that,

no other author was able to equal Haji Muhammad’s adeptness

(naipunya). He had the habitual deftness (sbabhābik dakshyata)
to express complex and subtle theoretical issues in a plain and
meaningful way.18

14 Sharif 1969: 114–17. 17 Irani 2016.

15 Sharif 1969: 114. 18 Sharif 1969: 119.
16 Sultana 2017.

history of science in south asia 5.2 (2017) 234–264

238 the flame and the breeze

Asim Roy similarly writes that Haji Muhammad offered the “most brilliant ex-
position” of what Roy calls “monistic pantheism,” a position he attributes to a
number of Islamic religious authors of middle Bengali texts.19
The Sirnāmā of Kaji Sheikh Monsur is the latest of our three texts. Monsur
informs us in a colophon that he was the son of one Kaji Isa and lived in the
important town of Ramu, in the kingdom of Roshang. He also gives us a date,
in the local Maghi calendar, for his composition. The date he gives us is 1065
which, according to the Georgian calendar, would be 1703.
Notwithstanding the similarity of some of the contents, the three texts were
organized in distinctive ways. The Sirnāmā for instance, had nine core chapters
and five introductory chapters. The core chapters were adapted, by the author’s
own acknowledgement, from a work called the Ahārul Masā. In the first of these
chapters, Monsur described the bio-cosmological system that related the micro-
cosm of the human body to the macrocosm of the cosmos, using a complex
system of correspondences organized around four key “stations” or mokāms/
muqams. As Shaman Hatley and others have pointed out, these “stations’ were
also correlated to the bio-cosmological “centers” or chakras known in tantric and
yogic circles.20 These “stations” of spiritual ascent are then further related to
four, increasingly more sublime, paths of spiritual progress, viz. Śariata (Islamic
Law), Tarikata (The Path), Hakikata (Reality) and, finally, Mārifata (Knowledge). It
was these paths and matters related to it that were described in the subsequent
chapters. Chapter Three for instance, gave a detailed description of the composi-
tion and the mechanisms of the human body and self. The next chapter described
different types of bodies and selves. The fifth chapter described the structure and
functions of the heart, whilst the following chapter dwelt at length on breath. It
is here that longevity practices are dealt with. Other chapters are devoted to the
human seed or “sperm,” the “soul,” and the Creator.
Haji Muhammad’s Nurjāmāl also had fourteen chapters. But they covered a
wider range of topics and were not as clearly demarcated into primary and in-
troductory chapters. Many of the text’s early chapters were devoted to topics
such as fate, the duties of pious Muslims and so forth. It is only in the twelfth
chapter that Muhammad introduces the bio-cosmological system and its four
“stations” which, incidentally, he calls monjil/manzil (“destinations”). In this
elaborate chapter, he outlines the correspondences between the microcosm and
the macrocosm as well as the four different paths to spiritual progress. In fact,
the chapter itself is subdivided into four sub-chapters according to the path. It is
in the last of these sub-chapters, i.e., one devoted to the description of the Māri-
fata path, that the longevity practices are mentioned. The two final chapters that

19 Roy 1970: 193. 20 Hatley 2007.

history of science in south asia 5.2 (2017) 234–264

 projit bihari mukharji 239

follow this lengthy chapter are devoted respectively to conception and birth and
the matters of the “soul.”
Finally, the Joga Kalandara (at least the version published by Sharif), contained
only seven chapters. It introduced the bio-cosmological system straight away
after the inaugural paeans. It then very briefly described the body, before moving
on to the various paths of spiritual progress. The next chapter described a series
of postures (āsanas ) together with directions for particular forms of meditative
visualizations. The penultimate chapter was devoted to the signs that foretell
death, while the final, very short chapter dealt with the esoteric meanings of
various colors. More cogently for our present purposes, the longevity practices
were introduced right at the outset of the very first chapter in this text.
The main scholarly interest in this material, as I have said above, has
mainly been in its literary and theological content. The early Bengali scholars
such as Abdul Karim Shahityavisharad, Ahmed Sharif and Enamul Huq were
principally interested in recovering the literary contributions of Muslim authors
to Bengali language and literature, though they also shared an interest in
Sufism. Amongst western scholars, France Bhattacharya and Shaman Hatley
have both explored the religious blending and braiding in these texts.21 Recently
Ayesha Irani’s work has also been along similar lines.22 Tony Stewart’s work
on cross-denominational translations in early modern Bengal and Carl Ernst’s
work on the interactions between Sufism and tantrism elsewhere in South
Asia provide important contexts, agendas and vocabularies for these works.23
Similarly, Thibaut d’Hubert’s recent explorations of the literary dimensions of
the intellectual world of Roshang also tangentially illuminate these texts.24

2 . T H E WO RL D OF RO S H A NG

efore proceeding any further in our analysis of Haji Muhammad’s text,

B however, it is necessary to have a fuller understanding of the context within
which he wrote. Modern national borders and the arbitrary contours of Area
Studies have together conspired to obliterate the once powerful kingdom of
Roshang from contemporary historical memory.25 Yet, for nearly four centuries,
this powerful kingdom and its intricately braided culture had dominated the
Arakan and stretched well into the eastern districts of modern Bangladesh.
Founded in 1430 with its capital at Mrauk-U along one of the branches of
the Kaladan river, Roshang’s early history is still mired in controversy and con-

