2*2 



Notes on Moorcroft' s Travels in Ladakh, fyc. [No. 148. 



bottom ; it is kept in repair, and owing to its white color, forms a con- 

 spicuous object at a distance. The tomb below is I believe that of a 

 lady of rank, but there is no inscription. It is, allowed to fall to decay. 



Elphinstone was probably unacquainted with the legend which 

 Moorcroft gives. He does not relate it, and this increases the reason- 

 ableness of a modification of Moorcroft's suspicion ; viz. that the story 

 is of recent Sikh adoption, and that the stone bearing the impress of a 

 hand, has been lately produced to satisfy the superstition of believers. 



There is a Mahometan legend, that Abdal the fakir came to the 

 place and asked Hassan, the cowherd, for a draught of milk; Hassan 

 said he would gladly give him one, but that his cows were dry. The 

 fakir pleased with the disposition of Hassan, placed his hands on one 

 of the cows, and desired him to milk the animal ; he did so, and gave 

 Abdal a good draught. Abdal then asked the cowherd what he would 

 chose as his reward, Hassan said they were much straitened for water 

 in his neighbourhood, and that a supply of that necessary element would 

 be valuable to himself and to others. The saint struck the hills where 

 he had been refreshed, and also at Wah-wah, and water gushed forth. 



This legend may have existed before the rise of the Sikhs as a sect ; 

 but as they extended their power, they desired to increase the fame of 

 their apostle. They found a miracle to appropriate, and they did so at 

 the expense of the Mahometans, their predecessors. The saint of the 

 new faith performs the old miracle, and shews to his rival the superi- 

 ority of his power. 



The granth or shrines of the Sikh scriptures was established at 

 Hassan Abdal about 1813. I do not agree with Moorcroft in his 

 reasons for his suspicions about the legend. He says, a few years 

 only have elapsed since the place was in the possession of the Affghans, 

 whose fierce Mahometanism would have tolerated no Sikh pilgrims 

 or shrines within their boundary. In Affghanistan itself, there are 

 places visited by the Hindoos; the fierce spirit of the Mohametans 

 shews itself upon rare occasions only; and in populous tracts, the Mus- 

 sulmans everywhere admit, and sometimes participate in, the super- 

 stitions of the vulgar. As an instance, I may quote the Ziarat at 

 Jellalabad, which is visited by both Hindoos and Mahometans, and 

 also the Hindoo temple of that town, said to produce 40,000 rupees 

 annually, (see Journal of (he Asiatic Society of Bengal, CXXII, 128.) 



