In India, Hindu caretaker of a 350-year-old mosque says: ‘It’s one God for everyone’
- Bechan Baba, 70, has for the past six decades been tending to a mosque in Varanasi, where Hindus and Muslims believe in living with harmony
- The culture of fusing Hindu elements with Muslim religious practices is an outlier in a country where hate politics have been rising
The first call to prayer floats out of the dainty, whitewashed mosque, infusing the cold morning air of Banaras.
Wrapped in a blanket and a coarsely knitted cap, Bechan Yadav sits near the entrance of the dargah, a Muslim shrine, enjoying the warmth of a dying fire of twigs and branches.
Bechan, a devout Hindu popularly called Bechan Baba, is the caretaker of the Chowkhamba mosque – also known as Anarwali Masjid and Char-o-Dervish, literally meaning “four Sufi saints”.
The 70-year-old has just finished his first round of daily tasks of sweeping and mopping the premises, readying the shrine for the dawn or fajr prayers. The dargah looks spotless.
It will get another sprucing up before the sunset or maghrib prayers later.
Bechan, a second-generation caretaker, has been tending to the shrine for 60 years, initially as an associate to his father, Manu Yadav.
“I was seven or eight years old when I first visited the mosque with my father, who used to be the caretaker of this old structure,” he says. “And after my father died, I continued, doing my best to keep it up and standing.”
I am happy doing this. I know that the shrine is of value. I will do my best to keep it alive
