Cheti Chand || About Jhulelal
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You can see day celebrate. So all info about of Lord Jhulelal is the principal deity of Sindhi community. He is described as 'Ishta Dev' of Sindhis. He is believed to be an incarnation of Lord Varuna, a powerful God in Vedic period. He was born around 950 A.D. in a small town Nasarpur in Sindh which is about 90 miles away from Hyderabad in today’s Pakistan and which was a part of undivided India before 1947.
He was born in a Lohana family and his mother’s name was Mata Devaki and father’s name was Ratanrai Thakkar.Lord Jhulelal gave a message of brotherhood, love and harmony which is so relevant in today's time when the world seems to be divided in the name of different religions, caste and creed. In Pakistan and in India, this name Jhulelal refers to a number of sacred figures also known as Udero Lal, Lal Sain, Amar Lal, Khwajah Khizr, and even Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. Mata Devki delivered a male child who had an enchanting smile on his face and his face was so bright as if Sun had risen (Uday = Rise), hence the name of the child was kept Uderolal. In the 16th century joint Muslim-Hindu shrine complex at Udero Lal, near the city of Tando Adam Khan, dedicated to Saint Sheikh Tahir for Muslims and Lord Jhulelal for the Hindus was constructed which has has a unique architectural history.
This all-white painted shrine complex that had largely been inspired by the Central Asian architecture, ‘Caravanserai’, the Udero Lal shrine is a symbol of interfaith harmony. These were mostly built by traders in Central Asia as a roadside inn where travellers could rest and recover from the day’s journey. The Sindhi Hindu community pays reverence by celebrating ‘Chetichand’ on the eve of Hindu New Year which signifies as the day of birth for Jhulelal, who is associated with water [the source of life] and is considered a savior, especially for those who travelled by sea or River Indus. Jhulelal never disclosed which faith he belonged to.
The Hindu and Muslim followers of Jhulelal continue the tradition of religious co-existence at one shrine, where the holy flame has been burning for over 400 years now. Lord Jhoolay Lal was the saviour of the Sindhi community in the tenth century when they faced persecution at the hands of Mirkha Shah, a fanatical ruler of Thatta region in Sindh. The Sindhi community went to the banks of Sindhu and prayed to Lord Varuna to send a saviour and protect them.
In answer to their prayers, a child was born to Rattan Rao Luhana and his wife Mata Devaki in the town of Nasarpur. This miraculous child saved the Sindhi community by performing a number of miracles. He emerged as a warrior from the Sindhu river and convinced the ruler to treat all his subjects with equality.
About of Jhulela
Jhulelal as popularly depicted sitting on a fish on the River Indus The famous song, “Lal Meri Pat.” In the song’s refrain, the line goes, “Jhule lal, Jhule lal, Mast Qalandar, Jhule lal.” The word “Jhule lal” means “swinging red,” popularly referring to the associations between Lal Shahbaz and his red cloak. However, the term equally refers to the deity Jhulelal. Jhulelal was a water deity who was said to have emerged from the Indus River in the form of a palla fish.
When Lal Shahbaz Qalandar travelled to Sindh in the 1200s, he did not define himself as Muslim (just as Jhulelal did not call himself Hindu). Lal Shahbaz’s stories became entangled with those of Jhulelal’s. “Hindus look upon him as their saint - their incarnation of the god, and Muslims look upon him as a Sufi saint,” said Arieb. While Muslims revered Lal Shahbaz as a saint, Hindus saw him as an incarnation of Jhulelal. According to legend, in the 1000s, the region was under the rule of the Soomro dynasty.
The Muslim leader Mirkh Shah ordered all Hindus to convert to Islam, threatening to kill anyone that did not convert. After much convincing from the Hindu population, Mirkh Shah gave them forty days before they would be forced to convert. Fearing for their lives, the Hindus prayed at the banks of the river to the god Varuna for forty days, and on the fortieth day Varuna told the people he would come down in the form of a baby born in Nassarpur.
