The Musalman order of Ascetics
This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on Lahore: Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees |
Contents |
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.
