Miracle-working Tombs.
These saints have wrested from the reluctant gods by sheer piety and relentless austerities, a portion of the divine thaumaturgic power, which exudes after their death from the places where their bodies are laid. This is the case with the shrines of both Hindu and Musalmân saints. Many instances of this will be found in succeeding pages. Thus at Chunâr there is a famous shrine in honour of Shâh Qâsim Sulaimâni,17 a local saint whose opinions were so displeasing to Akbar that he imprisoned him here till his death in 1614 A.D. His cap and turban are still shown at his tomb, and these, when gently rubbed by one of his disciples, pour out a divine influence through the assembled multitude of votaries, many of whom are Hindus. This holy influence extends even to the animal kingdom. Thus the tomb of the saint Nirgan Shâh at Sarauli in the Bareilly District abounds in scorpions, which bite no one through the virtue of the saint.
Hindu saints of the same class are so directly imbued with the divine afflatus that they need not the purifying influence of fire, and are buried, not cremated. Their Samâdhi or final resting-place is usually represented by a pile of earth, or a tomb or tumulus of a conical or circular form. Others, again, like some of the Gusâîns, are after death enclosed in a box of stone and consigned to the waters of the Ganges. These shrines are generally occupied by a disciple or actual descendant of the saint, and there vows and prayers are made and offerings presented.