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diff --git a/76982-0.txt b/76982-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7ca2e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/76982-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3272 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76982 *** + + + + + + FOLK TALES OF SIND AND GUZARAT + + + BY + C. A. KINCAID, C.V.O., I.C.S. + Officie de l’Instruction Publique. + + + THE DAILY GAZETTE PRESS, LTD., + KARACHI. + + 1925. + + + + + + + + To + JEAN LOUIS RIEU, C. S. I., I. C. S., + Commissioner-in-Sind. + + this book is inscribed in memory of + an unclouded and greatly valued friendship + lasting for over thirty years. + + + + + + + + “Satan is the only true lover, all others are mere prattlers. + Out of his great love for his Lord, the shining one (Satan) + incurred disgrace.” + + Shah Latif. + + +Commentator.—God needed opposition to make Him realise His almighty +strength. To give God full possession of it, Satan sacrificed himself +and rebelled, although he knew that he would thereafter be punished +eternally. + + + + + + + +AUTHOR’S PREFACE. + + +Most of the articles collected in this little book have appeared in the +“Daily Gazette” or the “Times of India.” They are reprinted with the +kind permission of the Editors. I do not claim for them any merit +beyond the fact that they touch the fringe of an unexplored country. My +hope is that they will lead others more competent than I am and with +greater opportunities than I have had, to delve into the vast treasures +of folklore possessed by the Province of Sind. + +The four Guzarati stories have been added, because although they come +from a different part of India, they are still folk tales and belong to +the same category as the Sind tales. I am indebted to Mr. Amritlal +Chunilal, Vakil of Kapadwanj, for the originals of the Guzarati +stories. + + C. A. K. + + + + + + + +FOREWORD. + + +Be the fact good or bad for the Province, fact it is. The beauties of +Sind are not for the stranger, or casual visitor. He, perhaps merely +seeking the shortest and quickest route to some temporary post up +North, or possibly to his permanent home in the damp, grey West, +notices only torrid heat, arid wastes, blinding glare, suffocating +dust, and a coastal Port somewhat reminiscent of Suez or Port Said. Not +for him the enchanting views from the little islands at Bhukkar, or +from the banks of the lower reaches of the Indus below Hyderabad. Not +for him the green grain fields and shady forests that fringe the great +river between Larkana and the late Capital. Not for him the scent of +the old Kumbar Road, or the myriad bird life of the Munchar Lake. Not +for him the moonlight on the great desert on our Eastern frontier; or +the sunrise from the Indus delta, throwing its golden shafts across +Karachi’s beautiful lagoon to the rugged sky-line of the Hub hills. + +But for the old Sindhi these things mean much. Further, nobody who has +lived long in Sind, can have failed to be affected not only by its +beauties, but by the atmosphere of romance that pervades the whole +Province. It meets one on every side—north, south, east and west. But +little imagination is required to picture the argosies of bygone +centuries sailing silently down the river past the green fields of +Kushmore: or the old caravans from Kandahar with their strings of +stately camels slowly emerging from the foot of the Bolan Pass on their +way to Shikarpur: or the buggalas of old Nearchus nestling in the +Chinna Creek in the shelter of the Oyster Rocks during the monsoon, +patiently awaiting the arrival of the Great Alexander shortly to appear +at the Ghizree mouth of the Indus on the conclusion of his triumphal +progress through Western Asia! Then, too, think of the circumstances +leading up to the birth at Oomerkot of that infant who was afterwards +to be one of the greatest rulers in Indian history,—the mighty Akbar. +Here are materials for romances galore. + +We are not dependent, however, simply on historical incidents to +stimulate our imaginations. Though the vagaries of the Indus and the +severity of the hot season in the interior combine quickly to +obliterate man’s puny strivings for permanency, material evidence +exists in many places of the great vitality and culture of those who +have lived before us in this ancient land of Sind. The beautifully +coloured and perfectly glazed tiles and pottery of Hala bear testimony +to an art lost to the present generation of Sindhis; whilst the +ornamented graves and temples which can still be seen in many parts of +the Province, reveal the existence in the past of a God-fearing people +with well developed notions of sculpture and architecture. Who can +regard the wonderful tombs on the Makli Hill at Tatta or the ruins of +the great city of Brahmanabad without realising that those responsible +for these things must have been, in their day, well advanced in social +and civilised life, and deserving of the respect of the present +generation. + +It is about certain leaders—religious and political—of these peoples of +the bygone centuries that the Hon. Mr. Justice Kincaid has compiled the +stories that have been reproduced in the following pages. The stories +which have been passed on from generation to generation, are, like the +legends of the West, to some extent mythical, but no doubt based on +actual incidents in the past which, in the repeated telling, have been +added to and embroidered in a way calculated to impress the minds of +the simple folk who heard them; and thus their remembrance and +transmission to later generations has been assured. Mr. Kincaid has +well caught the spirit of the stories, and his transcriptions are in +his happiest style. The thanks of every patriotic Sindhi will go out to +him for thus preserving in the printed page the legends that have grown +up around some of the more celebrated figures and remains of ancient +Sind. + +But we hope that Mr. Kincaid’s good work will not cease yet. The +investigations of the Archaeological Department of the Government of +India have recently brought to light facts that have turned the eyes of +the whole world towards the valley of the Indus. Searching amongst the +ruins of northern Sind, Mr. Rakhaldas Bannerji has discovered at +Mohenjo Daro in the Larkana District buildings and domestic articles +that seem to indicate the existence in Sind of an advanced civilisation +some thousands of years ago! This discovery is confirmed by the +unearthing, almost at the same time, of similar remains 400 miles away +at Harappa in the Montgomery District of the Punjab. These remains +include “houses and temples, massively built of burnt brick, and +provided with well constructed water conduits covered with marble +slabs. The smaller antiquities include a quantity of pottery—painted +and plain, terra cotta, toys, bangles of blue glass, paste and shell, +new types of coins (or tokens), curious stone rings and dice.” Further, +there are a number of engraved and inscribed seals bearing inscriptions +in a hitherto unknown pictographic script. A careful comparison has now +confirmed the surmise that these antiquities are closely connected and +contemporary with the Sumerian antiquities of southern Mesopotamia, +dating from the third or fourth millennium before Christ. And so the +conclusion has been arrived at that the peoples of Sind and the Punjab +were living in “well-built cities in a relatively mature civilisation +with a high standard of art and craftsmanship and a developed system of +writing 5,000 years ago.” (vide Sir John Marshall, Director-General of +Archaeology in India’s communications to the Pioneer and to the Times +in November and December, 1924). + +Whether any trace of this remote civilisation can be detected in any of +the old legends at present current among the country-folk of Sind, it +is impossible to say. We hope that Mr. Kincaid will be able to continue +his investigations into these matters, and will give to the public all +that he can find. With the translation of the pictographic script on +the recently discovered seals, some clue or connection with later +civilisations may possibly be traced. A fascinating vista of Sind, +i.e., the land of the Indus, as the cradle of modern Civilisation has +been opened up, (for Sumerian culture was probably the source of +Babylonian, Assyrian and Western Asiatic culture). It is to be hoped +that the Government of India will continue its investigations with +redoubled energy, and will further explore the rich plains on both +banks of the Indus. + + +M. de P. Webb. London, 16th December, 1924. + + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +I.—SIND FOLK STORIES. + + Page. + 1. Lal Shahbaz 7 + 2. Udero Lal 12 + 3. Jinda Pir 18 + 4. Abdul Latif, the author of Shah Jo Risalo 22 + 5. Makhdum Niamat Ullah and Makhdum Nuh 28 + 6. Haidarabad 32 + 7. Brahmanabad I 35 + 8. Brahmanabad II 38 + 9. The Eighth Key 45 + 10. The Noose of Murad 53 + 11. The Makli Hill 57 + 12. Larkana 62 + 13. Two love Tragedies 65 + 14. Swami Vankhandi of Sadh Belo 68 + + +II.—GUZARAT FOLK STORIES. + + 15. King Mansing of Sirohi 75 + 16. The Wisdom Seller 80 + 17. Magadha and Rupvati 85 + 18. Rupsinh and the Queen of the Anardes 90 + + +III.—ROUND ABOUT NASIK. + + 19. Round About Nasik 105 + 20. July and December 111 + + + + + + + +FOLK TALES OF SIND AND GUZARAT. + +I. + +SIND FOLK STORIES. + + +LAL SHAHBAZ. + +A SIND SAINT. + + +Sehwan is known to Englishmen chiefly as a handy station for those who +wish to shoot on the Manchar lake. In the summer it enjoys an +unenviable reputation for heat. The bare rocks of Lakhi known as the +Bagothoro are said to end the last struggles of the monsoon. Indeed the +Lakhi pass is known locally as the gate of the infernal regions; and an +often quoted Persian couplet about Sehwan runs as follows: + + + “When both Sehwan and Sibi grill so well + What good was there, O Lord, in making Hell?” [1] + + +But besides its fame as a sporting and a roasting centre, Sehwan has an +immense reputation for sanctity. Within its confines repose in mighty +state the earthly remains of the greatest saint of all Sind, worshipped +alike by Musulmans and Hindus, the renowned Lal Shahbaz, the Red +Peregrine Falcon of the Indus valley. + +Lal Shahbaz’s real name was Hazrat Sayad Usman Shah Marwandi. He was +born at Marwand in Afghanistan in A.H. 538. His father Makhdum Sayad +Ahmed Kabir was a powerful noble and a great friend of the king of +Tabriz. From his earliest years, so it is said, the boy shewed a great +leaning towards things spiritual. Before his twelfth year he had +already made the blind see, the deaf hear and the dumb speak. When Lal +Shahbaz reached manhood, he insisted on leaving his father’s house and +started on a pilgrimage. He first went to Baghdad where he stayed at +the court of the monarch Sayad Ali. When he wished to leave, Sayad Ali +implored him to remain at Baghdad for ever. But the religious call was +too insistent and with three friends, Sheikh Bahawaldin, Sheikh Farid +Ganj Shakar and Makhdum Jalaluddin, Lal Shahbaz set off for the Persian +Gulf. In an island in the Gulf lived a fakir named Sheikh Jalal whose +austerities had won him supernatural gifts. Lal Shahbaz determined to +reduce him to obedience and make him his disciple. No boats were +available so Lal Shahbaz threw his “kishta” or begging bowl into the +water and it became a boat. Into it the four friends stepped and rowed +for Sheikh Jalal’s island. About half way the boat stopped dead and no +matter how hard the saints plied the oar, it declined to move. At last +Lal Shahbaz realised that the island fakir had cast a spell on them. +But he could only have done that, if one among them was not a true +anchorite and was still thinking of the joys of this world, while +pretending to have given them up for ever. Lal Shahbaz told this to his +friends and asked them whether they had one and all given up the world +wholly. They protested their complete unworldliness. But as the boat +still refused to budge, Lal Shahbaz went through their pockets. In the +pocket of Sheikh Bahawaldin he found, as I regret to say, a brick of +solid gold, which the saint was keeping against a rainy day. Lal +Shahbaz threw it overboard. Once freed from this sordid freight, the +boat began again to move. As they drew near the island, Lal Shahbaz saw +Sheikh Jalal looking at them through a window of his castle. To punish +him for stopping the boat, Lal Shahbaz made the window grow so small +that it gripped the fakir’s neck as if in a vice. Sheikh Jalal yelled +for mercy, but it was not granted him until he had owned himself beaten +and had promised to become an obedient and humble follower of Lal +Shahbaz. + +The great saint acquired his appellation of Lal Shahbaz, by two +remarkable miracles. After the defeat of Sheikh Jalal, Lal Shahbaz and +his three companions went to Mecca and Medina. As they were returning +from the blessed vision