Brown Pundits – Ideas off the Indus

Hans Zimmer and the Polite Dismissal of the Ramayana

July 18, 2025July 18, 2025X.T.MBrown Pundits, Hinduism, India, Partition, Postcolonialism & the Global South, Religion, X.T.MBrown Pundits, civilizational memory, colonial hangover, cultural appropriation, cultural pride, East-West relations, Hans Zimmer, Hindu identity, Hindu rituals, Indian epics, Namit Malhotra, postcolonial India, Ramayana, sacred storytelling, Shravan Puja, soft power, spiritual continuity, Vedic tradition, Western condescension, Western microaggressions10 Comments

When producer Namit Malhotra began explaining the Ramayana to Hans Zimmer, the legendary composer cut him off:

“You don’t have to explain it to me. Something that has lasted thousands of years clearly has meaning. Let’s just do our best. It’s beyond us.”

Malhotra took this as reverence. In fact, it was erasure.

No serious Western artist would score The Ten Commandments or Schindler’s List without knowing the story. Imagine a composer saying, “Don’t explain the Illiad to me, it’s beyond me.” They’d be fired. But when it comes to Indian epics? The bar is subterranean. That’s not reverence.

That’s: I’m Western, I’m famous, I’m here for the cheque; not the history. The tragedy isn’t Zimmer’s line. It’s Malhotra’s awe. A Westerner shrugs off our most sacred text, and we call it wisdom. That’s not cultural pride. That’s civilizational confusion. It’s a pattern. Many elite Indians are fluent in the language of Islamic grievance; but tone-deaf to Western condescension.

Divide and rule still works:

Hindus thank the British for “freeing” them from Muslim rule
Muslims thank the British for “protecting” them from Hindu majoritarianism

Meanwhile, the West shrugs at our stories and we applaud.

Shravan Monday at the New England Temple

Continue reading Hans Zimmer and the Polite Dismissal of the Ramayana

The Evolution of Hindustani Classical Music in Pakistan Since 1947

July 17, 2025KabirCulture, PakistanEthnomusicology, Hindustani Classical Music, Pakistan, Partition2 Comments

This article was originally published in Economic and Political Weekly in July 2022. The essay is adapted from my M.Mus Dissertation entitled “A New Explanation For the Decline of Hindustani Music in Pakistan”. The dissertation was recently published in book form (Lahore: Aks Publications 2024)

I am posting an excerpt from the essay here. To read more go to: https://www.epw.in/engage/article/evolution-hindustani-classical-music-pakistan-1947

The 1947 partition of British India on religious lines significantly impacted Hindustani classical music in the parts of the colony that became modern Pakistan. There is a consensus that, since the creation of the country, Hindustani classical music has declined in Pakistan. Various reasons for this decline have been theorised: the contested status of music in Islam, Pakistan’s search for a national identity distinct from India’s, and the loss of patronage. In this paper, I trace the evolution of music in Pakistan since 1947, focusing mainly on the adaptive strategies employed by gharana musicians to continue performing within the new societal constraints. These adaptations include focusing on the less problematic genre of ghazal rather than khayal and fusing elements of Western pop into local styles (as exemplified by Coke Studio).

It is widely accepted that the classical aspect of Hindustani music (khayal, dhrupad) has declined in the parts of British India now comprising Pakistan. Before 1947, Lahore was renowned as a major cultural metropolis whose centrality in the world of Hindustani music has been well documented (Saeed 2008) and also narrated in the documentary Khayal Darpan (Saeed 2008b) by surviving musicians of the time. Now the city finds no mention aside from its historical eminence. This note traces how the core of that tradition has evolved Continue reading The Evolution of Hindustani Classical Music in Pakistan Since 1947

Hindutva Music: Didi Maa Sadhvi Ritambhara As an Example of a Female Sadhu

July 17, 2025KabirHinduism, India, Politics, ReligionAntoinette Elizabeth DeNapoli, Bhajan, Didi Maa Sadhvi Ritambhara, Durga Vahini, Ethnomusicology, Hindutva music, RSS, sadhus2 Comments

(This essay was originally submitted in 2018 as part of the coursework for my M.Mus in Ethnomusicology at SOAS, University of London . I was reminded of it recently when I came across Professor Brahma Prakash’s article on Scroll.in entitled “Why the toxic beats of ‘Disc Jockey Hindutva’ are so dangerous for India”

Unfortunately, the YouTube video analyzed in the piece no longer seems to be on the site. I hope the essay can still stand on its own merits. I will include a representative YouTube video of Didi Maa at the end of the essay.)

