Abstract
The malang today is a religious cultural icon which embodies an essential aspect
of local culture and society. The present study focuses on the characteristic visual
appearance of malangs as well as their behavior and the ritual practices that they
adopt today. Furthermore, this study examines the apparel and multifarious
trinkets they wear and carry with them. We suggested the term in this article that
they are called the friends of ‘The Friends of God’. Many believe that they have
spiritual healing powers. We conducted a series of ethnographic fieldworks. One
of the basic findings of this research reveals that malangs are rejected by normal
religion and conversely they reject society. We argue in this study that malangs
actually are the powerful signifiers because of their easily recognizable
appearance and the various articles they carry on their person represent a
complex cultural code of a spiritual way of life. They embody important values
beyond normal religious customs and rituals. They are the residue of the sacred.
Muhammad Asghar, Sumera Jawad, Faisalabad, Sumbul Natalia. (2020) The Malang in Pakistan Today, Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan, Volume 57, Issue-4.
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