Piro and her writings

We do not know much about PiroFootnote ⁶ especially her early life. The Sikh ‘Nirmala’ sources, specifically the Panth Prakash of the erudite and celebrated Gian Singh, tells us how Piro a Muslim prostitute, came to live with Guru Gulab Das (1809–1873).Footnote ⁷ Gulab Das is described as ‘nastik’ (atheist), even though Singh gives us an account of his training and association with Sikh sects like the Udasis and the Nirmalas known for their Vedanta scholarship. The writings of both Piro and Gulab Das point to Vedantic monism as their philosophical inspiration. Another ‘Nirmala’ source of early twentieth century, Mahant Ganesha Singh, not only mentions Piro's coming to Gulab Das, but also that there was a fracas over her person, between her former guardians and Gulab Das’ men in Lahore.Footnote ⁸ The instigator of this conflict is reported to be Ilahi Khan Jarnail, a general of Ranjit Singh, and apparently the unseemly incident came to an end on the intervention of the ‘maharaja’ himself.Footnote ⁹ This episode, if true, shows Piro to be sought after in circles on the fringes of the Lahore court. This incident is the focus of Piro's ‘autobiographical’ narrative, the Ik Sau Sath Kafian discussed below.Footnote ¹⁰ In this narrative of self-fashioning Piro calls herself a low caste prostitute (sudar vesva) and writes of her Muslim background. There are references in her other writings as well of giving up Muslim rituals and customs after meeting her guru.Footnote ¹¹ Though some of these utterances are made in a metaphorical sense, they nevertheless allude to her Muslim past. I have discussed the perceived problem over her putative conversion from Islam to her Gulabdasi sect elsewhere.Footnote ¹² In this paper I focus on her presentation of herself as a low caste, a prostitute, and a woman, aspects that pushed her to seek a niche within the Bhakti tradition.

A brief discussion here of the use of the words prostitute and courtesan is in order. As mentioned, Piro refers to herself as a ‘vesva’, which connotes a prostitute or a dancing girl. At places Piro calls a dancing girl ‘ganka’, the word derived from the Sanskrit ganika, a courtesan.Footnote ¹³ More significantly, historian Gian Singh uses multiple terms to refer to dancing girls and more specifically Piro—kasbi, kanjari, kanchani, randi, besya—terms that conflate the subtle differences built into the many categories between a common whore soliciting customers (kanjari, randi) and a courtesan (kasbi, kanchani) seen as a repository of courtly culture and refined etiquette.Footnote ¹⁴ Piro's association with members of the Lahore court elevate her status, as does the hint that she may have used the nom de plume ‘Preman’ (steeped in love) in her writings.Footnote ¹⁵ That she was skilled in song and poetry, and was exceptionally articulate is established. On the other hand, Piro's prefixing ‘sudra’ before naming herself a ‘vesva’, or Gian Singh calling her ‘musali’ (a low caste Muslim), emphasizes her lowly status. In this paper the terms prostitute and courtesan are also used in a generic sense to mean someone who sells sexual favours.

While there is little reliable evidence to go by, there has been some speculative writing about her early life within both academic circles and a surviving offshoot of her sect in Hansi, Haryana. These writings in their different styles are based on oral traditions, one on interviews and memories of a select group, and the other on what has been transmitted and fashioned within a branch of the sect.Footnote ¹⁶ They suggest that Piro was not born in a brothel, but was brought there after becoming destitute on the death of her husband, an elderly sadhu (holy man) with whom she had eloped at a young age. A small landed Muslim family of Gujranwala in Pakistani Punjab is mentioned as her natal family. It is difficult to trace the veracity of this evidence. Her own writings do not give any clue to her upbringing or early years.

On the other hand, the style and language of her works indicate the massive influence of her Gulabdasi sect on her writing, and possibly in her literacy and training in prosody and philosophy. Piro's use of Punjabi inflected with Braj can be found in the writings of many Sikh sects of the nineteenth century, as is her use of the Gurmukhi script, associated with Sikh sacred and secular literature. Gulab Das was himself highly learned in Vedanta and prosody, and was exceptionally prolific, upwards of 50 works have been attributed to him. Many of his disciples were also authors in their own right, some of whom went on in the later nineteenth century to be associated with reform movements that made confident use of print in the public sphere.Footnote ¹⁷ Piro's writings show little influence of Islamicate culture insofar as the use of Persian language (the official language of Ranjit Singh's state) or the Perso-Arabic script is concerned, though Sufi themes and terms were frequently used.

Two works by Piro namely, Ik Sau Sath Kafian (160 Kafis)Footnote ¹⁸ and Kafian Mata Peero Kian (Kafian)Footnote ¹⁹ will be the main focus of this paper, but a set of small poems and shabdas, set to musical ragas, the Raag Sagar, will also be occasionally referred to.Footnote ²⁰Kafis are rhyming verses, a genre favourite of the Sufis of Punjab.Footnote ²¹ Though kafis are not meant to be narrative in structure, Piro's 160 Kafis bent the rules so that she could recount her story. The imbibing by the Gulabdasis of certain Sufi ideas was striking and the poetic forms used suggest a close interaction with Sufis. Kafian was in the siharfi format.Footnote ²² The si (30) harf (letters) verses technically followed the Perso-Arabic alphabet, where every new verse started with the next consecutive letter of the alphabet. However, in Kafian, Piro did not follow the alphabet, though there were 30 stanzas standard to a siharfi in the manuscript under discussion.Footnote ²³ The songs set to ragas in the Raag Sagar also had simple meters, the musical poems being a feature of both the Sikh Granth and the verse collections of some Sufis.Footnote ²⁴

The manuscript that contains the first two works of Piro on which this study is based, is located in the Guru Nanak Dev University Library in Amritsar. The discovery of this Piro text is a serendipitous story in that, it was apparently saved from destruction by an intrepid scholar who saw potential in its ragged pages.Footnote ²⁵ The subsequent initial interest in Piro and her works was driven by the efforts of this lone scholar. The story also reveals the derelict condition in which this small handwritten manuscript was found, with its first few pages missing, including the first eight kafis of Piro's 160 Kafis. The falling into disrepair also depicts the ordinary quality of the text, written in the hand of a competent scribe, but one lacking any flourishes of style. There are also mistakes that have been scratched out and corrected. Was the ordinariness of the text symptomatic of a sect not well endowed, though Piro's writings do suggest otherwise? The fact that a tomb was constructed on the site where Gulab Das and Piro were buried after their demise within a year of each other portrays a sect with resources. So was its small size suggestive of a text read often and for non-ceremonial occasions? Or was it that a text with a woman's verses did not deserve a more embellished style? The fact that Gulab Das’ random verses are also found in it indicates that that could not be the case.

