Rameswaram: A large number of people, running to several thousands, thronged the small coastal town of Erwadi in Ramanathapuram district to witness the 842nd ‘Sandana Koodu’ festival at the ‘dargah’ of the Islamic Sufi saint, Sultan Sayeed Ibrahim Shahid, who is still revered by people across all religious faiths for his miraculous healing powers that is believed to cure personal, social, physical and psychological maladies.
The saint had served the people of this area with a humanitarian outlook, which is what gives the annual ‘Sandana Koodu’ festival a catholic outlook. The ‘Sandana Koodu’, in which sandal paste is kept, was brightly illuminated on Friday night. It was taken in a colourful procession accompanied by horses and an elephant and the ‘Sandana Koodu’ reached the ‘dargah’ where the saint was laid to rest in the wee hours of Saturday. The sandal paste was then smeared on the ‘dargah’, an annual ceremony witnessed by thousands of people.
