Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb

Ganga–Jamuni Tehzeeb (Hindustani for Ganges–Yamuna Culture),^[1] also spelled as Ganga-Jamni Tehzeeb or just Hindustani Tehzeeb, is the composite high culture of the central plains of northern India,^[2][3][4][5] especially the doab region of Ganges and Yamuna rivers, that is a syncretic fusion of Hindu cultural elements with Muslim cultural elements.^{[2][3][6][7][8]} The composite Ganga-Jamuni culture emerged due to the interaction between Hindus and Muslims in the history of South Asia.^[9][6][7]

The Mughal emperor Jahangir celebrates Holi with ladies of the zenana.

The tehzeeb (culture) includes a particular style of speech, literature, recreation, costume, manners, worldview, art, architecture and cuisine which more or less pervades the Hindustan region of the plains, Northern South Asia as a whole and the old city of Hyderabad in South India.^[10][11] Ganga Jamuni culture manifests itself as adherents of different religions in India celebrating each other's festivals, as well as communal harmony in India.^[12][13]

Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, is a poetic Awadhi phrase for the distinctive and syncretic Hindu-Muslim culture, is reflected in the fused spiritual connotations, forms, symbols, aesthetics, crafts and weaves, for example, Kashmiri Muslim carpet makers feature Durga in their patterns, Muslim sculptors making idols of Durga, and Hindu craftsmen create the Muharram tazia.^[14][8]

Etymology

Ganga-Jamuni is a Hindi term that means, literally, "mixed," "composite," "alloy".^[15][16][17] The term additionally references the Ganga and Jamuna rivers, that merge to form one entity, just as two cultures come "together to form a seamless single culture that draws richly from both traditional Hindu and Islamic influences", creating "a vibrant, multidimensional, peerless and syncretic culture."^[1] Tehzeeb is an Urdu term (from Arabic: تہذيب tahẕīb) meaning civilization, culture, politeness, or progress/development.^[18]

Festivals

Nawabs of Awadh were fore-runners of this culture. ^[19] The region of Awadh in the state of Uttar Pradesh is usually considered to be the center of this culture.^[20][21] Allahabad, Lucknow, Kanpur,^[22][23][24] Faizabad-Ayodhya,^[21][25] and Varanasi (Benares)^[26][27] are a few of the many centers of this culture. In Lucknow, one prominent example of this culture is that not only Shias but also Sunni Muslims and Hindus participate, both historically and today, in the mourning and religious customs during the Islamic month of Muharram.^[28][29] The Hindu festival of Basant and Persian tradition of Nowruz were also patronized by the Shia rulers of Awadh.^[30]

Hyderabad, the capital city of Telangana in south-central part of the India, is also a big example of communal harmony where the local Telugu Hindus and Hyderabadi Muslims live with peace and brotherhood, where Hindu temples serve the dry dates fruits to mosques for Iftar Muslim festival.^[31][13]

Language and literature

With Islamic administrative rule over the Indo-Gangetic plains in medieval India, the city of Delhi and its surrounding region along the river Yamuna became the political and cultural capital of the Persianate dynasties. Delhi came to prominence because of its strategic location, as the west of which was the open Indus plains and east of which the populous Gangetic plains. The local Indian language of Khariboli of Delhi evolved into Hindavi or Hindustani, a sociolect of the descendants of the conquerors, the nobility, the courtiers and hence the cultured. The official language of these empires was Dari Persian from Persia and the usual mother tongue of these upper echelons was an Indian language albeit with heavy Persian influence, hence Hindavi or Hindi was the word used which still just means Indian in Persian. The Turkic word Urdu instead connotated as spoken by the camps and plebs. As the empire enlarged, Persianised Khariboli, known as Hindavi and Hindustani, became the basis for the lingua franca different Indo-Aryan speakers on the plains and beyond used to communicate. There are many Hindustani dialects that arose, Deccani being the major one, a form of Khariboli that migrated from the banks of Delhi and mixed with Marathi, Telugu and Kannada in the Deccan. It was only during the British Raj in India that Persianised Hindi or Hindustani came to be specifically called Urdu as was later standardized.