of the prophet’s tomb, they halted one night in +a town on the coast of Arabia. Sheikh Farid Shakar Ganj went to buy +bread for the party. Unhappily the baker’s wife conceived an unholy +passion for the young man. Like a true ascetic he rejected her odious +advances with the icy disdain of Saint Joseph. The baker’s wife +thereupon behaved after the manner of Potiphar’s consort. She began to +scream that Sheikh Farid Shakar Ganj had tried to outrage her. The +unhappy anchorite was seized, dragged before the governor and condemned +to instant execution. Lal Shahbaz heard of it and took immediate steps +to rescue his innocent friend. He changed one of his two remaining +friends into a deer and bade him run towards the gallows. The crowd ran +madly after the deer to catch it. Lal Shahbaz turned his second friend +into a lion. It charged the executioners roaring terribly. They fled +incontinently. Lastly the Saint changed himself into a peregrine falcon +and swooping down picked up Sheikh Farid Shakar Ganj and bore him to a +place of safety. By this miracle the Saint got the name of Shahbaz, the +Sindhi word for a peregrine falcon. How did he obtain the title of Lal? +It was this way: A certain Murshid once challenged Shahbaz’s friends to +bathe in a caldron of boiling oil. They not unnaturally declined the +challenge, whereupon the Murshid mocked them as unworthy impostors. +They sorrowfully told their master of their discomfiture. On the +instant he accepted the challenge and going to the Murshid’s house, +leapt into the boiling oil. He stayed so long at the bottom of the +cauldron that his rival owned himself beaten. “Come out,” he cried, +“you are indeed a Lal among Lals (a ruby among rubies)”. The master +rose triumphantly out of the oil. He had suffered no harm from the +immersion, but the heat of the oil had turned his robe crimson. That +robe he wore to his dying day and was in the end buried in it. So he +came to be known as Lal Shahbaz. + +After his journey to Mecca and Medina, Lal Shahbaz came to Sind. He +wandered until he came to a spot still called ‘Lal jo Bagh’ or the +garden of the ruby, two miles from Sehwan. Sehwan was, however, already +a holy town and its worldly minded fakirs dreaded that the advent of so +famous a mendicant would reduce their earnings. They sent him a cup +full to the brim of milk, that he might know that just as the cup could +hold no more milk, so Sehwan could hold no more anchorites. Lal Shahbaz +sent to those worldly minded ones a fitting answer. He made a flower +float on the milk and returned the cup, thereby shewing to the fakirs +that there was still room for yet another holy man and that the +newcomer meant to be above the others, even as the flower was above the +milk. After this event Lal Shahbaz spent most of his time in Sehwan. +His friend Sheikh Bahawaldin left him and went to Multan. Before +leaving he offered to Lal Shahbaz and the latter accepted the hand of +his daughter. Not long afterwards Lal Shahbaz learnt in a trance of the +death of his prospective father-in-law. He went to Multan and asked +Sheikh Bahawaldin’s son, Sadaruddin for his betrothed. Sadaruddin +refused. The Saint thereupon cursed him and vowed that the girl should +wed no one else, but would find an instant resting place in paradise. +Shortly afterwards the poor girl died and Lal Shahbaz returned to +Sehwan. He died on the 21st of the month of Shaban 650 A.H. at the ripe +age of 112; and the anniversary of his death is kept as a great +festival. From all quarters of Sind come fakirs and musicians and +dancing girls to dance before the shrine of the mighty anchorite. The +chief feature of the celebration is the marriage of Lal Shahbaz to his +lost bride. + +Now why do Hindus worship at his shrine? That is perhaps the strangest +part of the story. In 56 B.C. lived the great king Vikramaditya of +Dharmanagar or Ujjain, the Arthur of Hindu historical legends. At his +court lived the nine gems of learning and his valour and his arms +reduced all India to subjection. Once upon a time he resolved to +disguise himself and see with his own eyes how his viceroys governed +his provinces. He appointed to be his regent during his absence his +younger brother Brartrahari. One day the Goddess Parvati gave to a +devout old couple in Ujjain an apple, that conferred immortality on +anyone who ate it. The old couple preferring riches to immortality sold +the apple to the regent for a great price. The regent gave it to his +youngest and prettiest wife. She unfortunately had a lover and she gave +the apple to him. He in turn presented it to a dancing girl, who sold +it back to Brartrahari. The regent thereby discovered his wife’s +infidelity. In a rage he flung away the apple and abandoning his +office, became an anchorite. According to the local legend, he wandered +until he came to Sind, where he became a devoted worshipper of Shiva. +He called his abiding place Shivisthan or the place of Shiva. From +Shivisthan has come the modern name Sehwan. Brartrahari lived at Sehwan +until he died and by his life and death made the spot holy. The +Musulman invasion swept away the temple of Shiva, but the memory of the +pious recluse lingered on; and when Lal Shahbaz came and worked +miracles at the spot where Brartrahari had lived, the Hindus declared +that Lal Shahbaz was his reincarnation. + +The miraculous powers of Lal Shahbaz did not die with him. After his +death streams of molasses, sugar and milk are said to have spurted from +the wall of his tomb. These articles he meant for the use of the poor +of Sehwan only. Nor did he mean that any should take more than one +helping in any one day. Sad to relate, his pious wishes were brought to +nought by the greed of the townspeople. Poor and rich alike rushed to +profit by the dead saint’s bounty and none confined himself to a single +helping. In disgust the dead saint bade the streams dry up and all that +now remains of them is a group of stones that look exactly like +petrified sugar molasses and milk. These the guardians of the shrine +shew to wondering pilgrims as proof positive of the legend’s truth. + + + + + + + +UDERO LAL. + + +Udero Lal was born on Cheti Chand, the first day of the Sindhi month +Cheti and also the first day of what is known as the Chaitradi year—the +year that begins with the month of Cheti or Chaitra instead of the +month of Kartak. In Udero Lal’s honour the Government offices +throughout Sind are closed. So in common gratitude every Government +officer ought to enquire who Udero Lal was. He was the son of an aged +couple called Ratno and Devki, who lived at Nasarpur. Ratno hawked +cooked gram and was a devout worshipper of the Indus river. They had +two sons already, but had long passed the age when married couples hope +for more children. Ratno was sixty and Devki over forty, when Udero Lal +was born. But Udero Lal’s birth was due to divine interposition. The +cause of it was as follows:— + +In the year 939 A.D. one Marak was governor of Tatta. He was a bigoted +Musulman and he suddenly resolved to convert to Islam the whole Hindu +population under him. He proclaimed by beat of drum, that he would kill +every Hindu, who did not change his faith within twenty-four hours. So +alarmed were the Hindus that, so the story runs, all their cooking pots +fell from their shelves; and exclaiming that a camel had entered the +king’s head [2], they went in a body to his minister Aho. Through him +they gained a fortnight’s respite. At that time, so the legend has it, +the Indus flowed past Tatta. On its banks the despairing Hindus +gathered and prayed to the great river to save them from the hands of +Marak. At the same time they vowed that if no answer was vouchsafed to +their prayers within a week, they would throw their children into the +stream. On the fourteenth day they would with their wives in their arms +throw themselves into it and thus escape the cruelty of Marak. + +On the seventh day when they were on the point of drowning all their +babies, they saw the river god himself rise from the waves, a beautiful +figure, all of snow-white foam. He bade the Hindus no longer despair. +He had heard their supplications and within the allotted fortnight he +would be born in the house of Ratno, the gram hawker. He bade them warn +Marak of his approaching birth. They did so and the wicked governor +sent Aho to seize the baby directly it was born. The child Udero Lal +arrived on the last day of the fortnight. Aho was about to seize it, +when it changed instantly into a youth of sixteen, then into an old man +and once more into an infant. Aho was dumbfounded and his hatred and +unbelief changed to love and faith. He begged the child to return with +him to Marak, so as to convince him also. The babe replied “Go back to +Tatta. There stand on the banks of the Indus and call me and I shall +come.” + +Aho went back to Tatta and told Marak. The governor was frightened out +of his wits, still he ordered Aho to go to the river bank and call on +Udero Lal to rise from the river. Aho did so and as the words left his +lips, a tall beautiful youth, riding a noble steed, rose from the river +and behind him followed thousands of soldiers and horsemen, chariots +and war elephants. The terrified minister fell at Udero Lal’s feet and +begged him to send away the mighty army that followed in his footsteps. +The youth turned round and dismissed his warriors. A moment later the +great army had vanished into the depths of the Indus. Aho led Udero Lal +into Marak’s presence and told him the marvels that he had witnessed. +Marak instantly seated Udero Lal on his right hand and craved his +advice. Udero Lal bade him to cease from his cruelty to his Hindu +subjects. But while Marak listened with pious looks to Udero Lal’s +words, his heart was full of black treachery. After he had escorted +with all reverence the beautiful youth to one of his palaces, he +ordered his soldiers to surround it. For he now plotted to convert to +Islam not only his Hindu subjects but Udero Lal also. But it was idle +to strive to bind the Indus river. When the kazi and the surgeon came +to convert him he had vanished. + +The indignant Marak resolved not to give his Hindu subjects a day’s +more grace and announced that he would convert or kill them all that +very evening. They went to Ratno’s house. There they found Udero Lal, +once more a baby in the cradle. They prayed to the divine child and he +bade them go to the river and sit in a temple that they would find +there. When all the Hindus had assembled, a fearful thunderstorm burst +and fire from heaven consumed the palace of the governor and the houses +of his officers. Marak, Aho and the kazi, although badly burnt, escaped +from the conflagration and ran to the river. There they saw a splendid +temple and in it were seated Udero Lal, once more a beautiful youth and +round him thousands of Hindus, perfectly sheltered from the storm that +had fallen on Tatta. The three wicked men fell at Udero Lal’s feet and +Marak took a mighty oath never again to harass the Hindus. Udero Lal +then bade the winds be still and the storm at once passed away. Udero +Lal vanished and so did the magic temple. But the Hindus built on the +spot a real one of stone that stands to this day. Lights burn in it day +and night and it is known as the Khudio temple or the temple of Refuge. + +When the Hindus went to Nasarpur to tell Ratno and Devki how their +child had helped them, they found Udero Lal once more a baby sleeping +peacefully in his cradle. Nothing further happened until Udero Lal was +a little boy of six, when his mother Devki thought that he might help +his father by hawking cooked gram too. She gave him a tiny jar of +cooked gram and bade him hawk it through the streets of Nasarpur, +taking payment either in cash or in kind. That evening Udero Lal +brought back a huge pot full of grain and gave it to his mother. This +went on for several days until his parents grew more and more curious +to know how he got grain many times its value for the cooked gram. Next +day they followed him and they saw their little son go to the river +bank and dip the jar of cooked gram into the water. When he pulled it +out again, it had become a great pot brimming over with grain. When +Udero Lal was ten and old enough to be invested with the sacred thread, +he asked to be given a guru. He took his father and mother to the river +bank and found sitting near it the great God Shiva. Udero Lal went up +fearlessly to the mighty God and told him that he had come in search of +a guru. The god replied “Why do you, who are the guru of gurus, want a +guru?” Udero Lal pleaded that even Vishnu’s avatars, such as Rama and +Krishna had had their gurus, why then should one be denied to him? It +so chanced that the saint Gorakhnath passed by at that moment and Shiva +bade him take Udero Lal as his pupil. Gorakhnath did so and taught him +all his holiness and wisdom. + +Now Udero Lal had a cousin called Phugar, who