Satya Pir ( bn, সত্যপীর) is a belief system found in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

created by the fusion of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

and local religions. Experts maintain that the Muslim ''Satya Pir'' and the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Satyanarayan Puja The Satyanarayanã Puja is a religious ritual worship of the Hindu god Vishnu. The puja is described in the ''Skanda Purana'', a medieval era Sanskrit text. According to Madhuri Yadlapati, the Satyanarayana Puja is an archetypal example of how " ...

essentially represent the same beliefs and rituals. A century ago in Bengal, the ritual called, pujah was mainly performed by Hindu women and was interchangeably called Satya pir Pujah or Satya Narayan pujah. According to the author, Dwijendra Nath Neogi, some Muslims at that time also performed the pujah. The author gives alternate theories as to how Pir and Narayan got associated. In one theory, he proposes that Brahmins during the Islamic era in Bengal changed Narayan into Pir in order for the Muslims to believe that they were worshipping an Islamic saint. The other theory says the worship started as that of a Muslim saint or Pir and later the Pir was changed into Narayan. In folklores, Narayan and Pir get mixed such as one supplicant will address him as Satya Narayana, implying that he is an avatar of Krishna, while another one in a different tale will be told that Satya Pir has just come from Mecca, which would make him Muslim. In Orissa, the state adjacent to Bengal, Sufism gained popularity and led to the emergence of the Satya-Pir tradition. Even today Hindus worship Satyanarayan and pir together. Satya pir is worshipped by some Buddhists in Bangladesh.

References

Bengali culture Religion in Bangladesh Hindu traditions

References

Further reading