Sindh Through History and Representations: French
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SINDH through History SINDH and Representations French Contributions to through History Sindhi Studies i Edited by Michel Boivin and Representations The book aims to make available to English readers internationally research studies carried French Contributions to out by French scholars and advanced students. The topics cover the main periods of Sindh's Sindhi Studies history, literature, architecture and anthropology and the authors seek to provide a wide-ranging and comprehensive survey of Sindh's legacy. The work provides a fresh perspective on Sindhi culture, and its interaction with the legacies of other provinces of South Asia. Contributors Michel Boivin ^^Snnabelle Collinet Frangoise Cousin Laurent Gayer Dominique-Sila Khan Pierre Lachaier Frangoise Mallison Claude Markovits Delphine Maucort OXFORD ISBN 978-0-19-547503-6 UNIVERSITY PRESS www.oup.com www.oup.com/pk RS 550 OXJORD SINDH THROUGH HISTORY AND RfPRESENTATIONS FRENCH CONTRIBUTIONS TO SINDHI STUDIES EDITED BY MICHEL BOIVIN . OXFORDUNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORDUNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by_ publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto with offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Vietnam t Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Oxford University Press 2008 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First published 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press. Enquiries concerning reproduction should be sent to Oxford University Press at the address below. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. ISBN 978-0-19-547503-6 Typeset in Times Printed in Pakistan by Kagzi Printers, Karachi. Published by Ameena Saiyid, Oxford University Press No. 38, Sector 15, Korangi Industrial Area, PO Box 8214 Karachi-74900, Pakistan. CONTENTS Acknowledgements · vii Introduction IX Michel Boivin Part I: Historical Insights 1. Chronology of Sehwan Sharif through Ceramics (the Islamic period) 3 Annabelle Collinet 2. Shivaite Cults and Sufi Centres: A Reappraisal of the Medieval Legacy in Sindh 22 Michel Boivin 3. Urban Society in Colonial Sindh (1843-1947) 42 Claude Ma rkovits 4. A History of Violence: Ethnic and Sectarian Conflicts in Karachi (1985-2005) 52 Laurent Gayer Part II: Glimpses of Literature and Society 5. Barmati Panth: A Messianic Sect established in Sindh, Kutch, and Saurashtra 67 Fran9oise Ma llison 6. Jhulelal and the Identity of Indian Sindhis 72 Dominique-Si/a Khan 7. Lohana and Sindhi Networks 82 Pierre Lachaier 8. Colour and Light: The Textiles of Sindh between Sky and Earth 90 Fran9oise Cousin 9. Bhopa's Costumes and Body Technical: The Shy Women and the Proud Men 99 Delphine Maucort Notes 111 Glossary 127 Bibliograp hy 130 Contributors 141 Index 143 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The contributions to this volume were partly presented at a workshop held in Lyon in July 2004, under the supervision of Michel Boivin and Monik Kervran. This workshop was a part of the Annual Meeting of the AFEMAM (French Association for the Study of the Arab and Muslim World). It was obviously the first academic meeting to be devoted to Sindhi studies in France, and maybe in Europe. Since some scholars working on Sindhi studies could not attend the workshop, they were asked to write a paper which is included in the present volume. Support from several persons and institutions facilitated the organization of the workshop and the preparation of this volume. We express our thanks to Sylvie Denoix, fromAFEMAM, Ameena Saiyid and Rehana Khandw_alla from Oxford University Press. We are also grateful to Nalini Delvoye. Her useful advice was always fruitful. Monik Kervran is a world famous archaeologist. She devoted thirteen years to the study of several sites in Sindh. From 1989 to 1995, she worked in the delta of the Indus, and a number of articles were published on her achievements in academic journals. Then she shifted to Sehwan Sharif. With her team of Ph.D. students, she spent three months every year from 1996 to 2002 in the sacred city of the Qalandar. It is our pleasure to highlight the role she played in the French contributions to Sindhi studies. We would like to offer this volume to her as a token of gratitude. INTRODUCTION Michel Boivin The Beginning of French Interest in South Asian Studies South Asia, sometimes called the Indian subcontinent, is a very important area in today's world. French interest in South