was greatly attached to +him. He made Phugar his disciple and taught him the learning which he +had received from Gorakhnath. One day to test Phugar’s faith he told +him that he wished to be alone and meditate. But Phugar refused to +leave his master’s side. “Will you plunge with me into the Indus?” +asked Udero Lal. “Where you go, I go,” was the reply. Udero Lal took +his cousin’s hand and dived into the river. A few minutes later they +came to the surface and found themselves in mid-stream between Rohri +and Sukkur. In front of them was a little island on which they climbed. +This was the famous island of Zinda Pir, of whom more hereafter. Master +and pupil stayed there some weeks until Udero Lal learnt that Ratno and +Devki were both very ill at Nasarpur. He reached his birthplace in time +to bid them farewell. But their deaths preyed on his mind and he longed +to rejoin the mighty river from which he had sprung. He first called to +him his elder brothers Somo and Bhayandev and bade them give up the +things of this world and like Phugar become his disciples. But though +they promised always to worship light and water, they would not give up +all and follow him. Udero Lal then declared that Phugar would be his +only disciple. He called him and gave him the following seven gifts:— + + + A Var or ring that fulfilled every wish of the wearer. + A Jot or lamp that gave to him who looked into its flame a vision + of the Most High. + A Kanta or quilt that guarded the wearer from demons and from human + weapons. + A Deg or cooking pot that remained always full of food. + A Tegh or sword that put to flight the five evil passions—kam or + lust, krodh or anger, lobh or greed, moh or love of the things of + this world and ahankar or selfishness. + A Jhari or pitcher that remained always full of Ganges water. + A Daklo or musical instrument that reproduced the songs sung in + heaven. + + +When twelve years old Udero Lal bade Phugar choose a spot, whereon to +build him a temple, as he meant soon to leave the earth. Phugar chose +an open field owned by a Memon. The saint asked the Memon to give him +the land. The Memon refused but offered to sell it. Udero Lal scratched +with his spear the surface of the earth and shewed the astonished Memon +treasures of gold and silver. Then he drove his spear deep into the +ground and it became a mighty kabar tree. The Memon was so startled +that he went away to take counsel of his wife. On his return he bade +the saint take the field as a gift. All he asked, was that he might be +the majavar or attendant of Udero Lal’s tomb. The saint blessed him and +promised him that his life long he would never lack food. Udero Lal +took another spear and smote the ground with it. Up spouted a fountain +of clear water. He mounted his horse; the earth opened in front of him. +Spurring his horse he leapt into the yawning pit. + +At first Phugar was broken-hearted and nearly died of grief. One night +he saw in a dream Udero Lal who bade him put away his grief and build a +temple on the spot where the saint had vanished. Where the water had +spouted from the ground he was to sink a well and near it to build a +rest-house. When the saint’s wishes were known, all Nasarpur flocked to +Phugar’s aid. Even the wicked Marak and his minister and kazi offered +their help. But while the Hindus wished to build a temple, Marak and +the Musulmans wished to build a mosque and quarrels broke out between +them. At last they resolved to take the advice of Udero Lal himself. +All one night they kept vigil until they heard a voice that said “In my +sight there is neither caste nor creed.” Pacified, they built both +mosque and temple. Of the temple Phugar was made guardian and Marak +named the Memon the mujavar of the mosque. From that day on, lamps have +burnt night and day in both temple and mosque. The rest-house built by +Phugar may be seen to this day and near it is the well, which grateful +pilgrims have called Balambho or the well of ever-running water. + + + + + + + +JINDA PIR. + + +In my last chapter I related how the saint Udero Lal and his disciple +Phugar, after diving into the Indus near Nasarpur, came to the surface +between Rohri and Sukkur and landed on a rocky island. The island is +still there and bears on its rounded back a temple to Zinda Pir. +According to the Hindus Zinda or the living Pir is none other than +Udero Lal. According to the Musulmans he is somebody quite different. + +According to the Musulmans, the river Indus flowed once past Alor and +not past Rohri. Somewhere in the tenth century A.D. a Hindu king called +Dalurai ruled at Alor. He and his brother Sasu Rai practised every kind +of abomination. Such were their wickedness and their vigour that they +enforced the jus primae noctis on every young lady, who was married +within their dominions. On one occasion a pious Musulman merchant named +Shah Hussein was going down the Indus, so that he might sail from its +mouth to Arabia and visit Mecca. With him journeyed his beautiful +daughter. On the way they stopped at Alor and the beauty of the +merchant’s daughter was noised abroad and reached the ears of King +Dalurai, who instantly demanded that she should be sent to his palace. +But neither Shah Hussain nor his daughter had any wish that she should +become the concubine of a Hindu king. They both prayed fervently to +Zinda Pir. He appeared in a vision to the young girl and bade her and +her father board their boat and weigh anchor. They did so and the +stream at Zinda Pir’s command, changed its course and leaving Alor, +brought the boat and its burden to Rohri. When Shah Hussain awoke next +morning, he was close to Udero Lal’s island. To it he moored his boat +and built the temple, that stands there to this day. On it are the +words “Darga Ali.” These give the date 341 A.H. or 961 A.D. + +The above tale explains the foundation of the temple but it does not +tell us who the saint himself was. Earnest Christians will hear with +surprise that he is none other than their old friend the prophet +Elijah. They will probably exclaim with Molière’s M. Géronte “Mais que +diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?” It was this way. According +to the Islamic legend, Elijah was in a former life a very holy man +indeed, named Balya Ebn Malkan. Because of the colour of his garment, +he was also known as Al Khisr or the Prophet of the Green robe. Balya +Ebn Malkan was the contemporary of Moses and in Chapter 18 of the Koran +we find him going with Moses on a most interesting circular tour. The +story is shortly this. Once the great Jewish sage was preaching to his +people with such wisdom and eloquence that at the close of his sermon, +they asked him whether there was any man in the world wiser than he +was. Conscious of his great powers, he replied in the negative. That +night God appeared to him in a dream, rebuked him for his vanity and +told him that his servant Al Khisr was wiser than he was. Moses asked +where he could meet this paragon of wisdom. God answered that Moses +would find Al Khisr near a rock where two seas met. If Moses took a +fish with him in a basket, the spot where he missed the fish would be +the place where the prophet of the green robe dwelt. Moses took Joshua +and a fish with him and in due course missed the fish and found the +prophet. Moses asked leave to be Al Khisr’s disciple and to learn his +wisdom. Al Khisr answered that if Moses came and suffered all that Al +Khisr did without asking any questions he could be his disciple, but +not otherwise. Moses promised to do so and the two prophets went to the +sea shore and boarded a ship. Al Khisr at once made a hole in the +bottom of it. Moses indignantly asked whether he wanted to drown every +soul on board. But his companion sternly reminded Moses of his promise +and left the ship. A little later they met a youth. Al Khisr struck him +so violently on the head that he died at once. Moses angrily asked why +he had taken an innocent life. Al Khisr again rebuked him and went his +way to a city. There they saw a crumbling wall which the citizens could +not repair. Al Khisr touched the wall with his hand and it became as if +it had been newly built. Moses asked him why he did not claim from the +citizens a rich reward. Al Khisr then turned on his unfortunate +disciple and cast him forth. “Three times” said Al Khisr, “you have +broken your promise and questioned my acts. You are not worthy to be my +pupil. I made a hole in the ship to save it from the king’s men. Had it +been seaworthy, they would have taken the ship by force and given the +owner nothing. I killed the youth, because although the son of true +believers, he was himself an unbeliever and I feared lest he should +corrupt the faith of his parents. I repaired the wall for nothing, +because hidden under it was a treasure, which a righteous man had +buried there before he died. He left two orphan sons and it is God’s +will that when they reach man’s state, they shall find their father’s +treasure.” + +During Al Khisr’s existence as Balya Ebn Malkan he found and drank the +waters of immortality. That was why as Elijah he did not die, but was +transported to heaven in a fiery chariot. And because he drank the +waters of immortality, he is always connected with running water; and +with what nobler stream, could he be associated than the Indus, as it +passes through the Sukkur gorge? + +To-day the special duty of Zinda Pir is to help the Indus boatmen when +in distress. His functions are thus similar to those of the ancient +Dioscuri, of whom Macaulay wrote: + + + “Safe comes the ship to harbour + Through billows and through gales + If once the great twin brethren + Sit shining on the sails.” + + +The Indus is terribly dangerous in July and August, when the mighty +river swollen by the melting snows of the Himalayas comes tearing and +tossing through the gorge. So one who has seen the Indus in flood can +never forget the sight. It is then that the boatmen pray to Al Khisr. +To attend more closely to their prayers, Al Khisr comes in person to +his temple and for forty days sits in a little niche specially reserved +for him. The niche has comfortable cushions and in front of it is laid +a copy of the Koran. The saint is invisible, but the mujavars or +attendants of the mosque or temple know that he has been there; for +when the forty days begin they place in front of the niche the Koran +open at the first page and when the forty days are past, they find the +Koran open at the last page. Elijah has in his leisure moments read the +Koran from cover to cover. + + + + + + + +ABDUL LATIF, the Author of SHAH JO RISALO. + + +Abdul Latif’s grandfather Shah Karim was a Sayad of Matari and so +celebrated for his piety that his mausoleum at Bulree in the Karachi +District is still the scene of an annual fair. Shah Karim was born in +1558 A.D. and died it is said in 1660 A.D. The tale runs that while +Shah Karim was yet a boy, he met a fakir in a mosque. The fakir had +been a soldier, but the awful consequences of war had so preyed on his +mind that he had deserted the army. Shah Karim became the spiritual +follower of this fakir and grew up so renowned a saint that it was +commonly said that whereas Bahawaldin, a rival saint, could make a live +man dead, Shah Karim could make a dead man alive. Shah Karim removed to +Bulree and had three sons, one of whom Shah Habib was the father of +Abdul Latif, the subject of our article. The date of his birth is to be +found in the Persian line on his mausoleum. + + + Gardeed mahw ishk wujoode Latif Meer. + (The spirit of the lordly Latif was absorbed in love). + + +According to the Abjad system, this gives the date of his death as 1751 +A.D. As he was sixty-three when he died, he was born in 1688 A.D. He +thus lived to see the establishment of the Kalhora dynasty, the +invasion of Nadir Shah in 1739 and that of Ahmad Shah Durani in 1748. + +Abdul Latif fell in love with a beautiful Moghul girl, the daughter of +one Mirza Beg. He was said to be a descendant of Mirza Jani Beg of the +Turkhan dynasty, whose tombs are among the Makli Hills. Abdul Latif +serenaded the lovely girl in verses written by himself, until he was +ordered off the premises by her father. Undefeated, he turned himself +into a pigeon and cooed his love to the fair maiden from the trellis of +her balcony. Even so Mirza Beg with a father’s vigilance pierced his +disguise and threatened to set his falcons on Abdul Latif, unless he +flew away. The unhappy Abdul Latif went and sat on a sandhill and +watched the house of the Moghul girl with such devotion from afar, that +the sandhill grew round him until it had covered all but his head. A +goatherd Jam by name who passed saw his head sticking out. He told +Abdul Latif’s father, Shah Habib, who had his son dug up. But Abdul +Latif was still beside himself with amorous passion. He went to a +carpenter and induced him to hollow out a tamarisk tree, that stood by +itself in a cemetery. Latif