Director General, Indian Narcotics Control Board Mrs OPS Malik visited Lok Virsa (National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage) here on Monday. Senior officials of Lok Virsa briefed her about the mandate and functioning of Lok Virsa as a specialized cultural body at the federal capital as well as its landmark achievements in the field of cultural heritage in Pakistan.
The delegate was taken around various creative displays at the first ethnological museum of Pakistan, popularly known as Heritage Museum, portraying living folk culture and lifestyles of the people representing each and every corner of the country including remotest parts.
She took keen interest in the display on “Ballads and Romances” presenting in 3-dimensional form popular love stories of the four provinces including Heer Ranja from Punjab, Dhola Maru from Sindh, Hani Shah Mureed from Balochistan and Adam Khan Dhurkhaney from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
She was informed that Lok Virsa is a storehouse of folk literature that is the collection of tales passed from generation-to-generation and from the old to the young by word of mouth (also called the oral tradition or Sinna ba Sinna Ravayat). Folk literature is believed to be people’s effort to organise their experiences into meaningful patterns.
It includes fairy tales, myths, legends, fables and other oral traditions of preliterate societies. Folk romances are actually the product of generations while the story in a folk romance revolves around its primary characters, i.e. a hero or heroine, while all other characters constitute the secondary position.
She also took interest in the “Hall of Sufis and Shrines” wherein the services of the Sufis and scholars have been creatively explained through a dioramic form showing Sufi message of peace and harmony to the mankind. Sufism is a mystic tradition encompassing a diverse range of beliefs and practices. This mystic Sufi tradition has existed in all parts of Pakistan and is a binding force that brings people of diverse cultures together.
The saints whose shrines dot the landscape are the meeting place of the masses, the rich and the poor, the rulers and the ruled serve as a humanizing force in society at both cultural and spiritual levels.
A short live musical performance by folk artists was also an essential part of the visit programme at Lok Virsa. The visiting delegate highly praised for the professional competency of Lok Virsa and its efforts in documenting, preserving and projecting the cultural heritage of Pakistan in such a beautiful manner.
Earlier, Mrs. Malik also had a meeting with Lok Virsa Executive Director Khalid Javaid wherein matters of mutual interest were discussed.