21 Bhattacharya 2003; Hatley 2007. 24 D’Hubert 2014.

22 Irani 2016. 25 For the most comprehensive history of
23 Stewart 2001; Ernst 2005. Roshang, see Galen 2008.

history of science in south asia 5.2 (2017) 234–264

240 the flame and the breeze

jecture. Myths tell of a displaced king who had been given shelter and, there-
after, military support by the Sultans of Bengal to regain his throne. Once re-
turned to power, it was this king, Nara Mit Lha (c. 1404–1434), also referred to
as Manh Co Mvan and Narameikhla, who is credited with introducing Bengali
Islamic forms and styles to the court.26 But Roshang remained a weak neigh-
bor to Bengal for almost a century. It was only with the accession of king Min
Ba, also known as Sabaq Shah, in 1531 that Roshang became a power to reckon
with. Relying on a large contingent of Portuguese Catholic mercenaries, Min Ba
rapidly expanded his domain by defeating the neighboring kingdoms of Tripura
and Bengal. The lucrative Bengali port of Chittagong along with its hinterlands
passed into Arakanese hands and remained with them until 1666. The waning
of the Bengal Sultanate’s powers in the seventeenth century allowed Roshang to
further consolidate its position. In 1625, the Roshang troops even defeated the
mighty Mughal army in Bengal and sacked the Mughal capital at Jahangirnagar
(Dhaka). It was only in 1666 that the Mughals finally managed to wrest Chit-
tagong back from the Arakanese. The kings of Roshang, however, continued to
rule over their depleted kingdom all the way up to 1784, when the Konbaung
dynasty finally annihilated the kingdom and incorporated it into the Burmese
monarchy.
The kings of Roshang depended heavily upon Portuguese military power, es-
pecially autonomous Portuguese mercenaries and adventurers operating in the
Bay of Bengal.27 Through their trading contacts with the southern Indian port
of Masulipatnam, they also recruited mercenaries from the kingdom of Gol-
conda in the Deccan. At one point, the seventeenth-century king of Roshang,
Thirithudhamma, described his own army to the Mughal governor of Bengal,
as being manned mainly by “Firangis (Portuguese) and Telingas (Telegus)”.28
The Portuguese-Arakanese alliance was intimate enough for the Portuguese to
even briefly try to foist a Lusianized minor member of the Arakanese royal house
who had converted to Catholicism upon the throne.29 The Bengali Muslims, par-
ticularly after the incorporation of Chittagong into the kingdom, provided key
intermediaries and service officials.
As Sanjay Subrahmanyam points out, the geography of Roshang, with its core
isolated from the rest of Burma by the formidable Arakan Yomas, but connected
by rivers to the sea, meant that it could only look outwards through the oceans
and not overland.30 This meant its trade was largely maritime and depended

26 On Nara Mit Lha and his role in real and 28 Cited in Subrahmanyam 1993: 84.
imagined histories of the Arakan, see Leider 29 Subrahmanyam 1993.
and Htin 2015. 30 Subrahmanyam 1997: 203.
27 Charney 2005.

history of science in south asia 5.2 (2017) 234–264

 projit bihari mukharji 241

heavily upon the Dutch East India Company, viz. the Verenigde Oostindische Com-
pagnie (VOC). It also meant that culturally, the kingdom saw itself as a part of
the Persianate world rather than the Sinophone one. The Bengali Muslim liter-
ati were important intermediaries in both these networks. They were the local
partners of the Dutch traders as well as the main conduits for Persianate culture.
It was in this milieu that there emerged a sophisticated and rich body of
courtly literature. Given the polyglot and multicultural nature of the Roshang
kingdom, the court literature was also multilingual. Arakanese, Pali, Sanskrit,
Persian, Portuguese and Bengali were just some of the languages that were in use
in the kingdom. The famous Bengali poet Alaol noted the presence in the king-
dom of Arabs, Egyptians, Syrians, Turks, Abyssinians, Ottomans, Khorasanis,
Uzbeks, Lahoris, Multanis, Hindis, Kashmiris, Deccanis, Sindhis, Assamese and
Bengalis. Yet, as Thibaut d’Hubert points out, it was the Bengali literature of
Roshang that was most significant in its originality and ambition. The Pali and
Sanskrit works produced there were largely copies of older works and did not
attempt to create a new canon as the Bengali authors did.31 D’Hubert explains
this in terms of the formation of a unique society of Bengali Muslim elites with
close ties to the Roshang court who mediated both trade and cultural contacts
with the outside world across the seas.
Court poetry and etiquette literature however, were not the only things that
these Bengali Muslim intellectuals wrote about. As Shaman Hatley notes,

One of the most consistent concerns of this genre is the explication of

Islamized forms of tantric yoga, the practices of which appear integ-
ral to Sufism as it was developed in Bengal.32

Tantric practices, Hatley continues, had become,

prevalent across an extraordinary spectrum of sectarian boundaries

in South Asia and beyond, flourishing with Śaivism, Buddhism, and
Vaiṣņavism and finding a place in both Jainism and brahmanical
smārta traditions.33

Most important for us, however, is Hatley’s observation that, “Islam constituted
no less likely a ground for the assimilation of tantric yoga”.34 Haji Muhammad’s
Nurjāmāl is an excellent testament to this process of Islamization of tantric yoga
in Bengali texts from Roshang.

31 D’Hubert 2014: 47 f. 33 Hatley 2007: 352.

32 Hatley 2007: 351. 34 Hatley 2007: 352.

history of science in south asia 5.2 (2017) 234–264

242 the flame and the breeze

3 . L I F E AN D LO NG E V IT Y IN T H E J O GA K A L A N DA R A

fter a hasty, ten-line invocation, the Joga Kalandara jumped straight into
A the question of “life” and longevity. It described life through a vivid image
of a vital flame burning incessantly on three furnaces.35

These three furnaces, you must know, are the nāsuta (নাসুত) station
The Angel Azrael stands guard there
Know that those subterranean regions are the place of fire
Fires burn forever without respite.
Know that the sun rises at that mūlādhāra
Jīvātmā is the lord of it.
Meditate on that with your eyes and ears shut
Devote yourself to the teacher as you think of Him.
The lord of the house sits in a white lotus
Light the fire every day in that country.
The fire should never go out
Light the fire with care at all times.
My body arises from that fire
Be careful so that it never is extinguished.
Forever the fire and eternal, you must know, is the furnace
Clap shut the tenth portal
Just as you push loads onto an animal
Push similarly at the base of the anus.
Just like lighting the fire in a smithy
Push similarly frequently.
If you can do this every day
Strong body will annul all disease.36
নাসুত মাকাম জান এ িতন িতহর
আ াইল িফির া আেছ তথাত হর
স সব পাতাল জান আনেলর ান
সদাএ আনল েল নািহক িনবাণ।
অ ণ উিদত জান সই মূলাধার
জীব মা াম হন জািনঅ তাহার।
কণ আঁিখ মুিদ তথা করহ িজিকর

