Devotees converged in Sehwan Sharif on Saturday to attend the 771st urs celebrations of Syed Mohammad Usman Marwandi — the most revered saint of the subcontinent from 12th century who is popularly known as Qalandar Lal Shahbaz.

The urs officially began this morning with Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori laying floral wreaths on Qalandar’s shrine and paying his respects.

In spiritual sense, the urs of a personality marks the departure of a saint from this world for the world hereafter. Thus, even though urs superficially marks the date of a saint’s death, the devotees consider it a meeting between their spiritual leader and God.

Therefore, men, women and children celebrate the occasion, believing that their saint remains their only contact between them and God.

Clad in black and red colours, the disciples gathered from all parts of Pakistan as the celebration began.

The devotees were body searched by male and female police personnel at separate entrances of the shrine before being allowed entry.

The dhamal — a devotional-cum-spiritual dance — was performed by the devotees in the courtyard and other places to the drum beat of mystic songs from across Sehwan.

The small town of Sehwan hosts the three-day congregation during the lunar month of Shab’an as men and women, of different beliefs, light clay lamps on the graves of Qalandar’s deputies in the courtyard and on the rear side of his grave.

Some Muslim devotees, mostly from the Barelvi school of thought, read the Holy Quran as well. Many disciples also tie threads to an iron frame of a golden gate while making wishes as they believe their prayers will be answered that way.

The devotees, who are predominantly from Punjab, spend money on langar (food), slaughter animals for charity, and distribute money in the mausoleum.

The urs provides some economic relief as well to Sehwan, whose large swathes were devastated by floods in 2022 due to water from Manchhar lake.

Sehwan — formerly Seevistan during a previous rule before Qalandar’s advent — did not get many visitors in September and October as all land and rail routes were disconnected.

Now that activity has been restored, local shopkeepers looked content hosting the rush of devotees, who sip tea, puff hookahs and enjoy food and music during their brief stay in Sehwan.

Inside the shrine, while some devotees scream, many others sit calmly on the white floor around the katehra — a brown colour wooden frame — built on Qalandar’s grave.

The white floor was left completely blackened in 2017 when a suicide bomber had blown himself up, leaving 100 dead.

Qalandar’s shrine was said to have been built in 1356 and decorated with famous Sindhi kasha tiles, manufactured in Sindh’s Hala town of Matiari district. On one side of the shrine, a gold-plated door was installed by former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after it was donated by the then Shah of Iran — Reza Shah Pahlavi.

Header image: A photo of the celebration of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s urs in Sehwan on March 10. — Photo by Umair Ali