Abstracts
Theme: Women’s/Gender Issues
Panel: Women Mystic Poets: Dissenting Voices from South Asia
 Rabiya Khuzdari: A Cultural Figure of Khuzdar
A. Razzak Sabir*
Khuzdar, in the province of Balochistan, Pakistan, lies in 27 42’ N. and 66 37’ E., in the valley of the same name at an elevation of 4,050 feet above the sea level. It is close to the town of Quetta. Khuzdar has remained capital of the old Turanian State. Presently Khuzdar is the division headquarters of the Kalat Division and chief town of Jhalawan. Jhalawan has remained a province of the old Turanian State. Presently Khuzdar is the divisional headquarters of the Kalat Division and chief town of the State. The Arab historians and geographers have spelled the name sometimes as Quzdar, Qizdar, while people of Sarawan pronounce it Ghuzdar. The jats, the most ancient known inhabitants of the Jhalawan, named it as Kohiar. Language of the area is Brahui. A countable number of people speak Balochi as well.
Khuzdar has a stately past. The area has remained under different rulers. The early history of Khuzdar is like the rest of Balochistan. It remained in great obscurity and very little information is available about the area before the advent of the Arabs, who ousted the Rai dynasty of Sindh in the 7th century. The central position of Khuzdar as the point of convergence of roads from Multan via Mula Pass, Mekran and Kandhar made it an important place for the Arab invaders. In the time of Arabs it was the chief town of the small territory of Turan.
After Arabs, the area has remained under the control of the Ghaznavids. With the downfall of the Ghaznavids, the Khuzdar territory fell into the possession of Ghorids followed by Mangols. Ghangiz Khan passed across the area, and his expedition is still commemorated by Ghangiz Khan-na-Khal (the rock of Changiz Khan) between Nichara and Pandran. Before Mirwani rule, Khuzdar remained under the control of Mughals and Jadgals.
The Arabs ruled over Balochistan under different names. Among those the following two were much more popular: Mehdanian rulers of Mekran; and, Mutaghlibian rulers of Turan.
Essa-bin-Mehdan is the pioneer of the Mehdanian rule. The capital of the Mehdanian rule was Kechh (Mekran). The capital of Mutaghalibian rule was Qizdar, the present day Khuzdar. Khuzdar came first time under the subjugation of the Arabs by Sunan-bin-Salama, an Arab General, and companion of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in 48 A.H. Soon after this event the local people revolted. In 62 A.H., Manzer-bin-Jarud Abadi, another Arab General, came and conquered the Qandabil (Gandawa), Buqan (Kharan) and Qizdar (Khuzdar). It is said that the grave of Manzer exists in the Sahbi-ta-Ghoristan (the graveyard of companions of Holy Prophet (PBUH) in Khuzdar.
The love story of Rabiya Khuzdar is one of the main cultural myths of Khuzdar. Amir Kahab, the father of Rabiya, was a General of Sasanied dynasty. Sasanieds were the rulers of Khurasan and Mahonahar. Their period of ruling starts from 272 A.D. The ancestors of Amir Kahab came to Khurasan during Abu-Muslim’s period. Amir Kahab had two children, son Haris and the daughter Rabiya. Due to her extraordinary beauty and intelligence, she was known as Zen-ul-Arab (beauty of Arab). She has been considered as the first poetess of Persian language. Her impassioned style poetry gave her immemorial place in Persian literature. The verses of her poetry are very organized and well thought-out.
Besides all these qualities, Rabiya was known for her affair with Baktash, a brave soldier and faithful slave of her brother, Haris. Haris was the successor after the death of his father, Amir Kahab. Due to a charming personality and good character, Baktash gained an important place among the other staff of Haris. Stories about his beauty, charm and character, spread all over the country. The house of Baktash was attached to the Palace of Haris. It is said that one day when Rabiya was on the roof of her palace and enjoying the nature’s beauty, she saw Baktash sitting in a gathering near Haris. Rabiya fell into love with Baktash followed by an exchange of love letters and messages to each other through an old-age nurse. When love affair of Rabiya and Baktash was at its peak, a neighbor king attacked Haris’s country. Both forces fought bravely. At one stage, the enemy surrounded Baktash when suddenly a veiled horse rider speedily appeared in the battlefield and quickly picked up wounded Baktash and went away. After a long period it was disclosed that the horse rider was Rabiya.
