As the day-long Ramadan fast comes to an end, the residents of Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district are greeted with a loud bang of a cannon, which is fired from red from the Raisen Fort every day of the holy month.
Photo: Vibhushita Singh/The Quint
As the day-long Ramadan fast comes to an end, the residents of Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district are greeted with a loud bang of a cannon, which is fired from red from the Raisen Fort every day of the holy month.
This unique tradition, which is at least 200 years old, is kept alive in MP's Raisen by members of the Muslim community, who fire up a cannon from one of the hilltops that the famous Raisen Fort is built on, marking the beginning and end of the fast every day.
However, the practice gradually disappeared over the years.
The residents of Raisen, however, have managed to keep it alive even today.
Mohammad Jameel Khan, the incharge of Raisen district's Muslim Festival Committee, said that the sound of the cannon travels around 15-20 kilometres.
Earlier, a bigger cannon was being used for the firing, but in 1956, it was replaced by a 1.2-metre-long cannon to protect the fort from any damages.
Every year, before the beginning of Ramadan, the district collector of Raisen issues a month-long licence to the district's mosque committee to fire the cannon from the fort.
The committee, with the help of other members, takes the cannon to the fort where it remains stationed for the month and is fired twice every day.
Speaking to the media, Salman Indian, a resident of Raisen district, said that the cannon is taken out before Ramadan and is fired twice a day for the people of around 25-30 villages, who start and end their fast based on the sound.
He further said that a family that has been traditionally firing cannons for generations is tasked with continuing the practice throughout the month.
(with inputs from Amit Dubey)
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