It is clear that Piro's writings are available in manuscripts other than the one in use here. For instance, the Gulabdasis of Hansi have a large manuscript that contains writings of Gulab Das and Piro.Footnote ²⁶ However, this ‘Darbar Sahib,’ as they call it, mimicking the respectful reference to the Sikh, Adi Granth, is venerated in the fashion of the Sikh scripture, and kept wrapped in layers of silken cloth. Here is not the place to discuss the evolving ethos of the sect and its branches, or the changes visible from a more subversive and iconoclastic past to its present state. However, the fact that Piro's poetry is placed beside that of the guru points to the prominent place she occupies in her sect.

The 160 Kafis is Piro's longest and most complex piece of writing, and it may also be her first.Footnote ²⁷ She writes it in all likelihood to explain and justify her coming to the dera of Gulab Das. It is the compulsion to tell her story, specifically because her coming to Chathianwala created furore among her former ‘Turk/Musalman’ co-religionists and professional colleagues and guardians, that becomes the occasion to legitimize her decision to live with a Hindu/Sikh guru. Despite the mélange of heterodox ideas that make up the repertoire of Gulabdasi religion, there was some discomfort amongst its disciples at the coming of this Muslim prostitute. However, the frontal attack Piro makes against Muslim orthodoxy here, as her rage against the nefarious designs of her wardens, points to a social scandal that a hard-pressed Piro has to deal with to present her point of view. The work clearly portrays an ensuing conflict over her person, her former friends and relations, religious leaders, even admirers, in their combined attempt to prevent her from fulfilling her choice. For Piro, her flight from Lahore may have been an escape to the establishment of the guru. She certainly depicts an attritional confrontation along the lines of a religious dispute. This text of self-representation presents a unique opportunity to see the conscious effort made by Piro to fabricate a case to explain her rebellious stand. Her words, phrases and allusions can be said to have been carefully chosen in order to quell the fears of those in her new abode. She also writes to condemn those who wished to exercise their rights over her, and to display loyalty to her guru and his theology.

It is in this context that Piro's framing of her spiritual seeking—as a low caste, a woman and a prostitute—within the Bhakti paradigm begins to make sense. It not only opens a path of spiritual fulfillment for her, but also underscores that in her chosen path the conceits of divisive religious leaders and upholders of caste and gender hierarchies is meaningless. Her recourse to Bhakti—as a devotional mode and an inheritance of historical, mythical and legendary tales that underwrite her imaginary and emotional world—should then be understood as a choice she makes. Piro centres her intense devotion on the guru, rather than on a personal god, and adopts an attitudinal mien of Bhakti to lay claim to her own religious path.

Kafian on the other hand is a mature work where Piro is in a sombre mood and airs her spiritual experience, showcasing her knowledge of her sect's theology. A display of Gulabdasi philosophy is also undertaken in the 160 Kafis, though in a more combative way, its length allowing a seeping in of different attitudes. Kafian is a much shorter work. In a few of these kafis the direct and indirect allusions to voices of bhaktas like Kabir and Mira are startling, underlining her personal inclination and attraction towards Bhakti's legacy. However, it is fair to say that there are also examples that point to her Sufi inheritance. If Piro brings her indebtedness to Bhakti more often to the fore, it is because it was better equipped to handle her angst about her low caste and womanly status, even though the trope of using feminine voice is common to the Bhakti saints and the Sufis of Punjab. In Kafian, Piro gives vent to her spiritual longing and achievement by writing favoured themes that are also replicated elsewhere in her works.

Finally, a few scattered examples will be given from the Raag Sagar, comprising short poems set to ragas that celebrate the major festive occasion of the Gulabdasis, the holi fair in the month of March (Phagun). Holi was observed over a few days by the Gulabdasis and sources show that during this festival other prostitutes came to the dera, a practice that continued well after the death of Piro and Gulab Das.Footnote ²⁸ A recent interview with an elder (buzurg) of Chathianwala shows the longevity of the practice.Footnote ²⁹ That holi, the carnivalesque festival associated with overturning of normal social restraints was particularly favourite of the Gulabdasis is apposite, for they prided themselves in flouting norms of caste, class and religion. In a number of these ragas, Piro celebrates her guru, splendidly adorned with clothes, jewels and weapons, and showing his visage (darshan) to his followers who come to play holi with him. Piro is often present in these songs in the signature line of the verses, and as the principal disciple of the guru.

What is noteworthy is that a number of songs acknowledge the presence of prostitutes in the festival, with some hinting at competition to attract them in numbers to the dera. That prostitutes often participated in festivals held in honour of various Sufi pirs in Punjab is apparent from the Raag Sagar, and also in other accounts.Footnote ³⁰ One may speculate that the reference to rising commercialism in their relations with the faqirs, as some songs suggest, may point to a changing perception of prostitution with the establishment of the Raj. But it also tells us of Piro's regular association with prostitutes.

Women Bhaktas, sexuality and the motif of prostitution in Bhakti legends

Piro poses the dilemmas of her personal situation and reflects on the potential course of her future within the ambit of Bhakti legacy. It may therefore be worthwhile to understand what space Bhakti opens for her, and what if any, were the constraints she encounters. In this section a discussion of what the Bhakti path may mean to a woman and a prostitute is attempted, based on available scholarship.

