It's gift of time at this Sufi shrine:- [Old News]
Ahmedabad | September 22, 2005 9:25:06 AM IST
A Sufi shrine near a Gujarat town is studded with wall clocks - offerings by its devotees.
This small tomb of Bala Pir has been an object of curiosity for many on the National Highway No. 8 that links Ahmedabad and Mumbai. It is located near Vasad town on the bank of the river Mahi, around 90 km from here.
Devotees usually offer flowers and shrouds at Sufi shrines, but at the Bala Pir tomb the offerings come in the form of wall clocks.
Each time a devotee seeks a wish from god, he or she places a wall clock at the shrine.
"Offer him a clock and Bala Pir will bless you," Haribhai Patel, who looks after the shrine, told IANS explaining the belief behind the ritual. Patel is a Hindu and lives in a nearby village.
"People come here and offer clocks. This is a tradition. I don't know when and how it started. Truck drivers always blow the horn twice when they pass by Bala Pir," he added.
Legend has it that a truck driver, in a hurry to go home, had promised to offer Bala Pir a wall clock if divine powers help him reach his destination in time. When the wish was fulfilled, the driver returned to the shrine to offer a wall clock. That was the beginning of the tradition.
The other lore traces the tradition back to a couple living in Vasad. They offered a wall clock when their wish got fulfilled.
Patel soon faced the problem of storing all those offerings. He had to build two extra rooms in his house to store those clocks received at the shrine.
"I cannot sell them as they are actually offered to Pir. So I donate them to schools, village bodies and hospitals," Patel said showing heaps of clocks lying in his house.
(IANS) (Webindia123.com)
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
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Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Bala Pir Sufi Shrine in Ahmedabad (India)
It's gift of time at this Sufi shrine:- [Old News]
Ahmedabad | September 22, 2005 9:25:06 AM IST
A Sufi shrine near a Gujarat town is studded with wall clocks - offerings by its devotees.
This small tomb of Bala Pir has been an object of curiosity for many on the National Highway No. 8 that links Ahmedabad and Mumbai. It is located near Vasad town on the bank of the river Mahi, around 90 km from here.
Devotees usually offer flowers and shrouds at Sufi shrines, but at the Bala Pir tomb the offerings come in the form of wall clocks.
Each time a devotee seeks a wish from god, he or she places a wall clock at the shrine.
"Offer him a clock and Bala Pir will bless you," Haribhai Patel, who looks after the shrine, told IANS explaining the belief behind the ritual. Patel is a Hindu and lives in a nearby village.
"People come here and offer clocks. This is a tradition. I don't know when and how it started. Truck drivers always blow the horn twice when they pass by Bala Pir," he added.
Legend has it that a truck driver, in a hurry to go home, had promised to offer Bala Pir a wall clock if divine powers help him reach his destination in time. When the wish was fulfilled, the driver returned to the shrine to offer a wall clock. That was the beginning of the tradition.
The other lore traces the tradition back to a couple living in Vasad. They offered a wall clock when their wish got fulfilled.
Patel soon faced the problem of storing all those offerings. He had to build two extra rooms in his house to store those clocks received at the shrine.
"I cannot sell them as they are actually offered to Pir. So I donate them to schools, village bodies and hospitals," Patel said showing heaps of clocks lying in his house.
(IANS) (Webindia123.com)
Ahmedabad | September 22, 2005 9:25:06 AM IST
A Sufi shrine near a Gujarat town is studded with wall clocks - offerings by its devotees.
This small tomb of Bala Pir has been an object of curiosity for many on the National Highway No. 8 that links Ahmedabad and Mumbai. It is located near Vasad town on the bank of the river Mahi, around 90 km from here.
Devotees usually offer flowers and shrouds at Sufi shrines, but at the Bala Pir tomb the offerings come in the form of wall clocks.
Each time a devotee seeks a wish from god, he or she places a wall clock at the shrine.
"Offer him a clock and Bala Pir will bless you," Haribhai Patel, who looks after the shrine, told IANS explaining the belief behind the ritual. Patel is a Hindu and lives in a nearby village.
"People come here and offer clocks. This is a tradition. I don't know when and how it started. Truck drivers always blow the horn twice when they pass by Bala Pir," he added.
Legend has it that a truck driver, in a hurry to go home, had promised to offer Bala Pir a wall clock if divine powers help him reach his destination in time. When the wish was fulfilled, the driver returned to the shrine to offer a wall clock. That was the beginning of the tradition.
The other lore traces the tradition back to a couple living in Vasad. They offered a wall clock when their wish got fulfilled.
Patel soon faced the problem of storing all those offerings. He had to build two extra rooms in his house to store those clocks received at the shrine.
"I cannot sell them as they are actually offered to Pir. So I donate them to schools, village bodies and hospitals," Patel said showing heaps of clocks lying in his house.
(IANS) (Webindia123.com)
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