Jhulelal (Hinduism)

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This article is about the Hindu deity. For the Muslim mystic, see Jhulelal (Sufism).
Bhagwan Jhulelal
Jhulelal hindu deity.jpg
Jhulelal sitting on a lotus flower in the middle of a river and surrounded by a couple of silver fish (palla fish)
AffiliationVaruna Deva
AbodeSea & River Indus
MantraOm Jhulelalaya Namah
WeaponSword
MountHilsa & Horse
Personal information
SiblingsArhastra
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A folkloric hero among the sect of Daryapanthi Sindhis, Jhulelal has been manufactured to be the most revered deity of Sindhi Hindus in postcolonial South Asia.[1][2][a]

Legends roughly agree that Jhulelal was born during the rule of one Islamic despot "Mirkshah", who had issued an ultimatum to local Hindus for converting to Islam.[1][4] The child was the reincarnation of a Hindu deity and shew supernatural powers since childhood: he went on to preach about how the Hindus as well as Muslims believed in the same God and the Koran forbade conversion.[1][2] Ultimately, Jhulelal convinced the King to spare the Hindus and even gained devotees among the Muslims.[1][2]

Devotion towards Jhulelal was not uniform in pre-partition Sindh; many Sindhi Hindus had never heard of him and he was one of the many deities belonging to the Sindhi pantheon.[1][2] However, in 1950 an emigrant section of Sindhi Hindus, led by Ram Panjwani in Bombay, decided to transform Jhulelal into the iṣṭa-devatā of all Sindhi Hindus and unify the diaspora.[1][2] Devotional songs were penned, pamphlets printed, statues installed, festivals celebrated, and cultural events organized in thousands for the cause of Jhulelal.[1] Over the course of decades, Jhulelal has successfully become the representative Hindu God of Sindhis within the folds of Hinduism.[1]

Iconography of Jhulelal varies widely.[1][5] Sindhi Hindus worship Jhulelal at the Shrine at Odero Lal in Pakistan's Sindh province, which is jointly used by Hindus, and Sindhi Muslims who revere the shrine as the tomb of Sheikh Tahir. A second shrine named Jhulelal Tirthdham exists in India at Narayan Sarovar, Kutch, Gujarat.[6]

Folklore[]

Rough summary[]

After a long period of harmonious existence between the Hindus and Muslims, one Mirkshah of Thatta ascended the throne.[2] Instigated by his advisors, he ordered that all local Hindus convert to Islam or be put to death.[2] The Hindus prayed to Indus, who promised that Varuna will take the form of a child and avert the impending catastrophe.[2]

In 1007, the day of Cheti Chand in Chaitra, one Uderolal was born to a local Hindu family.[2] As he began to be worshiped, Mirkshah sent his ministers to investigate who witnessed various strange events.[2] The child metamorphosed into a young warrior, then into an old man, before back to child; at other times, he swam upstream on a fish.[2][b] Mirkshah grew afraid but his advisors coerced him to hold stead.[2]

Soon, he went to meet Uderolal and was impressed by his understanding of Islam — Uderolal preached about how the Hindus and Muslims believed in the same God, and the Koran forbade conversion.[2][1] However, his advisors suggested that his teachings be disregarded and Uderolal imprisoned.[2] When the guards proceeded to arrest him, an inferno and a flood engulfed his palaces.[2][1] Mirkshah relented, abolished his decree, and asked for forgiveness from Uderolal.[2]

Jhulelal.jpg

As the palace was saved and harmony restored, Jhulelal gained devotees even among the Muslims (including Mirkshah).[2] Jhulelal requested that a flame be burnt for eternity, in the memory of his deeds, before leaving his earthly avatar.[1]

Variant readings[]

The myth of Jhulelal is not seen in regional histories written prior to the 20th century. While all Jhulelal legends broadly revolve around two themes — the valorization of Sindhi communal harmony and the intrinsic superiority of tolerant and devout Hindus over Muslims who weren't even able to interpret their own religious texts — the specifics vary widely and have even been a site of internal contestation among Sindhi Hindus.[2] Moreover Sindhi Muslims have forged their own legends concerning Jhulelal.[2]

Hindus[]

The birth-name varies from Uderolal to Amarlal to Daryasahib; the event of his first appearance is either noted to be from a human birth or from the Indus, riding on a fish.[2] He is variously noted as an avatara of Vishnu or a manifestation of Varuna; one conflates the two to deem him as the Varuna avatara of Vishnu.[2] How he came to be known as Jhulelal attracts another set of fascinating claims.[2] The transpirings that arose out of his encounter with Mirkshah varies — some claim that the King had submitted long ago in the face of his supernatural powers while others claim that Jhule Lal led a secretly gathered force to victory in an old-school war.[2]

The presentation of the narrative differs too.[2] Many renderings choose to emphasize on the cruelty of Muslim rulers against Brahmins (and Hindus, by extension) — a column in Indian Express had projected contemporary Hindu Nationalism onto the narrative with Jhule Lal "fill[ing] the shrinking Hindus with courage" and "put[ting] holy terror into the persecuting Muslims" while some Sindhis have transplanted Jhulelal into the reign of Aurangzeb, a ruler notoriously renowned in public memory for being the worst persecutor of Hindus.[2] Some choose to emphasize on the Hinduness of Jhulelal drawing tenuous connections with Vedic corpus.[2]

Muslims[]

Jhulelal is declared to be .[2][7][8]

Festivals[]

Main articles: Cheti Chand and Chalio

Cheti Chand[]