As against the sanyasi tradition that extols the value of celibacy, the Bhakti way is seen to be compatible with marriage and householder responsibilities, collapsing the difference between the separate ashramas of the householder and the sanyasi prescribed by the dharmashastras. It is commonly accepted that a number of male bhaktas were householders, Kabir and Nanak among them.Footnote ³¹ Though there do not seem to be extensive legends that actually explore the relationship between a male bhakta and his spouse, the marital status of the bhakta is nevertheless important to position the Bhakti way as distinct from traditional soteriological options. The question, however, becomes more complex when we turn to women devotees, and there emerges an axiomatic incompatibility between marriage and Bhakti for them. The problem is examined by Uma Chakravarti in her discussion of four women ‘bhaktins’ from South India.Footnote ³² Chakravarti points to a fundamental tension between unstinting loyalty and service expected to be rendered to the earthly god, the husband, in accordance with prescriptive wifely duties, and unhindered devotion also to be offered to the chosen (male) god. The question of sexuality of the female devotee also takes centre-stage in Chakravarti's analysis and she highlights the dissonance between marriage and Bhakti for women devotees. The four women under her lens either refuse marriage (Avvaiyar), or walk out of it (Karaikkal Ammaiyar, Mahadevi Akka), or marry their god (Andal). Thus unlike male bhaktas, who have little problem reconciling their devotion to their gods, and being the recipients of their wives’ devoted services (Chakravarti discusses Tiruvalluvar, the famous Sangam poet and brother of Avvaiyar to make the point), pursuing Bhakti becomes a complicated problem for women bhaktas which tests their loyalty towards their dual gods.

In this context it may be reiterated that in the poetry of various male bhaktas, it is the norm to mimic female voice when addressing their respective gods.Footnote ³³ This feminine impersonation allows a debasement of the self, a cleansing of the ego of its sense of power. This enactment of humiliation and disempowerment that is the quotidian lot of women is imitated in order to achieve the perfection of devotion to a spouse-god who demands annihilation of the hindering ego. As Ramanujan commented that unlike the high caste male saints who had to undergo suffering and privation in order to free themselves of an inflated ego to pursue Bhakti, women bhaktas (and low caste saints) had nothing to shed.Footnote ³⁴ Scholars have described this quixotic trait as facilitating the outpouring of intense emotion, just as it created the space for intensely erotic poetics.Footnote ³⁵ This genre of Bhakti poetry, often shot through with sexualized passion, again, is a mood that could co-exist with a ‘real’ marriage for the male bhakta who could, after all, step out of willed masquerade. This is unlike the situation with the female bhakta, whose sensuous expression finds a voice either with a god who is also the spouse (Andal), or outside of marriage (Mahadevi).

In an important article J. S. Hawley discusses the moral order of Bhakti, and examines it in conjunction with that of the dharmashastras. According to Hawley, Bhakti ethics do not altogether negate those of traditional morality, so much as challenge and supplement them. They often machinate situations in which these ethics are applied in ways that give new meanings to them. Most of all, conventional morality that works by dividing social types (context-sensitivity for Ramanujan) is overturned because Bhakti sets about constructing a community that brings people together in satsang.Footnote ³⁶ This Bhakti proclivity to push for a subtle, and at times subversive, shift of meaning and message creates the possibility of a radical challenge to conventional morality. It also simultaneously co-exists and reconciles with—if not outright endorses—traditional ethical codes. This occurred even as Bhakti legends accumulated and became open to reinterpretations over time. One such arena that historians have brought to the fore is that of the need to explain away the low caste origins of saints like Kabir or Ravidas.Footnote ³⁷ The famous hagiographer Nabhadas’ own low caste genesis, and his remaining on the peripheries of the Ramanandi sect have been interpreted as seminal to his attempt to create an inclusive Bhakti sociality in his anthology, the Bhaktamal, on the life of saints at the turn of the seventeenth century.Footnote ³⁸ However, the many commentators and exegetes of the text opened the way for more orthodox interpretations. The attempts to upgrade the status of certain low caste saints may not have depleted the unsettling of the given social status quo that the saints’ defiant assertion of their social origins provided them, but the pendulum could swing both ways.

So what about the question of sexual impropriety of women in the ethical codes of Bhakti, if sexual rectitude be seen as the most significant virtue prescribed for them by the orthodox? The figure of the prostitute, the site and symbol of sexual excess, and the theme of prostitution, along with that of the threatened sexuality of the wife, feature often enough in Bhakti hagiographies and legends. One reason for the play of such themes is precisely that the given conceits of everyday morality and its upholders could be punctured. After all, if society expects women and their guardians to be vigilant over their sexualities, then Bhakti's ways demand pulling the rug from under the feet of such worldly niceties, opening a window to teach lessons in the higher moral order of a bhakta's passionate devotions.

The prostitute appears in many routine enumerations of the socially degraded, either in the company of, or as one of those who achieves salvation because of the strength of their devotion, proving the point about the inclusiveness of the Bhakti path. Some in these tales inadvertently reach salvation, in stories that underline the benefits of repeating the ‘name’ (of god), the simple devotional formula significant in Bhakti spirituality. Many of these stories and bhaktas had antecedents in Vaishnav pauranic kathas, which became stock characters in Bhakti renditions of these sagas. In the latter category is the ‘ganika’, the courtesan Jivanti, who buys a parrot and teaches it to recite ‘Ram Ram’ every morning. The day the two die Vishnu's messenger takes them to heaven because they have the name of god on their lips.Footnote ³⁹ In the same category is Ajamil, a pre-Kaliyuga evil Brahmin seduced by a prostitute. Frightened by Death's messengers in his last moments, he begins to call out to his son Narayan, a name of Vishnu, who is pleased and saves him from hell.Footnote ⁴⁰ The prostitute appears as symbolizing evil in these tales, particularly the second. In the first story the Bhakti path is not closed to her, rather, the point is that even someone as dissolute as her can attain salvation by the simple labour of repeating god's name.

