Attended by 36 people, the walk titled ‘Homosexuality in Medieval Delhi - Exploring Love in Sultanate’ was organised in the Hauz Khas village on Sunday
Prompted by the sudden rise of anti-Romeo squads in the country, history walk group Safarnama decided to highlight love and sexuality in a more positive light. The result was a walk through time that dwelled on these concepts, especially homosexuality, as understood and appreciated during the medieval times.
Attended by 36 people, the walk titled ‘Homosexuality in Medieval Delhi - Exploring Love in Sultanate’ was organised in the Hauz Khas village on Sunday.
“The rise in intolerance against homosexuality is a bit concerning,” said Anna Menon, 21, a history enthusiast and co-founder of Safarnama. “The idea was to educate people on what used to happen back then. We shared stories of homosexual emperors and discussed homo-eroticism in Sufi poetry,” she added.
Romantic involvement with people of the same gender was once considered absolutely normal. For instance, Muslim poet Shah Hussain was madly in love with Hindu boy named Madho Lal.
Similarly Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316 AD) fell in love with a eunuch named Kafoor alias Malik Naib.
Khilji’s only surviving son, Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah fell in love with one of his slaves named Hasan.
“In sufism, love is often expressed in homoerotic metaphors. Some even said that same-sex love was the way to reach God. The love glorified in the sufi poetry is generally in the name of the beloved, who again is a metaphor for God. While this is a highly spiritual art, it is difficult to attribute purely mystical meaning to sufi couplets as the beloved is always a male — round, light-coloured with a moon face, resembling a Turk.”
So, while intolerance keeps on raising its ugly head from time to time, Amir Khusrow’s immortal words expressing his love for Nizamuddin Auliya go on resonating in the hearts of many a lovers.
‘Khusrow has given himself to Nizam, You made me your bride when our eyes met.’
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