Gulshan-E-Armaan by The Kabir Project

Gulshan-e-Armaan is an audio narrative performance based on the story of Shah Inayat and told through painted ‘phad’s along with aural narratives. The story of the 18th century Sufi – Shah Inayat ‘Shaheed’ – marks a riveting moment in the history of Sindh, dramatically bringing together the social with the spiritual. Based on his life, this historical fiction tells the story of Shah Inayat’s gulshan-e-na-afreeda (the Uncreated Garden) – a utopian world which he paid a heavy price for envisioning – a land where the human spirit is not driven by fear, mistrust and exploitation, but rather is moved by love. The story opens up many questions which ring true for our times: Does personal enlightenment have anything to do with social justice and upliftment? Can ideas and poems be silenced by censorship? Finally, and perhaps most poignantly, what does the mystic’s call to ‘give up your head’ truly mean? 

The inspiration for Gulshan-e-Armaan comes from the ‘phad’ (scroll) storytelling tradition from Rajasthan in which traditional bards (Bhopa- Bhopi) light up an illustrated scroll with a lantern while singing and storytelling to a live village audience. Inspired to do a contemporary twist on this form, Gulshan-e-Armaan is a unique audio-visual storytelling experience. 

Created by the Kabir Project Team

Script: Kartikay Khetarpal & Shabnam Virmani

Illustrations: Alafiya Hasan

Music: Yaron Pe’er

Light Artists - Amit Mishra, Divyesh Sagathiya, Rohitash Bishnoi

Sound Design: Shubhangi Bansal

Research & Ideation Support: Shreeparna Mitra & Smriti Chanchani

The Kabir Project 

The Kabir Project journeys explore the philosophy of Kabir, Shah Latif and other mystic poets through a deep engagement with their oral folk traditions and were initiated in 2002 by filmmaker, writer and artist Shabnam Virmani. The Kabir Project team has inquired into the spiritual and socio-political resonances of this poetry for our contemporary worlds, for over two decades now. The work has taken the shape of 4 award-winning documentary films on Kabir, a digital archive on mystic poetry and music called Ajab Shahar(www.ajabshahar.org), several published books, music curations, urban festivals, rural yatras, and a schools program called Shabad Shaala.