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Urs at Baba Budangiri shrine begins

The three-day annual 'urs sandal' festival at the Baba Budangiri dargah, 30km from Chikmagalur, began today amid tight security.

Thousands of people from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Jammu & Kashmir thronged to witness the festival.

Hundreds of fakirs (Muslim mendicants) brought the sacred sandal from Attigundi Darga, 4km from Baba Budangiri, amid the thunderous beating of drums and shouting of slogans.

Baba Budangiri pontiff Syed Peer Mohammed Sha Kwadri offered new woollen cloths brushed with sacred sandal to the presiding saint, Syed Dada Hayath Meer Khalander (Baba Budan) at the cave.

Police had made elaborate arrangements following the controversy over the shrine in December last year when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal had threatened to 'liberate' the Sufi shrine. The Sangh Parivar organisations had also observed the three-day Dattatreya Jayanti festival by taking out five "Datta rathas" to the hilltop shrine.

UNI

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