In what comes as a positive development from Rajasthan, about 50 Muslim families, comprising of close to 250 individuals have returned to their original faith, that is, Hinduism. The ceremony to revert back to their original cultural and religious roots was conducted yesterday, a day when the foundation for a magnificent Ram Mandir in Ayodhya was laid by PM Modi himself. In Rajasthan’s Barmer district, people were seen celebrating on Wednesday, and the festivities continue to take place even today.
In such an emotionally charged atmosphere, when crores of Ram bhakts and Hindus now feel satiated that a Ram Mandir is finally about to come up in Ayodhya’s Ram Janmbhoomi, the 50 Muslim families of Motisara village from Payala Kalla Panchayat Samiti of Barmer thought it only fit to embrace their roots completely.
The families, with the support of their village panchayat, organised Vedic rituals and reverted back to Sanatan Dharma after centuries of remaining in a faith which was shoved down the throats of their ancestors by force. All the families which embraced Hinduism yesterday said that their ancestors were forcefully converted to Islam during the rule of the unparalleled Mughal tyrant – Aurungzeb. The males of the village even wore the janeu.
“But we belong to Hinduism. That is why Muslims keep distance from us. After getting the information of history we saw that we are Hindus and we should go back to Hinduism. Our customs are related to the entire Hindu religion,” a proud Muslim-turned-Hindu told Jagran. Subsequently, he said, the entire village wanted to return to Hinduism.
All the families belong to the Kanchan Dhadhi caste. Interestingly, the 50 families have always been practising Hindu rituals, adding that they like to celebrate Hindu festivals with greater enthusiasm, even as the practise of fasting during Ramzan and celebration of Eid remained a mere formality.
As the younger generations of these families began receiving education, they realised that their families were originally Hindus, and ever since, there has been an increasing sentiment among them to return to the fold of Sanatan Dharma. The Muslims of neighbouring villages, meanwhile, upon knowing that such families were originally Hindus, began maintaining a distance from them, even as there is a high likelihood of such Muslims too being Hindus originally, which is the case with most Muslims of India, if not all.
The families had reportedly been deliberating upon the prospect of converting back to Hinduism for quite some time now, and with the news of Ram Mandir’s foundation being laid on August 5, the families too made their minds up, and embraced Sanatan Dharma by praying in front of images of Bhagwan Ram and Hanuman yesterday.
News of Ram Mandir’s bhoomi poojan served as an enabler of the said previously Muslim families coming back to the Hindu fold. It is important to note here that the families have made it clear that they embraced Hinduism according to their free will, and that nobody had forced them to do so, neither were they coerced into accepting the Hindu faith.
