Age-old Ramzan tradition endures in Kashmir valley as drum beaters wake people for pre-dawn meal

Srinagar: Before the break of dawn, when darkness hangs thick over the valley, hundreds of men alight onto the streets of Srinagar, drums in hand. They will go from one locality to the other, beating their drums as they wake the slumbering masses for their 'Sehri' -- the quintessential pre-dawn meal during the holy month of Ramzan.

These men have arrived to the city from remote corners of valley, donning the role of a 'Seharkhwaan', drum beater. They assume the responsibility of waking people ahead of daybreak, with the noble intent that none is not late for their Sehri.

Mohammad Rafiq Kataria has come to Srinagar from the remote mountain village of Kalaroos in north Kashmir's Kupwara. A Seharkhwaan for three decades now, he wakes when the valley still shifts in slumber, and sets out on the street at 3 am, wielding his drum.

Kataria, and many like him, go around beating drums from locality to locality hours before daybreak during the month of Ramzan, a tradition that has endured for centuries.

While the advent of gadgets may have rendered drum beaters obsolete, residents of the valley still support the tradition -- making a generous donation to the Seharkhwaan at the end of the holy month.

"We wait for Ramzan very eagerly as we earn well. Whatever people donate at the end of the holy month, it provides for our families for the entire year," Kataria says.

Mohammad Iqbal Khatana, 25 years of age, assumed the role after his father had to hang up his drum owing to ill health. "I have seen my father do this ever since I was born. This year he could not go about it as he is unwell. So, I took his place," Khatana says.

The young man says while the generous donations from people sustained their family, his father was raising people from their sleep with his drum beats in the hope of being rewarded by the Almighty in the hereafter.

Asked if modern gadgets like mobile phones and alarm clocks had diminished the significance of a Seharkhwaan, the drum beaters say they have not felt it so far.

"Our need in society is reflected in the response of people when we go around collecting donations at the end of the holy month. They have been generous so far, even when times were harsh, like the lockdown in 2020 and 2021," Kataria said.

The Seharkhwaan tradition is common in many parts of the Islamic world, especially Turkey, Palestine, Egypt, Syria and Iraq.