Monsoon in Sindh pours cold water on Dalit Hindus’ pilgrimage to Tando Allahyar

The recent catastrophic monsoon has postponed Hindu saint Rama Pir’s annual mela – the biggest gathering of Dalit Hindus in Pakistan – besides destroying standing crops, houses, bridges, schools and healthcare facilities; killing people, livestock and wildlife; and damaging heritage sites and government buildings.
Months ago, a large number of lower caste Hindus – or officially declared as scheduled caste Hindus by the Pakistani government – started walking several miles to participate in the three-day annual gathering or mela, which was supposed to start on Tuesday (today).
However, Rama Pir Sheva Mandli in-charge Kaka Ishwar Das Utoomal announced on Monday that due to the recent torrential rains, the mela has been postponed and rescheduled for October 6.
Despite the devastation caused by the monsoon, a large number of Dalit Hindus have reached the town of Tando Allahyar, where the 400-year-old historical Rama Pir temple is located, and thousands are still on their way.
Radha, a Hindu woman from the gypsy tribe Lohar – or locally known as Karia – is one of such thousands of Dalits who are heading towards the temple from different lower Sindh districts of Mirpurkhas division.
The recent catastrophic monsoon, which has caused floods due to breaches in drains and the Left Bank Outfall Drain in different districts of lower Sindh in Mirpurkhas division, has washed away Radha’s home and assets, but despite that, she has decided not to miss the holy pilgrimage.
Diehard devotees of Rama Pir, Radha’s family is in the ironsmith profession and her husband runs a small hut-like shop where he makes spades, axes, ploughs and other equipments that are usually used by farmers on their agricultural fields.
However, the recent rains swept away that small shop and when more rainwater was inundating their small colony in the town of Pithoro, Radha prepared to leave for the holy walk.
Every year, thousands of members of the Lohar, Kolhi, Meghwar, Bheel, Jogi and other Dalit communities start walking several miles to Tando Allahyar town where the annual religious gathering of Hindu saint Rama Pir is held.
Chanting holy hymns, white bands with religious slogans around their heads, and holding white flags printed with a moon, a star and a child’s footprint in red, these barefooted lower caste Hindus walk hundreds of miles every year from their houses in different districts of Mirpurkhas division to reach the town of Tando Allahyar.
Hindus believe that when cruelty was on the rise across the world, Hindu god Lord Krishna was born on Earth as Ramdev Bhagwan who was later known as Rama Pir.
According to some followers, a wish of one of Rama Pir’s followers came true, so he built a huge temple in Tando Allahyar town where Rama Pir used to sit.
Though Rama Pir is a Hindu saint, a large number of Muslims visit the shrine as well and are his devotees, demonstrating the traditional religious tolerance in the Sindhi society due to the presence of Sufism.
In response to the announcement of postponing the mela, Hamtho Kolhi – who started walking from the town of Kunri, which is around 120 kilometres away from Tando Allahyar, and took 18 days to reach his destination – said that he would stay there for another month to attend the religious gathering.
“It’s my fortune that I was able to walk so long to come here to the temple; and even if it takes one more year, I shall stay here,” he said.
Though the torrential rains continue in his village and washed away almost everything in his house, Kolhi is still satisfied.
“Dado [Rama Pir] will manage the recovery of all these losses, so I’m not worried and have left all my worries for him [Rama Pir],” Kolhi, who has walked to participate in the mela for 18 years, said firmly.
Hindus are the biggest religious minority in Pakistan, with 3 million as per the national census of 1998.
Majority of them live in Sindh and around 92 percent of them are called lower caste or Dalit communities, and this gathering is supposed to be the biggest gathering of Dalits, which is attended by some 1.5 million people.
Nevertheless, despite such a huge gathering, the federal or provincial governments have done nothing for these lower caste Hindus; and despite being the poorest community in the country, they manage all arrangements by themselves.