The Age of Kali (56 page)
Authors: William Dalrymple
‘We are very proud of our Bibi Sahiba [Benazir],’ said one of the gardeners. ‘But this time … it was very bad. It was not reasonable to stop the Begum Sahiba going to the grave of her husband. What happened on the fifth was done on Bibi’s orders.’
‘Bibi Sahiba is the Prime Minister,’ agreed the other gardener. ‘She gets to know what happens everywhere in Pakistan. She knew what the police were doing. No person should behave like this to her mother, or to her home.’
‘Will people here vote again for her?’ I asked.
‘It’s not certain,’ said the first gardener. ‘After the fifth our minds have been changed. We want Murtaza, not Bibi. All Sindh is unhappy with her. Everyone is angry.’
As they guided us around the flowerbeds the gardeners changed tack to the happier subject of Benazir’s father, whom they clearly adored.
‘The
Shaheed
was a wonderful man,’ said the first gardener. ‘Other
politicians forget your name once they have your vote, but
Shaheed
Bhutto, he always remembered.’
‘When the
Shaheed
was martyred,’ said the second man, ‘we all wept.’
I asked about the rumours I had heard that the villagers of Larkhana had begun seeing miracles at his grave.
‘It is true,’ said Mohammed Ibrahim, the Bhuttos’
chowkidar
[guard], who had joined us. ‘Women who want babies go to his grave and soon the
Shaheed
fulfils their wishes.’
‘Others who want work get employment,’ said the first gardener.
‘Many people have seen him in dreams,’ said the second. ‘They call him “
Shaheed
Baba”. For all us people of Larkhana the
Shaheed
is the same as the great saints of Islam.’
‘I myself have seen him in a dream,’ said Mohammed Ibrahim. ‘I was asleep in this garden when I had the dream.
Shaheed
Bhutto was sitting in a big chair in the company of the Prophet.’
‘God is specially with this family,’ said the second gardener. ‘That we can say with certainty.’
‘So do you believe that in due course Benazir may also become a saint?’ I asked.
The three retainers looked at each other uncertainly.
‘There are not so many female saints in our Islam,’ said one gardener.
‘Well, what about Murtaza then?’
‘I believe he too will reach this peak,’ said Mohammed Ibrahim. ‘He is the true heir of
Shaheed
Bhutto. We all pray that he too will be a great saint one day.’
Postscript
Two and a half years later, in September 1996, Murtaza Bhutto and six of his supporters were shot dead in a hail of police bullets, a few yards from the front door of 70 Clifton. The police claimed it was an accident, but when the officer in charge of the shooting
was found hanged a few days later, officially having taken his own life, the circumstances began to look more and more suspicious. Benazir denied any complicity in the killing and made an operatic display of public mourning, but when her government was dissolved by the President on 5 November 1996 for gross corruption, her husband was immediately charged in connection with the murder and is currently imprisoned in Karachi, awaiting trial. There seems, however, to be little hard evidence against him, and there is a strong possibility that he will again succeed in avoiding conviction.
After her husband’s death, Ghinwa Bhutto and her stepdaughter Fatima took over Murtaza’s PPP-Shaheed Bhutto faction, using it to launch a vigorous campaign against Benazir. Partly as a result of their efforts, and partly due to increasing evidence of the massive scale of Benazir and Zardari’s corruption, with more and more details emerging of a succession of lavish foreign properties and Swiss bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of dollars, in the general election which followed in February 1997, Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League won by a record margin. At the time of writing Sharif remains in the saddle, though Pakistan is being consumed by ever-worsening sectarian violence and is undergoing a major economic crisis, made much worse by the sanctions imposed after the country detonated its nuclear bomb in May 1998.
Discredited as she is, Benazir remains leader of the opposition. Her children have been sent to Dubai ‘for their own safety’. It seems highly unlikely that Benazir can mount a credible comeback – although stranger things have happened in Pakistan – and it is now said to be open to question whether she even wants to do so: some of her friends believe that all she desires is to get Zardari out of jail, and then to leave the country. In this case, the move of her children to Dubai may be the precursor to her own departure. On the other hand, Benazir’s almost messianic sense of her own destiny may preclude her from ever totally giving up politics, however strong the evidence of corruption against her.
One last serendipity: in 1997, as chance would have it, Christopher Lee was cast to play Jinnah in a forthcoming biopic of the
Quaid-e-Azam’s life. I was clearly not alone in noticing the uncanny resemblance between Dracula’s most memorable incarnation and the man who must take much of the blame for the bloodbath of Partition.
