Ujjain, MADHYA PRADESH :
Bhopal :
When Ujjain city qazi Khaleel-ur-Rahman returned home from juma prayers yesterday afternoon, he was surprised to see a posse of visitors, mostly Hindu seers heading various akharas (monasteries).
Led by the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad head, Acharya Narendra Giri, the visitors asked Qazi Khaleel to lead the peshwai (procession) that marks the beginning of the month-long Simhastha, starting April 22 this year.
The Ujjain Simhastha is one of the four legs of the Kumbh Mela, each occurring by rotation every 12 years, the other three being the Kumbhs at Haridwar, Allahabad (Prayag) and Nashik.
The qazi – an arbiter for Muslims’ personal matters – said he was “overwhelmed” by the offer. He said he greatly valued the gesture at a time some people were following divisive agendas.
“This is the first time we have formally invited the shahr (city) qazi. The objective is to create goodwill and communal harmony,” Acharya Giri told The Telegraph.
He said that he and the other akhara heads had thought of personally visiting and inviting Qazi Khaleel to “send out a strong signal of communal harmony from the Simhastha”.
For the first time, the transgender community too has been given its own place at the Simhastha – amid resistance from the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, the apex body ofakharas.
The Ujjain administration has earmarked five acres of land where around one lakh transgender people would be put up during the Simhastha.
Transgender people from 22 states have formed the Kinnar Akhara for this purpose, said its convener, Rishi Ajay Das.
Traditionally, various akharas take out the peshwai about a fortnight before the Simhastha begins formally with a shahi snan (royal bath). The heads of dozens of akharas join the procession, sitting on silver thrones on elephants, while armed sadhus (ascetics) ride horses and camels.
They are followed by other hermits, monks, priests and devotees on foot while thousands line both sides of the streets. The procession ends at Ram Ghat on the banks of the river Kshipra, which turns holy during Simhastha.
The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government and the various akhara heads have agreed to hold three shahi snans during the Simhastha, on April 22, May 9 and May 21.
More than five crore pilgrims are expected to gather and take a dip in the river. The occasion is called Simhastha because of a rare, 12-yearly configuration of planets with the Sun entering the Aries sign and Jupiter in Leo (Simha).
State minister Bhupinder Singh said that Chouhan had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a spiritual gathering during the Simhastha.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta, India / Front Page> Nation> Story / by Rasheed Kidwai / Sunday – March 27th, 2016