Bidel in the Deep Ocean of the Mystical Sonnet: A Critical Perspective

Bidel Dehlavi as the greatest mystical poet in the Indian Subcontinenthas unleashed the Indian School of Persian poetry from its formalform and style. To him the sonnet was the continuation of the thoughtsand ideas of Mowlavi’s in his ‘Shamsiyaat’. The present article is anattempt to come to an understanding of Bidel through the lens of hismystical sonnets where he upholds the idea that, in the process of themystical return a human being takes, all the forms of multiplicitydirect themselves towards a direction of unity. All those forms in theirdownward waft from the creator to the created are representationalwhich confer and illustrate the characteristics of the Creator. Themystical sonnets of Bidel dramatize a mystical epic which renders thelove of a human being for his eternal beloved. These sonnets frequentlycarry surreal layers of meaning in themselves thus making the poeticvocabulary he uses in his depiction of such a mystical expressions quiteperplexing to the readers as well as the researchers. All these said, hispoetry bears such an enthusiasm and attraction in itself that his use ofsuch meter and feet, rhythm and rhyme has all made it more invitingand effective to the readers.