In 2006, Ashery undertook a Triangle Arts Trust Gasworks residency at Khoj International Artists Association, the Sarmad the Saint performance is based on Ashery’s research into Sarmad the Saint’s life including a visit to Sarmad’s tomb in Deli. Sarmad was a Jewish traveller who converted to Sufism. According to publishes sources, his relationship with his Indian lover Habichand was controversial but long-lasting. Sarmad was beheaded because he refused, according to his Sufi beliefs, to announce the existence of one God only – Allah. It appears that Sarmad had an enigmatic personality that granted him a sustained following. The performance was participatory and based on fictional letters that Sarmad wrote to his sister, read by audience members. In Ashery’s performance Sarmad is a woman dressed as a man in order to travel, a common historical practice for women travellers.
Rubaiyat of Sarmad
My beloved is whimsical
Sometimes he reveals his mercy and his love
at other times utter cruelty.
At times which enchanting movement
he reveals himself,
and displays a hundred hues changing every second.
But oh, no he, but I am whimsical.