07-07-2025
Muharram observed with communal harmony in Belagavi
People of various faiths joined Muharram observation across North Karnataka on Sunday.
In Halaga village of Belagavi district, villagers, young and old alike, gathered at the Fatima Dargah and paid their obeisance to the Alavi deities and participated in rituals like Majnu community dances.
People from Hindu and Muslim families joined the observation.
Workers who earlier migrated to Belagavi, Bengaluru and Mumbai returned to the village for the annual ritual. They took out a procession of the panjas through the main roads of the village and meets in front of the Hazrat Bibi Fatima Dargah in Halaga.
Village elder Neelkanth Patil said that Muharram is being observed for centuries in Halaga. It symbolizes the unity of Hindu and Muslim brothers.
'We have been doing it together. Our Muharram gives a message of unity to all. It is the tradition of our ancestors to take out a procession in the village and dance to the beating of drums. We are happy that this is being continued by this generation. It is the desire of the villagers that the future generation too should continue it,' he said.
In Ramdurg, people slept with their face to the ground and let the panja carriers walk through the gaps between them.
Writer Yallappa Himmadi said that Muharram was observed in villages like Bhojwadi and Bedkihal that have no Muslim families or only a few families from the community. It is a day for mourning. But it is a festival to celebrate communal harmony, Prof. Himmadi said.
In Dharwad, it was celebrated as an occasion of grief and mourning. The rituals began in front of dargahs and mosques where panjas were kept on Saturday night itself and taken out on a procession on Sunday.
Irani youths belonging to the Shia sect took out their own procession near Kalghatagi Road and indulged in self-flagellation till their chests bled.
