Hazrat Babajan
Encyclopedia
Hazrat Babajan was a Baloch
Muslim
saint
considered by her followers to be a sadguru
or qutub
. Born in Balochistan, Afghanistan, she lived the final 25 years of her life in Pune
, India
.
, Persian
and Urdu
, in addition to her native Pashtu
, becoming a hāfiżah, one who learns the Qur'an by heart. An introspective child, and spiritually inclined, from “early life she developed mystical tendencies, and unlike girls of her age, she used to pass a good deal of her time in prayers, meditation and solitude”.
Following the conventions of Afghan nobility, Babajan was reared under the strict purdah
tradition, in which women were secluded from the outside world, and also subservient to a custom of arranged marriages. She opposed an unwelcome marriage planned for her, and ran away from home on her wedding day at the age of eighteen. Disguised in her burqa
, she journeyed to Peshawar
, the frontier city at the foot of the Khyber Pass
; nothing definite is known about her life until her subsequent move to Rawalpindi
many years later. It was in or near that city she “lead an ascetic life for some years” and eventually came into contact with a Hindu
sadguru
. Following instruction from the guru, “she went into seclusion in a nearby mountain outside Rawalpindi and underwent very severe [riyazat] (spiritual austerities) for nearly seventeen months.Thereafter she came down to [the] Punjab
and stayed a few months in Multan
. It was in Multan, while [Babajan] was 37 years of age, she contacted a Muslim saint … who put end to her spiritual struggle by giving her God-realisation”. After that experience she returned to Rawalpindi to reconnect with the Hindu guru who, after several years, helped her return to normal consciousness.
master, Babajan embarked on several long journeys through the Middle Eastern countries Syria
, Lebanon
, and Iraq
. “It is said that she traveled to Mecca
disguised as a man [apparently to avoid detection] by way of Afghanistan
, Iran
, Turkey
and doubling back into Arabia”. At the Ka‘bah
, she offered prayers five times a day, always sitting at one selected spot. While in Mecca, Babajan often gathered food for the poor and personally nursed pilgrim
s who had fallen ill.
From Mecca, Babajan made pilgrimage to the tomb of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
in Medina
, where she adopted the same routine of offering prayers and caring for fellow pilgrims. Leaving Arabia, she passed through Baghdad
, Iraq and back to the Punjab. She then traveled south to Nashik and established herself in Panchavati. From Nasik, Babajan traveled on to Bombay, where she stayed for some time and her fame grew.
In April 1903, she made a second pilgrimage to Mecca, this time sailing from Bombay on the SS Hyderi. About 1904, Babajan returned to Bombay and soon afterward proceeded to Ajmer
in northern India to pay homage at the tomb of the Sufi
saint Moinuddin Chishti
who established the Chishti Order
of Islam in India. From Ajmer she again returned to Bombay and then soon after traveled west to Pune.
. It was under a large neem tree, by a dusty dirt road, that Babajan remained until she died. This spot became known as her “seat”, a term commonly applied to the permanent residence of a saint or teacher.
The Char Bawdi area at that time has been described as “a picture of dirt, desolation and ugliness, a breeding spot of plague and pestilence and a regular haunt of dangerous riff-raffs by night”. After several months’ exposure to the natural elements, Babajan grudgingly allowed her devotees to build a basic shelter of gunny sacks above her. She was liable to make startling statements to the effect that she was the Truth (Haqq
), which offended some of the Muslims living in Pune, and who interpreted her words as blasphemy
. Children were in the habit of throwing stones at her. Yet Babajan’s presence soon began to make an impact on the desolate area. “The local roughnecks, drunkards, and hemp-smokers expressed great reverence for her, deeming it an honour that she should have chosen to associate with them”. She was a homeless faqir
; she knew how they lived. The gifts from her devotees were shared among the poor and destitute, and in some instances stolen from her by thieves. She remained indifferent to the material offerings or the loss. Gradually, out of devotion, or mere curiosity, increasing numbers of people from Pune and elsewhere sought her out. Several alleged miracles
have been attributed to Babajan.
