Qawwali and Carnival: Exploring Bakhtin’s Concept in a South Asian Context
قوالی اور کارنیوال: باختن کے تصور کا جنوبی ایشیائی مطالعہ
Keywords:
Qawwali, Mikhael Bakhtin, Carnivalesque, Polyphony, Dialogism, Metamorphosis, SublimityAbstract
Qawwali is a South Asian traditional Sufi music which is presented with the collaboration of poetry, rhythm and composition. Its purpose is to create spiritual peace and to bring people closer to God. This study encompasses the art of Qawwali and its social and cultural components within the realm of Mikhael Bakhtin’s concept of Carnivalesque. According to Bakhtin, carnival is not just a joyous event but also a different way of living where authority is subverted by laughter, social boundaries are blurred, and the body is embraced. Bakhtin's observations are applied to the South Asian custom of Sufi Qawwali in this article. The article makes the case that qawwali is a carnivalesque practice by looking at themes like intoxication, tavern imagery, group participation, bodily ecstasy, humor, and festive spirituality. It is a kind of culture that gives people a "second life" a place of spiritual happiness, equality, and freedom from conventional constraints. By employing this comparative analysis, the paper highlights the distinctive role of qawwali in South Asian cultural and religious life while also demonstrating the theory's wider applicability outside of its European context.
References
2. احمد جام،دیوان حضرت احمد جام زندہ پیل(کانپور:مطبع نول کشور۱۸۹۸)ص۴۱-۴۲
3. اکمل حیدر آبادی، قوالی امیر خسرو سے شکیلا بانو تک( دہلی: لاہوتی فائن آرٹ پریس ۱۹۸۲)ص ۶۱-۶۲
4. ایضاً
5. ایضاً
6. Bakhtin, Mikhail. Rabelais and His World. Translated by Hélène Iswolsky. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984. Originally published 1965.
7. Schimmel, Annemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975.
8. Fana Bulandshahri. "Phiruun Dhoondta Mai Kada – Tauba Tauba Mujhe Aaj Kal Itni Fursat Nahin Hai." Sufinama. Accessed September 10, 2025. https://sufinama.org/kalaam/phiruun-dhuundtaa-mai-kada-tauba-tauba-mujhe-aaj-kal-itnii-fursat-nahiin-hai-fana-bulandshahri-kalaam?lang=ur
9. Stallybrass, Peter, and Allon White. The Politics and Poetics of Transgression. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986.
10. Gardiner, Michael. The Dialogics of Critique: M.M. Bakhtin and the Theory of Ideology. London: Routledge, 1992.
11. Qureshi, Regula Burckhardt. Sufi Music of India and Pakistan: Sound, Context, and Meaning in Qawwali. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
12. Schimmel, Annemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975.
13. Ernst, Carl W. The Shambhala Guide to Sufism. Boston: Shambhala, 1997.
14. Becker, Judith. Deep Listeners: Music, Emotion, and Trancing. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004.
15. Qateel Shifai. "Ghazal: Haqeeqat Ka Agar Afsana Ban Jaaye To Kya Keejey." UrduWeb. Accessed September 10, 2025. https://www.urduweb.org/mehfil/threads/غزل-حقیقت-کا-اگر-افسانہ-بن-جائے-تو-کیا-کیجے-قتیل-شفائی.11732/
16. Viitamäki, Mikko. "New Wine from Medina: Aesthetics of Popular Qawwali Lyrics." Studia Orientalia Electronica 111 (2011): 393–406.
17. Bakhtin, Mikhail. Rabelais and His World. Translated by Hélène Iswolsky. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984. Originally published 1965.
18. Aesthetic Education Magazine. "Qawwali Performances – Sufi Musical-Drama (Pakistan/India)." AM King Art. Accessed September 10, 2025. https://www.amkingart.org/non-western-theatre/qawwali-performances-%E2%80%93-sufi-musical-drama-%28pakistan%2Findia%29
19. Stallybrass, Peter, and Allon White. The Politics and Poetics of Transgression. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986.
20. Schimmel, Annemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975.
21. Bakhtin, Mikhail. Rabelais and His World. Translated by Hélène Iswolsky. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984. Originally published 1965.
22. Schimmel, Annemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975.
23. Frishkopf, Michael. "Mediated Qur’anic Recitation and the Contestation of Islam in Contemporary Egypt." In Music and the Play of Power in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, edited by Laudan Nooshin, 75–114. Farnham: Ashgate, 2009.
24. Qureshi, Regula Burckhardt. "Qawwali and the Sufi Tradition." In Sufi Music and Poetry in South Asia, edited by Ali Asani and David Shulman, 35–56. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995.