35 Though I call this a “vital flame,” the as a flame that is coterminous with life. Its
actual text does not really name the flame. extinction leads to death.
There is no corresponding Bengali word for 36 This and all following translations in this
“vital” in these texts. It is presented merely paper are mine.

history of science in south asia 5.2 (2017) 234–264

 projit bihari mukharji 243

মুিশদ ভিজয়া কর তাহার িফিকর।

ধব কমল তথা গৃহ াম বেস
অনুিদন আনল া লও সই দেশ।
স আনল-যাবেত িনিব নিহ যাএ
া লবা আনল যে জান সবথাএ।
শরীর অমর হএ স আনল হে
সাবধােন থািকবা না িনেব যন মেত।
সদা এ আনল িনত জািনবা িতহর
দশম দু য়াের তেব লাগাইব তা ল।
প এ লািদেল যন টপ িদয়া তােল
তনমত টপ জান িদব মূেল।
কামার শােলত যন অনল ালন
তনমত টপ তথা িদব ঘন ঘন।
এই কম অনুিদন কিরেত যিদ পার
শরীর বয়ািধ যথ খ েবক দড়।37

The three furnaces burning at the mūlādhāra (chakra) at the base of the spine was
not novel. Bhattacharya points out that it was well-known in earlier Nāth texts
such as the Goraksha Bijay of Sheikh Faijullah. Yet, the Joga Kalandara’s specific
descriptions of the fire are illuminating. The text clearly connects the flame to
life. It asserts that the body becomes immortal from this flame (শরীর অমর হএ
স আনল হে ). It instructs the reader to be careful that the fire does not go out
(সাবধােন থািকবা না িনেব যন মেত), but it also advises the reader to carefully light
the fire regularly ( া লবা আনল যে জান সবথাএ).
The key practice, however, seems to involve putting pressure on one’s anus
in a way so as to raise the fire in a way akin to the way loads are raised on to the
backs of animals (দশম দু য়াের তেব লাগাইব তা ল/প এ লািদেল যন টপ িদয়া তােল). If
one can do this daily, then the body will be free of all disease.
But interestingly, this was not the only vital flame discussed by the Joga
Kalandara. The same chapter also mentioned another flame. This latter flame
was to be “seen” by meditating upon the “Place of Bile” (pittasthāna) where a
“spring breeze” blows strongly. Unlike the vital flame of the three furnaces or
ovens, this is the flame of a lamp.

Know that these three furnaces are the main home

At the place of bile blows a large spring wind
Every day look at it with care
A lamp-flame there you will behold

37 Sharif 1969: 101.

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244 the flame and the breeze

That flame will spread a bright light

Within that light you will behold an image
Keep your sight trained on that light
You shall see the shape of the past and the future all
If you can behold it daily
Your body will never be destroyed.
এ িতন িতহর জান ধান খাছাল
পত ােন বেহ বায়ু বস িবশাল।
অনুিদত তথা দৃ কিরবা যতেন
এক গািছ দীপ তথা দিখবা নয়েন।
স দীেপর পসের উ ল হব জ ািত
স জােতর মেধ ত য দিখবা মূরিত।
স জােতর মেধ তিম দৃ িনেযািজবা
ভত ভিবষ ৎ প সকল দিখবা।
যিদ স কিরেত পার দরশন িনত
শরীর তামার ংস নেহ কদাি ত।38

In stark contrast to this image of a vital flame, the image of life at the next “sta-
tion,” i.e. malakuta mokām was that of a “vital breeze.” The Joga Kalandara men-
tioned that,
Know that the malakuta station is at the navel
Know that at that place the aerial element flows particularly
In yoga it is called by the name maṇipura
There seasonal pre-winter [breeze] blows relentlessly
Know that the Angel Israfil presides
Know for sure that the nostrils are his portal
Know that the navel houses the blister (?)
Breaths collected daily stays endlessly
Day and night forty thousand breaths flow
Within the vessel the aerial element stays any way
As long as there is air there is life
When the air disappears death is inevitable.
মলকুত মাকাম জান হএ নািভেদশ
স ােন বািব বেহ জািনবা িবেশষ।
যােগত কহএ তাের মিণপুর নাম

38 Sharif 1969: 101.

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 projit bihari mukharji 245

থাত হম ঋত বেহ অিব াম।

ই ািফল িফির া জান তাত অিধকার
নািসকা িন য় জান দু য়ার তাহার।
নািভর খাটাল জান ফ ার য ধাম
িন াস স ের িনত রিহ অিব াম।
িদবা রাি চ শ হাজার াস বেহ
ঘট মেধ রাখ বািব যন মেত রেহ।
যাবত পবন আেছ তাবত জীবন
পবন ঘুিচেল হএ অবশ মরণ।39
This contrasting image is not surprising since several Sufi authors tend to asso-
ciate the particular “stations” with specific primary elements, viz. earth (khāka),
water (āba), fire (ātaśa) and air (bāba). But what is significant is that the “air”
or “breeze” is said to be specific to the “station” ( স ােন বািব বেহ জািনবা িবেশষ).
Moreover, this particular “vital breeze” is capable of being counted with preci-
sion. The number of daily breaths is thus tabulated at 40,000. It is this specific
“vital breeze” whose exhaustion leads to immediate death and whose preserva-
tion leads to longevity. It is on the basis of this last idea that the author then goes
on to recommend particular actions to preserve the “vital breeze.”
Training one’s vision upon one’s own nostrils, with the head bowed so as to
allow the chin to touch the throat, the practitioner is advised to raise the right
foot over the left thigh. Thus seated, s/he is to meditate upon the breath till a
light green image becomes visible. It is this image that is the image of the soul
(ātmā) and it is at the sight of this image that the flow of breath or “vital breeze”
ceases.

