Jhulelal Tirthdham
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
The creation of a pilgrimage
2019
Mohammed Wajihuddin, May 12, 2020: The Times of India
From: Mohammed Wajihuddin, May 12, 2020: The Times of India
Cheti Chand, which marks the start of the Sindhi new year, is usually celebrated by members of the community away from home soil, which became a part of Pakistan at the time of Partition, forcing the exodus of millions. This year, though, the community may have felt closer to its lost land than it has for decades. On a parched plot of land in Gujarat’s Kutch that was a part of the erstwhile Sindh province and at the very spot on the banks of Kori where the river Sindhu is believed to have once ended its journey, Sindhis got their own sacred spot, their holy of holies, the Jhulelal Tirthdham.
Described as “a centre for global Sindhi identity,” the Tirthdham, which is up on 33 acres of arid land here in pat district, saw the inauguration its first phase as the newly-bu Jhulelal temple was opened.
With the presiding deity, Jhulelal, watching benignly from a fishshaped pedestal made of pristine white marble (legend has it that Jhulelal came out of sea riding a fish to save the Sindhis from a me ciless medieval king), groups of de tees visited the temple on the Sindhi new year day in April. Stan supplication and amid chants of mantras by priests, they prayed and partook of prasad, the “mitha pulao,” a sweet dish made of rice and sugar, before dispersing.
A few minutes’ walk from the shrine, on the open courtyard of the state guesthouse, devotees assembled to hear soulful Sindhi bhajans sung by local musicians. Many elderly men and women, after a sumptuous lunch of authentic Sindhi cuisine, danced joyously as devotional songs and music filled the air.
The plan for this one-of-a-kind pilgrimage place is grandiose. Placed between two Hindu holy sites, Koteshwar and Narayan Sarovar, the Tirthdham is meant to be, for the Sindhis, their own Mecca, Kashi, Shirdi, Akal Takht and Vatican. “The complex will reflect everything that Sindhis and their culture stand for. In addition to the temple, the complex will have a massive Jhulelal statue, a convention hall, an auditorium, a museum-cum-library, a guesthouse and much more,” says a visibly exhilarated historian and former Mumbai college principal Subhadra Anand. Much before wealthy Sindhis like the Mumbai-based diamantaire Dilip Lakhi and realtor magnate Harish Fabiani flew down to Bhuj, the nearest irport, before drivng down nearly km to the Tirthon Cheti Chand, it nd who talked of building such a centre at a seminar years ago at Adipur, a town home to thousands of Sindhis who migrated in 1947. “It is now the community’s collective dream. It’ll be a site of which our present and future generations will be proud,” says Lakhi, seated at his plush office in Mumbai’s upscale Bandra Kurla Complex. Fabiani, who too has donated to the project, calls it a “dream close to my heart.”
Madhav Joshi, 92, frail and chair-bound, who had attended Anand’s Adipur lecture, is among the early dreamers of the project, one of a bunch of committed Sindhis concerned about protecting, preserving and promoting their culture and identity. A migrant himself, Joshi lives at Narayan Sarovar in Kutch, knows the area’s topography and speaks fluent Sindhi. “He gave us a guided tour of this area and suggested the pilgrimage site could come up here because it was once a part of the Sindh province, and the Sindhu river ended here before the devastating earthquake of 1819 blocked it. It has a Sindh connection and is close to the sea,” says Lakhmi Khilani, retired founder-director of Indian Institute of Sindhology in Adipur.
Once they had identified the land, the group in 2010 approached then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, who at the very first meeting enthusiastically welcomed the idea, saying: “Your dream is my dream.” To humour Anand, he would address her as “Jhulelal Madam.” “The government has allotted us 73 acres of land, out of which we have bought 33 acres so far. The rest will be bought as more constructions come up,” states young entrepreneur Parikshit Advani, who has invested time, money and energy into the project.
Bhavna Rajpal, a young filmmaker who shuttles between Mumbai and London, is also investing her time and skill to spread Sindhi culture by curating Sindhi film festivals globally. “Our generation didn’t suffer the pain of losing a state on the eve of Partition, but we share the concern that our rich cultural and linguistic ethos should be protected. This centre will help protect our heritage,” says Rajpal who captured the historic opening ceremony of Jhulelal Tirthdham on camera and video for posterity.
