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The Muslim looking after a Hindu shrine in India
GUWAHATI, India, Sept 27, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Even in the topsy-turvy world of
Indian religion, Motibar Rahman stands out as a Muslim looking after a Hindu
shrine, as his family has done for centuries — on the orders of Lord Shiva
himself.
Like his forefathers, Rahman, 73, sweeps the Burha Gosair Than shrine every
morning and lights candles for Shiva, one of Hinduism’s foremost deities, who
many believe resides inside.
“Before me, my father used to do this work and his father before him. Our
family has been the keepers of this holy place for the past 500 years,” the
73-year old told AFP. “The first man in our family is Borhansa. Lord Shiva
came to Borhansa and told him, ‘I want to live in this place. From now on it
will be the responsibility of your family to keep this place. I shall accept
service from your family only and no one else’,” Rahman explained.
The shrine is in Assam state, part of India’s far-flung northeast, long a
melting pot of ethnic groups and religions sandwiched between Muslim-majority
Bangladesh and mostly Buddhist Myanmar.
Tensions have been stoked by a recent citizens’ register in the state of 33
million that its proponents hope will weed out “non-indigenous” people, many
of them Muslims.
According to the 2011 census, 61 percent of Assamese are Hindu and 34
percent Muslim. The remainder are Christian, Buddhist, Sikh or of other
religions.
Rahman says that his name was included in the citizens’ register — unlike
some 1.9 million people who now face the possibility of being made stateless,
put in detention camps and even deported.
“Apart from the Hindus, lots of Muslim people also come here and offer
prayers. People including the Hindus and Muslims say that their prayers are
often fulfilled,” he said.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1032 hrs