The Indusland
The source of the Indus river is near lake Mansarovar north of Nepal on the Tibetan plateau. It flows northwesterly through massive gorges towards the Karakoram mountains. En route, it collects pristine, glacial waters from the Himalayas, the Pamirs, and the Karakoram. From there, it surges south meandering its way through a wide array of ecologies. Other tributaries, Zanskar, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Shyok, Gilgit, Kabul, Gomal, and Kurram join the burgeoning river. This great system of rivers drains into the Indus basin and terminates in the Indus delta at its mouth on the Arabian sea. The large basin situated at the intersection of Indian, Eurasian, and Arabian tectonic plates is a transitional zone between South Asia, Central Asia, and Western Asia. This is a region surrounded by majestic mountains and expansive deserts. It is a geographical cradle with a prestigious history. It was home to one of the world’s first civilizations. Sir Mortimer Wheeler, the famed British archaeologist has stated “[the region of] Pakistan can claim an ancestral unity rivaled only by Egypt” (Toynbee, et al., 1955). Indeed, its people have witnessed momentous transformations from clashes of civilization to synthesis of culture and religion. Its history contains all the ingredients of a worthy epic; good and evil, love and war, triumph and defeat. In each act, there is a rich mixture of characters; revolutionaries and reactionaries, ascetics and warriors, saints and sinners.
In contrast to the ancient Indus, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a more recent phenomenon. The latter is a post-colonial nation-state having gained its independence in 1947 from the British Empire. Pakistan is bounded by Iran to the west, Afghanistan to the northwest, China to the northeast, and the Republic of India to the southeast. The narrow Wakhan corridor is all that separates Pakistan from Tajikistan. The Arab Gulf states are across the Gulf of Oman from Pakistan’s coastline on the Arabian Sea.
The origin of the word Pakistan comes from an area of Uzbekistan called Kurukulpakstan[1]. The prefix päk is a Farsi (Persian) word meaning pure. The suffix stän is a Turkish word for land. The word also translates to “land of the pure” which symbolized the aspirational underpinnings of the country’s founding. “Pakstan”, without the letter “I”, was popularized by a Punjabi, Muslim nationalist Chaudhry Rehmat Ali in 1933. He gave the name further meaning by using it as an acronym for the Pakistani provinces of Punjab (P), Afghania[2] (A), Kashmir (K), Sindh (S) and Baluchistan (TAN).[3] The letter “I” was added as an Urdu-styled izafa (addition) making Pak-i-Stan (päk-ə-stän) more pronounceable.
Curiously, the letter “I” in the Pakistan acronym does not represent the Indus. This oversight is due in part to the ideology of Pakistan which emphasizes the commonality and primacy of Islam over all other traits including race, language, culture, or history. Be as that may, ninety-three percent of the Indus river flows in Pakistan. It is indisputably the lifeblood of its agro-based economy. The river threads all five provinces of Pakistan: Kashmir, Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa, Punjab, Baluchistan, and Sindh along with Gilgit-Baltistan[4]. For millennia, the diverse peoples of Pakistan have met on the banks of the Indus for water, trade, transportation, sustenance, and spirituality. The Indus gives Pakistan its logic, its pre-independence continuity, its history and both its external distinctness and internal oneness. Pakistan, the country, may be youthful but Indus, the region, has maintained a geopolitical unity since antiquity. This fascinating corner of the world has had many ancient names such as Meluhha, Sapta Sindhu, Hapta Hindva, Indois, Balkhistan, Uddhiyana, Sakastan and Saka-Dipa to name a few. For the purposes of simplicity, we have coined the term “the Indusland” (pronounced Indus-lind) to describe this land.
There are several factors that have culminated into making the Indusland a distinct, self-contained entity unto its own. Firstly, a series of formidable topographical features have compartmentalized the country. In the north, three mountain ranges[5], the Himalayas, Karakoram, and the Hindu Kush, collide creating an almost impenetrable northern wall. In altitude, quantity, and density, these walls have no equal. Twelve of the world’s twenty tallest mountains, twice the height of the Alps, are found here. In the west, there is the great mountainous and inhospitable moonscape of Baluchistan which includes the Suleiman and Kirithar mountains ranges. To the south are the Indus estuaries and swamps on the Arabian Sea where the monsoon wind patterns made sail difficult. To the southeast lies Thar, the “Great Indian Desert”[6] which separates the Indus from peninsular South Asia. Between the endless desert and imposing mountains, is an opening that continues into the great northern plains of the present-day Republic of India (ROI). It is only this tract where Pakistan’s boundaries are indeterminate in a geographical sense (Amin, Willetts, & Farrow, 1994). The map of Pakistan, whether by providence or coincidence, is marked out as an integral unit both by man and nature.