angurka
long frock-coat
arti
ceremonial waving of a lamp before an effigy of a god as an offering of light during a
puja
ashram
place of religious retreat; hermitage
babu
clerk or bureaucrat (lit. ‘educated gentleman’)
bania
money-lender or shopkeeper; a Hindu of the merchant caste
baradari
tribe, clan, community, sub-caste or brotherhood, esp. in Pakistan
begum
aristocratic Muslim woman
bhajan
Hindu devotional song
bibi ghar
eighteenth-century expression meaning the separate quarters occupied by a European’s Indian wife or mistress
biryani
fancy rice dish often including chunks of lamb; a speciality of Hyderabad
bungi
oik
chador
Muslim woman’s veil (lit. ‘sheet’). Can be anything from a headscarf to something approaching a fully-fledged sack
chai
tea
chaikhana
tea stall
charpoy
rope-strung bed on which the population of rural India spend much of their lives (lit. ‘four feet’)
chattri
domed Moghul kiosk supported on pillars, often used as a decorative feature to top turrets and minarets (lit. ‘umbrella’)
choli
bodice
chowk
bazaar
chowkidar
guard, gatekeeper
cirque
volcanic crater
crore
ten million (or one hundred
lakh
)
dacoit
outlaw; member of a robber gang
dal
lentil dish; eaten with rice or
chappattis
it is an Indian staple
Dalits
lit. ‘the oppressed’. The base of the caste pyramids formerly known as ‘Untouchables’
darshan
sight, view, esp. of an idol in a temple or a Moghul Emperor
dhoti
traditional loin-wrap of Hindu males
diwan
a collection of Persian or Urdu poems; also the head of finance of chief minister in an Indian princely state
dupatta
over-the-shoulder scarf worn with a
salwar kameez
durbar
formal reception
durree
rug or carpet
gajra
marigold garland
ghat
steps leading to a bathing place or river
ghazal
North Indian Urdu or Persian love lyric
ghee
clarified butter
godown
warehouse
goonda
hired thug
gopi
milkmaid (in the Krishna myth)
gopura
ceremonial South Indian temple gateway, usually pyramidical in shape
gupshup
gossip
Harijan
lit. ‘child of God’. Untouchable
haveli
courtyard house
henna
tropical shrub whose leaves are used as a red dye. Much in demand in the North-West Frontier for dying the beards of Pathan tribesmen
holi
the Hindu spring festival; normally celebrated by the throwing of coloured water and the consumption of a great deal of hashish and opium
hookah
waterpipe or hubble bubble
idli sambhar
South Indian staple consisting of rice cakes and curried vegetables
imambara
pillared hall in which Shia Muslims gather at the festival of Muharram to hear religious discourses and readings relating to the death of the two grandsons of the prophet, Hussain and Hasan. The
imambara
reached its finest architectural expression in Lucknow
jati
community or clan, members of which are of the same caste or subcaste
Kali Yug
the age of Kali; the epoch of darkness and disintegration
karma
fate, destiny
khadi
homespun cloth, particularly associated with followers of Gandhi
khana
food, a meal
khawa
green tea, esp. in Kashmir or northern territories of Pakistan
kirtan
lit. ‘singing the praises of God’, usually in a devotional gathering
Kshatriya
warrior caste
kumar
member of the untouchable potter caste
kumkum
red powder emblematic of the sexual power of goddesses
ladoo
North Indian milk sweet
lathi
bamboo staff, normally used by police and
chowkidars
lingam
the phallic symbol associated with Lord Shiva in his role as Divine Creator
lungi
sarong-style loin-wrap; simplification of the
dhoti
mahout
elephant driver
maidan
park or common in the centre of an Indian town or city
malik
Muslim landowner of substance; the head of a Pathan tribe
mandala
circle or circular diagram; symbolic depiction of, and instruction about, the way to enlightenment
masala dosa
South Indian vegetarian staple
mehfil
evening of courtly Moghul entertainment, normally including dancing, the recitation of poetry and the singing of
ghazals
mofussil
provincial small town
moksha
enlightenment
mona
Sikh who has cut his hair and removed his beard
murshad
sorcerer, holy man
mushaira
poetic symposium; Moghul literary evening
naan
bread cooked in a
tandoor
nagashwaram
outsized Tamil oboe
namaskar
Hindu words of greeting (lit. ‘I bow to thee’)
naqqar khana
drum house; the entrance gateway to a North Indian palace
nautch
Kathak-derived dance performance, executed by professional
nautch
girls, usually courtesans, esp. in eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
nichla
oik
nirvana
enlightenment; state of spiritual revelation
paan
Indian delicacy and digestive. It consists of a folded leaf containing (among other things) betel nut, a mild stimulant
palki
palanquin
panch
lit. ‘five’. An abbreviation for
sarpanch
, the chairman or leader of a
panchayat
panchayat
council of village or caste elders, in theory (but not necessarily in practice) consisting of five members
parikrama
pilgrimage circuit
pir
Muslim holy man or Sufi saint
prasad
the portion of consecrated offering (usually food or small white sweets) returned to the worshipper at a Hindu temple
puja
religious devotions (lit. ‘adoration’)
pukka
good, proper, correct
pullao
rice
pundit
Brahmin (lit. ‘learned man’)
qalander
holy fool
qila
fort
rath
chariot, esp. in Hindu temple festivals
roti
bread
sadhu
Hindu holy man
salwar kameez
long tunic and matching loose trousers favoured mainly by girls in North India and by both sexes in Pakistan and Afghanistan
sardar
nobleman, chief or commander. A term of respect
sarpanch
village headman; the chairman or leader of a
panchayat
sathin
informal village social worker (lit. ‘friend’)
sati
the old Hindu practice of widow-burning, now illegal (lit. ‘good woman’)
sepoy
Indian foot-soldier, esp. in the service of the East India Company
shaheed
Muslim martyr
shastra
ancient Hindu treatises
shenai
North Indian wind instrument of the oboe family
sherwani
long frock-coat
shikar
hunting
shish mahal
mirror chamber, esp. in palaces
tabla
pair of small Indian hand-drums used as accompaniment in Hindustani music
ta’wiz
Sufi charm
tawwaif
courtesan
teppam
float
thug
strangler; a devotee of Kali who appeases his deity by strangling travellers with a noose (lit. ‘impostor’, ‘cheat’, ‘deceiver’)
tilak
the sacred mark on the centre of a Hindu forehead
tirtha
crossing place or ford; hence a sacred place where one can cross from the world of men to the world of the gods
vibhuti
the white ash-powder smeared on the body of Shiva; hence also his devotees among the
sadhus
yadav
caste of North Indian yeoman farmers and cowherds; although low-caste they are politically very powerful in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
yakshi
evil spirit
zamindar
feudal landowner
zenana
seraglio, harem (lit. ‘relating to women’)
zindabad
lit. ‘Long live!’ Popular slogan in the presence of politicians