Train your sight upon the nostril and glimpse the air
Place your chin on your throat and follow the rules
Lift the right leg upon the left thigh
Stare at the nose with both eyes open
Then the breath will not exit the vessel
You will see the color of yam leaves
In that you will glimpse an image
Know that that is the body of the soul.
নািসকাত দৃ িদয়া পবন হিরবা
কে ত িচবুক িদয়া িনয়েম রিহবা।
বাম উ 'পের য দ ণ পদ ত ল

39 Sharif 1969: 102.

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246 the flame and the breeze

নাসােত হিরব জান যুগ আঁিখ ম ল।

তেব ঘট হে াস বািহর না হব
যেহন কচর প বরণ দিখব।
তার মেধ মূিত এক হব দরশন
সই মূিত আ মার জািনঅ বরণ।

4. L IF E A N D LO NG E V I T Y IN H A J I MU H A M M A D ’ S NU R JĀ M Ā L

n stark contrast to the Joga Kalandara, Haji Muhammad introduced the

I longevity practices in the very last chapter of his book. Even more strikingly,
he flipped the order of the spiritual “stations.” Whereas the Joga Kalandara had
identified the nāsuta mokām with the mūlādhāra (chakra) and the lāsut mokām
with the anāhata (chakra) at the head of the spine, Muhammad, identified the
lāhuta mokām with the mūlādhāra (chakra). The rest of the description however,
looked remarkably familiar.
Know the three furnaces are lāhuta station
Angel Azrael stands guard there
In the room sits the Dark Lotus40
Every day the fire burns in that country
In that seventh subterranean world the fire is established
Fire burns incessantly without extinction
Always know the principle of the fire there
Every day the fire burns without burning out
That fire is eternally there all the time
The body is immortal from that fire
Stay careful so that it does not go out.
লা ত মাকােম জান এিতন িতহর
িফির া আ াইল আেছ তাহাত হর ।
আ ার কমল তথা ঘেরত বসএ
অনুিদন আনল লএ স দশএ।

40 One of the reviewers of this paper has text, but they might also bear testimony to
suggested that this might be a scribal er- way scribes and practitioners made sense of
ror for the “base lotus,” thus ādhāra kamala textual passages that had become obscure
instead of āndhāra kamala. This is certainly for them. In this particular case, it is also
a possibility, but we should also be care- significant in my view that the epithet ānd-
ful not to replace such possible scribal er- hāra kamala is in itself well established in
rors and smoothen the text. Not only do Vaiṣṇava circles and often refers to Krishna
scribal errors often take root and mutate the himself. See for instance, Hawley 2014: 108.

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 projit bihari mukharji 247

সই স পাতােলত আনল াপন

সদাএ আনল েল নািহক িনভন।
স আনল লেত িনভান নিহ যাএ
জািনবা আনল নীিত তথা সবথাএ।
শরীর অমর হএ স আনল হােত
সাবধেন থাক না িনেভ যন মেত।41
Not only was the description of the vital flame and the guardian angel almost
identical, but even the practices recommended for achieving longevity were
remarkably similar. Even the slightly unusual image of loads being lifted onto
the back of an animal to describe how to raise the vital flame from the anus was
repeated.

As one pushes loads on to the animal

Similarly push up at the anus
If you can do this action daily
All the diseases of the body will be annulled
…
Know these three furnaces are the main home
At the bile-place it goes and sits eternally
When you train your vision there
You will then notice a flame there
That lamp’s wares become extremely bright
Within that lamp see an image
Keep your eyes on that image
Past and future all you will see
If you can see it every day
Your body will never be destroyed.
প এ লািদেল যন টপ িদয়া তােল
তন মেত টপ িদয়া তােল মূেল।
এই কম অনুিদন কিরবাের পাের
শরীেরর ব ািধ যথ খ ব তাহাের।
…
এ িতন িতহর জান ধান খাটাল
পীত ােন িগয়া সই বেস সবকাল।
অনুিদত তথা দৃ কিরবা যখন
এক গািছ দীপ তথা দিখবা তখন।

41 Sharif 1969: 146.

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248 the flame and the breeze

স দীেপর পসের উঝল হএ অিত

স দীেপর মেধ এক দিখয়া মূরিত।
স মূিতত দৃ তেব িনেয়ািজ রািখবা
ভত ভিবষ ৎ যথ সকল দিখবা।
যিদ স কিরেত পর দরশন িনত
শরীর তামার ংস নাই কদািচত।42

Apart from the interchange of the names lāhuta and nāsuta, the rest of the de-
scription of life and longevity practices associated with the first “station” in the
Joga Kalandara and the Nurjāmāl are remarkably similar. This similarity continues
to the second “station” as well.

Know the malakuta station is the navel

Know that a particular aerial element stays there
In yoga it is called by the name of maṇipura
There the air blows incessantly
The Angel Israfil presides there
Know for sure that the nostril is his portal
Day and night twenty-four thousand breaths flow
Keep the aerial element within the vessel as it stays
As long as there is air, there is life
If air is diminished, death is inevitable.
মলকুত মাকাম জািনঅ নািভেদশ
সই ােন বািব রেহ জািনঅ িবেশষ।
যােগত কহএ তাের মিণপুর নাম
এথায় থািকয়া বায়ু বেহ অিব াম।
ই ািফল িফির া তথায় অিধকার
নািসকা িন এ জান দু য়ার তাহার।
রাি িদেন চ শ হাজার াস বেহ
ঘট মেধ রাখ বািব যন মেত রেহ।
যাবত পবন আেছ তাবত জীবন
পবন ঘা টেল হএ অবশ মরণ।43

Apart from the change in the number of daily breaths from 40,000 in the Joga
Kalandara to 24,000 in Nurjāmāl—a change that could well have arisen through
the oversight of a copyist—the rest of the description is once more remarkably

42 Sharif 1969: 146. 43 Sharif 1969: 146 f.

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 projit bihari mukharji 249

similar. In this regard, it is also worth noting that Haji Muhammad used the
word vāyu alongside pavana and bābi as synonyms, adding yet another layer of
meaning to this already multivalent notion of a “vital breeze.” The ritual and
meditative practices associated with the malakuta mokām however, contained
some significant changes. Whilst the basic posture described was almost
identical, its objective was quite distinctive. Instead of preventing the flow of
the vital breeze out of the body, in the Nurjāmāl, the objective was to expel air
out of the stomach through the anus.