According to one observer, within a decade of Babajan taking residence “the [Char Bawdi] locality underwent a metamorphosis surpassing all expectations. What with the featural changes in the buildings all around, electrified tea-shops ringing with the clatter of cups and saucers, a concourse of peoples consisting of all ranks and creeds waiting for Babajan’s darshana, a street bard entertaining the crowd with his music, the beggars clamouring for alms, easy-going idlers standing indiscriminately hampering vehicular traffic and the whole atmosphere heavily laden with sweet burning incense perpetually kept burning near Babajan, presented a scene typically Eastern, leaving an indelible impression on one’s memory”.
, when he looked up and saw an old woman sitting under a neem tree surrounded by a crowd. He had cycled past on previous occasions but had never paid much attention to her, though he was aware that she was regarded by some as a Muslim saint; yet others thought her “a mad woman or a witch or sorceress”. His father, Sheriar Irani (Shahr-yar Moondegar Irani
), held Babajan in high regard. Born into a Zoroastrian
family, Sheriar Irani had been an itinerant dervish
for a number of years before finally settling in Pune and marrying. Babajan beckoned the boy, who in turn was drawn towards her. For several months thereafter Merwan Irani would visit the saint; they would sit together yet seldom spoke. One night during January 1914, he was about to leave, and before doing so kissed Babajan’s hands, and she in turn held his face in her hands. She then kissed him on the forehead, during which he received her spiritual grace (barakah
). The event subsequently left Merwan Irani in an enraptured state in which he remained abstracted from his normal surroundings for nearly nine months. The young man would later become known as, Meher Baba
.
Several months before she died, in 1930 then journalist Paul Brunton
(Raphael Hurst) visited Babajan. He wrote: “She lies, in full view of passers-by, upon a low divan.… Her head is propped by pillows. The lustrous whiteness of her silky hair offers sad contrast to the heavily wrinkled face and seamed brow”. The meeting was brief. Yet Brunton was clearly emotionally affected, and afterwards, in his hotel room, he reflected: “That some deep psychological attainment really resides in the depths of her being, I am certain”.
On September 18, 1931, one of Babajan’s fingers was operated on at Sassoon Hospital, but afterwards she did not appear to be recovering. According to one version, a few days before she dropped her body, Babajan muttered, “It is time … time for me to leave now. The work is over … I must close the shop”. One of the devotees pleaded, “Do not say such things Babajan, we need you with us”. But she cryptically replied:
“Nobody, nobody wants my wares. Nobody can afford the price. I have turned my goods over to the Proprietor”.
(shrine) of Babajan was built alongside the neem tree under which she had sat for so many years, by the roadside which is now a busy thoroughfare. “It is a small one roomed dargah with the turbat [grave] placed under a tree. The trunk of the tree emerges through the rooftop”. Her dargah is frequented by people of all religions.
Firstly, it should be noted that much of the accepted information about Babajan appears to have been established solely on the authority of Meher Baba, a fact acknowledged by Dr Abdul Ghani Munsiff, who in 1939 wrote the first life-sketch of Babajan. According to Ghani, “the information gleaned from different sources is meagre, since Babajan herself was never communicative to anyone with regard to her life history. The facts of her early life and those relating to her spiritual career have all been confirmed by Hazrat Meher Baba, her chief disciple and spiritual Chargeman (Khalifa)”. Yet Meher Baba appears to have provided/endorsed two different versions of Babajan’s life.
Hazrat Babajan is the daughter of one of the then responsible and chief ministers of the Amir of Afghanistan at Kabul. From early childhood she had a natural inclination toward spirituality and the realization of Truth. When Babajan was fifteen years of age her guardians began to arrange for her marriage … at this juncture she made bold to leave the family home. For fifty years thereafter she led a life of complete resignation and renunciation. After wandering from place to place for fifty long years she at last came across her Master, and became God-Realized at the age of about sixty-five. After being God-Realized Babajan lived for some time … in the Punjab. During this stay many people began to respect her as a saint. Her occasional remarks, declaring herself to be God [Ana'l-Haqq, I am the Truth] upset the Muslim population, and fanatical Muslim Baluchi soldiers (sepoys) of a local military regiment buried Babajan alive. After a lapse of many years, during the First World War the Baluchi regiment was transferred to Pune, and in that city the same soldiers came face-to-face with Babajan sitting under her neem tree at Char Bawdi. Fanaticism was transformed into devotion, and as long as the regiment remained stationed at Pune, the soldiers came to pay their respects to Babajan.
