Indian Antiquary Vol 47

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

Page 223

UGUST, 1918]
RELIGION IN ND
207
Hindu or Mussalman, they were of one stock supported by the same river and bound together by common interests. Whether matters were clinched by a sudden diversion of the river is doubtful in spite of the persistence of the legend, for no sudden diversion or catastrophe could carve a way of the river of the size of the Indus across a range of hills or line of high ground.
We must think rather of political events moulding and reviving old creeds, think of the Hindus as worshipping the river and of the Mahomedans with a veneer of Arabic learning, carrying on to the full all their old customs and folklore What spot should be holy if not that to which the pulla went on pilgrimage annually, that which breasted every year the floods which overwhelmed the land. The early years of the 11th century gave the Sindhi much to think about and one result was the realisation by Hindus and Mahomedans that both could worship at the same shrine and pray for help, for both worshipped the living God. The cult of Uderolâl was developed by foreigners who brought their own ideas of their saviour as a warrior; that of Khwaja Khizr was more primitive and aboriginal. In it the God moves through the rivers seated on a pulla, and so every year the first pulla caught in the season must be offered as a sacrifice to the River God. In both cases the religion is the same but the background is different, the setting is different. The Uderolál legend clearly shows how the effort was made by the Thakurs to capture the earlier form of their own religion and to what extent they succeeded, for they can but assert that Zinda Pir is the same as Uderolal. The cult of Uderolâl has become purely anthropomorphic in the hands of the Thakurs. From the cult of Zinda Pir by a few stages of evolution a true conception of Godhead may still be developed.
Part III.
Within a mile of Mai Pir's coppice is the shrine of Ahmed Pir or Hot Hakim-the Pir of the Jackals. This composite saint has two Khalifas, a Sheikh and a Murghar Baloch. The Khalifa of Mai Pir is a Sheikh. In both cases the annual ceremony depends upon the Hindu calendar and my Mussalman informants were in doubt as to whether the anniversary of Mai Pir fell in Naheri (Mârga) or Poh (Pausha). It is probably in Naheri as the Jackal Pir's anniversary is Poh 12th.
The first point of interest is that a certain cure for rabies is for the person bitten to go to Hot Hakim's shrine and drink holy water and ashes. This form of medicine is a common one; Pir Patho's ashes are a specific for any ordinary complaint. The "ashes" are simply wood ashes prepared on a sanctified spot. Now in Balochistan Bibi Dost 10 is the popular physician for this terrible illness of rabies and it was not by mere chance that Baloches captured one-half of the cult of Mai Pir and set up their own Khalifa (a Murghar) and invented their own saint (Hot Hakim). It would appear that the strict rule preserving the virginity of Mai Pir had necessitated the separation of "Ahmed Pir," A former connection is certainly indicated by a Sheikh being Khalifa at either shrine, while though the medicine is obtainable at Ahmed Pir's shrine, it is at Mai Pir's that the jackals are fed ritually. It is illustrative of Baloch superstition that they did not attempt to restore Mai Pir's cult but were satisfied with that of Ahmed Pir (Hot Hakim), however much they had formerly had faith in Bibi Dost.
In fact, one is tempted to believe that the jackal almost became the Beast associated with the Vegetation Deity, but did not, being too contemptible. It is formidable only 16 Frontiers of Balochistan, by G. P. Tate, pp. 193, 200, 204.