Medicine takes a leap of faith at Gujarat’s Mira Datar Dargah

Faith demands unquestioning devotion while science insists on questioning everything. No wonder the two have been at loggerheads all through history. But in Unava, a  village some 90km from Ahmedabad, science rides on faith to provide help to the mentally ill who come to the Sayyad Ali Mira Dattar dargah for a cure.

In what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind initiative in the state, the government, an NGO named, Altruist, and the trustees of the dargah have come together to help the mentally ill who flock to the shrine for relief.

The traditional mujawars (faith-healers) at the shrine have been scientifically trained by the NGO to identify a number of mental illnesses. They are the first to deal with the patients after which they direct them to the psychiatric outpatient department (OPD) run right inside the dargah.

Here, the blind power of faith works with modern medicine for treatment of the mentally ill. Miraculously, the practice has worked for several patients who are now on the path to recovery.

The faithful believe that the mujawars of the dargah can cure the mentally ill whose symptoms are attributed to the devil and other evil spirits possessing them.

“We realised that instead of questioning the faith of those who come here for relief, we should work with their faith in the dargah and provide them whatever medical help we can,” said Milesh Hamlai, managing trustee of Altruist.

As part of the NGO’s ‘Dava Duva’ project which started in 2008, a trained psychiatrist sits at the OPD between 2 and 4 pm every day. A psychologist also provides regular counselling to the patients. “We don’t approach the patients directly. In fact, it is the mujawars, trained by us to identify the symptoms of various mental illnesses, who send them to us. We then provide them with the necessary medicines,” said Dr Yatin Bhushan, a psychiatrist, who works at the OPD inside the dargah.

The mujawars had initially refused to work with the psychiatrists who, they thought, had come to rob them of their livelihood. It took the NGO three months of persuasion before the project could actually be implemented. Funds for the project are provided by the state government.

Of the hundreds of devotees who visit the dargah daily, around 15 to 17 are patients who come for treatment at the OPD.

The dargah has visitors from across the world, irrespective of caste, creed and religion. The medicines provided by the doctor on duty free of cost are seen as part of the ‘prasad’ given as blessing by the dargah.

Mujawars are the faith healers at the dargah. They call themselves the descendants of Saiyad Ali, who was martyred in a battle at Mandavgad in Madhya Pradesh.