NAGORE MIRA , MUSLIM GOD OF CARIBBEAN

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1 Nagour Mira or Naagur Mina is a popular concept of divinity worshipped by people of South Indian/ Hindu descent in some Caribbean islands and parts of South America. Known by various names such as Naguran, Naguri, Nagourmina, Nagoorin, Nagourmeah, this divinity is an integral part of most of the “Madrassi” or South Indian Hindu temples in this region. In French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, Nagour Mira is worshipped in the form of a Boat and mast decorated with colorful flags. 786, the sacred Islamic number can be found engraved on the boat. My first experience with this Muslim God was in Guadeloupe when I went there to make a documentary film, SONGS OF MALABARISE, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW7JgLn8vDU , on the Indian/Hindu cultural heritage in the year 2004. During the course of my research, I have visited a number of temples in the island where this divinity is being worshipped with great reverence. Mr. Jean Sahai, a leading cultural critique and Indian activist in Guadeloupe has explained to me that Nagourmina was a great saint or some mythical/mystical figure brought by the ancestors of Indians who came to Caribbean from South India as indentured labourers in 19 th century AD. Many followers of this divinity believe that this God had helped their ancestors in crossing the ocean during their voyage from India to Caribbean. Poosaadi Nagappin, Guadeloupe’s leading Hindu priest, usually sing a prayer song attributed to this divinity as part of the services in his temple near Saint François, southern most town of Guadeloupe. The song, originally written in Tamil has been infused with many words from Urdu, French and African languages, many of which I could not understand. But the Tamil component of the song was a prayer to Nagore Mina seeking His intervention to save the passengers who were caught up in a rough sea. The ocean is angry and the boat is passing through terrible storm and the passengers are seeking the kindness of Nagore Mina to save them from imminent perils and help them arrive safe. ©SKPILLAI2013

Transcript of NAGORE MIRA , MUSLIM GOD OF CARIBBEAN

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Nagour Mira or Naagur Mina is a popular concept of divinity worshipped by people of South Indian/ Hindu descent in some Caribbean islands and parts of South America. Known byvarious names such as Naguran, Naguri, Nagourmina, Nagoorin, Nagourmeah, this divinity is an integral part of most of the “Madrassi” or South Indian Hindu temples in this region. In French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, Nagour Mira is worshipped in the form of a Boat and mast decorated with colorful flags. 786, the sacred Islamic number can be found engraved on the boat.

My first experience with this Muslim God was in Guadeloupe when I went there to make a documentary film, SONGS OF MALABARISE, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW7JgLn8vDU, on the Indian/Hindu cultural heritage in the year 2004. During the course of my research, I have visited a number of temples in the island where this divinity is being worshipped with great reverence. Mr. Jean Sahai, a leading cultural critique and Indian activist in Guadeloupe has explained to me that Nagourmina was a great saint or some mythical/mystical figure brought by the ancestors of Indians who came to Caribbean fromSouth India as indentured labourers in 19th century AD. Many followers of this divinity believe that this God had helped their ancestors in crossing the ocean during their voyage fromIndia to Caribbean.

Poosaadi Nagappin, Guadeloupe’s leading Hindu priest, usuallysing a prayer song attributed to this divinity as part of the services in his temple near Saint François, southern most townof Guadeloupe. The song, originally written in Tamil has beeninfused with many words from Urdu, French and African languages, many of which I could not understand. But the Tamilcomponent of the song was a prayer to Nagore Mina seeking His intervention to save the passengers who were caught up in a rough sea. The ocean is angry and the boat is passing through terrible storm and the passengers are seeking the kindness of Nagore Mina to save them from imminent perils and help them arrive safe.

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Dr.Gerry L’tang, an anthropologist from Martinique University,who has been researching on this divinity had told me during my visit to that island that this practice had its origin from a region called Nagore near Karaikkal, a South Indian port city, where the body remains of a great Sufi Saint Mira Sahib is being worshipped in a Muslim shrine or Dargah . A Dargah is a Sufi Islamic shrine built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint or Dervish. According to him, the indentured labourers have carried this belief to the islands, which became one of the principle deities in the South Indian Hindu temples in these islands.

