https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Chilla_retreatChilla retreat - Revision history2026-08-02T02:00:29ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Chilla_retreat&diff=494166&oldid=prevCarlotaMacadam7 at 20:06, 6 May 20262026-05-06T20:06:32Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Spiritual practice in Sufism}}<br />
{{About|Sufi practice||Chilla (disambiguation){{!}}Chilla}}<br />
[[Image:Indischer Maler um 1630 001.jpg|thumb|Sufi Maulvi (teacher) meditating]]<br />
'''Chilla''' ({{langx|fa|چله}}, {{langx|ar|أربعين}}, both literally "forty"), also known as '''Chilla-nashini''', is a spiritual practice of [[penance]] and solitude in [[Sufism]] known mostly in [[Pakistan|Pakistani]] ([[Punjabis|Punjabi]])<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saeed |first=Bareera |last2=Batool |first2=Syeda Shahida |date=2021-06-07 |title=Experiences and Practices of Contemporary Sufis in Pakistan |url=https://njssh.nust.edu.pk/index.php/njssh/article/view/69 |journal=NUST Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=99–119 |doi=10.51732/njssh.v7i1.69 |issn=2523-0026|doi-access=free }}</ref> and [[Iran|Persian]] traditions. In this ritual a [[mendicant]] or [[Asceticism|ascetic]] attempts to remain seated in a circle practicing meditation techniques without food for 40 days and nights in imitation of the [[Arba'een]].{{sfn|Landolt|Lawson|2005|p=203}}{{sfn|Dehlvi|2012||p=109}}<br />
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== Etymology ==<br />
The word ''chilla'' is derived from the Persian word ''chehel'' "forty".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.halveti.org/content.asp?cid=6&sid=21|title=The Path of Khalwati and Shabani|access-date=2008-05-01|archive-date=2005-01-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050111191108/http://www.halveti.org/content.asp?cid=6&sid=21|url-status=dead}}</ref> <br />
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== Chilla-khana ==<br />
Chilla is commonly performed in a solitary cell called a ''chilla-khana''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Ireland |first=Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IgbBfLuO6jsC |title=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland |date=1896 |publisher=Cambridge University Press for the Royal Asiatic Society |page=328 |language=en}}</ref> The place itself is sometimes called Chilla where chilla has been performed.<ref name=":0" /> <br />
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== Incidents of Chilla ==<br />
The most famous case of chilla is found in the biographies of the 14th century Sufi poet [[Hafez]] of [[Shiraz]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/hafiz.htm|title=Teachings of Hafiz|website=www.sacred-texts.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hafizonlove.com/bio/|title=Biography of Hafiz|website=www.hafizonlove.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/hafez/hafez.php|title=Persian Language & Literature: Hafez Shirazi|website=www.iranchamber.com}}</ref><br />
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== In music ==<br />
{{Main|Chilla katna}}<br />
A practice similar to chilla is also performed by [[Hindustani classical music]] practitioners at an advanced level. It is called [[chilla katna]]. <br />
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== See also ==<br />
* [[Khalwa (Sufism)|Khalwa]]<br />
* [[Meditation]]<br />
* [[Sādhanā]]<br />
* [[Shugendō]]<br />
* [[Tabligh Jamaat]]<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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===Bibliography===<br />
* {{cite book|first1=Sadia|last1=Dehlvi|title=Sufism: Heart of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zw_Q2Rbh7yIC&pg=PT109|date=5 September 2012|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=978-93-5029-448-2}}<br />
* {{cite book|first1=Hermann|last1=Landolt|first2=Todd|last2=Lawson|title=Reason and Inspiration in Islam: Theology, Philosophy and Mysticism in Muslim Thought|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bq9zSbNr8gIC&pg=PA203|year=2005|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-85043-470-2}}<br />
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[[Category:Religious practices]]<br />
[[Category:Ritual purification]]<br />
[[Category:Asceticism]]<br />
[[Category:Sufism]]</div>CarlotaMacadam7