Their prayers were answered with the birth of Jhulelal on Cheti Chand (celebrated as the first day of the Sindh New Year). At his birth, Jhulelal the child turned into an old man, and was sitting on a palla fish, a fish indigenous to the Indus River. Once news of Jhulelal’s birth reached Mirkh Shah, he dismissed the idea that a child could pose a threat to him. He was confident that Jhulelal would convert to Islam, and then the Hindus who had prayed for their saviour would be disheartened by their god and would turn to Islam as well.
However, Mirkh Shah still sent his advisor to see whether the prophecy of the Hindus had any merit. To be on the safe side, the advisor took a poisoned rose petal with the intention of killing the child. When he reached Nassarpur, he saw Jhulelal and offered him the rose petal. Jhulelal blew the petal away in a single breath, and turned into an old man and back to a child in front of the advisor. Convinced, the advisor begged for forgiveness from Jhulelal, and related this encounter to Mirkh Shah. The Soomra ruler was still not convinced, and thought his advisor a fool for falling for “magic.”
He demanded to meet Jhulelal at the River Indus. Jhulelal told Mirkh Shah that Hindus and Muslims just had different names for the same god and that the ruler was going against his own people by forcing them to convert to Islam When Mirkh Shah still did not yield and ordered his armies to attack Jhulelal and the Hindus, Jhulelal sent tidal waves that flooded the armies away, and fires that burned Mirkh Shah’s palace down. After multiple failed attempts at Jhulelal’s life and witnessing his miracles with his own eyes, Mirkh Shah was finally convinced and pleaded for forgiveness. Jhulelal told him never to discriminate between his Hindu and Muslim followers again.
Lord Jhulelal is community God or Ishtadeva or preferred deity of Sindhi community. The Lohana community of Gujarat and in particular the Kutchi Lohanas of Kutch also treat Lord Jhulelal as their community God. He is believed to be an incarnation or Avatar of Vedic Deity Varuna by both these communities and his manifestation is believed to have taken place around mid of the tenth century. The fertile province of Sindh attracted many invaders due to prevalent prosperity in the region.
These invasions could not succeed for many years due to the strong resistance offered by the brave people of Sindh. However, circa 712 A.D. King Dahir who was the Hindu king of Sindh was defeated by Mohamed Bin Kasim. Subsequently, Sindh came under the rule of Muslims. Around mid of the tenth century, Thatta region of Sindh came under the rule of Muslim ruler known as Mirk Shah (also known as Mirkshah and Makarab Khan).
His ideas were fundamentalist and fanatic. On advice by his courtiers that all the Hindu subjects of the kingdom be ordered to accept the faith of the ruler, Mirkshah ordered the Hindus of his kingdom that they should either embrace Islam or they would have to face persecution. The Hindus asked for some time to convey their decision. The Sindhi community found itself in a very difficult and precarious situation and was at a loss on how they may still be allowed to have their religious freedom.
Old and wise men known as Mahajans came together for a discussion on how to tackle the grave situation and find a solution. The Mahajans suggested that the community take refuge at the feet of Lord Varuna also known as the Water God on the banks of the river Sindhu. They concurred that only Lord Varuna could rescue them from such a difficult situation. They started praying to Lord Varuna. They took sacred dip offering worship to river God, sang songs and bhajans in praise of his name and continuously chanted his name asking for protection in such hour of difficulty.
It is believed that they prayed for about forty days. After forty days and nights of continuous worship and prayers to Lord Varuna, their prayers were answered. In his court, the King Mirkshah was constantly being pursued by his courtiers and other influential people to ask the Hindus to accept Islam as their faith. They told Mirkshah that this act of conversion would open the gates of Jannat for him. Due to fear of clerics Mirkshah had to take some action. He decided to see Uderolal in person and he, therefore, asked his Vazir Ahiro to arrange a one on one meeting with Uderolal. It was a difficult task for Ahiro for he too had become a devotee of Water God (Darya Shah) and he did not know how to react. He, therefore, went to the bank of the Indus River and appealed to the Water God to come to his aid. Within no time he saw the same old man with a white beard sitting on a Pala fish, which he had seen before when he went to meet Uderolal for the first time.
