Rodat District

History

Rodat (Pashto: رودات) (Persian: ولسوالی رودات‎‎) is a district in the center of Nangarhar Province, 25 km away from Jalalabad city. Afghanistan, south of Jalalabad.Rodat has 700 year history.

Demographics

Rodat population, which is 100% muslims and Pashtun, was estimated at 110,000 in 2010, of whom 20,000 were children under 12.

In 2004, parts of Rodat District were separated to form Kot, Chaparhar, and Batikot Districts, but in 2009 people from Hisaar-e-Shahi captured a big flat area and named the place as Shahidano Khargotai resulting of killing two innocent villagers in clashes. Hisaar-e-Shahi is the center of Rodat where hospitals,district police office and other important government buildings are located.

Infrastructure

On June 16, 2009, the PRT in Nangarhar with the construction of the District police station. The PRT visited the district to inspect construction sites and provide updates to locals regarding PRT projects. Moreover Roshan Telecom has provided special help to Sultan Mosque the leading spot in Rodat. UNHCR has also helped through shelter system. Hisar-e-Shahi Industrial Park (HIP) is located 22 km southeast of Jalalabad City, on Jalalabad-Torkham Highway with a total area of 207ha. For the HIP infrastructure development World Bank (WB) was the main donor. USAID also assisted AISA in development of internal roads in its second phase of HIP.

Rodat (dance)

Rodat is a Malay folk dance believed to have originated from the Middle east and brought to Terengganu by the Achehnese traders in the beginning of 19th century. Rodat may have been the combination of two words hadrat Baghdad which means zikir (songs in praise of Allah and Muhammad) Baghdad.

Until the 1900s, Rodat was performed in all males groups with the original style of singing zikir with rebana accompaniment to celebrate Muhammad’s birthday and Malay weddings. However, by 1930, the dancing part was included and performed by transvestite dancers which were later replaced by the women dancers after World War II. With the addition of dancing and singing of popular Malay and Hindustani tunes and female dancers, the performance became popular at secular events such as the harvest celebration, Sultan’s birthday and festivities for Malaysian National Day.

A Rodat performance involves singing of 8 to 12 verses from the Kitab Zikir (book of Zikir) which is filled with advice, customs, fun, contemplation and awareness, in responsorial style between the male and female groups of chorus members, and is accompanied by the rhythmic patterns of the Rebana drum. The number of performers ranges from 20 to 26 and consisted of three separate group of performers: pelenggok (12 male dancers), pengadi (eight drummers) and mak inang (four to six female dancers). The basic dance movements are divided into sitting-kneeling, a combination of squatting and standing (performed mainly by male dancers) and standing movements.