Culture of Pakistan Essay Example for Free

Culture of Pakistan Essay The 17th century Badshahi Mosque built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Lahore The society and culture of Pakistan (Urdu: Ø «Ã™â€šÃ˜ §Ã™ Ã˜ ª Ù ¾Ã˜ §Ãš ©Ã˜ ³Ã˜ ªÃ˜ §Ã™â€ Ã¢â‚¬Å½) comprises numerous diverse cultures and ethnic groups: the Punjabis, Kashmiris, Sindhis in east, Muhajirs, Makrani in the south; Baloch and Pashtun in the west; and the ancient Dardic, Wakhi, and Burusho communities in the north. These Pakistani cultures have been greatly influenced by many of the surrounding countries cultures, such as the Turkic peoples, Persian, Arab, and other South Asian ethnic groups of the Subcontinent, Central Asia and the Middle East. In ancient times, Pakistan was a major cultural hub. Many cultural practices and great monuments have been inherited from the time of the ancient rulers of the region. One of the greatest cultural influences was that of the Persian Empire, of which Pakistan was a part. In fact, the Pakistani satraps were at one time the richest and most productive of the massive Persian Empire. Other key influences include the Afghan Empire, Mughal Empire and later, the short-lived but influential, the British Empire. Pakistan has a cultural and ethnic background going back to the Indus Valley Civilization, which existed from 2800–1800 B.C., and was remarkable for its ordered cities, advanced sanitation, excellent roads, and uniquely structured society. Pakistan has been invaded many times in the past, and has been occupied and settled by many different peoples, each of whom have left their imprint on the current inhabitants of the country. Some of the largest groups were the Proto-Indo-Aryans, of which Sindhis and Punjabis descend from and later Iranic peoples which the Baloch and Pashtuns descend from. Other less significant ones include the Greeks, Scythians, Persians, White Huns, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Buddhists, and other Eurasian groups, up to and including the British, who left in the late 1940s. The region has formed a distinct cultural unit within the main cultural complex of South Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia from the earliest times, and is analogous to Turkeys position in Eurasia.[1] There are differences in culture among the different ethnic groups in matters such as dress, food, and religion, especially where pre-Islamic customs differ from Islamic practices. Their cultural origins also reveal influences from far afield, including Tibet, Nepal, India, and eastern Afghanistan. All groups show varying degrees of influence from Persia, Turkestan and Hellenistic Greece. Pakistan was the first region of South Asia to receive the full impact of Islam and has developed a distinct Islamic identity, historically different from areas further west.[1] Ancient sites in Pakistan include: Zoroastrian Fire temples, Islamic centres, shia shrines/Sufi shrines, Buddhist temples, Sikh, Hindu, and pagan temples and shrines, gardens, tombs, palaces, monuments, and Mughal and Indo-Saracenic buildings. Sculpture is dominated by Greco-Buddhist friezes, and crafts by ceramics, jewellery, silk goods and engraved woodwork and metalwork. Pakistani society is largely multilingual, multi-ethnic and multicultural. Though cultures within the country differ to some extent, more similarities than differences can be found, as most Pakistanis are mainly of Aryan heritage or have coexisted side by side along the Indus River for several thousand years, or both. However, over 60 years of integration, a distinctive Pakistani culture has sprung up, especially in the urban areas where many of the diverse ethnic groups have coexisted and ithe country now having a literacy rate of 55%, up from 3% at the time of independence. Traditional family values are highly respected and considered sacred, although urban families increasingly form nuclear families, owing to socio-economic constraints imposed by the traditional culture of the extended family. The past few decades have seen emergence of a middle class in cities such as Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sukkur, Peshawar, Sialkot, Abbottabad, and Multan. Rural areas of Pakistan are regarded as more conservative, and are dominated by regional tribal customs dating back hundreds if not thousands of years. Pakistans culture is again unique like the rest of the country. Pakistans geography is the meeting point of South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia/Gulf. Its culture could be termed as a combination of sub continental, Islamic, Regional, English, and more recently global influences. Let us consider them piecemeal. The newly born Pakistan had to have a sub continental leaning, having been a part of for last 5000 years of its civilization. However, the Indus Valley, present day Pakistan, culture was different from the rest of North India or South India. (Quoted Pakistans Identity, History and Culture, from the famous book Gwadar on the Global Chessboard by Nadir Mir)

