1 THE MODERN HINDUS. 43
2 Certain pools and tanks are considered sacred and are celebrated places of
3 pilgrimage.
4 Snake worship is very prevalent in the Panjab, and the festival of Ndg
5 Panchmi is observed in honour of the snake deity. In Kuli many tem-
6 _ ples are dedicated to the ndg, or serpent, to whom are attributed divine
7 powers.* In the upper. Bids valley there are temples dedicated solely
8 to serpents. The deoddr (from deva, divine, and ddrt, remedy) tree
9 is worshipped in the-hills of Kula and oblations are offered before it. The
10 ‘deity is propitiated by the offer of a piece ofiron. It cures diseases in per-
11 sons and cattle, protects the flocks of shepherds and gives good crops to
12 husbandmen. Thejand tree, the product of arid lands, isthe “ Mother Jand”
13 which blesses people with children. It is presented with wreaths of flowers,
14 fanned and pressed with both hands for hours together, that the kind mother
15 may be propitiated. A marriage procession must go to her, to offer benedic-
16 tions, if the kind mother is not far. If at a distance, she has yet power to
17 make men and women happy. The astonished spectator may often find a
18 Hindu girl, in, the Jhang and Multdn districts, standing before the jandi
19 mother with downcast and tearful eyes, praying in musical tones: “ Jandi
20 de wadde darbar bachra lene aiydn,” “I have come to the grand darbar of
21 Jandi to solicit from her the gift of a child.” Another young woman may be
22 found prostrating herself before the goddess, singing :—
23 wksila wliyn plod os Use
24 wlstle wl 5 15,5 22 Glo (St?
25 -
26 “The darbar of Jandi is ever brilliant with lamps,
27 Give mé a baby to play in my lap; O Jandi, thy lamps are ever shining.”
28 Stones possessing some peculiarity are worshipped. In Kdlanaur, in the
29 district of Gurdaspur, there is a black hillock round which thousands from the
30 neighbourhood flock in order to worship it. A grand edifice is built on it,
31 and it is called the seat of Mahddeo, or the “ Great Deity.”
32 The sainted dead are worshipped. The worship of some of these saints is
33 common to both Hindus and Mahomedans. The tombs of Saint Sakhi
34 Sarwar at Nigahia, in the district of Multan, Bawa Farid Shakarganj, at
35 Pakpattan, in the district of Montgomery, Bu Ali Kalandar, at Panipat, in
36 the district of Karnal, and Mai Hir, at Jhang, are the chief instances of the
37 reverence paid by the Hindus to Mahomedan shrines. Many Hindus have
38 belief in the celebrated Mahomedan saint, the Pir Dastgir of Jilan, and
39 make offerings of sweetmeats in his honour, Similarly, Khwaja Khizr,
40 to whom, according to the Mahomedans, the care of travellers and of rivers
41 is contided, is also worshipped by the Hindus. Heis the Hindu god of water,
42 and lamps are lighted in his honour on the banks of rivers and canals, or on
43 the brinks of wells.
44 A belief in the transmigration of souls forms the principal element of the
45 Hindu faith. Until the soul is purified in its essence there can be no de-
46 liverance from a future existence ; the soul must appear and disappear in the
47 forms of various, beings until that degree of purity is attained, The laws of
48 Mant lay down rules for the accomplishment of this object. The chief of
49 * The Himdlayan Districts of Kult, Léhoul and Spiti, by Captain A.F. P. Harcourt, Bengal
50 Staff Corps, Assistant Commissioner, Panjitb. Describing these temples, the author says, “ the
51 effigies of serpents are profusely cut either in wood along the lintels of the doorways or iron
52 casts of the same being screwed into the woodwork of the door-posts,”
53 Snake worship.
54 Tree worship.
55 The jand tree.
56 Worship of stones,
57 Worship of the
58 sainted dead.
59 Belief in the trans-
60 migration of souls.
61 Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com