 

Word Surahi(pitcher) is written in two different scripts Devanagri and Nastalique used for Hindi-Urdu in unison.

The literary tradition in Hindustani began in North with the acceptance of Deccani Hindi as a medium of literary exchange in the South. The first Deccani author was Khwaja Bandanawaz Gesudaraz Muhammad Hasan. Bahamani Sultanate were the pioneers, writers such as Bande Nawaz, Shah Miranji and Shah Buran. Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah of Golconda, Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur, and Wali Mohammad Wali were important writers in Deccani. Influenced by this, Urdu Prose and Poetry, as is now called also began in the Hindustan region, chief writers being, Ghalib, Khaliq, Zamir, Aatish, Nasikh, Zauq, Momin and Shefta. Malik Muhammad Jayasi's Padmavat in Awadhi and the Works of Kabir Das. An age of tremendous integration between the Hindu and the Islamic elements in the Arts with the advent of many Muslim Bhakti poets like Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana who was a minister to Mughal emperor Akbar and was also a great devotee of Krishna. The Nirgun School of Bhakti Poetry was also tremendously secular in nature and its propounders like Kabir and Guru Nanak had a large number of followers irrespective of caste or religion.^[32][11]

One of the best examples of syncretic faith is captured in one of Kabir's doha (verse), "some chant Allah, some chant Ram, Kabir is a worshiper of true love and hence reveres both."^{[4][failed verification]}

Devanagari	Nastaliq	Roman	Translation
कोई जपे रहीम रहीम कोई जपे है राम दास कबीर है प्रेम पुजारी दोनों को परनाम	کوئی جپے رحیم رحیم کوئی جپے ہے رام داس کبیر ہے پریم پجاری دونوں کو پرنام	Koi jape rahim rahim Koi jape hai ram Das Kabir hai prem pujari Dono ko parnaam	Some chant O Merciful [Allah] Some chant Ram Kabir is a worshiper of true love And reveres them both

Etiquette and costume

Main article: Mughal clothing

 

Jama worn by the Nawab of Carnatic and his son.

Awadh has a special place in the etiquette of this culture along with Delhi and Hyderabad; in fact Lucknowi Urdu still retains the polished and polite language of Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb.^{[20][33][34][35]} Delhi Sultanate, Bahamani Sultanate, Deccan Sultanates, Mughal Empire, Nawabs of Awadh, Bhopal, Carnatic and the Nizams of Hyderabad were forerunners of this tehzeeb. The greeting Aadaab from the Arabic word آداب, meaning respect and politeness, is a hand gesture and expression used in the Indian subcontinent for greeting, especially between Muslims and non-Muslims.^[36] It is associated with the Ganga-Jamuni culture because it originated out of a necessity for a more non-religious greeting from the Arabic Assalamu Alaikum and Sanskrit Namaste.

Sherwani, Jama, Topi, Kurta, Dupatta, Salwar, Kameez, Shawl, Pajama and Socks are few of the major attire still present in India.

Recreation and Cuisine

Main articles: Indo-Persian culture, Kathak, and Mehfil

 

Mehfil-e-Mushaira at Hyderabad, 1820.

Main articles: Mughlai cuisine, Awadhi cuisine, and Hyderabadi cuisine

 

Biryani, the quintessential dish of this culture.

Art and architecture

Main articles: Indo-Islamic architecture, Mughal architecture, and Mughal painting

 

Emperor Jahangir Visiting the Ascetic Jadrup.

 

Taj Mahal, a quintessential structure of this culture.

See also

•  India portal

• Hindu–Islamic relations
• Hindu-Muslim unity
• Opposition to the partition of India
• Phool Walon Ki Sair
• Din-i Ilahi
• Inclusivism, concept that all religions are at least partially true and none is untrue
• Sheilaism, a term for an individual selecting strands of multiple religions
• Folk religion, any flexible vernacular religion without a rigid doctrine
• Interfaith dialogue, constructive interaction among various religions
• Religious pluralism, tolerance for diversity of religions in a society
• Religious tolerance, respecting and upholding others' right to behold religion
• Multiple religious belonging, a phenomenon that a person can belong to multiple religion is specially found among more tolerant societies such as Indian and Chinese origin religions
• La Convivencia, a similar dynamic in mediaeval Islamic Spain

