Dreaming Baba, resituating memory: Popular Sufi shrines and the historiography of contemporary East Punjab

Abstract

Why and how does popular memory reconfigure itself in the form of dreams? Taking a clue from the veneration of saints at popular Sufi shrines, this article underlines the role played by memory and dreams in the restitution of the practice of saint veneration in contemporary (East) Punjab. It further probes the grand theories of post-colonial nation-states ideologies and problematizes the accepted processes of Islamization. Through an analysis of dream experiences and social memory, the intention is to chart a social history of Islamic acculturation in South Asia.