Forty evenings of bhajans in Laksa: the Sindhi community's Chaliha Mahotsav fills the Jhulelal temple

If you have walked past Laksa in the evening this month and heard singing, this is where it is coming from. The Jhulelal temple there is in the middle of Chaliha Mahotsav — the forty-day observance the Sindhi community keeps for Bhagwan Jhulelal — and the celebration has now crossed its thirty-fifth day, which means the closing days are close. The evening has a fixed shape. Lamps are lit before the idols, women of the community sing bhajans, and the day builds to a grand aarti for Jhulelal and Bhagwan Vishnu, after which prasad is given out. Sindhi dishes are prepared and offered first to the deity, and Mata Hinglaj is remembered alongside Jhulelal. The programme is run by the Pujya Jhulelal Bhakt Sewa Samiti. On the thirty-fifth day, Uttar Pradesh minister of state Dr Dayashankar Mishra 'Dayalu' attended as chief guest. Kashi has always taken in communities and let them keep their own calendar, and this is one of the quieter examples — a Sindhi festival that has found a permanent evening address in a Banaras neighbourhood. If you want to hear it, the last stretch of the forty days is the time to go; visitors are welcome at the aarti.

Compiled by HelloBanaras from public sources: KTV Varanasi