Religious harmony at Darulshifa

Charminar: Have you ever wondered the existence of Church in the midst of Muslim dominated area close to Charminar. Surprisingly, there is a small protestant church located in narrow lane of Yousuf Bazar in Chattabazar area, named Mennonite Bretheren Church, whose devout are mostly the 5th generation migrants from Kurnool.

Most of the Church goers are said to be residents of Darulshifa, whose forefathers had migrated from Kurnool during the time of Nizam and worked as cobblers for the royal horses. Now reduced to a few hundred (about 500), this small community of Christians used to make all kinds of leather material from saddle to noseband and reins of the horses used by royalty back then. “Their great grand-parents migrated to this place and offered houses to live besides leather work by Nizam. Even though there was no proper place of worship then, about 60 years back we came up with this Church for praying,” said Rev Father CS Joel, who has been serving since 2014 in this capacity.

He said that these migrants from Kurnool who were experts in leatherwork, following slow decline of usage of horses slowly adapted to new professions. While some started working for shoe outlets in the area others started their own small business as cobblers making footwear and repairing shoes. These Christians are categorised under the BC-C group, but most of the families remain underprivileged and because of the poor educational background rarely get an opportunity to pick up some good jobs. “Even though they are Harijans, they have lost the privilege of getting qualified as Scheduled Castes, as they had adopted Christianity,” added Joel.

This Christian population is also cooperative to the sensitivities of the area which is considered highly commercial, by organising Christmas celebrations particularly the cultural programmes on the preceding Sunday of the Christmas. The programmes include singing, dancing and other programmes devoted to the birth of the Jesus. “On this occasion almost all the families (about 500 to 600) visit the Church and celebrate the fete. While on the occasion of Christmas, if it is not a Sunday the count of devout drop and on normal Sunday mass about 200 persons can be seen,” he noted.

BY Syed Mujtaba Hussain Abidi