Overview

Thirteenth century Hindustan: Sultans ruled Delhi. Seduced by gold, they eyed rich neighbouring kingdoms. They marched from one land to another, plundering and preying on the women of the vanquished. The sultan’s court was a cauldron of intrigue, where brother killed brother for the throne. Amidst this orgy of violence, greed and lust, there emerged a Sufi dervish called Nizamuddin Auliya. He offered calm to a people ravaged by fear; he offered hope where there was none. The dervish spoke of tolerance and peace among religions. There are as many paths to The One as there are grains of sand. Nizamuddin realised his Maker by feeding the hungry. He knew what hunger was like. He had gone hungry too. The dervish, like all Chishti Sufis, would have nothing to do with sultans, who were wary of him. One wanted Nizamuddin’s severed head brought to his court. Nizamuddin’s closest disciple was Amir Khusro, the court poet of sultans, the dervish’s soul. Music was prayer for Nizamuddin. Amir Khusro created qawwali, Sufi devotional music, for his master. Song of The Dervish tells the stories of people who feel Nizamuddin’s presence today, 700 years later. He offers hope and heals. No one goes hungry, no soul leaves troubled from the dervish’s doorstep.

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Meher Murshed was born into a family where religion was not a divide. His father is a Sufi Muslim and his mother a Goddess Kali worshipping Hindu. Meher grew up in a school run by Jesuit priests in Kolkata. As a child of a mixed marriage, he saw how one religion was suspicious of the other. Religious tolerance is his core. Music is his passion. He became a journalist in the early 1990s and covered politics, crime, Mother Teresa and music. He reported on religious riots — the violence haunts him even now. Meher then moved to the Middle East and is a senior editor. His love of music led him to the Chishti Sufi Dervish, Nizamuddin Auliya, who lived in the thirteenth century, and his favourite disciple, the court poet of the sultans of Delhi and master musician, Amir Khusro. It was there that he uncovered a riveting story of religious tolerance, compassion, love, lust, intrigue and deceit. The heart of it is a song.

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