Iskandar Codex

In particular, al-Taftazani noted that both Sufism and psychoanalysis relied upon an introspective method; both engaged not with the manifest content of the psyche or soul (nafs), but with its latent content, a domain often marked by sexual desires. Most importantly, both exhibited a concern for the batin or the realm of hidden meaning, as well as for the inner reaches of the unconscious (al-la-shu‘ur). The Sufi shaykh, much like the analyst, he observed, must ascertain unconscious thoughts and desires from his disciple, in order to facilitate a transformation of the self. Sufism and Freudianism were obviously closely related. Abd-al-Halim Mahmud, a scholar of Sufism who would eventually become Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, noted that “every Sufi master is a “psychotherapist”, so to speak”. The relationship between the Sufi shaykh and his disciple is, then, one of attunement with potential for psychotherapeutic transformation.

Why every Sufi master is in some ways a Freudian psychotherapist

“If the city’s urban demographics are surprising for what we expect of “medieval” times, its economy is even more so. International trade was at the heart of Cambay’s prosperity. A dazzling array of commodities travelled back and forth between Cambay and various Asian and African ports.

Throughout the sailing season, which in the western Indian Ocean ran from mid-September to early May, numerous merchants risked shipwrecks, drowning, and other vagaries of pre-modern sea-travel, to buy and sell a range of goods – goods that people around the Indian Ocean world would have used, collected, cooked, eaten, or worn.

From Cambay, they took expensive items such as precious stones, especially agates and carnelians, pearls, perfumes, fine muslins and silks. They also bought items for everyday use like coarse cotton cloth, pulses, rice, spices, and coconuts and commodities like indigo that had industrial and medicinal uses.”

Centuries before the Europeans landed, Gujarat’s Cambay was a melting pot of trade and culture The city’s age-old Indian Ocean connections through the Gulf of Cambay shaped the subcontinent in ways that remain curiously underappreciated today.

On this day, the 14th of Muharram, in the Hijri year of 718 (1318), the Sufi mystic & scholar Baha al-Din Nakshband was born at Bukhara, present day Uzbekistan.

Shah Nakshband is considered to be one of the most influential of all Sufi's & is regarded as the founder of the prominent Nakshbandi Sufi Tarika (Sufi order).

His mystical teachings such as the sole reliance, remembrance, & love of God almighty were influential & not only attracted the common folk, but also prominent members of the Timurid dynasty.

Shah Nakshband, his successors, & the Nakshbandi's had a very prominent influence over the Central Asian Timurids & the later Delhi based Timurid'-Mughals.

From the reign of Amir Timur till Bahadur Shah Zafar, the Nakshbandi's, not only served as Murshid's (spiritual mentors), but also as confidants, advisers, & even as soldiers.

Noting the prominent influence of the Nakshbandi Sufi tarika upon the Timurid-Mughals, Shah Kalim-Allah a Chisti Sufi saint noted:

"The present Emperor of Hindustan (Aurangzeb), is a descendent of Amir Timur & Amir Timur was a devout follower of Khawaja Baha al-Din Nakshband (iradat i tamam dasht). The Emperor Aurangzeb thus too is very close to the Nakshbandi order. The Turranis (Central Asians), each & everyone of them, are connected with the Nakshbandi order & it is for this reason that the order is widespread today. They are familiar with only the Nakshbandi rituals & practice. They do not attach value to any other Tarika".

- Shahjahanabadi, Maktubat i Kalimi

Little known outside of the scholarly community, the Chandayan was composed in 1379 by the Sufi spiritual leader Da’ud, and narrates the love story of Lorik and Chanda. Written in a premodern vernacular known as Avadhi, it survives as a masterful work of transcultural aesthetics, in which literary sensibilities from Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, and Indic vernaculars merge.

Dispersed in collections across the world, only five copies of the Chandayan’s early illustrated manuscripts survive from the 15th and 16th centuries. But, as with many antiquities, partition severely altered one of these copies, a manuscript now known as the Lahore-Chandigarh Chandayan.

Only 24 folios of the Lahore-Chandigarh Chandayan manuscript remain, of what may have been over 250 when they were first commissioned in the 16th century. These pages are currently spread across three museums: the Government Museum and Art Gallery in Chandigarh (in India), and the Lahore Museum and the Karachi Museum (both in Pakistan). Acquired by the Lahore Museum before 1947, this Chandayan manuscript was among the objects of art and archaeology in its permanent collections that was split between India and Pakistan in response to the 1947 partition. Not all manuscripts were cut up for financial gain; some were dismembered for national anxieties.

At partition, the Lahore Museum became a fulcrum in the debate over governmental assets and liabilities, which were in theory subject to the rules of division established by the Partition Council. However, the museum’s intimate ties to both provincial and central governmental bodies meant that objects within its collections received different treatment during the division process. While its archaeological stores were subjected to a 50:50 split with India, its permanent collections were divided 60:40 in line with the ratio used to divide the territory of colonial Punjab. This meant that 60% of the museum’s painting, sculpture, textile, and decorative arts sections stayed with West Punjab in Pakistan, while 40% were given over to East Punjab in India.

Museum officials were keen to abide by these ratios at all costs, so much so that, in some cases, the division process resulted in the fragmentation of whole objects and manuscripts. The Chandayan, which had been acquired by the Lahore Museum unbound, was separated to match these numbers, with 14 folios allocated to museums in Pakistan and 10 folios given to India. While it is not uncommon today for manuscripts like the Chandayan to have parts in multiple collections and places, what makes the dispersal of the Chandayan unique is that it occurred with and for the division of the Indian subcontinent and today remains separated by a contentious national border that prohibits its physical reconciliation.

How partition divided a centuries-old manuscript between India and Pakistan—and continues to plague the region's heritage Research on the Chandayan of Mulla Da’ud has suffered ever since 24 folios narrating the love story were split up across the border in 1947