Bhajan is the major genre of devotional singing in Hinduism. It is a loosely structured song, usually performed in regional languages. It can be sung by an individual or by a congregation. Themes typically include ideas from scriptures, the teachings of saints and loving devotion to a deity.

Since I am from a South Asian background, I am familiar with bhajans. However, I have previously approached them through Hindustani classical music, in which the focus is on aesthetic beauty and using the bhajan’s lyrics to develop the raga. In a devotional context, in contrast, the words and the message of the bhajan can often be more important than the musical content.

In this essay, I will discuss Didi Maa Sadhvi Ritambhara’s performance of a Krishna bhajan “Aaj Gopal Raas Ras”, and compare her to the female sadhus studied by Antoinette Elizabeth DeNapoli in her monograph Real Sadhus Sing to God: Gender, Asceticism and Vernacular Religion in Rajasthan (Oxford University Press 2014) . One of the major contrasts is that Didi Maa is involved in Hindutva politics, which would seem to contradict the role of the sadhu as someone who has renounced worldly life. DeNapoli’s informants, on the other hand, are focused on singing to god as a way of serving humanity through seva. Continue reading Hindutva Music: Didi Maa Sadhvi Ritambhara As an Example of a Female Sadhu

Open Thread: From Flattery to Fatigue — What the Iranian Diaspora Can’t Admit

July 16, 2025July 18, 2025X.T.MCulture, History, Iran, Islam & the Middle East, Language, X.T.Manti-Afghan sentiment, anti-Arab racism, Brown Pundits, Cultural Assimilation, cultural erasure, diaspora fatigue, gentrification, high-context culture, identity politics, Iranian diaspora, Islamophobia, Middle Eastern diaspora, Persian culture, Persian identity, postcolonial trauma, racial performance, Sharghzadeh, Ta’arof, Tehrangeles, Whiteness16 Comments

On July 14, I wrote about Ta’arof ; the millennia-old Persian art of flattery, refusal, and ritualised courtesy. It’s often misunderstood in the West as “saying no three times,” but it’s really about emotional high-context negotiation, reading the room before the room speaks.

The next day, on July 15, Sharghzadeh posted a powerful video, calling it Iranian Diaspora Fatigue. A searing takedown of the Iranian Diaspora’s toxic racial insecurities, internalised Islamophobia, misogyny masked as modernity, and cultural denialism. He’s mostly right.

What he calls fatigue, I’d call poisoned flattery turned inward. Because Tehranglos are no longer performing Ta’arof to honour guests or elders. They’re doing it to whiteness itself. Hoping if they refuse our own identity long enough, maybe the West will say: “Yes, come in.”

That’s not assimilation. That’s exhaustion. And the worst part? Even the racism feels borrowed; against Arabs, against Afghans, against Iranians back home. It’s not even Iranian. This isn’t just about cringe TikToks or awkward panel guests. It’s about who gets to narrate Persian culture. And what gets flattened when tradition becomes product. I was stunned when Zachary Newman — one of the most prominent Persian-Jewish American chefs — endorsed Netanyahu’s strikes on Iran. That moment crystallised something.

Sharghzadeh and I are saying the same thing: Persian culture is being gentrified by its own children. What survives isn’t tradition. It’s content. It’s vibes. If Iran is an unreadable poem, diaspora is turning it into a slogan. If Iran is lived, diaspora is increasingly just captioned. And they wonder why they’re tired. Is the Persian diaspora preserving a culture, or just performing it for the algorithm?

