SHAH DAULA

SHAH DAULA (158 IP1676), a renowned Muslim divine of his time, was the son of `Abd urRahim Khan Lodhi, a descendant of Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi and Niamat Khatun, a scion of the chiefs of Gakkhar tribe of western Punjab, though the Gu^jars of Gujrat, now in Pakistan, claim him as belonging to their clan. Daula was brought up in utter penury by his widowed mother in her native Pothohar. Upon his mother`s death in 1590 after several years of hard toil, he left home and in the course of his wanderings came to Sahgrohi, a village near Sialkot, where he became a disciple of Shah Saidan Sarmast, a faqJr of the Suhrawardi sect. Twelve years later, Shah Sarmast, at his deathbed, blessed him and nominated him as his successor.

Shah Daula became famous for his piety and he launched several works of public weal.He built many mosques, tanks, wells and bridges over some unfordable torrential, seasonal rivulets, which earned him the epithet of Daryai, from darya, i.e. river.Shah Daula Daryai shifted, in 1612, to Gujrat where he settled permanently. He died there, according to the anagram of his death, Khuda dost, in 1676. Shah Daula was acquainted with the teaching of Guru Nanak, According to Samp Das Bhalla, Mahima Prakash, he once met at Gujrat Bhai Garhia, appointed masand by Guru Hargobind to preach in Kashmir, and requested him to recite GuruArjan`s Sukhmam to him.

Bhai Garhia, uttered the verse : “In Sukhmani is the peace, the very ambrosia of God`s Name and it dwelleth in the hearts of the devotees.” Shah Daula was enchanted and, to quote the Mahima Prakash, instantaneously spoke, “Nothing equals the Guru`s word. Listening even to a single line brings the highest bliss.” Shah Daula is also said to have met Guru Hargobind when he visited Gujrat on his way back from Kashmir.

References :

1. Bhalla, Sarup Das, Mahima Prakash. Patiala, 1971
2. Santokh Singh, Bhai, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth. Amritsar, 1927-35
3. Gian Singh, Giani, Twankh Guru Khalsa [Reprint]. Patiala, 1970
4. Macauliffe, Max Arthur, The Sikh Religion : Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors. Oxford, 1909
5. Rose, H.A., ed., A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province. Lahore, 1911-19