VII. JANNATPURI, OR THE CITY OF PARADISE


1 - Printed in Bombay (in Gujrati, but in Khojki script), 1905, by Lalji-Bhai Devraj; pp.26

2 - This is 925 A.H. or 1519 A.D. As has been discussed above, p. 51, the date appears to be too late to be true.

3 - This is the usual darwish expression. in Persian it is khirg-ra khali kard

4 - As has been discussed above, p. 73, Onch is the present Uchchh, near which the tomb of Hasan Kabiru'd-din (locally called Hasan Daryâ) is situated.

5 - As has been mentioned above, p. 18, the Khojas do not recognize Imam shah as a Pir , but the followers of the different branches of his sect do.

6 - Cf. above, p. 51.

7 - Nûr Shah is not a name, but a title. Cf. sloka 3 at the beginning of the Jannatpuri in which the deceased Pir Hasan Kabîru'd-dîn-din is called Gor Nur . "Reigned" is the usual "polite" expression for "lived".

8 - Cf. above, p. 52.

9 - Cf. above, p. 52.

10 - Chandan means sandal, and Vir means brother. This does not seem to be the name of a man, but of a supernatural being. Here he is mentioned only once, and it is not clear what his functions were.

11 - Stare of ritual defilement

12 - This obviously means Ali in the person of one of his descendants and successors, the Qa'im in Ismailism.

13 - Cf. above. P. 70

14 - This Kotla or Kotala seems to be the same as Kotada mentioned further on, in sloka 88, and defined as situated near Lahore. There are many places bearing the name of Kotla.

15 - It is obviously again 'Abdu's-Salâm Shâh of Anjudàn, if it really refers to Pir Sadrùd'd-dîn's time. But, surely, the new religion was introduced long, before that time.

16 - It is not clear why this daughter of Pir Hasan Kabirud-din has been mentioned, and her religion specially indicated. Was she an Ithna-a'shari?

17 - It is strange that the Pir himself does not stay in Paradise, and that there are other people with him. But it seems that it is also so in all-Islamic ideas : the Prophet, the Imams, etc, do not go to Paradise which is apparently reserved only for deserving ordinary people.

18 - A measure of distance, of about two miles.

19 - It seems that this is apparently the only instance in world literature in which Paradise is imagined in the form of a huge city, so powerfully fortified, against whom? The expressions such as "reigning", "rule", etc are obviously hyperbolic extensions of the ordinary ideas of "living", "residing", etc. etc.

20 - Sansar = dunya visible world.