Historical and Archaeological Significance of Sufi Shrines in Garam Chashma District, Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

Shrines and saint have been powerful religious elements immersed in the structure of many societies around the world shrines of Sufi Saints remain a significant aspect of the religious and social structure of Pakistan. They are basically functional in creating social participation, provision of entertainment in the form of devotional Qasidas (Batool, 2015). In Pakistan Sufi shrines have traditionally been maintained and preserve by hereditary saints (Peers), who often command a large number of people. Sufi shrines in Pakistan are the common public places of sacred rituals whose followers are considered to be righteous by virtue of being pious. Followers of Sufis show deep emotional attachment to their shrines. With their emotional fellowship, Sufi shrines remain a meaningful phase of religion and social structure in Pakistani society. Historically, Sufism has been depict as a „„pathway to God‟‟ whereby it helps exclude all the barriers between man and God through changing patterns of life