Kanwar Yatra Is Part Of The Life For Muslims Of Muzaffarnagar
By
Saquib Salim, New Age Islam
15 July
2023
“Ek Do
Teen Chaar, Bhole Teri Jay Jaykar” (One two three four, praise to Lord Shiva) used to be the cries of
small Muslim kids playing in my locality during July - August every year. This
‘Mohalla’ (locality) was not a Hindu-Muslim cosmos. Almost every house in the
neighbourhood belongs to Muslims. Most of these children would either attend a
nearby Madrasa in the evening after school or the class of an Islamic tutor at
home to learn the Quran.
Kanwars (Pilgrims) on their way to Haridwar
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Many
readers must be wondering why Muslim children are raising Hindu religious
slogans and yet no elder is objecting to it. Political commentators sitting in
Delhi and academicians studying Indian society would term this as a ‘bizarre’
or ‘exception’. The reality is that this is a normal scene.
Every year
in the month of Sawan, lakhs of devotees of Shiva called Kanwariyas go to
Haridwar to fetch Gangajal (Water of Holy Ganga) to different Shiva temples
across India. These devotees walk for miles and do not sleep on cots or under a
roof for days till Sawan Shivaratri rituals are done.
I come from
Muzaffarnagar, which borders Haridwar and Saharanpur districts. The route the
Kanwariyas take passes through my mohalla. Every year we saw our roads blocked
and schools shut down for more than a week. This was like a vacation where
families would spend time together and kids played in the streets while looking
at hordes of devotees walking through the roads raising religious slogans.
In present
times, social media warriors sitting in some foreign country or metropolitan
city would write that this Kanwar Yatra (pilgrimage) causes inconvenience to
Muslims and they hate it. In reality, large decorated Kanwars attracted Muslims
as well. We used to stand by the road and watch these Kanwars with fascination.
I know
Muslims, which includes my family members as well, who donated to the Kanwar
Seva Shivir (camps to serve Kanwariyas). Several Muslim youth would walk with
their Hindu friends, to and from Haridwar to fetch Gangajal. One of our Muslim
family friends would go to Haridwar every year with his devout Hindu friend.
People who
believe that the world started only after the advent of social media and Hindus
were not practicing religion before 2014 should talk to their elders. Today, we
see a few big celebrities worshipping God without making it a public event. In
the 1990s, it was common that people came out to take a glimpse of celebrities
taking Kanwar. Sunil Dutt, Gulshan Kumar, and others were prominent. Nobody
made it an event. Rather they tried not to attract public attention. For them,
the Kanwar was an article of faith between them and Lord Shiva.
Nostalgia
is a right for every person. This might be the reason that I recall those Kanwars
where large DJs were not played and people used to compare the height of
Kanwars instead. Through word of mouth, remember those were pre-mobile phone
times, people would come to know that a magnificent Kanwar would be passing
through at a certain time. People would throng to rooftops and roadsides to see
this Kanwar. Sometimes the wait was for hours and on a few occasions the news
was wrong.
I have
never seen a Muslim resenting Kanwariyas for any inconvenience. They respected
their faith. People, and this included Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Muslims, did
at times complain about the administrative handling of route diversions and
other issues.
It is Sawan
Shivaratri and the children in my Mohalla must be humming Shiva Bhajans and
slogans as I listen to Jagjit Singh’s famous number:
“Ye Daulat
Bhi Le Lo, Ye Shauhrat Bhi Le Lo, Bhale Cheen Lo Mujhse Meri Jawani
Magar Mujhko
Lauta Do Bachpan Ka Sawan”
URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/kanwar-yatra-muslims-kanwariya/d/130214
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