In 2005, when I was developing a community museum near the archaeological site of ancient city of Arikamedu near Pondicherry I met Gerry again. He had come to Pondicherry to conduct some field research on Nagore Mira. Since he could notspeak Tamil or Hindi, he sought my help in conducting the research in Nagore where the Dargah of the Sufi Saint Mira Sahib, as he is known among his followers, is located. I have accepted the offer and after several weeks of research, I gavemy findings to Gerry which he used in his book on Nagore Mira.

Eight years later, during my present visit to Caribbean, I hadan opportunity to visit a Kali Maayi temple in Tunapuna, in central Trinidad, with my friend and artist scholar Dr. Sat Balkaransingh who have done extensive and pioneering works on Trinidad’s Indian culture. As expected, the temple complex hasa small shrine attributed to Nagour Mira and is being worshipped in the form of a male human God. The standing image of Nagore Mira dressed up in medieval Muslim style with trimmed beard and elaborately designed head gear resemble likea fearsome warrior priest. He held a blood stained sword on his right hand and blood dripping head of a chicken on the left.

Dr. Balkaransingh told me that there are hardly any published materials available on this deity in any English speaking Caribbean and it is important for English speaking people in Caribbean to know the legends behind the worship of Nagore Mira. Though I have discussed the struggles of Indians in

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French Caribbean islands in my previously published essay on Hindu culture in French Caribbean islands, (http://www.academia.edu/414248/Hindu_Indian_cultural_Diaspora_in_French_Caribbean_islands_of_Guadeloupe_and_Martinique), I did not include my research on Nagore Mira for professional reasons. Dr.Balkaransingh and Jean Sahai were persuasive and I thought I should put togetherfollowing essay on the legends of Nagore Mira Sahib.

The Dargah of Nagore Mira

Nagore is a small town located on the Eastern (Coromandel) Coast of India on the Bay of Bengal some 185 kilometers south of South Indian city of Pondicherry (Puducherry), built aroundthe Sufi Muslim shrine or Dargah of Mira Sahib. My first visitto Nagore was shortly after the great Tsunami which hit the coast on 24/25 December 2004. It claimed hundreds of human andother lives from the coastal area and is considered as one of the largest natural disaster in modern times.

In areas surrounding the Nagore town, the scale of tragedy wasparticularly devastating. The air was filled with death and agony of catastrophic feelings. The sea continues to roar withfury. Only structure on the beach near the Nagore town, which escaped the fury of nature, was an open prayer hall. It was anelevated rectangular roofed platform built on pillars on four sides and was freshly painted. It faced the ocean and is beingused by people for praying and meditation. This was the original site where the Sufi Saint Nagore Mira Sahib used to meditate and perform many wonders for the benefit of his followers. The people in the Nagore town believe that they were saved from Tsunami because of the presence of Mira Sahib,whose body remains are kept and worshipped at the Dargah, which is located just 200 meters from the ocean.

The Dargah complex was situated in the heart of the town, and resemble like a Hindu temple with distinct South Indian, Arabic, Persian and Turkish architectural styles. The complex has for entrances or main gates from four sides. The shrine has five minarets, which is very unique because normally Mosques have only four Minarets. The four pillars were built

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by the Muslim followers and the fifth one was built by a Hinduking. There are several corridors and prayer halls or mandapams with many pillars in the complex. The Sanctum sanctorum is in the centre facing the East, the ocean and likein Hindu temples, the devotees circumbulate (pradakshina) around it.

The sanctum sanctorum of the Dargah has three tombs housed inseparate but connected rooms built horizontally in the center of the complex. The tombs are built along North- South direction with the heads facing the south. The main tomb in the centre has the body remains of the Mira Sahib where as hisson; Yusuf’s body was buried on the left and his daughter in law, Sultan Beevi on the right.