Train your eyes on the tip of the nose and see the air
Put your chin on your throat and follow the rules
Lift the right leg on the left thigh
Remove your vision to the tip of the nose with both your eyes open
Then will the aerial element from the intestines be expelled
You will behold an image the color of yam leaves
In that you will notice an image
Know that that is the image of the soul.
নািসকাত দৃ িদয়া পবন হিরব
কে ত িচবুক িদয়া িনয়েম রিহব।
বাম ঊ 'পের দ ণ পদ ত ল
নািসকা হিরবা দৃ দু ই আঁিখ ম ল।
তেব কা হাে বািব বািহর হব
যেহন কচর প বরণ দিখব।
তার মেধ মূিত এক হব দরশন
স জু িত আ ার জািনবা বরণ।44

Despite these changes, Haji Muhammad’s general conception of life associated

with the first two “stations” is similar to the conceptions of the Joga Kalandara.
Life is essentially conceptualized either as a “vital flame” or as a “vital breeze.”

5 . LI FE AN D LONG E V I T Y IN K A JI S H E I K H M O N S U R ’ S S I R NĀ M Ā

n monsur’s sirnāmā, both the structure and the content of the longevity prac-
I tices were radically transformed. The text did not organize its spiritual pur-
suits according to the four “stations,” though the “stations” are mentioned in
the text. There is as a result no clear distinction between the practices associated
with the nāsuta and malakuta mokāms. Yet, some of the material associated with

44 Sharif 1969: 147.

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250 the flame and the breeze

these stations in prior texts crops up in the Sirnāmā. The following description is
introduced, somewhat suddenly, in midst of a section dealing with the relation
between particular breaths and the conception of progeny.

Pay attention, one who does the work of the aerial element
Making the navel touch the back while keeping the spine straight
Drinking the aerial element in the upper pipes and later the ears
Close all the portals and strengthen the police station
Putting your feet to the anus you will lift the air
Deep push at the furnace touches the sky
Train your eyes on the tip of the nose
Do these actions every day
Along with the aerial element you will see the immaterial self’s divine
light
Whatever paths whoever follows the aerial element must be presen-
ted
In that lamp will arise your own divine light
Past and future will all be disseminated
If someone is attached (?) to the aerial element
The world and the cosmos will both serve that person.
য কের বািবর কম ন মন িদয়া
পৃে ত লাগাএ নািভ ম ি র হয়া।
ঊ নােল পয়া বািব পােছ কেণ হানা
সব াের তা ল িদয়া দড় কর থানা।
মল াের পদ িদয়া ত লেবক বাই
িতহরীেত ঘন টপ গগন ঠকাই।
নািসকা অে েত দৃ িদয়া িনেযািজব
িতিদন এই মত কেমত রিহব।
বািব সে আ মার দিখেব নূর
য য মেত যই বািব কিরব জু র।
স দীেপ উতপন হব আপনার নূর
ভত ভিবষ ৎ যথ হইব চার।
কহ যিদ বািব সে হল মুছখর
দীন দু িনয়া তার হইল িক র।45

45 Sharif 1969: 185 f.

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 projit bihari mukharji 251

While the description is still strongly reminiscent of the practices associated with
the first “station” in the previous texts, its sense has been radically transformed.
In fact, the “vital flame” has virtually disappeared. The ritual actions are now
intended to raise the bāi or “air” from the mūlādhāra or tiharī. In fact, the chapter
went on to emphasize the powers of air upon longevity, citing the example of the
Prophet Isā (Jesus) to the effect that: “Prophet Isā practiced (sādhana) bābi and
went to the sky/ the moment (he) ate bāi he became immortal.”
The idea of the “vital flame” is lost in Monsur’s text. In its place, the rituals
intended to nurture the flame are remade to raise the “air.” The only competing
image of life and longevity not connected putatively to bābi, is Monsur’s chapter
on maṇi or the seed/sperm. In this latter chapter, Monsur declared that, “every-
one knows that from the jewel [i.e., semen] life is prolonged” (মিন হে আয়ু দীঘ জা-
িনও সকল).46 It is possible that this replacement of the “vital flame” by the “seed”
was enabled by notion of “divine illumination” or nur as a mediating principle.
For Monsur wrote that, “capacity for eternal life comes from the jewel of divine
illumination” (িচর আযু কুওত নূর মিন হে হএ).47 Clearly he was equating the “seed”
with the “divine light” and this might have led him to replace the “vital flame”
with the “seed.” However, at this stage, this replacement cannot be entirely ex-
plained and a fuller examination of the topic would lead us too far away from
the issues at hand.

6 . CO NC EP T UA LI Z I NG L I F E

n order to get a sense of the true contours of the ways in which life and
I longevity practices were conceptualized in these Bengali Sufi texts, we
must begin by clarifying the relationship between physiological elements and
the primary elements they resemble. Most Islamic thinkers accept the four
Aristotelian elements, viz. earth, water, fire and air, to be the fundamental
building blocks of all physical realities in the sub-lunar world.48 According to
Ibn Sina, i.e., Avicenna, these four primary elements are also the only entities in
the sub-lunar world that are life-less.49 Yet, in our texts, the “stations” where life
and death hang in balance are clearly identified with one or the other of these
life-less elements, i.e., fire for the first station and air for the next.
It is worth remembering, however, that Ibn Sina’s notion of life is quite dis-
tinctive from our notion of life. For him, everything in the sub-lunar world is
alive, except the four fundamental elements. As Seyyed Hossein Nasr points

46 Sharif 1969: 187. ments are also constitutive of the sub-lunar

47 Sharif 1969: 187. world. See Nasr 1993: 62.
48 Only the Ikhwan hold that the four ele- 49 Nasr 1993: 252.

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252 the flame and the breeze

out, for Ibn Sina and most Islamic cosmologists, all territorial events are “de-
termined and ordered” by the “Intelligences and faculties of the World Soul”.50
The primary elements all remain inert or passive until the World Soul animates
them to combine. Such combinations gradually produce rocks, plants, animals
and eventually humans. Rocks, plants, animals and humans, all therefore are
possessed of specific faculties of the World Soul.51
The Joga Kalandara conceptualized the relationship between the human
soul and the World Soul through the language of jīvātmā (Individual Soul) and
paramātmā (Supreme Soul) It stated that the body belonged to the jīvātmā, who
was the “husband” (svāmī) or “householder” (gṛhasvāmī).52 At another point,
the jīvātmā was explicitly equated with the ruh hayawāni.53 This latter entity
is most likely identical to Ibn Sina’s al nafs al-hayawāniya, the “Animal Soul,”
which is also responsible for the preservation of the integrity of the breath.54
Later, however, it added that the paramātmā or Supreme Soul “is there with” the
jīvātmā.55 Adding slightly later that,

