How colonialism eroded Pakistan’s history of religious fluidity

Muslims and Hindus once shared their sacred shrines. This changed post-Partition but some traditions have survived.

Inside the courtyard of a house in the village of Ram Thaman, near Lahore in Pakistan, an audience has gathered. Next to a wooden cot, seven or eight young men are dancing in a circle, holding sticks that they occasionally beat together. Others – mostly men and one transgender person – join in, dancing passionately to the beats of these sticks. Women watch from the rooftops of neighbouring houses as, with each passing moment, the crowd grows.