Democracy in Civil Disobedience, Slavery in Massachusetts, Benito Ceren

The Oppression of Democracy Exposed in Civil Disobedience, Slavery in Massachusetts, Benito Cereno and Bartleby the Scrivener America has long been recognized as a democratic nation, a nation operating under the will of the people. The forefathers of America fought incessantly against British tyranny to start anew in a land of freedom and opportunity. Because America revived the ancient Greek ideology of democracy, the nation was set apart from the rest of the world and was revered for the freedom and justice it provided its people. However, not everyone thinks that American democracy means freedom and liberty. On the contrary, writers such as Henry David Thoreau in "Civil Disobedience" and "Slavery in Massachusetts," along with Herman Melville in "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby the Scrivener," suggest that democracy can actually oppress and restrict the individual. In "Civil Disobedience," Thoreau criticizes the American government for its democratic nature, namely, the idea of majority ruling. Like earlier transcendentalists, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau believes in the importance of the individual. In a society where there are many individuals with conflicting perceptions and beliefs, Emerson chooses passivity and isolation to avoid conflict with others. However, unlike Emerson, Thoreau rejects passivity and challenges his readers to stand up against the government that focuses on majorities over individuals. Thoreau argues that when power is in the hands of the people, the majority rules, "not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest" (Thoreau 64). Thoreau portrays this very fundamental element of democracy, w... ...t the tyrannical majority and take whatever measures necessary, but Melville simply exposes the repressive nature of democracy and leaves it at that. However, Melville does point out, through "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener," that simply rebelling against democracy, as Thoreau proposes, is not the answer. Perhaps Melville does not have a solution, just as Bartleby did not. Nonetheless, to both writers, democracy continues to be a despotic institution. Works Cited and Consulted: Melville, Herman. Bartleby and Benito Cereno. Dover Publications, Inc. New York. 1993. Thoreau, Henry D. "Slavery in Massachusetts." Reform Papers. Ed. Wendell Glick. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1973. 91-109.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ----- "Civil Disobedience" from A World of Ideas - Essential Readings for College Readers, Lee A. Jacobus, Bedford Books, 1998, 1849(123 -146)