Jīvātmā, paramātmā are two images

Arise there as radiances comingle.
জীবা মা পরা মা এই দু ই মূরিত
উদয় হইেছ তথা জােত িম ল জ ািত।.56

Finally, the Joga Kalandara declared that,

Water, fire, earth, air are four things
Along with divine illumination five in the body
Know that these five things have forty symptoms
Mixing soul(s) with them makes it conscious.
আব আতস খাক বাত চাির িচজ হএ
নুেরর সিহত প শরীর মধ এ।
এই প িচজ জান চ শ ল ণ
আেরাহা িমশাই তাের কিরেত চতন।a57
The Indic idea of ātmā and the Islamic ideas about ruh thus became braided
together, but the overall thrust of Ibn Sina’s distinction between a basic World
Soul and a specific Animal Soul seems to have been preserved. As the identi-
fication of ruh and ātmā became stronger, however, a unified notion of an all

50 Nasr 1993: 280. 54 Nasr 1993: 249, 256 f.

51 Nasr 1993: 250 f. 55 Sharif 1969: 103.
52 Sharif 1969: 101. 56 Sharif 1969: 103.
53 Sharif 1969: 103. 57 Sharif 1969: 106.

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 projit bihari mukharji 253

pervasive World Soul became increasingly difficult to discern. Thus in Haji

Muhammad’s Nurjāmāl, an entire chapter was entitled Ātmatattva (Essence of
Ātmā). The chapter commenced by declaring that,

Soul has four names, four types

Soul nāthakī sits in human bodies
All the animals got Soul hāmi
Jirmi is the name of the soul bequeathed to the earth
chaṅga is the soul given to stones.
আ ার এ চাির নাম এ চাির কার।
নাথক বেস মনুষ শরীের
হািম পাইল যেথক জােনায়ার।
িজিম নােম বকিশয়ােছ ধরা ের
ছ নােম িদয়ােছ পাথেরের।58

Monsur’s Sirnāmā also offered a very similar formulation. The chapter dealing
with this, however, was titled Ārohātattva rather than Ātmatattva. The Arabic
word Ārohā is the plural of the word ruh. Yet in Bengali texts, the word is often
used to denote a singular entity. Thus, Monsur mentioned, for instance, that
ārohā was simply the “Arabic name for prāṇa.”59 In any case, Monsur wrote that,

Soul(s) have four names these four types

…
Nāthakī soul(s) sit(s) in the human body
Words are spoken and the spoken understood
Chaṅga is the soul sitting in animals and birds
Cannot speak words for sure
All the creatures that are contained in the family of animals and birds
Insects and flies, etc., in the world
Jisimi souls sit in all the plants and trees
Grasses, creepers, etc., and fragrant good looking
Souls named nāsi sit in all stones
All the gems, pearls, etc., all the pieces and pebbles.
আেরাহর চাির নাম এ চাির কার
…
নাথিক আেরাহা বেস মিনষ তনএ

58 Sharif 1969: 145. 59 Sharif 1969: 188.

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254 the flame and the breeze

বচন কহএ যথ কিহেল বুঝএ।

ছািম নােম প প আ মা বসএ
কিহেত না পাের িফির বচন িন এ।
যত জীব ধের প প পিরবার
কীট পত আিদ পৃিথি মাঝার।
িজিসিম আেরাহা বেস যথ বৃ ত
তৃ ণ লতা আিদ আর সুগ সুচা ।
নািস নােম আেরাহা বেস যথ পাথরএ মিন মু া আিদ যথ দানা ক রএ।60
The general Islamicate notion of a World Soul and animal, vegetative and mineral
souls developed in a way in the Bengali texts that it became increasingly difficult
to see them as manifestations of a single unified World Soul. Instead, by the time
Monsur wrote, the World Soul had come to resemble animistic notions. This
happened particularly through the three-way equivalence that emerged between
ruh, ātmā and eventually prāņa.
This is particularly interesting since prāņa, in the Indic context, is often de-
scribed as the “vital breath.” According to Kenneth Zysk, “(t)he cosmic wind
was mankind’s vital breath (prāņa), the principal manifestation of a person’s im-
mortal soul”.61 But rendering it as an equivalent to ruh and ātmā clearly expanded
its meaning. The term ātmā, as Anthony Cerulli has recently pointed out, usually
stands for the “non-material self” and this is the sense in which the word appears
most often in non-medical Sanskrit literature. Though it is equally noteworthy
that the word also connotes the gross physical body in certain contexts, particu-
larly in some classical ayurvedic texts.62 By equating ātmā with prāņa therefore,
a notion of a non-material self began to resemble the “vital breath.”
It is safe to assume that this elaboration of meaning from “vital breath”
to non-material selfhood was enabled by the aforementioned association of
the “Animal Soul” (al nafs al-hayawāniya) with the “Individual Soul” (jīvātmā).
Since the former was held by classical authors such as Ibn Sina to be primarily
responsible for the integrity of the breath, it became easier to conflate the two.
Since Ibn Sina was clear that all breaths originate in a single breath and that
what engenders that original breath is the al nafs al-hayawāniya, it was possible
to gradually identify the cause and the effect.
A similar elaboration also took place with regard to the words for breath,
air and the primary aerial element. Bābi and vāyu, not to mention other related
words such as bāi and pavana, became so closely linked that they were almost

