Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Dargah of Mir Sakhi Sultan Shah Baba Haji Malang

170,678 items / 1,331,437 views

This is my third set in my Haji Malang Series at Flickr.com

Before you climb up the Malangad mountains by foot , no car, cycle or motorbike just rough rocky steep steps to reach the Holy Shrine of Haji Malang you pay tribute to Bhaktavar Baba this dargah is known as First Salami..

After you complete your rituals you climb up to reach the Second Salami to another very famous Sufi Saint Mir Sakhi Sultan Shah Baba both the saints were close associates of Haji Malang Baba and have their respective shrines.

Like the Haji Malang Shrine even Sultan Shah Babas shrine has Hindu Khadims Mr Patil and his son my dearest friend Rohan Patil.

Like Kumar Ketkar and Abhijit Ketkar , Rohan is very fond of me and takes care of me overfeeding me with badam pista kaju, every time I come I find more peace here than anywhere else at Haji Malang, I come here do the Sufii Kaif and become the Shia dancing dervesh..I do kaif on Imam Alis Qawwalis go into a spiritual trance and collapse at the end of it.

A lot of people under demonic spell, possession exorcism cases are here for holistic healing.

This is a rocky area and people are clustered all around in the open..

The Hijras are totally in awe of this bawa and the Sandal of Sultan Shah Bawa on 20 th Feb is a grand affair I could not shoot it as I left early the Sandal begins at 11pm.

The hijra sandals for Sultan Shah Baba are lavish , lots of dance and drums..the entire procession is only on the beats of drums no other music instrument no song ..

I shot this Dargah extensively as Rohan has given me a carte banche , no permission required , just shoot Baba he tells me and spread his message of Peace Love and Humanity.

This was my second home , I stayed at the Ketkar lodge but most of the time I sat and shot people around here , or the hijras who stay at lodges close to Sultan Shah Babas dargah.

I shot a lot over 32 GB perhaps.. and this is my first memory card I am uploading at Flickr.com

I am on Flickr Instagram You Tube