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JUNE, 1879.]
kin. He is said to have belonged to the Lodi family of Dehli. Of his own free will he turned an ascetic, and became a saint. He was fond of building useful works, especially bridges, wells and tanks. Bridges called by his name exist still on the Lahor road, and a large one is in front of the eastern gate of the city. The ruins of a mosque and tank built by him lie on the same side, and the shrine of Imam Ali Hak at Syalkot is also said to be his work. A special miracle is ascribed to him. It is said that the first child of any woman who asks him to pray for a child for her is born an idiot with a small head and long ears. Such children are offered to the shrine by their parents. They can only eat and lie: they are complete idiots. The custom of offering these children still prevails. They are called "Shah Dawlat's rats," and one or two are presented every year. A return of those presented between 1857 and 1866 shews that 14 boys and 3 girls were brought to the shrine in that period. The Faqirs of the shrine trade on them, taking them to different towns, and collecting alms by exhibiting them. The ignorant people of the country consider them supernatural beings. In 1866 there were nine of these unhappy beings at the shrine. The Shah died in 1074 Hijri, having lived in the reigns of Akbar and Jehangir. The shrine was built by his son. On every Thursday are gatherings there, and a fair takes place annually. W. O. FANSHAWE.
MISCELLANEA.
Professor Dr. H. Schaaffhausen, President of the Anthropological Society, Bonn, Rhennish Prussia, has recently sent me the following questions, in answering which I would ask the aid of contributors who may possess information on the subjects in which Dr. Schaaffhausen is interested :
I. Do any of the Indian tribes contract, elongate, or otherwise deform the heads of their children ?
II. Have any elongated or small skulls (Mikrocephalen) been found in India as in the tumuli of the Crimea, Peru, Germany, France, &c. P
III. Are imbecile persons, or those with small heads (Mikrocephalen) regarded as holy in any part of India ?
IV. Is any green-stone, Nephrite, (Fadeit brile) met with in India, and for what purpose is it used ?
V. Is the Hammer (Thorhammer) or Axe venerated anywhere in India ?
VI. Have any representations been found on any of the old sculptures of fire being obtained by wood-friction, and do any of the wild tribes in India employ this means in the present day ?
I have attempted to answer these questions
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as far as my information will permit me as follows:
Taking Queries I., II. and III. together
An Officer who had been in the Panjab, informed me that he had seen there a half-witted creature, with an extraordinarily small head, who went about as a Faqir, and was treated as a privileged person. My informant heard a legend that the heads of children were sometimes purposely deformed in this manner, the growth of the skull being restricted in infancy by a clay covering. I have been unable as yet to obtain any confirmation of the statement.
If the skull is deformed by the parents during the infancy of the child, the intention would seem to be to render it an object of superstitious wonder !
As regards imbeciles being venerated, afflicted persons in India are invariably treated with great consideration, and I have been astonished sometimes to notice the patience with which villagers will tolerate a troublesome beggar, if he is blind or half-witted.
IV. Nephrite is, I believe, a species of Jade, and is sometimes called Serpentine. In India it is used freely in ornamentation. Dr. G. Birdwood, C.S.I., in his interesting volume on the Paris Exhibition, thus refers to its use in India :
"The old Delhi work in cut and gem-encrusted Jade is priceless. The Chinese had cut Jade for ages, but never ornamented it, except by sculpture; but when it was introduced into India the native jewellers, with their quick eye for colour, at once saw what a perfect ground it afforded for mounting precious stones, and they were the first to
encrust them on Jade. The Indian Museum possesses the choicest, grandest specimens of this work known, of the best Mogol period. They were exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1867."
If I am correct in the view that Nephrite and Jade are the same, then recently at Fatehgarh I came upon an instance of this stone being sold as a medicine. The jeweller from whom I bought a small quantity of jade as a specimen, told me it was very efficacious for those who suffered from pain in the head, and whose intellect was out of order! I have heard the word Nephrite explained as indicating the cure affected by this stone in disease of the kidneys. And others have explained the derivation by saying that the stone is sometimes found in nodules in the shape of kidneys. This latter view is, however, I believe incorrect.
As regards the use of the stone as medicine, Mr. Cockburn, of the Calcutta Museum, informed me that, when in Asam, he had seen a Jade axe, shaped
