How Adam Fell to Earth in India: The Coral Rosary of Azad Bilgrami

According to a widespread Islamic tradition, when Adam was expelled from the garden of Eden he fell to earth on Sarandib (now Sri Lanka). In this episode, we hear how this tradition was interpreted in India through the monumental Arabic work, Subhat al-Marjan (The Coral Rosary). Since Arabic isn’t often associated with India, we begin by sketching the history of the language in the region. Next, we turn to the biography of Ghulam Ali Azad Bilgrami (1704-86), the author of Subhat al-Marjan who lived during an age of massive political disruption as the Mughal Empire fell apart. Withdrawing to the library of a Sufi monastery in Aurangabad, Azad Bilgrami spent years studying the evidence that linked India to Adam, the Prophet Muhammad, and other key figures of Islamic sacred history. We learn how in his masterpiece Bilgrami brought all this evidence together with the artistry that earned him the moniker Hassan al-Hind (the Hassan of India) for his skills in Arabic. Nile Green talks to Andrea Maria Negri, author of A Mirror of Arabic Language and Literature in India: Gulām ʿAlī Āzād Bilgrāmī’s Subhat al-margān fī ātār Hindūstān (De Gruyter, 2026).