Photo: Harish Chander · CC BY-SA 4.0Events / February or March (Hindu calendar)
Sindh
Maha Shivaratri at Umarkot
One of Pakistan's largest religious festivals: three days at the ancient Shiv Mandir of Umarkot, with around 250,000 Hindu pilgrims from across Sindh.
On Maha Shivaratri, the great night of Shiva, the Shiv Mandir in Umarkot, among the oldest and most sacred Hindu temples in Sindh, holds a three-day festival attended by around 250,000 people. Pilgrims come from lower and upper Sindh, and every Hindu community of the region, from Maheshwari and Lohana to Bhil, Kohli and Meghwar, comes to pay homage; the All Hindu Panchayat of Umarkot meets the costs.
- Umarkot Shiv Mandir
- Three days of festival
- Pilgrims from all of Sindh
- When to plan
- Maha Shivaratri falls in February or March by the Hindu lunar calendar; the festival runs over three days around it. In the same weeks Hindu pilgrims, some from India, also visit the Katas Raj temples near Chakwal.
- Getting there
- Umarkot is on the edge of the Thar desert, about 320 km from Karachi and three hours by road from Hyderabad.
The temple
Legend says a cowherd noticed that one of his cows gave her milk to a stone in the grass, which proved to be a Shiva lingam; the temple was raised around it. The presiding deity is Shiva as the lingam, with a shrine to the goddess Durga behind. The temple keeps a guesthouse and a community hall for the thousands who stay for the festival.
Where it is held
Sources
More in Sindh
Region guide →
Islamic calendar (announced)
Urs of Sachal Sarmast
Sindh's mystic-poetry festival at Daraza Sharif, raag, devotional music, and literary gatherings for Sachal Sarmast.
18 Sha'ban (Islamic calendar)
Urs of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar
Sehwan's great urs for the 13th-century saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar: more than two million pilgrims, dhamaal drums at dusk, and the red-and-gold shrine lit all night.
20 to 22 Dhul Hijjah (Islamic calendar)
Urs of Abdullah Shah Ghazi
Karachi's own urs, on the hill above Clifton beach, for the 8th-century saint many Karachiites believe protects the city from the sea.