Secondly, where the perimeter is a fortress, the interior is a sanctuary. The Indus river plain is a vast expanse of fertile land, covering over 500,000 square km mostly in Pakistan on the edge of the monsoon system. It has two sections, an upper and a lower Indus. The upper Indus and its tributaries is drained in the Punjab (Persian for “five waters”). The lower Indus plain, the course of which goes through Sind province close to the Suleiman mountain on one side and the Thar desert (and jungle) on the other (Burkhi, n.d.). Until recently, this had been a forested land. Due to a variety of latitude, elevation, soil types, and climate, there is a corresponding variety of flora and fauna. The fertile Indus soil was ideal for peas, chickpeas, green and black gram, wheat, barley. There was wild rice for animals. It is only the recent effects of overpopulation, climate change, and poaching that natural resources have become scarce and in some cases instinct. Historically, the interior was rich with resources to sustain plant, animal, and human life. The sanctuary made the Indusland an ideal nursery for civilization.
Thirdly, the fortress-like perimeter has compartmentalized though not entirely insulated ancient Pakistan from its illustrious neighbors. The Indusland has historically served as a sort of antechamber to three very important regions of the world; South Asia (Gangetic & Peninsular India), Western Asia (Persia), and Central Asia. There are several chinks in the Indusland armor in the form of passes hidden in the dense mountainous landscape. Throughout history, these passes and trade routes have proved too enticing to resist for settlers and marauders alike. Armies have swarmed into the Indus and out to the riches of Trans-Indus in the Gangetic plains and peninsular Hindustan. Empires and races as varied as the Macedonians, Achaemenians, Mongols, Arabs, Scythians, Parthians, Kushans, Sassanians, Hepathlites have engaged in love and war, commerce, and conquest in this country. These passages led armies, migrants, and refugees through the imposing mountain ranges of the Pamirs and Hindu Kush[7] and into the welcoming embrace of the Indus plains. The waves of migrations and invasions over millennia from Central Asia, Caucuses, the Gangetic plains, and the Middle East endowed contemporary Pakistan with a rich heritage and a unique character. Each wave of nomads and warriors would disrupt and enrich the racial, linguistic, and ethnic composition of the natives. Many new nations entered the antechamber in this manner and each introduced new ingredients to this ancient melting pot. This rich tapestry is the legacy inherited by the people of modern-day Pakistan. It is also the subject of this journal.
Source: Indus Republic
The source of the Indus river is near lake Mansarovar north of Nepal on the Tibetan plateau. It flows northwesterly through massive gorges towards the Karakoram mountains. En route, it collects pristine, glacial waters from the Himalayas, the Pamirs, and the Karakoram. From there, it surges south meandering its way through a wide array of ecologies. Other tributaries, Zanskar, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Shyok, Gilgit, Kabul, Gomal, and Kurram join the burgeoning river. This great system of rivers drains into the Indus basin and terminates in the Indus delta at its mouth on the Arabian sea. The large basin situated at the intersection of Indian, Eurasian, and Arabian tectonic plates is a transitional zone between South Asia, Central Asia, and Western Asia. This is a region surrounded by majestic mountains and expansive deserts. It is a geographical cradle with a prestigious history. It was home to one of the world’s first civilizations. Sir Mortimer Wheeler, the famed British archaeologist has stated “[the region of] Pakistan can claim an ancestral unity rivaled only by Egypt” (Toynbee, et al., 1955). Indeed, its people have witnessed momentous transformations from clashes of civilization to synthesis of culture and religion. Its history contains all the ingredients of a worthy epic; good and evil, love and war, triumph and defeat. In each act, there is a rich mixture of characters; revolutionaries and reactionaries, ascetics and warriors, saints and sinners.
In contrast to the ancient Indus, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a more recent phenomenon. The latter is a post-colonial nation-state having gained its independence in 1947 from the British Empire. Pakistan is bounded by Iran to the west, Afghanistan to the northwest, China to the northeast, and the Republic of India to the southeast. The narrow Wakhan corridor is all that separates Pakistan from Tajikistan. The Arab Gulf states are across the Gulf of Oman from Pakistan’s coastline on the Arabian Sea.
The origin of the word Pakistan comes from an area of Uzbekistan called Kurukulpakstan[1]. The prefix päk is a Farsi (Persian) word meaning pure. The suffix stän is a Turkish word for land. The word also translates to “land of the pure” which symbolized the aspirational underpinnings of the country’s founding. “Pakstan”, without the letter “I”, was popularized by a Punjabi, Muslim nationalist Chaudhry Rehmat Ali in 1933. He gave the name further meaning by using it as an acronym for the Pakistani provinces of Punjab (P), Afghania[2] (A), Kashmir (K), Sindh (S) and Baluchistan (TAN).[3] The letter “I” was added as an Urdu-styled izafa (addition) making Pak-i-Stan (päk-ə-stän) more pronounceable.