Ghani’s later, and extended, version of Babajan’s life, published in 1939, provides a different account: She left home at the age of eighteen on her wedding day. Eventually came into contact with a Hindu sadguru at Rawalpindi. Later went down to the Punjab, and when she was thirty-seven met a Muslim saint in Multan who gave her God-Realization. After the Baluchi soldiers encountered her again in Pune, “her saintly fame spread far and wide, and she came to be universally known as Hazrat Babajan”.
Regarding Brunton’s report, Kevin R D Shepherd observed: “That Khandalawalla had known Babajan for as long as fifty years is questionable; though it need not be doubted that he had encountered her by the time of her second visit to Bombay c. 1900”. Shepherd concluded, “The general computation of her age was about 120 years, though some maintained that it was in excess of this. Purdom cited an approximate date of 1790 for her birth, though Ghani was of the view that she was born later than this. Ghani’s estimate of her age was 125, based on general reminiscences and his own contact with her. In deference to critical tendencies which find the higher estimates indigestible, there seems every ground to believe that the subject was over a hundred by the time of her death”.
The fact is Babajan’s actual date of birth is not known, so perhaps it is sufficient to concede that the subject may well have been over a hundred by the time of her death. Longevity is not a spiritual accomplishment, but unfortunately can easily become a superficial hagiographic embellishment.
Baloch people
The Baloch or Baluch are an ethnic group that belong to the larger Iranian peoples. Baluch people mainly inhabit the Balochistan region and Sistan and Baluchestan Province in the southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Western Asia....
Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
considered by her followers to be a sadguru
Satguru
Satguru does not merely mean true guru. The term is distinguished from other forms of gurus, such as musical instructors, scriptural teachers, parents, and so on...
or qutub
Qutb
Qutb, Qutub, Kutb, or Kutub , literally means 'axis', 'pivot' or 'pole'. Qutb can refer to celestial movements and used as an astronomical term or a spiritual symbol. In Sufism, a Qutb or Kutb is the perfect human being, al-insān al-kāmil, who leads the saintly hierarchy...
. Born in Balochistan, Afghanistan, she lived the final 25 years of her life in Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Early life & realization
The earliest recorded account of Hazrat Babajan, who was named at birth Gulrukh, “Face like a Rose”, states that she “is the daughter of one of the ministers of the Amir of Afghanistan”. Later accounts report that Babajan “hails from Afghanistan … and was the daughter of a well-to-do Afghan of noble lineage”; “Her father was one of the chieftains of the Afghan empire”; and more recently, “born to a royal Muslim family of Baluchistan”. The precise date of Babajan’s birth is unclear. Biography variants range from 1790 to c. 1820. Her education was in keeping with her family's social status of that time, and well-educated, she was fluent in ArabicArabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
and Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, in addition to her native Pashtu
Pashto language
Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...
, becoming a hāfiżah, one who learns the Qur'an by heart. An introspective child, and spiritually inclined, from “early life she developed mystical tendencies, and unlike girls of her age, she used to pass a good deal of her time in prayers, meditation and solitude”.
Following the conventions of Afghan nobility, Babajan was reared under the strict purdah
Purdah
Purdah or pardeh is the practice of concealing women from men. According to one definition:This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form....
tradition, in which women were secluded from the outside world, and also subservient to a custom of arranged marriages. She opposed an unwelcome marriage planned for her, and ran away from home on her wedding day at the age of eighteen. Disguised in her burqa
Burqa
A burqa is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic religion to cover their bodies in public places. The burqa is usually understood to be the woman's loose body-covering , plus the head-covering , plus the face-veil .-Etymology:A speculative and unattested etymology...
, she journeyed to Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
, the frontier city at the foot of the Khyber Pass
Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass, is a mountain pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.The Pass was an integral part of the ancient Silk Road. It is mentioned in the Bible as the "Pesh Habor," and it is one of the oldest known passes in the world....
