Mystics and Muqams: Tracing the Historical Evolution of Sufiana Mausiqi

DOI

https://www.doi.org/10.59256/ijrtmr.20260606006

Published In

Volume 6, Issue 6 (2026)

Published Online

November-December 2026

Pages

45-51

Article Type

Original Article

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Sufiana Mausiqi, the courtly choral music of the Kashmir Valley, occupies a singular place in South Asian musicology as a tradition shaped at the confluence of Perso-Central Asian muqam theory, Hindustani time-cycle practice, and the devotional idiom of Kashmiri Sufism. This paper traces the historical evolution of Sufiana Mausiqi from its formative period under the Kashmir Sultanate, through Mughal, Afghan, and Dogra patronage, to its present precarious survival, and attempts a critical rather than purely descriptive account of the forces that have shaped it. Drawing on ethnomusicological scholarship, fieldwork-based studies from Kashmiri researchers, and comparative work on Central Asian maqam traditions, the paper examines the gharana system of transmission, the internal structural grammar of the muqam, the gendered politics of performance embodied in the now-suppressed hafiza tradition, and the institutional and digital efforts currently directed at safeguarding the genre. It argues that Sufiana Mausiqi's survival has never rested on a stable, singular authentic form but on successive renegotiations between courtly patronage, religious reform, colonial and postcolonial statecraft, and community memory. The paper concludes that ongoing revival initiatives, including a pending proposal for UNESCO intangible cultural heritage recognition, need to engage this history of contestation rather than treat the tradition as a static relic awaiting rescue