The Kathiawari red dress, the saint of the jogis

Experts and storytellers remind us of the myths that define us.

KARACHI:

Once upon a time, King Gopi Chand’s daughter was sitting by a stream. A flower floated by and she leant down to smell it. But the scent or the spirit in the flower flew into her and she returned home with child.

Her angry father, the king or raja ordered his soldiers to take hide her deep in the jungle because he would not be able to explain her pregnancy. On the way, one of the oxen drawing her cart was bitten by a snake. The caravan stopped and panic broke out. But then, a voice from the princess’s belly told her to sprinkle some water on the snakebite and recite some prayers. The ox was miraculously cured. The soldiers were astonished.

Soon after, the abandoned princess gave birth to a very special baby and named it Gogo Chohan. And while life was hard in the jungle where food was scarce, snakes would come to Gogo and feed him their venom whenever he was hungry.

A few years later, a king passing through the jungle was dying of thirst. Gogo offered him help but in return asked for him to leave seven of his men behind. Thus, Gogo gained seven companions. But how was he going to feed them? Gogo turned to the snakes but they grew unhappy with this extra demand.

Elderly women of the Kathiawari community, originally from Junagadh in India, prefer to wear simple red-coloured clothes  in remembrance of Mai Abidi. IMAGE: RUMANA HUSAIN

One rat snake plotted to kill Gogo. Before dying, though, Gogo directed his friends to cook his body and eat it. They tried to grant his last wish and cut up and cooked his body but were unable to bring themselves to eat it. They threw the pot of meat into the river. The pot was found by a gang of robbers who ate its contents and thus the spirit of Gogo entered their flesh. Legend has it that it opened their third eye and gave them powers to look into the future.

This fable, which inspired the beliefs of these ‘jogis’, originated in Thatta a few hundred years ago. Gogo Chohan is revered as a ‘saint’ by ‘jogis’ or snake charmers who believe that Chohan gave them the ability to enslave all snakes. The story forms an integral part of the beliefs of the nomads who mostly hail from the Tharparkar region.

This story was told by Rumana Husain at the first international Karachi conference on Sunday, when she spoke about how myths have come to define specific communities.

We are driven in part by the myths and legends that have circulated in our society. These values, passed on from generation to generation, form the very essence of our social fabric. Moreover, they go on to become an important part of the nation’s identity - with many of the community’s rituals and traditions becoming a product of these beliefs. Karachi has its own share of myths - the folklore that affect the way a community interacts with one another, the way they dress and even the way they have come to identify themselves.

Another myth that has endured the test of time is that of Mai Abidi - the reason why Kathiawari women who originally hail from Junagadh in India wear a simple red dress to this very day. According to the legend, Mai Abidi was a beautiful girl, who at the age of twelve, was forced to flee from her native land with her elder sibling, after she refused to wed the king because he was not a member of her clan. Angered by the refusal, the king banished them and sent his soldiers to kill them. After travelling thousands of miles with the soldiers in hot pursuit, Mai Abidi sought divine intervention to end the misery. She prayed to God to make the earth swallow her and her brother whole. But she also prayed that God would never make Kathiawari women beautiful because her beauty had become a source of agony for her. According to legend, the earth did indeed open up and swallow Mai Abidi and her brother but as it closed up over them, a corner of her red dress was not subsumed and was left fluttering on the surface.

As a mark of respect for her sacrifice, the women of her clan vowed to always wear a simple red dress which became an identity for them. But Husain pointed out that the tradition is dying out as the younger generation women don’t wear the red. They don’t want to stand out and their husbands, the younger men of the community, subscribe to an orthodox brand of Islam and thus discourage it. “In fact, the older women have to hide it when they commemorate Mai Abidi’s sacrifice,” said Husain. “Soon, this simple tradition will die out.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th,2013.