A tall effigy of Ravana once stood in the cold desert air of Quetta, Balochistan. Hard to imagine now, but yes – Ravana burned here. In what is today Pakistan, Dussehra was part of community life a century ago.
It happened in the 1920s and 1930s, during colonial rule. The British kept Balochistan as a buffer zone, but the Hindus of the region kept their traditions alive. Families gathered, crowds cheered, and the festival of victory over evil played out far from the Ganga plains.
Hindus lived across Kalat, Kharan, Las Bela, and Makran. They came together to mark Dussehra, building effigies, staging plays, and praying in temples. Old records and photographs show scenes that surprise many today – Ravana’s defeat celebrated not in Delhi or Varanasi, but in Quetta and towns of Balochistan.
Effigies of Ravana were burnt. Sweets were sold. Plays were staged.
British records include old photographs that reveal scenes of the region’s past in the west, continuing to surprise many today.
Balochistan, lying on an ancient trade route between East and West, carried the imprint of many faiths. Hindu and Zoroastrian traditions left their mark on its culture.
The loss of the heritage, including the temples, in large numbers in the region of Multan and Sindh reflects the history of a once-flourishing community at the western gate of India that later became a minority in the region.
HINDU ORIGINS IN THE AREA
Hindus constituted 6 percent of Balochistan’s population by the census of 1931. The shrink in population over the decades has narrowed it to 0.4% now.
“The Hindus of Kalat – among the oldest in the community – trace their roots to the mysterious Sewa dynasty that ruled long before the Brahui Confederacy,” says the Census of India 1911, Volume 4, Baluchistan.
The Bhatia of Las Bela date their arrival to 708 AD, while the Hindus of Lahri recall journeys from Aleppo with Chakar the Rind.
Yet the early history of these families remains hopelessly befogged.
Most Hindu families are Arora. A few may be Khatri. The Bhatia of Las Bela are likely Rajput. The census of India from 1911 gives a brief about the community.
During the Mughal period, traders from Punjab and Sindh settled there. By the 19th century, Hindus formed an important part of the towns. They were part of the community of shopkeepers, accountants, and financiers.
The Hingla Mata temple on the Makran coast was the holiest place for the community.
The Hinglaj pilgrimage is one of the oldest sacred traditions that the Hindus of Balochistan have preserved for centuries. Remarkably, many from the Muslim community also visit the site, revering the goddess as holy.
For generations, both Dussehra and the Hinglaj pilgrimage stood as the most revered observances in the region.
Pilgrims passed over desert tracts to visit the cave shrine that was said to be the spot where the head of the goddess Sati (as per Hindu mythology) had dropped.
The existence of the community was an integral part of the provincial life often characterised by syncretism: Hindu participated in native Muslim festivities, panchayats belonged both to Sikh dharamsalas as well as Devi shrines.
At Quetta, Dussehra was a regular event in the calendar. The recreated post-1935 earthquake town had bazaars and open grounds on which fairs were erected.
Hindu homes hosted brief enactments of the Ramlila, often compressed over two or three nights. Children acted as Rama, Lakshman and Hanuman.
The effigy burning of Ravana was the climax.
The festivities in the western part of India were not as elaborate as the North Indian ones, but they had significance.
THE KHAN OF KALAT AND THE ISSUE OF LOYAL ALLEGIANCE
In the late 1940s, regional politics underwent a dramatic shift. Balochistan was split up as princely states; the largest was the state of Kalat.
When the other three regions – Kharan, Las Bela, and Makran – chose to join the newly formed Pakistan, Kalat decided to remain independent under its 1876 treaty with the British.
But its brief freedom, lasting only 227 days, soon came to an end. Newly made Pakistan did not let the region remain independent.
For the Hindu community who had previously been under British, Baloch and Mughal rule with some sense of security, this new state was a cause for uncertainty.
Partition and accession of Kalat to Pakistan occasioned mass migration.
Numerous families that had previously been close to the Khan of Kalat as administrators as well as traders, abandoned the place virtually overnight.
WHAT CURRENTLY EXISTS
The Dussehra itself is no longer observed in Quetta. The Hindu community is tiny and apprehensive. But remnants persist. In Lasbela and Kalat, temple festivities celebrate Navratri.
The Hinglaj Yatra persists every spring when thousands of piligrims arrive on its banks from Sindh and Karachi.
Though the Yatra is no Dussehra, its tone of victory and purification finds an affinity with the same sense.
Whether it was Lahore, Quetta, or Sindh, traditions kept for centuries disappeared in just a hundred years.
Now, no one is left to revive them. Only memories and a few photographs remain – thanks to the British for preserving these glimpses.
The Sun Temple in Multan is said to have been worshipped for centuries before it was lost following the invasion of Muhammad bin Qasim.
Today, the temple lies in ruins. Other temples in the region, such as Prahladpuri and Totla Mai, are also in ruins and have no worshippers.
Meenakshi Jain, in her book The Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples, writes: “The hypothesis that temples represented a mere alliance of the king and deity was first tested in Multan. Hindus of the region, well after losing their kingdom to invading Arabs and Turks, struggled to protect them. For centuries, they restored demolished temples and deities, until not a glimmer of hope remained.”
The fairs of Quetta abruptly ended. In the minds of the migrants, the memories lingered on. Families settled in Gujarat and Rajasthan had photographs and stories of Ravana being burnt in front of Baloch hills.
The researchers examining Balochistan’s Hindus refer to their customs as a blend of autocthonous as well as acquired.
From 14.6 percent in 1941, the Hindu population in different parts of Punjab, Multan, Sind and Balochistan was reduced to just 2.17 percent in later decades.
The Quetta custom of burning Ravana reminds one of how customs can travel, flourish, disappear – but linger on in oral traditions that were once told by the fire-side.
– Ends
