Expect crowded Shiva temples today

Even as many Hindus visited Shiva temples in the city on Sunday for the ongoing month of Shravan, members of the Muslim community kept a fast to mark the start of the holy month of Ramzan.

In the next 30 days, temples and mosques will witness a lot of activity. Mosques in the city are draped with decorative coloured lights for Ramzan while temples are decorated daily with flowers on different themes.

Now that Ramzan has started, mosques will have taraavi (religious discourses) at night. Muslims throng mosques in large numbers to listen to these discourses on the Holy Quran by maulvis and Islamic scholars.

Temples, on the other hand, are jam-packed from early in the morning as devotees offer water, milk, flowers and bilipatra to Lord Shiva.

On Monday, there will be extra rush at Shiv temples. Speaking to DNA, a priest of Bileshwar temple, Raju Bhatt, said that the Mondays of Shravan are considered very auspicious. “This is why there is tremendous rush of devotees on Mondays during the month. They keep pouring in with their offerings for Lord Shiva,” he said.

Muslim supplicants will devote themselves to fasting and prayers during the day and feasting at night all through Ramzan. On Sunday, Muslims abstained from food and water for the entire day and had a feast late at night. This will continue throughout the month. Abdul Shaikh, a resident of Raikhad, explained how he and his family start fasting early on Sunday. 

“We had food before sunrise around 4 am and then fasted for the whole day on Sunday. The fast ended at around 7:30 pm. Luckily, it was a Sunday and a non-working day. So the first day of the fast was not really tough,” Shaikh said.
Food markets in the old city were not crowded as it was the first day of Ramzan but vendors said they expect good sales as the month advances.