Saturday, March 16, 2013

The Path Of The Rafaee

The Rafaees of Mumbai

The Rafaees of Mumbai

Late Handi Sai Rafaee

Faiyaz Ali Bawa Rafaee

Late Bhandari Bawa

The Path Of The Rafaee

Yeshu Masi Baba

The Rafaee

The Rafaee


He is a Rafaee but also sells herbal medicines , because he hails from Murshidabad he is known as Bangali Baba.

The Rafaee

Late Handi Sai

After the untimely death of Sikandarwali Baba , Handi Sai took over the leadership for a short while..And than he passed away due to overdose they say he is buried in Kota..

He had visited my shop and was keen I become a Rafaee but I was not interested and eventually i joined the Order of The Dam Madar Malangs ..

I became a Dam Madar Malang two years back.. my peer is Baba Syed Ali Masoom Asqan of Gawlior.

Late Bhandari Bawa



Bhandari Bawa worked as a cook for the Chancawalli Rafaees and hated me documenting the Rafaees , specially as they smoked hash, and most of the drug peddlers and other drug takers who were Murids of the Murshad came to the Dhuni.

His hate for me was venomously attacking, he tried many a times to get me into trouble and he was successful, he tripped me at the Dhuni Holy Fire and my leg touched the food for which I got a severe lashing from Late Sikandar Wali baba and was told not to come to the Dhuni. So for a year till his death I stayed away from the Chancawalli rafaees after his death I was called back by his successor Handi sai through my friend Sakib the florist.

Bhandari Bawa died a very torturous painful death at Ajmer , most of the Bawas think I cursed him to death.. whic I told them was not true merely a figment of their mind.

However now that I am a Dam Madar Malang I am respected by the Rafaees ..

Handi Sai too died at Kota and the Chancawalli Rafaees are now a splintered group totally .. a handful as compared to the earlier happier times .

Faiyaz Ali Baba Rafaee

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I met him with the Chancawalli Rafaees , he is an expert with the sword, in cutting his tongue, and piercing his eye ball.

We got along very well, I met him recently at Ajmer Sharif , he told me he had moved away from the Chancawalli Rafaees.


It was alleged that he was married , and fed up of his wife and domesticity he had become an ascetic and rafaee.


His name is Fayaz Ali Bawa Rafaee..His son is a Rafaee too...My earliest Rafaee contact..

Kancha Cheena

Lalbagh Chya Raja Darshan

Lalbagh Chya Raja

Lalbagh Chya Raja ..100% Mumbaikar

Lal Bagh Chya Raja ...

Lalbagh Chya Raja -

Lal Bagh Chya Raja

Lalbagh Chya Raja

The Lord Of Peace Hope And Harmony- Lalbagh Chya Raja

Faiyaz Ali Baba Rafaee - Tongue Cutting With Sword

Tongue Cutting With A Sword Handi Sai

Late Handi Sai Of Chancawalli Rafaees

Tongue Cutting.. Shahenshah Baba Rafaee

Shahenshah Bawa Pierces His Head- Chancawalli Rafaees



These are sharp pointed thin rods that are inserted in the had , tongue mouth and this is a form of ritual , they showcase during the various Sandal procession and get alms..Shahenshah Baba is an exponent of this ritual he inserts a dagger into his cheeks or a nail that is than hammered onto a stool..

Hardcore Body Piercing -The Chancawalli Rafaees


These are fakirs or rafaees , from Chancawalli a Holy shrine at Marol Andheri East..
During the Mahim Urus of Makhdhoom Shah Baba they sit at the Dhuni - Holy Fire behind the Dargah..

After the Mahim Urus gets over they move to the Dhuni at Mahim on the main road Holy Shrine of Baba Fakhruddin..he was a contemporary and associate of Baba Makhdhoom... he is called Chote Sarkar Little Lord by the locals who hail him as their patron Saint.

I have been very close to this Sufi shrine .

Sharukh Rafaee .. Son of Chalak Ali Rafaee



This was the first time I spotted Sharukh living on the pavements of main Mahim road very close to Fakhruddin Shah Babas dargah with his mother.

I tried documenting his story , but was not very successful as his family , kept moving from place to place , his mother split with his famous rafaee dad.

But whenever I met Sharukh I gave him money.. and he took it willingly.

Like his father he is an exponent of tongue cutting and eye ball piercing.

Jamat Ali Rafaee Eldest Son of Late Sikandar Wali Baba



After the death of his father head of the Chancawalli Rafaees late Sikandar Wali Baba one thought that Jamat Ali his eldest son would become the Murshad ..but it did not happen, today the once famous rafaee group is in shambles..

Barring Shahenshah Baba Kotwal all others like Fayaz Ali Baba , Hassan Ganda , Farukh Rafaee branched out to start their own Rafaee groups..

It saddens me as I documented the rise fall of this group for several years .. now I see them , but have no heart shooting them.

The Rafaee Bawa Smokes

Dam Madar Malangs of Ajmer

Dam Madar Malangs of Peace

Dam Madar Malangs Of Peace And Poetry

Dam Madar Malangs ...

The Dam Madar Malangs of Ajmer

The Dam Madar Malangs of Ajmer

Two Malangs at Char Yar ..Dam Madar Beda Par

Dam Madar Malang

Mastan Baba Of Ajmer

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