Mungo Pir

Crocodile Saint. So, I mentioned this shrine in the last post and remembered how interesting the story behind this is.

A long time back, there was a Hindu man and he converted to Islam. He moved from what is now India to what is now Pakistan, in a pattern that would be replayed centuries later on a grander scale, more reminiscent of two large groups of people murdering millions of each other. His, however, was peaceful and succesful. Through the course of his journey, he became known for his devotion and holiness. Upon arriving to the spot he felt he wanted to be said to have arrived at, he setted in to wash off the dust of a long journey. The place was a natural sulfur spring so he had plenty of healing water to do his hygenics in. After his bath, he sat poolside and combed his hair just like any of us would do. However, when he pulled his comb through the overgrown locks he had cultivated during his travels, he knocked loose the lice that had established residency on his skull. Through the power of his holiness and God's limitless sense of humor, the lice became crocodiles when they hit the water.

When he died, a shrine was erected in his honor and the crocodile pool became a healing bath for those with physical ailments. To ease the danger of getting the healing power, capitalism has provided a bottled version that you can enjoy on the comfort of your couch, if you don't mind a sodden sofa. It is on the walls of the alligator enclosure that I saw the sign for Pepsi.

The Islamic appropriatness of shrines is a pretty contentious debate but if you were interested in it, I suggest you check it out on your own. Basically, purists say you ought to only have a very simple grave stone for the practical reason of having people not dig holes and be surprised by skulls or rotting corpses or what have you as generally, Muslims do not use coffins. They (purists) would say that to even have a distinguishing marker is haraam (forbidden, bad). However, more easygoing types feel that those people who were very good are probably going to get the ear of Allah better than those of us who are serial sinners. They, like the catholics, use the intermediaries of saints to try to get God to be better buddies with them. Gnerally, you will see more shrines in South Asia and fewer the closer you get to the Arabs who are widely known as flawless and thus have no need for saints.