The tombs have elaborate engravings and are covered by expensive silk clothes with embroidered boarders made of gold like materials. The tombs were adorned by rose, jasmine and marigold flower garlands. Incense fumes filled the interior ofthe shrine. The doors of the tombs are decorated with oil lamps made of glass.

The shrine has a huge oil lamp in front of the main deity, which burns continuously and the devotees offer oil to the lamp. According to believers and administrators of the shrine,this oil lamp never extinguished since it was first lit by theMira Sahib several centuries ago.

Women are not allowed to enter the interior areas of the sanctum sanctorum.The priests in charge of each tomb are dressed in Muslim style, long pants or pyjama and long shirts called Kurta. They wore white cap on their heads and guarded theSanctum sanctorum to help devotees to offer prayers. The devotees prostrate in front of the tombs and bow their heads for blessings.

The priests chant verses from Holy Quran and touched the forehead of the devotees with a fan made of peacock feather. This is to drive away evil spirits from their bodies and bringthem good fortune. A cylindrical box made of wood and silver

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with inlaid engravings of Arabic words was offered to devoteesto touch. At the end of the ceremony the priest will tie a black colour cotton thread around the wrist of the devotee.

The devotees are asked to safe guard the thread with care and attention and treat them as sacred object. They are supposed to tie it around wrist or waist all the time until they see the miracles done or their wishes granted.

The Dargah complex has other hallowed halls that are related to the life of Mira Sahib. The Peermandapam or Saint’s meditation hall on the south side houses the sandals once usedby the Mira Sahib. They are made of silver and were with decorated flowers. Silk clothes embroidered with verses from Holy Quran, believed to have once used by the Mira Sahib are also preserved here. There is a well in the complex, the water from it has been considered sacred by the devotees and believe to have therapeutic qualities to cure any ailments. There is also a pond on the south side of the Dargah; the water from it is also believed to have medicinal qualities. A ritualistic bath in the pond has always been part of a devotees’ visit to the Dargah. The pond is believed to have been dug by the Mira Sahib himself, when a famine hit the area when He was staying here.

Some devotees shave their heads as mark of respect to the Mira Sahib as well as an act of shaving off sins and bad thoughts from the bodies.

During the main festival, known as, Grand Kanduri festival orUrs Mahotsav, the tomb of Nagore Mira Sahib receives anointing of sandalwood paste from a prominent Hindu home, whose ancestors believed to have received some great benefits from the Mira sahib. Sandal paste is taken to the shrine as aprocession from the Hindu home to the tomb of Nagore Mira withthe active participation of hundreds of thousands of devotees.Every year the Grant Kanduri or Urs Mahotsav is celebrated during the last month of the Hijra calendar, Jamaat ul Akhir

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and is one of the largest gatherings of all castes and all religions of South India.

Devotees also offer replicas of human body parts made of silver/aluminum as offerings. This is offered either as a prayer to cure some ailments or as an expression of gratitude for curing some diseases. These body parts are one or two inches in sizes and are sold by vendors outside the Dargah complex. The standard offering to the shrine are lumps of sugar, incense sticks and flowers stacked in a basket made of palm leaf available outside the Dargah.

The devotees donate money in the metal containers called 'Hundis' placed outside the sanctum sanctorum which has been the main source of income for the Dargah. It was told that some devotees even offer donations such as land and propertiesas a gesture of thanks giving to the Sufi Saint. The Dargah also receives liberal donations from relatives of mentally illpatients who get cured. The devotees also offer vegetables, animals, grains, bread, incense sticks as offerings. Farmers in the nearby areas believe that a little water from wells Dargah sprayed on the crops would bring good harvest.

Nagore Mira Sahib is being worshipped by devotees from every section of society irrespective of caste, religion and language barriers. The Sufi saint has been particularly dear to the fishermen in the region as they believed to have been the first set of people who witnessed the miracle of Mira Sahib when he arrived in Nagore some 500 hundred years ago.