Curiously, the letter “I” in the Pakistan acronym does not represent the Indus. This oversight is due in part to the ideology of Pakistan which emphasizes the commonality and primacy of Islam over all other traits including race, language, culture, or history. Be as that may, ninety-three percent of the Indus river flows in Pakistan. It is indisputably the lifeblood of its agro-based economy. The river threads all five provinces of Pakistan: Kashmir, Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa, Punjab, Baluchistan, and Sindh along with Gilgit-Baltistan[4]. For millennia, the diverse peoples of Pakistan have met on the banks of the Indus for water, trade, transportation, sustenance, and spirituality. The Indus gives Pakistan its logic, its pre-independence continuity, its history and both its external distinctness and internal oneness. Pakistan, the country, may be youthful but Indus, the region, has maintained a geopolitical unity since antiquity. This fascinating corner of the world has had many ancient names such as Meluhha, Sapta Sindhu, Hapta Hindva, Indois, Balkhistan, Uddhiyana, Sakastan and Saka-Dipa to name a few. For the purposes of simplicity, we have coined the term “the Indusland” (pronounced Indus-lind) to describe this land.
There are several factors that have culminated into making the Indusland a distinct, self-contained entity unto its own. Firstly, a series of formidable topographical features have compartmentalized the country. In the north, three mountain ranges[5], the Himalayas, Karakoram, and the Hindu Kush, collide creating an almost impenetrable northern wall. In altitude, quantity, and density, these walls have no equal. Twelve of the world’s twenty tallest mountains, twice the height of the Alps, are found here. In the west, there is the great mountainous and inhospitable moonscape of Baluchistan which includes the Suleiman and Kirithar mountains ranges. To the south are the Indus estuaries and swamps on the Arabian Sea where the monsoon wind patterns made sail difficult. To the southeast lies Thar, the “Great Indian Desert”[6] which separates the Indus from peninsular South Asia. Between the endless desert and imposing mountains, is an opening that continues into the great northern plains of the present-day Republic of India (ROI). It is only this tract where Pakistan’s boundaries are indeterminate in a geographical sense (Amin, Willetts, & Farrow, 1994). The map of Pakistan, whether by providence or coincidence, is marked out as an integral unit both by man and nature.
Secondly, where the perimeter is a fortress, the interior is a sanctuary. The Indus river plain is a vast expanse of fertile land, covering over 500,000 square km mostly in Pakistan on the edge of the monsoon system. It has two sections, an upper and a lower Indus. The upper Indus and its tributaries is drained in the Punjab (Persian for “five waters”). The lower Indus plain, the course of which goes through Sind province close to the Suleiman mountain on one side and the Thar desert (and jungle) on the other (Burkhi, n.d.). Until recently, this had been a forested land. Due to a variety of latitude, elevation, soil types, and climate, there is a corresponding variety of flora and fauna. The fertile Indus soil was ideal for peas, chickpeas, green and black gram, wheat, barley. There was wild rice for animals. It is only the recent effects of overpopulation, climate change, and poaching that natural resources have become scarce and in some cases instinct. Historically, the interior was rich with resources to sustain plant, animal, and human life. The sanctuary made the Indusland an ideal nursery for civilization.
Thirdly, the fortress-like perimeter has compartmentalized though not entirely insulated ancient Pakistan from its illustrious neighbors. The Indusland has historically served as a sort of antechamber to three very important regions of the world; South Asia (Gangetic & Peninsular India), Western Asia (Persia), and Central Asia. There are several chinks in the Indusland armor in the form of passes hidden in the dense mountainous landscape. Throughout history, these passes and trade routes have proved too enticing to resist for settlers and marauders alike. Armies have swarmed into the Indus and out to the riches of Trans-Indus in the Gangetic plains and peninsular Hindustan. Empires and races as varied as the Macedonians, Achaemenians, Mongols, Arabs, Scythians, Parthians, Kushans, Sassanians, Hepathlites have engaged in love and war, commerce, and conquest in this country. These passages led armies, migrants, and refugees through the imposing mountain ranges of the Pamirs and Hindu Kush[7] and into the welcoming embrace of the Indus plains. The waves of migrations and invasions over millennia from Central Asia, Caucuses, the Gangetic plains, and the Middle East endowed contemporary Pakistan with a rich heritage and a unique character. Each wave of nomads and warriors would disrupt and enrich the racial, linguistic, and ethnic composition of the natives. Many new nations entered the antechamber in this manner and each introduced new ingredients to this ancient melting pot. This rich tapestry is the legacy inherited by the people of modern-day Pakistan. It is also the subject of this journal.
Source: Indus Republic