PHILOSOPHY OF JHULELAL
During the time of crisis, when Hindus were facing a threat of persecution from the ruler of Sindh Mirkshah, Lord Jhulelal came to their rescue and became their saviour. When Lord Jhulelal and Mirskshah came face to face, Lord Jhulelal simply said to him, “Whatever you see around is the creation of only one god, whom you call 'Allah' and the Hindus call 'Ishwar'.
All humanity is one creation, and it is His divine family". The advice offered by Lord Jhulelal to Mirkshah though appears quite simple, it has a deep meaning in it. The advice offered by Lord Jhulelal to the ruler is indicative of the impression of Henotheism on Lord Jhulelal. Further, Lord Jhulelal was successful in expressing his views clearly to the ruler, and not only that but this was conveyed to the ruler properly by the words used and he was convinced that there is truth in Lord Jhulelal's words. Though Lord Jhulelal was an Avatar and possessing sufficient powers, his role was to come to a compromise and let all the subjects of Mirkshah live without discrimination and with brotherhood. Henotheism is possible when more than one deities are worshipped, and in spite of the difference in the nature of two religions, he convinced about the oneness of God to the ruler. The ruler of Sindh accepted the teachings of Lord Jhulelal which were:
‘This is the creation of only one God and two different faiths call him by different names.’
The teachings of Lord Jhulelal cover comradery, brotherhood and peaceful co- existence of different faiths creating a harmonious atmosphere in the society. His teachings have always had a great impact on the thinking and perception on people down the ages. This is how one can understand the discussion between Lord Jhulelal and his followers and the Ruler with a different faith. He tried to remove the differences through discussion and established a feeling of trust and confidence in each other. As a result, the Ruler decided that each one can have his own faith and all the subjects in the kingdom will be treated equally.
LORD JHULELAL'S ASSOCIATION WITH VEDIC DEITY VARUNA
When one looks at the characteristics, epithets, adjectives and various names by which he is referred, one may be able to present a picture of this deity in one's mind. At the same time when it is strongly believed by the Sindhi Community that Lord Jhulelal is an incarnation of Varuna.Vedic deity Varuna is worshiped by Indians in many parts of India, however, the people of Sindh province have been worshipping Varuna, the water God since ancient times. During the times of crisis people of Sindh came to Lord Varuna on the banks of Sindhu to express their pains and agonies and surrendered to him. In response to their call, Varuna appeared in form of Jhulelal in Sindh.
JHULELAL MESSAGE
The message given by Lord Jhulelal to the ruler was very small but had a deep meaning in it. His message to the ruler was that you should treat all your subjects, even though of different faiths, with equality. Your God and our God are same but we call him by different names. The message conveyed to the ruler was, that you cannot rule without the help and cooperation of the citizens of your province, who may be of different faith than yours, if you want the trade and commerce to flourish in your kingdom which will bring prosperity and make the lives of people happy and peaceful with ample opportunities for progress.
The fact is that any kingdom can flourish, only if there is revenue by way of taxes which depends upon trade and commerce, agriculture, manufacture of articles etc. An atmosphere of brotherhood, trust, and harmony amongst subjects is the base for the prosperity of a kingdom or a nation even in today’s times. The ruler might have realized that the cooperation of traders, merchants and businessmen is very valuable and therefore he softened his forceful ideas and agreed to the advice of Lord Jhulelal.
LORD JHULELAL TEMPLES
As the area of influence of Lord Jhulelal was Sindh, many of his temples would naturally be found in Sindh. However, Sindh is not a part of India anymore and the temples in Pakistan are in a very bad shape, deeply scarred by time and elements as per some reports. In India, there are Jhulelal temples in some big cities where Sindhi population is found. The researcher has visited some Jhulelal and Dariyalal temples in India. While talking about Jhulelal temples in India, generally the idol of Jhulelal installed in temples is of a ‘Blessing Deity.’
He is found sitting on a Pala Fish. In Lohana temples of Lord Dariyalal, one finds an additional idol of Saint Jalaram.The deity of Jhulelal is seen in a sitting posture in Padmasana and the description is as follows: The Lord Jhulelal is generally seen sitting on a fish which is called Pala fish. He is found sitting on Lotus or Lily flower on the fish, holding a book in hand.The other hand is seen holding a rosary.