What’s holding women back from ‘decent work’ in Pakistan? (Hint: It’s not skills)

July 16, 2025KabirCulture, Pakistangender, gender equality, Nida Kirmani, Pakistan, patriarchy2 Comments

From DAWN

Nida Kirmani is the Associate Professor of Sociology in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at LUMS. She has published widely on issues related to gender, Islam, women’s movements, development and urban studies in South Asia. Her book Questioning ‘the Muslim Woman’: Identity and Insecurity in an Urban Indian Locality was published in 2013 by Routledge.

Some excerpts:

Too often, interventions aimed at women’s empowerment and gender equality have focused almost exclusively on women — placing the burden of change disproportionately on their shoulders. But perhaps one reason so many gender-related indicators have stagnated — or even regressed — over the past two decades is that women have already changed as much as they can on their own. For gender equality to be fully realised, including the equal right to decent work, men will have to change too. here is an urgent need to shift focus toward men and masculinities, and to challenge entrenched ideas about gender roles more broadly, if we are to dismantle the structural barriers limiting women’s economic participation.

At the root of women’s low labour force participation and limited access to decent work lie deeply entrenched patriarchal attitudes. They promote the idea that a woman’s primary source of fulfilment is motherhood, encouraging her withdrawal from the workforce after marriage. Such ideas also fuel discriminatory practices in the workplace, where women are seen as less committed or reliable due to their family responsibilities.

Moreover, they contribute to a lack of political will to support women’s employment through essential measures like affordable and safe public transport, accessible childcare, and both maternal and paternal leave — policies that are crucial for enabling women to participate in decent work and for encouraging shared household responsibilities.

This is why attitudinal change must be placed at the heart of the gender equality agenda. It also helps explain why education alone has not been enough to guarantee women’s labour force participation. We must ask: What kind of education are children receiving? Are they being encouraged to question traditional gender roles, or are girls simply being educated to become better wives and mothers? Are boys and men being taught that they, too, must change? Of course, this is easier said than done.

Cultural change is a complicated, slow and difficult process, but it’s also central to removing the barriers to women’s empowerment. Apart from adding gender to school curricula, governments should engage in public education campaigns through the media and community organisations to challenge conservative ideas around gender.

Kabir Oral Traditions in the Indian Subcontinent

July 16, 2025KabirCulture, India, Pakistan, ReligionBhagat Kabir, Bhajan, Dalit, Ethnomusicology, Linda Hess, Qawwali, sufism, syncretism6 Comments

This essay was originally submitted as part of the coursework for my M.Mus in Ethnomusicology at SOAS, University of London

Bhagat Kabir (c. 1440-c. 1518) is considered one of the major poet-saints of the Bhakti movement—a social reform movement arising in North India around the fifteenth century. Characterized by an emphasis on the individual believer and a disregard for caste and gender taboos, the movement often rejected Vedic rituals and focused on the individual’s loving relationship with a personally defined god. This emphasis on love has clear parallels with Sufism, often seen as the mystical branch of Islam. It also later influenced Sikhism.

In contrast to other Bhakti poets such as Surdas and Meerabai—whose works can be placed squarely within the Hindu fold, often addressed to particular gods such as Krishna—Kabir’s poetry cannot be so neatly demarcated. He questioned the rituals of both Islam and Hinduism and was devoted to a nirgun (formless) deity, often addressed as “Ram”. According to Professor Harbans Mukhia: “In place of Allah and Ishwar he conceptualized a single universal God; in place of denominational religions he conceptualized a universal religiosity” (Mukhia 2018). This distance from the orthodoxy of both traditions perhaps explains why Kabir is revered by Hindus and Muslims across the Indian subcontinent. Some of his poetry is even included in the Guru Granth Sahib, Sikhism’s holiest scripture. In an era in which South Asia has experienced increasing polarization along sectarian lines, it is instructive to more closely examine this unique figure who served as a bridge between communities.

In her article “Kabir’s Rough Rhetoric”, Professor Linda Hess notes that Kabir can be described as the most personal of the Bhakti poets. While Surdas and Meerabai primarily address God, Kabir mainly addresses the reader or listener. The phrase “Kahai Kabira suno bhai sadho” (Kabir says listen sadho) “signifies Kabir’s passion to engage, wake people up, to affect them” (Hess 1987: 147). His poetry is full of provocations, which often take the form of questions “designed to ruffle us up or draw us out” (149).

