and the circulation of dhrupad and bishnupad

in Persian offering a Sufi interpretation of words and images occurring in dhrupad, bishnupad and other “Hindavi ” songs. The short work (18 ff.), which survives in a single manuscript copy, is divided into three chapters, listing respectively and in this order, technical terms related to music and performance and the detailed description of female beauty and ornaments; words and names related to the Krishna story; and the natural imagery of seasonal songs. The exposition follows the order of the Hindavi words—for the description of female beauty, for example, it proceeds from the top of her head to her toes. The Sufi interpretation touches upon a range of mystical topics without a clear structure or particular order. Rather, ‘Abdul Wahid takes a single Hindavi word2 and glosses it with one or, more often, several Sufi terms or concepts, as if to show discursively that the Sufi master perceives many meanings and truths hidden behind each superficial appearance, and that the disciple or seeker must learn to do the same. It is thanks to this mystical vision that the “truths of India ” are perceived as signaling the truths of Islam. The Haqā’iq-i Hindī thus offers not only precious direct evidence of the circulation of Hindavi songs in Sufi circles, but also an insight into the intellectual and religious process o