Part X Pakistan's Cultural Heritage and Society Chapter 42 Culture and Society hat is culture? The search for a satisfactory answer to this question has given rise to a We deal of discussion and debate. What is Pakistani culture is another difficult question for which no completely acceptable answer has yet been evolved, but towards which we can draw closer by discussing and debating the question. TS. Eliot (1888-1965) the celebrated poet and critic called his treatise, Notes Towards the Definition of Culture.! In other words, Eliot does not claim to have arrived at a definition of culture, but can only to point to a definition. Then again, the reader must be warned that not only does the term culture have different meanings for different writers, but that it is used interchangeably with another term, civilization. The word civilization is of French origin (1734). It meant according to Michel Boivin,? to improve the social state of a community. Later, it denoted the higher state of humanity. In its origin, it is quite compatible with culture. We can see this in the writings of two theorists of history. Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) used the word ‘culture to denote extra-national units of society in which common features transcending national boundaries are highlighted. His contemporary, Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889-1975) employed the term civilization in almost the same sense.4 In Eliot we find no attempt to determine the frontier between culture and civilization.> A more recent author, Shireen Hunter, is more forthcoming: ‘Culture, which subsumes civilization as its outward manifestation of itself’.° As an illustration, we can take an example from Pakistani culture. Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911-1984), the most internationally acclaimed Urdu poet, complained that Urdu was an imposition, since only 8 per cent of babies listen to lullabies in the national language. We can deduce that for Faiz, culture is defined by the mother tongue,ar eae —_—__ ___Shapter 42 Culture and Society 247 atich, in 92 per cent of cases means regional Languages. It follows that civilization is defined by pita, since Faiz not only composed the bulk of his poetry in Urdu, he even, on oceasion, strayed: ‘0 Purdi, a Hindi dialect having no territorial representation in Pakistan, Culture is the sum total of the learned behaviour of a group of people that is generally ussidered to be the tradition of that people, and is transmitted from generation to generatic “The Oxford En; 's culture “as the customs, institutions and achievements fa particular nation, pe ir Ealward Taylor defines culture ay ‘that complex whole nich includes knowledge, art, morals, law, custom, and any other habits acquired by man beings The United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural al, material, in Id be reganted as the set of distinctive sp Neetual ational features for a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of wgether, value systems, traditions and beliefs. In short, it requires unity in diversity’ the Main Components of Culture 2 four elements can be considered to be the main components of culture: 3. Institutions 4. Artefacts 1, Values can be described as ideas of what seems important in life to a group of people or a wiety. They are ideals that guide or qualify conduct and interaction among people. They help : distinguish what is right from what is wrong, and serve as a guide on how to conduct life in meaningful way. Culture is greatly influenced by values; and most often the ideas they generate ‘= brought together in religion from which society derives its values, For example, honesty is a alue shared by all religions, while honouring one’s ancestors is a value present in some religions ut not in all. Noms consist of what society considers as normal behaviour. Eating with one’s fingers is onsidered normal behaviour in South Asia but not in Europe. Each culture has methods or anctions, of making sure that people live and respect its norms. If you eat with your fingers in European city, people may look at you with disapproval, so that you may stop eating that tay. Sanctions may be strict or not, depending upon the importance of the norm. Norms that a ‘ciety enforces in a formal manner because it considers them important, become the laws of that ‘ociety. For example, drinking alcohol is legally prohibited in Pakistan. . 3. Institutions are the structures of a society within which values and norms are practiced and ‘transmitted. Some institutions are exclusive to Indo-Pakistan Muslim Society, such s mushairas, However, marriage is an institution of our society which prevails in many other societies as Well, In all these societies having a family and providing stability for them is considered an important form. 4. Artefacts are shaped by a culture's values and norms. A society's arts and crafts come under ‘his heading. Calligraphy, for example, has grown out of Islamic Culture as a substitute for the etistic depiction of human bodies which is not acceptable in our culture, Calligraphy is on atistic way of depicting the various attributes of Allah, This is an example of how a cult values influence its artefacts.248 PAKISTAN STUDIES Culture has also been described as the result of ‘the best that has been thought and said in the world’. In a progressive, developing and evolving culture, all achievements and accomplishments improve with time, In such a culture, improvement is given a great deal of importance, and since improvement becomes a value, people are open to listening to and acting upon the views of others ‘Thought, and respect for ideas are forces inherent in the development of a culture’s artefacts, just as thought and