KARACHI: To study the figure of Jhulelal is a complex issue. It requires an inter-disciplinary or multidisciplinary approach because providing a single perspective will not give interpretations regarding the different existing traditions related to him.

This was said by French scholar Michel Boivin as he introduced the preliminary results of the Udero Lal Research Project (ULRP) during a joint presentation titled Jhulelal at the Crossroads at the Alliance Francaise Karachi on Friday evening.

Mr Boivin, who teaches at the Centre for South Asian Studies CNRS-EHESS, said the project began early this year in two phases. He said the first fieldwork was completed in April and the second ended recently.

Since the project was about Jhulelal, he said, explanations needed to be given because the name was associated with a number of sacred figures in Sindh.

He said the project was undertaken with inter-disciplinary or multidisciplinary perspectives because studying Jhulelal was a complex issue, therefore a single perspective, for example anthropological or historical, would not provide the kind of interpretation of the figure and its various traditions. This is why, he said, the project had different people working on it.

Mr Boivin said the project was divided into three parts: (1) literary and visual (2) authority and sacred space (3) structures of sacred space. He said it would be interesting to note that the first publication on Jhulelal came out not before 1890.

Prior to that, he said, it was communicated through oral tradition. He said the third part the research chiefly focused on the main shrine, which was in the village of Udero Lal, a darbar, 60kms north of Hyderabad.

He said the researchers visited several sites and temples dedicated to Jhulelal during the fieldwork, some of which were deserted because after 1947 many Hindus in Sindh left for India.

After a close inspection, he said, they decided to focus on two main sites, Udero Lal — which had the biggest building devoted to Jhulelal — and a temple in Tando Adam.

He added during their research they found out that there were temples all over the world, including one in New York, dedicated to the sacred figure.

After this introduction, Mr Boivin invited another researcher Kamran Khumber, a PhD scholar at the Centre for South Asian Studies, to speak on the issue of authority figures in Jhulelal’s tradition and how they worked in contemporary times.

Mr Khumber presented case studies of three Matas. He said the followers of Jhulelal believed that these Matas were his avatars. The three cases of Matas that he selected were of Mata Bina of Udero Lal, Mata of Mol Sharif and Sain/Mata of Mirpurkhas.

Giving away his findings after discussing the Matas, he said there was no particular structure or process of selecting an authority figure.

Zahida Rehman Jatt, who teaches at the University of Sindh, shed light on Jhulelal’s relations with Hindu panths (traditions) and how he was not only a ‘shared culture’ between Muslims and Hindus, but also among different Hindu sects.

She said Jhulelal was represented in almost every temple in Sindh. She said there were some specific panths in which one could find his associations and representations.

Giving examples of the panths, she said a few of them were Nanakpanth, Udasipanth and other local cults and figures. Describing the first one she mentioned the founder of Sikh religion Guru Nanak.

She said Nanakpanthi was practised in Sindh but, unlike Punjab, here the Nanakpanths were not Sikhs — they did not practice Khalsa.

She said Udasipanth was started by Baba Sri Chand and those who practised it were different from Nanakpanths — they were ascetics. She said some of the Udasipanth establishments were still found in Sindh and they were ‘very much active’.

To back up her arguments she showed a variety of images, such as the one in which Jhulelal was seen sitting next to Guru Nanak. Concluding her talk, she said through the research project, they found a ‘shared culture’ which in this era of religious intolerance was a ray of hope.

Rounding off the programme, Mr Boivin said no conclusions could be drawn from the presentation since the ULRP was an ongoing project. He said the research might take them to other countries.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2016