Sufis of Bijapur, 1300-1700 Social Roles of Sufis in Medieval India

Historically, Islam's Normative vision of Society and piety was mediated to the masses in Large part by Sufi shaikhs, heirs to Islam's rich mystical tradition. Although Anthropologists have examined the social roles played by Sufis in some contemporary societies, few Historians have done the same for earlier periods, in any part of the Islamic world.

Richard M. Eaton's The Sufis of Bijapur is an attempt to fill this gap by scrutinizing the social Careers of Sufis of a single city-state, the Deccani Kingdom of Bijapur, from the early fourteenth to the late seventeenth centuries. The aim is two-fold: first, to identify the dominant social roles played by Sufis of Bijapur; and second, to explain why certain kinds of Sufis appeared when they did. The Book thus blends Cultural History with social Biography during a critical period of Deccani history.

A specialist on the evolution of Islam in South Asia, Richard Eaton has written on the palace-city of Firuzabad in the Deccan, the shrine of Baba Farid in the Punjab, and Islamic History as global history. Most recently, he has published the Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1206-1760 (Delhi, 1994), a Study seeking to explain the growth of Muslim Society in premodern Eastern Bengal.

Prof. Eaton is currently a Professor of History at the University of Arizona.

List of Figures
List of Charts
List of Tables
Note on Translation and Transliteration
Preface
Introduction

Part I. ARRIVAL AND Settlement OF SUFIS :

1. HISTORICAL SETTING : THE Bijapur PLATEAU TO THE COMING OF Islam :
i. Maharashtra and Karnataka, 1100-1300
ii. Early Muslim Penetration of the Bijapur Plateau

2. SUFIS AS Warriors :
i. Warrior Sufis of Bijapur
ii. Establishment of Muslim Power in the Bijapur Plateau
iii. Summary

3. LATER SETTLEMENT OF SUFIS IN BIJAPUR :
i. Early Development of the Chishti, Qadiri, and Shattari Orders in India
ii. Settlement in the Shi'a Period of 'Adil Shahi Rule
iii. Settlement in the Sunni Period of 'Adil Shahi Rule, Post
iv. Early Chishti Sufis of Shahpur Hillock Summary

Part II : REFORMERS AND WRITERS :

4. HISTORICAL SETTING: THE HEIGHT OF BIJAPUR UNDER SULTANS 'ALI 'ADIL SHAH I AND IBRAHIM 'ADIL SHAH II :
i. Physical Growth under Sultan 'Ali I
ii. Cultural Syncretism under Sultan Ibrahim II
iii. Summary

5. SUFIS AS REFORMERS :
i. Reformist Sufis in Relation to the Court
ii. Reformist Sufis in Relation to Sunni Islam
iii. Reformist Sufis in Relation to the Non-Muslim Population
iv. Summary

6. SUFIS AS LITERATI :
i. Linguistic and Literary Contributions of the Literati
ii. The Literati and Their Mystical
iii. Literature
iv. The Literati and Their Popular Literature
v. The Literati and the Expansion of Islam
vi. Summary

Part III : SUFIS OF THE LATE 'ADIL SHAHI PERIOD :

7. HISTORICAL SETTING : THE DECLINE OF BIJAPUR FROM 1646 To 1686 :
i. Political Aspects of the Decline of Bijapur
ii. Analysis of the Decline of Bijapur

8. SUFIS AS LANDED ELITES :
i. Aspects of Institutional Change-The Family of Muhammad Mudarris
ii. State Intervention in Sufi Institutions- The In'am Grant
iii. The State and the Family of Shah Mustafa and Qasim Qadiri
iv. The State and the Family of Bandanawaz Gisudaraz
v. Landed Sufis in Relation to the Common Populace
vi. Summary

9. SUFIS AS DERVISHES :
i. Amin al-Din A'la and Doctrinal Radicalism
ii. Mahmud Bahri of Gogi-Poet and Critic
iii. The Majzubs of Bijapur
iv. Summary

10. CONCLUSION AND EPILOGUE :
i. Sec. I
ii. Sec. II