ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>CHETR&#256M&#298&#256S</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="CHETRM*S"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279CHETR&#256M&#298&#256S, a cult of saint-worship incorporating elements from Christianity, Vai&#7779&#7751avism and S&#363fism founded by one Chet R&#257m (1835-94), an Aro&#7771&#257 Hindu of the village of Sharakpur in present-day Shei<u>kh</u>&#363pur&#257 district of Pakistan. Almost illiterate, Chet R&#257m was neither a saint nor a S&#363f&#299. He was a camp-follower in the second Chinese war (1858-60), and on his discharge returned to India to settle down at Buchchoke where he got married and started dealing in opium and liquor. He came in contact with a Muslim Jal&#257l&#299 <i>faq&#299r</i>, named Mahb&#363b Sh&#257h, a man with eclectic views who had a fascination for Christianity. Mahb&#363b Sh&#257h died around the year 1865 at Buchchoke, and his tomb became a place of pilgrimage for the local populace. Chet R&#257m also had been a regular visitor to the tomb until one night he is said to have had a vision of Jesus Christ commanding him to build a church over the tomb. He composed a poem in Punjabi to recapture the glory of the vision he had had. At the church constructed at Mahb&#363b Sh&#257h's tomb he unfolded his mission acknowledging the supremacy of Christ. Chet R&#257m attracted a small following and before his death, he named his daughter his successor and head of the sect. The daughter shifted the headquarters of the sect from Buchchoke to Lahore, near the B&#257dsh&#257h&#299 mosque, though the sanctuary at Buchchoke remained the main centre of the sect. Another disciple of some importance was one Munsh&#299 Natth&#257 who expounded the doctrines of Chet R&#257m through his poetical compositions. The creed of the sect revolved around a vaguely defined principle of trinity in which figured Allah, Parme&#347vara and <u>Kh</u>ud&#257 as creator, preserver and destroyer, respectively. The Bible was the sect's scripture but, since most of the adherents were illiterate, they hung it round their necks without understanding its contents. They carried a cross hung upon on a rod on which was inscribed the confession of their faith. The church service comprised recitation of the verses of Chet R&#257m with lamps lighted before the cross and the Bible. Two ethical principles stressed were philanthropy and fortitude in face of persecution. The novitiates had to undergo baptism, the monks among them having to tear off at the ceremony their clothes and cast dust upon their heads. The monks acted as missionaries and subsisted on alms. Never large in numbers, the sect had its adherents mainly in the districts of F&#299rozpur, Amritsar, Gurd&#257spur and Montgomery. Many of them later converted to Sikhism.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"><i>The Census Reports</i>, 1891, 1901, and 1911.<BR> <li class="C1"> Farquhar, J. N. , <i>Modern Religious Movements</i>. Delhi, 1977<BR> <li class="C1"> Rose, H. A. , comp. , <i>A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province</i>. Lahore, 1911-1919<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Fauj&#257 Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>