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The Bhānd: In the Centres and Margins of the Historical Record

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Comic Performance in Pakistan

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Comedy ((PSCOM))

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Abstract

Contemporary accounts of bhānd history are framed by hierarchies, as derivative of Hindu or Muslim culture, a ‘folk’ or courtly institution, or oral tradition lacking in literary sophistication. This chapter challenges these distinctions by considering the bhānds’ performance through diverse receptions in historical records from Muslim rule in Delhi, Lahore and Lucknow (1206–1857), colonial caste and tribe ethnographies (1858–1947) and Urdu literary reworkings of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. From the liminal possibilities of the Muslim period, the author explores how colonial modernity, particularly through its essentialist caste classifications, attempted to fix the bhānd’s low status, producing ambivalent responses in Urdu literature, wherein some banish the bhānd, while others revive his art, celebrating its religious syncretism and subversive potentialities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, USA

    Claire Pamment

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  1. Claire Pamment
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Pamment, C. (2017). The Bhānd: In the Centres and Margins of the Historical Record. In: Comic Performance in Pakistan. Palgrave Studies in Comedy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56631-7_2

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