got inside the hollow tree and looked out +on the world through a single cleft. In vain Shah Habib sought +everywhere for his son. At last his lamentations touched the heart of +the carpenter, who shewed him his son’s hiding place. Shah Habib took +his son home, but an evil fate overtook the carpenter. As a punishment +for betraying Abdul Latif’s hiding place, he became a leper. Shah Habib +licked the sores, so that they healed, all save one obstinate one that +remained open on his forehead. + +Abdul Latif did not stay long in his father’s house, but began to +wander about Sind. One day he came to Lakhpat. There he saw some Sami +fakirs worshipping an idol, probably of Parvati. They were pouring milk +over it and as they did so, they repeated “O Grandmother, drink this +milk.” But the idol being of stone, hearkened not at all. Latif went +into the village, bought a bowl full of milk and stood close to the +idol. In one hand he held his shoe and then he said to the idol “O +Grandmother of the Samis, drink this milk or I shall beat you with this +shoe.” The idol no longer hearkened not. Terrified at the threat, it +drank up all the milk in the bowl. The Sami fakirs were filled with +wonder and envy. After Abdul Latif had left the spot, they plotted to +kill and eat him, so as to obtain his supernatural powers. They invited +him to a feast, intending to make their guest the principal dish. But +Abdul Latif by his inner knowledge guessed their wickedness and +departed. + +As he journeyed he met another fakir, whose beautiful face was haggard +and worn, as if with care. As the fakir walked, he cried always “Jhal +fakir, Hal fakir (Take it fakir, go fakir).” Abdul Latif asked him why +he did it. The fakir refused to tell him, unless Abdul Latif promised +to help him to win what he sought. “If,” said the fakir, “I win my goal +through your help, I shall get you a Burat or letter of salvation.” The +saint gave his promise and the fakir told him what ailed him. Some +months before he had met a jungle tribe and had daily begged from them. +Whenever he did so, a lovely maiden of the tribe had given him alms and +as she gave them, she repeated these words “Jhal fakir, Hal fakir.” The +beauty of the girl’s voice and face had burnt into his brain. When the +tribe left, he could think of nothing but of her and he set out to seek +her. As he went, he repeated her words in the hope of finding her. +Abdul Latif by his inner knowledge soon located the jungle tribe. With +the fakir he went to their camp and began to recite to them his verses. +They were so charmed with the verses that they asked him to name his +reward. He told them to send the lovely girl to the hut wherein he had +put his humble belongings. The girl was sent and in the hut the fakir +awaited her. Their eyes met, but the storm of passion that swept over +both of them was too mighty for their strength to bear. They fell back +lifeless into Abdul Latif’s arms. He called the girl’s parents and told +them the tale of the fakir’s wooing and its tragic end. At his request +the man and the maiden were buried in the same grave. That night Abdul +Latif watched by the grave, for he had not yet received the Burat or +letter of salvation. At midnight a woman’s hand rose from the grave and +offered him a letter. But Abdul Latif doubted the virtue of a Burat +that came from a woman. “I shall not take the Burat,” he said, “unless +he who promised it to me gives it.” The girl’s voice answered that that +was impossible. The fakir for very shame, she said, dared ask nothing +from God. He had not been able to hide his love but to the whole world +had told his sorrows. Her love had been as ardent as his, but she had +had the strength to hide it. It was at her request that God had given +the Burat and the saint must take it from her hands. + +Another time Abdul Latif went to Kotri and there exposed the impostures +of the Mullas who surrounded the governor Lalla Beg. At their +instigation the cruel ruler ordered Abdul Latif to be impaled and then +cut to pieces. When the executioners went to Shah Latif’s house to +seize him, they found him already dead and dismembered. As they +returned to tell Lalla Beg, they saw the saint standing in the roadside +alive and well. They spoke of these marvels to Lalla Beg, who at once +remitted the sentence. + +Abdul Latif, before he started on his wanderings, had, because of his +unsatisfied love for the Moghul girl, cursed the whole tribe of the +Moghuls, who then lived in Sind. All this time his curse had been +quietly working. One by one they had died off, including the +hard-hearted Mirza Beg. Of all the Moghul children only one boy Gulla +by name survived and the beautiful girl, whom Abdul Latif loved. Freed +from her father’s cruelty by his death, she no longer hesitated but +sought out and found her lover. With her she took her kinsman Gulla. +Abdul Latif overjoyed at her coming recalled his curse and Gulla lived +to be the ancestor of many Moghuls thereafter. + +Abdul Latif, or as we should now call him Latif Shah, did not settle +down to enjoy his wedded happiness at Varsum, where Shah Habib had +lived and where he himself had been born. Near it was the tomb of an +earlier saint Nuh Halani. The jealous spirit of the dead saint envied +Latif Shah’s happiness and glory. Nuh Halani’s spirit haunted Shah +Latif night and day. In despair Shah Latif sought the aid of Bahawal +Hak, a holy man of Multan. He advised him to consult Sayad Mahmad +Massum Shah. The latter in turn advised him to migrate to Bhitta, then +a desolate mound of sand. Latif Shah obeyed the Sayad, but even at +Bhitta—tantaene animis caelestibus irae—he was not safe from +persecution. Nuh Halani changed the spirit of a former disciple into a +huge snake and bade it bite the unhappy Shah Latif. But the latter +prayed to Sayad Mahmad Massum Shah and with his aid and his own +sanctity, he tamed the snake and kept it in a cage, as a trophy of his +victory. Nuh Halani’s descendant Makhdum Mahmad Zaman could not bear +the sight. He redeemed the snake at the cost of a vast stretch of +country and turning the snake again into a spirit, sent it back to do +service to Nuh Halani in the house of Hades. + +“Happy is the wooing that’s not long in the doing,” is an old English +proverb and perhaps it was of the long delay in the union of Shah Latif +and his bride, that they were not blessed with children. Two legends +are told to account for this calamity. One is that Shah Latif drew +after him the son of one Jani, who in anger cursed the saint that his +wife should bear him no sons. Latif Shah accepted the curse and +consoled himself with the remark that his disciples were his sons. The +second legend is that Latif Shah’s wife, a year after marriage, was +expecting a child. After the manner of women in delicate health, she +had strange longings. One day she sent her maid-servant to a great +distance to get a certain kind of fish. Latif Shah missed the +maid-servant and asked whither she had gone. On learning what had +happened, he flew into a rage—if I may say such a thing of so holy a +man. He cursed his unborn child, saying “If the child gives all this +trouble now, what terrible trouble it will give when it is grown up! +May such a blossom be nipped in the bud.” The child was still-born and +no other came to soothe the poor mother’s grief. + +It was at Bhitta that Shah Latif wrote the Shah jo Rasalo. When he had +finished it, his two faithful disciples Tamar and Hashim brought it to +him. As he read over the lines in which he had told the sorrows of +Saswi, he exclaimed that the verses did not truly convey a spiritual +meaning, but were full of sinful passion. As he said this, he flung the +great work into the Kirar Dandh, a lake close by. His horrified +disciples beseeched him to let them write the Shah jo Rasalo from +memory. Reluctantly he consented and the Shah jo Rasalo was saved. + +Shah Latif died in 1751 at the age of 63, three years after Ahmad Shah +Durani’s invasion. The saint’s body lies in a splendid tomb designed by +a celebrated mason of Sukkur, under the orders of Ghulam Shah Kalhoro. +The door with silver bars was added by Mir Mahmad and a deep well for +the use of pilgrims was sunk in the courtyard by one Laung Fakir. The +Pir of the tomb is the descendant of Jam the goatherd, who found Shah +Latif buried up to the neck in sand. Every Friday night pilgrims keep +watch by the tomb and sing passages from the saint’s immortal poem. +This custom had its origin in a dream dreamt by his disciple Hashim. +After his master’s death, he was ill of fever and could not get well. +One night Shah Latif appeared to him in a vision and bade him recite on +the following Friday some lines from the Shah jo Rasalo. He did so and +was cured. + + + + + + + +MAKHDUM NIAMAT ULLAH AND MAKHDUM NUH. + + +Early in the 18th century the greatest saint in Sind was Makhdum Niamat +Ullah, the father of a still greater religious luminary, the famous +Makhdum Nuh. So renowned was Makhdum Niamat Ullah that an ancient fakir +more than a hundred years old and known as La Ikhtyar or the +Independent One was so affected by the stories told of the saintly +Makhdum Niamat Ullah, that he gave up his independent life and went to +Torio in the Hala taluka on the chance of seeing the object of his +admiration. Torio was not Makhdum Niamat’s usual place of residence, +but La Ikhtyar had had a vision that it would be at Torio that he would +see the Desired One. + +After some weeks Makhdum Niamat Ullah did go to Torio on business and +passed La Ikhtyar, as he sat on his cot. At once the old fakir +recognised the passer-by from the radiant glow on his countenance. The +fakir got off his cot and made the saint sit on it and knelt at his +feet. But as Makhdum sat, the fakir’s tame birds of which he had a +large number suddenly flew away. The saint asked the reason and was +told that he would be the father of a son who would love to shoot +birds. When the fakir’s pets learnt this, they had flown away in +terror. After bidding the fakir goodbye, Makhdum Niamat Ullah walked +into the bazaar. As he passed a Hindu’s shop, the owner’s wife fell so +desperately in love with him, that she begged him to take her away from +her husband and marry her. The saint could not stoop to such +wickedness; but to get rid of her importunities, he promised to fetch +her away that very night. He left her and went to take a siesta in the +shade of a high wall, some streets away. As he slept, a certain Amin, +the chief of the Lankas, passed by on his way to Lower Sind. He had +with him a comely marriageable daughter, who at once fell in love with +the sleeping saint. Amin woke up Makhdum Niamat Ullah and offered his +daughter to him in marriage. The saint gladly accepted the offer and +was married to the beautiful girl the same evening. Next morning the +Hindu woman saw the saint and going up to him, reproached him for not +keeping his tryst. The saint explained that he was now a married man +and must cleave to his wife. He, however, blessed the amorous Hindu +lady and nine months from that very day, she presented to her husband a +son called Zabhar. + +On the same day as Zabhar was born, the wife of Makhdum Niamat Ullah +presented her lord with a son, the celebrated Makhdum Nuh. Even as a +tiny baby, Makhdum Nuh shewed his precocious saintliness. When only six +days old, he compelled the fakir La Ikhtyar, who was his devoted slave, +to go through the ceremony of becoming his disciple. The fakir lived +until his infantile preceptor was five years old; then he died at the +ripe age of 106 and his tomb may still be seen at Old Hala. His +reputation for independence has survived him and many persons who are +in difficulties still visit his tomb and ask the Independent One for +his advice. + +Makhdum Nuh took to the Koran, as the proverbial duck takes to water. +At the age of seven he knew the mighty book by heart. At the age of +fourteen he was vouchsafed a vision of no less a personage than Mahomed +himself. As Makhdum Nuh was washing in the river his slate on which he +had written some lines of the Koran, he saw a boat approach. In it were +the Prophet, his son-in-law Ali and Huzrat Isa or Jesus. The boat +stopped and the Holy Prophet called Makhdum Nuh by name. The boy went +up to the boat and Jesus took his slate and wrote on one side of it +fourteen lines. Then Ali took it and wrote on it eighteen lines and the +boat glided away. The astonished Makhdum Nuh took his slate to his +teacher, who found that what was written on it far transcended even his +understanding. He asked his pupil what hand had written the lines. +Makhdum Nuh told him about the three strangers in the boat; thereupon +his teacher guessed what had happened and embraced the boy, as one to +whom the Prophet had vouchsafed a vision. + +Makhdum Nuh became when he grew up, as prophesied by the fakir, a great +bird-shot; but he also worked many and mighty miracles. His most famous +achievement