View source for The Musalman order of Ascetics

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This article is an extract from <br/>

PANJAB CASTES <br/>

SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. <br/>

Being a reprint of the chapter on <br/>
The Races, Castes and Tribes of <br/>
the People in the Report on the <br/>
Census of the Panjab published <br/>
in '''1883''' by the late Sir Denzil <br/>
Ibbetson, KCSI <br/>

Lahore: <br/>

Printed  by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, <br/>

1916. <br/>
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[[Category:India|M]]
[[Category:Communities|M]]

 

==The Bharai ==
Caste No. 48
The Bhardia, or Pirhais 
or Pirahis as they are often called, are the priests of Sakhi Sarwar Sultan, and have been already 
alluded to in section 221 in the chapter on Religion. Too Bharais of the Lahore division were 
included under Shekh in the divisional office; they number 1,444 in Lahore, 2,256 in Gujranwala 
and 1,646 in Firozpur. The Bhardis are almost confined to the central and sub-montane districts 
and states, where the Sultani belief is most prevalent. There are however a few in the districts of 
the Western Plains. They go about beating a drum and begging in the name of Sakhi Sarwar, 
and conduct parties of pilgrims to the shrine at Nigdha. They also receive the offerings of the 
local shrines. They circumcise boys in the western districts, and often act as Mirasis with whom 
they are sometimes confused. Indeed on the lower Indus they supersede the Nai as circumcisors, 
and are said to take their name from the fact that the Prophet gave his coat {pairdhan) to one of 
their ancestors as a reward for circumcising a convert after a barber had refused to do so ! The 
real origin of the name is probably to be found in the fact that the pilgrims to Nigdha call each 
other Fir bhra or Saint-brothers.

==The Madari ==
caste No. 63

The Madaris are followers of Zindah Shah Madar, the cele
brated saint of Makanpur in Oudh. His name was Bazi-ul-din Shah, and he was a converted Jew 
who was born at Aleppo in A. D. 1050, and is said to have died at Makanpur at the mature age 
of 383 years after expelling a demon called Makan Deo from the place. He is supposed by some 
to be still alive '(whence his name), Mahomet having given him the power of living without 
breath. His devotees are said never to be scorched by fire, and to be secure against venomous 
snakes and scorpions, the bites of which they have power to cure. Women who enter his shrine 
are said to be seized by violent pain as though they were being burnt alive. To the figures of 
Table VIII A must be added 20,968 males and I7,476_females, of whom some 5,700 are in Arabala, 
5,400 in Ludhiana, 6,600 in Jdlandhav, 2 000 in Hushyarpur, 3,200 in Amritsar, 2,300 in Sialkot, 
and 1,500 in Firozpur. Thus they are very generally distributed throughout the eastern half of 
the Panjab. In the four western divisions they seem to be almost unknown. They wear their 
hair matted and tied in a knot, and belong to the be shara section of Mahomedan orders who regard 
no religion, creed, or rules of life, though they call themselves Musalman. 

The Malang are said to be a branch of the Madari. My tables show only 851 males and 
659 females under that head, mostly in Patiala, Maler Kotla, Jalandhar and Firozpur. 

==The Benawa==
Caste No. 111
The Benawa faqirs are the followers of Khwajah Hasan 
Basri; but who he is I cannot say unless he be the same asi Hasan Basri of Basra near Baghdad, the 
founder of the Sarwardia order. To the figures of the table must be added 2,483 males and 2,153 
females. The Benawa are almost entirely confined to the Jumna districts and Rohtak. 

==The Darvesh==
Caste No. 136
Darvesh is simply another word for faqrr, and means one 
who begs from door to door {dai- door ). But the Darvesh of our tables, to the figures of which 
84 males and 106 females, chiefly from Srdlkot must be added, are a peculiar class found only in 
Batala and Pathankot and in Amritsar and Kapnrthala. There seems to be a colony of these 
men who are distinguished by the title of Darvesh. They cultivate a little land, play musical 
instruments, beg, make ropes, go to a house where there has been a death and chaunt the praises 
of the deceased, hang about mosques, and so forth. They are hardly ascetics, yet the small 
number of women seem to show that they have not yet formed into a separate caste, and are still 
recruited from outside. 

==The Jalali==
Caste No. 143
The Jalali order was founded by Saiyad Jalal-ul-din of 
Bukhara, though the Panjab Jalalis are sometimes said to be followers of Sher Shah Saiyad Jalal 
of Uchh, himself a Jalali faqir. To the figures of the table must bo added 2,322 males and 1,928 
females, mostly from the Jdlandhar, Amritsar, and Lahore divisions. Candidates for admission to 
the orders shave completely, burn their clothes, and are branded on the right shoulder. The Jalalis 
are common in Central Asia.

==The Husaini==
Caste No. 160
The Husainis are confined to Gurgaon, and present the 
peculiarity of having more females than males among their numbers. I have no information re' 
garding them. They may perhaps be Husaini Saiyads.

==The Qadiri==
Caste No. 175
The Qadiri are the followers of the celebrated Saiynd Abdul 
Qadir Pir Dustagir, whose shrine i- at Baghdad; most of the Sxmni divines of the North-West 
Frontier are Qadri, and the Akhund of Swat belonga to the order. To the numbers shown in 
Table VNI A must be added 2,710 males and 2,181 females, for the most part in the Ambala, 
Amritsar, and Lahore divisions. They sit for hours repeating the foUowiug declaration : Thou 
art the guide, thou art the truth, there is uone but thee !

==The NaqShbandia==
Are followers of Khwajah Pir Muhammad Naqshhand. My figures only 
thow 287 males and 219 females, chiefly in the Amritsar Division. They worship by sitting per
factly silent and motionless, with bowed head and eyes fixed on the ground.

==The Sarwardia==
{See above under Benawa). — They are the followers of Hasan Basri 
of Basra near Baghdad. They worship seated, chaunting at short intervals and in measured tones 
the word Alldhu, which is articulated with a suppressed breath and as if ejaculated by a powerful 
effort. The devotee often faints with the exertion. 

==The Chishti ==
(See Section 518 above). — Besides  those clashed under Chisti.. my figures give 
2,329 males and 2,014 females, almost all in the eastern half of the Province. The Chishti  faqire
are the followers of Banda Nawaz whose shrine is at Kalbargah. They worship by leaping up 
and gesticulating, and repeating ' Allah Ya-alla-hn' till they work themselves into a frenzy and 
at last sink down exhausted.