Indian Antiquary Vol 55

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 75

APRIL, 1926 )
BUDDERMOKAN
Guru Gugga, after Mother Earth has persuaded Guru Gugga, a famous hero, to accept Islam, occur the words (vol. I, 1884, p. 206):
"He is as full of honour as Khwaja Khizar: go to him.
Repeat the Creed (Kalima) and come.
I will go onward to Ajmer and my hope will be fulfilled.
When he saw Rattan Haji and Khwaja Khizar he stood before them." And then in the well-known story of the Marriage of Hir and Ranjha (vol. II, 1885, p. 519) is this passage:
"May thy boat sink and thy oars break!
I have found a ruby from Khwaja (Khizar, i.e., out of the river)." Lastly to show how far the idea of Khwaja Khizar has sunk into the people of the Panjab; in the Kursináma, or Genealogy, of the Saints of the Lalbėgis, a sect of the Scavenger Caste of the Panjab and indeed of Northern India, who are out-caste, are found the following lines (vol. I (1884), pp. 531 ff.] :
“The Genealogy of the Saints :
First is Pir As& : Second is Pir Khas : Third is Pir Saf&:
Fourth is Pir Giljhappa. A confused allusion to Muhammadan Saints, etc. Aga is for 'lsa, i.e., Jesus Christ : Kh484 is Khwaja Khizar: Safa is for Safiu'llah, the usual title of Idris or Enoch (Akhnakh): Giljhapra is LAI Bêg himself (the chief object of worship among North Indian scavengers)."
In these quotations from the Panjab we have displayed before us the assimilation by a population either Hindu, or originally Hindu, of the Muslim story of Khwaja Khigr. In the following statements, besides in those already quoted in the early part of this discussion, we can follow the process right across Northern India to Bengal. In Crooke's Rural Glossary, 1888, 8.vv., we find : "Khwaja Khigr (Barun), the God of the Water and Woods .. . Barun (Skr. Varupa), the Hindu God of Water: cf., Khwaja Khiềr." Here we find Khwaja Khier identified with the old Hindu God of Water.
Again in Grierson's Bihar Peasant Life, 1885, p. 403, we read : " Khájé Khidar; the patron God of the Boatmen (Malah) Caste. He is also confounded with a similar female deity. GengA MAi. Musalman women fast every Thursday in the month of Bhadon (AugustSeptember), and call the fast Khajê Khidar ka Rója."
Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, an English woman married to an Oudh noble, writing her Obser. vations in 1832, says (vol. I, p. 288 ff.): "The last month of the periodical rains is called Sahbannd rsawan). There is a custom by the Musalman population (of Lucknow], the origin of which has never been exactly explained to me. Some say it is in remembrance of the Prophet Elisha or Elijah [i.e., Khwaja Khizar], and commences with the first Friday of Sahbaund, and is followed up every succeeding Friday through this concluding month of the rainy season .... The learned men call it a Zeenahnah [Zenåna] or children's custom .... A bamboo frame is formed in the shape of a Chinese boat : this framework is hidden by & covering of gold and silver tissue-silk or coloured muslin bordered and neatly ornamented with silver paper. In this light many lamps are secreted of comman earthen-waro. A procession is formed to convey the tributo called 'Elias ky kishtee' [Ilyde ki kisht, Elias's boat] to the river.... The kishtes (boat) is launched amidat
flourish of trumpets and drums and the shouts of the populace."