Memories and Movements: Borders and Communities in Banni, Kutch, Gujarat by Rita Kothari

Author:Rita Kothari [Kothari, Rita]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orient BlackSwan Private Ltd.
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

FIGURE 3.1: Sufi singers at a community radio station in Banni

Photograph: Courtesy of Abhijit Kothari.

If the foregoing discussion demonstrates one integral and historical aspect of Banni's life, albeit one that is under scrutiny from Islam, another area shows the persistence of a practice despite Islam. This has reference to institutions of marriage and gender norms. Informed by the notions of purity mentioned earlier, each Sunni Muslim clan in Banni, through its endogamous practices, maintains a caste-like structure in terms of division and hierarchy. In principle, this runs counter to Islam's emphasis upon the equality of all Muslims. However, Banni Muslims maintain silence on this issue also, and simply cite their identity as Sindhis who see no reason why those changes need to be made. Neither are changes evident in the dowry system, referred to euphemistically among Sindhis in general as deti-leti (to give and take). Banni's long-standing and renowned skill in embroidery stems from this tradition. The bride carries a minimum of ten to twenty embroidered rugs and tops (known as kanjrí) to the house of her in-laws, in addition to gold, silver and other goods for a new bhunga. Women, as is usually the case, carry a higher burden in the perpetuation of 'culture', and the norms of endogamy and dowry applied to them are invoked in the name of asli shafaqat without any perceived contradiction with the Islamic tenet of equality. Both men and women refer to these practices as asul ja riti rivaaz, the old and genuine traditions.

It is clear from this that 'Sindh' or 'Sindhiness' is evoked as the fount of Banni's asli shafaqat, or true culture, although the understanding and interpretation of these concepts are constructed to suit selective needs, especially patriarchal ones. While there are a few who refer to community singing and piri-muridi, a large number understand asli shafaqat as a set of practices maintained in the context of marriage and gender-related matters. The following discussion points to occasions of the now easy, now contested simultaneity of the regional-linguistic tradition of Sindh and the new Islamic reforms under the auspices of the Ahl-i-Hadis. In other words, it describes the challenges of being Sindhi as well as Muslim.

Ahl-i-Hadis

Ahl-i-Hadis is one of the three principal sect-like groups (along with the Deobandhis and the Barelvis) that emerged from within the broader Sunni Muslim fold. Each of these groups, whose roots lie in British India, 'claimed a monopoly of representing the "authentic" Sunni tradition', which 'brought to the fore the deeply fractured and fiercely contested nature of Sunni "orthodoxy"' (Sikand 2010). Designated as the 'followers of the Prophetic tradition', the Hadith followers urge an exclusive orientation to the primary sources of Islamic law — the Quran and the Hadith, the unmediated word of God and the Prophet (Riexinger 2008: 148). Sikand's (2010) study provides a valuable description of the theology of Ahl-i-Hadis and its difference from, but also ultimately conjunction with, the 'Wahhabi' Islam associated with the expansionism of the Saudi regime, an issue that is of only indirect relevance here.

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