Khwaja Khizr

late 19th century

Painting, in opaque watercolour on paper, depicting Khwaja Khizr draped in saintly clothes riding on a palla, or sweet-water fish, holding a scripture in his hand. Sindhi Hindus are a popular sect known as the Daryapashah, ‘followers of the river’, who worship a folk deity named Uderolal, also revered as Zindah Pir or Khwaja Khizr among Muslims. Devotional hymns are sung by devotees, exalting the river deity emerging against the tide from river Sindhu (Indus).