research are reflected in scientific advancement. Those who are courteous, tolerant and calm are considered cultured, as are those who are interested in the artefacts and institutions of their own and other cultures Culture and Classes It is often said that culture is the collective bel du aviour of the educated segment of society. , presuppose a certain level of education; when we speak of ‘cultured pearls’ we mean pearls having all the natural ingredients and produced in a shell, but whose production has been artificially induced. Therefore, we can confidently state that education is an important element in the diffusion of culture. We can relate our observation to the class structures of Pakistan. We can say that the appreciation of art and the patronage of art belong to the Pakistani upper class, although the creation of art itself may be outside the purview of the upper class. Apart from the arts, as far as customs, manners and behavioural norms go, they belong more to the middle and lower classes, Dress and food varies from class to class in style, but in propriety, there is unity. Education is an important element in relation to the arts as well, There are many arts which cannot be appreciated naturally. They develop from an acquired taste. For example, in Pakistan. classical music and modern art can be appreciated only by those who know the intricacies of these arts, Folk music and pop music have separate but overlapping audiences. People who can appreciate representational art far outnumber people who can appreciate abstract art. Snobbishness in art is at an ebb, There is an effort by established artists to embrace the crude and garish artwork on trucks and buses. Literature is the only art which is available to all classes, but even here there is a distinction between serious and popular literature. However, taste distinction and class distinction are not congruent. Popular literature is devoured more by thé middle class. Cinema has not yet found its bearings, in spite of three or four high class films. Television drama which played a formative role in fostering cultural awakening has seen technical advance and fic decline at the same time. Culture and Politics Culture acquires a political dimension when the culture of the conqueror is perceived to be higher than the culture of the conquered, Sir Percival Spear observes that a situation like this can bring about a real revolution and gives rise to rethinking. Since Pakistani culture cannot be divested of its British content, the clothes we wear, the language employed both by this writer and his readers and other technological improvements (or intrusions) into our life, mention must be made of three” Englishmen who had a pronounced influence over us, Edmund Burke, Sir William Jones and Lord Macaulay. Edmund Burke's Impeachment of Warren Hastings transmitted British ideals to India, Sir William Jones made Indians aware of the grandeur of their early civilization, and on the opposite side Lord Macaulay made them aware of their shortcomings. Education in English overcame the separatist tendency of vernacular languages and provided an outer shell to culture. In other words, acting as a common language among speakers of various regional languages, English brought them closer, giving their cultures a better chance to merge. | ation is conceived to be a vital ingredient of culture. When we call a man ‘cultured’ wea ta Pakistan, cultural varieties have been given a political meaning. It is reiterated that by _gglecting regional cultures we are threatening the federation, One of the reasons why East stan broke away was the issue of not giving: Hengali its rightful place, On the break up of jaxistan two Russian historians, Gordon Polonska and ¥ ist Pakistan was composed of fo ised the notion nationalities, 1 ating to the four provinces. Z.A. Bhutto, who Gok over after the secession of East Pakistan and then engaged in military operations in galochistan, banned this notion. It rarely serves to ban a concept. As an example, in order to (pow the failure of federation in Pakistan Syed Jaffar Ahmed highlighted the differences among ne people of Pakistan: “A people who have not coalesced into a nation, and are a disjointed lot Waiting in a very different context, at le 1 three authors, Intezar Husain, Bapst Sidhwa and Attiya pawood, coincidentally in the same issue, noted the similarities between India and Pakistan.” there iS much to be said on the iss pia having fostered regionalism, but against gis We note that Yusuf Haroon had warned against provincialism before the creation of Pakistan~ Since regional tensions deal with language hegemony we shall resume this discussion in Chapter 43: Language and Literature. 1 federal my Archaeological Heritage rea that comprises Pakistan has been the crossroads for many conquerors and adventurers over thousands of years, since it has been the gateway for all those who have entered the continent, from the ancient Aryans of Central Asia onwards. It has also been a cradle of civilization for people who preceded the Aryans, lived here and developed their sophisticated ways of life The Soan Valley Culture and the cultures of Harappa, Moenjo Daro, Taxila and Gandhara are all proof of a complex and diverse way of life and thought. Soan: The earliest evidence of mankind consists of certain crude implements of quartizite found near the Soan River in what is now modern Rawalpindi. Human beings first appeared probably 500,000 to 300,000 years ago, between the two Ice Ages. Harappa and Moenjo Daro: the remains of this civilization are spread over a large area in Sindh and the Punjab. The discovery, by archaeologists, of these civilizations reveals that some 5000 ago the Indus Valley nourished a complex