Haidarabad was once known as Nerankot and the king of it was Raja Neran. He had a beautiful daughter, who, from the exquisite skill with which she darkened her eyes with Kanjal or lampblack, reddened her cheeks with rouge and coloured her finger nails with henna, was known as Nigar or the Painted lady. Her courage was, if possible, greater even than her beauty. She scorned to ride camels or horses, as other well born Hindu ladies did. The only beast she would bestride was a lion and every evening outside Nerankot she might have been seen riding a splendid maned lion, who, when bridled by her, was as docile as the meekest ambling palfrey, to the touch of her finger on the reins. Nor would she suffer cowardice in others. She vowed and made public her vow that she would wed no man who feared to saddle and mount a lion.

It so happened that Shah Makai and Haidar Ali came about this time to Sind. Shah Makai’s real name was Shah Mahmud; but because he lived at Maka or Mecca, he was known as Shah Makai. Haidar Ali’s real name was Ali. But, because as a child he had torn to pieces a live snake with his bare hands, he was called Haidar Ali or the Ali who tore the “Hai” or snake. His fortune was as great as his childhood foretold; for in due course he became the son-in-law of the holy prophet and the fourth Imam of the Faithful. As the two friends journeyed [33]through Sind, they came to hear the fame of Nigar’s beauty and courage. Straightway they hastened to Nerankot and one evening Shah Makai saw the lovely girl astride of her lion, riding outside the walls. He fell madly in love with her. Then he heard that she had vowed not to marry anyone, unless he could tame and mount a lion. Shah Makai as a true and devout believer, had but little difficulty in performing this feat and the next time that Nigar rode abroad, she saw to her surprise and pleasure Shah Makai astride of a maned lion, hardly less majestic than her own. She asked him who he was; and learning that he had broken in the lion for love of her, she vowed that she would wed him and no other. Shah Makai sought an audience of Neran Raja and asked for his daughter’s hand. Nigar, too, pressed her father to give his consent to the marriage. But the proud king’s heart was as hard as stone and although he heard the full tale of Shah Makai’s courtship, he refused to give his daughter to one who was not a Hindu, but a Mleccha. With contumely he drove Shah Makai from his Court. When Nigar vowed that in spite of her father she would wed the bold Arabian, Raja Neran threw her into a well and had a huge stone put over its mouth. The evil news reached Shah Makai. He tried to move the stone; but it was so big, that even he, saint though he was, failed. He implored the help of Haidar Ali. To that pillar of Islam the task was light. He mounted his white mule Dhul Dhul and made it dance on the top of the stone. Then he dismounted and throwing himself at full length on the ground, he prayed Allah to remove it. He had hardly finished his prayer, when the stone rolled aside and Nigar with Haidar Ali’s help was able to climb out of the well. He gave her to Shah Makai, who carried her off in triumph. But Haidar Ali cursed the wicked Neran; and stretching wide the five fingers of his right hand made the bhundo sign at him. [34]Not long afterwards the curse was fulfilled. The Arabs landing on the sea coast of Sind swept through the land, stormed Nerankot and killed Raja Neran. For many centuries Nerankot lay in ruins. Then the wise and pious Ghulam Shah Kalhoro came to the spot and deeming it well fitted for the site of his capital city, he rebuilt Nerankot. While the new fortress was building, he raised a small mud stronghold close to the spot where Shah Makai and the beautiful Painted Lady were in their old age buried side by side. When Nerankot was finished, Ghulam Shah Kalhoro went to live in it and renamed it Haidarabad after Haidar Ali. He gave his mud stronghold to the Fakirs who guarded Shah Makai’s tomb. Up to Burton’s time a lion—said to be a descendant of Nigar’s riding lion—used to be kept in a cage under a tamarind tree, close to Shah Makai’s last resting place. The tree still stands, but the lion has vanished. The rise in the price of lion’s food was no doubt the cause of its disappearance.

About a quarter of a mile from the tomb of Shah Makai is another small but holy building known as Shah Kadam. Within it are preserved the stones on which Haidar Ali’s white mule Dhul Dhul did its miracle-working dance. Its hoof marks may still be seen stamped deep in the stone. By its side a slab bears the marks of Haidar Ali’s hands, knees, feet and forehead, which he made when he prostrated himself in prayer before Allah. And a third stone bears the marks of the saint’s fingers and thumb when he made the bhundo at Raja Neran. So violent was the Imam’s curse that it has lived on, monumentum aere perennius. The well into which Nigar was thrown is one of the three inside Nerankot, but none could tell me with certainty which it was. Perhaps the most interesting relic of that golden time is a great “djar” tree that grows near Shah Makai’s tomb. The guardian of the shrine assured me that it [35]had grown from a bit of stick, which the saint had one day used as a toothbrush and then carelessly thrown aside.