The memory of ordinary, everyday intercultural or interreligious relationships, in brief
Malerkotla is celebrated for its positive interreligious coexistence, with Sunni Muslims (who are the large majority here), Shia Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and Jains praying at the same sites, celebrating each other’s religious festivities, and successfully avoiding violence across religions from the time of Partition in 1947, when the rest of Punjab saw atrocities. This peaceful record has been celebrated in film and in the media, and a series of academic books and articles (by Anna Bigelow and Karenjot Bhangoo Randhawa) have sought to explain the ways in which religious diversity has recently enabled peacebuilding initiatives across the city.
The context in which these relationships made a difference at the time
Malerkotla (as Anna Bigelow has written) was the site of many historical interreligious conflicts before Partition. Ruled for centuries by a Sunni Muslim elite, in 1947 the city of a little over 100,000 people maintained peace between its citizens and took in Muslim refugees fleeing violence in other cities in Punjab. This success was a key factor in establishing a solid civic understanding which brought its religious communities to successfully navigate subsequent challenges in the decades that followed (as noted by Karenjot Bhangoo Randhawa 2012). Political parties, religious communities, and civic associations have used the memories of previous conflict as well to underline that Malerkotla has the cultural resources to continue as a place of amity (bhaichara) through conflict.
Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus live in separate quarters, but celebrate religious festivities in very close proximity. The Sohrab public school is shared, and citizens meet in the markets (where Jains have historically traded) and in factories (which have also been a point of encounter for immigrant workers from towns and villages in the region, too). Publications on interreligious social encounters are able to give best evidence for the period after 1947, and less has been written about shared festivals or prayers before that time. This may match with the weight given in accounts to the role of Malerkotla’s religious, civic and political leaders in promoting peace in the city. At festivals, residents from other religious communities have often attended to provide solidarity, and have also regularly provided refreshments. Malerkotla has long had a deliberately multi-religious Municipal Council, and its political parties and religious organisations are deliberately geared to social welfare issues rather than radical political aspirations: the local Jama’at-i Islami and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (elsewhere known for their religious fundamentalism and their hardline approaches to political conflict) have been distinctive in their commitment to the active promotion of interreligious conversation and solidarity, and religiously-aligned political parties commonly feature politicians from other communities.
The Memory Bank team hopes to encourage more discussion of the value of ordinary peoples’ friendships and solidarities, which are given less stress by commentators focused on the ways in which civic unity has been more deliberately organised at a political level. Interviewees relate their pleasure in giving gifts at each others’ festivals (Randhawa), and worshippers at a number of sites attribute the power to grant prayers to devotees, regardless of denomination (Bigelow), giving some evidence that they are not only taking part in shared religious activities through a ‘passive intolerance’.
What has happened since, which makes the memory valuable
The reputation of Malerkotla as an ‘Island of Peace’ (as the Times of India described it in 2002) has persisted through waves of conflict in Punjab in recent decades. Randhawa notes that residents may move to take up opportunities in larger cities such as Lahore, but – as her interviews in Lahore indicated – they remain proud of the unusual degree of cross-denominational solidarity which characterises their home city. In the accounts given by Randhawa and Bigelow, interviewees of different religious backgrounds stress the role of the city’s unique historical memories in explaining how Malerkotla has avoided violence since 1947, commonly attributing this feat to divine or spiritual influence according to their different Muslim, Sikh or Hindu religious education.
How might the memory be used in bringing people together in practice now?
Randhawa concentrates on the ways in which the example given by the religious communities of Malerkotla can be seen to rest not only on shared ritual, but more importantly on deliberate efforts to create interreligious encounters through civic association. Interreligious civic associations are also seen as key features of the city’s successful negotiation of conflict when it is encountered, which can be addressed through open, direct communication. In recent decades, the city has developed Peace Committees and local police complaints procedures to address issues that arise.
The Memory Bank team are keen to hear from partners for whom the experience of Malerkotla proves useful, or appears to be potentially useful.
Additional context/Some additional reading
Anna Bigelow, ‘Punjab’s Muslims: The History and Significance of Malerkotla’, Journal of Punjab Studies 12:1 (2005) 63-94. https://punjab.global.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.gisp.d7_sp/files/sitefiles/journals/volume12/no1/4_bigelow.pdf
Anna Bigelow, Sharing the Sacred: Practicing Pluralism in Muslim North India, 2009.
Karenjot Bhangoo Randhawa, Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab: Fostering Resilience through Religion, 2012.
Karenjot Bhangoo Randhawa, ’Networking through Religion: The case of Malerkotla’, in James Wellman and Clark Lombardi, eds, Religion and Human Security, 2012, pp. 94-112.