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HINDUISM

The Supernatural
in Nature of the
Sindhi Tradition
 April 7, 2014  Add Comment
 10 Min Read

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People of the Hindu faith demonstrate a great

deal of variety in their everyday ritualistic
expression. Most of these practices are rooted
in the oral tradition.

Many different explanations of the cosmic

reality, as perceived by a Hindu mind, are
found in classical compositions — the Vedas,
the Brahmanas, the Puranas, the epics, the
Bhagavad Gita and so on. At the same time,
many age-old folk beliefs have been orally
transmitted through the intervention of
avataras, gurus, or through miracles and
akasavanis. These beliefs usually prevail
among speci c groups and their impact is
con ned to a smaller region. In this context,
anthropologists distinguish two streams of
tradition: ‘high’ tradition enjoying the
legitimacy of scriptures or of philosophical
interpretation, and ‘low’ tradition backed by
syncretic beliefs and myths.
Among the Sindhi Hindus is a popular sect
known as the Daryapanthis, ‘followers of the
river’, who worship a folk deity named
Uderolal; the word is said to be derived from
Sanskrit odaka, meaning water. Many temples
named after the deity were built in different
parts of the erstwhile Sindh in undivided India.
The same deity is revered as Zindah Pir or
Khwaja Khizr among Muslims as well, and has
main places of worship: one on an island near
Rohri (in northern Sindh) and another, at the
Lal Shahbaz Dargah, associated with the Su
mystic Mast Qalandar, in Sehwan (in central
Sindh).

The believers of Daryapanth worship joti and

jalu. They have elaborate rituals on religious
and festive occasions throughout the year,
particularly on Chetichandu, marking the
beginning of new year. Chetichandu coincides
with Gandi Parva the new year festival in
Maharashtra. Various pujas are performed,
initiated by the priestly class called Thakkurs
(believed to be Khatris, the descendants of the
rst disciple of Uderolal). These practices have
been transmitted orally. No claims are made
about the existence of any written text in the
name of the holy deity of his descendants
(though, surprisingly, the legendary gure of
Uderolal on river sh palo is shown holding a
scripture in his hand). In recent decades in
spite of the inception of the print media, few
booklets have been compiled, formulated on
the basis of oral transmission.

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This chapter discusses the socio-historical

background of the sect and various rituals
associated with the folk beliefs of the
Daryapanthis, exalting the miraculous powers
of the cosmic order, particularly those of the
ame and the water.

There are many legends concerning the river

deity, called by various names, Uderolal,
Jhulelal, Amarlal, associated with certain
historical events in Sindh during the early
Medieval period. It is commonly believed that,
in response to persistent prayers to Lord
Varuna from the oppressed folk, the river deity
Darya Shah, River Lord, incarnated himself in a
family of a boatman at Nasarpur (on the
banks of river Sindhu in central Sindh), in the
tenth century, as their saviour from the
atrocities of a chief of Thatta named Mirkh
Shah in lower Sindh. Having won the erce
battle, Uderolal through his miracles brought
about a change of heart in the atrocious king,
who also became his devotee. Devotional
hymns, called janam sakhia and panjiras, are
sung by the devotees of Daryapanth, exalting
the river deity as a young warrior on a valiant
horse emerging from river Sindhu, as a sage
riding on palo ‘sweet-water sh’ against the
tide, and as a jogi who received guru mantra
from Gorakhnath and made a pilgrimage to
the Hinglaj Devi (a holy place of Nathpanthis,
situated on the Sindh-Baluchistan border).

Rhythmic compositions form a signi cant

aspect of the folklore among the
Daryapanthis. Panjiras, ve-line devotional
verses (sometimes stretched to seven lines),
are composed by devotees for speci c
occasions and presented as an offering to the
exalted deity. One such popular version is:

Munhinji beri athai vicha sira te

palau panyan thi man jinda pira te
jotiyuni vara lala udera
kei kani tha to dari pera
tunhinji mahira amira faqira te palau . . . .

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My boat is in the mid-stream

I submit myself to the Jinda Pir
Oh ! Lala Udera ! decorated with eternal lights
Several devotees call upon at your doorsteps
Your blessings are alike for the rich and for
the poor.
I submit . . . .

Jhulelal’s mission is identi ed by

1. performing many miracles as a messenger

of Lord Varuna, pacifying con icting sects
with the doctrine of One Almighty.

2. mitigating miseries of the oppressed

(Hindus as well as Muslims); and
 3. promoting the worship of superior powers
through joti ‘holy ame’ and jalu ‘holy
water’ as the source of life.

A samadhi and a qubo (mausoleum), attributed

to Jhulelal and Zindah Pir, are located at the
same place near village Jhijhan (in Nasarpur),
where Hindus and Muslims go for pilgrimage.
The Su dargah of Lal Shahbaz in Sehwan is
also associated with the worship of Zindah
Pir. Till today a place in the interior of the
dargah is maintained by the Su s for the
worship of Hindu devotees.

A forty-day vigil chaliho saheb is performed by

devotees of the river deity, culminating with
the thanksgiving festivities, awaiting the arrival
of their saviour. Chetichandu (new moon of
chaitra) is celebrated marking the event of
Uderolal’s birth.

