2010
Michel Boivin et al., « MIFS Newsletter n°5 », HAL-SHS : architecture, ID : 10670/1.pv11s9
The first issue of the MIFS newsletter was published in January 2008, almost three years ago, as part of the research group on "Sufism and History in the Indus Valley" at the Centre for Indian and South Asian Studies (CNRS-EHESS, Paris). We thought it was an opportune time, halfway through the project on Sehwan Sharif, to propose a mid-term review of the work completed on Muslim pilgrimages in South Asia. Michel Boivin and Rémy Delage therefore organized an international conference on "Shrines, Pilgrimages and Wanderers in Muslim South Asia" on 23-24 September 2010 at the EHESS, as well as two photo exhibitions on Sehwan (Sindh) by Omar Kasmani and Ahmedabad (Gujarat) by Sara Keller (pp. 5-6). The present issue primarily focuses on the Qalandariyya, a particular branch of Sufism. Professor Ahmet Karamustafa, a recognized expert on this tariqâ from Washington University in St. Louis, was interviewed by Delphine Ortis (pp. 2-4). Recently, a new book on Qalandars by Kumkum Srivastava was published in India. It has been reviewed here by Alexandre Papas, who himself works on the Qalandariyya movement in Central Asia (p. 9). Mojan Membrado, a specialist of Persian literature and mystical texts, at the EPHE (Paris), also offered to write on this theme, more precisely on the translation of the first ghazal of the Diwân-e Qalandar, a work attributed to La'l Shahbâz Qalandar (pp. 7-8). Her comments on various excerpts of this ghazal shed light on this still unknown aspect of Qalandariyya poetry. Finally, this issue concludes with a review of books and theses, as well as detailed agenda of events related to these themes. Special mention should be made of the M.A. Dissertation submitted at Karachi University by Sohail Bawani, a member of the MIFS. It raised the issue of interdisciplinarity in Social Sciences with a special focus on the Sehwan project. His work was quite useful for our group since some of his conclusions helped us to better implement our interdisciplinary approach.