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April 13, 2003
REVIEW: Romancing Sindh
Britain’s interest in Sindh, because of its strategic importance in the furtherance of its imperial power, brought with it a spate of path finding writings on its social, cultural and economic conditions. Thomas Postans, Richard Burton and Eastwick did pioneering work in this field. In 1840, Marianne Postans joined her husband Thomas in Sindh where the latter served initially in the British army and then as Assistant to the Political Agent in Sindh and Balochistan.
Marianne Postans was a literary woman and an artist. She wrote a series of articles about what she saw and experienced in Sindh and Balochistan. These appeared in periodicals in London between 1842-44. About the same time, her husband produced “the standard work” on Sindh: Personal Observations on Sinde.
Marianne’s articles have now, after a lapse of more than 150 years, been reprinted as Travels, Tales, and Encounters in Sindh and Balochistan 1840-43. The credit for this goes to R.A. Raza who read these articles while researching for her doctoral dissertation. Of the ten articles by Marianne which are published in this book, six relate to Sindh, three to Balochistan and one titled “Outstation life” is about the charms of life away from the presidencies in western India.
Shelley called Sindh “a vale of tears” while for Richard Burton it was “an unhappy valley”. Marianne, too, found the duststorms and deserts of Sindh “alike grievous to the eye”. She was appalled at its sterile and inhospitable terrain, the misery and squalor of its populace, oppressed and ill governed by its successive ruling warlords. Yet to her, Sindh held a great deal of interest and fascination. She travelled extensively by road on camel and horseback or by boat on the river, and thus met a cross-section of people from the humble to the mightiest gaining intimate knowledge about their way of living.
The Indus river is as vital a lifeline for Sindh as the Nile is for Egypt. A wit, thus, gave Sindh the nickname, “Young Egypt”. Marianne was so captivated by the grandeur of the Indus that even when viewing it against the backdrop of the Nile, she declared it “far the noblest river of the East”.
She witnessed the vastness and fury of the Indus while sailing on it. She recalls, “The eye could not descry its banks, and when a body thrown on it was instantly dragged down by the power of its whirlpools, and seen no more”. In the winter, she tells her readers, when water receded and the same river became tame and calm, it yielded pullah fish which once a delicacy in Sindh is now sadly almost extinct.
Giving an account of her voyage on the Indus in a steamer from Sukkur to Karachi in the sweltering summer, with the temperature shooting up to 111 degrees F, she describes the picturesque spots and landscape she sees on the way. There is also the dark side of the picture. Hyderabad is the scene of a raging cholera epidemic which forces the ruling families to flee from the city and take refuge in their hunting forests.
Other interesting references to Sindh relate to her visits to the alligators’ resort at Manghopir and to the Manchar Lake, both popular picnic spots. She is absolutely enchanted by the water completely covered with lotus flowers while she goes boating on the lake. The stunning sight could well be “a subject of inspiration for both the poet and the painter”. No less lively and enjoyable is her description of a garden party she was invited to in Shikarpur.
The outings mentioned in her article “Outstation life” provide her an opportunity to get to know the natives, particularly the sepoys, more intimately. She enthrals her readers by narrating to them the feats of dexterity performed by the bands of jugglers who place “a small lime on the breast or between the lips of a man then divide it with one stroke of a sword”. She refers to tales and anecdotes — and records some of them for the amusement of her readers — told by sepoys, bards and storytellers with the chillum passing round them in a moonlit night. There are accounts of the fire lit from dry grass and blazing wood, while the jackals barked in the distance and the cold night dew fell fast, or when they lolled “on cool mats, while fanned by punkahs dipped in rose water” on a hot day.
The articles on Balochistan characterized by a touch of romance, fantasy and chivalry are entertaining rather than informative in intent.
Marianne arrived in India when the Talpurs, to whom she refers as Amirs, were ruling over Sindh. She and her husband used to enjoy the hospitality of Mir Ali Murad of Khairpur. She, however, regrets that she had no access to the Amirs’ women. Her writings on Sindh give glimpses into the Amirs’ lifestyle and their way of running the administration. She pours scorn on their repressive and despotic rule and misgovernment. She castigates them for wantonly wasting the country’s resources on the maintenance of hunting forests due to their infatuation with hunting. Marianne Postans was by instinct, an intellectual and an artist. She was reasonably objective in her views and comments, free from scorn a victor usually harbours against a vanquished. She was, for instance, impressed with the Talpur rulers’ “personal courteousness and princely bearing”. Her statement that the Hindus were tolerated by them clears the Talpurs of the charge of bigotry and religious fanaticism levelled against them by some British writers. Under the Talpur rule, she states, there was no capital punishment for any offence.
A keen observer as she was, Marianne’s articles excite a reader’s interest because they provide insightful information about Sindhi society as it was in her days. She offers profiles of the persons she meets, and throws light on the social customs, the dress of men and women, the jewellery and make-up the women wear, the male toiletry, and products such as the lacquer work of Hyderabad and other places of interest.
R.A. Raza has compiled the material with meticulous care and application. She has made a remarkable contribution by writing a lucid, elegant and scholarly introduction which encapsulates the salient features of the articles and the trends of the period. By adding a glossary and explanatory notes to the book, she has enhanced its educative value and has made it highly readable and easily comprehensible.
Travels, Tales and Encounters in Sindh and Balochistan 1840-1843
By Marianne Postans
Oxford University Press, Plot # 38, Sector 15, Korangi Industrial Area, Karachi. Tel: 111-693-673
Email:
ouppak@theoffice.net
Website:
www.oup.com.pk
ISBN 0195797957
214pp. Rs525
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