A sati stone for a Khatri woman venerates her for taking her own life after becoming widowed | Photos from the book
Memorial Stones: Tharparkar by Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro, published by the Endowment Fund Trust for Preservation of the Heritage of Sindh, provides an extensive survey of a centuries-old tradition within the Tharparkar region — that of stone markers to (usually) commemorate graves. Kalhoro also includes an overview of Thar’s society, economy, religious beliefs and resources within the desert lifestyle, and how these factors have contributed to the rudimentary, yet fascinating, structures that he explores and describes. The book covers memorial stones distributed across six talukas [subdivisions] of the Tharparkar district in Sindh.
Memorial stones are anthropological relics and form a part of the tangible cultural heritage of a place. For the geographic area covered in the book, it is difficult to trace the first stones to an exact date, but the practice of erecting them seems to have become prevalent by the 11th century. Some of these markers are standalone monuments whereas, at other sites, they comprise collections of stones encircled by a boundary or topped with a canopy.
Kalhoro describes the various types of memorial stones, such as pariyo, khambhi, jaryo and sati among several others. It is also interesting to know that these markers represent a largely Hindu heritage, and constitute a little-explored cultural and historical aspect of Muslim-dominated Pakistan. Human and animal figures feature extensively on them, pointing out the stark contrast with the traditionally more prevalent Islamic funerary architecture prototypes that consist more of floral designs, arabesque patterns and calligraphic inscriptions. In the stones of Tharparkar, however, inscriptions — where present — are in basic Gujarati or Devanagari script, often engraved as a single layer of chiselling with minimal embellishment. In India, too, memorial stones are present extensively in the western/north-western and southern parts, such as Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The northern and eastern parts of India do not have such relics, probably because of the centuries of Muslim settlement there.
Commemorative stones of the Thar Desert tell long-forgotten tales of heroes, loyalty and valour
The tales behind the stones are intriguing to say the least. Whereas some mark communal cow pastures (gauchar), others commemorate local war heroes (jhujhars), or celebrate women who committed sati [self-immolation] after the death of a husband or son. Some stones were erected in the memory of people who died of snake bites, others for war animals. Sites where Jain ascetics practiced traditions such as self-mutilation and voluntary hunger (sallekhana) have come to be marked with nishidi memorial stones in their honour. The practice of self-death (traga/khattari) during battle, by piercing a dagger into one’s own jugular vein and sprinkling one’s blood onto the opponent, was considered a brave act that cursed the enemy for life. Several such ‘heroic’ acts of valour and honour were deified, etched into local memory and the local landscape as traga memorial stones.
Over time, memorial stones came to constitute a form of ancestor worship. The stones themselves became objects and places of reverence, spawning miniature replicas to be kept in houses, temples and workplaces not merely as souvenirs, but as standalone idols emulating the divine attributes of the original stone.
The photographs in the book — and there are plenty — complement the text impressively. In addition to visually depicting the details on the stones themselves, the photos convey the broader topographical context of the region. Desolate plains stretching for miles, dry shrubbery, arid soil, fallen leaves, parched keekar trees and the dunes of the inner Thar Desert all form an intense backdrop for the placement of these monumental structures.