LAHORE, March 24: The annual Urs of Hazrat Madhu Lal Husain began at his shrine near the historic Shalamar Gardens in Baghbanpura here on Saturday.

The three-day Urs of the Sufi poet is known as Mela Chiraghan or the festival of the lamps because the devotees pay homage to him by burning lamps.

Temporary shops selling ear-rings, bangles, artificial jewellery, flowers, candles, toys, decoration pieces, and earthen pots have been set up along all streets leading to the shrine from the GT Road where stalls are offering delicacies like katlama and methay pakoray.

Parrot show, death well and swings at the plot adjacent to the shrine have also been set up for children.

Punjab Auqaf Minister Sahibzada Syed Saeedul Hasan formally inaugurated the Urs celebrations by performing the traditional ‘chaddar-laying’ ceremony at the shrine of the Sufi poet.

The Auqaf department will organise mahafil-i-samaa and meetings highlighting various aspects of the life of Hazrat Madhu Lal Husain during the three-day celebrations.

Booklets on the life and teachings of the saint will also be available at a special stall set up near the shrine.

A sangeet mela was also arranged at Baradari Bhogiwal at Shawala Chowk in Singhpura where a number of devotees of the saint performed the dhamal to the beat of drums.

MPAs Chaudhry Akram Gujjar and Begum Bushra Rehman will lay ‘chaddars’ at the shrine on March 30 and 31, respectively.