20-Apr-2011
… Effect of Revolution in KKP Community …
2. Main reasons behind success of Imam Shah: One of the factors behind success of Imam Shah is that he was very good at doing miracles. With the help of his miracle powers, he made a group of pilgrims on their way to Kashi, to have the Kashi Vishnu Darshan from Pirana itself, without having trouble to travel hundreds of kilometers to Kashi. This attracted the fancy of the people. They started believing in the miraculous powers of Imam shah. Another story is that, farmers were facing continuous 3 years of drought in and around Ahmedabad. They approached Imam Shah, who with his miraculous powers, brought rains. This attracted poor farmers and they started following him. Many such stories of miracles stories are floating, some of them by way of Ginans, which would only catch the imagination of illiterate, poor and ignorant class of people. Once people started believing him, Imam shah slowly introduced his followers to the new religion, the Satpanth (a shia muslim sect), presenting it as a ―true Hindu religion‖ of the Kaliyug. Followers were illiterate, poor and ignorant background, and had good experience of Imam Shah, as mentioned above. Left with the inability to suspect, people blindly accepted Imam Shah‟s words. The way in which the new religion was presented to them, full of Hindu elements, made it easy for the new 197 converts to accept it.
… Effect of Revolution in KKP Community …
3. Embracing Satpanth: On Friday, 19 Oct 1534, some people, in small groups, of Kadva Patidar (―KP‖) Community, which is also commonly known as ―Kunbi‖ or ―Kanbi‖ community, embraced the religion of Imam shah, the Satpanth. Later on these converts were identified because and by their religion as ―Mumna Musalmans‖. Even today one can find a statue of Mumna Kanbi in a museum at Bhuj. During those days, the KP Community was based mainly around Unjha, in Mahesana District of Gujarat. Slowly other (Hindu) members of the community became aware of the muslim credentials of their brethren . 198
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