Kachchh: minars of faith and fraternity

The hollow rumble of a drum, the only instrument in the background, fills the air. Soon the husky voice of a devotional singer, more like an alms-seeker outside a dargah, proclaims the praise of the prophet, blessing and praying for the benefactor.

It’s a song that gives us a glimpse of the great syncretic traditions of Kachchh. This is a region of nomadic pastoralists who once sheparded their livestock on an annual migratory route across the Great Rann of Kachchh to Sindh, now in Pakistan, and back again. New boundaries that came up after partition put an end to that journey, but strong ties between Hindu and Muslim pastoral communities across the borders of Kachchh and Sindh remained.

A rich confluence of religious practices like Sufism, poetry, folklore, mythologies, and even languages spawned by that interaction, is what has come to define the lives of communities in the region, their art, architecture and religious practices. A repertoire of these shared cultures and syncretic practices, many of them based on Sufism, is found in the now declining traditions of this region’s folk music.

Devotion to the Prophet shines through this song sung by 45-year-old Kishor Ravar, a pastoralist from Morgar village in Nakhatrana taluka.

A special thanks to Preeti Soni, Aruna Dholakia, secretary, KMVS, Amad Sameja, project coordinator KMVS for their support and to Bhartiben Gor for her invaluable help with Gujarati translation