1855.] Account of a visit to the Shrine of Sakhi Sarwar. 343 



The attendants at the Shrine still show several pieces of this Arak 

 tree, which are kept carefully wrapped up in a piece of cloth. 



The disciples say that Mi'ah Rana, and Khan Dhoda did not perish 

 here ; and that after the death of Sakhi Sarwar they set out for 

 Baghdad. The book from which I have taken the preceding legend, 

 however, is silent as regards Khan Dhoda ; but it is stated therein 

 that Mi'ah Eana, and his mother — Bibi Ba'ie — after the martyrdom of 

 the Saint, prayed unto the Almighty to deliver them from the hands 

 of these Philistines ; and that the earth having opened almost imme- 

 diately, they for ever disappeared from mortal ken. 



The grave of Niir and Issak is on a neighbouring and more lofty 

 hill, about five hundred paces to the west of the Shrine. It consists 

 of a platform about eleven yards long by eight broad, and four yards 

 high. On the top of this is a smaller platform on which are two 

 tombs. The grave of Omar and Ali is situated a little to the north 

 of the sepulchre of Niir and Issak, and is marked merely by a mound 

 of stones or cairn, erected where they fell. 



" If I must fall in the field, raise high my grave, Vinvela. Grey stones and 

 heaped-up earth, shall mark me to future times. When the hunter shall sit by the 

 mound, and produce his food at noon, ' Some warrior rests here,' he will say ; and 

 my fame shall live in his praise." Ossian. 



Again to return to the book. u For some years the fact of the 

 death of Sakhi Sarwar remained unknown, and at length had almost 

 been forgotten ; for the Mussalmans of those parts had been exter- 

 minated. At length one Malik Esau, a merchant, who was pro- 

 ceeding from Hindustan to Baghdad, chanced to halt for the night 

 at the place where the town now stands, for it lies in the direct road 

 to Kandahar and Persia. His servants were busily employed pre- 

 paring the evening meal, when what do they see but the vessels 

 filled with blood ! Dismayed at this, they ran and acquainted their 

 master with the circumstance. He too, astonished at what had hap- 

 pened, stated that the place they were then standing on must have 

 been the scene of martyrdom, or was the burial-place of some holy 

 person ; and he therefore directed them to prepare the victuals at a 

 greater distance off. 



" At midnight, when it was time to load the baggage animals and 

 proceed on their journey, the large camel which carried the merchant 