The Cheti Chand festival in the month of Chaitra, marks the arrival of spring and harvest, as well as the mythical birth of Uderolal in the year 1007.[1][2] Uderolal morphed into a warrior and old man who preached and reprimanded Mirkhshah that Muslims and Hindus deserve the same religious freedoms. He, as Jhulelal,[2] became the saviour of the Sindhi Hindus, who according to this legend, celebrate the new year as Uderolal's birthday.[2][1]

Chaliya saheb[]

Chalio or Chaliho, also called Chaliho Sahib, is a forty-day-long festival celebrated by Sindhi Hindus[9][10][11] to express their gratitude to Jhulelal for saving them from their impending conversion to Islam. The festival is observed every year in the months of July to August; dates vary according to Hindu calendar.[9][10] It is a thanksgiving celebration in honor of Varuna Deva for listening to their prayers.[9][10]

Shrines[]

Odero Lal Shrine[]

Odero Lal Shrine
Visitors have to ring the bell before entering Jhulelal's shrine in order to mark their attendance

The Jhulelal Shrine at Odero Lal is situated in Matiari District, almost 40 kilometers away from the Sanghar District of Sindh; The Hindus and the Muslims can pray here at the same place simultaneously.[12][13] Nawabshah, Hyderabad, Matiari, Sanghar and Mirpur Khas are the nearby major cities to reach at the Shrine near Tando Adam.[14]

It forms the seat of the Daryapanthis, originally a subsect of the followers of Gorakhnath, who belong to the Nath tradition.[15][16]

Jhulelal Tirthdham[]

Sindhi Hindus in India built a religious shrine and cultural complex in Kutch, near the border of Sindh Province.[17][6] The 100-acre complex includes a 100-foot statue of Lord Jhulelal, a museum, meditation centre, an auditorium, and a cultural and arts-and-crafts centre with 100 accommodations.[17][6] Aiming to be the "a centre for global Sindhi identity", [6] the project costs an estimated ₹100 crore and was built on the donations from wealthy Indian Sindhis.[17][6] Harish Fabiani, one of the key promoters of the project, stated regarding the cultural complex, "The younger generation is aware they are Sindhis, but they do not know their language. We must learn our language and culture. We should have a place we can call our own."[17]

Picture of Jhule Lal in Hindu temple

Iconography[]

  • In the most common form, Jhulelal is represented as a bearded man sitting cross-legged on a lotus flower that rests on a palla fish.[18] The fish is seen floating on the Sindhu river. He holds a sacred text and sometimes even a rosary. He wears a golden crown with a peacock feather and wears regal clothes. Generally, temple idols represent him in this form.[1][19]
  • In another form, he is shown standing on a palla fish or the lotus flower, holding a staff with both hands to indicate leadership.[1]

Notes[]

  1. ^ The chant Aayo Laal Sabhainjo Jhulelal is considered the "clarion call" of Sindhi Hindus.[3]
  2. ^ Jhulelal is also believed by Sindhis to have performed other miracles, such as entering the Indus river at Nasirpur and coming up at Bukkur, at the northernmost extent of Sindh.[3]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Mark-Anthony Falzon (2004). Cosmopolitan Connections: The Sindhi Diaspora, 1860–2000. BRILL. pp. 58–60. ISBN 90-04-14008-5.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad Ramey, Steven W. (2008), Ramey, Steven W. (ed.), "Presenting Sacred Figures", Hindu, Sufi, or Sikh: Contested Practices and Identifications of Sindhi Hindus in India and Beyond, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 105–124, doi:10.1057/9780230616226_5, ISBN 978-0-230-61622-6, retrieved 2021-08-24
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Lari, Suhail Zaheer (1994). A history of Sindh. Oxford. ISBN 0195775015. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  4. ^ Bhavnani, Nandita (2014). The Making of Exile: Sindhi Sindhis and the Partition of India. Westland. ISBN 9789384030339.
  5. ^ "Jhulay Lal's full circle". 20 December 2015.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Coming up in Gujarat, Sindhis' own sacred shrine - Times of India". Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  7. ^ Jatt, Zahida Rehman (2017-10-24). "Khwaja Khizr: The saint who 'saved' Rohri, Sukkur and Lansdowne Bridge during the 1965 War". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  8. ^ "Khwaja Khizr and River Cult in Medieval Sindh". Sahapedia. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c Chaliho festival Archived September 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c Sindhis celebrate Chalio festival
  11. ^ Sindhi Festivals > Chaliho Archived April 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Zahida Rehman Jatt (June 3, 2015). "Jhulay Lal's cradle of tolerance". Dawn. Dawn. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  13. ^ Claude Markovits (22 June 2000). The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750–1947: Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama. Cambridge University Press, 2000. p. 48. ISBN 9781139431279. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  14. ^ "List of Cities near Udero Lāl in Sindh, Pakistan". GoMapper. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  15. ^ Story of Jhulelal Archived 2011-05-01 at WebCite
  16. ^ Jatt, Zahida Rehman (2017-03-07). "How this lesser known festival is celebrated annually by Hindus in Sindh". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Shradha Shahani (5 June 2019). "Sindhis are building a Jhulelal Tirthdham—their own holy city". Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  18. ^ Nadeem F. Paracha (December 20, 2015). "Jhulay Lal's full circle". Dawn. Dawn. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  19. ^ Boivin, Michel (15 Oct 2008). Sindh through History and Representations: French Contributions to Sindhi Studies. Oxford University Press. p. 76. ISBN 9780195475036.

External links[]

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