Udupi, KARNATAKA / Anantapur, ANDHRA PRADESH :

Udupi:

Around 3am during the month of Ramzan, a group of people from Andhra Pradesh carrying drums and sticks shout in Urdu: “Those who are asleep, wake up, declare your loyalty to God and get up to eat the dawn meal”.

This is like an alarm for Muslims in Udupi to have their ‘Sehari’ and start the fast. These people, called ‘Athala Kotti'(fakir), have been following the tradition for the last four decades. They will do this for 30 days and on Eid-ul-Fitr, Muslims offer them money, food and clothes. The offering is considered as their monthly earning.

These folks are not invited to one place and keep changing places every year. A few of them prefer to visit the coastal district every year.

However, the importance of ‘Athala Kotti’ is decreasing year by year as people are now more depending on alarm clocks and mobile phones to wake up. Earlier, there was no such facilities and these people used to go to each Muslim family and wake them up. Keeping the ancient tradition, some Muslims still prefer to wake up by listening to their voice.

Nazeerulla Shah Khalifa Raphayi from Anantapur district, a member of the group, said, “I have been coming to Udupi for years. We use drums made from animal skin. We sing songs and hold the lamp while moving from one house to another. We start the journey at 2.30am every day and continue till 4am. After the duty, we choose a Muslim house, and in that house we have our Iftar (evening food). The Muslims in the coastal district are used to our visit.”

“We never demand anything from people. This is considered as a service to God. During the month, some of us go to dargas across the country and dedicate their service there,” he said.

Munavvar Alifa, a member of the group, said: “Earlier, there were only few houses here; now, the number of houses has increased, so responsibility is more as we have limited time to wake them up. Even Hindu families give us offerings here.”

According to tradition, the first fakir in Islam was Bilal bin Rabah, who lived between the sixth and seventh centuries, used to wake up believers with his clear voice. Since then, the role passed down from generation to generation, until it became formalized at the beginning of the ninth century.

A person was appointed to carry out the role in every neighbourhood during the month of Ramzan.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Mangalore / TNN / June 24th, 2016