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Photos and video by Nissar Ahmad
Ashmuqam is a quaint little village located nearly 70 km south of Srinagar, in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Every year with the onset of summer, it reverberates with loud chanting and the otherwise sleepy bends of the hillock are dotted with nearly hundreds of people carrying fire torches.
Devotees converge at the 15th-century shrine of the Sufi saint Zain-ud-din in Ashmuqam every year to celebrate his Urs (death anniversary).
Perched atop a hill with a mausoleum deep inside a cave, devotees see the shrine as a symbol of good triumphing over evil.
According to local folklore, Saint Sheikh Zain-ud-din was a prince of Kishtwar and was widely known as Zia Singh.
However, he became a disciple of Sheikh Nur-ud-din, among founders of Reshi — a Sufi culture unique to Kashmir and also a confluence of Hinduism and Islam.
Saint Zain-ud-din is said to have chosen the Mandjan village in nearby Sopore as his abode and attained spiritual perfection. When he settled in Ashmuqam to go into deep meditation inside a cave, he is said to have battled a demon that was petrifying the villagers.
To celebrate his victory, people assemble every year and light up their wooden torches and oil lamps.
More than hundred staircases, leading to the shrine, are also lit up by the devotees.
People enter the cave mausoleum seeking the Saint’s blessings to end their miseries.
For the thousands of pilgrims who gather at Ashmuqam, the annual torch festival also symbolises the end of the long winter and the beginning of the new sowing season.
Watch our short video that gives a peek into this uniquely Kashmiri celebration:
