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]
Minor Saints.
Of the minor saints the number is legion, and only a few instances can be given. At Makanpur in the Cawnpur District is the tomb of Zinda Shâh Madâr, who gives his name to the class of Musalmân Faqîrs, known as Madâri. He is said to have been a native of Halab or Aleppo, and to have come to this place in 1415 A.D., when he expelled a famous demon named Makan Deo, after whom the place was named. Low class Hindus and Musalmâns worship him because he is supposed to save them from snakes and scorpions, and the Kahâr bearers, as they go through jungle at night, call out Dam Madâr! The saint is said to have had the power of restraining his breath, whence his name. In the holy of holies of his shrine no woman is allowed to enter, no lights are lighted, no hymns are chanted and no food is cooked.