The Special Chadar For The Famous Shrine

By Staff

Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 16:12

Every year hundreds of thousands of people regardless of their caste or creed visit the famous Ajmer Sharif shrine in Rajasthan during the annual Urs. And, many of them offer a Chadar or ornament spread at this shrine for Hazrat Khwaja Muinuddin Chisti. Though various Chadar or ornamental sperads representing different States are offered at the Ajmer Sharif, the one that is sent from Varanasi has its own significance.

It holds distinction for carrying the respect and contribution of all religious communities.

Be it Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian, all contribute to the preparation of this fascinating spread meant for religious offering at the famous shrine in Rajasthan.

Prepared by the craftsmen belonging to all castes and communities, the Chadar is viewed as a privilege by the Anwar family, which has been entrusted the responsibility to prepare it for the last 25 years for Varanasi.

Though it is the Anwar's family which gets the order to prepare the Chadar but people from all castes make hearty contributions in its making.

"About two dozen people of different caste, creeds and religious faith are preparing the Chadar (spread). There are Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians contributing to its preparation and anyone"s caste holds no meaning here. This Chadar is meant for Khwaja, who fulfills everyone"s wishes whoever visits his Darbar (court)," said Anwar, in-charge of preparing the sacred Chadar in Varanasi “It takes about one to one-and-a-half month to prepare this full Chadar. On July 6th, this Chadar will to Khawaja"s court," said Anwar.

The craftsmen are required to maintain cleanliness and hygiene during the month long preparation of the Chadar. And, none of them charges any money and contributes his labour as personal respect for the Hazrat Baba Muinuddin Chisti.

It"s been a month when about 15-20 individuals started working to prepare this Chadar while carrying out intricate designs of fine embroidery work.

Similar ornamental spread or chadar are prepared in all States of the country and sent to the famous shrine in Ajmer.

The craftsmen work as team and everyone is entrusted a responsibility to finish one aspect or feature of the Chadar. Like a Hindu craftsman is doing the decorative work with stones, a Sikh craftsman is doing the embroidery work and so on.

" This is Khwaja's Chadar. People from all religions are involved in its making. We believe in all religions. People appreciate this Chadar a lot. We want our Chadar to be number one in Varanasi. The Chadar takes 42 meters of cloth and has a dimension of six by seven meters," said Mushtaq Ahmed, one craftsman.

Though Muslim craftsmen give the final touch to the Chadar, the complete work involves respect and contribution of all communities. It takes about rupees 25, 000 to prepare this sacred Chadar.

The specially decorated spread will be presented at the Ajmer Sharif shrine on the occasion of Urs, the death anniversary of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti that happens to be falling on July 6 this year.