Shâh was quite recently canonized at Meerut because he delivered a prophecy that a windmill belonging to a certain Mr. Smith would soon cease to work. The fulfilment of his prediction was considered ample evidence of his sanctity, and the question was put beyond the possibility of doubt when, just before his death, the holy man directed his disciples to remove him from an inn, which immediately fell down. Another saint of the same place is said to have given five years of his life to the notorious Begam Samru, who died in 1836, in all the odour of sanctity. SHAIKH BURHAN. Shaikh Burhan, a saint of Amber, was offered a drink of milk by Mokul, one of the Shaikhâwat chiefs, and immediately performed the miracle of drawing a copious stream of milk from the udder of an exhausted female buffalo. "This was sufficient to convince the old chief that he could work other miracles, and he prayed that through his means he might no longer be childless. In due time he had an heir, who, according to the injunction of Bûrhan, was styled, after his own tribe, Shaikh, whence the title of the clan. He directed that the child should wear the cross strings (baddiya) worn by Muhammadan children, which, when laid aside, were to be deposited at the saint's shrine, and further that he should assume the blue tunic and cap, abstain from hog's flesh, and eat no meat in which the blood remained. He also ordained that at the birth of every Shaikhâwat a goat should be sacrificed, the Islâmite creed or Kalima recited, and the child sprinkled with the blood." These customs are still observed, and the Shaikh's shrine is still a sanctuary, while his descendants enjoy lands specially assigned to them.1 SALIM CHISHTI. The power of conferring male offspring has made the reputation of many saints of this class, like the famous 1 Tod, "Annals,” ii. 430 sq. Salîm Chishti of Fatehpur Sikri, whose prayers were efficacious in procuring an heir for the Emperor Akbar. Up to the present day childless women visit his shrine and hang rags on the delicate marble traceries of his tomb to mark their vows. DEIFICATION OF NOTED PERSONS. Besides this sainthood which is based on sanctity of life and approved thaumaturgic powers, the right of deification is conferred on persons who have been eminent or notorious in their lives, or who have died in some extraordinary or notorious way. All or nearly all the deified saints of Northern India may be grouped under one or other of these categories. HARSHU PANRÊ. We have already given an instance of the second class in Hardaul Lâla, the cholera godling. Another example of the same kind is that of Harshu Pânrê or Harshu Bâba, the local god of Chayanpur, near Sahsarâm in Bengal, whose worship is now rapidly spreading over Northern India, and promises to become as widely diffused as that of Hardaul himself. He was, according to the current account, a Kanaujiya Brâhman, the family priest of Râja Sâlivâhana of Chayanpur. The Râja had two queens, one of whom was jealous of the priest's influence. About this time the priest built a fine house close to the palace, and one night the Râja and the Rânî saw a light from its upper story gleaming aloft in the sky. The Rânî hinted to the Râja that the priest had designs of ousting his master from the kingdom; so the Râja had his house demolished and resumed the lands which had been conferred upon him. The enraged Brâhman did dharnâ, in other words fasted till he died at the palace gate. This tragical event occurred in 1427 A.D., and when they took his body for cremation at Benares, they found Harshu standing in his wooden sandals on the steps of the burning Ghât. He then informed them that he had become a Brahm, or malignant Brâhman ghost. The Râja's daughter had been kind to the Brâhman in his misfortunes and he blessed her, so that her family exists in prosperity to this day. But the rest of his house was destroyed, and now only the gateway at which the Brâhman died remains to commemorate the tragedy.' Harshu is now worshipped as a Brahm with the fire sacrifice and offerings of Brâhmanical cords and sweetmeats. If any one obtains his desires through his intercession, he makes an offering of a golden sacred cord and a silken waiststring, and feeds Brâhmans in his honour. Harshu's speciality is exorcising evil spirits which attack people and cause disease. Such spirits are usually of low caste and cannot withstand the influence of this deified Brâhman. RATAN PÂNRÊ. Another worthy, whose legend much resembles that of Harshu, is Ratan Pânrê, who is venerated by the Kalhans Rajputs of Oudh. The last of the race, Râja Achal Nârâyan Sinh, ravished the daughter of Ratan Pânrê. He pleaded in vain to the wicked