Muslim trader from Varanasi writes Bhagavad Gita on cloth

A Muslim trader in Varanasi has written Shrimad Bhagavad Gita in calligraphy using Ganga’s soil and water on the large sheets of white cotton fabric. He wishes to gift his artistic works to celebrities including President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The sari trader Haji Irshad Ali (53), has also written the holy Quran, Hanuman Chalisa and other religious texts in the similar style on cotton fabric.

“When I was 14, I started writing Shahadatain on a piece of half-metre cloth to be put on the shroud before the burial of the dead,” said Irshad, Shahadatain literally means declaration of faith - to declare there is only one God, Allah, and that Muhammad is his messenger. “The passion for writing grew further, and I decided to script the holy Quran on fabric pieces. It took almost six years to complete all the 30 paragraphs of Quran with the handmade ink made with the soil of the Ganga, Aab-e-Zamzam (water from Zamzam well), jafran (saffron) and gond (adhesive),” he told reporters.

The famous Banarasi silk brocade has been used for the binding of the bulky book. For writing the Bhagavad Gita in the same style and size, he used Ganga jal (Ganga water) along with Ganga soil and adhesive to prepare the ink for this work. He learnt Sanskrit to understand Gita. “I bought a Sanskrit translation book and took help of local priest to learn the language,” he said. He has also written Vishnu Sahasranama, Hanuman Chalisa and the National Anthem on cotton fabric pieces.

Interestingly, his entire family is involved in this passion of writing. He said that all the family members, including wife, two daughters and two sons support him in this work. The cloth sheets are prepared by his wife and daughters, while ink is prepared by his sons. (IANS)

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