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Phallocentric esotericism in a tale from Jalal al-Din Rumi's Masnavi-yi Ma‘navi

The Masnavi-yi Ma‘navi, the Mystical Epic of the great thirteenth century Persian mystic Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273), contains explicit sexual images and bawdy tales that seem to have posed a problem for readers, commentators, and interpreters alike. When these “pornographic” tales are not completely overlooked, scholars view them as lacking mystical significance and as disrupting the mystical flow of the text. This paper is an assessment of Rumi’s modes of communicating esoteric secrets in a virtually unexplored bawdy tale in the Masnavi, the Tale of the Prankster who Donned the Veil and Sat among the Women during a Religious Gathering (5:3325–3350). I will begin with a survey of the established readings of the Masnavi in which the presence of the bawdy tales has been noted. In order to situate Rumi’s bawdy tales in their historical context, a discussion of the instances and purposes of bawdy material in medieval Persian literature will follow. It is my contention that this tale is an example of phallocentric esotericism, that is, the phallus functioning as an esoteric symbol, and Rumi is the only mystic of medieval Persia whose work includes representation of the phallus as an esoteric symbol. I will use relevant features of the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s theories as strategic conceptual tools to substantiate the esoteric significance of this tale. The subjects of Rumi’s mystical discourse and Lacan’s psychoanalytical concepts are worlds apart. Thus, a portion of this paper is dedicated to providing justification for the methodology of this paper. It is hoped that an examination of the function of the phallus for the system of signification that is operative in this tale will help to unravel the dichotomy between the mystical and that which canonical appraisals of the Masnavi have deemed “obscene” and “non-mystical.”