261th Urs of Hazrat Baba Bulleh Shah starts in Qasur
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LAHORE – The 261th Urs celebrations of Hazrat Baba Bulleh Shah are underway in Kasur.
The three-day celebrations of the 262nd urs of Punjabi Sufi poet Baba Bulleh Shah is being celebrated from August 26 to 28. Religious affairs committee is making all arrangements for the Urs, including free meals for the devotees (Langer) and holding gatherings of recitation of Naat and Punjabi Sufi poetry during the three-day event.
The ceremonies of Urs are continued and the followers of Baba Bulleh Shah are attending the events.
On August 25, the Urs began with a recitation of the holy Quran and offering of fateha. A large number of devotees from various cities visited the shrine on the first day of the Urs. Various stalls of juice and a langar had been established near and around the shrine to serve the devotees.
Bulleh Shah lived after the Pashto Sufi poet Rahman Baba (1632–1706) and lived in the same period as Sindhi Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (1689–1752). His lifespan also overlapped with the Punjabi poet Waris Shah (1722–1798), of Heer Ranjha fame, and the Sindhi Sufi poet Abdul Wahab (1739–1829), better known by his pen name Sachal Sarmast.
Amongst Urdu poets, Bulleh Shah lived 400 miles away from Mir Taqi Mir (1723–1810) of Agra.
The great saint practised the Sufi tradition of Punjabi poetry established by poets like Shah Hussain (1538–1599), Sultan Bahu (1629–1691), and Shah Sharaf (1640–1724). The verse form Bulleh Shah primarily employed is the Kafi, popular in Punjabi and Sindhi poetry.
Many people have put his kafis to music, from humble street-singers to renowned Sufi singers like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pathanay Khan, Abida Parveen, the Waddali Brothers and Sain Zahoor, from the synthesised techno qawwali remixes of UK-based Asian artists to the Pakistani rock band Junoon.
The district police is providing fool-proof security arrangements for the Urs link. Meanwhile, the district administration has banned recreational activities during the Urs, including swings, rides, magic shows etc over security concerns.
