Jhulelal Chaliha

August has been the month of festivities at Sindhu Samaj. Mid July marked the beginning of the 40 days Jhulelal Chaliha festival at the gurmandir which includes an hour long "Bhajan/Kalam Sandhya" followed by Langar prasad. Various artists from across Delhi come to perform at the Chaliha festival ; Chaliha being the Sindhi word for Chalees Din (Forty Days). There is a folklore attached to the Chaliha festival , the predominant version of which is as follows ( I am told that there are numerous other versions with subtle variations). 

“Mirkshah, a Muslim ruler of Sindh had ordered all Hindus to forcibly convert to Islam or face persecution. The Hindu representatives asked for a forty days time from the ruler to give their reply.  

The frightened Hindus of Sindh prayed to their river God Varuna to come and help them. For forty days, they underwent penance. They neither shaved or wore new clothes, praying and fasting and singing songs in the praise of God Varuna. They beseeched him to save them from the hands of their persecutor.

On the fortieth day, a voice was heard from Heaven: "Fear not, I shall save you from the wicked Mirkshah. I shall come down as a mortal and take birth in the womb of Mata Devki in the house of Ratanchand Lohano of Nasarpur". Ratanchand Lohano was a Hindu belonging to Lohana caste .

All the Sindhis were relieved and rejoiced at this akashvani. Later, Dariyalal (Jhulelal) was born as announced to the named couple and saved the Hindus from Mirkshah & his Muslim Followers. 

Henceforth, Sindhis worshipped Jhulelal as their Ishta deva. They started observing a forty days fast with full faith and devotion known as Chaliho Sahib.”

(Source: Wikipedia / Edited).

Along with Chaliha Festival, in August festivals of Teejri and Thadri were also celebrated. As I have mentioned in the previous posts, Teejri is essentially celebrated by married women who fast throughout the day to pray for the long lives of their husbands. The panchayat Brahmin, Maharaj Shashikant, in the evening recites “Teejri Mata ki Katha” . My two cent contribution on this festival is to regularly go out and check if the moon is visible as ladies break their fast by watching the moon. (Sounds very Bollywood!). With Delhi’s monsoon season at its peak during this time, sometimes finding moon can be a challenge due to the cloudy skies. Do note that after attending the Katha (around 7.30 in the evening), women do not even consume  water till the time they see the moon. Out of inquisitiveness,  I did ask mummy this time as to what one needs to do  if the moon issn’t visible. She said that if it is not visible till Midnight, then you offer prayers to Lord Shiva and break the fast. This seems to be in line with an earlier conversation that I had with Maharaj Shashikant where he advised that ultimately Lord Shiva is our Kuldevta and reiterates the importance of Lord Shiva in a Sindhi household.

A few days after Teejri, is the lovely festival of Thadri which is celebrated to please Goddess Jog Maya (Sheetla Mata). The word Thadri comes from the Sindhi word “ Thado” which means Cold . Sheetla Mata is believed to cure poxes, sore, ghouls, pustules and diseases. On this day, food cooked a day earlier is consumed as the stoves are not lit (this is although slowly changing now with most households preparing tea/coffee  etc.!). I keenly look forward to eating “Mitho Lolo”every year. I am not sure how to translate Mitho Lolo  into English but the closest description that I can think of is sweetened flat bread. My mother also does a Chando ( Sprinkling Water) throughout the house on the eve of Thadri (after Lolas have been prepared) to ward of evil forces. I distinctly remember how in my own locality, we used to share Lolas with a couple of non-sindhi families with strict instructions that this should not be consumed with anything hot. A friend tells me that the word “ Lola” is more of an Indian Sindhi construe as across the border the words used for these food-items are Kupar,Tikra, Besan ji Soodi etc.   

I end with this wonderful bhajan by Dr Harish Wadhwani who is a part of Sadhu Vaswani Mission - " Maalik Muhinjo Aahe Mitho Mitho" . Dr Wadhwani's voice is extremely melodious and i find the lyrics fascinating. Hope you like it too. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMXnAboiKE0

Jai Jhulelal!

Dada J P Vaswani

Last week was (Late) Dada Jashan Pahlajrai Vaswani's birth anniversary. Dada Vaswani was the Spiritual Head of Sadhu Vaswani Mission, a non-sectarian organization that promotes unity of all religions. It was originally founded by his uncle, Gurudev Sadhu T.L Vaswani as Mira Movement in Education in Hyderabad, Sindh and later (post partition) shifted base to Pune, India with centers spread throughout the world. Dada Vaswani / Sadhu Vaswani organisation is a familiar name in Sindhi households as he was for many years (and in many different ways) an influential "glue" in binding the community together post partition. Radio Sindhi now has a dedicated channel on Dada Sahib and his "sikhya" (Learnings). Today, the mission runs numerous schools, Degree College, nursing institute, hospital etc. all over the country including the well-known Sadhu Vaswani International School for Girls in Delhi as well. 

Sindh for long has been a land of sufis and saints. As Dada Bhaneja quotes (Late) Prof. Motilal Butani in his book Troubled Pilgrimage about Rohiri* “Oh Rohiri! even your stones must be worshipped because in the past at one time all the saints must have passed over them, graced by the touch of their feet." There were supposed to be twenty-five thousand saints in Rohiri. You will find most Sindhis (even till now) to have spiritual inclinations (general speaking). Almost every Sindhi family knows of or follows a "Sain jan" ( Godman) whom they consider as a guru / philosopher / guide to navigate the challenges of life. However, most "Sain jan" in our culture identify themselves more with being a fakir/darvesh rather than an incarnation of god (which I find quite common in other cultures). My extended family on the maternal side has been followers of (Late) Swami Shanti Prakash ji Maharaj and Satnam Sakhi sect. The sect originally was founded by Swami Teoonram in Tando Adam in Nawabshah district in Sindh. It is said that the place, Wari Jo Daro¸ became famous as the place for having dialogue about the eternal god .Post partition, the sect re-established their headquarters at Jaipur (Amrapur Asthan ) and are quite active in Ulhasnagar as well. It was Swami Shantiprakash who during one of his many visits to my maternal home advised my mother and uncle (out of five siblings) to adopt vegetarian diet throughout their lives; something that both of them follow till date.  

Dada Vaswani was a very scholarly man. His satsang" focused on releasing oneself from anger and resentment, learning to let go of hatred, and practice forgiveness. His birthday on August 2 is observed as Forgiveness Day and Day of Calm. He usually started all his satsangs with the familiar “Muhinja Pyaara Bhavron aen Behnroon" (My Dear Brothers and Sisters) as a tribute to Sindh and Sindhi language. He held Sindhi "boli" close to his heart and always encouraged Sindhis to speak their mother tongue to keep Sindhiyat alive. Dada Sahib was a sought after speaker who spoke at numerous venues including the in London, the Global Forum of Spiritual Leaders in Oxford, the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, and the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders at the United Nations in New York. 

I pay my regards to this great saint on his birth anniversary and pray to Lal Sain to bless Sindhri with many more Dada Vaswanis - the community needs such people more than ever before!

I end with this short two minute Satsang by Dada Vaswani wherein he speaks about the challenges being faced by our community and the importance of speaking Sindhi language. I chose this video because of its bilinguality – the message being in both English and Sindhi which will make it reach (hopefully) a much diverse set of audience.

https://www.facebook.com/SindhiSangatWorldwide/videos/364265104499120/

Jai Jhulelal!
 

PS: *Rohiri is a town in Sukkur district in Sindh province, Pakistan