Pakistan

Dharna – placing your backside down

Master linguist Khaled Ahmed explains the etymology of the word.

Mahim Maher May 21, 2011

KARACHI: With Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Dharna taking place in Karachi today and tomorrow, my sister asked in exasperation, what does Dharna mean and where does it comes from.

There was only one person I know who could answer that question, the master linguist Khaled Ahmed. His book ‘Word for Word: Stories behind everyday words we use’ (OUP 2010) is a fun romp through our history.

Ahmed explained over the telephone that ‘Dharna’ means ‘act of faith’.

Dhar means ‘to carry something’ or ‘to place something’ as in ‘to place your faith’. It is a Sanskrit word.

When Krishna is called ‘murli dhar’ he is carrier of the murli. ‘Dhiri dhar’ is carries the mountain, similarly. Dhar-na is to carry faith, then.

It also means ‘putting down’ or ‘dhar do’ as well.

When I asked Ahmed whether it came from India, as it is a Sanskrit word, he laughed and kindly explained that, no, we got it first from the Aryans who came to the region of Pakistan first.

In the Urdu mohaavra it is ‘wo dharna maar ke bet’h gaya’ or -- he squatted or placed his backside down.

I have a feeling that Imran Khan won’t exactly be doing this over the weekend. He’ll probably be standing and giving speeches, ‘carrying the faith’.

COMMENTS (13)

Usman | 13 years ago | Reply @Sharay Imran: Imran Khan is our only hope....what else do you suggest we should vote for? Name any one? Please

Khalid Javed | 13 years ago | Reply @Sharay Imran: Any anti-Imperialistic voice like that of Mr. Khan has always been criticized, scoffed at & labeled with apparently contemptuous titles like Sharay Imran has referred to as Talibaan Khan at the outset. Anyone associating Mr. Khan with any religious factions or any right or left bent of mind is either unfamiliar with the ideology which Mr. Khan is trying to propagate or is harboring baseless prejudice against him or is plagued with unquestioning slavish infatuation for status quo- which nurtures the corrupt, un-conscientious, political opportunists. Right from full support to movement for restoration of independent judiciary to boycott of those sham elections which resulted in this ineffective, hung parliament comprising these politicians who plundered national exchequer, Mr. Khan’s stance has been consistent, based on principles of justice, fairness & rationality. Nothing can be far from reality than to call Imran Khan as a religious fanatic, his voice represents moderate and rationale approach to matters of life including politics. The moments of crisis are the true acid test for its leadership. The leaders are expected to be pro-active & able to show courage & envision a roadmap for the depressed followers. PPP led coalition govt. & his Opposition Friends (PML-N) have failed miserably over the past three years. Mr. Sharif, with his lukewarm responses to the issues of public significance has disappointed even his staunch followers. Mr. Sharif has been consistently a model of inconsistency- he gets vociferous to gain some short term motives & then goes into recluse once again, leaving the people wondering about his mysterious silence. The way, he has been silent on PPP’s ignoring & defying Supreme Court injunctions, his half-hearted, superficial statements about ever-rising inflation, his tepid criticism on drones attacks etc. all have dented his popularity enormously. The laid-back approach of the existing leadership (if we may call them leaders) has created a good room for Imran Khan (PTI) who is now looked up as the only figure who can voice the sentiments of the Pakistanis fearlessly & who has shown pro-activism, unflinching commitment to his mission. Mr. Khan rightly lambasted the ruling government & the Opposition for driving the nation into nowhere but the abyss of despair. The nation is feeling belittled, demoralized & enormously unsafe because of the recent Osama Saga related infringement of Pakistan sovereignty by US Navy Seals. Mr. Khan has highlighted the negative effects & disapproval of Pakistani public by staging a Sit-In at Peshawar 1st and now in Karachi. The success or failure of a struggle is measured against its key objectives. The objective of staging a Sit-In is not to go into head-on-collision with US & wage a war to put the drones down but to create awareness among the general public on domestic front to exert pressure on the govt. to do more than just lip service against the ruthless killings & indiscriminate massacre of Pakistanis. On global front, its purpose is to put political pressure on US through raising awareness- particularly in US through enhancing awareness among US public that this policy of drones is doing more damage than doing good in this war or terror. It is proving counter-productive and is allowing the terror networks to further expand their terror recruit base from the aggrieved & affectees of those drones on the one hand and also increasing disliking for US policies & US among the people of Pakistan.

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Kesav das | 13 years ago | Reply My comment is on the topic and nonabusive.So why don't you publish it?

Kesav das | 13 years ago | Reply The word is ‘Giri not ‘Dhiri’,‘Giri’ means a mountain.Giri Dhari is another name of Krishna, since as a childhood pastime He lifted the Govardhan mountain as an umbrella to provide shelter to his devotees from torrential rainstorm.Secondly the word ‘aryan’ comes from the Sanskrit word ‘arya’,which means ‘one who knows the goal of life’.Therefore ‘aryan’ does not imply any relationship to race or geography.Aryans have existed long before Pakistan came into existence.

Noise | 13 years ago | Reply Amna, if that is his message then he should not be pandering to the extremists and those thirsting for "revenge". Its not a religious rally then why are all those Jamat-e-Islami idiots there? Imran is totally is in bed with the mullahs. If the drones were killing Sindhis, Mohajirs or Baloch he would not care. Why has Imran never condemned the terrorists attacks taking place in our country, why is he silent the extremists kill tens of our countrymen everyday? Why are you silent? Drone attacks do not even come close to the number of people killed in this country by terrorist attacks. Its the terrorists that the drones are targeting, I Imran is in league with these terrorists.

A.Ali | 13 years ago | Reply As usual people like @sharay imran nag about imran khan. because they find it pretty easy criticizing someone who is sacrificing his comfortable life for our very own country.

faraz | 13 years ago | Reply Murli dhar so thats where Muttiah Murlidharan's name comes from ;)

san | 13 years ago | Reply @sharay imran Which party do you support. Dont tell me you don't support any party. If you don't you have no right to critise IK. Stay in your A/C bedroom, you don't need to worry much about Pakistan and its people.

Habiba Younis | 13 years ago | Reply and the point is?

Fahad Raza | 13 years ago | Reply So is it too hot to sit down on road thats your excuse?

Hmmm | 13 years ago | Reply Shame - could not have been worse

Amna | 13 years ago | Reply @sharay imran: typical anti-Imran argument that makes no sense. Imran is not saying Pakistanis are not responsible or only Americans are responsible. He is against American policies because they are causing an increase in extremism and a thirst for revenge in our society. Which in turn unfortunately leads to more al-Qaida recruits. It's not religious as att really...just requires some common sense.

sharay imran | 13 years ago | Reply yes,a dharna of perpetually in denial conspiracy theorists.taliban khan should stop deflecting attention away from the real cause of the deaths of the 34000 pakistanis in the last decade.America didn't come & kill them,it was our very own muslim brothers who blew themselves up amidst cries of " Allah ho akbar",these guys didnt scream " god save the queen" or " vande matram" before blowing up women & children. instead of finding the culprits in outlandish conspiracy theories,imran khan should tell the truth,but as a religious fanatic he can't bring himself to face the truth & in the process he's propagating rightwing religious propaganda. if you want a dharna take it out against the intrusion of religion in every aspect of our life & the state's absolute capitulation before the religious barbarians.

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