I am Rejected at Birth continues......


The Shah was quick to discover that he had given offence. With folded hands he asked for pardon.

The Rajput paused and said that out of his high regard for the Shah he would spare his life; had it been anyone else he would have killed him for advising him to retain the ill-gotten wealth, which was plundered booty. The sooner it was spent, the better it would be for all concerned. If such wealth was not
quickly spent, the whole family and. his entire property would be destroyed by fire! The Shah, of course, never again offered gratuitous advice to his client.

Chhajju Shah died at quite a young age in the year 1886. When he was 52 or 53, he started on a pilgrimage to Hardwar, Rishi Kesh, Jagan Nath Puri, Prayag (Allahabad), Godavari (Nasik), Ramesh- waram and finally Banaras.

He took with him, his wife and young son, a cook and a servant. The nearest railway station then was Amritsar, a distance of about 90 miles from his village. In those days, when a person left on a pilgrimage, it was customary for the whole village to bid him farewell by accompanying him for a short distance beyond the village.

Chhajju Shah was similarly escorted to a small tank outside the village. When farewells were being said, an old playmate of the Shah asked him when he was likely to return. The reply was prophetic. He said that if he had been true and pure in character and honest in his dealings, this was his final goodbye to them all; and if not. he would soon return.

After completing his pilgrimage down south, he came to Banaras.

Here, one morning he performed worship at the temple of Vishwa- nath. This over, he asked his companions to prepare a bed for him in the temple precincts. Then he gave away what he liked in charity, went to bed and died. Chhajju Shah’s son, Brij Lal, was then a student of the B.A. class in the Government College at Lahore.


To be continued.....