{"id":63097,"date":"2024-04-05T14:00:03","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T05:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/2024\/apr\/05\/the-hindu-caretaker-and-his-mosque-a-symbol-of-harmony-amid-india-religious-discord"},"modified":"2024-04-05T14:00:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T05:00:03","slug":"the-hindu-caretaker-and-his-mosque-a-symbol-of-harmony-amid-indias-religious-discord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/?p=63097","title":{"rendered":"The Hindu caretaker and his mosque: a symbol of harmony amid India\u2019s religious discord"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bechan Baba has dedicated his life to Varanasi\u2019s Anarwali mosque, where Hindus and Muslims come to pray \u2013 despite the historical disputes raging outside<\/p>\n<p>In the heart of Varanasi, where the sacred Ganges meanders by and incense smoke mingles with the faint echoes of prayers from a myriad of temples, Bechan Baba sits at the entrance of the Anarwali mosque. A silent sentinel, the 72-year-old Hindu caretaker leans back on weathered stones that were laid almost 400 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Bechan has dedicated his working life to the service of this ancient mosque, which represents a sense of unity in a city wrestling with historical disputes.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/2024\/apr\/05\/the-hindu-caretaker-and-his-mosque-a-symbol-of-harmony-amid-india-religious-discord\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bechan Baba has dedicated his life to Varanasi\u2019s Anarwali mosque, where Hindus and Muslims come to pray \u2013 despite the historical disputes raging outsideIn the heart of Varanasi, where the sacred Ganges meanders by and incense smoke mingles with the fai&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4192,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59,516,62,447,371,61,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global-development","category-hinduism","category-india","category-islam","category-religion","category-south-and-central-asia","category-world-news"],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63098,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63097\/revisions\/63098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}