In this essay, I will discuss performative traditions of Kabir poetry in India and Pakistan, focusing on how it has been included in the folk music of both countries. Of particular interest are the ways in which Kabir poetry serves as a means of Dalit—formerly known as “untouchable”—caste assertion and how it can be combined with the poetry of Sufi saints. Continue reading Kabir Oral Traditions in the Indian Subcontinent

Pakistaniat & Urdu from Qasim to Quaid

July 16, 2025July 18, 2025X.T.MBahá’í, BRAHM, Brown Pundits, Culture, India, Iran, Islam & the Middle East, Language, Pakistan, Partition, Postcolonialism & the Global South, Politics, Religion, X.T.MArabic, Baha’i Faith, Civilizational Commentary, colonial legacy, Cultural Assimilation, Culture, Diaspora, Identity, Juhi Malik, Language, Mahajir, Pakistan, Pakistan Studies, Partition, Persian, Politics, postcolonialism, Punjabi, Religion, Sindhi, South Asia, Ta’arof, Urdu2 Comments

UP’s very long shadow:

As I board my flight back to the UK after a brief but productive trip, I find myself reflecting on a language that continues to haunt and inspire me: Urdu.

It is a tongue caught between paradoxes. The language of courtesans and qawwals, of sacred supplication and sly seduction. It carries within it the scent of jasmine and blood, of Delhi’s dusk and Lahore’s lingering grief.

The Beloved Guardian of the Baha’i Faith once noted that while most Baha’i texts should be translated from English, Urdu alone is trusted for direct translation from Persian and Arabic. That proximity, that spiritual siblinghood with Persian, the language of kings, and Arabic, the language of God, renders Urdu magical.

Sanskrit, of course, is the language of gods, but Urdu, its stepdaughter of sorts, captures the longing of poet to partisan.

There’s a reason the Bahá’í prayer I share below is so piercing in Urdu. So here, before I cross back into another timezone, I offer this prayer—without commentary, without translation. Just Urdu, as it was meant to be heard.

And I wonder: perhaps this is what Pakistan truly is—a project in transcending the local. Not rooted in soil, but in sentiment. A place where Punjabis, Pathans, and Muhajirs are asked to shed skin and commune in Urdu. Where Pakistaniyat, for all its fractures, has succeeded in producing a common idiom: of piety, pride, and pain. Continue reading Pakistaniat & Urdu from Qasim to Quaid

The Construction of Femininity in Indian Vocal Music

July 15, 2025KabirCulture, IndiaAnti-Nautch Movement, Asha Bhosle, courtesans, femininity, gender, Hindustani Classical Music, Lata Mangeshkar, playback singing5 Comments

This essay was originally submitted as part of the coursework for my M.Mus in Ethnomusicology at SOAS, University of London

Musical genres and styles are often linked to gender roles. Different vocal qualities are associated with societal ideas about appropriate masculinity and femininity and then reflected in music. In recent decades, much ethnomusicological scholarship has focused on the gendered and constructed nature of the human voice.

In this essay, I will discuss the construction of femininity in Indian vocal music, both classical and popular. I will particularly focus on Lata Mangeshkar (1929-2022), one of India’s most popular playback singers who for decades held a virtual monopoly as the voice of the film heroine. Mangeshkar’s voice was associated with qualities such as innocence, purity and self-sacrifice, seen as those of the ideal Indian woman.

