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What the Baba ordered
In October, eunuchs from all over the country pay homage to Syed Akbar Ali Shah – the man who extended a hand of love towards them
By Haroon Khalid
The South Asian culture is rich because diversities characterise it. Bright colours, rituals and superstitions, numerous festivals… all give a distinct flavour to the South Asian lifestyle.
Folk culture has it that in pre-partition Lahore there were 30 days in a month and 31 festivals. Most of these rituals and practices are not as obvious as they were a few decades ago. However, if one is willing to dig beneath the surface and explore the rich heritage of Pakistan’s unexplored rural and suburban life, one ends up unearthing celebrations that leave one surprised – and asking for more.
Celebrated between 5 and 13 Kante of the desi calendar towards the end of October, the annual festival to mark the urs of Syed Akbar Ali Shah, at a small village, near the historical city of Chunian is one such tale. This year it was celebrated between October 21 to 30.
This is one of the largest congregations of the eunuchs in Pakistan. Mushtaq Ahmad, the present gadi nasheen of mazaar, says this year there were more than 2000 of them present at the urs.
Here, they are popularly known as Babe ki chidyan.
The Saint had four sons namely Khwaja Abdul Aziz Mast, Ghulam Mustafa, Muhammad Ashraf and Khalil Ahmad. Khwaja Abdul Aziz Mast (1890-1995), the eldest and so the heir to the sainthood (gadi nasheen), according to Mushtaq Ahmad, he was a colourful character: he gave a unique blend to his father’s annual urs. He started calling eunuchs each year to take part in the festivities. He treated them with love, an act that no one else was willing to extend to them, not even his own brothers. He said I love those whom no one loves, which also endeared him to the eunuchs, according to Mushtaq Ahmad.
Every year eunuchs came to the nine-day-and-night celebrations; danced and sang, collected money from their admirers all night and sleep all day. However, Khwaja’s brothers Ghulam Mustafa was more puritanical in his approach and condemned the ‘disrespect’ these eunuchs brought to the resting place of their father. He gave his brother an ultimatum to end this ‘un-Islamic’ act, narrates Mushtaq Ahmad.
Baba Mast, as Khwaja Abdul Aziz Mast was popularly known as a man of love, who did not want to hurt anyone’s feelings. He left the position, and moved a few kilometres towards the Chunian city, next to the Balloki canal. The eunuchs accompanied him there. Gradually, the pomp and splendour of the tomb also shifted with Baba Mast so much so that after a while his brother was left with no other option but to call Baba Mast back.
According to Mushtaq Hussain, Baba Mast died in January 1995. His act of kindness had such an impact on their psyche that even those who never met him come here to pay tribute.
This is a fairly popular festival as far as the eunuchs are concerned. I asked almost every eunuch that I saw at Lahore’s Kalma Chowk or the Liberty Chowk, if they went to Chunian for the mela. Most of them responded in the positive.
Forty-year old Kashi, a dancer, has been coming to the urs for the last 18 years. Kashi says that though they perform all over the country, in various festivals, the respect they get from here cannot be compared with any other part of the country.
They run the **show **here. Thirty six year-old Muhammad Yasir, aka Noori, is no longer a dancer but a manager. With a stack of cash in his hand, he says, “Most of the eunuchs are disowned by their families, some of them are even beaten to conform to a gender stereotype. Not many are kind to them. But Baba Mast accepted us as we are.”
Young men come from neighbouring villages and cities to watch the eunuchs in action, some dancing to the tunes of blasting music played on a recorder, others on live music. A few also indulge in singing themselves.
In the courtyard in front of the grave of Baba Mast a few of them do the dhamal. Halwa, cigarette, paan and stalls for all sorts of other Sufi stuff remain open all night catering to the needs of the visitors. Devotees of the Saint come from as far as Lahore to prepare the langar at the festival. Two major things at the langar are chatna (like chatni) and kawa. People gather around the fire to have these two specialties of the Baba, and it is impolite to turn it down if offered. They are believed to have healing powers.
The site is secured by heavily built guards, dressed in traditional dhoti and pakdi. They circle around the festival site in a group, carrying thick, colourful bamboo sticks. Same coloured bamboo sticks are used all around for the setting up of the camps for the visitors.
Towards the entrance one notices a large number of ducks. These are known as Babe ki batakhein. It is said that Baba Mast kept a couple of ducks as pets. After his death they multiplied and now run into several hundreds. People also come to them with their mantas, and serve them eateries that they bring for them.
Baba Mast had predicted that this festival would continue **till the Day of Judgment, **a **prophecy **which the organisers and the eunuchs are determined to make true. However, given the security situation, one can only hope that what the Baba said should turn out to be true.