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One remarkable feature of Daryapanthis is

that many of the elaborate rituals worshipping
the ame and water have been transmitted
orally in the past one thousand years or so.
Followers of Daryapanth, called shewaks,
perform various rituals at the initiation of
Thakkurs, in temples or in individual homes;
they take bahrano, an exquisite decorated
offering in a thali (a big tray) for Uderolal to
the river, and participate in a procession
dancing their way with chheja ‘crescendo,
inundation’, a dance of joy resembling the
Gujarati Dandia Raas.

An elaborate ritual connected with bahrano

‘offering to the owing stream’ has many
parallels with Vedic rituals of havan, except
that it substitutes water for re, and after the
puja the decorated thali is ceremoniously
taken to the river (stream or ocean) for
immersion, accompanied with chorus music
and folk dancing. A large portion of wheat
our, kneaded with fresh water, is equally
divided for preparing one or more (preferably
ve) modakas (round balls) and lamps; ve
wicks soaked in cooking oil or ghee are placed
in each lamp. Flour balls are placed by the
side of lamps, which are sprinkled with
kumkum and adorned with cloves,
cardamoms, sugar candy, owers and fresh
milk; kumkum is applied to the our lamps as
well. The tray is scented with burning dhoop
and agarbattis; camphor and sandalwood are
burnt for lighting the rst wick, from which
other wicks for the rest of the lamps are lit.
Five assorted fruits, along with a coconut, are
placed next to the our balls; paddy and sugar
are also set aside in the tray to be available
for individual offerings to the river lord, called
akho (aksaya). Auspicious markings of aum
and Ganesh are drawn with kumkum and a
betel is placed over the markings.

A small kalash (earthen urn), lled with fresh

water and covered with a coconut on the top,
is placed next to the decorated tray. Another
tray is lled with prasada, called sesa, made
of sweetened rice and black grams; one-third
of the sesa is immersed in river and the rest
is distributed among the devotees after the
ceremony. In the midst of singing panjiras,
clinging of cymbals, and the frenzy of chheja
dance on the riverbank, both trays are taken
to the midstream for immersion. At the
culmination of the ceremony, water taken
from the midstream is sprinkled over the
devotees as a mark of blessing from the river
deity. There is an air of fanfare and festivity
on the river bank.

Oblations to the owing waters (river, stream,

ocean) is quite widespread among the Sindhis,
irrespective of sectarian af liations, as the
subsistence of the desert people has been
largely on the river Sindhu. Devout believers
regularly make an offering of akho (on
occasions, along with an oil lamp preferably
made of wheat dough), when crossing the
river.

According to the legend, Uderolal, after having

accomplished the worldly mission (as saviour
of the down-trodden), took his chosen
disciple Pagad (Pongad) to the bottom of
bhavasagar to reveal the divine experience of
creation to him. Taking him to the joti
mandaru at the bottom of the fathomless
waters, Uderolal identi edagni as the almighty
power of creation, and explained the
signi cance of worshipping the omnipotent
joti and jalu to his disciple.
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On returning to the surface, Uderolal installed

Pagad as the custodian of joti mandaru for his
devotees on earth and handed over seven
sacred articles to be part of every joti
mandaru.

joti:            a lighted earthen lamp,

manifesting the omnipotent

jhari:         a kalash

kantha:     a silken cloth-cover, also called

pakhara, as a shield against evil

veedha:    a ring, ful lling one’s mission, like

kalpa (verho) vrksa

dhokla:     a damru, signifying the original

nada

tegh:         a sword, signifying control over

external and internal lures; it protects from
demonic forces

degi:         a metallic vessel for cooking

sweetened rice tahiri as aksya patra (for
providing sesa parsadu to devotees)

Joti and jhari are to be installed in the centre-

stage of the temple, dhokla is used for singing
hymns, and degi for preparing sesa parsadu,
and kantha and veedha invoke the blessings of
the priest. The signi cance of joti and jalu
rituals among Daryapanthis has a close
parallel with the Zoroastrian rituals among
Parsees in India connected with atish (eternal
ame) and ava (holy water) as primary forces
of nature. These rituals are supported by
Avestan texts (Boyce 1989, Randeria 1992).

With the migration of a large number of Sindhi

Hindus to India, scattered in distant places,
professional Thakkurs continue making
periodic visits to the homes of their shewaks
to perform pujas or the shewaks making
individual contributions to their priest to
perform pujas on their behalf in newly
installed Jhulelal temples in many Sindhi
settlements in the country. Lately the
celebration of Chetichandu has acquired an
added signi cance of creating a cultural bond
of unity among the Sindhis scattered in the
heterogeneous milieu of the Indian
subcontinent.

There are different ways of organizing and

looking at the universe. Primal groups such as
tribals in central and northeastern regions
show an abiding faith in nature; they live in
harmony with nature. In the tribal worldview,
nature is conceived as an order that includes
man.

The oral tradition of Uderolal worship

highlights the bountiful powers of nature. In a
way it illustrates the human faculties of
perceiving and recreating the world as
conditioned by the socio-ecological
environment. The Daryapanthis of Sindh
present a unique blend of folk rituals
emerging from the desert conditions,
integrated with the in uences of the
Nathpanth, Bhakti cult, and Su mysticism as
prevailing in northern India in the early
Medieval period.

~ Lachman K. Khubchandani

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