​Peter Nazareth, TNN | Mar 24, 2013, 02.25 AM IST

The dargah of the soldier-saint of Colonel-Shah Pir.

RATANPUR VILLAGE (KHEDA): When villagers in Kheda get trapped in debt or
 want their children to do well in studies, they travel to the Colonel-Shah Pir. This is perhaps
 the only dargah of its kind in Gujarat which is dedicated to a British army officer from the Raj.

Lieutenant Colonel William Carden of the 17th Regiment of Light Dragoons had died here
 in November 1817. But his legacy as a kind of Robin Hood of the time has survived almost
 200 years after his death. Interestingly, both Hindus and Muslims revere this soldier-saint
 who helped the people during famines and epidemics and also gangs of Pindari robbers.

"He would give away government money to help the poor and fought for exploited people
 against the rulers of the time," says Dashrath Chauhan, who owns a field near the
 hillock in Ratanpur village, 3 km from Kheda, where the tomb stands.

"All our wishes are granted here," says Sanjay Jhala, another farmer who lives nearby.
 "The Muslims offer boiled eggs and cigarettes, some offer English liquor (IMFL).
 Hindus, generally, offer stuffed toy horses if a wish is fulfilled."

"The period from 1808 to 1820 saw political instability as the Maratha empire was waning.
 Famines and outbreaks of cholera and other diseases were common. It is likely that 
Carden was a compassionate officer," says historian Rizwan Kadri.

According to Irish genealogical records, Carden was born in 1768. He may have
 had a spiritual outlook as he was the son of reverend Richard Carden. He 
graduated from Trinity College, Dublin University, in 1789 with a bachelor's degree in arts.

He may have been just a soldier with big heart, but the local villagers have turned him 
into a patron saint. "When he died, he came back as a ghost to help the people, as he
 thought he hadn't done enough. Occasionally people claim to have seen him on a splendid 
white horse. As he used government money to help others, the government had his
 spirit bottled up by a witchdoctor and buried it in the tomb," says Haji Malek, a shepherd
 at Ratanpur, who learnt of the stories from elders and neighbours.