Devalok
Folk tale · 3 tellings · West India

Jhulelal and Mirkhshah

Sindhi Hindus pray forty days at the Indus against forced conversion and Varuna is born as the child Uderolal, Jhulelal, who turns the ruler Mirkhshah from his order.

Who is in it

Places: Odero Lal shrine

The story, beat by beat

  1. Mirkhshah of Thatta orders the Hindus of Sindh to convert or die.
  2. The Hindus pray and fast at the Indus for forty days.
  3. A voice promises that Varuna will be born as a child at Nasarpur.
  4. Uderolal is born to Ratanchand and Devaki on Cheti Chand.
  5. His parents see the Indus and an old man on a palla fish in his mouth; his cradle rocks by itself.
  6. A minister's poisoned rose petal is blown away, and the child changes age before him.
  7. Jhulelal tells Mirkhshah that both peoples worship one God and that forced conversion is forbidden.
  8. The advisers urge arrest; flood and fire strike the palace.
  9. Mirkhshah withdraws his order and asks forgiveness.
  10. Jhulelal asks that a lamp be kept burning; he is taken into the earth at Odero Lal.

avatar river persecution miracle harmony shared shrine

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Encyclopedia

Sindhi Hindu telling

West India · Sindh Folk Sindhi Hindu 🪔 Cheti Chand

Mirkhshah of Thatta orders conversion. The Hindus pray forty days at the Indus and are promised that Varuna will be born at Nasarpur. Uderolal is born to Ratanchand and Devaki in Chaitra; his mouth shows the river and an old man on a palla fish, and his cradle rocks itself. A minister's poisoned petal blows away and the child appears as a youth, a man and an elder. Before the ruler he says Hindus and Muslims worship the same God and the Quran forbids compulsion; when arrest is ordered, flood and fire engulf the palace and Mirkhshah relents. A lamp is to be kept burning. Chaliho recalls the forty days.

Jhulelal (Hinduism) (Wikipedia), summarising Falzon 2004 and Ramey 2008; Shrine at Odero Lal (Wikipedia); Jhulelal: The God of the Indus (Live History India)

Encyclopedia

Odero Lal shrine: Shaikh Tahir

West India · Odero Lal, Matiari district, Sindh Folk Sindhi Muslim shrine keepers

At Odero Lal the Hindu account says the earth took Uderolal in; Hindus built a temple and Muslims a tomb beside it. The shrine's Muslim caretaker tells that Odero Lal met a Sufi saint from Multan as a youth, became a Muslim and took the name Shaikh Tahir. Muslims also call him Zinda Pir or Khwaja Khizr. Temple and mosque share one complex, with keepers of both faiths and a lamp always burning; Hindus make new-moon offerings at the water.

What is different here:

No Varuna and no miracle at court: a convert saint with a tomb. Shared ground rather than a won contest.

Shrine at Odero Lal (Wikipedia); Jhulelal: The God of the Indus (Live History India)

Scholarly

Variant Hindu readings (Ramey, Falzon)

West India · Sindh and the diaspora in India Folk Sindhi Hindu

Scholars record that the birth-name varies (Uderolal, Amarlal, Daryasahib); that he is either born to a family or rises from the Indus riding a fish; that he is an avatar of Varuna, of Vishnu, or 'the Varuna avatar of Vishnu'; that the ruler either submits to miracles or is beaten by a secretly gathered force; and that some tellings move the story to Aurangzeb's reign. He is also said to have entered the Indus at Nasarpur and come up at Bukkur.

What is different here:

A summary of how the details move between tellings; adds the army, the Vishnu identification and the later date.

Jhulelal (Hinduism) (Wikipedia), summarising Falzon 2004 and Ramey 2008

Sources: Jhulelal (Hinduism) (Wikipedia), summarising Falzon 2004 and Ramey 2008; Shrine at Odero Lal (Wikipedia); Jhulelal: The God of the Indus (Live History India)

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