Encounters with Jogīs in Indian Sūfī Hagiography: Ideology, Memory and Written Indian History, c.1600-1900

Encounters with Jogīs in Indian Sūfī Hagiography is a meticulous and magisterial analysis of myriad anecdotes from early medieval Indian Sūfī literature in which Sufis and Yogis interacted with each other. These meetings-almost always contests-regularly featured magical feats of levitation, divination and transmutation. As these are recounted from the side of the Sufis-whether from their own lips or by their pious devotees-the Sūfī is usually the victor. Yet, despite their partisanship, they offer invaluable insights into attitudes of mind and thought, patterns of settlement as well as of literary transmission, considerations of conflict versus accommodation, and the history of yoga itself.

Evolving from a previously unpublished though widely circulated 1970 seminar paper of the same name, Digby's book-length study of the encounters recorded in Indian malfūzāt and tazkiras is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of contacts between Islam and Hinduism in the medieval environment. Charismatic Sufis were at the vanguard of Islam's spread in India, which was often-but not always-peaceful. Here we learn much of how they and their devotees saw their role as well as that of their equally charismatic opponents.