60 Sharif 1969: 188. 62 Cerulli 2016: 66.

61 Zysk 1993: 198, italics mine.

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 projit bihari mukharji 255

treated as being interchangeable words. Yet, these words originally had distinct-
ive connotations. Bābi, strictly so called, was in fact one of the four primary ele-
ments of Islamic cosmologies. Whereas, by contrast, vāyu could mean a range of
things, such as one of the Indic primary elements, one of the three ayurvedic
humoral substances (doṣa), a particular ayurvedic physiological principle and
even simply the wind. To complicate matters further, the word prāņa can often
designate either the “vital breath” itself or a particular sub-type of bodily wind.
My point behind drawing attention to these confusing equivalences is to
argue that multiple equivalences that were posited in the Bengali Sufi works
generated a certain degree of definitional flexibility that confounds a rigorously
etymological or philological approach. Recently, Bruno Latour has revived the
Egyptologist Jan Assmann’s discussion of “moderate relativism” in the ancient
polytheistic empires. Latour, following Assmann, points out that these poly-
cultural and polyreligious polities allowed diverse groups to cohabit “without
cutting each other’s throats” by constantly positing rough equivalences. “What,
you a Roman, call Jupiter, I, a Greek, call Zeus”.63 Such equivalences and the
“moderate relativism” it engendered would be unsustainable if more rigorous
or scrupulous translations were sought. I would argue something similar was
at play in these Bengali texts, viz. a practically oriented “moderate relativism”
where conceptual flexibility was valued more than precision in translation.
The conception of life that emerges within this context of “moderate relativ-
ism” is expectedly then, a somewhat plastic, rather than precise, concept. It re-
cognized a gradation of types or modes of life through the increasing dismem-
berment of the unified idea of the World Soul into the idea of distinct types of
souls. It also tended to connect life to heat, light and air. Of these, the latter es-
pecially, in its many and myriad forms as breath, breeze, wind, bodily air and
non-material self, gradually grew in importance. Yet it never emerged as the sole
or discrete figure of life.

7 . M AT E RI A L ME TA P H O R S

e have noticed above that despite the conceptual plasticity of “life,” the ac-
W tual longevity practices that were recommended did to some extent per-
sist for a century or more. I will argue that what allowed and even sustained the
persistence of these practices was not the underlying conceptual coherence but
rather the practical legibility of the images and figures through which longevity
practices were imagined.

63 Latour 2017: 404.

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256 the flame and the breeze

My argument is that images such as not letting a furnace go cold or a lamp

burn out, or indeed, keeping a room well-aired, were all images sixteenth- and
seventeenth-century Bengalis well understood. The doctrinal or lexical minutiae
were perhaps not as important as the consistency of the images and their gen-
eral legibility. By drawing attention to the historico-material culture in which
metaphors became meaningful, I do not wish to claim that the metaphors were
in themselves new or novel. Throughout the world and in the many different
traditions to which our authors had access, no doubt images of forges, lamps,
divers and so forth would be legion. We do, for instance, find the metaphor
of the forge in some Vedic texts, just as the metaphor of the lamp appears in
some South Indian inscriptions. What I want to emphasize is that people choose
metaphors and do so, because certain figures or metaphors make more sense to
them and their audiences than others. They prefer some that are legible to them
and ignore others. This choice is shaped by the lived experience of the authors
and their audiences. In Bengali oral traditions, for instance, there are frequent
references to the “life-breath-bumblebee” (prāṇa-bhramara) as well as to the “life-
breath-bird” (prāṇa-pakśī). Yet, none of our authors used these metaphors. The
point I am trying to argue is that there is always more than one image or meta-
phor to choose from, and the choice authors make reflects what they and their
audiences find more familiar. Therefore, even though the figures of a forge, a
lamp or a diver may not be utterly novel, their appeal for our authors must be
related to aspects of their lived experience of historico-material culture.
This, in my view, should also encourage us to take a closer look at the basis
of these images. Why were these images chosen and why were they so easily
legible? This is where a history of material culture can illuminate our path. In
the Joga Kalandara, which, as I have already mentioned, is widely believed to be
the oldest of the texts, we find, for instance, a fascinating reference to a smithy
in connection to the furnaces that is absent in the later texts. Referring to the
furnaces at the nāsuta mokām, the text stated that,

As the fire lit in the smithy.

কামার শােলত যন অনল ালন64

I would argue that this reference to a smithy was not accidental. Metal-working
was a widespread and serious industry in Chittagong and it was this widespread
material culture of metal-working that rendered the image of multiple, almost
perpetually burning furnaces legible to the readers of these texts.

64 Sharif 1969: 101.

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 projit bihari mukharji 257

A component of this metal-working was connected to silver coinage. John

Deyell has argued that the sixteenth century witnessed a great expansion in
metal coinage in Bengal. This was engendered by the expansion of the Sultanate
state and the growing maturity of the state system itself. It was eventually the sil-
ver coinage of the Bengal Sultanate that was adopted across South Asia.65 Even
more importantly, the Chittagong region, where all our authors and texts are
based, was the entry point for Burmese and Yunnanese silver into South Asia
proper. Even small kingdoms around the region, such as Kamta and Tripura,
issued silver coinage, and the kingdom of Roshang itself issued coins, mainly
from external trade, from Chittagong itself.66 Moreover, the silver actually circu-
lated in Burma, Thailand, Laos etc. as ingots known as “Shan Shell Money”.67 It
was only molten down and worked into coins upon entering Chittagong and its
neighboring regions. Metal-working and state systems thus went hand in hand
in the region.
But coinage was far from being the only use to which molten silver was put.
Silver inscription plates dating from the middle of the sixteenth century for in-
stance have been found in Chittagong.68 Metal images have also long been pro-
duced in the region. Particularly well-known are the large number of Bronze
images of the Buddha found at Jhewari in Chittagong. These images long pred-
ate our authors and testify to the depth of the local metal-working tradition.69
These metal images are particularly redolent with the comments made in the
Joga Kalandara that,

Golden doll looks like (?) body of fire

Silver doll looks like (?) the shadow in a mirror.
সানার পুতল মন আ েনর কায়া
পার পুতল মন দপেণর ছায়া।70

If metal-working was connected to the political economy of Roshang, lighting

lamps and keeping them burning was one of the most conspicuous acts of Islamic
piety performed at shrines. The nineteenth-century observer and ethnographer
James Wise mentioned the practice of lighting lamps at the Dargah of Pir Badr
that stood at the center of Chittagong town. “On the walls of the cenotaph,” Wise
wrote,
are ten niches for ten oil lamps, which are lighted every evening and
burn all night. Pilgrims from all parts of Bengal visit the Dargah