Representative image of tawaifs—the hereditary courtesan class of North India

Prior to the second half of the nineteenth century, the only Indian women who sang in public were those of the hereditary courtesan class. As a response to British colonialism, there was a concerted effort to cleanse music of its associations with “debauchery” and to create a space for “respectable” middle-class women to perform. This led to stylistic changes in several genres. For example, thumri—a genre of song and dance traditionally associated with courtesans—was de-eroticized and re-interpreted in a spiritual frame. Since dance in particular was associated with immorality, it was separated from music. Whereas the courtesan would accompany her singing with gestures, “respectable” female performers restricted themselves to singing. Continue reading The Construction of Femininity in Indian Vocal Music

Ta’arof & The Art of Flattery

July 14, 2025July 18, 2025X.T.MBRAHM, Civilisation, Iran, Islam & the Middle East, Race, X.T.MAssimilation, cultural appropriation, cultural misrepresentation, Culture, Diaspora, etiquette, Globalization, high-context communication, Identity, identity politics, Iran, Language, Media Criticism, Onunchi, Persian culture, Rainn Wilson, sociolinguistics, Ta’arof, Tehrangeles, Westernization7 Comments

I recently saw a cringeworthy clip of Rainn Wilson, yes that Rainn Wilson, earnestly trying to explain Ta’arof (while not even being able to pronounce Tahdig). The famed Iranian art of polite refusal was reduced, predictably, to the idea of “saying no three times.” A charming simplification, perhaps, but a misleading one.

The Ritual of Misunderstanding

Ta’arof is a millennia-old Persian artform; rooted perhaps as far back as the Achaemenid Empire. It is centered on flattery, politeness, and ritualised courtesy and is not merely etiquette; it is the performance and ritualisation of it.

Because Tarof isn’t about numerical formulae. It’s not just “no means yes after the third try.” It’s not a knock-knock joke.

Onunchi, Ta’arof, and High-Context Societies

Tarof is best understood as high-context negotiation within deeply hierarchical and emotionally attuned societies; a kind of cultural Onunchi (온눈치), for those familiar with Korean sociolinguistics. It’s the art of reading the room before the room speaks. More than etiquette, Tarof is a performance of dignity through flattery, deferral, and intuition.

And that’s precisely what’s being lost; not just in Rainn’s version, but in the Westernisation of diasporic Persian culture more broadly.

Theater and Social Change in Pakistan: The Plays of Shahid Nadeem

July 14, 2025KabirCulture, PakistanActivism, Ajoka, Brecht, Madeeha Gauhar, Pakistan, Shahid Nadeem, Theater1 Comment

This review originally appeared on The South Asian Idea in July 2012

Art does not exist in a vacuum. The artist lives in a particular social context and his or her work reflects the era in which it was created. Artists have long been concerned with exploitation and injustice. Rather than have their work simply reflect the society around them, many artists wish to use their work to change conditions on the ground. For example, Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) believed that plays should not cause spectators to identify emotionally with the characters on stage but should rather provoke rational self-reflection and a critical view of the onstage action. Thus, Brecht used techniques that would remind the audience that the play was a reflection of reality and not reality itself. By highlighting the constructed nature of the theatrical event, Brecht hoped to communicate to the audience that their reality was equally constructed, and thus changeable.

Two of Brecht’s most famous plays are The Threepenny Opera and The Good Person of Szechwan. Both these works reflect Brecht’s concerns with the exploitative nature of capitalism. The Threepenny Opera dramatizes the question: “Who is the greater criminal: he who robs a bank or he who founds one?” The Good Person of Szechwan is about a prostitute, Shen Te, who struggles to lead a life that is “good” without allowing herself to be trod upon and used by those who would accept and abuse her goodness. Her neighbors and friends prove so brutal in the filling of their bellies that Shen Te is forced to invent a male alter ego to protect herself, a cousin named Shui Ta, who becomes a cold and stern protector of Shen Te’s interests. Shen Te’s altruism conflicts with Shui Ta’s capitalist ethos of exploitation. The play implies that economic systems determine a society’s morality.

In modern Pakistan, a group that is producing work similar to Brecht’s is Ajoka. Led by director Madeeha Gauhar and playwright Shahid Nadeem, the group was founded in 1983 when Zia ul Haq’s martial law was at its peak. Since then, Ajoka has been producing plays focused on human rights, the plight of women and the increasing Islamization of Pakistani society. A representative selection of Nadeem’s plays have been translated into English and published as Selected Plays of Shahid Nadeem. Continue reading Theater and Social Change in Pakistan: The Plays of Shahid Nadeem