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By Saba Sindhri, CEIAS-EHESS"This fieldwork was carried out as the part of the PERIDOT project named Udero Lal Research Project (ULRP) in the collaboration of CEIAS (CNRS-EHESS), Paris and NED university of Karachi. It was led by the Professor Masooma Shakir, head of the project from NED Pakistan side and other members: Professor Suneela Ahmed, two research students Rahat Arsalan and Sindhri Saba. The main purpose of the fieldwork was to visit the communities who revere Udero Lal and any sacred figure associated to the Indus river or the ocean, and observe how do they revere them through rituals and traditions.Udero Lal is associated with different names such as Khwaja Khizr and Zinda Pir. Khwaja Khizr is the patron saint who often appears to travelers (Burton 1851). It was the first fieldwork for which we selected Mohana community for whom Richard F Burton (1851, p.252) writes, they adore Indus River under the name of Khwaja Khizr. Since, it was short-lived preliminary field, we selected Karachi Fish Harbor (KFH), where many fishermen are working. We started from the hypothesis that given their profession, it was plausible that they perform rituals related to the ocean.In Sindh, Mohana as a caste is known with different other names such as Mallha, Mirbahar and Mahagir but it can’t be said with surety that whether they are same or different. However, everyoneat the fisheries referred they are same. Through snowball method, we reached KFH by 10 in the morning on the fieldwork day. At the fishery, there was an unorganized organized chaos, an incomprehensible disorder. We experienced that at the outside of the gate, fishmongers, in the line, were selling fish and different people in personal vehicles have come to buy it. From there we entered into the fishery. Inside the gate, there were boats ordered at the shore with people inside them.Specifically, looking for the boats of Mohana and asking people about them, we found a lady who told us she belongs to the Bagri caste. She took us to their boat where we met Mohammed Saleh who confusingly agreed for two minutes conversation. Mohammed Saleh is originally from Shah Aqeeq, Thatta and is associated with fisheries since long. He with other members of his community go to the sea each time for twenty to twenty-five days for fishing. Asking him about who is Mallah or Mohana, he told, the person who catches fish at the fishery is Mallah, only their qaum is different like someone is Pathan, Kutchi, Balochi but we are the true Mallah. Qaum is an Arabic word and is commonly referred as a caste or community or qabeelo (tribe) in Sindh. However, Mohammed Saleh’s understanding of qaum was confusing, he referred it as caste but compared it to the ethnicities of other people like Balochi, kutchi which raises questions that whether he meant qaum as caste or ethnicity. It will be further researched in the coming fieldwork.Though, it is yet to find who is Mallah and how Mallah, Mohana, Mirbahr are different from each other or same because for Mohammed Saleh, they are same but when it came to his own caste, he reluctantly said, it’s Mallah not Mohana or Mirbahr. Here, we had to finish our interview with him as security coast guard intervened and prohibited us to further continue it and asked us to take the permission from the department of Karachi fisheries harbor authority. For this reason, we could not ask questions regarding their relevance and connection with Udero Lal.After the fishery, we went to the Mohana Parra, Khadda, Lyari about whom, the people at KFH told us that their lives a big community of Mohanas. It is two and half kilometer from the KFH. Here, we interviewed a group of people of Fisherman Lara Jamat (Association of the fishermen of Lara). They told us that a big community of Mohanas was living in the para (area). According to their communitycalculations, they are consisted of thirty to thirty-five thousand in this para. They introduce themselves as fishermen and refer it as the translation of Mohana. Fishermen is replaced in writing. For example, they write in Perso-Arabic script as Fishermen Lara Jamait but not as Mohana in Perso-Arabic script as written in the picture number 6 below.They have several other associations like Karachi Jamat, Norani Jamat, Wangora Jamat, Bandri Jamat and Lorai Jamat. All are settled in this area at some distance. Few of the members of Lara Jamat told us about their work structure that they work under the Government of Sindh, Karachi Fisheries Harbor Society. Inside the office of their Jamat, workers were casting the net and there was big hall upstairs which they have made for the community events.Regarding association to Udero Lal, they told they don’t know about him. We experienced through their facial expressions that as if they haven’t heard about this figure before. Also, For Khwaja Khizr and Zinda Pir, they had the same expressions of unknowing. But for rituals, it was different, we could trace some connection. According to what is reported by Richard Burton almost two centuries ago (Burton 1851) that people who revere Udero Lal under different names, put rice in the water. Similarly, while going for fishing, Mohanas turn their boat towards the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi,put the mithai in the sea and read dua. However, for now, they told these are superstitious things now, we used to do it before some thirty, forty years ago but now, we only read dua and start the journey. It could be speculated that probably this ritual practice effected by the sunni movement of Deoband which Mohanas of Lyari para started following. Around forty years ago, General Mohammed Zia ul Haq, then president, introduced Sharia system in Pakistan and funded different religious organizations. Therefore, Mohanas who already shifted from Udero Lal to Abdullah Shah Ghazi as discussed earlier, probably now shifted to Islam under the wave of Sharia system of General Zia period. However, they still read dua which means dua ritual is constant with variations.We finished our fieldwork here and it was the first short preliminary fieldwork which is why many questions remain unanswered. The coming fieldwork will be started with these questions and more exploration".Source: MIFS Newsletter  n°7-8 (July 2020)