Bechan Baba, is the guardian of the Chowkhamba Mosque or Anarwali Mosque.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANARAS — The sound of the Fajr call to prayer echoed from the beautiful whitewashed mosque, bursting into the cold morning air in Benares. Wrapped in a blanket and a roughly knit hat, Bechan Yadav sat near the entrance to the dargah, a Muslim temple, enjoying the warmth of the fire from dying twigs and branches.

Bechan, a Hindu devotee popularly called Bechan Baba, is the guardian Chowkamba Mosque or also known as Anarwali and Char-o-Dervish Mosque. The meaning of the name of this mosque literally means “four Sufi saints”.

The 70-year-old had just completed the first round of his daily chores, sweeping and cleaning the mosque, preparing the place for Fajr prayers. Dargah looks clean at this time.

He will restore order in the mosque before the time of the Maghreb prayer later. Bechan is a second-generation caretaker who has cared for the shrine for 60 years.

“I was seven or eight years old when I first visited the mosque with my father, who was the caretaker of this ancient building. And after my father died, I continued, doing my best to defend it and maintain it,” he said. was quoted as saying in the statement. asia oneWednesday (4/5).

The Bechan family moved to Benares, a town in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, over 150 years ago. Located near the Ganges and known as the spiritual capital of India, the city bears the old name of Varanasi which was revived around 1947, but is still called Benares by many.