CLEANING THINGS IN THE PAST
TRADITIONS IN INDIAN REGION

Pride of being clean and cleaning things

In Islamic traditions we hear the importance of being CLEAN. In fact cleanliness is considered half of faith itself by traditions. Stress on same is viewed by the fact of WOZOO itself. We clean our body parts in a methodical way before we sit down for our prayers. The same goes for our clothes, our home and our environment. There are tradition of the Prophet (PBUH) himself cleaning things, and that goes for the Caliphs too. The famous Sufi Saint of Punjab, Baba Farid Ganjshakar, started his spiritual journey by cleaning Masjid Al Aqsa. I remember in the two Haj’s that my mother did, she brought a ‘Jaroo’ back from there which was in her trunk with which she had cleaned the Holy Kaaba by it.

That Muslims swept their cities too is understandable. We present some old and new imageries of Muslim sweepers. The Turkish miniature actually looks funny as being pictorial record of five centuries, and the cleaning jaroo, the same as used today everywhere, with modifications. A similar one is used in most cultures.

In India the traditions were different. The ancient city of Mohenjo daro tells us of the sanitations of that period. Proper drains worked in that city. Similar communal toilets in Rome spells a new tale. A round room with seating capacity of say hundred people, all facing each other, and relieving themselves. No privacy in their toilet manners, as well as communal bathing. In our traditions the privacy of the matter was there. We refer to our previous blog THE SHIT CLEANERS OF LAHORE for further emphasis on the topic. Recently laws are being passed in India related to open air defecation. Social issues which politicians are not capable of dealing, and the result health problems abound in the region. Our large cities are beset with hygiene issues. Our streets full of evapourating urine of thousands of people every day.No one really cares for such matters. No solution is found. Is it better say in London? Not at all. The communal urinary toilets in Trafalgar Square brings shame to that society too, in which people are standing in rows and urinating in a small channel, with urine flying in all directions and the unbearable stink in the air. Democracy has failed humankind totally. More on that in later blogs.