The construction of the Makran Coastal Highway (MCH) in Pakistan not only gave quicker road access to Gwadar from Karachi but also made the traditionally arduous journey to the temple of the Goddess Hinglaj, located in Baluchistan Province, safer and easier. How the construction of the MCH has changed the contours of Hindu identity, pilgrimage, and the temple are the main subjects of Jürgen Schaflechner's book Hinglaj Devi. In this much-needed work of scholarship on Hindus and Hindu cultural practices in postcolonial Pakistan, Schaflechner studies how the infrastructure and sociopolitical realities that have emerged around the temple are resulting in the “solidification” (p. 36) of the annual pilgrimage of Hinglaj Devi.
In a fascinating introduction, Schaflechner masterfully unpacks the conundrum of being a Hindu in Pakistan, a condition that contradicts the two-nation theory that forms the ideological foundation of the Pakistani state. The two-nation theory promoted the division of...
