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Satya Pir

Summary

Satya Pir is a belief system found in Bengal created by the fusion of Islam and local religions. Experts maintain that the Muslim Satya Pir and the Hindu Satyanarayan essentially represent the same beliefs and rituals.[1] A century ago in Bengal, the ritual called, pujah was mainly performed by Hindu women and was interchangeably called Satya pir Pujah or Satya Narayan pujah.

According to the author, Dwijendra Nath Neogi, some Muslims at that time also performed the pujah. The author gives alternate theories as to how Pir and Narayan got associated. In one theory, he proposes that Brahmins during the Islamic era in Bengal changed Narayan into Pir in order for the Muslims to believe that they were worshipping an Islamic saint. The other theory says the worship started as that of a Muslim saint or Pir and later the Pir was changed into Narayan.[2]

In folklores, Narayan and Pir get mixed such as one supplicant will address him as Satya Narayana, implying that he is an avatar of Krishna, while another one in a different tale will be told that Satya Pir has just come from Mecca, which would make him Muslim.[3][4]

In Orissa, the state adjacent to Bengal, Sufism gained popularity and led to the emergence of the Satya-Pir tradition. Even today Hindus worship Satyanarayan and pir together.[5][6]

Satya pir is also worshipped by some Buddhists in Bangladesh.[7]

References edit

  1. ^ Karim, Abdul. "Satya Pir". Banglapedia. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  2. ^ Neogi, Dwijendra Nath (1916). Sacred Tales of India. London , UK: MacMillan & Company. pp. 95–100. Retrieved 20 June 2016. pir.
  3. ^ Wells, Darla (2006). "Fabulous Females and Peerless Pirs: Tales of Mad Adventure in Old Benga". Journal of Folklore Research Reviews.
  4. ^ Uddin, S; Raj, S; Harman, W (2006). Dealing with Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia - Chapter 6 In the company of Pirs: Making vows, receiving favors at Bangladeshi Sufi Shrines. Albany, NY, USA: State University of New York, Albany , NY, USA. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-7914-6707-7.
  5. ^ Kanungo, P (2003). "Hindutva's Entry into a 'Hindu Province': Early Years of RSS in Orissa". Economic and Political Weekly. 38 (31): 3293–3303. JSTOR 4413860.
  6. ^ Puniyani, Ed.: Ram (2005). Religion, power & violence : expression of politics in contemporary times. New Delhi: Sage. pp. 21, 117–118. ISBN 978-0-7619-3338-0. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  7. ^ Barua, Dilip Kumar. "A case study in the popular Buddhist belief in Bangladesh" (PDF). Society for the Study of Pali and Buddhist Culture: 96.

Further reading edit

  • Stewart, Tony (2003). Fabulous Females and Peerless Pirs: Tales of Mad Adventure in Old Bengal. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198037019