Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar was a Persian sufi saint, philosopher and poet was born Marwand.
He traveled around the Muslim world and had settled in Sehwan in Sindh, and was buried there. He preached religious tolerance among Muslims and Hindus. Thousands of pilgrims visit his shrine every year, especially at the occasion of his Urs.
Thousands of devotees flock to the tomb while every Thursday their number stands multiplied especially at the time of his Urs being a carnival as well a religious festival and celebrated every year. Sehwan springs to life and becomes the focal point of more than half a million pilgrims from all over Pakistan. On each morning of the three day feast, the narrow lanes of Sewhan are packed to capacity as thousands and thousands of pilgrims, fakirs and devotees make their way to the shrine to commune with the saint, offer their tributes and make a wish.
Most of the people present garlands and a green chadar (a cloth used to cover a tomb) with Quranic inscriptions in silver or gold threads. Humming of verses, singing and dancing in praise of the saint continues till late at night. A devotional dance known as dhamal, being a frenzied and ecstatic swirl of the head and body, is a special ritual that is performed at the rhythmic beat of the [dhol] (a big barrel-shaped drum), some of them being of giant size and placed in the courtyard of the shrine.
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