The 600-year-old Dargah-e-Sharief of the 14th century Sufi saint Hazrath Khwaja Bande Nawaz Gesudaraz is all decked up for the 613th Urs-e-Sharif of the saint to be held on the dargah premises from Monday.
Thousands of devotees from all over the country and abroad will throng the historic city, which was once the famous capital of the Bahmani Sultanate, to participate in the urs.
The celebrations will begin at 8 a.m. at the dargah, followed by namaaz-e-zuhr in the afternoon and namaaz-e-maghrib in the evening and namaaz-e-isha on the first day.
An all-India industrial exhibition will be inaugurated in the evening on the same day. On August 8, there will be an address by the Sajjada Nasheen Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini and namaaz-e-juma, followed by special prayers at the dargah. A special namaaz-e-asr will be held in the evening at the Mehboob Gulshan Public Garden and Syed Shah Khusroo Hussaini will lead the traditional special namaaz at the garden before the sandal procession.
The procession carrying the sandal paste will pass through Mibaz Masjid in the Super Market area to offer the namaaz-e-maghrib before reaching the dargah, where it will be received at the eleven steps. In the early hours on August 9, the sandal paste brought in the procession will be anointed on the tomb of Khwaja Bande Nawaz. The urs is observed for a fortnight. Prize distribution for the industrial exhibition will be held on August 26.