References

1. Lal, Aloke; Lal, Maanas (15 February 2022). Murder in the Bylanes: Life and Death in a Divided City. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-93-5435-255-3. The culture (tehzeeb) that has evolved in the Great Plains is called Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb. The idea of the two rivers joining to form one great entity, Ganga, symbolises how two disparate cultures coming together to form a seamless single culture that draws richly from both traditional Hindu and Islamic influences. The result is a vibrant, multidimensional, peerless and syncretic culture. People from different religions share elements and ideologies to bring together all aspects of life to prosper, making society a bouquet of many hues and fragrances. The leitmotif of this culture is pluralism.
2. Warikoo, K. (2010). Religion and Security in South and Central Asia. Routledge. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-136-89020-8. Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb compares the Hindu-Muslim harmony and friendship to the holy confluence of India's major rivers - the Ganga and Yamuna. It assumes a peaceful merging of Hindu and Muslim culture and lifestyle in Banaras as expressed in their friendships, joint festivities and interdependence. As such, the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb reminds people of the incomparable unison they share across religious communities. This in turn sets a parameter for the people to uphold the religious peace. The metaphor is especially popular in the intellectual discourse as it coincided well with the Nehruvian rhetoric of a composite culture.
3. Dhulipala, Venkat (2000). The Politics of Secularism: Medieval Indian Historiography and the Sufis. University of Wisconsin–Madison. p. 27. The composite culture of northern India, known as the Ganga Jamuni tehzeeb was a product of the interaction between Hindu society and Islam.
4. Chari, Pushpa (28 July 2018). "Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb: Syncretic ethos in weaves and crafts". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
5. Shaban, Abdul (10 January 2018). Lives of Muslims in India: Politics, Exclusion and Violence. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781351227605.
6. Āzād Hindūstān, māz̤ī aur mustaqbil: rūdād aur maqāle, qaumī simīnār, munʻaqidah Jāmiʻah Hamdard, Naʼī Dihlī, 29-31 Agast 1998. Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library. 2000. p. 60. During their political rule, over a period of about 1000 years, both Hindus and Muslims lived together, shared each other's culture and gave rise to the emergence of a new type of Hindu-Muslim culture (Ganga-Jamuni Tahzib).
7. Socialist Party (India) (2007), Janata, Volume 62, ... the ganga-jamuni tehzeeb (composite culture) regarded both religious communities as two eyes of a beautiful bride and their long history witnessed 'give-and-take', at many levels ...
8. Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb: Syncretic ethos in weaves and crafts, The Hindu, 18 July 2018.
9. Cousins, Linwood H. (5 September 2014). Encyclopedia of Human Services and Diversity. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-1-4833-7083-5. Sometimes this trend brings a new culture of integration. It is evident in Indian Hindu-Muslim culture popularly known as Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb, manifesting the values and belief systems of the two.
10. minhaz, ayesha (16 July 2015). "Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb helps maintain peace". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
11. Understanding Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb: How diverse is the "Indian multiculturalism", Daily News and Analysis, 15 June 2014.
12. Steven Wesley Ramey (15 September 2008), Hindu, Sufi, or Sikh: contested practices and identifications of Sindhi Hindus in India and beyond, Macmillan, 2008, ISBN 978-0-230-60832-0, ... the continuing joint Muslim and Hindu participation in public festivals, relating it to "Ganga-Jamun Tahzeeb," the attitude of refined hospitality and harmonious relations that historically characterized this region ...
