Worship of Bâba Farîd Shakkarganj.
Bâba Farîd Shakkarganj, or “fountain of sweets,” so called because he was able miraculously to transmute dust or salt into sugar, was born in 1173 A.D., and died in 1265. His tomb is at Pâkpatan, and he enjoys high consideration in Northern India. He was a disciple of Qutb-ud-dîn Bakhtyâr Kâki, who again sat at the feet of Muîn-ud-dîn Chishti of Ajmer, also a great name to swear by. Farîd’s most distinguished disciple was Nizâm-ud-dîn Auliya, who has a lovely tomb at Ghayâspur, near Delhi. Farîd was very closely associated with Bâba Nânak, and much of the doctrine of early Sikhism seems to have been based on his teaching. He is said to have possessed the Dast-i-ghaib, or “hidden hand,” a sort of magic bag which gave him anything he wished, which is like the wishing hat and inexhaustible pot or purse, which is a stock element in Indian and European folk-lore.[68]
The Emperor, it is said, tried to humble him when he came to Delhi, but he answered in the famous proverb—Delhî dûr ast—“Delhi is far away,” the Oriental equivalent to Rob Roy’s “It is a far cry to Lochow.”
The Musalmân Thags looked on him as the founder of their system, and used to make pilgrimages to his tomb. He is believed to have been connected with the Assassins or disciples of the Old Man of the Mountain.[69] Every devotee who contrives to get through the door of his mausoleum at the prescribed time of his feast is assured of a free entrance into Paradise hereafter. The crowd is therefore immense, and the pressure so great that two or three layers of men, pushed closely over each other, generally attempt the passage at the same time, and serious accidents, notwithstanding every precaution taken by the police, are not uncommon.[70]
He comes in direct succession to some of the worthies to whom reference has been already made. To Khwâja Muîn-ud-dîn Chishti succeeded Khwâja Qutb-ud-dîn Bakhtyâr Kâki, and Bâba Farîd followed him. They were the founders of the Chishtiya order of Faqîrs.
Besides his shrine at Pâkpatan he has another famous Dargâh at Shaikhsir in Bikâner, which is called after him, and the Jâts used to esteem him highly until, as Col. Tod[71] says, “The Bona Dea assumed the shape of a Jâtnî, to whom in the name of Kiranî Mâtâ, ‘Our Mother of the ray,’ all bend the head.” Another legend fixes his tomb at Girâr, in the Wârdha District of the Central Provinces.
The zeolitic concretions of the Girâr hill are accounted for as the petrified cocoanuts and other articles of merchandise belonging to two travelling dealers who mocked the saint, on which he turned their whole stock-in-trade into stones as a punishment. They implored his pardon, and he created a fresh supply for them from dry leaves, on which they were so struck by his power that they attached themselves to his service till they died.[72]
In the Western districts of the North-Western Provinces the first-fruits of the sugar-cane crop are dedicated to him.
He was a thrifty saint, and for the last thirty years of his life he supported himself by holding to his stomach wooden cakes and fruits whenever he felt hungry. In this he resembled Qutb-ud-Dîn Ushi, who was able by a miracle to produce cakes for the support of his family and himself.[73]