’Hummoon commenced under the tuition of the Durweish the practice of devotional exercises.  He forsook (as was required of him) all vain pursuits, worldly desires, or selfish gratifications; day and night was devoted to religious study and prayer, and such was the good effect of his perseverance and progressive increase of faith, that at the end of some few months he had entirely left off thinking of the first object of his adoration, his whole heart and soul being absorbed in contemplation of, and devotion to, his Creator.  At the end of a year, no trace or remembrance of his old passion existed; he became a perfect Durweish, retired to a solitary place, where under the shade of trees he would sit alone for days and nights in calm composure, abstracted from every other thought but that of his God, to whom he was now entirely devoted.’

I am told that this Durweish, Hummoon Shah, is still living in the Lahore province, a pattern of all that is excellent in virtue and devotion.

[1] Mir Ilahi Bakhsh.

[2] Shah Sharif-ud-din, Mahmud.

[3] Jame’ Masjid, the Congregational mosque.

[4] Faqir, a poor man, one poor in the sight of God.

[5] Pathan, a frontier tribe, many of which reside in British India.

[6] Such a person is called Hafiz.

[7] Maulavi Mir Sayyid Muhammad.

[8] Early in the eighteenth century Farrukhabad, now a district of
    this name in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, became an
    independent State during the decay of the Moghul Empire.  The line of
    Nawabs was founded by Muhammad Khan, an Afghan of the Bangash
    tribe.  It was annexed by Oudh in 1749 and ceded to the British in 1801,
    on which event the Nawab ceased to be independent.  The last Nawa
    b joined the rebels in the mutiny of 1857.

[9] Wilayati Begam, the foreign lady.

[10] See p. 67.

[11] Shah-ud-daula.

[12] Chadar.

[13] Mir Nizam-ud-din.

[14] Mir Ilahi Bakhsh.

[15] Labada, a rain-coat.

[16] Hamun.

LETTER XXV

Mussulmaun Devotees.—­The Chillubdhaars.—­Peculiar mode of worship.—­Propitiatory offerings.—­Supposed to be invulnerable to fire.—­The Maadhaars or Duffelees.—­Character of the founder.—­Pilgrimage to his tomb.—­Females afflicted on visiting it.—­Effects attributed to the violation of the sanctuary by a foreigner.—­Superstition of the Natives.—­Anecdote of Sheikh Suddoo and the Genii.—­The way of the world exemplified, a Khaunie (Hindoostaunie fable).—­Moral fable.—­The King who longed for fruit...Page 370

There are many classes of men amongst the Mussulmauns, who either abjure the world or seem to do so, independent of those denominated Durweish;—­ such us the religions mendicants, &c., who have no earthly calling, and derive their subsistence from the free-will offerings of their neighbours, or the bounty of the rich, who from respect for their humble calling, and a hope of benefit from their prayers, or rather from the veneration of Mussulmauns towards such of their faith as have renounced the world for the service of God.