Holi celebrated in Karachi.

Byline: Shazia Hasan

KARACHI -- Shri Panchmukhi Hanuman Mandir in Soldier Bazaar was the new choice for many Hindu families to celebrate Holi, the festival of colours on the first full moon of March, which fell on Monday. Earlier, the most popular place to celebrate used to be the big yard behind the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir but this changed somewhat following the unearthing of several idols and other artefacts at the Hanuman Mandir last year.

The temple holds special significance for Hindus, many of whom believe that the Shri Panchmukhi Hanuman Mandir is the only shrine in the world with a naturally-created statue of the part-human and part-monkey Hindu deity Hanuman. The legend associated with the place is that the Hindu Lord Ram had visited the temple while in exile. And sometime later a blue-and-white, eight-foot-tall statue of Hanuman was excavated from here. Later, a temple was built at the very spot by devotees, who also believe that walking 11 or 21 times around the idol made wishes come true.

And so there were hundreds of devotees at the temple with packets of colour, disposable cold drink bottles full of colour, which they were pouring into their water pistols and cannons. But they were not splashing colour on one another. On being asked why not, all gestured to the little hill made from dried cow dung and sawdust, and decorated with marigolds with dried coconuts lying around its base and incense sticks sticking out at the top. It was Holi Mata, which was to be set ablaze after pooja. And only after it had completely burnt down were they going to celebrate Holi and splash colour on one another.

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