The 100 Sarees of Ms Roy

You never know where an online research will take you. Recently, an online search took me to a website where Indian women talk about their sarees and their memories linked to them. I spent a few hours reading about different kinds of saree-textiles, their designs and traditional weavings.

At the end, I have a new understanding about the kind of relationship persons can have with textiles, about which I had not thought earlier. It also brought back some memories from my childhood about my mother's sarees.

Let me start this by telling you about how I landed on that website.

Starting from Sonali Sen Roy

I was looking for information about the childhood of Sonali Sen Roy, who had become famous during the 1950s for her story with the Italian film director Roberto Rossellini.

Sonali was born in Banaras in the British India, her father was a doctor in the United Province and her mother was the elder sister of well-known Indian film maker from the 1950s, Bimal Roy.

The search took me first to Sonali's elder sister, then to her daughters and then to one of her grand-daughters, Ms. Bhattacharya Roy. Some years ago, Ms Roy had taken part in an online challenge of presenting 100 different saris, where she had talked about some of her family stories.

100 Sarees Pact Website

 The 100 Saree Pact website collects the stories of sarees, it describes its mission as, "This blog is an invitation to join and share the magic. Celebrate life, celebrate relationships, celebrate your past, your heritage, your memories, your moments, your connections through saree wearing. Enjoy the stories shared already, be enthralled ! Bring your sarees and their stories out into the world. Let them spread the happiness and positivity that we have all been surrounded with."

100 Sarees of Ms Roy

Ms Roy presented her 100 sarees on this blog during 2015. Her sarees come from different sources - the ones she bought, the one brought as gifts by her husband, the family heirlooms, the ones on loans from aunts and cousins ... Each saree is accompanied by a brief or a long description including some of her family memories.

For example, in one post, she talked about her maternal grand-mother, Sonali's elder sister: "This sari belonged to my Dimma (mother’s mother). She usually wore whites, greys, beige or very light colours. This is one of the few coloured saris I saw her wear, mostly when she went abroad. I lost her when I was still in college and hence a very occasional sari wearer but I did get two of her saris. This sari is special for another reason too. I wore it one of the first times I went out with my (then to-be) husband ..." 

In another post, she talked about the saree worn by her mother for her wedding: "The magenta Benarasi was bought from Indian Silk House. The zari work is exquisite, with three different kinds of butis all over and an intricate border and pallu. Even after almost 40 years, the zari hasn’t lost its sheen. Ma wore it only a couple of times after her wedding though ..."

There was one post, which might have been about Sonali, though she did not specify it: "She was for me a strand of red corals that my mother has always treasured and which I have worn on a couple of occasions. She was for me a letter she wrote to my mother when she lost my father and another she wrote at the time of my wedding, with an alpana-like doodle at the end. She was for me a frantic hunt for a fresco on a hot and humid afternoon in Santiniketan. I never saw her. For me, she lived in the many black and white photographs, and a few more recent ones in colour, from the family album and the many stories I heard about her from Ma and her siblings ..." 

Sarees as Repositories of Weaver-Traditions, Cultures, Memories

I don't have any emotional bond with any of my clothes - I buy most of them in the supermarkets, and when I am tired of them, give away some of them and throw out the others. There is no emotional relationship between me and the clothes. I guess that this would be true for most of us today.

On the other hand, reading about Ms Roy's posts about her sarees, gave me a glimpse of the different weaving traditions, the traditional motifs they use, the festive occasions on which special sarees are worn, the memories associated with them and how some sarees become family heirlooms. Even when they are old and worn out, their borders and embroidered parts may be kept and used for other sarees.

It is a completely different relationship with our clothes, something that we lose when we shift to today's factory made products and the consumer culture.

My Childhood Memories

In our old Delhi house, where we lived in one part and my maternal grand-parents in the other part, every year before the wedding season, a couple of men arrived from Banaras carrying on their heads, silk sarees wrapped in white cotton blankets. I think that they were middlemen and sellers, they did not weave themselves.

