BharatNotes Silsila
noun (countable)Usage in a UPSC answer
The Chishti silsila, introduced into the Indian subcontinent by Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in the late 12th century, propagated a devotional ethos of sama (devotional music) and service to the poor that cut across sectarian boundaries and drew mass Hindu and Muslim followings.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
silsila (noun), shajarah (related Arabic noun — genealogical tree), pir (Sufi master noun), silsilah (variant spelling noun), tariqa (related noun — Sufi path/order)
Root
Arabic silsila = chain, series, sequence; from s-l-s-l (to form a chain, to link together)
Etymology
From Arabic silsila (chain, series), the quadriliteral root s-l-s-l conveying linked continuity. The term entered Persian and then South Asian languages through Sufi organisational literature of the 10th–11th centuries. In the Indian subcontinent it became the standard technical term for the lineage-based Sufi orders that proliferated from the 12th century CE under figures like Moinuddin Chishti (Ajmer) and Bahauddin Zakariya (Multan).
Memory Hook
SILSILA = SIL(ver) SILA (chain): picture a glistening silver chain stretching from the Prophet all the way to your local Sufi master — each link a saint who passed on the blessing.
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