However in stories associated with better-etched and famous bhaktas, the moral essence of the tales becomes more ambiguous. One such is the tale of Kabir's association with a prostitute, discussed by D. N. Lorenzen as part of Ananta-das’ Parchai of Kabir of the early seventeenth century, a story also available in Priyadas’ anthology of the early eighteenth century. As Kabir's fame grows and people begin to flock to his place, Kabir decides to rid himself of them and his fame by going early one morning to the house of a prostitute, putting his hands around her neck, and grabbing a vessel filled with holy water. Pretending the water to be liquor, and in the company of the prostitute he goes to the market, where people, as he expects them to, begin reviling him. While the next part of the story depicts Kabir establishing his superiority over the Brahmins’ ritualistic punctiliousness in the heart of orthodox Jagannath Puri, the role of the prostitute for Kabir is simply to rid him of milling crowds and worldly fame.Footnote ⁴¹ The fact that Kabir does not make love to the prostitute, or drink liquor, can be said to establish his purity and moral reticence. Even though the prostitute is not the focus of the story, it needs to be emphasized that there is no second-hand redemption for her by association with Kabir, his antics being the sole concern of the author.

The theme of ‘almost falling into prostitution’, the dangerous staking of one's honour for a higher goal, is also available in Bhakti literature. In these stories the threatened honour of a respectable woman is ultimately preserved. The movement towards a temporary occupation of liminal space, defined by fear of loss of honour, reintroduces the importance of the familiar argument of maintaining sexual propriety. In these tales, the fact that the protagonist is willing to contemplate the overstepping of the line that divides honourable behaviour from dishonourable (good women from nasty characters), is not meant to elevate the status of those who follow ‘degraded’ professions like the prostitute. Instead the idea is to underline that if the bhakta is truly sincere towards the duties entrusted to her, she will be saved from a terrible fate. The import of the saga of bhakta Pipa, a king, and his queen, Sita, is precisely this. Developed around the idea of the royal couple normally used to receiving the humble service of others, its order is inverted within the Bhakti paradigm. The couple are shown eager to serve the community of the bhaktas, and willing to go to any lengths to achieve that aim.Footnote ⁴² Living in poverty, the appropriately named Sita, who follows her husband in his impecunious life of a bhakta, is shown willing to prostitute herself by standing in the bazaar in the hope of earning money to feed the Bhakti community. On another occasion she bargains her body to a lascivious merchant, for the same reason. On a rainy night when the streets are impassable, her husband Pipa, carries her for her tryst to the merchant's house so that she can keep her side of the sordid bargain. On both occasions Sita's honour is saved because the depth of devotion between her and her husband shames and changes the outlook of those who were earlier willing to exploit her. There is a reversal of ordinary values in this Bhakti parable, insofar as who is the rightful recipient of service, or what constitutes an ideal household, as discussed by Hawley.Footnote ⁴³ Yet from the viewpoint of prostitution, there is an affirmation of it being a degenerate institution to the moral and sexual economy of the household. The portrayal of a wife eager to become a prostitute so that she can fulfill her higher call of community service does not condemn prostitution as such. However, holding back the wife from a possible crossing over to a ‘depraved’ life, does reassert the salience of wifely dharma.

The circulation of hagiographical materials within the Bhakti world created a number of legends, sometimes mutually fraught, around the bhakta Mirabai. In this case, the most popular and elusive woman saint of north India, the motif of sexual transgression, becomes very complex indeed. Mira emerges in most accounts determinedly defiant of ordinary morality, but also without having compromised herself in any way. According to Hawley, in the condensed life-story of Mira available in the Bhaktamal, her single, most important trait is that of fearlessness.Footnote ⁴⁴ This Rajput princess is fearless and shameless in her passionate devotion to Krishna. As the biographical details of her life grow, she is shown to think nothing of thwarting her pativrata religion or the demands of propriety and appropriate behaviour in her marital household. She neither consummates her marriage to the rana, insisting on her fidelity to Krishna, nor seeks to please her husband's family, choosing to spend time in the company of sadhus. Yet two episodes associated with her as elaborated in Priyadas’ Bhaktirasabodhini stop short of her crossing into sexual misdemeanour. In one, Mira is heard whispering with someone in her room and rumours of a liaison spread. When the rana demands to see who is with her in her chamber, he can only find the idol of Giridhar, her favourite image of Krishna, the mountain-lifter. In the second episode, Mira comes across a dissolute sadhu, out to take advantage of her by insisting that Krishna himself wishes her to submit to his advances. Mira's predicament is overcome appositely by her very quality of shamelessness. She lays out the pleasure bed in the presence of the satsang, urging the sadhu to do Krishna's bidding in front of all thereby shaming him into abandoning his carnal desire.

In the context of the above-related episodes Mira does not breach prescribed ethical codes because of the ardour and honesty of her Krishna bhakti.Footnote ⁴⁵ However, the node on which her biography/hagiography revolves, that of intransigence in the face of common prescription of marriage and pativrata religion for women, makes it really difficult to mould Mira into a paragon of feminine virtue. An early text from Punjab, the Prem Ambodh (1693), which introduces a number of bhaktas (bhagats), including Mirabai, does portray an image of Mira that can be called relatively more conformist than that developed two decades later by Priyadas.Footnote ⁴⁶ Here Mira refuses to consummate her marriage to her husband because she feels he does not remember/utter the name of god Ram/Hari. Later she realizes her husband is in fact literally her god, as he is Vishnu. The text later enacts the consummation of the two, when the strength of Mira's devotion forces Giridhar to take the human form of (by then) her dead husband. The flouting of wifely duty by refusing consummation, that lends moral equivocation to Priyadas’ text, becomes a statement of a higher form of pativrata religion in the Prem Ambodh, higher even than the sati's burning alive on her dead husband's pyre, to which the text directly alludes. The highly erotic nature of Mira's bhakti is harnessed into its acceptable expression within a socially sanctioned relationship, unlike the inherently destabilizing one between two ascetic practitioners, jogis, as imagined in some of Mira's poetry.Footnote ⁴⁷ While endorsing the point about the Bhakti accretive traditions not allowing the moral turpitude that will overturn entirely the dharamshastra codes, the length to which the Prem Ambodh goes to inhibit Mira's familial defiance, shows the ability of the Mira story to constantly exceed the limits set by its raconteurs. That in Punjab one of the reasons for the excision of Mira from the Adi Granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs compiled in the beginning of the seventeenth century, was the erotic nature of her saguna bhakti, stresses the point.Footnote ⁴⁸

