from the Bhang-Nama

by Hakim Bey

The Indo-Iranian version of this international dervish style clearly also owes something to the much more ancient Shaivite tradition, which at one time spread as far north as the Kushan and Saka Empires beyond the Pamirs. The Indian dervishes are Islamized saddhus--but in fact the way of life and the veneration of Cannabis may be far older than any religion: we may be looking at the survival of world-wide Neolithic shamanism. In some syncretistic sects of North India and Bengal sufism and tantra merge seamlessly. Ganesh Baba claimed sufi affiliations.

If this kind of "Orientalism" now seems too romantic, nevertheless it reflects a kind of romanticism with its own adherents in the Orient. A popular universalism of roses, hashish, the tombs of saints, yogis who quote Hafez, dervishes who venerate lingams, etc., etc., can be picked up direct on the ground, not just from books by Oxbridge dons. The poet laureate of this tradition was Kabir of Benares. The political program is radical tolerance and mutual respect, a rapprochement often eased by a shared tasted for Cannabis--and where else better than Benares, Shiva's sacred city?