Marwaris are generally thought to be Jains and businessmen. But for a traveller in Rajasthan deserts, a Marwari is just anyone who resides in region extending from Kuchaman City (quite close to Jodhpur) and borders of Sindh in Pakistan. Having its origin in word maru or desert, Marwaris are a colourful people whose enterprise has bloomed all over the country with their enterprising youth setting up trade and industries in far off cities. Close-knit families have helped them to weave kinships of trust, an essential ingredient for building business network.
Jodhpur is unofficial capital of Marwar and encapsulates the culture and architecture of Marwaris, who could be Hindus, or Jains or even Muslims. Marwari language ties them together. Their current population is put around two crore. The language is highly sophisticated and said to be repository of rich literature. It was previously written in Mahajani script which has been almost totally replaced by Hindi script. Knowledgeable people in Jodhpur would inform that the language has finer nuances almost akin to Urdu of Lucknow. Marwari songs are replete with romance and chivalry of their heroes of yore.
All through the Mughal period, the city of Jodhpur remained a nursery of Marwari culture. The palaces and official buildings of the former princely state reflect its distinct architectural style. The multi-hued pagdis (turbans) – each caste having its own style of tying it – and heavily pleated skirts are most identifiable among Marwari attires. Marriages, yatras, lavish culinary fares further define the culture. Ever since the times of emperor Akbar, Marwari businessmen have been migrating to distant cities and setting up businesses and lately industries. Even as Haldiram bhujias and Aryabhavan sweets have traversed cities, the community has set up white marble Jain temples and pawn-broking shops in every corner of the land.
At least 10 per cent of the Marwar’s population is Muslim. They blend well with the mainstream population except for the fact that they have remained more loyal to the soil, nay sand of their lands.
Desire for modern education among the Marwari Muslims has resulted in a group making concerted efforts to set up schools and colleges. According to Mr. Mohammed Atique, general secretary of the Marwar Muslim Educational Society, the former Maharaja of Jodhpur, Umed Singhji was keen on education of Muslims under his principality. He was grandfather of Shri Gaj Singh, the scion of the princely family now. On the advice of the then education secretary Col. A. P. Cox he donated a piece of land in the city and Darbar Muslim School came up on the land. It was inaugurated by Umed Singhji in 1936 and was named Darbar Muslim School. However, in the cataclysmic aftermath of the Partition, the school was snatched away from the Muslim community and turned into Mahatma Gandhi School. It was a magnificent edifice and the property is still registered under Wakf Act.
As efforts to retrieve the school from Government control proved abortive, the Muslims of Jodhpur approached the then chief minister Mr. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who donated a 5-acre plot of land in the city in 1977. The Marwar Muslim Education Society reorganized once again around 1971 and took up the cause of Muslim education and built a grand sandstone edifice which is today a buzzing hub of activity.
Curiously, the Society has played even-handedly and managed to get donations and support from diverse quarters. The Society is at present running one boys’ senior secondary school, one girls’ senior secondary school, an upper primary school, two Industrial Training Centres for boys and girls each separately, an English medium school, two B.Ed colleges for girls and boys each, a Hospital named as Mai Khadijah Hospital and Research Centre and interestingly enough, an asylum for cows named as Adarsh Muslim Goushala in the vicinity of the city. While Maulana Azad Foundation made copious grants for the school building, current chief minister Ashok Gehlot financed construction of Library from his MPLADS fund. Former Union Finance Minister and BJP leader Mr. Jaswant Singh and Congress MP L. M. Singhvi also contributed for various projects.
The campus is a beehive of activity and nearly 2,700 students benefit from the facility. The budget goes to the tune of Rs. 2 crore per annum. Part of the finances for the entire project comes from Takiya Chand Shah Wakf Complex which has nearly 200 shops. Education for nearly 20 per cent of the students is subsidized through proceeds from the Wakf Complex. Though about 80 to 85 per cent of children in schools are Muslims, the ratio reverses in the two B.Ed colleges where only around 15 per cent of the 400 boys and girls are Muslims.
The Mai Khadijah Hospital located in the thickly populated Muslim mohalla in the city handles deliveries of nearly 50 babies a month.
Incidentally, the factor that has helped the Marwar Muslim Society in raising this infrastructure is their pragmatism which propels them consistently to progress towards their goal of educating every child of the Society. They seem to put their egos aside, reach out even to political parties which do not appear very friendly to Muslims and rope in individuals from varying ideologies. The Society is tolerant of all the sectarian differences within and believes in bringing up a new generation of educated youth. This single-minded vision resulted in the Society being adjudged the winner of Maulana Azad Literacy Award in 2004 by the HRD Ministry.
Cow Asylum: No wonder then why the Society thought of a gaushala or cow asylum named Adarsh Muslim Gaushala. Surprisingly, they got even 60 acres of land sanctioned from the Rajasthan Government for the purpose in the outskirts of the City. They even employ a veterinary doctor and two other paramedics for the Gaushala and propose to run a paramedical course for vets. In a state where ban on cow slaughter is strictly implemented and stray and invalid cows roam about on streets freely, the gaushala has won appreciation from the majority community.
Water Purification Plants: Rajasthan being a desert state, the Marwar Society has also embarked upon setting up water purification plants in dhanis (desert hamlets) where ground water is highly saline and often polluted. High incidence of dental decay due to presence of fluorides in the water or crippling diseases of Naru are also commonplace. The proceeds from Takiya Chand Shah Wakf Complex are utilized for the purpose. Each purification plant has cost the Society Rs. 5 lakh for refining 5,000 litres of water every day which is then distributed to individual households by a tractor-driven water tanker. Indeed the Society has set a new precedent by such use of wakf proceeds for humanitarian objectives and requires emulation elsewhere in a plural society like ours.
Livestock breeding: Latest among the Marwar Society’s ventures is distribution of goats among village folk. They have begun by giving 10 heads of goat to five families each in dhanis and plan to shortly extend this to 150 families by the yearend. All such animals would be insured. They will additionally provide date saplings and water storage tanks to these families to supplement their income.
Betraying remarkable adjustment with the circumstances of their state, the Marwar Muslim Educational Society has learnt to progress towards its goal. It knows for certain that building rapport with everyone pays long term dividends. Education is the key to all maladies and a community endowed with it would carve out its own place in future.