Parita Mukta, who did extensive fieldwork amongst the low caste bhajniks, the singers of devotional songs, in Gujarat and Rajasthan, illustrates how Mira's poetry resonates with them.Footnote ⁴⁹ She emphasizes the discomfort of high caste Rajputs with the legacy of Mira, even to present times. By historical study of the Rajput clan and kingdom structures Mukta shows how Mira, with her individualist rebellion against familial and clannish ethics is a misfit in the system. In a situation where kingdoms were made and unmade repeatedly, the exchange of women was an important ingredient in their construction and expansion. Women were expected to display undiluted loyalty to the husband, their pativrata religion. The branding of Mira as ‘kulnasi’, by the Rajputs, the destroyer of the family/clan, underlines the unacceptable nature of her recalcitrant defiance.Footnote ⁵⁰ What lends piquancy to Mira's bhakti is the fact that she remains isolated within the Bhakti sects, not even the saguna Krishna sects claim her as their own.Footnote ⁵¹ Whether the fact of her being a woman, or that she avowedly mutinies against womanly dharma, makes it difficult to appropriate her and her rebellion, highlighting that in the accretive legends of the bhaktas, the space for sexual impropriety and the overturning of dharma was narrow.

The complex Bhakti imaginary sought to distinguish between the sexual license available to the wife before it threatened to be called misconduct, and sexual excess habitually incorporated into the very persona of the practitioner of erotic arts, the courtesan. At the level of its expansive ideology that looked towards social inclusion and integration as essential to its radical potentialities, the Bhakti path homed onto the prostitute as a possible recipient of salvation, as her person combined social attributes of a low caste and inappropriate gender behaviour. By promising her a spiritual opening, Bhakti emphasized its alterity, announcing its programmatic differentiation from the agendas of the dharmashastras, the subversive reflexivity that has been defined by Ramanujan as characteristic of Bhakti.Footnote ⁵² Yet the prostitute remained a prop, often used to enhance the stature of, or give nuances to, the multi-layered personality of a well-known saint. The dharmic injunctions for the wife were less amenable to complete overhauling, as she was assessed and placed in her role as the sexual and social partner to her husband. Though shaken about, destabilized, and at times brought to the brink, sexual codes operative for the wife were never really violated in totality. Undoubtedly Bhakti hagiographers went far beyond the constrictions of lawful wifely conduct. Bhakti mythology worked at one level because it positioned itself in an oppositional frame to the chaste conduct that was expected from the wife. Yet the overstepping of the wife occurred more as a contemplated possibility than as an accomplished fact, that too in order to fulfill the demands of her more conventional duty, to be a true partner to her husband. However, Mirabai's case shows that the Bhakti path remained open-ended, not foreclosing all social churnings that it thrived on. However, the locus of a significant challenge was likely to be outside the domestic and conjugal space, like the one Piro inhabited in the Gulabdasi dera.

The context: the Gulabdasi Sect and mid nineteenth century Punjab

After the inauguration of the Khalsa by the last Sikh guru, Gobind Singh, in 1699, the eighteenth century is often associated with the success of the Khalsa in seizing political power in Punjab. This culminated in the establishment of Ranjit Singh's state a 100 years later.Footnote ⁵³ This period is also associated with the proliferation of prescriptive texts proffering ideal norms for Khalsa social behaviour, a tendency that continued into the first half of the nineteenth century.Footnote ⁵⁴ However, this historical frame which focused on the Khalsa does not take into account the parallel success of some other Sikh sects devoted to ascetic ideals like the Udasis, or to scholarly pursuits like the Nirmalas in the nineteenth century.Footnote ⁵⁵ There has also been some acknowledgement of the complex and close relationship between Sikh and Hindu social and cultural practices. This phenomenon, called ‘sanatan Sikhism’ by Harjot Oberoi, refers to Sikhs in the nineteenth century adhering to caste practices or considering themselves to be part of Hindu society.Footnote ⁵⁶ Not as much scholarly attention, though, has been paid to sects like the Gulabdasis who lived on the margins of all mainstream religious praxis. Keeping themselves open to varied ideas that animated the cultural landscape of mid-nineteenth century Punjab, they picked and imbibed theological principles and social norms from a variety of sources.

As noted earlier, Gulab Das was trained under Udasi teachers under whose influence he practiced asceticism, and Nirmala preceptors whose Vedantic philosophy and pursuit of scholarship left an indelible mark on him. The fact he is mentioned in Nirmala sources shows they considered his sect to be an offshoot from within them. On the other hand, Gian Singh's discomfort with Gulabdasi theology becomes obvious not only from the fact that he refers to them as atheists, but also because of, apparently, the hedonistic principles that guided them. This included the disapproval of Piro's intimate relationship with Gulab Das, or that following in Piro footsteps other prostitutes too became his disciples. The colonial ethnographic accounts aired their Victorian disdain for what they perceived to be Gulabdasi sect's epicurean culture, emphasizing pleasure as their aim.Footnote ⁵⁷ Nirmala and other contemporary sources also note that the Gulabdasis flouted caste norms as dictated by the institution of varnashramadharma, the Brahmanical order of castes and stages of life, a fact repeatedly attested by Piro. Furthermore, the sect was open to Hindus and Muslims, as observed by contemporaries, the reason why a Muslim prostitute like Piro could find a refuge there. Piro frequently writes of this liberality of Gulab Das as, for instance, satguru das gulab amira, hinduan guru turkan ke pira—the noble true guru Gulab Das, a guru to Hindus and pir to the Turks.Footnote ⁵⁸

