Indian Antiquary Vol 47

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 220

204
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
( AUGUST, 1918
Nextly the great and persistent strength of a non-Brahmanical religion, purely monotheist and still pure in its worship, not at all idolatrous, yet essentially Hindu in its connection and philosophy, is a feature which cannot be passed over. Strangely enough Sehwan, Shivistan, one great home of the Thakurs, was a religious settlement of the Guptas, whence the cult of the great god Siva was to spread over Sind. The cult did not spread far. Only one daughter-colony, that of Pir Patho, is known and their elements of both the Saivite and Daryapanthi religions have been caught up with Buddhism and Sufi-igm and" remoulded into a strange Moslem cult.
Again, the unsuccessful attempt to connect up the religion with the cult of Křishņa must
be noted.
The revival of religion preparatory to the Incarnation is professedly inspired by the Bhagavad Gita but this is again nowhere referred to nor does it form any part in the modern Daryd panthi religion or in any branch of it except at Bobâra. Yet another and, apparently, a Vishnuvite attack was made on the worship of the God of the Waters. Jhimpir is a popular place of resort for Hindus in the old Mogul pargana of Sonda or Sondro. The story, as related in the Tuhfat-ul-kirâm, is as follows:-" Sondro" is another important place. Until recent times there was a large fort here. Its name was Bhim-kot and Hindus frequently visit it as a place of pilgrimage. There is a spring of water at the place; the water trickles from beneatb a cliff. The spring is an interesting phenomenon of nature. The locality is commonly known as Jhim. The place also possesses a stone which the Hindus worship as a deity.
The servants of this place say that a party of virgins took this stone and threw it into the river. On their return they found the stone on the exact spot whence they had removed it. Seeing this the virgins thrust their hands into the sleeves of connivance (i.e., they were ashamed to touch it again)."10
The geography of the story calls for some notice. In the Tuhfat-ul-kiram Nasarpur is stated to have been founded on the banks of the Sangro Wah in the 16th century and that its glory had departed by the 18th century. The topographical maps still show the old course of the Sangro Wah and Dhoro Phital running due south parallel with the line of the Ganja Hills but far to the east of them. Does the Sangro Wah represent an old course of the Indus and, if so, how could it run from Nagarpur to Tatta, which lies far to the south west! The vagaries of the river constitute of course the only problem in Sind and in the days before it was harnessed by huge riverain embankments nothing definite could ever be postulated as to its courge. The move from Nasarpur to Jhai-jo-Goth probably represents an attempt to keep the cult located on the river bank though the river is now many miles west of Uderolal, Curiously enough the canal running past Shahdadpur towards Brahmanabad is still known as Marakh Wah. This disposes of the possibility of the Indus lying east of Shahdadpur and gives respectability to the history of the tale.
Khwaja Khizr. On a small island near Bukkur stands the ziarat of Khwaja Khizr. He is identified by Massalmans with the River God, the Living God, Zinda Pir as he became manifest there.
• The town of Sonda is eight miles from Jhimpir station and midway between it and Jherruck to the north-east are some Buddhist ruins. There is no trace of Bhim.kot. A large tumulus, unexplored, overlooks Jhimpir. Any spring is a phenomenon in Sind.
As evidence of the pre-Musalman existence of Vishnuvism, see the name of the capital of (Central) sind in Hiuon Teang's account. P'i-shen-p'o pu-lo = Bishnavpur or Vishnupur.-Beal, II. p. 272.