Ode to the West Wind versus Life Will

It Is amazing to see the slmllarltles between their poems â€Å"Ode to the West Wind† and â€Å"Life Will† despite the differences In times & cultures as well as the fact that Elshabby didn't know any other language than Arabic was thus Indirectly influenced by the romantic school through his assoclatlon with Apollo school. Both Shelly, in his â€Å"Ode to the West Wind† and Elshabby, in his â€Å"Life Will† follow the tradition of romantic poets in recognizing nature as a rebellious force capable of making a change in our life. Shelly both admires and fears the changes nature's rebellious forces can wreak.Elshabby, however, is consumed by the hope that people will take their cue from nature and become so fully rebellious against oppression till they eliminate all sorts of oppression. Shelley's â€Å"Ode to the West Wind† expresses the hope that its words will inspire and influence those who read or hear it. Perhaps more than anything else, Shelley wanted his message of reform and revolution spread, and the wind becomes the trope for spreading the word of change through the poet-prophet figure. The poem allegorizes the role of the poet as the voice of change and revolution.It discusses political change, revolution, and role of the poet. â€Å"Life Will† by Elshabby is one of the greatest revolutionary poems written in Arab's world. It still lives till now as it had recently inspired the Arab Spring Revolutions, just as it had inspired revolution against colonization throughout the Arab world in the previous century, when it was written at 1933. The poet uses his verses to evoke people to revolt against and get rid of their oppressor, as If he wants his nation to roar at and eliminate them till there Is nothing left to oppress the people.Sometimes, the poet feels as If his people are not as responsive to his outcry as he may wish, but he doesn't lose hope. He Is consumed by hope believing his nation will revolt at last b reaking the chains with a tremendous will that can't be efeated. Both poems are similar In their classical structure & romantic content. â€Å"Ode to the West Wind† consists of five stanzas written In terza rlma. Each stanza consists of four tercets (ABA, BCB, CDC, DED) and a rhyming couplet (EE). The structure & rhyme confirm to classical tradltlon & resembles Dante's â€Å"Dlvlne Comedy†.The poem follows the romantic tradltlon of glvlng nature and Its elements life. It begins with three stanzas describing the wind's effects upon earth, air, and ocean. The last two stanzas are Shelley direct monologue to the wind, asking for its ower, to lift him like a leaf, a cloud or a wave and make him its companion in its wanderings. He asks the wind to take his thoughts and spread them all over the Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? † â€Å"Life Will† consists of six stanzas with a mono rhyme; for each verse ends with an (R). Also, the verses are divided into t wo halves according to classic Arabic poetry tradition.The declamatory beginning of the poem is another feature of classic Arabic poetry. Then Elshabby introduces the elements of nature and their spirit as the speaker of the poem showing an indirect nfluence by Romanticism. â€Å"Almotaqareb† poetry â€Å"bahr† and the (R) mono rhyme lend a quick tempo to the poem absent from Shelly's Ode. The poem is full of certainty shown in the word â€Å"AN† which means â€Å"must† and stressed by the last verse: 131 As opposed tothe uncertainty at the end of Shelly's â€Å"Ode to the West Wind†: ‘If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?Though both poems give life to nature ; its elements, each expresses this romantic belief in a different manner. â€Å"Ode to the West Wind† personifies the west wind both as a â€Å"Destroyer† and a â€Å"Preserver†. It is seen as a great power of nature that destroys in order to create, that kills the unhealthy and the decaying to make way for the new and the fresh. In â€Å"Life Will†, Elshabby introduces the wind as a link between inspiration and revolution. It is likened to the revolutionary wind insides him. He stresses that people's will to revolt is the real life that can change destiny and destroy the chains oppressing people.Shelly's Ode shows the effect of the Wild West Wind' on land, sky & sea. The first few lines contain sinister elements, such as ‘leaves dead'. These leaves haunt as ‘ghosts' fleeing from something that panics them. Other allusions to death are ‘chariotest' and ‘corpse within its grave'. He contrasts the west wind to the ‘azure sister of the spring a reference to the east wind – whose ‘living hues and odours' evoke a strong contrast to the colours of death. The sky's ‘clouds' are ‘like earth's decaying leaves'.They also are numerous in number like the dead leaves. Through this reference the landscape is recalled again. The ‘clouds' are ‘Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean'. The ‘clouds' can also be seen s ‘Angels of rain', like messengers bringing change. Here, the west wind is two things at once: first he is ‘dirge/Of the dying year'; singing a funeral song about the year coming to an end and second he is â€Å"a prophet of tumult whose prediction is decisive†; a prophet who does not only bring ‘black rain, and fire, and hail', but who Will burst' it.The ‘locks of the approaching storm' are the messengers of this bursting: the ‘clouds'. Elshabby doesn't describe scenery so much as recount what the elements of life advised him. The land speaks to him. She tells him she likes mbitious revolutionary people and curses dead people who want the status quo kept. The poet calls the land â€Å"mother† invoking an intimate relationship between them. He then declares what each element of nature advi sed; the wind roared among valleys, mountains and trees that achieving ambitions means discarding caution and expending the effort to reach the final goal.He contrasts this with people who won't try to climb up the mountains and thus live forever beneath their dreams. He talks about autumn, drinking wine, sea and seeds stressing revival and the cycle f nature and describing spring and its beauty. The turning-point in Shelly's poem is the third stanza. Whereas Shelley had began by accepting the cycle of nature ; death which brings life back, he now turns to â€Å"wistful reminiscence as an alternative possibility of transcendence†.He gives an image of nature ‘so sweet that one feels alludes to his fear of the revolution that would bring about change even while he is wishing for this change. Whereas the first three stanzas began with ‘O wild West Wind' and ‘Thou†¦ ‘ and were clearly directed to the wind, there is a change in the ourth stanza. The fo cus is no more on the Wind', but on the speaker who says ‘If I ‘ Shelley wishes to identify himself with the wind, although he believes that were a he cannot do that: ‘Oh, lift me up as a wave, a leaf, a cloud'.Because he suddenly remembers his inability as a human to soar, he fall upon the thorns of life' and ‘bleed'. Elshabby also aligns himself with nature. First, he calls earth as ‘his mother'. Then he states that the wind and thunder of revolution live in his heart allowing him to listen to the music of rain as if showing him how nature moves and works all round him to encourage people to do the same; to move and work to revolt against oppression. He then asks darkness about hope, but it doesnt answer. It is the lyre that answers.It says that winter brings death but the seeds hide under ground waiting for spring to come alive. There is another dialogue between destiny and elements of nature. Destiny asks when will hope come and spring comes to answ er her with his revival of life. All through this stanza, darkness, winter and death stands for oppression while spring and seeds stand for hope of coming free. He ends the oem with a repetition of the first stanza stressing the idea that destiny must & will respond to those who has ambition for freedom & change.Shelly ends his poem with a question: ‘If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?. This is of course a rhetorical question because spring does come after winter, but the â€Å"if† suggests that it might not come if the rebirth is not strong and extensive enough. Thus the question has a deeper meaning and does not only mean the change of seasons, but is a reference to death and rebirth as well. Shelly's Ode is about the role of the poet as the agent of olitical and moral change.In this, it resembles Elshabby's poem which invoked the people to revolt against oppression. Both describe nature and its elements as alive, but where Shelly is both admiring and in owe of nature, Elshabby is more direct in invoking the power of nature and revoking caution and fear. Also, where Shelly wishes to have the power of the wind, even though he believes it is impossible, Elshabby aligns himself completely with nature and encourage others to follow his example as the only way they can attain â€Å"life will† which can achieve their dreams nd hopes.Elshabby's poem also evokes more hope & certainty of achieving this hope, ambition & bravery as well as disregard & rejection of caution & fear while achieving it in contrast to Shelly admiration & fear of change. I might be biased in my view that Elshabby's â€Å"Life Will† is stronger and livelier than Shelly's â€Å"Ode to the West Wind†, but in that I might be pardoned as Elshabby's â€Å"Life Will† has been revived with the current Arab Spring giving us renewed hope for change and freedom and coming more alive in the process than Shelly's ode can ever hope to be.

