Note 48 — Chapter IV · WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS AND SAINTS.
Reading edition
15. Pir Māhābali:—The tomb of this Pir is situated at Gotarkā near Rādhanpur. Every year a fair is held in honour of this tomb, when the chief Pujāri of the shrine of Varalu goes there, holding in one hand a bayonet with its point touching his breast, and in the other, a cocoanut. It is said that when the Pujāri reaches the third step leading to the entrance of the shrine, the locked doors of the shrine fly open, and the Pujāri throws the cocoanut into the shrine. If the shrine gates do not open of themselves on his approach, the Pujāri has to stab himself to death then and there.48