; nothing definite is known about her life until her subsequent move to Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...
many years later. It was in or near that city she “lead an ascetic life for some years” and eventually came into contact with a Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
sadguru
Satguru
Satguru does not merely mean true guru. The term is distinguished from other forms of gurus, such as musical instructors, scriptural teachers, parents, and so on...
. Following instruction from the guru, “she went into seclusion in a nearby mountain outside Rawalpindi and underwent very severe [riyazat] (spiritual austerities) for nearly seventeen months.Thereafter she came down to [the] Punjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
and stayed a few months in Multan
Multan
Multan , is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan and capital of Multan District. It is located in the southern part of the province on the east bank of the Chenab River, more or less in the geographic centre of the country and about from Islamabad, from Lahore and from Karachi...
. It was in Multan, while [Babajan] was 37 years of age, she contacted a Muslim saint … who put end to her spiritual struggle by giving her God-realisation”. After that experience she returned to Rawalpindi to reconnect with the Hindu guru who, after several years, helped her return to normal consciousness.
Travels and pilgrimages
After a second stay in Rawalpindi with her earlier HinduHinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
master, Babajan embarked on several long journeys through the Middle Eastern countries Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. “It is said that she traveled to Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
disguised as a man [apparently to avoid detection] by way of Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and doubling back into Arabia”. At the Ka‘bah
Kaaba
The Kaaba is a cuboid-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham, or Ibraheem, in Arabic, and his son Ishmael, or Ismaeel, as said in Arabic, after he had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque...
, she offered prayers five times a day, always sitting at one selected spot. While in Mecca, Babajan often gathered food for the poor and personally nursed pilgrim
Pilgrim
A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...
s who had fallen ill.
From Mecca, Babajan made pilgrimage to the tomb of the Islamic prophet
Prophets of Islam
Muslims identify the Prophets of Islam as those humans chosen by God and given revelation to deliver to mankind. Muslims believe that every prophet was given a belief to worship God and their respective followers believed it as well...
Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
in Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
, where she adopted the same routine of offering prayers and caring for fellow pilgrims. Leaving Arabia, she passed through Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, Iraq and back to the Punjab. She then traveled south to Nashik and established herself in Panchavati. From Nasik, Babajan traveled on to Bombay, where she stayed for some time and her fame grew.
In April 1903, she made a second pilgrimage to Mecca, this time sailing from Bombay on the SS Hyderi. About 1904, Babajan returned to Bombay and soon afterward proceeded to Ajmer
Ajmer
Ajmer , formerly written as Ajmere, is a city in Ajmer District in Rajasthan state in India. Ajmer has a population of around 800,000 , and is located west of the Rajasthan state capital Jaipur, 200 km from Jodhpur, 274 km from Udaipur, 439 km from Jaisalmer, and 391 km from...
in northern India to pay homage at the tomb of the Sufi
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
saint Moinuddin Chishti
Moinuddin Chishti
Sultan-ul-Hind, Moinuddin Chishti was born in 1141 and died in 1230 CE. Also known as Gharīb Nawāz "Benefactor of the Poor" , he is the most famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order of the Indian Subcontinent. He introduced and established the order in South Asia...
who established the Chishti Order
Chishti Order
The Chishtī Order is a Sufi order within the mystic branches of Islam which was founded in Chisht, a small town near Herat, Afghanistan about 930 CE. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness. The doctrine of the Chishti Order is based on walāya, which is a...
of Islam in India. From Ajmer she again returned to Bombay and then soon after traveled west to Pune.
Residence in Pune
By 1905 Babajan arrived in Pune, where she established her final residence. Now an old woman, her back slightly bent, shoulders rounded, white matted hair, and shabbily dressed, she “was seen sitting or resting at odd places, in different parts of the City”. These included a neem tree near Bukhari Shah’s mosque in Rasta Peth, and a deserted tomb in the Swar Gate locality. She was seldom seen moving about alone or sitting by herself; there were always people who sought her company. Babajan finally located to a slum area called Char Bawdi (Four Wells) on Malcolm Tank Road, part of a British Army cantonmentCantonment
A cantonment is a temporary or semi-permanent military or police quarters. The word cantonment is derived from the French word canton meaning corner or district, as is the name of the Cantons of Switzerland. In South Asia, the term cantonment also describes permanent military stations...
