Ruhaniyat Sufi Festival

Ruhaniyat was established at a moment when India's Sufi music revival was gathering momentum in the late 1990s. The success of qawwali on the international stage through artists like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the growing interest in devotional music traditions across the Indian subcontinent created an audience ready for a dedicated festival. Ruhaniyat was conceived as a multi-city event that would bring together the plurality of South Asian devotional music traditions rather than focusing on a single form.

The Rumi Foundation's association with the festival connects it to the broader Sufi cultural network that takes its name from the 13th-century Persian poet Jalaluddin Rumi, whose poetry is central to much Sufi musical tradition. The multi-city format, spanning Mumbai, Pune, and other locations, reflects the distributed nature of India's Sufi music audience, concentrated in urban centres with historical connections to dargah culture and qawwali patronage.

Over its 25+ years, Ruhaniyat has documented the living tradition of South Asian devotional music through its programming, presenting established practitioners alongside younger artists and bringing international Sufi musicians from Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia to Indian audiences. The festival has been a consistent presence in India's independent music festival landscape.