The beggar woman was
seated outside the shrine of
Bah u`d-Din Zakaria, the revered Muslim mystic who brought the
Suhrawardiya order of Sufism from Baghdad to the Sub-continent I had
not noticed her before, my gaze having been drawn to the gleaming
azure tiles set in the towering brick edifice and it was only on
retrieving my shoes again that I saw her among other beggars squatting
around the mausoleum.
It was her face that caught my attention. Muddy brown
and lined like a dry river bed, it peered out from beneath a thin, grey
blanket. How old was she? Probably only my age I decided, the tough,
rural life having exacted a heavy toll on her haughty beauty. Then I saw
her hands. For days I had been looking for a marvellous pair of hands to
perform the tasbih Muslim rosary, and pulling out a string
of prayer-beads I had bought for the occasion, I asked my guide could I take her
picture?
"Gi", said the woman as her withered
fingers began counting off the ninety-nine names of Allah. `She can keep them`, I said, the translation bringing a
murmur of approval from the crowd of onlookers.
`With four rare things Multan abounds : heat, dust, saints and
burial grounds`
This Persian couplet still applies to Multan,
a town of one million people lying on the east bank of the Indus river
in south-west Pakistan. Multan which was known in ancient times as Mulasthanapura
has still not been discovered by western visitors but for hundreds of
years it has been an important place of Muslim pilgrimage in South Asia.
Following an initial
visit when I was researching a book on Pakistan in 1980, I returned
recently to find few changes. Old Multan surrounded by a high wall and
packed with tall Anglo-Hindu style houses remains in a time warp. Its
covered bazaar, pungent with a smell of wet animal skins and spices is
crowded with veiled shoppers while tongas and carts pulled by
huge Brahmin bulls still outnumber cars in the congested streets.
Sipping tea at a shabby street stall, I realised what was nagging me -
Multan looks like the Marrakesh of thirty years ago.
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In the late fourth
century BC Mulasthanapura was overrun by the legions of Alexander the Great
retreating from the sub-continent when Alexander himself was wounded
during an attack on the fort. As time passed, the Greeks were followed by Hindus,
Muslims, Mongols and Sikhs, each dynasty filching material from an earlier
one in order to build and fortify
the town.
According to the Chinese traveller Hieun Tsiang, a visitor to
Multan in 641 AD, the ruins of Buddhist stupas from the early Mauryan
Empire were used by Hindus to construct places of worship. The Hindus
called Multan the omphalos, or navel of the world and in their
biggest temple sat a huge idol with a sparkling ruby eye. Hieun Tsiang
noted that the Sun-Deity was cast in gold and that pilgrims from
all over Sind brought rich offerings to it.
The temple was destroyed under
Muslim influence when Multan grew into a celebrated centre of Islamic
jurisprudence and culture. Eminent historians and poets were attached to
its court attracting prominent Sufis and their disciples from near and
far.
The richest repository of
Sufi shrines adorns Multan hill-top but they are everywhere lending
credence to the claim that more than a hundred thousand pirs -
holy men - are interred in the area.
The octagonal shrine of
Rukn-i-`Alam, a man of deep religious conviction who lived in
Multan in the 14th century can be seen from the surrounding plains. 30
metres in height with walls nearly 4 metres thick, like the shrine to
his grandfather, Bah u`d-Din Zakaria - it is built of small burnt
bricks interspersed with gleaming azure tile-mosaics in transitional zones
ascending to a huge cupola.
Another richly
embellished shrine is erected to Shah Yousef Gardezi who came from Afghanistan in 1060 AD. Tombstones in the courtyard
which are thought to be his wives are covered with the exquisite blue-patterned tiles
which are still made in Multan today while the interior is painted with
lustrous floral motifs.
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Geometric patterns and
also floral
designs - tendrils, foliage and full blown lotus - normally rare in
Islamic art are also seen in the ornate mausoleum of the Ismaili Sufi
Ravi Shah Shams Sabzwari who lived in Multan during the 12-13th
centuries.
Further masterful
decoration on the Eidgah Mosque is another tribute to the ancient
artisans of Multan but my favourite monument is the tiny Sawi Masjid
completed in 1590 and tucked away in a very dilapidated part
of the old town. Here recessed arches in a high wall around the
courtyard are inset with panels of azure tiles patterned with Qur`anic
verses ending with the name of the scribe. In the vestibule equally
embellished in swirling Persian script are tiles to die for. Four graves
also bear inscriptions carved in bold naqsh script. A funerary
memorial. the tiny shrine begs restoration as its precious tiles drop
off and smash in the street.
Tourism could save the
traditional cottage industries in Multan but outside Pakistan few people
have heard of it. One camel provides enough skin to make twenty-five
hand-painted lamps, but we receive less than this number of visitors a
year, the proprietor of a crafts shop informed me.
Fortunately, local demand, especially from brides, sees Multan`s famous silk
kaishas still being produced on hundreds of looms and like all the
local
crafts - pottery, carpets, lacquerware and hand-sewn slippers - the
shimmering gold-worked textile is bargain priced.
The cost of living made
me think of the old beggar woman. Should I have given her more
than a string of prayer-beads I wondered? Though tired and dusty from my
day among the shrines, I climbed the hill again to the mausoleum of
Bah u`d-Din Zakaria.
Other beggars were at
the entrance, but she was nowhere to be seen. I took a more few pictures
and as we turned to go, there she was, sitting under a mango tree
counting out rupee notes....
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