I remember standing there with other children, as they showed bright coloured silk-sarees with shimmering and richly embroidered zari borders and Pallus (the end of saree hanging over the shoulders).

Every year some of my aunts or uncles or cousins from the extended family was getting married and thus, the family-women needed new sarees. I remember some of sarees bought by my mother. When they became old, sometimes they were exchanged for pots and pans from another group of women visitors.

In The End

Going through some of Ms. Roy's posts and reading about her stories about specific sarees was a rewarding experience, it made me think of some of my old memories. It also brought out the importance of different textile museums and persons who are trying to conserve the priceless weaving traditions of communities such as sarees, kimonos and other traditional dresses.

Even in Italy, till some decades ago, families had traditions such as knitting, cross-stitching, embroidery and lace-making for their daughters' weddings. We still use some of the heirlooms from my mother-in-law's family at our home.

However, all those things are from the past, and often today's generation is dismissive about them, they would rather buy something new from the supermarket, as I do!

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Aurangzeb's Tomb

As I read about the Aurangzeb controversy in India, I was reminded of my trip to his tomb in January 2020, just before the Covid pandemic.

I am no fan of Aurangzeb, I think that he was a bigot and perhaps even a psychopath. However, in this post, I want to write about my visit to his tomb and to explain why I think that the idea of destroying or desecrating his tomb is wrong.

At the end, I also want to talk a little bit about India's syncretic Ganga-Jamuni culture in relation to the Aurangzeb controversy.

Visit to Aurangzeb's Grave

I was in Aurangabad and had gone to visit the Ajanta caves. Living abroad, I always feel that I am losing touch with the India of ordinary people, thus, whenever possible, instead of taking cars, I try to travel by the public transport buses.

Coming back from Ajanta, I was sitting in front in the MSRT bus and talking to the driver, when he told me that the bus will pass through Khuldabad, where Aurangzeb was buried in 1707 CE. I told the bus driver to drop me there.

Khuldabad is a little town in the Aurangabad district, a little bigger than a village. The bus dropped me in a crowded market street and when I asked about the Aurangzeb tomb, people pointed to a simple looking mosque in a side street.

I was a little surprised that the Mughal emperor had his tomb in such an insignificant mosque in such an insignificant place.

Inside the mosque, his grave was immediately after the entrance, to the left side. The grave was surrounded by a marble-lattice (sangmarmar ki jaali) enclosure. There was no makbara or a monument, and his grave was just an open strip of ground, exposed to the rain and wind. A tree was planted in it but it seemed to be having difficulties growing.

The board near the grave said that Aurangzeb had died in Ahmadnagar, but was brought here, 130 kms away, because he wanted to be buried near the tomb of the 14th century sufi saint Zainuddin Shirazi. According to his wishes, no monument was built around his grave.

The marble enclosure and floor were made two centuries later by Lord Curzon and the Nizam of Hyderabad.

The Mosque and Dargah of Zainuddin Dawood Husain Shirazi

The structure has different buildings, including the dargah of the sufi saint Zainuddin Shirazi, with his grave covered with a red chadar.

Near the sufi tomb there was a board with a list of 15-18 names starting from Prophet Mohammed  and leading to the name of Zainuddin Shirazi.

The caretaker had explained about that board and how the sufi saint of Irani origins was linked to the Prophet, but I don't remember it. At that time I had thought that I will write about it in my blog but then Covid arrived and I forgot all about it.

Near the saint's tomb, there was also a special niche made in the wall holding some relic or important Islamic symbol from Mecca.

The caretaker had also explained why that relic or symbol was considered holy, but I do not remember it now. Saint's tomb was located a proper makbara.

The mosque was located on the other side, in front of the saint's makbara (image below).

In the courtyard behind the makbara on one side, there were other religious structures, which looked like shrines of some kind. I have forgotten the details about them. You can see them in the image below.

It was a very simple and peaceful place and I could feel its sacredness and spirituality. It was wonderful to sit there and soak in its atmosphere.