The love story of Baktash and Rabiya soon became public and Haris was informed about it as well. He got irritated and decided to punish both. He arrested Baktash and put him into a dry well. To punish Rabiya, he ordered to heat a hamam (the bathroom). After heating the hamam he called for Rabiya and had the veins of her wrists slashed. Then he sent her into the hot hamam and had the doors shut. In that hamam, Rabiya breathed her last. Before death she wrote many verses of her poetry on the walls of hamam with her blood. Soon after her death, Baktash succeeded to abscond and killed Haris. Later, he went to the grave of Rabiya and killed himself as well.
The love story of Rabiya and Baktash is very popular among the Persian poets and scholars. It is said that she was a contemporary of eminent Persian poet, Rodki. There are some evidences that Rabiya and Rodki had met each other. However, there is a difference of opinion about Rabiya’s place of residence The Afghan scholars consider her as Rabiya Balkhi and the Iranian and Pakistani scholars as Rabiya Qazdari. (Khuzdari). But there is no doubt that during the Samanian rules, both Balkh and Khuzdar were part of the Samanian dynasty.
The people of Khuzdar have great affiliation with Rabiya. The local people at times name their newborn daughter after Rabiya’s name. There is a literary and cultural organization called Rabiya Khuzdari Arts Academy Khuzdar in Khuzdar for the past 15 years. One of the main roads in Khuzdar town is called Raibya Khuzdari Road. There is an organization in Khuzdar called Rabiya Khuzdari Social and Education Society Khuzdar and a library by the name of Rabiya Khuzdari Library.
The local people of Khuzdar even today are proud of Rabiya and consider her as a sign of grace, honor and distinction for Khuzdar. Surprisingly, however, there is no mention of her in the local folk literature particularly in Brahui and Balochi. Only Prof. Nadir Qambrani has recently published one complete booklet about Rabiya Khuzdari in Brahui. * Dr. Abdul Razzak Sabir is Professor of Brahui and the Acting Director of Balochistan Study Centre, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan.
Living Room Seminaries: Negotiating Religious Networks, Gendered Selves and Intercommunal Relationships
Aneela Babar*
The home/world division has remained an integral part of the South Asian project and the male community elders have jealously guarded their religious and cultural preserve; however, women have been exploring the possibility of finding their voice in forums outside the closely defended realm of the male elders. For instance when in Pakistan a set of rigorous, male-formulated rules restricted the use of the community mosque by women. Different women dealt with these conflicts in their own ways. Borrowing from Werbner, I will explore how women "play out their claim to equality not only directly but indirectly, through their public appropriation of potent symbols of legitimate authority". This will be done by exploring through the years the role of the female "naat and marsia khwan" and devotional speakers who are valued for their elocutionary skills within the community and the evolution of the expression of their political voice as they engaged with the religious texts and discussed their rights and authority to interpret the religious texts.
* Aneela Babar got her PhD (2005) from the Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney, Australia. Her dissertation dealt with transnational gendered religious networks. She has worked with the Gender and Development Program at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan on gender mainstreaming in development projects.
Patterns of Pakhtun Poetry Written by Women: From Mysticism to Social Content
Samina Rehman*
The oldest known Pakhtun mystic poetess is Bibi Gula, known as Bibi Nek Bakht, belonging to Hasht Nagar. Her date of birth is not available but some sources claim that she got married in 1571 AD. Her poetry revolves round religious teaching.
Obedience to God, to her, brings liberation from fear and want.
Social content (condition of women, anti British and nationalist sentiments) appears in the Pakhtun poetry in the 20th Century under the influence of Khudai Khidmtgar movement of Khan Ghaffar Khan, and poetry of Syeda Bushra Begum (b. 1922) is a vivid example of this. She dwells upon situation of women and draws a simile of a caged bird with broken wings. She also advocates Pakhtun Nationalism and women’s solidarity to liberate country from the colonial rulers. This paper looks at the patterns of Pakhtun poetry written by poetesses and the changes in their outlook from mystical religious expression to nationalism *Samina Rehman has a Masters degree in Philosophy. She teaches at Department of Philosophy of University of Peshawar. She is also visiting lecturer in Logic and Philosophy of Science at the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Peshawar.
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