Page:A Statistical Account of Bengal Vol 1 GoogleBooksID 9WEOAAAAQAAJ.pdf/135

120 the same time to ascertain the spot where Mobrah Ghází’s treasures were hid, to dig them up, and to remit his revenue to the royal treasury at Dehli. On reaching home, the zamíndár informed his mother of all that had happened, and especially of the instruction regarding the treasure. She went immediately to Mobrah Ghází, who at her request pointed out the place where the treasures were buried, and ordered her to dig them up and take them away. He then mysteriously vanished. The mother and son dug them up next day, sent the Emperor his revenue, and transferred the remainder to the zamíndárí coffers. In gratitude to Mobrah Ghází, he wished to erect a mosque in the jungle of Básrá for his residence; but he was prevented in a dream, in which the fakír appeared to him, saying that he preferred living in the jungles, receiving offerings from all who came to cut wood, and that he required neither mosque nor house of any kind. The zamíndár then ordered that every village should have an altar dedicated to Mobrah Ghází, the king of the forests and wild beasts; and warned his tenants, that if they neglected to make offerings before proceeding into the jungles, they would certainly be devoured. These altars to Mobrah Ghází are common in every village in the vicinity of the jungles, not only in Maidánmal, but in all the Fiscal Divisions adjoining the Sundarbans; and woodcutters never go into the jungle without invoking Mobrah Ghází’s protection. A number of fakírs, who call themselves descendants of Mobrah Ghází, gain their livelihood by the offerings made on these altars by woodcutters and boatmen. The custom is for the fakír to go to the spot where the wood is to be cut, and remain there three days without food, during which time Mobrah Ghází appears to him in a dream, marking out the precincts within which wood can be cut by lopping branches from the trees. Prayers and offerings are then made, and the woodcutters warned not to go beyond the boundary marked out. When the boat is filled, offerings are again made, and one or two rupees are given to the fakír. It is strange enough that these woodcutters are very seldom carried off by the tigers which everywhere infest the jungles; they go in without fear, the hatchet required to hew the timber being their only weapon and means of defence.’

, a village in Báruipur Subdivision, which contains the house of a Hindu Rájá named Dastídár, who drowned himself in order to escape being dishonoured by the Muhammadans. There is a tank in the village, in the midst of which grows a pipal tree;