Jhulelal- The Sindhi God - Part 2 - by Shewak Nandwani

It was due to the tragic holocaust of partition, the Sindhi community scattered and disbursed allover. Everyone was thinking of only one thong. Leaving Matra Bhumi (Birth place) was very difficult. Come to think of it. If you are asked to leave your birthplace, where you spent all your life, and going to someplace which is alien, unknown. How would one feel? One could loose one’s mind. Not only that, there was also fear of danger of getting harmed by the present occupiers of Pakistan. Possibility of losing life. Every one was more concerned about making a new living in a foreign land( present India) getting back to decent life (as we were forced to leave without any money, only Rs. 10- per head) and a few sets of clothing. Sindhis left without money, without clothes and personal possessions and this made them forget about their God, Jhulelal. The golden thread of faith and fervor had been lost.

Out of all these stranded Sindhis, there was this one godly soul. Professor Ram Panjwani, born and bred in Larkana , from a place called Dokri (quite near to Mohen-jo-Daro). Popularly known as Dada. He saw the light and realized the reason for our suffering in new lands. We were penniless, landless and Godless. This could have been the reason for our sufferings. To helps us get relief from the sufferings Dada Panjwani rekindled the light and started with ’JEKO CHAWANDO JHULELAL TANHIJA THINDA BERA PAAR’ and all Sindhis from every nook and corner of the earth, started remembering Daryashah and Daryashah started helping them like he did the Sindhis during the days of Mirkhshah. Dada Panjwani, filled with feelings of love and compassion for Sindhi brethren in distress, travelled from place to place reminding the Sindhis of their blessed God and their great heritage, awakening them for their dire need for unity of the community and their living in unity of the community and their living in atmosphere of solidarity, universal love and brotherhood. Dada did this not only in all parts of India but he went wherever the Sindhis, may it be St. Thomas to Singapore, New York to New Zealand, Brazil to Bangkok, Las Vegas to Laos and Lagos, Denmark to Dubai,. He reached out to them to remind them of Sindh and sindhi songs, Chej of Bhagat Kanwar Ram and above all about that Jhulan, who had saved Sindhis then and who, we prayed again to give us respectable Roti, Kapda and Makaan. Only after this rekindling of the jyoti which reminded Sindhis of our Sindhi God Jhulelal, things started moving for all Sindhis. Performing Pooja and having baharana every month, made our Sindhis more prosperous in every way. Jhulelal once again came as a saviour. Now read on the 2nd part:

An astrologer-an ascetic person who looked into the horoscope of the new born child, proclaimed that this was not an ordinary child. He predicted that the child will be a great warrior and his popularity will outlive him. He named the child Udaichand: Uday in Sanskrit means moon-like light, here it means one who brings light in darkness. A Punjabi astrologer in Nassarpur called the child Uderolal; Udero in Sanskrit means one who is near water or who has sprung from waters. Inhabitants of Nassarpur called the newborn Amarlal, an immortal child. A miracle took place from the very day of the birth of the child. The cradle wherein Uderolal rested, always kept on swinging on its own. It is because of this that Uderolal is also called ’ Jhulelal’- the swinging child. And the cradle swung to and fro like the waves of Sindhu! The name Jhulelal was most befitting and has accordingly become most popularly recognized. ’Jhulan’ came to be accepted as the pet name of child. Everyone knows that the Palla fish too by its very nature, swings like a cradle.

Devki, the Jhulelal’s mother did not live for long thereafter. After her death Ratanchand remarried. Jhulelal sucked step mother’s milk . This can be compared with Sri Ramchandra’s sucking from his step mother Kekai’s instead of his real mother Kaushaliya and Lord Krishna doing similarly of Mata Yashoda.

In the meantime, Mirkhshah also got the news of the birth of the mysterious child. He called the Panchs and asked them how long he was supposed to wait for their reply to his demand: "Either accept Islam or die". Hindu now being quite convinced and confident of their savior having really taken birth, implored, "A few months more our Lord! Savior of Hindus has already taken birth. He is the Water God...".

Mirkhshah scoffed at the very idea: A child saving Hindus! He said sarcastically. "All right! Neither I am dying, nor you people are leaving this land: I shall wait . When your savior embraces Islam, I am sure you will follow suit."

The Maulvis pressed upon Mirkhshah hard for settling issue without any further delay. But the very idea of a child becoming more than a match for him could not be digested by Mirkhshah. He told the Maulvis, "Wait and watch. We shall surely win. Why make haste unnecessarily?". It is said, not without reason, that curiosity killed the cat. After disposing of Hindus, Mirkhshah became very anxious to have a firsthand knowledge about the mysterious child. He decided to deputy one of his ministers name Ahirio to Nassarpur to see and gauge things for himself.

