A Social Space for Religious Reform: Maktaba-i Durkhan and the Emergence of a Vernacular Print Culture in Colonial Balochistan (1882–1948)

Abstract

Abstract The development of manuscript and print cultures in colonial Balochistan have eluded scholarly attention due to the representation of the princely state of Kalat as a savage frontier space. Despite a Baloch nationalist awakening in the late colonial period and the flourishing of Balochi and Brahui language books and periodicals in postcolonial Pakistan, only a handful of scholars have taken note of these developments and their transformative effects on Baloch society. Understanding these dynamics in a frontier space is important not only in its own right but also to help shed light on the politics of religious and nationalist reform in South Asia. This paper seeks to understand these dynamics by exploring the emergence of the Maktaba-i-Durkhan (1883–1960), a madrasah and publishing house in the village of Durkhan in eastern Balochistan that pioneered the use of books in Balochi and Brahui languages for teaching Quran, Hadith, and other religious literature.