was connected with the great mosque at Tatta. This mosque +had been built at a cost of many lakhs of rupees by the orders of the +Moghul Emperor. When it was completed, the faithful noted with dismay +that it did not correctly face the Kaaba. This was too dreadful for +words; for unless a mosque faces the Kaaba properly, it is useless. The +faithful, too, of Tatta had been bragging loudly to their neighbours +about their future mosque and they now would be exposed to their +mocking laughter. The faithful of Tatta appealed to Makhdum Nuh. He +called to his aid another holy man Ali Shirazi and they assailed Allah +with continuous and soul-compelling prayers. At first nothing happened +and the faithful began to murmur discordantly at the failure of the two +saints. “But verily” as the Koran has it, “some suspicions are as +sins.” Another half hour’s steady prayer and the great edifice began to +quiver. Makhdum Nuh then called on all true Musulmans present to tie +ropes to the building and pull it round; and lo! and behold! under the +combined pressure of the prayers of the saints and the pushings of the +faithful, the great mosque turned round slowly and then stopped dead. +It had come to face exactly in the true direction of Mecca. + +Even a man so holy as Makhdum Nuh could not escape from the malice of +mankind. He had two great friends Muzaffar and Salar. Salar had +promised his daughter in marriage to Muzaffar’s son. Unhappily a +quarrel broke out between these two eminent men and Salar refused to +give his daughter. Now in Sind marriageable girls are few and this was +a home thrust. Muzaffar complained to Makhdum Nuh, who after hearing +both sides ordered Salar to keep his promise. Salar obeyed, la mort +dans l’âme; but he vented his spleen by cursing the said saint in the +following quatrain: + + + “O Makhdum, you have done an act not pleasing to God; You have set + at nought what God had ordained. + You will suffer by having your corpse put in three different places + after your death.” + + +The curse of this impious blasphemer was unhappily fulfilled. The river +Indus twice threatened the spot where Makhdum Nuh had been buried. The +second time the river approached so rapidly that the disciples had to +remove their master’s body in broad daylight instead of at night, as +was seemly. Heaven, however, came to their help. As they began to lift +the body from the grave, the sky became overcast and a mist as thick as +a London fog spread over the land, so that none could see the decaying +remains of one who in life had been strong and beautiful. The saint’s +body found its last resting place about two miles to the west of Old +Hala. A small town has sprung up round the tomb and is known as +Murtazabad. A beautiful mausoleum now stands over Makhdum Nuh’s grave +and the cupola over it was erected in 1795 A.D. by Mir Fateh Ali Khan +Talpur. On the tomb were engraved the following words in order to +silence possible slanderers of the dead man: + + + “If the wind were to blow furiously all over the world + It could never extinguish the lamp of those accepted by the Most + High. + Men who spit on a lamp, lit by Almighty God soon find that they + have in their folly, set fire to their own beards.” + + +According to my chronicler, these lines had an excellent effect. They +were the proper stuff to hand out to the back-biters. + + + + + + + +HAIDARABAD. + + +Haidarabad was once known as Nerankot and the king of it was Raja +Neran. He had a beautiful daughter, who, from the exquisite skill with +which she darkened her eyes with Kanjal or lampblack, reddened her +cheeks with rouge and coloured her finger nails with henna, was known +as Nigar or the Painted lady. Her courage was, if possible, greater +even than her beauty. She scorned to ride camels or horses, as other +well born Hindu ladies did. The only beast she would bestride was a +lion and every evening outside Nerankot she might have been seen riding +a splendid maned lion, who, when bridled by her, was as docile as the +meekest ambling palfrey, to the touch of her finger on the reins. Nor +would she suffer cowardice in others. She vowed and made public her vow +that she would wed no man who feared to saddle and mount a lion. + + + +It so happened that Shah Makai and Haidar Ali came about this time to +Sind. Shah Makai’s real name was Shah Mahmud; but because he lived at +Maka or Mecca, he was known as Shah Makai. Haidar Ali’s real name was +Ali. But, because as a child he had torn to pieces a live snake with +his bare hands, he was called Haidar Ali or the Ali who tore the “Hai” +or snake. His fortune was as great as his childhood foretold; for in +due course he became the son-in-law of the holy prophet and the fourth +Imam of the Faithful. As the two friends journeyed through Sind, they +came to hear the fame of Nigar’s beauty and courage. Straightway they +hastened to Nerankot and one evening Shah Makai saw the lovely girl +astride of her lion, riding outside the walls. He fell madly in love +with her. Then he heard that she had vowed not to marry anyone, unless +he could tame and mount a lion. Shah Makai as a true and devout +believer, had but little difficulty in performing this feat and the +next time that Nigar rode abroad, she saw to her surprise and pleasure +Shah Makai astride of a maned lion, hardly less majestic than her own. +She asked him who he was; and learning that he had broken in the lion +for love of her, she vowed that she would wed him and no other. Shah +Makai sought an audience of Neran Raja and asked for his daughter’s +hand. Nigar, too, pressed her father to give his consent to the +marriage. But the proud king’s heart was as hard as stone and although +he heard the full tale of Shah Makai’s courtship, he refused to give +his daughter to one who was not a Hindu, but a Mleccha. With contumely +he drove Shah Makai from his Court. When Nigar vowed that in spite of +her father she would wed the bold Arabian, Raja Neran threw her into a +well and had a huge stone put over its mouth. The evil news reached +Shah Makai. He tried to move the stone; but it was so big, that even +he, saint though he was, failed. He implored the help of Haidar Ali. To +that pillar of Islam the task was light. He mounted his white mule Dhul +Dhul and made it dance on the top of the stone. Then he dismounted and +throwing himself at full length on the ground, he prayed Allah to +remove it. He had hardly finished his prayer, when the stone rolled +aside and Nigar with Haidar Ali’s help was able to climb out of the +well. He gave her to Shah Makai, who carried her off in triumph. But +Haidar Ali cursed the wicked Neran; and stretching wide the five +fingers of his right hand made the bhundo sign at him. Not long +afterwards the curse was fulfilled. The Arabs landing on the sea coast +of Sind swept through the land, stormed Nerankot and killed Raja Neran. +For many centuries Nerankot lay in ruins. Then the wise and pious +Ghulam Shah Kalhoro came to the spot and deeming it well fitted for the +site of his capital city, he rebuilt Nerankot. While the new fortress +was building, he raised a small mud stronghold close to the spot where +Shah Makai and the beautiful Painted Lady were in their old age buried +side by side. When Nerankot was finished, Ghulam Shah Kalhoro went to +live in it and renamed it Haidarabad after Haidar Ali. He gave his mud +stronghold to the Fakirs who guarded Shah Makai’s tomb. Up to Burton’s +time a lion—said to be a descendant of Nigar’s riding lion—used to be +kept in a cage under a tamarind tree, close to Shah Makai’s last +resting place. The tree still stands, but the lion has vanished. The +rise in the price of lion’s food was no doubt the cause of its +disappearance. + +About a quarter of a mile from the tomb of Shah Makai is another small +but holy building known as Shah Kadam. Within it are preserved the +stones on which Haidar Ali’s white mule Dhul Dhul did its +miracle-working dance. Its hoof marks may still be seen stamped deep in +the stone. By its side a slab bears the marks of Haidar Ali’s hands, +knees, feet and forehead, which he made when he prostrated himself in +prayer before Allah. And a third stone bears the marks of the saint’s +fingers and thumb when he made the bhundo at Raja Neran. So violent was +the Imam’s curse that it has lived on, monumentum aere perennius. The +well into which Nigar was thrown is one of the three inside Nerankot, +but none could tell me with certainty which it was. Perhaps the most +interesting relic of that golden time is a great “djar” tree that grows +near Shah Makai’s tomb. The guardian of the shrine assured me that it +had grown from a bit of stick, which the saint had one day used as a +toothbrush and then carelessly thrown aside. + + + + + + + +BRAHMANABAD.—I. + + +The ruined town of Brahmanabad, probably the most interesting spot in +Sind, lies about eleven miles from Shahdadpur. A road sufficiently good +for a Ford Car leads thither and a run there on a cold weather morning +is a bracing and exhilarating experience. When Brahmanabad is reached +one sees, as far as the eye can range, an endless waste of brick ruins, +the site of a once mighty city. It flourished in the time of Alexander. +It was still great in the eighth century when Mahomed Kasim invaded +Sind. What caused its downfall? The whole question was admirably +discussed in 1854 by Mr. Bellasis of the Indian Civil Service. His +conclusion was that the city had been overwhelmed by an earthquake, +which at the same time changed the bed of the Indus, formerly close by +the city walls and the source of its greatness. The destruction of +Brahmanabad, wrote Mr. Bellasis, was so complete that it could not have +been caused by a fire or by a hostile force. There were, moreover, no +signs of fire. There were quantities of jewellery among the ruins, +which neither fugitive inhabitants nor an enemy would have left. At the +same time there were many skeletons visible in corners and doorways—the +skeletons of men and women overwhelmed, no doubt, as they sought to +escape. The skeletons have long ago gone to manure the neighbouring +fields, just as the bricks of the houses in which they once lived are +to be found in the villages round about. Still we may safely accept the +evidence of Mr. Bellasis as well as the accuracy of his conclusions. +But if Brahmanabad was overwhelmed by an earthquake, what were the +circumstances attending it? We have no historical record. But there +exist two legends—a Musulman and a Hindu legend. They differ widely +from each other, only agreeing in this that the end of Brahmanabad came +because of God’s wrath at the wickedness of its ruler, Dalu Rai. I +shall relate the Musulman legend first. It is to be found in the +Tufat-ul-Kiram and runs somewhat as follows: + + +Once upon a time there ruled over the city of Brahmanabad a Hindu king, +called Dalu Rai (May Allah confound him!) whose wickedness is still +well remembered in the land of Sind. He had, however, a brother called +Chota Amrani, who had given up kufar or ingratitude and had won +immortal happiness by embracing Islam. He had left Brahmanabad and had +committed to memory the whole Koran and also all the customs of the +True Believers. On his return to the city his relatives wanted him to +marry; but King Dalu Rai said with a cruel sneer “He is a renegade. Let +him go on a pilgrimage to Mecca and there wed the daughter of some +famous Arab; but he shall not marry the daughter of any Hindu subject +of mine!” + + +Chota Amrani feared to stay longer in Brahmanabad, so he set out on a +pilgrimage to Mecca. After many hardships and dangers he reached the +Holy City. As he walked through the streets, he passed a shop, wherein +a woman, instead of attending to her customers was reading aloud the +Koran. Chota Amrani stopped to listen. The woman saw him and asked him +why he did not pass on. “I have stopped,” said Chota Amrani, “to listen +to the words of Holy Writ. I have learnt the Koran by heart; but if you +will teach me its various readings, I shall become your slave.” “Nay,” +said the woman, “I am not fit to teach you. I have a teacher of my own. +She is a maiden and you cannot enter her home in a man’s dress. But if +you change your clothes and dress like a girl, I shall take you to +her.” Chota Amrani who was still quite young and without any beard on +his chin, agreed. He dressed up as a girl and was taken to the house of +the learned maiden by the woman in the shop. The maiden’s name was +Fatima and she readily undertook the instruction of the foreign girl, +who had come from so far off to see Mecca. One day the shopwoman asked +Fatima some questions concerning the marriage of her daughter. Fatima, +who was skilled in astrology as well as in matters religious, answered +the questions with ease. Chota Amrani then to test the maiden said “As +you can tell the future of others, you can surely tell your own +future.” Fatima replied “My fate is to be married to a man from