There are many stories of miracles of the Mira Sahib associated with the sea, fishermen and maritime activities in Nagore. One of the stories is that when a Dutch ship was aboutto get sunk in the sea due to a hole developed in the hulk, some of the passengers in the ship prayed to the Mira Sahib. Mira Sahib was busy shaving his face before his morning bath when the hapless passenger’s prayers reached Him. He just swung the shaving mirror to the sea and the hole in the boat automatically disappeared and passengers were saved.

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The fishermen in the areas of Nagapattinam, Nagore and Karaikal regard the Mira Sahib as their God and they offer prayers to Him before they set out their boats in the sea. The Dargah of Mira Sahib in Nagore is particularly famous for curing mental illness. When a mentally ill person is brought to the Dargah by her/his relatives, the clergy asked the patient to stay a few days at Dargah and pray to Mira Sahib for cure. The priests read versus from the Holy Quran and bless them by spraying with water and oil and touched with thefan made of peacock feathers every day. According to the believers mental illness is an affliction by Djin or spirit ofthe devil. When the patient seeks Mira Sahib’s help during their stay at Dargah through prayers, these bad spirits will be driven out from the body of the affected person by the great spirit of Mira Sahib.

The Dargah attracts hundreds of thousands of devotees from India and abroad. There are separate living quarters for families, single men and women. The Dargah administration makes arrangements for accommodation, food and prayers againstpayment.

The administration of Dargah

The Dargah is governed by a board of directors consisting of eight members. They are selected from the eight clans of the family belonged to Sufi saint’s son Yussaf. The main administrator of the Dargah is called Khalifa. The family traces back their ancestry to the Sufi Muslims of Baghdad in Iraq.

The Islamic faith that is being followed in Nagore Dargah is a kind of Sufi tradition which was born during the 14th to 16th

centuries AD, when Islam arrived in the North Western part of India. Unlike the fundamentalist Islamists, who spread their religion through sword, Sufi traditions attracted people through peaceful means and adopted reconciliations between Hinduism and Islam.

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Tradition Vali tradition in Islam

The Sufi saint, his son and daughter in law are worshiped as the friends of Allah (in Arabic Vali Ullah) as required by Islam. According to officials of Darghah, during the periods of great crisis and danger, Allah sends a Nabi (Prophet) to save Earth from destruction. Once upon a time when the earth was inhabited by terrible creatures made of fire which destruction all around, the Mother Earth became worried and pleaded to the Supreme God Allah, for peace. So the Supreme God Allah created human beings from the earth and His elected son, Nabi, was sent to Earth to bring peace. Allah also sent His "Vali (Friends of God) to propagate the teachings of the Prophets or Nabis. They are known as Valiyullah (Friends of God). It is believed that hundreds of such Valiyullah were born on earth and Mira Sahib was one such Valiyullah born in northern India at the turn of 16th century AD.

Life of Sufi Saint Nagore MiraNagore Mira was a Sufi saint who diffused the teachings of theProphet Mohammed and Islam in the coastal regions of southern and south-eastern India. He was a contemporary of many great saints and mystics of that period who preached peaceful co existence when bitter wars were fought between various kingdoms primarily due to the arrival of Islam in India.

According to the local historians, Mira Sahib (MS), was born on a Thursday, the 10th day of the month Jamaat ul Aakhir Calendar 910 Hijra (1489 AD) in Manikapur near Prathapgarh in North of India. His father was Khudsi Hazrath Hassan and his mother Fathima Beevi were the direct descendent of the founderof Shiite Islamic faith, Holy Imam Ali.

