Indian Antiquary Vol 38

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 36

32
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[FEBRUARY, 1909.
Many other tales of his miracles are told of Shah Daula, but that which is chiefly associated with his name is the miracle of the Chuhas or Rat-children, said to be born through his agency with minute heads, large ears, rat-like faces, and without understanding or the power of speech.
Shah Daula lived to a great age, commonly stated to have been 150 years, and was contemporary with Akbar, Jahangir, Shahjahan, and Aurangzeb. He was born in the 25th year of Akbar, A.H. 989 or A.D. 1591 and died, according to the anagram of his death, Khudadost, in A.H. 1087 or A.D. 1676. He was therefore really 95 years old at his death.
His usual title is Shah Daula Daryat, because of the numerous bridges that he built. To the end of his life, princes and nobles, rich and poor alike, sought his blessing. At last, when he saw his end approaching he sent for his disciple, Bhawan Shah, duly invested him with the dalg, and installed him as sijjdshla-nishin and successor,
The existing members of the Seot of Shah Daula claim that Bhawan Shah as the son of the saint, but whether he was a real, or an adopted son or balkd, the present Pirs are the descendants of Bhawan Shah.
Notes by the Editor. There are some points worth noting in the stories of Shah Daula's Rats and of Shab Daula himself,
In the first place it seems pretty clear from what has been above recorded that the ascription of the Chûhâs to the agency of the well-known saint of Gujrat is posthumous. One suspects that Bhawan Shâh of the Shah Daula Shrine created the cult, ruch in the fashion that Gbázi Sultan Muhammad is creating one now out of the shrine which he has set up round the tomb of the great local saint. All the circumstances point to such a situation. There are the extreme modernness of the cult, the fact that a band or order of faqirs make a living out of a certain class of local microcephalous idiots, and the convenient existence of an important shrine. Then the absence of landed property in possession of the band, or of any recognized right to succession to the leadership, and the entire dependence on earnings, in turn dependent themselves on the gullibility of the faithful,' all make it almost certain that Bhawan Sbâh took the opportunity of the then recent decease of a well-known ancient and holy man to find a sacred origin for the unholy traffic of his followers. The division of the income thus earned is just such as one might expect of a body that had no other source of cohesion originally than profit out of a common means of livelihood,
As regards the legend of Shah Daula bimself, we have the usual ascription of a direct connection by birth of a local bolj man with the great ones of the earth in bis day, with the usual clear openings for doubt in the account thereof, and we have also the ascription of miraculous powers common to Panjabi saints. There is nothing in the story that could not have been picked up by the tellers out of the tales of other saints commonly current in the country. No doubt there did live, during the seventeenth century, a holy man in Gujrât town, who died there at an advanced age and had tomb erected to him, which became venerated. It is quite probable that he was instrumental in forwarding works of public utility in his neighbourhood, and was notorious for his charity to the poor and needy, led an excellent life, and was venerated by the nobility around him. Considering the situation of the town of Gujrât, it is quite possible also that he attracted the attention of the emperor Shahjahan and his suite, during their many journeys to and fro between Kashmir and their Indian Court. But all this affords no ground for supposing that he had anything to do personally with the poor idiots now exploited by the sect, band, or order of faqirs that have fastened themselves on to his name,
As regards the Chuhas themselves, it is quite possible that there is tendency to produce such idiots among the population of given districts, such as Panch and Jammů, but one cannot help suspecting that, owing to the necessity for a continuous snpply being forthcoming for the well-being of those who live on them, some of theso unfortunates are artificially produced after their birth as ordinary infants. It would be so easy to accomplish this on the part of the unscrupulous.