Sind.” +“But when?” asked the astonished visitor. “In no long time,” replied +Fatima. “But where is the man?” asked Chota Amrani. Fatima pretended to +consult her astrological books and said with a smile “You are the man.” +Then she added “Begone and come no longer in the garb of a girl. Put on +a man’s dress and ask formally for my hand, for I am destined to be +yours.” + +Chota Amrani, abashed at the penetration of his disguise, went away and +returned dressed as a man. He formally asked for the hand of Fatima. +His request was granted and she became his wife. + +After two or three months had passed, Chota Amrani told Fatima that he +must take her back with him to Sind. Fatima made no objection and they +set sail for the land of the Indus river. When they reached +Brahmanabad, they found that Dalu Rai had recently issued a law that +every young married woman should be brought to his couch for at least +one night. He therefore demanded that Chota Amrani should send Fatima +to his palace. Chota Amrani refused and Dalu Rai did nothing for the +moment. But one day when Chota Amrani was absent from the city, Dalu +Rai forced his way into his brother’s house and tried to seduce Fatima. +The noble lady virtuously resisted all his efforts to lead her astray +and fortunately before he could use violence to her, Chota Amrani +returned. He drove the wicked king from his house and instantly left +Brahmanabad with Fatima. As he left, a voice from heaven was heard to +say “This city will soon be swallowed because of its king’s wickedness. +Let those who are warned flee from the accursed spot or keep watch +against the day of atonement.” A few obeyed and shook from their feet +the dust of the doomed city, but most of the people paid no heed. The +first night the city was spared, because an old woman working at a +wheel kept awake all night, as the voice had commanded. The second +night an oil presser kept watch unceasingly. But the third night the +inhabitants forgot the divine warning. Suddenly, while all slept the +entire city was swallowed up. Of all its splendid buildings only one +minaret remained, as an example and a warning to other kings and +peoples. + + + + + + + +BRAHMANABAD.—II. + + +Now let us turn to the Hindu legend which I came across in a Sind +magazine. It ran as follows:— + + + +Once upon a time Brahmanabad, now a heap of ruins, was the glory of all +Sind. It stood on an oasis in the desert; and to guard its people from +sudden raids by desert tribes, one of its kings had built round it a +great wall. Beneath the wall flowed the river Indus, on whose waters +the merchant ships of Brahmanabad carried the city’s commerce up and +down Sind. Inside the walls were rich houses, countless gardens, and a +mighty tower, that served as a landmark for miles around. About a mile +and a half from Brahmanabad was the royal suburb of Dalor in which +stood the king’s palace and the quarters of his guards. Some five miles +from Brahmanabad stood the suburb of Depur. Therein lived the ministers +with their public offices and their record-rooms and storehouses. Along +the banks of the river was a collection of huts, wherein lived a wild +gipsy tribe known as Madu. They lived by selling milk and ghi to the +rich burghers of Brahmanabad. + +The reigning King Amrai was beloved by his people and when his queen +died, he would not give her place to another. He devoted his life to +the upbringing of their only son, prince Dalu Rai. Unhappily so evil +was the lad’s nature, that the more care the king spent on him the +worse he grew. He gathered round him a band of bad companions and all +day and every day the royal palace resounded with the cries of the +prince’s victims. At last the king out of all patience, shut up his son +in the tall tower which looked over the country round Brahmanabad. But +the fickle mob at once turned round. “What a cruel father!” they cried. +“Fancy treating thus the heir to the throne!” King Amrai consulted his +ministers and they advised him to free his son, but at the same time to +put in charge of him some wise and virtuous old man, who by example and +precept would show him the error of his ways. King Amrai thought their +advice good and freeing the prince, appointed a wise old man to look +after him and to teach him. Although the king said nothing to Dalu Rai, +the latter guessed, when an aged pandit called on him, that he was in +some way to be over him. He instantly resolved to treat the old man in +such a way that neither he nor any other old man in the kingdom would +accept the post again. He pretended to listen with the greatest +attention to all the old man’s words and seemed so eager to do what was +right, that the sage thought the prince the most charming of pupils. +After some hours of talk, the prince made his master dine with him. +During the meal the old man talked as one inspired; and as he talked, +the prince’s servants filled his glass over and over again with drugged +wine. Before the meal was over the poor old pandit was fast asleep. The +prince had him put to bed and as he lay asleep, the prince’s barber +shaved off the sage’s moustaches and stuck in their place crow’s +feathers. Next morning when the old man awoke, he passed his hand over +his face and found the horrible thing that had been done to him. He +rose, fled from the prince’s house and threw himself at King Amrai’s +feet and told him of the prince’s cruel trick. The king soothed the old +man as best he could; but he was so affected, that he never shewed +himself in the Darbar Hall again. + +The prince was thus free to act as he pleased. One evening he and his +good for nothing companions went out a-hawking. Game was scarce and +their hawks caught nothing. At last they reached a well near a Madu +hamlet not far from the town. Vexed at their ill luck, they loosed +their hawks at some tame pigeons that belonged to the villagers and +happened to be circling near the well. All the pigeons but one took +shelter in their dovecotes. One pigeon flew into the air followed by +the prince’s hawk. For some time the two birds soared in the air, one +unable to rise above the other. At last the hawk’s strong wings bore it +above the pigeon and it made its swoop. The frightened pigeon dropped +like a stone to the ground at the feet of a Madu maiden of 16, who was +filling her jar at the well. The girl picked up the pigeon and stroking +its feathers put it in her bosom. The hawk robbed of its prey, flew +back to perch on the wrist of the prince’s huntsman. The prince rode up +to the girl and with an evil smile on his lips, told her that she might +keep the pigeon. He would not hunt it now that it had taken shelter in +her bosom. The girl turned on him scornfully and said “A fine hunter +you are to hawk a tame pigeon!” The prince pretended to be sorry for +what he had done and then asked the girl to give him a drink of water +from her jar. But the Madu maiden disliking his looks and tone, told +him to get one of his servants to fetch water for him. But the prince +pressed her, pleading that their horses were restive. Reluctantly the +girl went close to him to give him a cup of water. Suddenly he caught +her by the waist and swung her in front of him. A moment later he and +his companions were riding as fast as they could to the prince’s +palace. Some Madu men ran after them but in vain. The prince carried +off the girl and the men with him said in jest “The prince’s hawk lost +its prey, but the prince had better luck!” As the party neared the +palace, they passed an aged Brahman, who, hearing the cries of the +struggling girl, begged the prince to free her. But Dalu Rai only +snarled at him to mind his own business. The Brahman, who was a mighty +anchorite, flew into a passion and cursed him. “As a punishment for +your cruelty,” he cried, “you will never live to be old. Your city will +be destroyed and you will perish with it so suddenly, that you will not +have time to give even a handful of grain in charity!” + +The prince paid little heed to the anchorite’s curse, but bore his prey +inside the palace. There he found everyone excited as the princess had +just borne her lord a son. But the prince pushed past his servants and +took the Madu girl to a distant part of the palace and there tried to +win her consent. But she scornfully rejected his promises of rich +clothes and fine jewels. At last when he had lost all patience and was +about to offer her violence, he heard a knock at his door. It was a +messenger who brought the news that King Amrai was dead. At the same +time he told the prince that Banbho, one of his associates wished to +speak to him most urgently. The prince was unwilling to leave the Madu +girl, but he could not refuse so grave a message, especially as Banbho +was not only the wickedest but by far the wisest of his evil +companions. The prince went out, locked the door behind him, and took +Banbho into another room. The news Banbho brought was of the gravest. +“The news I bring, my Prince,” he said slowly, “is as bad as it can be. +Unless you act at once this palace of yours is certain to become your +prison. The late king was angry with you, as you know, and before he +died, he had engraved as his will on a brass plate that you were never +to sit on the throne. In your stead the ministers were to put your son +if you had one, and if not, your distant cousin. Now that a son has +been born to the princess, think what a handle your enemies will have +against you! They will put you in prison and make your infant son king +of Brahmanabad. You must act at once!” Banbho’s plan was simple. It was +to proclaim the prince as king in Brahmanabad and then to gallop with +every available man to Depur where the ministers had assembled to carry +out the late king’s wishes. Banbho taking some men with him, first rode +through the streets of Brahmanabad, shouting “Victory to Dalu Rai +Maharaj!” The crowd at once caught up the cry and were soon shouting +“Victory to Dalu Rai Maharaj” through every lane and byway in the city. +This done, Banbho returned to the prince’s palace and he and the prince +and his companions and all the guards whom they could muster, set off +together at headlong speed for Depur. While Banbho was thus rousing his +master to action, the prime-minister and the commander-in-chief and the +principal nobles of Brahmanabad were seated together in one of the +council rooms of Depur. The prime-minister, respected above all for his +age and wisdom and for his faithful service of the late king, put +before his colleagues the brass plate of King Amrai and proposed that +they should take instant steps to seize the person of Dalu Rai and put +his newly born son on the throne. Several of the nobles objected +strongly. For all their respect for the late king and their dislike of +Dalu Rai, they disliked still more the coronation of a newly born +infant with all the dangers of a long regency. While they were in high +debate, the commander-in-chief heard a noise in the courtyard and +guessing its cause, said with a smile and a shrug of his shoulders: “I +am afraid we are too late, gentlemen. The prince has come in person to +settle the succession.” Dalu Rai and Banbho followed by their troopers +rushed up the stairs and Banbho knocking at the door, demanded entrance +in the king’s name. Receiving no answer, he caught up a heavy pickaxe +and with a single blow broke open the lock. The door flew open and the +prince and his men rushed in. Many of the nobles at once joined him. +But the chief minister and a few others remained seated. As the prince +stepped forward, the prime-minister gave him the brass plate on which +was engraved his father’s will. The prince read it and glowing with +rage “from his topknot to his toenails,” rushed at the old man. Both +sides drew their swords. A fight ensued, but it was soon over. The +prime-minister and the commander-in-chief lay dead on the ground and +the rest surrendered. + +Dalu Rai would at once have gone back to the Madu maiden; but Banbho +who “had a crow’s wisdom” prevailed on him to spend the day and the +following night on the late king’s funeral ceremonies. All day long and +all that night Dalu Rai’s thoughts were far away with his unhappy +captive. Next morning Banbho pressed him to hold a Darbar and win over +the state officers and townspeople by concessions and gifts. But Dalu +Rai could restrain himself no longer. “You spoiler of pleasure!” he +cried angrily to Banbho, “I am not going to hold a Darbar! Tell my +officers that I am too stricken with sorrow to hold one.” With these +words King Dalu Rai left Banbho to manage as best he could, and rode +off with all speed to the conquest of the Madu maiden. Unluckily for +him, he had carelessly left behind him his dagger when summoned by +Banbho. The Madu girl had picked it up and when the wicked king would +have caught her in his arms she pointed the dagger at him and +threatened to stab him if he came near her. As he stood uncertain what +to do, he heard cries outside his palace “Maharaja! Maharaja!” Dalu Rai +went to the verandah and looking down saw his courtyard full of +frightened people. “Maharaja, save us!” they cried. “Brahmanabad will +be destroyed.” Dalu Rai looked towards the horizon and saw a huge mass +of sand like a tidal wave advancing on Brahmanabad. The sky was as +black as pitch. The sun was hidden and the Indus had left its course +and seemed to be fleeing before the sandstorm. As he gazed at the +fearful scene, a voice cried: “To-day Brahmanabad shall perish because +of its ruler’s wickedness!” The king remembered the anchorite’s curse +and would have ridden away leaving his city and his people to their +fate. But as he walked to the door a youth with drawn sword barred his +way. “Who are you?” asked the king. “I am your death,” was the grim +answer. The king had no other wish but to flee from the doomed town; +but the youth would not let him pass. At last the king drew his sword +and the two men fought. The youth was skilled in swordmanship but even +so he was no match for Dalu Rai, who was a master of the art. In a few +minutes the king drove his sword through the youth’s heart and bending +over him dragged him into the Madu maiden’s room. As he did so, the +girl drove her dagger into his back. “Why did you strike me?” asked the +dying king. “Was the youth your kinsman?” “He was my betrothed,” said +the girl with white lips and blazing eyes. The king fainted and life +left him. The girl took some wood from the hearth where a fire was +burning and lit the drapery in the room. In a few minutes it was +blazing. The fire spread to the rest of the palace and it was soon a +burning mass. At the same time the sand reached the walls of +Brahmanabad. The burghers sought flight in all directions, but flight +was useless. The sandwave caught them and stifled them, until at last +there was not a living soul left in Brahmanabad. + +The curse of the anchorite had been fulfilled to the letter. + + + + + + + +THE EIGHTH KEY. + + +Once upon a time there ruled over Sind a king, who throughout his reign +had been distinguished for wisdom and justice; but he had grown old and +had only one son, born to him by one of his queens, when he was in the +evening of his life. His darling wish was to see his son of an age to +succeed him before he died. But as kings even are only pawns in the +hands of the great chessplayer, his hope was never fulfilled. Feeling +death approach, he sent for his chief minister and gave him the eight +keys of his eight treasure chambers. “Guard the throne for my son,” +said the dying man, “and when he is of an age to rule by himself, give +him seven of the eight keys; but do not give him the eighth until he +has ruled for five years.” The chief minister promised faithfully to do +his master’s bidding and the old king died in his arms. + +The young prince was duly raised to the throne and the chief minister +watched over him as if he had been his own son. When the prince came of +age, he succeeded to a rich and prosperous kingdom and the minister +handed over to him, just as the old king had desired, seven out of the +eight keys. With the seven keys the prince opened seven treasure vaults +and found them chock full of silver and gold pieces and precious stones +of every description. He was pleased beyond measure; and he felt deeply +grateful to the faithful minister, who had discharged his trust so well +and while keeping the people happy had made their king rich beyond the +dreams of avarice. For a time all went well; then some evilminded old +man, who envied the chief minister, told the king that there were +really eight treasure vaults and that the minister had not handed over +the eighth key, so that he might keep for himself the contents of the +eighth treasure vault. In a great rage the young king sent for the +chief minister and demanded on pain of instant death the eighth key. +The old statesman fell at his young master’s feet and telling him with +many tears the whole story handed him the eighth key. The king was so +excited at the tale, that he snatched away the key and running as fast +as he could to the eighth treasure vault, turned the key in the lock +and flung open the door. To his amazement the room was absolutely bare, +save for the portrait of a beautiful girl, that hung on one of the +walls. The king’s eyes ran round the empty room and then they rested on +the face in the picture. There they stayed until the youth fell so +deeply in love with the beautiful girl, that he grew gradually fainter +and at last swooned away. The minister and the courtiers sprinkled +rosewater over their prostrate master and at last revived him; but he +vowed that unless the minister promised to bring him the lovely picture +maiden, he would not only refuse to reign, but would starve himself to +death. + +The old minister was dismayed at the state of the king and soothed him +by telling him that he would at once set out to fetch the beautiful +girl. He loaded a vessel full of merchandise of all descriptions and +with some chosen companions weighed anchor and set sail for the open +sea. They touched at various ports, but although they shewed the chief +men there the portrait found in the eighth chamber, none recognised it. +At last after the voyage had lasted a whole year, they reached a +distant haven and there they shewed their picture. The people standing +by clapped their hands and cried out “Why, it’s our own princess!” The +minister was taken to the king and queen who shewed them their daughter +and all agreed that she was the original of the portrait. The minister +told the king that he was a merchant and after giving the king splendid +gifts stayed in the country until he had sold all his merchandise. He +then turned his prow homewards and many months later he was able to +tell his king that the lovely picture maiden had been found. Without a +moment’s delay the king vowed that he would seek her himself. Again +filling the vessel with merchandise, the king, the minister and the +some band of trusty companions went on board and weighing anchor, they +set sail for the distant land wherein the princess dwelt. After a +voyage of several months and many hardships, they reached it and the +minister again presented himself in the guise of a merchant before the +princess’ father. On his earlier visit the minister had learnt that the +princess was very fond of toys; so he had brought for her a number of +toys, in the making of which the people of his country were very +skilled. There were toy dogs that ran for miles, toy lions and tigers +that roared horribly, toy partridges that rose with a whirr just like +live ones, toy pheasants that flew up slantwise into the air and toymen +who walked about and talked just as if they had been real. The princess +gave a cry of delight on seeing all these wonderful play-things; but +the minister said “These are nothing to what you will see, if you will +visit our ship. My master the merchant who is on board would only let +me bring the commonest toys ashore.” The princess was wild to see the +other toys and taking six maid-servants with her went with the minister +to the seashore and aboard the ship. There the young king received her +with the greatest courtesy and respect and began to shew her other +toys. But as she was looking at them and clapping her hands at each +fresh one, the crew quietly cut the anchor cable and were out to sea, +before the princess or her friends on shore had any idea what was +happening. + +When the poor princess found that she had been taken captive, she wept +bitterly, but the king soothed her and told her how he had fallen in +love with her picture and had sailed across half the world to win her. +At last she dried her eyes and promised to be his queen directly the +ship brought them to his country. The journey took many weary months, +but at last they were only three days sail off and the king and +betrothed, as happy as possible, together were walking up and down the +deck, hand in hand. The chief minister was sitting in the bows +straining his eyes trying to get a glimpse of the land. Now among the +old man’s many accomplishments was the power to understand the speech +of birds. As he looked landwards, he saw a parrot and a maina fly to +the ship and perch in the rigging. After a little while the maina felt +dull and begged the parrot to tell her a story. At first the parrot +demurred, then he said: “There is a story going on before your very +eyes. You see how happy the king and queen seem to be? Well, the king +has only three more days to live! When he lands three days hence, he +will be met by his officers and his troops, his elephants, his horses +and his chariots. He will be given the most beautiful horse of all to +ride; but that horse is not really a horse at all, but a demon. +Directly the king is on its back, it will fly away with him into the +air and will then drown him by flinging him into the sea.” The maina +was affected to tears by this story; for she loved the parrot dearly +and knew how the princess would grieve at the loss of her betrothed. +“Is there no way,” cried the maina, “by which the king can be saved?” +“Yes, my beloved,” answered the parrot, “there is one way. If someone +goes up to the horse just before the king mounts it and cuts its head +off, the king will be saved. But do not repeat what I have told you; +for if anyone repeats it, one third of his or her body will be turned +into stone.” The parrot and the maina then flew away, leaving the +minister, who had understood all that they had said, a prey to the +cruelest anxiety. + +Next day the parrot and the maina flew back to the ship and perched in +the rigging. The minister on seeing them went back to his seat in the +bows of the ship, so that he might listen to what they said. The maina +said “Tell me, please, what will happen to the king, if he escapes from +the demon horse? Will he not wed the princess and live happily ever +afterwards?” “Nay, my heart’s desire,” said the parrot, “the king and +the princess will never, I fear, be happy together. Even although the +king escapes from the demon horse he will still be in the gravest +peril. During the wedding the king will see a beautiful gold plate. He +will be so pleased with it, that he will pick it up and pass it round +among his courtiers to collect alms for the Brahmans, who are +conducting the ceremony. But he will not live to pass the plate to all +his courtiers, for it is poisoned and as he passes it round, the poison +on it will enter the pores of his skin and will kill him in a few +seconds.” The poor maina was as much upset at this story as she had +been at the other. “Is there no way,” she sobbed, “to save the poor +king?” “Yes, my beloved,” answered the parrot, “if anyone were to put +on gloves and snatch away the plate before the king can handle it, he +will be saved. But do not repeat what I have told you, for if you do, a +third of your body will be turned into stone.” Shortly afterwards, the +parrot and the maina flew away, leaving the minister sadder even than +he had been the previous day. + +The next day, which was the last of the voyage, the disheartened +minister went and sat in the prow of the ship, to hear anything more +that the parrot might say to the maina. He had not been seated more +than a few minutes before the two birds came and perched a few feet +above his head. “Dear Parrot,” said the maina, “if the king is not +poisoned by the plate, will he and the princess not even then marry and +live happy together ever afterwards?” “Nay, well beloved, even then the +king will not live long enough to make the princess happy. After the +wedding ceremony, the king and the princess will be so tired that +directly their heads touch the pillow, they will go off to sleep. While +they are asleep, a snake that lives in the roof of the bridal chamber +will drop poison from his fangs on to the princess’ cheek. When the +king wakes out of his first sleep and kisses the princess, he will +touch the poison with his lips and will die instantly.” The maina was +dreadfully sorry to hear this new danger and asked tearfully whether +there was no way by which the king could escape from that death also. +“Yes, well beloved,” said the parrot, “there is one chance of his +escape, but it is so remote that the king is sure to die. If someone +were to hide himself in the bridal chamber until the poison fell and +kissed the princess’ cheek, the king would be saved; nor would his +saviour die either if he drank at once a large glass of milk. But do +not tell anyone about this, for if you do a third of your body will be +turned into stone.” The two birds then flew away. + +The minister was in despair, but he was a brave and loyal man and he +resolved to save his master, even if it cost him his life. When the +king landed and tried to mount the demon horse, the minister drew his +sword and with a single stroke cut its head off. The king was