How to do Namaz

As a child I grew up in front of a Muslim graveyard and not very far from the big Idgah of old Delhi. I have been to mosques in different countries around the world and I have watched persons doing the prayers (Namaz), but I was not aware of the whole process of how to do Namaz, and its different positions.

Outside this mosque in Khuldabad, I found a board (left) explaining the different positions assumed during namaz, with text in both Urdu and Hindi. I was fascinated by it.

You can see that board in the picture. It makes me think of a set of stretching exercises, somewhat similar to yoga, which means that apart from the religious significance of doing namaz, it might also be good for the body as an exercise. (You can click on the image for a bigger view)

Talks of Destroying Aurangzeb's Tomb

While not being an admirer of Aurangzeb, I do not agree with the idea of destroying or desecrating his tomb, for 2 main reasons:

(1) I think that Aurangzeb paid for his brutality and sins in his own life. He was 89 years old when he died and had been the Mughal emperor for almost fifty years. The last 25 years of his life were spent in the Deccan region of India, fighting different adversaries, especially the Marathas. Imagine spending all your old age, away from your home, fighting different wars, and dying far away from your family and children.

I think that killing other human beings extracts a price from us, it leaves a scar on our soul. The number of soldiers coming back from a war and suffering from PTSD, is one example of this negative impact of violence on ourselves. Imagine killing your brothers and sisters, and imprisoning your father - persons who had loved you and perhaps played with you when you were young. Could he just kill them all ruthlessly without paying a price for it psychologically? What lessons did his own children learn from their father? After being brutal to his father and siblings, did he become afraid of his own wives and children, that they could also kill him?

He sowed the seeds of hate and violence, he reaped the crops of those seeds. Look at his family history - after his death, his son Azam Shah became emperor for only 3 months. Then he, his brother and their children were all killed by another brother, who became the new emperor Bahadur Shah, but he lasted only for 5 years. He was succeeded by his son, who lasted one year and was killed. And their stories of killings go on.

Apart from the killings and destruction of families, Aurangzeb's reign started the decline of the Mughal dynasty and empire, from which they never recovered. Thus, I feel that Aurangzeb paid for his karma in his own life and through his descendents.

(2) I also believe that we can't think of destroying or desecrating sacred places of any religion, also because we have to remain true to ourselves and our beliefs. Personally, I believe in the message of Upanishads, Aham Brahmo Asti, that there is god in each one of us, without any exceptions. 

Aurangzeb's grave is open to the sky. After more than 300 years, I am not sure if you will find his bones. And even if you can find them and dig them out, what will you do to them? Is that going to vindicate you and give you any peace of mind?

Aurangzeb killed many persons, destroyed many temples and religious places, but then I hope that his soul made peace with what he had done and he could forgive himself. I certainly don't think that his actions gave him any happiness. He left behind an inheritance of hate and bloodshed. What would anyone else get today by destroying his grave?

On the other hand, his grave remains as a warning, a place for us to not forget him and to think about his life, about his inheritance and his impact. Hate and violence do not lead to happiness and prosperity, they can only lead to more hate and violence.

India's Syncretic Traditions of Ganga-Jamuni Culture

I grew up surrounded by ideas of living together and loving of different religions and cultures. During my extensive travels in India, I feel that among the ordinary people, those basic ideas of mutual love and respect are still alive today.

The caretaker of Aurangzeb's grave was very generous and kind in taking me around, showing me different parts of the shrines and explaining. I remember sitting with him in the courtyard, talking to him about the changing world and the future of our children and grandchildren, as old men tend to do everywhere. For me, that is the essence of Ganga-Jamuni culture - recognising, respecting and loving our essential humanity.

I feel that today this Ganga-Jamuni culture is under attack not only by the religious hardliners and bigots of the different religions, but also by persons of our civil society when they start differentiating between bigotries - they can only criticise some, and about the others, they prefer to keep quiet, or worse, try to justify, minimise or white-wash them.

 

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If you have read this far, perhaps you would also like to read my ideas about blasphemy (it is in my Hindi blog).

In the picture-credits above, the name of the place has been shown as Khulnabad instead Khuldabad - I regret that. All the pictures are by me.

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