“Pilgrimage” is a known practice (ritual) in the religions of the world. Every religion holds calendric periods for the performance of the pilgrimage ritual. Instead of all hardships and exhaustive exercises, religious adherents perform it with an enthusiastic zeal and fervor. These pilgrimage practices hold different practices and identity with respect to the religions of the world. The most common feature and essential component of the pilgrimage is “the act of travel” which is known as “tourism” in the market terminology. The religious adherents hardly concerns about the “travel activity”. They exclusively consider it a practice having religious (ritual) significance only. The contemporary “social scientists” are somewhat serious to reconstruct the term “pilgrimage of broader spectrum” and adopt it in tourism discipline and marketing along with the religious zeal. The term “pilgrimage tourism” came into existence which accelerated the market but also lend the attention of religious academicians to explore the tourism within the (sub) context of religions. In this regard, Muslims scholars too began to think about the development of what is now called as “pilgrimage tourism’ that purviews under the umbrella term “Islamic Tourism” with respect to different destinations. To explore and develop these destinations is recommended for various reasons viz. to create acculturation, to preserve the heritage for future generations, to spread the message of peaceful co-existence and harmony, to attain the economic benefits in terms of employment generation and earning of foreign exchanges etc. certain destinations at local and global level have been explored but many are yet to explore. Exploring them will surely help the Muslims to propagate the message of universality to the world and will attract much more tourists/visitors to visit the destinations of Islamic/Muslim nature. Among all these destinations, the prominent one within the mountains of Pir Panjal is the “Ziarat Shahdrah Sharief”, Rajouri. It is a place where a magnanimous personality of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah has spent most part of his life. Sayed Ghulam Ali Shah Mashadi popularly known as Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah was a Sufi saint who migrated from Pakistan to Rajouri exclusively for propagating the spiritual message of Islam to the people of Pir Panjal. He is having the credit of transforming the Sein-Dara (The place of lions) into Shahdara Sheriff. He reached to the spiritual destination from Sayed Kasrawan Punjab Pakistan to Shahdrah Sharief Rajouri in 1180 A.H/1765 A.D. he remained there about 41 (from 1765—1806) years and meditated in solitude (Chila). He left for his heavenly abode in January 1806 A.D/ 1226 A.H. It is said that he constructed the tomb (Maqbara) during his life time from a craftsman of Multan. The Maqbara construction got completed in 1804 A.D./1224 A.H.
The prime stakeholders are the administrators and Islamic scholars. The farmers are responsible within the four walls of the shrine and the latter’s responsibility is to devise it along with all concerns and issues.
The place lies in between the mountains some 30 miles away from the main city of Rajouri (Northern side) and 6 miles away from Thanamandi district (of Rajouri). The destination have has the credit of being in between the two provinces of Jammu on the one side and Kashmir on the other side. The Kashmir province is connected with Rajouri through a famous route popularly known as “Mughal Road”. Being connected from both sides equally (approximately), the destinations is always busy of having pilgrims of both sides. The huge rush, round the year, depicts the magnanimity of the destination, spreads the message of peaceful co-existence and harmony besides the addition of economic prosperity, particularly in the region. Outside the Ziarat is an orange tree which is considered as the exemplary miracle (Karamah) of Baba Sahib. Regarding this orange tree, it is believed that once Baba Sahib was sitting close to the “Much” (burning fire) and a piece of wood was not catching fire. Baba sahib threw that piece of wood saying that if you cannot burn, keep on fruiting (Baldi Nahin Te Phaldi Ro) and ultimately this piece of wood got transformed into an evergreen fruit plant which bears fruits and leaves throughout the year and is not affected by seasons. The fruits are orange or yellow in color when ripe some are green also. Indeed, the place has pilgrimage significance for the people of Pir Panjal but for others as well. The “personality of Baba Sahib” on the one hand and the “natural scenic beauty” of the place on the other hand attracts towards huge number of visitors throughout the year. The free boarding and lodging facility also adds the number of visitors. The “enough space” and the “separate system for men and women” visitors magnetize towards the recurrent visits. The dire need is to explore more the destination at local and global level. It will surely yield desired fruits especially in the tourism industry. Its promotion will develop peaceful and conducive atmosphere and will bring harmony among the diverse cultures and societies, and will generate the economy of Pir Panjal in particular. So the responsibility of its promotion lies in the concerned departments and the related institutes. But the prime stakeholders are the administrators and Islamic scholars. The farmers are responsible within the four walls of the shrine and the latter’s responsibility is to devise it along with all concerns and issues.
(The Author is working as Assistant Professor at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, Rajouri. View are his own)
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