Jamali - Kamali

Just off busy Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road in Delhi, India, the 16th century Sufi court poet Jamali is buried in a tomb next to Kamali, of whom the printed matter says “identity unknown,” but whom helpful guides say, according to oral tradition, was the poet’s lover. Little about them is known. Karen Chase reconstructs the expressions of love and longing between the two, who according to Delhi’s oral tradition were homosexual lovers. Others believe that Kamali was Jamali’s wife, and some others believe that “Kamali” was Jamali’s nom de plume. Throughout the reigns of Sikandar, Lodi, Babur and Humayun, Jamali’s travels take him to Syria, Iran, Bhagdad, Ceylon, Mecca, Herat, Damascus, Palestine and Spain, making for many separations.