The Gulabdasi belief in Vedantic monism, pantheism, even solipsism, is visible in their writings. North Indian asceticism could incubate both extreme forms of asceticism along with a milder Bhakti devotional religiosity.Footnote ⁵⁹ It was the Bhakti devotional forms that provided Piro with a beacon of hope as already underscored. The Gulabdasis were at the same time open to Sufi thoughts that flowed around them, our Nirmala historians pointing to the undue influence of debauched faqirs (rind faqir) on them. One source noted these faqirs to be Bullehshahi, referring to the followers of the immensely popular eponymous Sufi of Punjab who lived from the last two decades of the seventeenth century to the first half of the eighteenth century.Footnote ⁶⁰ This is quite possible, as Bulleh Shah belonged to Kasur, the place where the Gulabdasi dera Chathianwala is located. Moreover, the heretical ideas of the tenth century Sufi mystic martyr Mansur-al-Hallaj whose pronouncement ‘anal haq’ or ‘I am the absolute truth’, was considered to be outside the frame of Islam, was an important influence on the Gulabdasis. Al-Hallaj, who is said to have come to Punjab in his travels was a popular figure there, and scholars have pointed to similarities between his doctrine and the Vedantic thought of ‘aham brahmasmi’ or ‘I am Brahma’.Footnote ⁶¹ Certainly references to anal haq are present in Piro's verses, and Gulab Das was known to refer to himself as Brahm.Footnote ⁶²

Though I have foreground Piro's existential dilemma within the Bhakti paradigm because she uses its frame to express her spiritual seeking, the Gulabdasis, must be seen to be one of those liminal sects that encouraged cross-fertilization of ideas. Their hybrid beliefs and bricolage of practices is vital to understand how Piro a Muslim and a prostitute, came to be in this ostensibly Sikh sect. There were sects other than the Gulabdasis which also exhibited a medley of ideas and practices. There was, for example, the sect headed by Wazir Singh, a contemporary of Gulab Das, whose philosophical inclination resembles Gulabdasi ideas to such an extent that one can assume a contact between the two.Footnote ⁶³ Wazir Singh also had women followers who lived in his establishment, and at least one of them composed poetry.

What encouraged the inclusiveness of these sects was at least partially the perception of times out of joint. These sects witnessed the quick and sanguinary disintegration of the Sikh state after the death of the Maharaja, Ranjit Singh, in 1839. A period marked by court intrigues, Anglo-Sikh wars, the disbandment of the Khalsa army and the gradual concentration of power with the British, must have been a difficult period to live through. The appeal of these sects as safety nets and as offering alternative space away from worldly concerns emerges. We can see this in both Gian Singh's account of the Gulabdasis and in the verses of Wazir Singh's follower Nurang Devi. Singh notes how many young men went to fight the Satluj conflict, the Anglo-Sikh war of 1845–1846, after depositing wealth with Gulab Das. Subsequently many became sadhus.

Nurang Devi also writes of the attraction of faqiri, mendicancy, in this period for all the four castes (varnas), and for the Khalsa as well.

Piro's personal rebellion and social recalcitrance has to be placed within this period of political uncertainty that made alternative social imaginings perhaps a shade easier.

Piro: a courtesan and a consort

In this section Piro's engagement with her spiritual quest is examined, along with the manner in which she wishes to portray herself to her contemporaries. Piro's vehement rejection of the Hindu and the Islamic faiths, and of Khalsa Sikhism, as corporeally fetishistic creeds that obdurately disallow women rightful participation is shown. Piro instead asserts the claims of her sect and looks to anchor her own seeking in other legitimizing ideologies. Though Sufi influence is present in Piro's poetry, she consciously seeks out Bhakti legacy to bolster her claims to a low caste woman's, and particularly a courtesan's, capacity for a life of piety. In her most luminous moments, when she expresses her spiritual awakening and ecstatic experience, it is the lingual, imaginative and emotive field of Bhakti she turns to. At the same time, when Piro attempts to depict herself as a consort, and she does that even as she insists on the possible redemption of a prostitute, she uses the common reservoir of Bhakti and Pauranic mythology to delineate her case.

It may be appropriate to begin by viewing Piro in a pugnacious mood, criticizing given creeds for their refusal to espouse the cause of women. In rhetoric reminiscent of the bellicose Kabir,Footnote ⁶⁶ Piro rejects Islam, averring it has no place for women. Concentrating exclusively on the bodily comportment required in Islam, the circumcision and a style of facial hair for men, she makes the point that women are then naturally excluded from this faith.

Like Kabir who regularly ridiculed the fetishism of religious figures, concerned with ritual purity at the cost of inward piety, Piro imitates the same tone. The critique of the rite of circumcision has been attributed to Kabir.Footnote ⁶⁷ Again, in the manner of Kabir, Piro makes a similar point about the Hindus.

Even in relation to the relatively new stream of Khalsa within the Sikh faith, Piro's grievance remains the same, the exclusion of women in their bodily rituals, and therefore their ranks.

Two points need to be made here. Firstly, re-enacting the rhetoric of Kabir, and of other bhaktas’ angst, Piro imbricates herself in the Bhakti tradition. One of the modes of transmission of the Bhakti message in Punjab was the Adi Granth of the Sikhs which also contains the poems of 15 bhagats.Footnote ⁷⁰ Piro, as will be demonstrated further, culls this inheritance, the vast store of Bhakti legends and tales, for pertinent examples that bolster her case for her chosen life. Secondly, though imitating Kabir and others, the impact of Piro's voice must be considered to be significantly different, as she seeks to clarify her position as a woman, speaking as one, not the relatively authoritative male voice impersonating the voice of a woman. This refreshing assertiveness makes the rare and the improbable possible, a woman speaking for herself, in a mode that is neither submissive nor maudlin. It is this sharp verbosity that gives a special quality to Piro's honesty, as she confronts her courtesan's past.

In her 160 Kafis, partially written to legitimize her refuge in the Gulabdasi dera, Piro introduces herself upfront as a ‘sudar vesva’ [k. 9], a low caste prostitute. Dipping in Bhakti's reservoir of tales, she carefully enumerates the pious women in Vaishnav mythology who achieve salvation. They do so despite the sexual overtones to their individual stories, making the point about the capaciousness of the Bhakti route that does not discriminate between sexually restrained good women, and those with more ambiguous sexualities. Piro's specific tally of women with questionable sexualities was a common one in Bhakti legends and poems, but her usage as a prostitute and a woman, pushes for a creative look at what the devotional field of Bhakti could offer.

