Caste Saints.
The worship of the original saints of Islâm has, however, undergone a grievous degradation. We are familiar in Western hagiology with the specialization of saints for certain purposes. St. Agatha is invoked to cure sore breasts, St. Anthony against inflammation, St. Blaise against bones sticking in the throat, St. Martin for the itch, St. Valentine against epilepsy, and so on. So St. Agatha presides over nurses, St. Catherine and St. Gregory over learned men, St. Cecilia over musicians, St. Valentine over lovers, St. Nicholas over thieves, while St. Thomas à Becket looks after blind men, eunuchs, and sinners.[54] So almost all the artizan classes have each their special patron saint. The dyers venerate Pîr ’Ali Rangrez, the Lohârs or blacksmiths, Hazrat Dâûd, or the Lord David, because the Qurân says—“We taught him the art of making coats of mail that they might defend you from your suffering in warring with your enemies.” The Mehtars or sweepers have Lâl Pîr or Lâl Beg, of whom something more will be said later on. In the Panjâb Sadhua Bhagat is the saint of butchers, because once when he was about to kill a goat, the animal threatened that he would revenge himself in another life, and so he joined the sect of Sâdhs, who refrain from destroying animal life. The barbers revere Sain Bhagat or Husain Bhagat. He is said to have been a resident of Pratâppura in the Jâlandhar District, and his descendants were for some time family Gurus or preceptors of the Râja of Bandhogarh. One day he was so engaged in his devotions that he forgot to shave the Râja’s head, but when he came in fear and trembling to apologize, he found the Râja shaved and in his right mind. Then it was found that the deity himself had come and officiated for him. So, Nâmdeo, the Chhîpi or cotton-printer, became a follower of Râmanand, and is regarded as the tribal saint.