For a traveller or a pilgrim unaware of the intricacies of history, religion and politics in Western India, visiting the shrine of Imam Shah located at Pirana, about sixteen kilometres from Ahmedabad, can be a unique experience. Eager to see one of the famous dargiahs (Muslim shrines) of Gujarat our visitor would hastily cross an enclosed court yard and look around, searching for the entrance to the mausoleum complex. At first he would not know where to direct his steps but his attention being eventually attracted by an inscription on one of the side walls, he would most probably be confused, if not bewildered, after having read its contents: “way to the samadhi”, knowing that samadhi is a term commonly referring to a Hindu funerary monument.4

This would not be the only surprise in store. After having entered the precincts of the dargah one is confronted with another amazing fact: the priests who are in charge of the main tomb, that of Imam Shah and of his son Mohammed Shah, claim to be Hindus. When the pilgrim comes out after having bowed in front of the graves a man clad in white puts on his forehead a tilak (religious mark) of saffron colour. Besides, by focusing one’s attention on the open court yard, a few more details become conspicuous: the Hindu syllable Om is painted at various places on the walls which do not, however, shelter any temple but a few more tombs and a big mosque.

Obviously the visitor is confronted with one of the socalled “syncretistic” traditions of the sub continent which have been described by various scholars since the last decades of the nineteenth century. From the religious message of the saints Kabir and Nanak to the sharing of festivals, cults and sacred places between Hindus and Muslims, a whole range of interesting phenomena have been the focus of scholarly studies or the subject

of articles published in Indian newspapers and magazines. As far as the latter are concerned, the case of Pirana has not failed to attract the attention of Gujarati journalists who chose to report on some recent events. 5

The general tendency is to view this type of phenomenon either as the result of “spontaneous” interactions between Hinduism and Islam (particularly Sufism) or as the conscious efforts of some religious figure to reconcile two opposite traditions. The historical context is seldom analysed, or even taken into account, as if it were not relevant for understanding the present situation. In this respect Pirana, as described by the journalists and even by some of its devotees, has been no exception. The coexistence of Hindu and Muslim elements, which one can observe within the shrine complex, are accounted for in the same simplistic terms: Imam Shah is portrayed as a tolerant Sufi saint of the fifteenth century who, “fed up with the Islamic rigidities”,6 created a sect where elements drawn from various Hindu traditions were associated to Sufi Islamic beliefs and practices. According to this version, the new order, referred to as Satpanth (litt. “True path”), admitted among its members Hindus as well as Muslims without demanding conversion. Therefore Hindu Satpanthis, who were by far the more numerous, would have retained through the centuries their religious and caste identities, while Muslims also continued to follow their previous customs.

Of course, such a naïve point of view, common to so many ancient and modern hagiographies, leaves one essential question unanswered: what does one understand by “conversion” and “religious identities”? Undoubtedly, the past decades have shown how crucial this particular question can be, the recent developments at Pirana exemplifying its importance for the subject which occupies us.

However without a proper knowledge of the historical context, totally ignored by the media as well as by the “official” publications currently available at the Pirana shrine, it is not possible to grasp the issue in all its complexity nor to see all its implications.