Modern Saints.
We have already noticed some instances of the canonization in modern times of saints and holy men. Of worthies of this kind, who have received divine honours, the number is legion. This deification of human beings is found in the very early Brâhmanical literature. One of the most noteworthy ideas to be found in the Brâhmanas is that the gods were merely mortal till they conquered Death by their sacrifices. Death, alarmed, protested to the gods, and it was then arranged that no one should become immortal by the force of his piety without first offering his body to Death. Manu declares that “from his birth alone a Brâhman is regarded as a divinity, even by the gods.”[28] Modern practice supports this by calling him Mahâ-râja or “Great king,” and he rises to heaven as a deity, like many of the famous kings of old.[29] In the same way the Etruscans had certain rites through which the souls of men could become gods and were called Dii Animales, because they had once been human souls. Quite in consonance with Indian practice they first became Penates and Lares before they rose to the rank of the superior deities.[30]
Deification in Modern Times.
A few examples of modern deification may be given to illustrate this phase of the popular faith. Thus, one Gauhar Shâh was quite recently canonized at Meerut because he delivered a prophecy that a windmill belonging to a certain Mr. Smith would soon cease to work. The fulfilment of his prediction was considered ample evidence of his sanctity, and the question was put beyond the possibility of doubt when, just before his death, the holy man directed his disciples to remove him from an inn, which immediately fell down. Another saint of the same place is said to have given five years of his life to the notorious Begam Samru, who died in 1836, in all the odour of sanctity.
Shaikh Bûrhan.
Shaikh Bûrhan, a saint of Amber, was offered a drink of milk by Mokul, one of the Shaikhâwat chiefs, and immediately performed the miracle of drawing a copious stream of milk from the udder of an exhausted female buffalo. “This was sufficient to convince the old chief that he could work other miracles, and he prayed that through his means he might no longer be childless. In due time he had an heir, who, according to the injunction of Bûrhan, was styled, after his own tribe, Shaikh, whence the title of the clan. He directed that the child should wear the cross strings (baddiya) worn by Muhammadan children, which, when laid aside, were to be deposited at the saint’s shrine, and further that he should assume the blue tunic and cap, abstain from hog’s flesh, and eat no meat in which the blood remained. He also ordained that at the birth of every Shaikhâwat a goat should be sacrificed, the Islâmite creed or Kalima recited, and the child sprinkled with the blood.” These customs are still observed, and the Shaikh’s shrine is still a sanctuary, while his descendants enjoy lands specially assigned to them.[31]