Feast for the spirit: Women attend last day of Data Sahib’s urs in large numbers

Hundreds of devotees recite Holy Quran at women’s enclosure.

LAHORE: It was time to retire for the night on carpets and blankets, courtesy Auqaf Department, but most of the women devotees sat on desks and the many enclosures, reading verses from the Holy Quran. A woman stood in a corner, singing about the revered sufi teacher, while several others performed a dhamal around her. This was the night of ‘valima’ – the last night of the urs of Data Sahib, and the celebrations continued well into the wee hours on Sunday morning.

“I was diagnosed with diabetes two years ago and missed the last two urs celebrations,” a lady from Gujrat said.

She said she had arrived at the darbar two days ago and was overjoyed at staying at Data di nagri. She said she had spent the last two days praying that her hazri (attendance) at the shrine of Lahore’s patron saint was fruitful. Swaying to a mesmerising qawali heard from the men’s enclosure, she observed that women were not allowed in the Sama Hall.



“You can sit on the terrace and hear the qawalis and prayers from the men’s enclosure,” a stern-faced ascetic said at the entrance to the ground floor enclosures. “Women are not allowed there,” she said.

Hameeda, who has been working at the shrine as a contractual worker for 20 years, said the urs celebrations had changed drastically over the years. “So many more people visit the shrine now,” she said.

“The arrangements have improved as well.” Pointing to the carpets strewn all over the women’s enclosures, she said, these were gifts from various devotees. The langar (free food) and gifts brought to the shrine have also increased over the years, she said.

For Jameela Bibi, a resident of Karim Park, langar brought to the darbar and the food prepared by the Auqaf Department were the highlight of her experience at the urs. She said she had attended a qawali performance on the so called barat day – the second day of the urs – at Sama Hall where devotees and visitors enjoyed 35 exquisitely prepared dishes. “Right now there is aaloo gosht being distributed in the tents,” she said, getting up to walk to the langar enclosure.

The first day of the urs is the mehndi, one of the workers at the shrine said. Some women bring bangles and mehndi as a ritual of devotion, she said.

Kaneez Bibi was visiting the darbar from Hafizabad with her neighbours and friends. She said she has been at the shrine for three days. She said she had been coming to the urs for 30 years and had witnessed an immense change in the ways the festival was celebrated. She said people were busier now and did not have time to enjoy the festival the way they used to in the past. She said the urs used to be bigger 20 years ago. “Now it is limited to the shrine and there are no circuses for children. Terrorism stopped the fun,” she said.

She said she did not like the barbed wires and security posts around the shrine. “The devotees will never give up their pilgrimage. We will keep coming,” she said.

Zainab Begum from the Bhati Gate area said she had come to spend a night at the shrine. She said she had been coming to the shrine since her childhood. She said her husband and son were at the shrine when a bomb exploded there in 2010. “My husband was unable to eat properly for over a month because of what he saw that night. In spite of the tragedy, we did not stop visiting the shrine. We achieve inner peace by praying here,” she said.

Zainab’s niece Bakhtiar said that her wishes were granted whenever she prayed at the shrine.

Another devotee from Gujrat said she had had no house of her own and had prayed for one during a visit to the shrine. “We were able to buy a house within a month,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2014.