Daily Times

When I was young, we were asked to light up our houses with candles and oil lamps as Mela Chiraghan would be approaching. It was not just my house but the entire street and Lahore was seen illuminated in order to celebrate this festival of lights. During the days of Mela Chiraghan, my parents would take us to different parts of Lahore in order to see the city’s décor and illumination and trust me, we had waited for this time of the year so that we could see oil lamps and other illuminations. My elders told me that it was such a rich activity at one time, that the government also used to send out oil lamps to the people so that they can light them up during these days.

Do you think that the current generation has any idea of these festivals? I am sure they have no idea as I asked many of the youngsters and they were like ‘what is this’. That is sad as we are losing the traditional festivities and moving on to other activities having alien activities and trends which do not belong to our culture.

Let us get to know what Mela Chiraghan is. This is the oldest festival of the subcontinent and is celebrated with fervour and zeal at the urs (death anniversary) of Shah Hussain and Madho Lal. Mela Chiraghan has its own importance in Lahore’s history. The festival began with the seasonal Besakhi festival in old times. This year Mela Chiraghan is being held from 30th March till 1st April 2019.

The festival used to be the largest festival in the Punjab, but now comes second to Basant. Known as the Festival of Lights, this historic celebration finds its roots in the latter half of the Mughal Dynasty. From historic accounts we get to know that the common peasants, Mughal rulers, the Punjabi Sikh residents and British officers during their British Raj used to show up at this festival and it was a revered festival for all ignoring the caste, creed and religion. It is also said that Maharaja Ranjeet Singh had high reverence for this 16th century Sufi saint Shah Hussain. In the early half of the 19th century, during the Sikh ruling period in Punjab, Maharaja Ranjeet Singh used to lead a procession from the Lahore Fort to this festival site.

It is also mentioned in the historic accounts that the urs and the mela were two separate events at one time and were combined into one, Mela Chiraghan by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. During Ranjit Singh’s rule in 18th century, the emperor would lead a procession from his palace to the shrine barefoot, accompanied by thousands of Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus.

Let me tell you an interesting fact about this festival of lights. Mela Chiraghan was once referred to as Mela Shalimar, as it would extend beyond the premises of the shrine, towards the neighbouring Shalimar Gardens but later it was limited to the shrine only.

Let us get to know what Mela Chiraghan is. This is the oldest festival of the subcontinent and is celebrated with fervour and zeal at the urs (death anniversary) of Shah Hussain and Madho Lal. Mela Chiraghan has its own importance in Lahore’s history

Limiting the festival to this shrine could not reduce its popularity and scale of devotees attending it. Since then till today, every year, thousands of devotees from all over the country come to this shrine, lay floral wreaths at the graves of Shah Hussain and Madho Lal, perform dhamal at the shrine, light up candles for fulfillment of their prayers and wishes and distribute langar ( free food). The third day of the urs is exclusively for women. The main feature of the festival is the large bonfire ‘Alao’ or ‘Mach’ at the shrine of Hussain, in which people throw candles, oils, wax and lit up cotton lamps with the hope that it would fulfill their wishes and desires and trust me it’s a mind blowing site to see. The fire in the alao is remains there for the entire duration of the Urs which is three days.

Apart from the gathering at the alao you would also see several Malangs (mendicants) dressed up in exceptional and multicolored attires who sit quietly in a corner of the shrine. These Malangs start coming to the shrine almost a week before the urs and start putting up their small tents around the place and by the time the urs and festival is started there is no place found and it is the most congested area. Well it is the belief and faith of the people who come there with a hope that their wishes would be fulfilled.

Another attraction for families is a bazaar where swings for children and hundreds of stalls selling traditional food have been set up. This is a real traditional festival of Lahore but unfortunately the younger generation is unaware of this festivity.

Now let me tell you why this urs is celebrated and who is Shah Hussain and Madho Lal. Most of the people think that Madho Lal Hussain and Shah Hussain is the same person, but actually these are two different persons. Sufi saint Shah Hussain (1538-1599) who lived in Lahore in the 16th century was born in Taxali Gate of walled city of Lahore. Basically Madho Lal Hussain was a follower of Shah Hussain. It is said that Shah Hussain was developed a extraordinary affection for Madho Lal who was 16 year old Brahman boy. On the other hand Madho also developed strong connection with Shah Hussain and in some time he embraced Islam and changed his name to Mehboob-ul-Haq but he is remembered as Madho till date.

The shrine of Shah Hussain and Madho Lal and the fusion of their names speak for the unity. It is also said that Shah Hussain’s love for Madho challenged the customs of conventionalists who had made the religion a set of rituals, rigid rules, restrictions, denial of love and joy and negating the concept of emotions. When Shah Hussain died in 1599 he was buried in Lahore and when Madho Lal died he was buried next to Shah Hussain in the same Shrine. The Urs of Shah Hussain takes place on the same shrine in Baghbanpura, on the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan, adjacent to the Shalimar Gardens and we see two graves there in the Shrine. Shah Hussain was the pioneer of Punjab Kafi poetry and till now it is sung by thousands of people. Shah Hussain’s poetry consists entirely of short poems usually four to ten lines, designed for musical compositions, to be interpreted by the singing voices. Many famous singers have sung his poetry and the famous ones are ‘Mai ni mein kinu akhan’ and ‘Ni sayion asan nena de akhay lagay’. Today I see that most of the people refrain from going to this shrine due to various stigmas attached to it and the most common one is the presence of the drug addicts. I think if the government takes control of this issue then it can surely be a fantastic festival of Lahore. In 2019, a new change has been observed regarding the festival as the Walled City of Lahore Authority and the Punjab Auqaf Department have joined hands to celebrate this event. Celebrations of Mela Chiraghan have also been held at various shrines where dhamal and Qawwali performances have been planned.

The writer can be reached at taniashahab2016@gmail.com