Jhule Lal, the patron saint of Sindhi Hindus globally, is the popular representation of Sindhiyat (Sindhi identity). Globally, the Sindhi Hindus commemorate Jhule Lal through various festivities and rejoice in the sense of cultural identity and belonging to their homeland Sindh which they lost due to the partition of the Indian subcontinent. Jhule Lal shrine/temple complex is located about 50 km north of Hyderabad Sindh in present Pakistan and is a shared cultural heritage for both Sindhi Muslims and Hindus. He is known as a Shaikh Tahir for the Sindhi Muslims and Jhule Lal for the Sindhi Hindus. In the popular public imagination in Sindh, Udero Lal shrine is cited as an exemplary case of syncretic and shared tradition in Sindh wherein the mosque and temple coexist at the same complex. In the popular Sindhi Sufi cultural narrative, the Udero Lal shrine is projected as the symbol of unity, tolerance and peaceful coexistence among Sindhi Muslims and Hindus. This popular shared cultural imagery of Udero Lal is taken to reconstruct and represent the Sindhi Sufi identity. In my ethnographic-based study, I attempt to explore the post-partition identity, status, rituals and contestation of the Udero Lal shrine in Sindh. I will trace out the continuity and change in terms of shifting forms of ownership, patronage and most importantly the contestation and politics in the context of local Sindhi Muslim communities. In my paper, by using Robert M. Hyden’s 2016 theoretical concept of “antagonistic tolerance” contestation, I will analyse and problematize the shifting nature of the shared cultural heritage of Udero Lal in the context of post-partition majority Sindhi Muslim population and state in Pakistan. I will also elaborate upon the processes of the reconstruction of Jhule Lal as the icon of Sindhi Hindu identity/Sindhyat among migrant Sindhi Hindus in India from Sindh after partition.