. It was under a large neem tree, by a dusty dirt road, that Babajan remained until she died. This spot became known as her “seat”, a term commonly applied to the permanent residence of a saint or teacher.
The Char Bawdi area at that time has been described as “a picture of dirt, desolation and ugliness, a breeding spot of plague and pestilence and a regular haunt of dangerous riff-raffs by night”. After several months’ exposure to the natural elements, Babajan grudgingly allowed her devotees to build a basic shelter of gunny sacks above her. She was liable to make startling statements to the effect that she was the Truth (Haqq
Haqq
Haqq is the Arabic word for truth. In Islamic context, it is also interpreted as right and reality. Al-Haqq, the truth, is one of the names of God in the Qur'an. It is often used to refer to God as the Ultimate Reality in Sufism....
), which offended some of the Muslims living in Pune, and who interpreted her words as blasphemy
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
. Children were in the habit of throwing stones at her. Yet Babajan’s presence soon began to make an impact on the desolate area. “The local roughnecks, drunkards, and hemp-smokers expressed great reverence for her, deeming it an honour that she should have chosen to associate with them”. She was a homeless faqir
Fakir
The fakir or faqir ; ) Derived from faqr is a Muslim Sufi ascetic in Middle East and South Asia. The Faqirs were wandering Dervishes teaching Islam and living on alms....
; she knew how they lived. The gifts from her devotees were shared among the poor and destitute, and in some instances stolen from her by thieves. She remained indifferent to the material offerings or the loss. Gradually, out of devotion, or mere curiosity, increasing numbers of people from Pune and elsewhere sought her out. Several alleged miracles
Miracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
have been attributed to Babajan.
According to one observer, within a decade of Babajan taking residence “the [Char Bawdi] locality underwent a metamorphosis surpassing all expectations. What with the featural changes in the buildings all around, electrified tea-shops ringing with the clatter of cups and saucers, a concourse of peoples consisting of all ranks and creeds waiting for Babajan’s darshana, a street bard entertaining the crowd with his music, the beggars clamouring for alms, easy-going idlers standing indiscriminately hampering vehicular traffic and the whole atmosphere heavily laden with sweet burning incense perpetually kept burning near Babajan, presented a scene typically Eastern, leaving an indelible impression on one’s memory”.
Master to Meher Baba
In May 1913, Merwan Sheriar Irani, then nineteen years old, was riding his bicycle on the way to class at Deccan CollegeDeccan College (Pune)
Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute is a post-graduate institute of Archeology and Linguistics in Pune, India.Established October 6, 1821, Deccan College is one of the oldest institutions of modern learning in India...
, when he looked up and saw an old woman sitting under a neem tree surrounded by a crowd. He had cycled past on previous occasions but had never paid much attention to her, though he was aware that she was regarded by some as a Muslim saint; yet others thought her “a mad woman or a witch or sorceress”. His father, Sheriar Irani (Shahr-yar Moondegar Irani
Sheriar Mundegar Irani
Sheriar Mundegar Irani was a mystic and the father of Meher Baba.- Biography :...
), held Babajan in high regard. Born into a Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
family, Sheriar Irani had been an itinerant dervish
Dervish
A Dervish or Darvesh is someone treading a Sufi Muslim ascetic path or "Tariqah", known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to mendicant friars in Christianity or Hindu/Buddhist/Jain sadhus.-Etymology:The Persian word darvīsh is of ancient origin and descends from a Proto-Iranian...
for a number of years before finally settling in Pune and marrying. Babajan beckoned the boy, who in turn was drawn towards her. For several months thereafter Merwan Irani would visit the saint; they would sit together yet seldom spoke. One night during January 1914, he was about to leave, and before doing so kissed Babajan’s hands, and she in turn held his face in her hands. She then kissed him on the forehead, during which he received her spiritual grace (barakah
Barakah
In Islam, Barakah is the beneficent force from God that flows through the physical and spiritual spheres as prosperity, protection, and happiness. Baraka is the continuity of spiritual presence and revelation that begins with God and flows through that and those closest to God. Baraka can be found...
