The Rumi Dance - the secrets of the dancing dervishes

The Rumi dance is now widely celebrated in Turkey and is performed by dervishes. In Turkish, the word 'dervishes' means beggar and comes from a Persian word for 'wandering monk'. The Rumi dance originates from Persia (now Iran). The movement grew out of Sufism, a branch of Islam based on direct experience of God. Another name for Sufi is 'dervish'. The devotion of the dervishes is construed that there is a spark of divinity within the soul, and that this knowledge must be released for man to achieve perfection. The dervishes clad in black gowns and their distinctive conical felt hats, first quickly walk through three rounds. Soon, they take off their gowns and reveal their white garments underneath.

For those of have seen the song 'khwaja mera khwaja' from the Bollywood film 'Jodhaa Akbar', you will remember a group of men clad in white garments (generally woollen) whirling around and extending their arms, the right hand towards the heavens and the left hand towards the Earth. All the time, the dancers whirl around in ever-faster circles. The master joins them in the last round and turning on the middle line. In the song, one will find Hrithik Roshan joining the dance and whirl in the middle. Believers require the guidance of a master familiar with the ritual called 'Sama', a mystical dance composition. The purpose of the dance is to train the spirit to feel the divine. The dance urges the spirit to discover how the world both conceals and reveals the creator. "The sama consists of three sections. The first signifies the blinding of consciousness. In the second, the music is a means of transforming the senses. The cleansing of the soul takes place in the last section. The site of the white gown under the black cloak symbolises that the dervish is free of if his body, and ready for rebirth." The whirling symbolises the rotation of the planets. And the position of the master indicates the all is an illusion. He staying in the middle symbolises God. The positioning of the dervishes' hands is important as the right hand is the one that receives divine grace and the left passes it on to the world. They symbolise the passing of wisdom from a master, to his disciple, and the point where heaven and earth meet.

Coming back to Sufism, the beliefs of this system is 'oneness of God'. Classical sufi scholars have defined Sufism as " a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God. Sufism asks us to live and so move, so act and so aspire as to advance spiritually. For those who don't know, there is a temple called 'Sufidar' in chennai. At Sufidar, one will find pictures of all the Hindu saints, Sufi saints, the Hindu gods, Lord Jesus, etc. The idea is that every visitor beholds his favourite deity and feel home at Sufidar.