Baba Farid

History glossary

Also called: Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar · Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions"

Meaning

Baba Farid (Shaikh Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar, d. 1265) was a Chishti sufi master whose dargah (tomb-shrine) is at Ajodhan (today's Pakpattan, in Pakistan). His verses in the people's own language were later included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs.

He matters for two reasons. He links the early Chishti teachers of Ajmer and Delhi to Nizamuddin Auliya. His poetry is also one of the clearest bridges between sufi and Sikh devotion.

Explanation

Background: his place in the Chishti line

Several sufi groups came into India in the late 12th century. The Chishtis became the biggest of them because they adapted to Indian ways of devotion.
The order is named after Chisht, the village where its founder Abu Ishaq of Syria settled. Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti brought it to India in the 12th century [2].
Baba Farid came third in the main line of Chishti teachers:
Muinuddin Sijzi (d. 1235, Ajmer) →
Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki (d. 1235, Delhi), Baba Farid's own teacher →
Baba Farid (d. 1265, Ajodhan) →
Nizamuddin Auliya (d. 1325, Delhi), his best-known disciple →
Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dehli (d. 1356, Delhi).
His title Ganj-i Shakar means "treasure of sugar". It is a sign of how sweet and loved his teaching was. Do not mix it up with Ganj Bakhsh.

Main features: poetry in the people's language

The Chishtis spoke to ordinary people in local languages, not only in Persian, which was the language of the court.
Baba Farid wrote verses in the local language of the Punjab region, an early form of Punjabi.
These verses were later included in the Guru Granth Sahib. The Sikh Gurus put the songs of saints from outside their own tradition into their holy book, and Farid is one of these saints.
His verse was part of the wider Chishti use of the vernacular (the everyday language of a region). Other examples are:
Hindavi, spoken in Nizamuddin's khanqah (hospice) in Delhi.
Malik Muhammad Jayasi's Padmavat, a masnavi (a long poem in rhyming couplets).
Dakhani songs sung by women around Bijapur in the 17th–18th centuries.

How he dealt with the state

The Chishtis lived plainly and kept away from rulers. The order allowed absolutely no connection with the secular state [2].
They took only futuh (gifts that came in without anyone asking for them) and spent them at once on food and clothes.
Baba Farid's rule: take money, but refuse land deeds.
Money given to the dervishes (poor sufis) could be spent the same day, so nothing was stored up.
Land deeds would tie the sufi to the ruler and turn him into a landholder.
According to the story Nizamuddin told, Baba Farid accepted money from Ulugh Khan (later Sultan Balban) but sent back the deeds to villages: "give them to those who long for them".
His rule lived on after him.
In 1313, Nizamuddin Auliya refused a ruler's gift of gardens and land.
Nizamuddin quoted Baba Farid's rule to explain the refusal.
The poet Amir Hasan Sijzi wrote this conversation down.

Results

Through Nizamuddin, Farid's teaching shaped the Delhi Chishtis. Nizamuddin's successors were later sent all over the subcontinent.
Refusing land made the Chishtis look honest and above greed. This moral standing is why Sultans wanted their blessing.
Because his verses are in the Guru Granth Sahib, he is still remembered in Sikh as well as Muslim tradition.

Time, place and evidence

Period: 13th century, the age of the Delhi Sultanate. He died in 1265, in the time of Ulugh Khan / Balban.
Place: Ajodhan (Pakpattan) in the Punjab, today in Pakistan. His dargah is there.
Key people:
Teacher: Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki.
Disciple: Nizamuddin Auliya.
Ruler in the land-deed story: Ulugh Khan (Balban).
Recorder: Amir Hasan Sijzi.
Evidence:
His own verses are kept in the Guru Granth Sahib.
Amir Hasan Sijzi's record of Nizamuddin's conversations includes the 1313 refusal of land and the quotation of Baba Farid's rule. This kind of sufi text shows us what Chishti masters believed about wealth and the state.

Don't confuse with

Data Ganj Bakhsh: this title belongs to Abu'l Hasan al Hujwiri (d. 1073, Lahore), author of Kashf-ul-Mahjub. Baba Farid is Ganj-i Shakar, and his shrine is at Ajodhan.
Muinuddin Sijzi (Gharib Nawaz): he founded the Chishti line in India (d. 1235, dargah at Ajmer). Baba Farid came two generations later.
Nizamuddin Auliya: he was Baba Farid's disciple (d. 1325, Delhi, khanqah at Ghiyaspur). He refused land in 1313 by quoting Farid. The rule was Farid's, and the refusal was Nizamuddin's.
Shaikh Salim Chishti: a later Chishti saint. Akbar built Fatehpur Sikri around his dargah. He is not connected with Ajodhan.

Prelims Hooks

Baba Farid = Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar, a Chishti saint (d. 1265). His dargah is at Ajodhan (Pakpattan, Pakistan).
His verses are in the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book. They are not in the Kabir Bijak or the Adi Granth of any other faith.
Chronological order: Muinuddin Sijzi → Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki → Baba Farid → Nizamuddin Auliya → Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dehli.
Baba Farid's rule: accept money for the dervishes, refuse land deeds. Nizamuddin quoted it when he refused land in 1313, and Amir Hasan Sijzi wrote it down.
Trap: Ganj-i Shakar is Baba Farid, but Data Ganj Bakhsh is al Hujwiri of Lahore.
Chishti doctrine: wahdat al-wujud (unity of being) and no connection with the secular state [2].

Mains Points

Vernacular verse as a bridge between faiths. Baba Farid wrote in the local language, and his verses were later placed in the Guru Granth Sahib. This shows that sufi and bhakti-type traditions shared songs and ideas across religious lines. Similar examples are Jayasi's Padmavat and the Dakhani songs of Bijapur. Together they show that Islam spread in India mostly through shared devotional culture, not by force.
Poverty as power. Farid's rule of "money yes, land no" kept the Chishtis free of the state [2]. It also gave them a moral authority that Sultans could not buy. Nizamuddin's 1313 refusal shows the rule continuing for a generation after him. The pattern also shows the tension between sufi and Sultan: rulers wanted sufi blessings to make their rule look legitimate, and the Chishtis guarded their independence.
Continuity in the Chishti silsila (chain of teachers). Farid links Ajmer and Delhi to Nizamuddin, whose successors spread the order across the subcontinent. Studying him helps explain how a teacher-to-disciple chain helped the Chishtis become the largest sufi order in India.

Related concepts

The Chishtis: khanqah life, devotionalism, language, and the state

Sources

1Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions" (primary)
2Chishtīyah | Mysticism, Poetry & Musicbritannica.com · tier 3