Asia and its culture can be traced back to the travels of French gentlemen in the empire of the Great Mughal.1 Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605-1689) travelled six times to Turkia from 1623 to 1669, and to Persia and India from 1663 to 1669. In 1676, he published his memoirs in Paris. The data of this book, which was to see several new editions, is usually considered very reliable. It was translated into German (1681), Dutch (1682), and Italian in the same year. In the field of science, the French were the pioneers of South Asian studies. Antoine Hyacinthe Anquetil Duperron (1731-1805) published in 1776 the first translation of the Upanishads in a European language. Sanskrit was taught at the College de France from 1814 onwards; and between 1840 and 1847, Eugene Burnouf (1801- 1852) published a translation of the Bhagavata Purana. in three volumes. Pakistan is a young country but its history is 4000 years old. French interest in the study of languages spoken in present-day Pakistan is highlighted by the first Urdu grammar, published by a French missionary, Francision Maire de Tours (1680?), whose manuscript, copied by Anquetil Duperron, is still kept at the Bibliotheque Nationale. In 1830, Joseph Heliodore Garcin de Tassy (1794-1878) became the first professor of Hindustani at the Ecole Nationale des Langues Orientales, better known as Langues'O. Hindustani was at the time the linguafranca in northern India, as well as in some urbanised centres like Hyderabad Deccan, India. When Garcin de Tassy began to teach Hindustani, it was still a 'Persianized' language close to what is actually known as Urdu. It was only in 1850 that the word Hindi was designated to the language written in the Devanagari alphabet, while Urdu was used for the language written in the Arabo-Persian alphabet. 2 From South Asian to Pakistan Studies Today, Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, the officiallanguage of Kashmir, the second official language of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, and Andhra Pradesh. In 1886, the professorship in Hindustani was transformed into 'Hindustani and Tamil languages'. From 1920, it became 'the languages of India'. It was only in 1963 that a professorship in Urdu was created: the first Professor was Andre Guimbretiere who did a Ph.D. on Muhammad Iqbal. Other Pakistani languages like Pashtu are taught at Langues'O. Although Punjabi is not taught, a well known scholar Denis Matringe is a specialist of Punjabi literature. He has devoted many studies to Sufi and Sikh literature in this language. Other Pakistani languages were studied, and in 1984, Professor Gerard Fussman published an Atlas des parlers dardes et kafirs where he gave evidence that there was a linguistic group x INTRODUCTION called Ka.fir, the only instance of an Aryan linguistic group whose language was more archaic than Ve dic Sanskrit. French scholars also devoted attention to Pakistani languages which are . not well known. The late Annette Fremont was a specialist of Burushaski, a language spoken in the Hunza valleys. Other scholars are specialists of languages like Khowar and Kalash. In 1826, Masson, a French traveller, was the first tonotice important ruins in Harappa, along the Ravi river. Excavations began at Harappa and Mohen-jo Daro in the 1920s. In 1924, the Louvre Museum received a seal made at Mohen-jo Daro fromLagash, in Mesopotamia. It was, however, in the 1950s after almost twenty years, that the first French Archaeological Mission arrived in Pakistan. Jean-Marie Casal was to be the man who in 1951 discovered an important site at Mundigak, nearKandahar in Afghanistan. While the British excavations were in progress at Mohen-jo Daro, Casal realized that Mundigak was a part of the Indus civilization. Later on, he decided to excavate in Pakistan. Casal began his investigations in Pakistan at Amri (1959- 1962), before publishing in 1969 a reference book on the Indus Valley civilization. In 1973, Jean-Franc;ois Jarrige was the head of the French Archaeological Mission in Pakistan. His main work was done at Mehrgarh. Roland Besenval worked in Balochistan while Monik Kervran focused on Sindh. A French mission was also sent to the Hindu Kush under the leadership of Anne Dambricourt-Malasse. Social sciences related to Pakistan are more or less linked to Islamic studies of South Asia. Marc Gaborieau was trained in Arabic and philosophy before he specialized in anthropology. He went to work on the Muslim minority during a stay in Nepal. He also published chapters on Pakistan-related topics.