Role of Religion in Social Life of People in Cholistan Desert

Abstract

Religious practices are influenced by environmental and cultural factors. Cholistan is second largest desert of Pakistan where people are living with semi nomadic life style. Being a desert area, it lacks basic amenities, that is why life revolves around searching for water and fodder. Due to very low literacy rate in the Cholistan, religious awareness is poor and mostly based on hearsay. The current paper aims at exploring the role of religion in social life of people living in the Cholistan desert. Adopting qualitative approach, data were collected from 50 respondents through participants observation and protracted qualitative interviews. The findings show that people of Cholistan have poor awareness about religious teachings and practices, yet religion has a significant role in their social life. Influence of religion expands on all spheres of life ranging from satisfying religious and spiritual sentiments to settlement of mutual conflicts among community people. Furthermore, spiritual guide (pir) and certain symbols have important role in their day-to-day life. In addition to this, religion has strengthened and enhanced resilience of the people for coping with the adversities of life in the hostile environment of Cholistan. Similarly, Cholistani people follow many superstitions for tackling supernatural powers and perceive them as religion. The study concludes that religion ingrains contentment among its followers which results into resilience in all odd conditions