First let me introduce you to Nasir Bhai no 1 exponent of Zarb Rafaee body piercing undertaken during a Sufi procession called the Sandal..
Sandal is sandal paste that is applied to the Holy Saints tomb or floral tribute or an embroidered spread placed on the Shrine of a Holy Saint is is called Chaddar.
During the Sandal procession the rafaee exponents like Nasir bhai or Firoze from Mahim or Bashir Bhai or Salim bhai from Sion are invited ..their boys show skills in swords or body piercing known as Zarb.
I first met Nasir bhai rafaee of the Qadri Rafaee Silsila at Haji Malang 2010 shot a lot of pictures and again at the same time at the procession or Sandal of Maulana Shah Baba that passed by my house at Bandra Baba .
Maulana Babas dargah is behind Juma Masjid SV Road Bandra .
So I was meeting Nasir bhai after 7 years again at the 201 Urus of Ismail Shah Baba Jamli Mohalla off Null Bazar.
I got Nasir Bhais number from Sakib my friend ..
I reached at about 6 pm th sandal started at 7 pm moving through varios lanes paying homage at the Dargah of Karim baba and than the display of zarb at the main Dargah of Ismail Shah baba by Nasir bhai and his team.
Now let me tell you about zarb or body piercing thre is no blood and all this is a mystical manifestation ovrcoming pain and the piercers invoke Ya Ghouse Pak or Peer Abdul Qadir Jilani founder of the Qadri Rafaee Silsila .
Muḥyī-al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad b. Abū Sāleh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (Persian: عبدالقادر گیلانی, Arabic: عبدالقادر الجيلاني, Turkish: Abdülkâdir Geylânî, Kurdish: Evdilqadirê Geylanî, Sorani Kurdish: عهبدوالقادری گهیلانی),[3] known as ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī for short or reverently as Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī by Sunni Muslims, was a notable Sunni Hanbali preacher, orator, ascetic, mystic, jurist, and theologian[4] who became famous for being the eponymous founder of the Qadiriyya spiritual order of Sunni Sufism.[5]
Born 29 Shaban 470 AH in the town of Na'if, district of Gilan-e Gharb, Gilan, Iran and died Monday, February 14, 1166 (11 Rabi' al-thani 561 AH), in Baghdad,[6] (1077–1166 CE), was a Persian[7] Hanbali Sunni[1][2] jurist and sufi based in Baghdad. The Qadiriyya tariqa (Sufi order) is named after him.[8]
The piercings undertaken by Nasir bhai is very intriguing like making a guy sleep on a bed of nails than tying his hands with a sword on his stomach and on top him another guy with a sword on his stomach 4 layers ..all this you can see in my videos at You Tube the stills dont give you the depth at all.
Breaking coconuts on the head with a huge wooden baton , using a hack saw on the neck of a boy and many such acts .
I will now start documenting the Qadri Rafae Silsila and Zarb at most Shrines that Nasir bhai is invited for his acts of body piercings .
And honestly this is the genre that interest me most .. I was given a lot of respect and Nasir bhai introduced me to all as Khalifa and Malang Baba .
Flickr