The local legend about the ancestral origins of the Mira Sahibgoes back to the period of the reign of pre Mughal ruler Firzoe Shah Tughlak in 14th century AD. Firoze Shah Tughlak was a ruler from the slave dynasty and his time was marked with great revolts and massive upheavals by people and provincial rulers against the emperor. Firoze Shah Tughlak had

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inherited the Delhi Sultanate and vast empire from his cousin Mohamad bib Tughlak whose controversial administrative reformsand shifting of capital from Delhi to Central India made the country poor and impossible to administrate. When Firoze Shah Tughlak assumed power he had to face massive revolts from the rulers of from Orissa, Bihar, Bengal and Punjab. The common people fought against heavy taxations and conversion to Islam.The Islamic clergy, which was the centre of power inside the court, became all powerful. This is the context in which Firoze Shah Tughlak decided to set up an Islamic University inManikpur which was not far away from the Hindu temple town of Ayodhya. The ruler invited many scholars from the Islamic world to teach Islam and it is believed that ancestors of MiraSahib came to India from Baghdad .

Mira Sahib is also known by other names such as Hazarath Syedina Syedina Syed Abdul Kadir Shahul Amid Nagoori (Rali) Hazareth Saiyed Hameed Qadir Oli Gazasavoy Andavar Avargal Nagore, Ganjabaksh, Ganja Mukhi, Khadi Vali, Meeran Sahib, Shahul Hameed, Qutbul Islam , Qutbul Islam Hind Quetellah, Inullah, Nayakar, Mira Sahib Swami, Mira Sahib etc..

While some names represent the family and genealogical ancestries, some were attributed to him by his devotees particularly when He performed a miracle. Some Tamil names such as Andavar Swami and Andavar Averkal are names of Hindu deities. The name Nayakan is the equivalent of leader in Tamil. There are two names which the officials of Dargah choseto disassociate are Ganjabaksh and Ganja Mukhi. Ganja in Tamilas well as in a number of other Indian languages means marijuana. Some argued that that these names were attributed to Mira Sahib because he might have used marijuana, a practicefollowed by many Sufi and Hindu saints and yogis till this day.

The names, Qutb ul Hind and Islam Qutb ul Islam, probably meanthe man who founded Islam in India. Given the historical period, i.e, early 16th century AD, Mira Sahib was one of the Sufi saints who preached peaceful means and synergistic mix of

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Hindu and Islamic belief systems. Much of his teaching was to live in perfect harmony of different religious beliefs.

Miracles of Mira SahibThe birth of Mira Sahib itself has been considered as a miracle by the devotees. When his mother was pregnant, she hada dream where a messenger of God told her that she would give birth to a divine boy, chosen by God to spread the divineknowledge and Islam.

He performed his first miracle while he was still in the womb of his mother. Once his father fell seriously ill and could not recover for long time and the mother who was pregnant thenprayed to the Allah. One day she heard someone calling her during her prayer time. She was surprised because she was alone in the house with her husband in bed. She soon realized,to his surprise, that the voice came from her womb. The littleboy advised the mother not to worry and told her that father will be cured before the night fall. To her total surprise herhusband recovered from the illness completely before the nightfall.

The second miracle that has been reported also happened when Mira Sahib was still an unborn child. One day his mother, who was carrying the young Mira in her womb, went to fetch water from a nearby well. Unfortunately the bucket she used to draw water disappeared into the depths of the well. It was the timeof her evening prayers which she never discontinued. She became panicky and began to pray for the help. Suddenly a voice was heard that comforted and assured her not to worry. Very soon the bucket of water had reappeared and she realized that it was her son who is still in the womb performed the magic.

During the pregnancy of Fatima, the cities of Ayodhya and Manickppur were regularly under attack by armies of bandits from Chambal forests of central India. This was the time when New Delhi, the power center of the slave dynasty, lost controlover the rest of India and the entire Indo Gangetic plane was under chaos. Armed bandits unleashed terror and people were

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subjected to brutal violence which rulers could not control. To save the people and country from the sufferings, Fatima prayed to God to send someone to destroy the enemies.

One day she had a dream of a very handsome young man with a glittering sword with cheerful smile said to her: "Allah has sent me to tell you that your wish has been granted. I'll go to the town and save your people from violence and terror”. After speaking these words the young man mounted on his sparkling white horse and drove to the place where bandits were camped. There were hundreds of them and he fought alone and saved the city of Ayodhya and Manickpur. After finishing the job, the young man returned to Fatima and asked ;

Are you happy now?.

