Jhulelal- A Fluid Identity
‘He whom you call Allah and my people call Krishna, are but one and the same!’... ‘ Jhulelal’ Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Shrine in Pakistan, Photo Courtesy (https://www.wikiwand.com/) We are all aware of the famous song, “Lal Meri Pat.” In the song’s refrain, the line goes, “Jhule lal, Jhule lal, Mast Qalandar, Jhule lal.” The word “Jhule lal” means “swinging red,” popularly referring to the associations between Lal Shahbaz and his red cloak. However, the term equally refers to the deity Jhulelal. Jhulelal was a water deity who was said to have emerged from the Indus River in the form of a ‘palla’ fish. When Lal Shahbaz Qalandar travelled to Sindh in the 1200s, he did not define himself as Muslim (just as Jhulelal did not call himself Hindu). Lal Shahbaz’s stories became entangled with those of Jhulelal’s. Hindus look upon him as their saint - their incarnation of the god, and Muslims look upon him as a Sufi saint. While Muslims revered Lal Shahbaz as a sa...
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