Râja for reparation, and at last he and his wife starved themselves to death at the gate of the fort. He too, like Harshu, spared a princess of the Râja's house, but he cursed the rest of his family with ruin. After he died his ghost went to the river Sarjû and claimed her assistance in revenging himself on the Râja. She at last consented to help him, provided he could get the Râja into his power by inducing him to accept some present from him. So he went to the Râja's family priest and induced him to take from him a sacred cord with which he was to invest the Râja. When Achal Nârâyan Sinh heard to whom he was indebted for the gift he flung it away in terror. But soon after an angry wave rushed from the Sarjû, and on its crest sat the wraith of Ratan Pânrê. It swept away his palace and left not a soul of his household alive.2 1 Cunningham," Archæological Reports," xvii. 160 sqq.; Buchanan, "Eastern India," i. 488; "North Indian Notes and Queries," ii. 38. 2 "Oudh Gazetteer," i. 540 sq. MAHENI. There is a similar case among the Hayobans Rajputs of Ghâzipur. In 1528 A.D. their Râja Bhopat Deva, or perhaps one of his sons, seduced Mahenî, a Brâhman girl, a relation of their family priest. She burned herself to death, and in dying, imprecated the most fearful curses on the Hayobans sept. In consequence of a succession of disasters which followed, the tribe completely abandoned their family settlement at Baliya, where the woman's tomb is worshipped to this day. Even now none of the sept dares to enter the precincts of their former home. In the same way, in the case of Harshu Pânrê no pilgrim will eat or drink near his tomb, as the place is accursed through the murder of a Brâhman.' There are numerous other cases of this deification of suicide Brâhmans in Northern India. The forms in which they sought vengeance by their death on their persecutors are diversified in the extreme. There is a case of a Brâhman in the Partâbgarh District who, when turned out of his land, to avenge himself, gathered a heap of cow-dung in the centre of one of the fields and lay down on it till he was devoured by worms. This happened sixty years ago, but his fields still stand a waste of jungle grass in the midst of rich cultivation, and neither Hindu nor Muhammadan dares to plough them.2 At the last census of the North-Western Provinces over four hundred thousand people recorded themselves as worshippers of various forms of the Brahm or malignant Brâhman ghost. Most of these are Râjputs, who were probably the most violent oppressors of Brâhmans in the olden days. NAHAR KHÂN. Another instance of the same type may be given from Rajputâna. Jaswant Sinh of Mârwâr had an intrigue with Oldham, "Memoir of Ghazipur," i. 55 sq. the daughter of one of his chief officers. "But the avenging ghost of the Brâhman interposed between him and his wishes; a dreadful struggle ensued, in which Jaswant lost his senses, and no effort could banish the impression from his mind. The ghost persecuted his fancy, and he was generally believed to be possessed of a wicked spirit, which when exorcised was made to say he would depart only on the sacrifice of a chief equal in dignity to Jaswant. Nâhar Khân, 'the tiger lord,' chief of the Kumpâwat clan, who led the van in all his battles, immediately offered his head in expiation for his prince; and he had no sooner expressed his loyal determination, than the holy man who exorcised the spirit, caused it to descend into a vessel of water, and having waved it round his head, they presented it to Nâhar Khân, who drank it off, and Jaswant's senses were instantly restored. This miraculous transfer of the ghost is implicitly believed by every chief of Râjasthân, by whom Nâhar Khan is called the faithful of the faithful,' and worshipped as a local god."1 GANGANATH AND BHOLANÂTH. Two other godlings of the Hills owe their promotion to the tragic circumstances of their deaths. Gangânâth was a Râja's son, who quarrelled with his father and became a religious mendicant. He subsequently fell into an intrigue with the wife of an astrologer, who murdered him and his paramour. They both became malignant ghosts, to whom numerous temples were erected. When anyone is injured by the wicked or powerful, he has recourse to Gangânâth, who punishes the evil-doer. Of the same type is Bholanâth, whose brother, Gyân Chand, was one of the Almora princes. He had him assassinated with his pregnant mistress, both of whom became malignant ghosts, and are especially obnoxious to gardeners, one of whom murdered them. This caste now specially worships them, and a small iron trident is sometimes placed in the corner of a cottage and resorted 1 Tod, "Annals," ii. 40. 1 |