Against the Mughals: Dreams and Wars of Dattū Sarvānī, a Sixteenth-Century Indo-Afghan Soldier, is part of the fantastic collection of an entire series on the ‘Life and Works of Simon Digby’. Generally among historians of Medieval India, personal narratives, biographies and anecdotes are considered ‘lesser forms of history’, limited in their study to lives and worldviews of individuals. However, with the waning of the teleological, unilineal view of history, historians are now beginning to realize the need to place human experiences, emotions and everyday events within the larger historical context. With this has come the realization that personal accounts are not just records of individual experiences but rather reflect an incessant interaction of the individual self with the wider socio-cultural discourse in diverse spatial and temporal contexts. The current work by Simon Digby, a renowned British scholar of pre-Mughal India, too enriches our understanding of studying history not merely through a narrow lens of court chronicles, official records and documented histories but rather through alternate historical sources like autobiographies, dreams, personal letters, etc. Digby’s research weaves together accounts of military campaigns, Sufi devotion, and daily family life, providing a rich analytical tapestry of pre-Mughal North India.
The current volume explores the life of Dattū Sarvānī, an Indo-Afghan soldier living in 16th-century India during the Mughal invasions who believed in the power of dreams to predict, warn, guide and inform. Dattū’s dreams are a unique source for understanding the political and social worlds of early 16th-century India, during the invasions of Babur and Humayun that led to the downfall of the North Indian sultanates and the establishment of the Mughal empire. In the words of Simon Digby, ‘Dattū’s narrative has recently been commended as an astonishing autobiography and the sole contemporary testimony of the Afghans [of India] at the beginning of the sixteenth century’ (p. xxi, Preface). Dattū Sarvāni’s military campaigns formed part of the Indo-Afghan resistance against Mughal expansion. He fought against the Mughal invasions led by Babur and Humayun forming part of the broader conflicts between Afghan and Mughal forces in 16th-century India.
This volume, however, focuses on Dattū’s dreams rather than on his personal life through which Digby intends to highlight the complexities of Indo-Afghan and Mughal interactions. What makes this work absolutely fascinating is the use of dreams as historical sources by the author. The work also touches upon aspects of Sufi devotion and their role in Dattū’s life. He was a firm believer in the abilities of his Sufi master, Abd al-Quddus Gangohi, to influence the course of history through his miraculous powers as well as to forewarn Dattū of any impending dangers by appearing in his dreams. Gangohi was a Sufi poet and a Chishti Shaikh belonging to the Sabiri branch of the Chishti silsila. After Fariduddin Mas’ud, the Chishti order divided into two branches: Chishti Sabri, who follow Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari (Sabiri/Sabriya branch), and Chishti Nizami who follow Nizamuddin Auliya (Nizami/Nizamiya branch). For Dattū, thus, dreams were not just random thoughts—they were prophetic, guiding him in battles, decisions, and maybe even survival; thereby reflecting the uniqueness of his dreams as a fascinating blend of spirituality, faith and military conquests and expeditions.
Dattū Sarvani’s anecdotes find inclusion in the biographical compendium, the Lata’if-i Quddusi (collection of latifas or anecdotes about Shaikh Abd al-Quddus Gangohi) by Shaikh Rukn al-Din, son of Abd al-Quddus written between October-November to February-March, 1537. It provides information on the Lata’if-i Quddusi of Rukn al-Din, the kingdom of Bhatta and Muslim India, the reigns of Sikandar Lodi or Sultan Ala’ al-Din ‘Alam Khan, Humayun’s campaign against Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, or on the lives of Shaikh ‘Abd al-Quddus, Salar Mas’ud Ghazi and Badi’ al-Din Madar’. Apart from providing the reader with a comprehensive account of the tumultuous political and social world of the 16th century Indian subcontinent, the current volume brings to light alternate sources of historical enquiry. What is interesting about Dattū’s dreams and anecdotes is that they not only deal with the politically charged environment of kings, their reigns and expeditions, but also reflect his personal attachments and emotional world of intimate relationships. For instance, some anecdotes (pp. 104-05) included in the Lata’if-i Quddusi, talk about one Miyan Babu to whom Dattū was much attached. In other anecdotes (pp. 106-8) mentioned in the same text, Dattū writes about himself as well as his relationship with his daughter. This intersection of emotions, history, personal narratives, military and political expeditions in his dreams and subsequently in Digby’s text, provides a fresh analytical lens for doing and reconstructing historical accounts.
In many cultures like that of the Egyptians, Romans and Greeks, Islamic tradition and many other indigenous cultures, the significance of dreams as divine messages, prophecy, messages from ancestors or simply as guiding lights in one’s daily life has already been established. In spite of their vast relevance, dreams have never been taken seriously enough to enter historical accounts as solid proof or evidence for historical occurrences. This is what makes this volume unique. Digby’s work highlights how Dattū made decisions based on his dreams, impacting his military strategies as well as revealing his anxieties about the Mughal invasions and hopes for Indo-Afghan resistance. The importance of this work can be gleaned from the fact that ‘…In spite of close contemporary parallels to some of Dattū’s dreams in individual dreams of Babur, Humayun, and Shah Tahmasp, one has no strictly contemporary record of a collection of dreams like Dattū’s’ (Samira Sheikh, Historical introduction, p. 5). It is indeed a treasure trove for students, researchers and scholars alike who wish to engage with this period of history and are interested in locating historical sources other than officially documented histories or court chronicles.
Shivangini Tandon is Associate Professor, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.