). The event subsequently left Merwan Irani in an enraptured state in which he remained abstracted from his normal surroundings for nearly nine months. The young man would later become known as, Meher Baba
Meher Baba
Meher Baba , , born Merwan Sheriar Irani, was an Indian mystic and spiritual master who declared publicly in 1954 that he was the Avatar of the age....
.
Final years
Around 1921 Babajan predicted that a severe weather storm would arise in Pune (the city often receives heavy thundershowers in May) and cause much damage. This did actually occur. “Trees were uprooted and houses blown down by the gale, but Babajan remained under her tree”. Following the storm her devotees wished to build a proper shelter for her in place of the makeshift awning of gunny sacks. But first, permission needed to be obtained from the Pune Cantonment Board. Babajan presented the Board with a problem, as the gatherings of devotees and onlookers caused a serious blockage of traffic, which included the new motorised transportation. The Board would have liked to remove Babajan to an area less frequented by vehicles, but she refused to move from the neem tree. Due to public pressure, and fear of demonstration, reluctantly the Board finally allowed a basic shelter to be built of masonry and wood, with a roof of metal sheeting. This comprised a single room and a veranda.Several months before she died, in 1930 then journalist Paul Brunton
Paul Brunton
Paul Brunton was probably born as Hermann Hirsch of German Jewish origin. Later he changed his name to Raphael Hurst, and then Brunton Paul and finally Paul Brunton. He was a British philosopher, mystic, traveler, and guru...
(Raphael Hurst) visited Babajan. He wrote: “She lies, in full view of passers-by, upon a low divan.… Her head is propped by pillows. The lustrous whiteness of her silky hair offers sad contrast to the heavily wrinkled face and seamed brow”. The meeting was brief. Yet Brunton was clearly emotionally affected, and afterwards, in his hotel room, he reflected: “That some deep psychological attainment really resides in the depths of her being, I am certain”.
On September 18, 1931, one of Babajan’s fingers was operated on at Sassoon Hospital, but afterwards she did not appear to be recovering. According to one version, a few days before she dropped her body, Babajan muttered, “It is time … time for me to leave now. The work is over … I must close the shop”. One of the devotees pleaded, “Do not say such things Babajan, we need you with us”. But she cryptically replied:
“Nobody, nobody wants my wares. Nobody can afford the price. I have turned my goods over to the Proprietor”.
Shrine in Pune
Hazrat Babajan died in the Char Bawdi section of Pune on September 21, 1931. On Wednesday, September 23, The Evening News of India reported her death. The newspaper article informed that the “Muslim community in [Pune] has been greatly moved by the death of the famous saint…. Her funeral yesterday … was very largely attended with thousands of people both Muslims and Hindus taking part in the procession”. The white marble dargahDargah
A Dargah is a Sufi shrine built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint. Local Muslims visit the shrine known as . Dargahs are often associated with Sufi meeting rooms and hostels, known as khanqah...
(shrine) of Babajan was built alongside the neem tree under which she had sat for so many years, by the roadside which is now a busy thoroughfare. “It is a small one roomed dargah with the turbat [grave] placed under a tree. The trunk of the tree emerges through the rooftop”. Her dargah is frequented by people of all religions.
Biographical discrepancies
There are a few discrepancies to be found in the current biographies of Hazrat Babajan which require due mention.Firstly, it should be noted that much of the accepted information about Babajan appears to have been established solely on the authority of Meher Baba, a fact acknowledged by Dr Abdul Ghani Munsiff, who in 1939 wrote the first life-sketch of Babajan. According to Ghani, “the information gleaned from different sources is meagre, since Babajan herself was never communicative to anyone with regard to her life history. The facts of her early life and those relating to her spiritual career have all been confirmed by Hazrat Meher Baba, her chief disciple and spiritual Chargeman (Khalifa)”. Yet Meher Baba appears to have provided/endorsed two different versions of Babajan’s life.
