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Bizarre ritual of stone offering at a tomb in Gujarat
by Jubeda Agham
Khambhalia
(Jamnagar): In a bizarre ritual, devotees offered
stones at a mausoleum in Gujarat for the fulfilment of
their wishes. Devotees visit the 400-year-old tomb of
Ashaba Pir situated almost seven kilometers away from
the Khambalia region of Jamnagar district to offer stones
with the belief of having got their wishes fulfilled.
Most of the devotees come to the shrine to get not only
their health problems redressed, but also of their animals
and once they recover, they offer stones. "This is the
tomb of Ashaba Pir. We believe that if we offer stones
on his mausoleum then all our general and health related
problems would be solved. Therefore, I visit this tomb
once or twice a year," said Vijay Nakum, a devotee. The
devotees according to their desires can offer a minimum
seven stones and a maximum of truckload of stones. "Once
the wishes are made, piles of stones are offered near
the tomb. People make wishes not only for themselves,
but sometimes also for their animals as well," said Hasansha
Saiyad, a caretaker of the tomb. It is believed that years
back this place near the tomb used to be a lonely place
where herds men used to come for their work and bowed
in front of the mausoleum to get their wishes fulfilled.
During those times, they did not have anything to offer
so they thought of offering the stones that were lying
nearby. When their wishes started getting fulfilled, the
news about it spread around. Since then people started
visiting this place for fulfillment of their wishes. With
the help of the stones offered at the shrine, the tomb
as well as the area around has been developed. The number
of devotees has been rising with the growing popularity
of the tomb.
-Dec
17, 2008
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