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Indus River (Photo credit: xitus)

Recently read Empires of the Indus the story of a river by Alice Albinia.  Brief background information on the author: Alice Albinia studied English Literature at Cambridge and a MA in South Asian history at the School of Oriental and African Studies.  Her major area of research was religious and political history of the Indus region.  Empires of the Indus was the joint effort of her research for her MA and her trips along the Indus River Valley from the mouth of the river and delta which feeds into the Arabian Sea to the headwaters high up in the Himalayas in Tibet.

The main purpose of the book is to explore the cultural, political and religious history of the entire Indus River system.  The time period covered in each chapter varies from ancient history (older than 5,000 years) to current events (modernity).  My conclusion is that the purpose of Empires of the Indus is to educate the reader of the rich history, language, religion, and secular culture which uniquely ties humans to the water systems they abide near.  In the words of the author: “One day, when there is nothing but dry riverbeds and dust, when this ancient name [Indus or saraansh] has been rendered obsolete, then the songs humans sign will be dirges of bitterness and regret.  They will tell of how the Indus…bringing fourth civilizations and species, languages and religions.”

Empires of the Indus is an in-depth but small glimpses of the history over a long period of time (centuries).  The author uses a variety of methods to describe the history of the Indus. She uses narrative (including first person), historical synthesis, oral history and cultural anthropology intertwined to produce an intriguing compelling book.  Overall, the book is written for a non-historical audience exposing a river region of the world through intriguing sampling of vignettes.

The Empires of the Indus is not only about one woman’s journey from the mouth of the Indus River near modern-day, Karachi Pakistan to the headwaters high up in the Himalayas, in Tibet but a series of vignettes, experiences and stories spanning centuries.  The book is organized in chapters by the route Alice traveled the Indus river valley system. For example, the first chapter which is titled Ramzan in Karachi discusses the independence of the colony of India and subsequent Punjab partition of Pakistan and India.  The author puts a personal face on the dislocation of millions of people because of religion and culture.  She interviewed a Zohra Begum whose “memories of that time are vivid and agonizing.” One of the main points of the books is how the Indus River caused or provided for a fusion of peoples, religion and cultural irrespective of background.  For example in chapter 5, Alice delves into how the Hindu and Sikh faiths are less defined in Sindh Pakistan unlike anywhere else on the continent.  She explains how the Hindu’s in “Sindh are Nanakpanthis, followers of Guru Nanak…to this day, in Pakistan, many Temples and Gurdwaras are combined in a way that is not the case in India.” The time span of history of the Indus River Valley predates written history to the Neolithic age. For example in chapter 11, the author talks about the Neolithic people of Ladkah and the ruins the pre-date Hinduism and Buddhism.

The author of Empires of the Indus uses historical narrative and synthesis together through much of the book.  She not only brings meaning to different historical events alive but re-creates the feeling and atmosphere so that the average reader finds the book appealing.  As Tosh discusses in The Pursuit of History, the benefit of using techniques together is “because these open up the possibility of the comparative method” through space and time. For example in chapter 6 Up the Khyber, Alice brings the fort of Attock; the view from the ramparts; and the merging of the Khyber “brown with silt [and the] icy blue [Indus filled] with glacial snow-melt.” She visually describes the atmosphere then shifts the historical reference from the present back to early 16^th century and the expansion of the Mughal Empire led by Emperor Barbur. He was the first to forcibly spread Islam from the mountains and plains of what is considered modern Afghanistan across the Indus River. The downside of the extensive use of narrative and synthesis is that sometimes the book’s shifts of time period can be dizzying to the reader.

Alice Albania intersperses oral history throughout the book.  She uses oral history as a complimentary tool to enhance the different locales along the Indus River Valley system.  Many of the oral histories the author provides in the book are the experiences of different groups of women.  By the author interviewing and using oral histories of women living along the river system from Karachi Pakistan to Uttarakuru she exemplifies the strength of character and modes of survival necessary in one of the world’s largest river systems.  As much as the oral histories added texture to the book and the author uses the technique selectively, the use of them became predictable.  After the 3^rd or 4^th chapter, if the reader is careful they will notice that a minimum of one or two oral histories has been incorporated into each chapter.

Alice Albania, the author, uses cultural anthropology as a historical aspect to her journey along the river system, especially with a in-depth analysis of the religions and how they formed a synthesis and not the conflict in other parts of the Indian sub-continent.   Every chapter in the book discusses elements of the different religions, how along the river the diversity seems less relevant between the Hindu, Sikh, Islam and nature based faiths.  After studying each religion individually before reading Empires of the Indus, the author’s research about how the religions have fused or amalgamated along the river valley system was enlightening.

In summary, Empires of the Indus-the story of a river is a series of vignettes or pearls which gave the reader with a flavor of history over a lengthy time span of history while providing glimmers of the people, languages, religion and history of the region.

References

Alice Albinia Empires of the Indus: the story of a river. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., 2010), 12-13, 110-111, 130, 308-309.

John Tosh The Pursuit of History. (Harlow, UK: Pearson Unlimited, 2006), 162,