cultural and political life. The principal remains of Harappa include a citadel, a scattered general city, a granary and a cemetery. Moenjo Daro is a far more spectacular site than Harappa. A sophisticated drainage system is clearly visible in it, along with a citadel, a communal bath, and a granary. Seals, statues, paintings and pictorial writings have been discovered, along with household articles, weapons and animal jetons. This was # beautiful city, with brick houses, pillared halls, markets, lanes, streets and areas. Every house had drains and bathrooms inside it. {t appears that both cities were inhabited by people with brown complexions, and who wore both woollen and cotton textiles. The ornaments used by both genders were necklaces and bracelets. Their utensils were of various shapes and sizes, and were decorated with paintings. Their way of life was orderly, and they lived under a well-regulated social and economic system. They had trade relations with communities in the east and the west. They worshipped both the mother goddess and a male deity. They ate wheat and barley, as well as dates, mutton, fish and eggs: eNobody knows so far how and why this civilization dispersed or was destroyed. Gandhara: The areas of Northern Punjab, the Peshawar Valley and Eastern Afghanistan were known a Gandhara. This was the meeting place for various ancient cultures, It was conquered by Alexander of Macedonia in the 4th century Bc, and then was ruled by Mauryans, the Indo- ~~,250 PAKISTAN STUDIES s, the Shakas and the Parthians, Gandhara art was the expression of this civilization during the 2nd and 3rd century ap, Thousands of monasteries and stupas were built in these areas, containing graceful statues of Buddha, and his accomplishments, as well as friezes along rock faces, such as the famed Buddhas of Bamian in Afghanistan, These artistic creations are evidence of highly developed talents; and they streteh along the Silk Route in Central Asia, beyond the borders of India, Taxila: This city and its ane Buddhist university is situated nea jalpindi. It was a thriving civilization when Alexander invaded the area, It was a seat of government and the acted Buddhist scholars from all over the world, At its zenith the city was renowned as a centre of trade and commerce. The Taxila excavations cover an area of more than 12 square miles, and include the city as well as many shrines and temples. Many important articles have been found at Taxila, including pottery, glassware and sculpture which indicate that the city had links with Greece, Egypt, Syria and the Mediterranean region. Its inhabitants were skilled, sophisticated and creative. Thatta: Is located near Karachi and is famous for its Indo-Muslim architecture. The great mosque built by Shahjehan, the Mughal emperor, is especially noteworthy. Thatta’s principal monuments are located on Makli Hill and fall into three main historical periods. These structures display fine geometric designs and floral arabesques, as well as red sandstone lacework. university Art The artistic heritage of South Asia is an ancient one, and it finds a rich expression in today’s Pakistan. Abdur Rehman Chughtai’s work is the finest example of this heritage, for he combines the ancient technique of miniature painting with Muslim cultural elements which are specific to the area, which is Pakistan, His most renowned achievement is his Muraqqa-e-Chughtai, in which he has illustrated various couplets of Mirza Ghalib in a delicate romantic manner. Master Allah Buksh depicts specifically Punjabi subjects in a traditional style. Zubeida Agha’s paintings are abstract in nature, striking in composition and vibrant in colour. Sadequain is an artist who has turned the Muslim art of calligraphy into a way of life. His magnificent murals combine calligraphy and human figures in tortured postures, which produce unique compositions. Ismail Gulgee has a style of his own based on swirls of colour and wild, passionate designs. The Lahore School ‘These painters flourished in the 1950s and 1960s, and each had a unique style of his own: Envar Jalal Shemza’s and Haneef Ramay’s art was based on calligraphy and was abstract in nature. Moyene Najmi painted landscapes as well as abstract compositions. Ahmad Parvez. was essentially abstract painter, but in an intensely intellectual manner. Ali Imam spent many years in London but eventually returned to Pakistan and settled in Karachi, where he established the Indus Art Gallery. His canvases are a mix of traditional as-well as abstract compositions.| Chapter 42 Culture and Society | | Music pakistan is home to all the great classical music Gharanas (styles) of Northern India.The foremost among these is the Kirana School, whose great master in pre-Independence India was Ustad Abdul xarim Khan, His disciple and niece, Malika-e-Mousiqi Roshan Ara Begum gave her greatest performances after Independence, and epitomized the purity and intense sweetness of this school of music, The Patiala Gharana of classical music was patronized for many generations by the Maharajas of Patiala, and migrated to Pakistan in 1947, Ustad Akhtar Hussain Khan performed in Pakistan, guet trained his great sons in this style of singing which combines many different styles. Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan and Ustad Hamid Ali Khan were his sons, and all three gisplay the power, variety and melody of this family. Ustad Amanat Ali’s sons, Asad Amanat Ali and Shafqat Amanat Ali epitomize two different developments in Pakistani music, The former sings classical and folk music, whereas the latter has branched out into a mix of classical and pop music and has founded a group called Fuzon. Ustad Fateh Ali's son Rustum Fateh Ali rem: true to the classical style. Ustad Hamid Ali has trained his sons classically, but they also sing fusion music under the name ‘Raga Boy Among Ustad Akhtar Hussain’s elder brother Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan’s disciples are the great shazal singer, Farida Khanum, and the eminent Kafi Singer, Zahida Parween. The Sham Chaurasi Gharana from East Punjab has produced two great singers, the brothers Ustad Nazakat Ali and Ustad Salamat Ali, The latter's son Shafqat Salamat Ali is a promising singer today, with a voice of great power. The Gwalior Gharana, that settled in Hyderabad, Sindh, before Indpendence, trace their roots pack to Mian Tanseen, who was court singer to the great Moghul Emperor Akbar. This school of singing is related by marriage to the Patiala Gharana, and counts Ustad Umeed Ali Khan as its sreatest exponent. Currently, Ustad Fatch Ali is the most noteworthy representative of this school of Singing which epitomizes tremendous power and depth. Qawwali is another popular genre of Pakistani music, inspired by centuries-old traditions voted in spirituality, The Sabri brothers and Manzoor Ahmed Khan Niazi internationalized jawwali drawing huge crowds at home and abroad. Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a singer of unique talents, who trained his voice into an nstrument of tenderness and variety. He belonged to a gawwali gharana from East Punjab and rradually moved from traditional gawwali singing to a semi-western style of performance in sollaboration with Peter Gabriel. His compositions have been part of the background music of nany films and he can be credited with single-handedly introducing Pakistani music to the West. Instrumentalists have also made their mark despite the competition from modern gadgetry: Ustad Bundoo Khan and Ustad Hamid Hussain on the sarangi; Ustad Sharif Khan of Poonch and Rais Khan on the sitar, Munir Sarhadi on the sarinda; Misti Khan Jamali and Khamisoo Khan bn the alghoza, Saeen Allah Ditta on the flute and Pappoo Saeen on the dhol. Folk music also reflects the culture of Pakistan as for centuries it has been the medium of serving and carrying forward traditions, legends, and poetry. For example, Waris Shah’s Heer s been sung to a typical traditional tune to this day. Similarly, the folk legends and poetry of 1e provinces have been embodied in folk music which has been popular with the masses, though ith the influx of television, videos and pop music, it may be facing a decline in urban areas. ome of our famous folk singers are Pathaney Khan and Ataullah Khan Isakhelvi from NWFP, fai Bhagi, Allan Fakir, Zarina Baloch from Sindh; the pop singer Hadiga Kiyani draws heavily m Kashmiri and northern folk music. 251252 PARISTAN STUDIES Cultural Heritage and Modern Culture sents cultural heritage, Sadequain represents In the domain of art, Abdur Rahman Chughtal rep moder culture; in music Roshan Ane represe ‘on represents. modern culture; in literature Hates represents cultural heritage, NuM, Rashid represents modern culture. Apart trom personalities, the Hadshahi Masjid, Lahore iy our cultural heritage, the Tooba Mosque in Karachi is a product of moder culture In historical terms it should be clarified that the possession of a great cultural heritage, to belong to a religion whieh has had a great cultural impact is not the same as possessing a great culture. A great culture is one that can overcome military superiority. The Hindus were able to assimilate conquerors like the Huns and the Seythians, and Muslims were able to convert Mongols and Tartars who were their conquerors, £0 their own religion, When the British invaded India, European culture was in a dynamic state; scientific discoveries, political theorising and literature were receiving an impetus, and at the same time the Muslims ‘were reflecting on their decline, We mentioned earlier Edmund Burke, Sir William Jones and Lord Macaulay, Sir William Jones translated Kalidasa’s Shakuntala and founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal. It was hiy mission to discover and propagate the glory of Hindu Civilization. Lord Macaulay, on the other hand remarked that one shelf of western books contained more wisdom than whole libraries in oriental languages, Both Jones and Macaulay were right. Jones was concemed with cultural heritage, the past which was indeed glorious. Macaulay was concerned With the present, with what was, in his time, modem culture, Gradually the mould of South Asian culture will become obsolete. The mould of modern Pakistan will come into play, Perhaps the present is not equal to the past, but nevertheless it will point to the future, to a Pakistan which is perforce nuclear, a Pakistan which is threatened, a Pakistan which, in set with environmental hazards, which has serious gender inequalities, and which is sitting on a population time bomb, These are to be the future parameters of Pakistani culture regardless of whether we overcome these challenges, or whether they overwhelm us, If these trends are a danger, they are equally so to all Pakistanis and in that sense they have a unifying effect, for they call for all of us to put our heads together in order to evolve values and a mode of life acceptable to all, Notes 1. TS. Eliot, Notes Towards the Definition of Culture, London, Fabgr and Faber, 1961. Michel Boivin, Jihad, Chambery, Universite de Savoie. Oswald Spengler, Decline of the West, 2 vols, German 1918-22, English 1926-28. AJ. Toynbee, A Study of History, 12 vols, London, Oxford University Press, 1934-61, TS. Eliot, op. cit., p. 15. Shireen Hunter, The Future of Islam and the West, Westport, Praegar, 1998, p. 8. Syed Jaffar Ahmed, Dawn Sunday Magazine, 10 August 2003, p. 1. Ibid., Books and Authors, pp. 1 to 4, Ibid., 28 July 1947. eens