Fatima thanked him for his heroic act but she wanted to know who he was. At that moment the young man disintegrated into a beam of blue rays and entered her womb.

When she awoke up from her dream, her husband, who came back from the city, told her that something totally surprising has happened in the city. He said while he was out for his usual business he witnessed a great battle in the city when a mysterious young man appeared suddenly when a large army of arsonists attacked the city. The young man, nobody knows his whereabouts, fought with the army single handedly and saved the city from total destruction.

Nagore Mira Sahib’s son Youssaf Valia

Abdul Khadir, as he was called by his parents when he was a young boy was a brilliant student of religion. He studied all the sacred texts of Islam and at the age of eighteen and had ahuge appetite for knowledge. He had the habit of being alone from his family and friend and he was always in deep thought and meditation. Unlike the other boys he was not interested mundane things but was always interested in learning spiritualissues particularly about achieving perfect knowledge. He was

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very pious to all and was always non violent. He started performing miracles even when he was young particularly in healing the sick and those afflicted with strange diseases.

At eighteen, he realized the need for formal training under a teacher who would help him to understand and achieve perfect knowledge. His father told him to go to the city of Gwalior, which was a centre of learning then; there he would meet his future teacher.

After a long and tedious journey through difficult pathways, he arrived at the entrance of the city. But he was not yet sure of who was going to be his guru, so he prayed. In his sleep, a messenger of Allah appeared and gave him a new name; Shahul Hameed, and showed him the guru: Hazrat Sayyid MohammedGouse Shathari.

The guru in turn was also informed about the arrival of his new disciple who would change the world. Next morning while walking towards his future Guru’s home Mira Sahib met a young man from Turkey, Muinudeen, who also had been destined to meet Mira Sahib and his Guru. Muinudeen became the principle disciple and lifelong associate of Mira Sahib since then.

Shahul Hameed, spent ten long years with his Guru, learning everything from God to religion. His sharp intelligence and his ability even to understand the complex issues made him famous in the city. In the meantime, the wife of the guru offered him to marry his daughter. The proposal did not enchant Shahul Hameed as he wanted to devote himself to celibacy. In his mind he resolved against the ideas of marriage and family as he wanted to devote himself entirely tothe service of Allah. The marriage proposal made him to leave his Guru and reluctantly he decided to abandon his studies anddecided go on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

When he asked permission to leave, the Guru exalted him that according to Islam what you receive from the earth should be given back and so marriage for procreation is therefore

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necessary for human beings us to fulfill our duties towards Allah.

Shahul Hameed asked why should one marry just to procreate a child. He agreed to have a son but no sexual relationship witha woman.

The teacher was surprised and asked him to explain.

Shahul Hameed said Jesus Christ, was one of the Messiah who was born to a virgin through non sexual relation.

Guru Mohammed Gouse Shathari, finally gave him permission to go to Mecca. In addition he allowed four of his best disciplesand four hundred other ordinary disciples, all former bandits who once put Ayodhya and Manickapur with fire and blood, subsequently embraced the order with Islam, to accompany Shahul Hameed.

After several months of travel during which he preached Islamand challenged many in open debates and converted many into Islamic fold, he reached his ancestral city where he made a short stay before proceeding to Mecca. During his stay in his hometown, people flocked him to receive his blessings. Athome when proposal for marriage came up he told his parents that he had decided to devote his life to the service of Allahthe Great. Soon he left the family and headed west to Mecca.

On his way, he stopped at Lahore where a rich merchant met came to meet him. The trader was worried because, after many years of marriage, he had no children. Mira Sahib knew that the time had come for him to beget the seeds for his spiritualson. He promised to fulfill the wishes of the rich on a condition that the first born child belong to him. Once the condition was accepted, he chewed a betel leaf and pan masala'for a moment, then gave to the wife of the merchant and told her to swallow it. She obeyed the command of the Mira Sahib and soon became pregnant without resorting to sex. Mira Sahib thus honored the commitment he had made to his guru in Gwalior. Then he left for Mecca after advising the parents of

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that the child when he become seven years, would leave his family to join him in Mecca.

