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. [395]
The power of conferring male offspring has made the reputation of many saints of this class, like the famous Salîm Chishti of Fatehpur Sîkri, whose prayers were efficacious in procuring an heir for the Emperor Akbar. Up to the present day childless women visit his shrine and hang rags on the delicate marble traceries of his tomb to mark their vows.
Besides this sainthood which is based on sanctity of life and approved thaumaturgic powers, the right of deification is conferred on persons who have been eminent or notorious in their lives, or who have died in some extraordinary or notorious way. All or nearly all the deified saints of Northern India may be grouped under one or other of these categories.
We have already given an instance of the second class in Hardaul Lâla, the cholera godling. Another example of the same kind is that of Harshu Pânrê or Harshu Bâba, the local god of Chayanpur, near Sahsarâm in Bengal, whose worship is now rapidly spreading over Northern India, and promises to become as widely diffused as that of Hardaul himself. He was, according to the current account, a Kanaujiya Brâhman, the family priest of Râja Sâlivâhana of Chayanpur. The Râja had two queens, one of whom was jealous of the priest's influence. About this time the priest built a fine house close to the palace, and one night the Râja and the Rânî saw a light from its upper story gleaming aloft in the sky. The Rânî hinted to the Râja that the priest had designs of ousting his master from the kingdom; so the Râja had his house demolished and resumed the lands which had been conferred upon him. The enraged Brâhman did dharnâ, in other words fasted till he died at the palace gate. This tragical event occurred in 1427 A.D., and when they took his body for cremation at Benares, they found Harshu standing in his wooden sandals on the steps of the burning Ghât. He then informed them that he had become a Brahm, or malignant Brâhman ghost. The Râja's daughter had been kind to the Brâhman in his misfortunes and he blessed her, so that her family exists in prosperity to this day. But the rest of his house was destroyed, and now only the gateway at which the Brâhman died remains to commemorate the tragedy. [396]