13. "Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb: Temple serving Iftar Dates to 5 Mosques in Hyderabad". Retrieved 24 December 2019.
14. Tripathi, Priyanka; Das, Chhandita (2020). "Decoding the Postcolonial Geo-Linguistic Sangam in Allahabad: A Study of Neelum Saran Gour's Requiem in Raga Janki". The IUP Journal of English Studies. IUP. XV (3): 6. "Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb" is a poetic Awadhi phrase that implies the distinct and syncretic fusion of Hindu-Muslim culture and it is primarily the ethics of central plains in North India.
15. McGregor, R. S. (1993), "गंगा-जमनी = mixed, composite, of whitish grey colour, made of alloy, an alloy", Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, p. 248
16. Chaturvedi, Mahendra (1970), "गंगा-जमुनी = made up of two colours or two metals (like gold and silver)", A Practical Hindi-English Dictionary, Delhi: National Publishing House
17. Dasa, Syamasundara (1965–1975), Hindi sabdasagara, Navina samskarana (in Hindi), Kasi: Nagari Pracarini Sabha, गंगाजमुनी (p. 1190) गंगाजमुनी— वि० [हिं० गंगा + जमुना] १. मिलाजुला । संकर । दो- रंगा । २. सोने चाँदी, पीतल ताँबे आदि दो धातुओं का बना हुआ । सुनहले रूपहले तारों का बना हुआ । जिसपर सोने चाँदी दोनों का काम हो । ३. काला उजला । स्याह सफेद । अबलक ; 2) गंगाजमुनी (p. 1190) गंगाजमुनी २— संज्ञा स्त्री० १. कान का एक गहना । २. वह दाल जिसमें अरहर और उर्द की दाल मिली हो । केवटी दाल । ३. जरतारी का ऐसा काम जिसमें सुनहले और रुपहले दोनों रंग के तार हों । ४. अफीम मिली हुई भाँग । अफीम से युक्त भाँग की सरदाई (बनारस)
18. "Meaning of tahzib in English". Rekhta Dictionary. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
19. Descendants of Nawabs keep Holi traditions alive, The Indian Express, Tue 10 March 2009, 15:35 hrs
20. Malika Mohammada (2007), The foundations of the composite culture in India, Aakar Books, 2007, ISBN 978-81-89833-18-3, ... developed in Awadh as a genre of composite creativity. ... of multiple Indian cultural traditions and provided glimpses of the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb of north India with Lucknow as its centre ...
21. Plaint Of Ayodhya, The Financial Express, Sunday, 22 August 2004 at 0000 hrs IST
22. "Hindus form human chain around Muslim baraat in violence-hit Kanpur, escort them to safety | Kanpur News - Times of India". The Times of India.
23. , TNN, 13 May 2009, 06.52am IST
24. Karbala revisited 11 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Express News Service, Saturday , 12 February 2005
25. Twin towns welcome verdict with humility, grace, Deccan Chronicle, 1 October 2010
26. , Naveen Kumar, TNN, 25 September 2009, 10.09pm IST
27. Stories behind the masks, Shailaja Tripathi, NEW DELHI, 4 November 2010, The Hindu
28. Faruqi, Shamsur Rahman (2017). Introduction to: Awadh Symphony: Notes on a Cultural Interlude. New Delhi: Rupa Publishing. pp. xv. ISBN 978-81-291-4650-2. OCLC 993125025.
29. Aslam, Mahmud (2017). Awadh Symphony: Notes on a Cultural Interlude. New Delhi: Rupa Publishing. p. 3. ISBN 978-81-291-4650-2. OCLC 993125025.
30. Aslam, Mahmud (2017). Awadh Symphony: Notes on a Cultural Interlude. New Delhi: Rupa Publishing. p. 5. ISBN 978-81-291-4650-2. OCLC 993125025.
31. minhaz, ayesha (16 July 2015). "Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb helps maintain peace". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
32. Karen Pechilis Prentiss (2014), The Embodiment of Bhakti, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195351903, pages 15-16
33. Aslam, Mahmud (2017). Awadh Symphony: Notes on a Cultural Interlude. New Delhi: Rupa Publishing. pp. 25–6. ISBN 978-81-291-4650-2. OCLC 993125025.
34. , Naveen Kumar, TNN, 25 September 2009, 10.09pm IST
35. Descendants of Nawabs keep Holi traditions alive, The Indian Express, Tue 10 March 2009, 15:35 hrs
36. . University of Wisconsin–Madison. 1 May 2012. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2023. Originating from a North Indian Islamicate high culture, "adaab" as a form of greeting was imbued with a certain class hierarchy. It was a familiar greeting even in many elite non-Muslim households in North India.