Haidarabad was once known as Nerankot and the king of it was Raja
Neran. He had a beautiful daughter, who, from the exquisite skill with
which she darkened her eyes with Kanjal or lampblack, reddened her
cheeks with rouge and coloured her finger nails with henna, was known
as Nigar or the Painted lady. Her courage was, if possible, greater
even than her beauty. She scorned to ride camels or horses, as other
well born Hindu ladies did. The only beast she would bestride was a
lion and every evening outside Nerankot she might have been seen riding
a splendid maned lion, who, when bridled by her, was as docile as the
meekest ambling palfrey, to the touch of her finger on the reins. Nor
would she suffer cowardice in others. She vowed and made public her vow
that she would wed no man who feared to saddle and mount a lion.
It so happened that Shah Makai and Haidar Ali came about this time to
Sind. Shah Makai’s real name was Shah Mahmud; but because he lived at
Maka or Mecca, he was known as Shah Makai. Haidar Ali’s real name was
Ali. But, because as a child he had torn to pieces a live snake with
his bare hands, he was called Haidar Ali or the Ali who tore the “Hai”
or snake. His fortune was as great as his childhood foretold; for in
due course he became the son-in-law of the holy prophet and the fourth
Imam of the Faithful. As the two friends journeyed through Sind, they
came to hear the fame of Nigar’s beauty and courage. Straightway they
hastened to Nerankot and one evening Shah Makai saw the lovely girl
astride of her lion, riding outside the walls. He fell madly in love
with her. Then he heard that she had vowed not to marry anyone, unless
he could tame and mount a lion. Shah Makai as a true and devout
believer, had but little difficulty in performing this feat and the
next time that Nigar rode abroad, she saw to her surprise and pleasure
Shah Makai astride of a maned lion, hardly less majestic than her own.
She asked him who he was; and learning that he had broken in the lion
for love of her, she vowed that she would wed him and no other. Shah
Makai sought an audience of Neran Raja and asked for his daughter’s
hand. Nigar, too, pressed her father to give his consent to the
marriage. But the proud king’s heart was as hard as stone and although
he heard the full tale of Shah Makai’s courtship, he refused to give
his daughter to one who was not a Hindu, but a Mleccha. With contumely
he drove Shah Makai from his Court. When Nigar vowed that in spite of
her father she would wed the bold Arabian, Raja Neran threw her into a
well and had a huge stone put over its mouth. The evil news reached
Shah Makai. He tried to move the stone; but it was so big, that even
he, saint though he was, failed. He implored the help of Haidar Ali. To
that pillar of Islam the task was light. He mounted his white mule Dhul
Dhul and made it dance on the top of the stone. Then he dismounted and
throwing himself at full length on the ground, he prayed Allah to
remove it. He had hardly finished his prayer, when the stone rolled
aside and Nigar with Haidar Ali’s help was able to climb out of the
well. He gave her to Shah Makai, who carried her off in triumph. But
Haidar Ali cursed the wicked Neran; and stretching wide the five
fingers of his right hand made the bhundo sign at him. Not long
afterwards the curse was fulfilled. The Arabs landing on the sea coast
of Sind swept through the land, stormed Nerankot and killed Raja Neran.
For many centuries Nerankot lay in ruins. Then the wise and pious
Ghulam Shah Kalhoro came to the spot and deeming it well fitted for the
site of his capital city, he rebuilt Nerankot. While the new fortress
was building, he raised a small mud stronghold close to the spot where
Shah Makai and the beautiful Painted Lady were in their old age buried
side by side. When Nerankot was finished, Ghulam Shah Kalhoro went to
live in it and renamed it Haidarabad after Haidar Ali. He gave his mud
stronghold to the Fakirs who guarded Shah Makai’s tomb. Up to Burton’s
time a lion—said to be a descendant of Nigar’s riding lion—used to be
kept in a cage under a tamarind tree, close to Shah Makai’s last
resting place. The tree still stands, but the lion has vanished. The
rise in the price of lion’s food was no doubt the cause of its
disappearance.
About a quarter of a mile from the tomb of Shah Makai is another small
but holy building known as Shah Kadam. Within it are preserved the
stones on which Haidar Ali’s white mule Dhul Dhul did its
miracle-working dance. Its hoof marks may still be seen stamped deep in
the stone. By its side a slab bears the marks of Haidar Ali’s hands,
knees, feet and forehead, which he made when he prostrated himself in
prayer before Allah. And a third stone bears the marks of the saint’s
fingers and thumb when he made the bhundo at Raja Neran. So violent was
the Imam’s curse that it has lived on, monumentum aere perennius. The
well into which Nigar was thrown is one of the three inside Nerankot,
but none could tell me with certainty which it was. Perhaps the most
interesting relic of that golden time is a great “djar” tree that grows
near Shah Makai’s tomb. The guardian of the shrine assured me that it
had grown from a bit of stick, which the saint had one day used as a
toothbrush and then carelessly thrown aside.