65 Deyell 2011. 68 Kānunago 1988: 183, 187 f.

66 Deyell 2011. 69 Huntington 1984: 190–92.
67 Deyell 1994. 70 Sharif 1969: 106.

history of science in south asia 5.2 (2017) 234–264

258 the flame and the breeze

Figure 1: ”An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump,” By Joseph Wright of Derby. National Gallery,
London, Public Domain.

in fulfillment of vows, or to obtain the favor and intercession of the

saint, while Hindu fishermen regard him with as much awe as the
Muhammadans.71
Though the mosque lacks an inscription that would help date it firmly, on the
basis of local traditions and its links to neighboring buildings, the edifice is usu-
ally dated to the fifteenth century.72
More intriguing than these images of furnaces and lamps are the images of
“life” being extinguished or suffocated within a vessel through the exhaustion
of air/ breath within. It is an image that almost calls to mind Joseph Wright’s
famous 1794 painting, “An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump” (Fig. 1).73 It
is easy to assume that the link between breath and life is so ubiquitous as to
be “natural” or ahistorical. I would, however, argue that this seemingly self-
evident image too was connected to a material culture within which it appeared

71 Wise 1883: 14 f. absolutely essential. Even if this particu-

72 Hasan 2007: 109 f. While the presence lar mosque does not date from our period,
of this imposing structure and its institu- the practice of lighting lamps at shrines in
tion of lighting lamps right in the heart of the evening would have been fairly widely
sixteenth-century Chittagong is useful sup- known.
porting evidence for my argument, it is not 73 On this painting see Raymo 2007.

history of science in south asia 5.2 (2017) 234–264

 projit bihari mukharji 259

obvious. Once again, the clues to such a reading, I will argue, are given in the
Joga Kalandara itself.
The four lines just preceding the lines about the golden and silver dolls went
thus:

Clear crystal shines within

Necklace of pearls that looks bright
Pieces of gems shine within the crystal
That is the ultimate knowledge known to sages.
ফ টেকর মেধ কের ঝলমল
মুকুতার হার িজিন দিখেত উঝল।
ফ টেকর মেধ মািণেক র কণা
সই য পরম ত ভদ মুিন জনা।74

I would argue that these references to crystals, gems and pearls are not at all
accidental glosses. Rather they are the material basis that sustains and explains
the images of breathing, breath-control and the exhaustion of breath. European
travellers to Roshang, such as the Dutchman Walter van Schouten and the Por-
tuguese Sebastian Manrique are awash with lavish descriptions of resplendent
pearls and luscious gems at the Arakanese court. While unfortunately little in-
formation exists about the local pearl fishery of the Arakan/Chittagong region,
we do know that a couple of small pearl fisheries still existed in the region by
the end of the nineteenth century.75 Also in existence was a much more robust
and related industry of conch fishing.76 Chittagong remained a major arena for
the production of conch jewelry. This jewelry was in particularly high demand
amongst the Buddhist population of Arakan. Interestingly, Muslim craftsmen of
Chittagong monopolized the production of this jewelry.77 The pearl and conch
industries were connected, since both involved diving deep into the sea to re-
cover their objects. This would naturally also mean having to hold one’s breath
for a fixed amount of time. In fact, once again the Joga Kalandara made a direct
reference to diving, when it stated that,

Diving into that pool all the time

Keep your mind focused on meditation.
সই সেরাবের ডব িদয়া সব ণ
ধয়ােন ধয়াই রহ িনেযািজয়া মন।78

74 Sharif 1969: 106. 77 Hornell 1914: 77.

75 O’Malley 1908: 119. 78 Sharif 1969: 103.
76 Milburn 1813: 1: 357.

history of science in south asia 5.2 (2017) 234–264

260 the flame and the breeze

These references to diving and meditating in the water, of finding pearls and
gems, etc., were not merely accidental references. They reflected the material
context of the times and rendered the images legible and meaningful. It is there-
fore not at all surprising that the images of pearls and gems found embedded in
crystals were strung together to explain meditative practices that involved breath
control. Arakan and its neighboring regions had long been known for its ruby,
sapphire and jade mines. The threat of suffocation and the need to be able to
hold one’s breath in a mine or under water would be very similar and would
make the image of life as something sustained by a fixed amount of air in a ves-
sel immediately meaningful. Statements such as the following, I would argue,
resonate on at least two levels:
Upon arising from the depths you will receive the light.
পাতােলথু উিঠ জাত িম লব তখন79
While the statement undoubtedly refers to the process of raising the biocosmic
fire or energy vertically up the body’s multiple stations, it cannot but also reson-
ate with the experience of miners and divers coming up to the light and air from
their respective downward journeys.

8 . CONC LU S IO N
nlike the texts studied by Speziale and Langermann, our Bengali Muslim
U texts do not focus much upon the materia medica for extending life. Their
focus is closer to the “personal meditative practices, passed on from teacher
to disciple, that employ breathing techniques and visualisations of various life
channels in the body in combination with mantras and deity practices, all of
which are meant to enhance the life-forces” which Barbara Gerke found amongst
contemporary Tibetans in Darjeeling.80
The conceptual underpinnings of these meditative practices drew, however,
upon multiple different traditions, vocabularies and agendas. I have argued that
these multiple sources were connected to each other with an eye to flexibility and
accommodation rather than strict translation and precision.
What allowed the “moderate relativism” engendered in this flexibility to
function, however, was the clarity, consistency and legibility of the images
employed. These images in turn relied on the material culture of the polity
and society in which our authors were based. The main industries and acts of
piety were therefore material resources from which illustrative metaphors were
crafted. It was the backdrop of the shared material culture upon which the
metaphors relied that made stabilized them.

79 Sharif 1969: 107. 80 Gerke 2012: 9.

history of science in south asia 5.2 (2017) 234–264

 projit bihari mukharji 261

ACK NOWL E D G E M E N T S

would like to thank Dagmar Wujastyk for her help, encouragement and pa-
I tience. Without her this piece would certainly not have had any “life,” leave
alone a “long life.” Manjita Mukharji’s help was also crucial. Whatever inad-
equacies remain are of course mine and mine alone

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