Soon the woman became pregnant and gave birth to a boy with divine powers. He was named Yusuf, as wished by Mira Sahib. The child was raised by the family very happily as their own child. When he reached the age of seven, he had vision that his real father was Mira Sahib and he had to leave. So he leftLahore and travelled west to reach Mecca and united with his spiritual father Mira Sahib. Since then he remained with his father until the death of Mira Sahib in Nagore.

Arrival of Mira Sahib at Nagore

After spending several years in Mecca, Mira Sahib, his Yusuf and their followers set out a journey to spread the message ofIslam through peaceful means. They went to Maldives and Lakshadweep in Indian Ocean and arrived in Indian coast and visited various cities of the interior of South India by land.He continued to perform miracles and healed many sick. His fame grew quickly and attracted large number of disciples fromdifferent places.

While he was traveling in the south India, the ruler of the famed Kingdom of Thanjavur, Rajan Achuthappas Nayakkan fell seriously ill due to some mysterious disease. Nobody could cure the illness nor could identify the cause of the disease. He was bedridden for a long time and the kingdom was facing serious threat from enemies.

One of his minister hearing the miracles of Saint Mira Sahib approached him for help. Mira Sahib soon realized the cause of the disease. One of the king's enemies had recourse to black magic by pushing several pins in the body of a bird that was kept in a secret corner ofthe palace. The bird was fed enough for to live. It was the suffering of the bird that was reflected on the king. Mira Sahib used his divine powers to remove the pins from the body of the bird and the king was instantly cured.

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 As a reward, the king gave him 150 acres of land where the Dargah of Mira Sahib today stands. Before he died, he explained to his disciples how to bury and what rites to be performed after his death.

Criticisms against Mira Sahib by Sunni Muslims

Mira Sahib was a noble Shiia. . This is also the case Yussaf and his followers. Currently stewardship Dargah is entrusted exclusively to sunnie family. But religious practices that areadopted in the darghah are strongly criticized by different Islamic sects, especially by Puritans and fundamentalists.

They claim that the worship dedicated to whatever his divine qualities tomb of a person is not allowed by the Islamic faith. They also condemn the pagan rites or Hindus, such as the offering of flowers, light lamps etc.. They also do not appreciate that access is open to non-Muslims in the darghah and condemn the rites are practiced. They did not spare the family Yussaf. For them, the origin of asexual Yussaf is a myth: Islamic Shariath declare categorically that any offspring must be the result of a physical union between a manand a woman.

Why the Dargah is it open to non-Muslims? Where does this tradition come from?Non Muslims are permitted in the Dargah since the time of Mira Sahib. Officials say it is a symbol of religious tolerance and syncretism.

For the Puritans and the fundamentalists, the stories circulating about Darghah and Mira Sahib are quite products ofimaginations which Yussaf carefully maintained by the family fortune. They argue that the family lives only at the expense of so-called miracles while in Islam there is no room for miracles and the worship of a tomb is quite contrary to the spirit of Islam. It is the same rites that perform in Temples done in Darghah. It is true, they say, Mira Sahib has played an important role in the spread of Islam in southern India.

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But beyond these unhealthy practices to admit, there is still a significant margin.

For most Hindus, Mira Sahib is a great saint or the incarnation of God. They treat at par with many deities of theHindu pantheon. Therefore there is nothing exceptional in the sacrifice or offering made to him. In addition, the Darghah itself resembles a temple with oil lamps, flowers, incense burning and they are ritual that celebrates. Some go so far asto claim that Hindus Mira Sahib is nothing less than the incarnation of Vishnu or Shiva due.But no one seriously questions the power exerted Nagore Mira on people who visit the Darghah.

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