Ganika, the prostitute, and Ajamil (Ajamal), associated with a prostitute, have already been mentioned. Kubjan, a hunchback, desired Krishna, who fulfilled her seeing her devotion, also restoring her beauty. The parable of Shabari, the Bhilni is well known, and is especially viewed as one that depicts affectionate devotion negating the strength of rituals of purity and pollution. She feeds Ram polluted berries, tasting them first, to ensure he eats sweet ones.Footnote ⁷¹

The double stigma of low caste, and prostitution that Piro carries, and her candid declaration of where she comes from, clearly do not disqualify her in her mind from a search for salvation. As explained above, the Bhakti path opened the creative possibilities of a life in religious pursuit for one such as her, and Piro tries to work through that leeway. After pointing out the grace shown to lowly women, Piro immediately goes on to recount the low caste saints whose well-known example underlines the unique egalitarianism of the Bhakti way. The idea was to stretch the radical potential of Bhakti.

Paradoxically, it is this emplacement in the Bhakti tradition that also helps in understanding a demure and less belligerent Piro one docile and subdued in manner, emulating the traditionally wonted and appreciated mien of women. The enormous emphasis in Piro's poetry on salvation through the mystical persona of the guru begs some discussion as it carries forward the Bhakti legacy of the reliance on the guru to reveal esoteric knowledge and personally lead the disciple on the path of deliverance. The tradition of guruship is old in India, and scholars have traced its origins to the obscure and arcane sects of Buddhist Siddhas and Tantric yogis, including the Nath yogis, seen as precursors to the nirguni (formless) Bhakti.Footnote ⁷⁴ Equally important in north India is the Sufi concept of pir-murid, laying stress on the complete dependence of the murid (disciple) on the pir or the murshid to help towards the stage of annihilation of the self in divine (fana). Both these traditions are well established in Punjab, and there is no doubt that both influenced Piro. However, the significance of the guru in the sant institution, in circumstances explained by Daniel Gold as emanating from a rejection of both Hinduism and Islam, putting sole emphasis on piety hinged around the guru, seems particularly appropriate for placing Piro in this tradition.Footnote ⁷⁵ Piro not only vociferously denies belonging to either Hinduism or Islam, ‘na main musalmani na hindu hosan’ [k. 150], she also insists that her guru be seen as belonging to both Hindus and Muslims. The juxtaposition in her writing of the denial of significance of conventional creeds, whilst keeping one's sect open to adherents from both is not that surprising; the one operated at the level of philosophical musings, the other at social praxis. Piro's own Islamic antecedents give her assertion the power of a cherished belief, a stress that is hard to miss, illuminating how bhaktas often transcended both caste and religious barriers.

The salience of the guru as the focus of piety is seen in the multiple names with which Piro addresses him. The guru could at once be the human guru, an avatar of Vishnu, or god himself. The term most employed by Piro is satguru, (true teacher) in keeping with the term used in nirguni Bhakti, a tradition to which Piro unequivocally links herself, especially by invoking the metaphorical language of Kabir. Terms like sahu, sahab, sain, malak are also used, underscoring the status of the guru as the master. ‘Soham,’ is a term with mystical connotations for the Gulabdasis, linked perhaps to their initiation mantra, and could also be used to refer to the guru. Piro also addresses her guru with words that have an Islamicate heritage such as murshid (preceptor), arif (gnostic), hajoor (honoured one) or beparvahe (nonchalant). Modes of address that could cross into an erotic usage are also deployed like saiyan, piya, balam, that carry the connotation of a lover, more in line with an erotic chord in some saguna (god with attributes) bhaktas’ songs, or those in the mood of viraha. Piro at other times uses terms seen otherwise in the context of nirguna Bhakti, akhand (complete/indivisible), jani-jano (all-knowing), antaryami (all-knowing), nirankare (formless), abnasi (indestructible) and bihad (without limit), but also avatar (incarnation of a god), as in saguna bhakti. The vital role of the guru on the disciple's path of seeking revelation is seen in the familiar imagery of the boatman helping them to cross over the worldly sea.

Piro also underlines that it is impossible to see the ultimate reality without the active aid of the guru.

Piro's constant refrain of calling herself a sudra woman, especially when positioning the self in relation to the guru, makes sense when we understand the power of the living guru. The guru is materially present, metaphysically omnipresent, and mystically the representation of the divine. The obsequious self in relation to the mighty guru finds metaphorical expression in imagery of weakness and strength, Piro presenting herself as nimani, (weak, child-like, innocent) and guru as powerful (zoravar); or guru as the source of light, sun (bhan) lighting up the world. In Piro's case, however, the tag of sudra has multiple connotations. It at once emphasizes her low caste origins and her lowly status as a woman, all women routinely clubbed with sudras in the dharmashastras. It alludes to her former occupation of a prostitution considered base, and evokes the right demeanour of a pupil in the company of the guru. The following verse captures Piro's mood of self-effacement, bearing witness to the need to destroy the obstructive ego on the path of Bhakti under the tutelage of the guru—

Thus two different aspects of Piro's personality are visible in her writings. We see a combative person inveighing against the caretakers of formal religions and ridiculing their somatically oriented rituals that alienate women. The insistence on the inclusion of the prostitutes, the sexually ambivalent, the low castes, and women—the generically sudra beings—is a carrying forward of this mood, one that engages with Bhakti at its radical best. It is a reminder of the potential equality for salvation that Bhakti endorses, a door ajar for those who come from such ranks of society. However, the tone and vocabulary changes from one of dismissal and defiance, when speaking of Hinduism and Islam, to that of respectful persuasion and gentle submission, when bringing up the case of the disenfranchised before the guru. Though this reminder of the hopes of the socially marginalized should be seen as an assertion of their existence within the fold of Bhakti, however softly made, it comes along with a shift to a more conciliatory and conventional tone. Piro tries to play down the danger associated with her sexually loaded self, and undertakes the onus of subduing it by ‘re-presenting’ herself as a consort. Here the prostitute, under the guidance and magnanimity of the guru, aspires to be a consort, occupying the socially sanctioned and conventionally elevated status available to women.

