By IANS
New Delhi: Eid-ul-Azha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice, was celebrated across the country with fervour and gaiety and marked by lavish feasting.
Also known as Bakr-Eid, millions of Muslims offered prayers for peace at idgahs and mosques on the occasion, and later, goats and sheep were sacrificed.
Eid-ul-Azha is one of the most important festivals in the Muslim calendar. It is celebrated to honour Prophet Ibrahim, who was even willing to sacrifice his son Ismail to please Allah.
According to Muslim belief, Allah wanted to test Ibrahim and replaced Ismail with a sheep just as Ibrahim was about to slit his throat – hence the tradition of sacrificing an animal.
Some of the popular dishes that are cooked every year on the occasion are achari gosht, mutton stew, fried kaleji (liver) and tandoori raan (grilled lamb thigh) as well as seviyan.
In Jammu and Kashmir, large Eid congregations were witnessed at the Hazratbal shrine, Jama Masjid, and Janab Sahab Soura in Srinagar and other major towns in the Valley.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah offered prayers at the Hazratbal shrine, while his father and union Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah joined the congregation at the Syed Yagoob Sahab shrine in the Sonawar area of Srinagar.
Authorities placed senior separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmad Shah and Muhammad Nayeem Khan under house arrest in Srinagar.
In Assam, the festival was celebrated in Dhubri district under tight security following clashes between protesters and police earlier.
The district administration, which imposed night curfew in Dhubri town Thursday, relaxed the curfew for 12 hours Saturday.
Two columns of the army are also staging a flag march in sensitive areas of the district.
Muslims in Mumbai Saturday offered prayers in the morning at various mosques in the Muslim pockets across the city and adjoining Thane district. Over four lakh goats and sheep were sacrificed in the city on the occasion.
“Muslim households generally prepare a variety of sumptuous dishes like sheer khorma, payas and biryani,” said Sayeeda Shaikh from the densely populated Byculla pocket of south central Mumbai.
City, state and traffic police officials chipped in to maintain a strict vigil in Colaba, Nagpada, Mumbai Central, Govandi, Bandra, Santacruz, Jogeshwari, Malad, Borivli, Bhandup and Ghatkopar and other Muslim pockets like Mira Road, Vasai and Virar, in Thane district, Nashik city and Malegaon in Nashik district, Aurangabad and Pune.
In the national capital, the aroma of kebabs, biryanis, niharis and kormas enveloped the winding by-lanes of old Delhi as Muslims prepared a lavish feast to celebrate Eid-Ul-Azha.
As soon as morning prayers were offered, goats and lambs were sacrificed. After donating a third of the meat to the poor according to tradition, huge woks and grills were set up to prepare gastronomic delicacies to celebrate the occasion.
“Once the lamb is sacrificed, the liver is taken out, chopped and fried or cooked in a gravy and consumed immediately as it strengthens the immune system and makes one energetic,” Shabaz Ali, a resident of Matia Mahal in the walled city, told IANS.
In Andhra Pradesh, thousands of people offered Eid prayers in the morning at Eidgahs or open grounds and mosques in the state capital Hyderabad and in Guntur, Anantapur, Kurnool and other towns.
The biggest congregation was at the historic Mir Alam Eidgah in the old city of Hyderabad, where over 2,00,000 Muslims offered prayers on the occasion of their second biggest festival, also known as Bakrid.
Huge gatherings were also seen at the historic Mecca Masjid, and Eidgahs at Madannapet, Masab Tank and Secunderabad and hundreds of mosques in the state capital.
The sacrifice can be made during the three-day celebrations, with Saturday being the first day.