Book review: An inheritance of loss

India's Ambassador to Israel has written an unusual and fascinating account of an Indian encounter with the troubled city of Jerusalem

INDIANS AT HEROD’S GATE: A JERUSALEM TALE
Author: Navtej Sarna
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Pages: 182
Price: Rs.500

It is in this garden bar, surrounded by this celebration of herbal scents, that I manage to scrape though Nazeer’s formal politeness one evening:
“We have to write this story, Nazeer.  Your father’s story.”
“What is the plan?” he asks, playing for time.
“No plan. a simple story: your father, his father, the Indian Hospice.  How it all began, what happened during the centuries... .”

Navtej Sarna tells no simple story. Indians at Herod’s Gate  is much more than the story of the Indian Hospice that stands on the little hillock inside Herod’s Gate.

Hospice, probably in early 1950s

The Hospice was established in Jerusalem where Baba Farid, the great Indian Sufi saint, meditated 800 years ago. This is a story of the multi-strand Indian ties to the city, a story about the custodians of the Hospice and one that insightfully and deftly unravels the troubled web of Jerusalem’s history that has for centuries aroused fervour in believers.

Sarna, Indian ambassador to Israel, writes in delicate prose that is often poetic, capturing the essence of Jerusalem, its sights, sacred sounds and unique aromas.  There are stunning descriptive passages of the Old City that capture its pulse, its subtle gold tones, its aura. These evocative passages blend with his meticulous, on-the-ground research.  Sarna delves into waqf deeds, tracks down old land records that are more precious than gold in the Holy City, and his thorough reading of travellers' accounts trace the Indian encounter with the city. Though an unusual angle from which to know the city, his book is fascinating, perceptive and ambitious.

The Indian Hospice is set in a politically charged and historical narrative. This enables Sarna to interpose profound political changes with family dramas. On his journey of discovery, we meet members of old and distinguished lineages like Sari Nusseibeh, whose family holds the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the holiest Christian site. Sheikh Munir and his son Nazeer, custodians of the Hospice, unfold colourful and multi-generational tales of their family that traverse Jerusalem, India and Pakistan. The family, starting from Munir’s father Nazir Ansari, left no stone unturned to expand the influence of the Hospice and defend its interest in economic and political unstable and tumultuous times.

The tale of the Indian Hospice at Herod’s Gate starts with Baba Farid, who was among the early pilgrims from India to Jerusalem. Saladin had sought to attract Sunnis from distant lands to “savor the holy breeze of a land that had remained for so long in enemy hands”. Farid was born on the first day of Ramadan in 1173, to a Punjabi family that traced its lineage to Caliph Omar. Accepted as a mureed by Bakhtiar Kaki, 16-year old Farid was asked to tour the Islamic countries and learn from mystics of the time. Farid travelled between 1196 and 1214 to Ghazni, Baghdad, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Mecca, and Medina and to Jerusalem.

Sheikh Nazir Ansari (centre), Maulana Muhammad Ali (r) and Nazir's brother Masud Ansari

In Jerusalem he fasted and prayed — hanging himself upside down in a dark room. When his mentors passed away, he inherited the mantle of the Chisti order. That room where he meditated became the site of the Indian Hospice, one of numerous Sufi khanqahs in Jerusalem belonging to various Sufi disciplines or tariqas.

Sarna discovers that in the 1600s there were several Indian hospices in Jerusalem.  His research on the Hospice at Herod’s Gate takes him to 1924. That was when the first Arab delegation arrived in India to collect funds for the repair of the Mosque of Omar. When Indian Muslim leaders were told of the very bad condition of the Hospice, they sent Khwaja Nazir Hasan Ansari of Ambheta, Saharanpur, to take care of the only shelter for Indian pilgrims. The Supreme Muslim Council proclaimed him the Sheikh of the Indian Hospice. Nazir devoted the rest of his life to refurbish and expand the Hospice, and was helped in his task by rich Indian princes. He became a prominent notable of the community, headed the Palestine Indian Association and was initially closely associated with the Grand Mufti as well as leaders of the All India Khilafat movement.

In the murky politics of the time, Nazir fell out with the Mufti and supported the British. Thus, the refuge for pilgrims became a leave camp for war-weary Indian soldiers during the  World War II, when Palestine was an enormous British army camp. Over 150 Indian soldiers were stationed there — Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh. The army left  behind two wings they had built — the Travancore Wing and the Delhi Manzil. In 1948, the International Red Cross rented the Delhi Manzil to feed Arab refugees and till today the UNWRA office and clinic operates from there.

Sheikh Nazir Ansari (left) with King Abdullah I of Jordan, circa 1948

After a few romantic digressions, which I felt interrupted the otherwise tight narrative flow of the book, Sarna describes the death and destruction rained on East Jerusalem in the 1967 war. The Indian Hospice was badly damaged, and 18 members of the family hid in fear and trepidation in a ground floor room while bombs dropped on and around the building. Munir’s 28-year old sister Amina and her son died in the bombing, and many of the family were severely injured. Shortly thereafter, the Israelis bulldozed the Moroccan quarter to build the Western Wall Plaza (1967), fundamentally reshaping the map of East Jerusalem.

In a very emotional chapter Munir opens his heart to Sarna. He describes how everything changed for himself and his family after the 1967 war. Munir speaks of the loss of freedom in Occupied East Jerusalem: “If you are not free, you are dead. One does not live on this food alone.”

The Indian Hospice, with the support of the Government of India, has tenaciously held its foothold in the city where every inch of soil is passionately contested. Coming full circle to Baba Farid in the final chapter, Sarna describes a stage set in the courtyard of the Hospice. Sarna visits on the day that Zila Khan, Sufi singer, was to arrive from India to sing the poetry of Baba Farid in the twilight.  Her anticipated performance is of great significance to Sheikh Munir. He has great expectations of the event. He has prepared his speech where he will say: “…after more than forty years, life has come back to the Indian Hospice.”

 

The reviewer is currently Nehru Fulbright Scholar and recently launched "Recalling Jewish Calcutta," a digital archive at www.jewishcalcutta.in