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Dada Heja’s Story with Mahri Among the people of Mewat, there was a very popular dessert called Mahri or sweet Rabri, which was prepared with the flour of Bajra or Jaiuar in an earthen pot. As the dessert was taken in liquid form, it gave a sound at the time of drinking. Once Amir Khusrau was asked about this sound of drinking by Dada Heja; the people of the village thought at that time that maybe Khusrau would not be able to answer this question. But surprisingly, Amir Khusrau gave a wonderful answer by explaining the entire process of threshing the paddy as a result of which the sound comes out while drinking the sweet. Amir Khusrau’s answer left every people shocked, because they understood that Ami Khusrau was equal to Dada Heja, which apparently made them disappointed. But then they all were surprised. When all these things were going on, then Khusrau was thirsty so he wanted to have some water. But, as he was able to quench his thirst so he took a little bit of water, because of his prejudice about having water from impoverished village people. This incident made the village people hurt intensely, which got cured immediately by Dada Heja. He drank all the water though he was not thirsty. This difference of behavior between Dada Heja and Khusrau made the villagers understand the worth of their hero Dada Heja. Story of Dada Heja and Elephant Once Dada Heja was present in Mughal court, then a group of traders came there to sell Elephants. As he was way more intelligent than others at that time, the emperor asked him to deal with the elephants. As he had no idea about that animal, so he went to the elephants and started to observe them. The traders thought him to be an expert in Elephants who might be searching for defects in the animals. So, the traders offered him ten asharifs (gold coins) and requested him to remain abstain from the animals. As Dada Heja didn’t listen to them, so then they offered him 20 more asharifs and kept requesting to stay away from it. But Dads Heja showing his honesty threw all the asharifs and just asked that what kind of animal is this. The traders were then surprised of his innocence. Taking back all the money they told him that this is Elephant. Story of Dada Heja’s and the Villagers One day at night an Elephant passed through the village leaving the traces of its feet. The next day the curious villagers went to Dada Heja to know about the marks. Dada Heja was also confused about those marks, but he had to satisfy the villagers with some answers. So he told that either a deer was jumping with a wind mill below his foot or a knight came here last night or maybe that animal from Delhi had passed through this place; he also forgot the name Elephant. In this way he satisfied the villagers with his intelligence and remained their hero. Story of Dada Heja and the Children of Mewat In Muslim religion, Qazis played a very vital role in socio-religious celebrations. When Meos people accepted the Islam religion, since then they were also regulated by the Islamic Law. In Mewat, some Qazis were there to perform the duties. According to the Muslim marriage rituals, no one could take the marriage feasts until the Nikah was performed fully. Once it was a season of marriage and a marriage ceremony was about to be performed, but as the Qazi was busy in attending some other marriage function, so the ritual couldn’t be started and people were starving especially the children of that marriage function. Then the children started to cry in hunger. So the Meos called their hero Dada Heja to solve this problem. He came and advised the Meos to perform the rituals themselves and do not kill the children, saying "let the Qazi go to hell". So the people agreed to this and requested Dada Heja to perform the rituals. As Dada had no knowledge about Quran, so he spoke few words to satisfy the people in that occasion. He said that the Qazi, who was basically dependent on the surplus of the Meo peasantry, how could enforce the law on the people who are suffering in his absence. Saying this, Dada started to take the food and all followed him. It is heard that after this incident, all the Qazis lost their prestige in Mewat. |
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Dada Heja
| Dada Heja was a folk hero of Mewat, whom the Meos followed and respected from the core of their heart. |
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