Paper short abstract

This paper examines current identity formations of Hindu communities in Pakistan on the bases of a micro study of a Hindu temple in Baluchistan

Paper long abstract

The shrine of Hiṅglāj Devī is located in the desert of Baluchistan, Pakistan, about 215 km West of the city of Karachi. Notwithstanding its ancient history an annual festival at Hiṅglāj is a fairly recent event and was only "invented" in the mid 1980s. With the construction of a National Highway, that now - coincidentally - connects the former aloof desert shrine with an urban Pakistan, an increasingly confident Hindu community utilizes the place as a main center for religious performances and expressions. The Hiṅglāj Śevā Manḍalī (HSM), the local temple organization, is in charge of the events around the shrine since three decades. With an appeal to discourses of rationality and education the HSM influences perceptions of ideal "Hinduness" at the temple and, thus, has significantly changed the face of the pilgrimage to and the happenings at the shrine.

In this paper I will argue that the HSM - intentionally and unintentionally - helps to construct a hegemonic narrative of what it understands to be "proper Hindu behavior". This is made possible through the repeated exclusion of certain religious tropes and ritual performances during the annual gatherings in Hiṅglāj. The ability to construct such a "master narrative" mainly stems from its power to control information, practice and mobility at the temple. This paper examines the micro-mechanisms of Hindu identity formation in Pakistan today.