slim origin, but
to have acquired strange characters in the course of time. Such are
Khwaja Khizr who lives in rivers, Zindah Ghazi who rides on a tiger in
the Sandarbans, and Sultan Shahid who is said to be the bodyguard and
lover of Devi. But it is in the adoration of Pirs that this fusion of
the two religions is most apparent. A Pir is the Moslim equivalent of
a Guru and distinct from the Mollahs or official hierarchy. Just as
Hindus receive initiation from their Guru so most Moslims, except the
Wahabis and other purists, make a profession of faith before their
Pir, accept his guidance and promise him obedience. When an eminent
Pir dies his tomb becomes a place of prayer and pilgrimage. Even
educated Mohammedans admit that Pirs can intercede with the Almighty
and the uneducated offer to them not only direct supplications but
even sacrifices. The Shrine of an important Pir, such as Hazrat
Moin-ud-Din Chisti at Ajmere, is an edifice dedicated to a superhuman
being as much as any Hindu temple.

This veneration of saints attains its strangest development in the
sect of the Panchpiriyas or worshippers of the five Pirs. They are
treated by the last census of India as "Hindus whose religion has a
strong Mohammedan flavour."[1167] There is no agreement as to who the
five saints or deities are, but though the names vary from place to
place they usually comprise five of the best known semi-mythical
Pirs.[1168] Whoever they may be, they are worshipped under the form of
a small tomb with five domes or of a simple mound of clay set in the
corner of a room. Every Wednesday the mound is washed and offerings of
flowers and incense are made. A somewhat similar sect are the Malkanas
of the Panjab. These appear to be Hindus formerly converted to Islam
and now in process of reverting to Hinduism.

The influence of Hinduism on Indian Mohammedanism is thus obvious.
It is responsible for the addition to the Prophet's creed of much
superstition but also for rendering it less arid and more human. It is
harder to say how far Moslim mysticism and Sufiism are due to the same
influence. History and geography raise no difficulties to such an
origin. Arabia was in touch with the western coast of India for
centuries before the time of Mohammed: the same is true of the Persian
Gulf and Bagdad, and of Balkh and other districts near the frontiers
of India. But recent writers on Sufiism[1169] have shown a disposition
to seek its origin in Neoplatonis