In the 160 Kafis, Piro at a juncture impersonates Sita, in a situation where she expects the adherents of the Gulabdasi dera to ‘rescue’ her from what she describes as her captivity at the hands of her former co-religionists and guardians. In a clear reference to the drama enacted in the Ramayana, the abduction of Sita by Ravana and her rescue organized by Rama, she presents herself as Sita, who has to be reunited with her Rama-guru, even though in the verse quoted below she asks her guru to stay indifferent to her fate. Taking on the role of Sita, the best of consorts, loyal and sacrificing, must be seen as a deliberate attempt to re-imagine her station in the dera. Referring to Sita's desire for the golden deer that begets hers and Rama's troubles in Valmiki's epic, Piro recreates the drama in her own theatre—

If Rama's undertaking in the epic of the harrowing task of freeing Sita from the grips of Ravana is the outcome of the nature of his monogamous love and sacred relationship with Sita, then it is assumed that the emulation of the socially revered pair is what Piro hopes to draw attention to in the context of her own relationship with her guru. The salient point is that when assuming the role of the consort, Piro also imitates the manner of a high caste Hindu wife, the pativrata, who takes the vow of devotion and service to her spouse. The note of subservience to the superior and divine spouse, to whom respect and service (seva) is due emerges strongly in the following verse—

The demeanour of the sudra-like (and sudra) woman towards the guru can here be replicated in the respectful attitude of the Hindu wife to her spouse-god. The evocation of domestic hierarchy in this instance resembles the injunctions of the dharmashastra, and the move from the role of an obedient disciple to that of a consort is only a step away.

In fact the literary trope popular in Bhakti poetry, of speaking in the voice of a woman, often assumes the stance of a bride pining for her husband. The bridal imagery is fairly ubiquitous in Bhakti poetry, the ideology of ‘service and suhaag’ referred to by Sangari in the poetry of Mira that diluted for Sangari Mira's social rebellion.Footnote ⁷⁸ Piro too uses this image to indicate the degree of her spiritual attainment—piya peero paye ke suhaagan hoi [Kk. 10]—on finding piya Piro has become an auspicious bride. This line, as the rest of this verse, blurs the distinction between god, guru, and spouse-god, as it does the variance between material and spiritual union. In many verses of the Kafian, from which this line is extracted, Piro exults in her complete physical and mystical union with her god/guru/spouse-god—peero piya aap hai main bhin na piya [Kk. 14]—Piro is Piya, I am not separate from Piya—stressing the need to find god and guru within oneself, but also revealing the bliss of attaining that state. The ultimate reality is imagined in terms of both a physical and mystical union with the divine, akin to that of a bride with her groom, an endorsement of the conceptual reach of the idea of a suhaagan.

To what extent did Piro succeed in establishing herself as the consort of the guru? Did acceptance of being a consort abjure looking at herself as a low caste prostitute? Or did she remain a courtesan, albeit one who has a choice to follow a religious path of Bhakti open to the marginalized? The answers to both questions—of looking at herself as a consort and a courtesan—must be in the affirmative. Her acceptance as a consort within her Gulabdasi sect is easy to establish. Available iconography of the sect shows her sitting next to Gulab Das on a raised platform, while some key disciples surround them, including the heir-apparent to Gulab Das’ gaddi (seat) shown fanning them (see Figure 1).Footnote ⁷⁹ As noted earlier, Gulab Das and Piro were buried in a single tomb whose ruins still stand in the Kasur district of the Pakistani Punjab. Gian Singh describes how the site of their mausoleum is considered sacred by their followers, who visit it with votive offerings during holi.

Figure 1.

Source: Sevak, G. I. (1984) Gulabdasi Sampradaya: Rachna Ate Vichar, Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, Guru Nanak Dev University.

This degree of respect for a woman who calls herself the disciple of the guru shows that Piro had reached the stature of the guru's consort. Piro, who in the 160 Kafis makes other disciples address her as ‘mai sahib,’ (respected mother) and ‘mata Peero,’ (mother Piro), probably depicted the reality of the situation in the dera. At the same time it is presumed that Gulab Das and Piro never married, as no sources have been found which recount such an event. They stayed practising ascetics of their order, keeping themselves above the quotidian requirements of ordinary lives.

On the other hand there is evidence in Piro's writing that she never forgets or disowns her past, and continues to make references to it. This constant recall is undertaken to justify the guru's magnanimous attitude in giving her refuge, the obsequious gratefulness expressed repeatedly. It also magnifies, broadens and displays the radical social churning her sect represented. More astoundingly still, it confirms that a courtesan could be a consort, and be revered as such. I will give two final examples to elucidate her disavowal of forgetting her past.

The content of this verse is much like the earlier reference to the favoured low caste women, except that here Piro also brings attention to suffering humiliation for associating with these women, a situation more likely her own guru faced, rather than the other mythological characters she alludes to. Was it difficult to forget one's past because she is constantly reminded of it? Or did Piro not wish to forget it, contumaciously demanding an elevated status for a prostitute? It is also important to note that Piro re-enumerates these women after she has already taken on the persona of Sita in her narrative. The mention of the divine couple Gauri/Mahadev, that is, Parvati/Shiva, is also noteworthy, an effort to blur the difference between the legitimate and the illegitimate from the perspective of the dharmashastras? Or is it the need to push for a manifestation in reality the flirtation with sexually charged women that the Bhakti legends indulge in?

The last example is from the Raag Sagar, songs written when Piro is well ensconced in the dera. The references to prostitutes singing and dancing are numerous (see Figure 1), their presence considered auspicious on this occasion of breaking down rigid social barriers.

If prostitutes became lay disciples of Gulab Das because of the presence of Piro, then here was an on-going association of Piro with her past that she does not repudiate. Indeed it becomes the right time to again remind the guru of his special relationship with women like her.

In these songs Piro does not present herself as actively taking part in the on-going festivities. She stays on the sidelines, making a note of the celebrations around her. She nevertheless illuminates her special relationship with the guru—das gulab swami more jin khud baksi peero dasi (Gulab Das is my lord who has redeemed his slave Piro).Footnote ⁸⁷ Piro, it seems, was a former courtesan who is now a consort of the guru. She felt indebted to the guru, for the carving of her spiritual path and her special status in the dera. She also revels in her past showing the Bhakti path was, in fact, inclusive.