Color, Camels and Celebrations at Channan Pir

Text and photos by Umair Ghani

Yellow sand and fine dust raise high in the sky, tractor trolleys encumbered with colorfully attired men and women, kids and older people throng from all sides and honk loudly to find parking place amid camel carts and motorcycle rickshaws scattered randomly in the outskirts of the shrine of Channan Pir in the heart of Cholistan desert. The festival of Channan Pir, 45 km from Derawar Fort is yet to be established as an untainted Sufi festival, but its cultural impact has flourished every year since its inception. The legend is more or less related to the story of Moses along the banks of River Nile. The popular version states that Channan Pir, born in the family of Hindus, reciting holy Quran at birth, was disowned by an infuriated father and ordered to be killed or thrown deep into the desert. Somehow, the infant’s innocence invoked sympathy in the hearts of Hindu Raja’s slaves and they left him secluded under a bush, to be perished [with a vague hope that he will be saved by some miracle] .  He was picked up by a Muslim childless couple and raised according to their faith, which he already possessed by birth. Later, Channan Pir became a disciple of legendry Sufi Saint Makhdoom Jahanian Jahangasht and gained wide acclaim among the people of the desert as protector and benefactor of children.

“The women pray out for their daughters to bear sons out of necessity, not out of any inherent spite for girls: they are, after all, praying for the good fortune of their daughters. In the context of their culture, that good fortune comes in the shape of sons. Both men and women, in their camps, are acting partly on what culture expects of them and partly on their desires and passions. They are working to negotiate how cultural norms and expectations influence their own hopes, dreams, beliefs, and prayers,” writes Suzzane.  Staunch faith or frayed sanity, this tradition is deep rooted and trusted. Festive celebrations rock the desert. People rejoice in free spirit and for a brief interval, forget miseries that shatter their desolate lives and the environment surrounding them. Channan Pir allures the hopes and aspirations of the people of Cholistan desert.

Full story published in Tourism Scenario International, April 2008 isuue.