Sakhi Sarwar.
Sakhi Sarwar, or “generous leader,” the title of a saint whose real name was Sayyid Ahmad, is hardly popular beyond the Panjâb, where his followers are known as Sultânis, and are more than four hundred thousand in number.[60] No one knows exactly when he lived; some place him in the twelfth and others in the thirteenth century; but there are other traditions which would bring him down to the sixteenth. Whatever be the exact time of his birth and death, he was one of the class of Muhammadan saints, like Bahâ-ud-dîn and Shams Tabrîz, who settled and practised austerities in the country about Multân. Other names for him are Lâkhdâta or “the giver of lâkhs,” Lâlanwâla, “he of the rubies,” and Rohiânwâla, or “he of the Hills.” His life, as we have it, is but a mass of legends. He once cured a camel of a broken leg by riveting it together. Miraculously, as so many of these saints do, he gave two sons to one Gannu of Multân and married his daughter. The hill that overlooks his tomb at Nigâha in the Dera Ghâzi Khân District, at the edge of the Sulaimân mountains, is said to have been infested by a fearful giant. This monster used at night to stand on the hill-top and with a torch lure unwary travellers to their destruction. Against him Sakhi Sarwar and his four companions waged war, but all except the saint were killed; and such was the fall of the monster that the hill trembled to its base. Within an enclosure are seen the tombs of the saint, his lady, Bîbî Râê, and a Jinn who fell before the onset of the hero. To the east is the apartment containing the stool and spinning-wheel of Mâî ’Aeshan, Sakhi Sarwar’s mother. It is a curious instance of the combination of the two rival faiths, so constantly observable in this phase of the popular worship, that close to the shrine of Sakhi Sarwar is a temple of Vishnu, a shrine of Bâba Nânak, the founder of Sikhism, and an image of Bhairon, who appears in the legends as the servant or messenger of the saint. The tomb presents a curious mixture of Musalmân and Hindu architecture. It was recently destroyed by fire, and two rubies presented by Nâdir Shâh, and some valuable jewels, the gift of Sultân Zamân Shâh, were destroyed or lost.
The Sultâni sect, in large numbers, under the guidance of conductors known as Bharai, make pilgrimages to the tomb. Near it are two dead trees, said to have sprung from the pegs which were used to tether Kakkî, the saint’s mare. The walls are hung with small pillows of various degrees of ornamentation. Persons who suffer from ophthalmia vow gold or silver eyes for their recovery. They vow to shave the hair of an expected child at the temple, and its weight in gold or silver is presented to the saint. Some childless parents vow to him their first child, and on its birth take it to the temple with a cord round its neck. There are numbers of sacred pigeons attached to the shrine, which are supported by an allowance realized from certain dedicated villages. The marks of ’Ali’s fingers and the print of his foot are still shown to the devout in consideration of a fee to the guardians, and a visit is considered peculiarly efficacious for the cure of demoniacal possession, exhibiting itself in the form of epilepsy or hysteria.
Besides the shrine at Nigâha, there are numerous other shrines of the saint, of which the most celebrated are those connected with the annual fair at Dhonkal in Gujrânwâla, the Jhanda fair at Peshâwar, and the Kadmon fair at Anârkali, near Lahore. At Dhonkal there is a magic well which was produced by the saint, the water of which is much in request. At Anârkali a class of musicians, called Dholis, take young children, who are presented at the tomb, and dance about with them. In the neighbourhood of Delhi he is not held in so much respect, but shrines in his honour are common, vows and pilgrimages to him are frequent, and Brâhmans tie threads on the wrists of their clients on a fixed day in his name. Under the name of Lâkhdâta he has become the patron deity of athletes, and especially of wrestlers.
In the central districts of the Panjâb, his shrine, an unpretending little edifice, is to be seen outside nearly every hamlet. “The shrine is a hollow plastered brick cube, eight or ten feet in each direction, covered with a dome some ten or twelve feet high and with low minarets or pillars at the four corners, and a doorway in front, opening out generally on a plastered brick platform. Facing the doorway inside are two or three niches for lamps, but otherwise the shrine is perfectly empty. The saint is especially worshipped on Thursdays, when the shrine is swept, and at night lamps are lit inside it. The guardians of the shrine are Musalmâns of the Bharai clan, who go round on Thursdays beating drums and collecting offerings. These offerings, which are generally in small change or small handfuls of grain or cotton, are mainly presented by women. Another method of pleasing the saint is by vowing a Rôt; the Rôt is made by placing dough to the extent vowed on a hot piece of earth, where a fire has been burning, and distributing it when it is baked. He is also worshipped by sleeping on the ground instead of on a bed. Wrestling matches are also held in his honour, and the offerings made to the performers go towards keeping up the shrine at Nigâha. A true worshipper of Sultân will not sell milk on Thursday; he will consume it himself or give it away.”
Sarwar is essentially a saint of the Jâts, and he is also revered by Gûjars and Jhînwars, and women even of the Khatri and Brâhman castes adore him. He has, according to the last returns, over four hundred thousand worshippers in the Panjâb, and eight thousand in the North-Western Provinces.