The Enlightenment By Locke, Paine, And Kant - 1492 Words

The Enlightenment was a cultural movement that swayed people who initially made decisions based on their faith to making decisions based on reason. It seems effortless but in reality it changed the game for many people back then. Even today, people do crazy things because of their faith and if asked to justify themselves, they would not be able too. People brave enough to understand this new paradigm shift like Locke, Paine, and Kant influenced society with their new fascinating philosophies that have influenced us till today. What they did not realize is how corrupt the development of reason would become. Rousseau understood reason and never denied it but also saw its future, which is why he chose compassion over reason. Through Locke’s, Paine’s and Kant’s examples we can understand that there was nothing wrong with reason until society took advantage of it and made it unethical; its clash with faith and a person’s emotions is unveiled beautifully by Ross eau and that would be society’s definite way to go if we desired to stand by our moral virtues. Locke looked at the world from the point of view of his senses, and he wanted to understand how an individual’s senses may alter the world to one versus another. â€Å"Our observation, employed either about external sensible objects, or about the internal operations of our minds, perceived and reflected on by ourselves, is that which supplies our understandings with all the materials of thinking.† (An Essay Concerning HumanShow MoreRelatedThe Enlightenment By Thomas Paine And John Locke1709 Words   |  7 PagesFinal Paper: The Enlightenment The eighteenth century embraced the beginning of an opinionated movement for new thinking about once unquestioned truths and actions. This movement, known as the enlightenment was more than a period of advanced ideas, as this unfamiliar way of thinking also lead to a change in the way that people began to operate within society. The ambition was lead by the attempt to break free from the past, overturning old ideas and moving forward. 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