Devdutt Pattanaik: A Purana for Muslims

IllustrationDevdutt PattanaikMany Muslims in Tamil Nadu call themselves Marakkayar which means seamen a word that is derived from the Arabic markab They believe their ancestors were Arab sea merchants who took Tamil wives or Tamil men who converted to Islam following contact with Arab merchants They speak Tamil using loan words not only from Sanskrit but also from Arabic and Persian Unlike Islam in the North that spread through warfare Islam in South India spread via traders The traders went as far as Malaysia and Indonesia which is why these countries have a high Muslim populationIn all these places local traditions thrived simultaneously The local Muslims of Indonesia and Malaysia used Hindu and Buddhist cultural symbols in their social life The close integration of local communities means that it is not uncommon to find an Amman shrine of the mother goddess in a Tamil village by whose side stands a Muslim warrior usually on a horse known as Muttal Ravuttan Of course much of this is changing in recent times because of a highly intolerant and puritanical Wahabi form of Islam emerging from ArabiaIn the 17th century Umaru Pullavar which means Omar the Poet wrote the Cirappuranam a Puran of approximately 5000 verses written in Tamil for Muslims about the life of the Prophet Muhammad The word Cira is from the Arabic sirah referring to traditional hagiographies on the life of the ProphetHere we find Allah being referred to using the honorific Thiru which is the Tamil equivalent of the Sanskrit Shri The Quran is described a Veda In fact four Muslim Vedas are referred to Torah given to Moses Musa in Islamic mythology Zabur given to David Dawood Injil Gospel given to Jesus and Purukan Quran given to Muhammad The shahada or declaration of Islamic faith is called mulamantra or the seedhymn of HindusThe influence of Tamil Hindu literature is obvious especially in the use of figures of speech There is the traditional description of how clouds from the sea hover over mountains of Arabia and burst into torrential rains giving rise to a river full of sparkling gems and fragrant sandalwood whose water is collected in ponds to nourish all of life The city of Mecca is described as how Tamil Poets would describe Mithila or Madurai full of lakes where lotus flowers bloom Mecca is even described as beautiful as the gem on the hood of Adi Sesha The chapter describing the Prophets daughter Fatimas wedding to Ali seems very similar to Tamil verses describing Sitas wedding to Ram with women in Medina overflowing on balconies to catch a glimpse of the handsome groom The women are described from head to feet their bodies adorned with hair and jewels contrary to the image of women in veilsClearly this is metaphorical not literal a comfort with the Tamil language and metaphor to express ones religious sentiments without feeling selfconscious or fearful of fragile fundamentalists The text belongs to simpler times when Hindus and Muslims exchanged ideas and no one had a problem when a Muslim poet used traditional Hindu and Tamil metaphors to describe his God and his Prophet This maturity and largeheartedness is at the core of the Indianness that many fear is now under threat from inside and outside If this topic interests you do read about it in the writings of Vasudha Narayanan who is Distinguished Professor Department of Religion University of FloridaDevdutt Pattanaik writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times Reach him at devduttdevduttcom