Earliest records
Over a decade before Dr Ghani’s life-sketch of Babajan appeared, in 1927 Meher Baba gave a public talk on Babajan, which a devotee had recorded in a diary at that time. This is currently the earliest account of Babajan’s life. The people being addressed were predominately women, and the story was told to provide a moral. To summarize the essentials of that brief talk:Hazrat Babajan is the daughter of one of the then responsible and chief ministers of the Amir of Afghanistan at Kabul. From early childhood she had a natural inclination toward spirituality and the realization of Truth. When Babajan was fifteen years of age her guardians began to arrange for her marriage … at this juncture she made bold to leave the family home. For fifty years thereafter she led a life of complete resignation and renunciation. After wandering from place to place for fifty long years she at last came across her Master, and became God-Realized at the age of about sixty-five. After being God-Realized Babajan lived for some time … in the Punjab. During this stay many people began to respect her as a saint. Her occasional remarks, declaring herself to be God [Ana'l-Haqq, I am the Truth] upset the Muslim population, and fanatical Muslim Baluchi soldiers (sepoys) of a local military regiment buried Babajan alive. After a lapse of many years, during the First World War the Baluchi regiment was transferred to Pune, and in that city the same soldiers came face-to-face with Babajan sitting under her neem tree at Char Bawdi. Fanaticism was transformed into devotion, and as long as the regiment remained stationed at Pune, the soldiers came to pay their respects to Babajan.
Ghani’s later, and extended, version of Babajan’s life, published in 1939, provides a different account: She left home at the age of eighteen on her wedding day. Eventually came into contact with a Hindu sadguru at Rawalpindi. Later went down to the Punjab, and when she was thirty-seven met a Muslim saint in Multan who gave her God-Realization. After the Baluchi soldiers encountered her again in Pune, “her saintly fame spread far and wide, and she came to be universally known as Hazrat Babajan”.
Babajan’s age
Babajan’s alleged age when she died continues to be a controversial issue. Biography variants for her date of birth range from 1790 to c. 1820. The earliest birth dates are provided by Charles B Purdom and Bhau Kalchuri. Purdom was merely reporting the opinion of devotees, and so he qualified what he wrote: “her actual date of birth is not known; it is supposed to have been about 1790”. Kalchuri is more dogmatic, and states Babajan was born “between 1790 and 1800”, and her “physical presence on earth lasted between 130 to 141 years”. At the other end of the scale, in his colourful spiritual travel book, A Search in Secret India (1934), the then freelance journalist, Paul Brunton, recounts that he learnt “from former Judge Khandalawalla, who had known [Hazrat Babajan] for fifty years, that her age is really about ninety-five”. Brunton had arrived in India, November 1930, and had left several months before Babajan’s death in September 1931.Regarding Brunton’s report, Kevin R D Shepherd observed: “That Khandalawalla had known Babajan for as long as fifty years is questionable; though it need not be doubted that he had encountered her by the time of her second visit to Bombay c. 1900”. Shepherd concluded, “The general computation of her age was about 120 years, though some maintained that it was in excess of this. Purdom cited an approximate date of 1790 for her birth, though Ghani was of the view that she was born later than this. Ghani’s estimate of her age was 125, based on general reminiscences and his own contact with her. In deference to critical tendencies which find the higher estimates indigestible, there seems every ground to believe that the subject was over a hundred by the time of her death”.
The fact is Babajan’s actual date of birth is not known, so perhaps it is sufficient to concede that the subject may well have been over a hundred by the time of her death. Longevity is not a spiritual accomplishment, but unfortunately can easily become a superficial hagiographic embellishment.
Further reading
- Brunton, Paul: A Search in Secret India, first published in 1934 by Rider & Co, London. Reprinted American paperback edition, New York, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1970, pp. 62–65, ISBN 0877286027
- Kalchuri, Bhau: Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, the Biography of the Avatar of the Age Volume One, Myrtle Beach, SC: Manifestation, Inc., 1986, pp. 5–19, TX 2094928
- Munsiff, Dr Abdul Ghani: “Hazrat Babajan of Poona”, Meher Baba Journal, Vol. 1, February 1939, No. 4, pp. 29–39 (http://www.ambppct.org/meherbaba/Book_Files/journal_1_4R.pdf)
- Purdom, C B: The God-Man: The Life, Journeys & Work of Meher Baba with an Interpretation of His Silence & Spiritual Teaching, Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Foundation, second printing 2010, pp. 18–21, ISBN 1880619360
- Shepherd, Kevin R D: A Sufi Matriarch: Hazrat Babajan, Cambridge: Anthropographia Publications, 1986, ISBN 0950868019