Shrines Cultures in South AsiaPractices and Iconographies of a ‘Common’ Religion of Northwest India and Pakistan

Tej Purewal

University of Manchester

Conceptualising Shrines

Hegemony and counter-hegemony

‘Common’ spiritual spaces

Multiplicity within shrines

It is all very well for historians to think, speak and write about Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism, but they rarely pause to consider if such clear-cut categories actually found expression in the consciousness, actions, and cultural performances of the actors they describe.... I was constantly struck by the brittleness of our textbook classifications. There simply wasn't any one-to-one correspondence between the categories which were supposed to govern religious behaviour on the one hand, and the way in which people actually experienced their everyday lives on the other. (Oberoi 1994: 1-2)

an enchanted universe

Rethinking the emblematic

Margins as the ‘mainstream’

Shrine cultures

• Places where the messiness of religion congregates, mixes and coagulates

• Where the social, the religious and the spiritual meet

• Where religious authority is publically exercised and contested

Common idioms of worship

• Mannat (wish)

• Parshaad (food offering returned to the worshipper)

• Langar (free food/kitchen)

• Dua/ardaas (prayer)

The social space of the shrine

This-worldly benefits of the

shrine

Male Prayer Area

Library & Auqaf Office

Main KabrArea

Chiragh& Incense

WuzooArea

Pigeons

Donation Box

Flower & Incense Sellers

WuzooArea

Book Stall

Entrance

Entrance

Graves

WomenMen

ChildrenThursday Night at Mian Mir

Topis

Graves

Graves

QawwaliArea

• Man, 35: “I was diagnosed with a fatal illness a few years ago after I’d just gotten divorced from my wife…Those were really difficult times. I started coming to the shrine with my mother who insisted I would get better if I came… and I did after we came consistently every Thursday bringing sweets/food for the poor… Now I will forever be thankful to the blessings of Hazrat Mian Mir here at his darbar.”

• Woman, 57: “This is where my real support and strength in life comes from .. The darbar, the aura, the blessings of the saint… I enjoy meeting others here and giving each other advice. We all need somewhere to turn to.”

Shrines of the counter-hegemonic?

Nankana Sahib, Pakistan: an

emblematic shrineYatra visa ensures people only visit the specified sites

Lobbying by the Sikh diaspora and Indian Sikh groups and institutions

Kirtan – Sikhs only, please.

From Bhal Chaman Lal to Bhai Chamanjit ‘Singh’ Lal

End of rababi performance

Photo: November 2008

•

Views of Nankana Sahib local residents

(1)for outsiders. The area is poor and has nothing else going on. We look forward to the mela days when we can earn money and see the town come alive.”

(2) “Welcome, welcome my sister… you must be here to wish for a son. This place has special powers for those who come with a manat (wish)...”

(3) “Baba Nanak saadaa vee hai… it’s all a show for you people, when you come here. Otherwise, we routinely go inside the shrine. Baba Nanak is our local pir. He belongs to all of us, doesn’t he?”

Spiritual economy: melas (festivals) and markets

Spiritual musics

aural renditions of folklore, texts

QawaaliNaatKirtanKaafiBhajan

Conclusion

• Shrine practices highlight an active ‘common’ religion within spiritual life in north India/Pakistan

• Shrine spaces constitutive of tensions, conflict, hegemony and resistance

• Multiplicity is managed within the shrine, and when not.. new expressions are formed