The literature devoted to Lal Shahbaz speaks about a number of items owned by Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. The list of relics depends on the authors. For example, the Gulzar-e Qalandar has listed as relics or reminiscences (yadgars), not only the attributes of Lal Shahbaz, but also the places where he stayed (Solangi 1972: 191-210). In a recent book, the relics are named as tabarukat since they are supposed to be vehicles of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s baraka (Kazemi 2009: 31). However, one can distinguish two groups of relics from a figure like Lal Shahbaz.

The first is related to his genealogy. As a descendant of the Shia imams, and thus of the Prophet  (PBUH), some relics could have been inherited from the Prophet through the imams.

The second group of relics is linked to his affinity to the Qalandariyya.

According to the Shia tradition, the imams inherited from the Prophet his sword, armour, helmet, and short spear (anazah) (Lalani 2004: 41). The imams were also in possession of weapons. The most famous is Ali’s (RA) sword which was called Zulfiqar. In addition, the 13th century qalandars used to travel with a number of objects which were, for most of them, useful in their daily life. The most common things were the bowl (kashkul) with which they begged for food, the razor (ustara), and the sewing needle (juwal doz). Some other objects were also related to the ascetic life they had chosen, such as the stone (sang), the belt (maftul), a banner, and a drum.

The relics of Lal Shahbaz will be nonetheless introduced according to a meaningful cleavage in Sufi and Shia Ismaili contexts: the visible and the hidden. In the esoteric language expressed in Lal Shahbaz’s ghazals, these categories are called zahir and batin.

As referred to previously, Lal Shahbaz was a batini, and the Ismaili philosophers were the first Muslim thinkers to develop the concept at length. Some of these relics are indeed exhibited, so that all the categories of devotees are able to see them, while the sight (deedar) of others is restricted to the ‘initiated’ people, the first being the faqirs.

The Guluband

Although it is possible to distinguish two categories of everyday artefacts of devotion, it is a challenge to build a hierarchical classification of them. The most popular relic among the ziyaratis is nevertheless a piece known as the guluband.

The gulu, in Urdu, refers to the neck (gali in Sindhi).

The guluband is thus something tied around the neck, a necklace. Before providing the narratives and the functions which are related to it, it is necessary to provide a brief description of the guluband. The guluband is also worn by other groups of wandering faqirs, such as the Malangs, the followers of Juman Jati, and the Jalalis, the followers of Jalal al-Din Bukhari (d.1374) from Uch. However, these gulubands are without stone.

The object itself is a stone. Since it is a stone hanging on a chain, it reminds us of the stones used by ascetics such as the sang-i-maftul, for example. The sang-i-maftul was one of the tools used by the ascetics for ‘controlling their flesh. This sophisticated name, referring to Persian sources, is sometimes given to the guluband. Before the 1980s, the stone was only protected by a silver leaf-shaped covering, but a Pathan, an outsider from Sehwan, tried to break it with a pick.

It is not known who the owner of the guluband was, if any, before the shrine was administered by Awqaf. The guluband is, now, never removed from its hanging location and it has been almost entirely covered by a silver shell. The leaf is adorned with delicate vegetable motifs but the devotees can hardly touch the sacred stone (fig. 63). The most common gesture is to pour water at the apex of the gulubaud, and then to take the water which is said to have been purified by the stone. The guluband is also known as shifa ka pathar, the curing stone.

The guluband is the subject of several competing narratives. They all agree that Lal Shahbaz Qalandar always wore the guluband around his neck. There are three main narratives related to the origin of the stone. According to the first one, it originated from the Black Stone of the Kaaba in Makkah. In 684, during the Umayyad period, the ‘anti-khalifa’, Yazid, was in charge of the Kaaba, but it was damaged by fire.

It is said that Imam Zain al Abidin safeguarded a piece of the original Black Stone and it was passed on to one of his descendants. Through his ancestor Ismail, Lal Shahbaz was the final heir to the piece of the Black Stone. The second narrative purports that the piece of the stone was given to Imam Zain al Abidin after the tragic battle of Karbala. The chief of Yazid’s army ordered Imam Zain al Abidin to wear it around his neck so that when walking, he was, consequently, always bowing, and it was, therefore, meant to disgrace him. After Zain al Abidin was freed from jail, the guluband was abandoned at some place in Damascus until a Sayyid family recognised it and took it to Karbala. In this version, it is not clear whether Lal Shahbaz used to wear it himself.

A third version is related to the Qalandariyya initiation of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. The stone, here called sang-i-maqbul, was given to him by either Ibrahim Wali or Shah Jamal Mujarrid, a laqab given to Jamal al-Din Savi, the alleged founder of the Qalandariyya in the Middle East (Kazemi 2009: 32). This narrative corroborates the Shiite narrative since it reiterates that the stone was given to Shah Jamal Mujarrid by Imam Zain al Abidin. In any case, it is well attested that bearing a heavy stone around the neck was a tradition among the qalandars.

But once again, there are multiple meanings of the stone, since for some authors, this was a stone of chastity, while for others, this was a stone of contentment (sang-i-qanaat) or a stone of the belt (sang-i-maftul) (Tortel 2009: 137). Whatever the appellation given, the stone (sang) was used by the qalandars as a means to control the body and the flesh, and to fight the self (khudi) and pride as attainment and preservation of humility was a fundamental goal for the qalandars.

The guluband is sometimes referred to as the tawiz of Lal Shahbaz and the water pouring from the stone is often compared to the water of Zam Zam. We can observe that the narratives relate Lal Shahbaz Qalandar to both traditions, Sufism and Shiism.

Lastly, the guluband is not for private use since it is never removed from the kathero. The guluband as a stone is reminiscent of two interesting stone pieces, one white and one black, which were exhibited in the darbar. They were placed in a niche in the western wall and were known by the name of makhan makhi. The word makhan means melting butter (white stone), and makhi translates to honey (black stone).

Some people believed the latter was a piece of the Black Stone of the Kaaba. Devotees used to touch and kiss these stones, which are supposedly kept by the Awqaf Department at an unknown place. The stones were associated with miracles which occurred in a chillagah of Lal Shahbaz. For example, in Cho Tonbi, it is believed that Lal Shahbaz was miraculously fed with honey and milk provided by God.

Artefacts of Devotion: A Sufi Repertoire of the Qalandariyya in Sehwan Sharif, Sindh, Pakistan By Michel Boivin Oxford University Press, Karachi ISBN 978-0-19-906321-5 166pp. Rs2,100