Jammu: After remaining suspended for two years due to the Covid pandemic, the historic Baba Chamliyal Mela is being celebrated on Thursday near the International Border in Jammu and Kashmi’s Samba district.
According to Billu Choudhary, president of Mela committee, over two lakh devotees from different parts of J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana are likely to pay obeisance at the saint’s shrine, which is located in the Ramgarh sector close to the International Border in Samba district.
According to oral history, The saint, Baba Dalip Singh Manhas lived in a village called Chamliyal. He used to give drinking water to thirsty travellers and also worked for the welfare of the needy and talked about universal brotherhood. It was because of his good deeds that he became very popular among people.
His popularity was not acceptable to a few people who hatched a conspiracy against the Baba and killed him at the Saidawali village, now situated in Pakistan. The head of Baba Dalip Singh fell far away from the place of his assassination, whereas the rest of his body remained at Saidawali.
The people decided to keep the philosophy and practices of the Baba alive by constructing his memorials on the border of India and Pakistan. After the death of the Baba, the people of the area constructed two shrines in his name. One shrine was made at the place where his head fell. Another shrine of the Baba was made at Saidawali in Pakistan where he was assassinated.
The shrine is also known as dargah in local parlance. The performance of rituals within the shrine is on the line of other dargahs, for instance, the offering of Chaddar.
Pakistani Rangers earlier visited the shrine to offer Chaddar and take Shakar and Sharbat from the shrine.
However, due to strained relations between India and Pakistan, the Pakistani Rangers are not visiting the shrine this year.
–IANS
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