Note 63 — Volume II.

Eastern Bhoksas—Religion. 11. This division of the Bhoksas has been so far Hinduised that some of them employ Gaur Brâhmans in their marriage and funeral ceremonies. Some are Sikhs, and the wife follows the religion (path) of her husband, and the children that of their father. One of the Tarâi Parganas is called Nânakmatha, after the great Sikh Guru, and there is a Sikh shrine there as well as at Dehra and Srinagar. But they have their own indigenous medicine men (padhân). They pay special devotion to the death goddess known as Bhawâni or Devi, whose functions are the same as those of the Thâru goddess, Kâlika. They have also two local saints, Sarwar Lakhi and Kâlu Sayyid, of whom Dr. Stewart could learn nothing. Sarwar Lakhi is evidently the famous Sakhi Sarwar Sultân, also known as Lakhdâta or the giver of lakhs. His real name was Sayyid Ahmad, and he flourished about the middle of the twelfth century. His principal shrine is at Nagaha, in the Dehra Ghâzi Khân District. He is said to have been a disciple of Bâba Nânak: he is the patron of athletes, and especially of wrestling.63 Kâlu Sayyid may have some connection with Kâli Sinh, the Panjâb snake godling.64 But he is more probably identical with the deity known to the Baheliyas as Kâlu Bîr, to the Banjâras as Kâlu Deo, and to the Kahârs, as Kâlu Kahâr. One story is that he was born of a Kahâr girl, who by magical charms compelled King Solomon to marry her, with the result that she bore a son, Kâlu Bâba, who is worshipped extensively by Kahârs, Chamârs, Sainis, Gadariyas, and other low castes in the form of a fetish stick decorated with peacocks’ feathers. The last Census shows 266,191 votaries of this godling. Sarwar Lakhi has a shrine at the entrance to the main pass through the Siwâlik hills into the Pâtli Dûn, and all wayfarers, as they pass, of whatever race, tribe, or creed, make offerings to his shrine.