Ahirio decided to make use of deceit. He took a rose dipped in deadly poison and asked Ratanchand to take him to the new born baby. Ahirio was astonished at the very first glimpse of the child. He had never seen such a dazzling and charming baby. He hesitated for a while, but soon mustering up his courage, he extended the flower to the baby’s lips. Uderolal gave a meaningful smile and blew the flower in one breath. The flower flew out of Ahirio’s hand and fell far away on the ground. Then Ahirio saw that the child was no more in the cradle. Instead, an old man with white long beard was staring at him! All of a sudden the old man turned into a lad of sixteen years! Again the scene changed; he saw Uderolal on a horseback with a blazing naked sword in his hand and there were rows of warriors behind him. It was a scene of battle field. A cold shiver passed through the body of Ahirio, who bowed his head in reverence and entreated, " Have mercy Sindhu Lord. I am convinced, Hindus are safe...".

On his return to Nassarpur Ahirio narrated all the miraculous occurrences to Mirkhshah. Mirkhshah said, "It seems you have been under the spell of magic. How can a child turn into a young boy and an old man and then a warrior on the horse back, simultaneously? Impossible! Next to impossible!!.

But in the heart of his heart, Mirkhshah was scared.That very night in his sleep, he dreamt a dreadful scene.... A child was sitting on his thorax; then it changed into an oldman with white beard, sailing in the sea with a book in his hand. Then the scene changed again. He was confronted by a warrior with a drawn sword; on the battle field and saw himself losing ground....."

Next morning he called for Ahirio and asked him to think of any counter action in the matter. Ahirio advised him to lie low for the time being and wait and watch.

Uderolal as a child, performed many miracles for Ratanchand and the inhabitants of Nassarpur. They were all fully convinced that God Himself had descended on the earth to fulfil his promise made in Bhagwad Geeta. Nevertheless, Ratanchand performed all the routine ceremonies as a parent. He had the tonsure of the child’s head called ’Munnan’; then he took the child to a Vedic scholar and requested him to take the child under his protege. The FDIC scholar smiled meaningfully and started imparting knowledge- worldly as well as spiritual to the child. When the question of giving of ’Gur-Mantra’ to Uderolal came up. Ratanchand took the child to Gorakhnath, who said, "Yes, for the namesake I shall give him the ’Gur-Mantra’, otherwise I know well, he needs none; on the contrary he has to teach us all so many things worth learning". Uderolal received the ’Gur-Mantra’ of ’ Alakh Niranjan’ from Gorakhnath.

Udero’s step mother wanted him to earn some money for the family. She gave him a container full of boiled beans to sell in the market. Udero instead of going to market, went to the banks of Sindhu. Half of the contents he distributed free among the beggars, poor and pious ones who lived on the river bank. The other half, he made an offering of it to Sindhu. During the afternoon he talked to the children and elderly persons about the spiritual wealth on the river bank. In the evening the same container emerged from the waters, and came swimming to him. The container was full with fine quality of rice.

When the step mother started getting the fine quality of rice every day, she got suspicious. One day she sent Ratanchand after Udero. Ratanchand followed Udero discreetly all the day and witnessed the miracle. He bowed to Udero from a distance and accepted either as the God Himself or his Messenger.

On the other hand, Mirkhshah was once again being pressurized by the Maulvis. They told him not to waste any more time and that he should either convert the Hindus to Islam and vouch-safe for his own blissful life in’ Jannat’ or be ready to be declared as an associate of ’kaffirs’ the infidels.

Since Mirkhshah did not like to be branded as an infidel, he had no other alternative but to meet Uderolal either face to face privately, or on the battlefield. He asked Ahirio to arrange for a private meeting with Uderolal. Ahirio, who had in the meantime, become a devotee of Daryashah (Uderolal), went to the bank of Indus and prayed to Water-God to come to his rescue and save him from the onslaught of the king and religious fanatic. To Ahirio’s astonishment, he saw an oldman with white beard in saintly clothes, sailing on a Palla (fish) ,going against the tide, north way. Ahirio’s head bowed in adoration and admiration and he understood once and for all that Uderolal the Water-God, was holy man for Muslims also. He proclaimed at the top of his voice that Khwaja Khizr swam the Sindhu against tide and rested on an island near Rohri!