ABSTRACT
Is Sehwan Sharif a Sindhi pilgrimage? Sehwan Sharif is a town located in central Sindh, in Pakistan, where the Persian born Lal Shahbaz Qalandar went to settle in the last quarter of the 13th Century. Although Persian ghazal are attributed to him, the local Sindhis soon “sindhized” this charismatic figure and embedded him in local narratives and folksongs in Sindhi. After partition, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar was represented as the national Pakistani Sufi by the then Premier Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Another metamorphosis was completed by Shia communities from Punjab who claimed he was Hussein, thus a member of the prophet’s family. Last but not least, the Hindus also venerate Lal Shabaz Qalandar as the Hindu saint Raja Bharthari. How can we disentangle the history of this historic figure? Can the process of appropriation be a consequence of a rejection in terms of social discrimination? Do these developments mirror identity dynamics, or strategies of political instrumentalization? This paper shows that a pilgrimage can be both, the result of an integrative process at a supra local level, as well as a community identity marker.
