Kur Kota: the heart of a Waziristani home

Tradition which brings the family together is fast disappearing

DI KHAN: The heart of a Waziristani house lies in a Kur Kota or the central room of a house where elders of the family live.

Unlike a hujra, which creates a divide between men and women, the Kur Kota allows women the freedom to welcome any guest that makes their way into the house.

In the Waziristani Pashto dialect, Kur means home and Kota means room. Thus Kur Kota is a room where both the family and the visitors feel at home. The room is where all important decisions are made within the house and important rituals, like weddings and burials, start from.



Even in terms of architecture, the room is in the centre of the house. The structure of the room is rectangular with an in-built fireplace. The rooms are furnished with Qashkai, a locally-woven carpet, and Bolashts, which are special pillows.

Often, these houses have a number of families living in them and the Kur Kota is where they all come together, especially in the winters with fires burning bright in the room’s angeethi or stove. Guests, and family members alike, sit around the fire and talk about important issues. Sometimes, the matters are later taken up in jirgas, ensuring that women are part of the decision-making process.



However, that is not all that happens there. The room is also used as a meeting place, where the whole family huddles in the winter to tell folk tales about love and bravery. Rounds of tea are served on these occasions and both men and women also sing Ghyriwalla Tapay and Sandarah.

“When carpet makers initially visited Waziristan from Afghanistan, they were welcomed into the Kur Kotas of homes and were treated with hospitality. They were served rich traditional food and given lodging in the Kur Kotas,” says Waziristani native and PhD scholar on the region, Gul Marjan.

“Waziristani society has not evolved. Its evolution was stopped by different factors. Had the natural evolution not been stopped, we would have been looking at a Waziristan completely different than the one in front of us today,” Marjan adds, talking about the manner in which religious radicalism has affected the culture of Waziristan.

Sadly, with the onset of pardah rewaj, the mindset of people changed and the hujras outside the house took the place of Kur Kotas. Male guests are now received by the men of the family, directly in the hujras as the women are not allowed to be in contact with them.

“It was a good tradition, but it is fast vanishing.  It has become difficult to maintain it today with the change in mindset. Kor Kotas have now become unacceptable as they are in contrast to pardah rewaj,” Gul Marjan concluded.

Talking to The Express Tribune about the tradition, an aged Waziristani woman, Nai Gula, says, “There is a nominal role that Kur Kotas play -- it is sad. Kur Kotas gave women freedom to participate in activities. I feel sorry that the days have passed. People were fair and straightforward. They did not believe in restricting women.”

Kur Kotas still exist in every Waziristani house even now but their function is minimal. Even still, the tradition lives on in some tribal homes tucked away in the mountains, untouched by radicalism and the new mindset. These far off homes keep the age old tradition alive and still give value to it. Women there are not cut off from society and still have some measure of freedom.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2016.