Hassan Abdal
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Hassan Abdal
{Hasa/i Abdal). — Village and ruins in the District and tahs'il of Attock, Punjab, situated in T^f" 48' N. and 72° 44' E., and forming a part of the remarkable group of remains which lie around the site of the ancient Taxila. Hiuen Tsiang, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim of the seventh century a. d., visited the tank of the Serpent King, Elapatra, which has been identified with the famous spring of Baba Wali or Panja Sahib in this village. Successive legends of Buddhist, Brahman, Muhammadan, and Sikh origin cluster around the sacred fountain.
The Muhammadan shrine of Baba Wali Kandhari crowns a precipitous hill, about one mile east of the town ; and at its foot stands the holy tank called the Panja Sahib, a Sikh shrine. The story is that Guru Nanak once came to Hassan Abdal and asked the incumbent of Baba W'ali's shrine, which then possessed a spring, for water, which was refused. As a punishment the Gurii caused the water to spring up at the foot of the hill, instead of the top.
The Muham- madan saint thereupon hurled a huge rock at the Gurii, who turned it aside with his hand. The rock was placed in the shrine, where it stands to this day. It bears the marks of the Guru's hand, whence its name of Panja, 'the five fingers.' Two miles from Hassan Abdal lies Wah, a village which was once a halting-place of the Mughal emperors on the road to Kashmir. Its ruined gardens and a bath, recently excavated, mark the site of the imperial camp.