very +angry and asked the minister why he had done it; but the minister dared +not explain for fear of a third part of his body being turned into +stone. The king could not understand it, still in view of the +minister’s great services he forgave him. The wedding ceremonies of the +king and his bride were celebrated with great splendour; and in the +middle of them, the king seeing a beautiful gold plate stretched out +his hand to take it and to collect alms for the officiating Brahmans. +The minister at once pushed past the king and with a gloved hand, +seized the golden plate and threw it far away into a running stream. +The king was still more angry especially as the minister, afraid of +being turned into stone, would not say why he had done it. + +After the wedding ceremonies were over, the king and queen tired out +with the fatigues of the day went to rest; and so sleepy were they that +directly their heads touched their pillows, they fell asleep. The +minister, however, had hidden himself behind a screen in the bridal +chamber. He saw the snake come out of his hiding place in the roof, +wriggle along a beam and then drop poison on the face of the sleeping +queen. He stepped up to the bed, kissed the poison off the queen’s face +and then took a deep draught of milk. The queen woke up on feeling the +kiss and roused the king. They were both very angry at seeing the +minister in their room and the king called to his guards to seize the +minister and hang him early next morning from the battlements of the +palace. The guards seized the poor old minister and took him to prison. +There the old man asked to see the king before he died, as a last +favour. The king had not the heart to refuse it. The minister was taken +in chains to the royal palace and there he poured out the whole truth. +But as he related how the parrot had warned him about the demon horse, +his feet and legs turned to marble; then as he told about the poisoned +plate, his body as far as his armpits turned to marble; lastly when he +had finished the tale of the poison dropped by the snake, his head and +shoulders became marble, too. + +The king was at first too astonished to do anything and then he wept +bitterly at the awful fate that had overtaken his loyal and faithful +servant. He put the petrified body in a room in his palace and daily +for several years prostrated himself at its feet to shew his sorrow. In +course of time the queen bore him a son and every day he used to bring +the little boy into the minister’s room to shew him what a good and +true servant he had once had. One day when the little boy was three +years old, the very same parrot and maina, that had perched in the +ship’s rigging, flew into the minister’s room and began talking to each +other. The king just because he was standing close to the minister was +able to follow what they were saying. The parrot said to the maina “The +king is very sad at the fate of his minister; but he could bring him +back to life now, if he wanted to.” “How could he?” asked the maina. +The parrot answered “If he kills his own son and sprinkles his blood +over the stone body, the minister will become flesh and blood once +more.” The king thought long and deeply where his duty lay; at last he +felt that he owed more to the faithful minister who had saved his life +three times than to his son. He drew his sword, cut off the little +boy’s head and sprinkled his blood over the marble body. The minister +at once came to life again. Nor was this all. The minister learning of +the death of the little prince prayed so earnestly to God to bring him +back to life that his prayer was granted. The king then took the +minister and the little prince to the queen’s room and told her all +that had happened. She agreed that the king had acted rightly, even +though his act would but for God’s mercy, have cost her her son. The +minister once more resumed his duties; and he and the king, the queen +and the little prince lived together happily for ever so long +afterwards. + + + + + + + +THE NOOSE OF MURAD. + + +Near the small town of Naushahro in the district of Nawabshah, there is +an old fort called Murad jo Killo or Murad’s Fort. It is a big place, +but crumbling to ruins; still the walls that remain are so wide that +three men, so it is said, can sleep on them side by side. There is also +in that part of the country a proverbial saying, used when anyone +grumbles at his lot, “Does he want Murad jo phaho” (the noose of +Murad). Now this is the tale that is told both of the fort and of the +proverbial saying: + +Somewhere in the early part of the eighteenth century, when Nur Mahomed +Kalhoro was ruler of Sind, he had as jamadar or headman of his +grass-cutters a certain Murad, known as Murad Ganjo or Murad the Bald. +So completely had his hair vanished, that you might have looked all +over his head from north to south and from east to west and then any +other way you liked, but you would not have found a single hair on any +part of it. Murad used daily to inspect the grass-cutters’ work and +when on this duty, he noticed an old half-mad woman called Fatima. For +some days he paid no attention to her. Then it occurred to him that the +old woman might be a witch or sorceress, whom it might be well to +propitiate; so he reverently went up to her and asked for her blessing. +The old woman looked at him attentively and then blessed him, adding +“Murad the Bald, you will become a kardar,” or as we should say +nowadays a tapedar or talati. Murad thought no more about the prophecy +until one day Nur Mahomed Kalhoro, in return for Murad’s honesty and +hard work, promoted him from jamadar of grass-cutters to be a kardar. + +Murad was now quite certain that the old woman was a real sorceress, +one to be made much of in every way. For many months he brought her +daily small gifts of food or money; then he summoned up courage to ask +again for her blessing. Again the old woman looked at him intently, +blessed him and added “Murad the Bald, you will be a naib subha,” or as +we should say nowadays a Deputy Collector. Not many months passed +before Nur Mahomed Kalhoro, still more pleased with Murad’s steady and +faithful work, promoted him to be a Naib Subha. There is a French +proverb which says L’appétit vient en mangeant, that is to say the +greedy are never satisfied; and Murad began to feel soon that the post +of Naib Subha was far beneath his merits. He plied the old woman with +more valuable gifts and for the third time asked her blessing. She +looked intently at him as before and blessing him for the third time +said “Murad the Bald, you will become a subha” or as we should say a +Collector of a district. Murad the Bald not very long afterwards was +given charge of a district, thereby reaching a post far above his +deserts. He was still an ignorant, unlettered boor and for a time he +was fully satisfied with his office. He built the great fort known as +Murad jo Killo and seemed perfectly contented. But after a year or two +be began to think that the old woman, who had raised him so high, might +raise him higher still, might make him a king or perhaps even emperor +of Delhi. After all stranger things had happened before and “Allah +alone knoweth all.” Tortured by his insatiable greed, Murad the Bald +showered jewels and gold on the old woman and for the fourth time asked +for her blessing. But this time a terrible thing occurred. Instead of +the fixed kindly look, that she had been used to give him, her eyes +flashed with demoniac fury and instead of a blessing, she cursed him +“Murad the Bald,” she screamed at him “you will rise higher still, you +will be hanged.” Poor Murad left the witch as she raved and gnashed her +teeth and going home, tried in vain to put the matter out of his mind. + +Now it so happened that the Afghan ruler of Multan, Nadir Khan by name, +lost the youngest and most beautiful of his wives. She fell in love +with one of her lord’s servants and ran away with him right out of the +Multan province into Murad’s district. She took with her a huge diamond +and a priceless manuscript on surgery and medicine. Murad the Bald came +to hear of the arrival of the two fugitives and promptly took from them +the diamond and the manuscript, which he stored in the royal treasure +house of Nur Mahomed Kalhoro. The queen and her lover, fearing that +they might themselves be detained and given over to Nadir Khan, fled +from Sind pretending that they were going on a pilgrimage to Mecca. + +In the meantime the indignant Nadir Khan in vain looked all over his +kingdom for his missing queen and servant. At last he learnt that she +and her lover had fled into the lands of Nur Mahomed Kalhoro. Nadir +Khan summoned his army and marching to the frontier, demanded the +surrender of the queen and her lover, the diamond and the manuscript. +Nur Mahomed Kalhoro enquired of Murad and learnt that the guilty couple +had fled, but that the diamond and the manuscript were safe in his +treasury. He sent back the manuscript and the diamond. “These came into +our hands,” he wrote, “but they do not belong to us. The guilty couple +have fled, so we cannot return them, but take the manuscript and the +diamond since they are yours. We do not want them nor do we wish for +war. Nevertheless, if you are bent on war, we shall accept your +challenge. We shall gladly shew you how strong are our arms and how +sharp are our swords.” + +Nadir Khan liked Nur Mahomed’s answer and instead of war there was +peace, and instead of battles and skirmishes there were visits and +reviews and banquets. Nevertheless Nadir the Afghan was not quite sure +that Nur Mahomed Kalhoro had not seized his beautiful queen and hidden +her in some deep recess of his own harem. He sent for Murad and begged +him to speak the truth: “If my queen and servant have really gone to +Mecca, it is useless to search for them here; but if Nur Mahomed +Kalhoro is secretly keeping my queen, then I shall slay him and give +his throne to the man, who tells me the whole truth.” As Murad listened +to the words of the Afghan, Satan the Stoned seized his five senses. +Forgetting all his master’s kindness and favours, he thought to himself +that there now stretched in front of him an open and easy road to a +throne. With seeming reluctance he confessed that the queen and her +paramour had never left Sind. Nur Mahomed Kalhoro had taken the queen +to be his concubine and had cut off the head of her paramour with a +single stroke of his sword, just as if he had been a buffalo. Nadir the +Afghan believing Murad and angry at what he believed to be the double +dealing of Nur Mahomed Kalhoro, resolved to march into Sind and to seat +Murad on the throne in his place. He had gone only one march when the +news reached him that his missing queen and her lover had been found in +the country of a neighbouring Raja, who was sending them back in chains +to their master. + +Nadir the Afghan was now as angry with Murad as he had been with Nur +Mahomed Kalhoro. He told the latter the lying tale told by his subha +Murad. Mahomed Nur was shocked at the ingratitude of the base born +wretch on whom he had lavished favours. His horsemen rode out and +seized Murad the Bald and at the king’s orders, hanged him from the +battlements of his own fortress. So ended the fortunes of the greedy +and faithless adventurer; and that is why men say to-day that it is +better to be contented with one’s lot than to rise so high that in the +end one dangles from the end of a rope forty or fifty feet above the +ground. + + + + + + + +THE MAKLI HILL. + + +Most English visitors to Tatta go there for the shooting only and I +should be the last to blame them. Below the ancient fort of Kalankot +near Tatta is a lake of the same name. It is quite shallow and +overgrown with tall reeds, the home of innumerable duck. They rise all +round, as one is poled in boats through lanes cut among the reeds and +quick eye and hand are needed before they can be bagged. But close to +the bungalow are a number of ancient tombs; and as no record of their +owners is to be found on the walls, a few facts about them may prove +interesting to future visitors. + +The tombs are built on a ridge known as the Makli Hill. Two derivations +of the name are given. Some say that the hill owes its title to a pious +woman called Makli who lived and was buried on it. Others say that a +holy man gave it the name of Makli because he deemed it Maka laali or +the threshold of Mecca. Whatever the true origin may be, let us take +the tombs from north to south and put down what we know about them. The +farthest to the north is a brick tomb on a masonry plinth, plastered +and white-washed. Beneath it lie the earthly remains of Sayad Ali +Shirazi. Great saint though he was, he would long ago have been +forgotten, save for the fact that for a moment his career touched that +of the great Akbar. The Emperor Humayun, defeated in battle after +battle by the great Afghan soldier Sher Shah, fled to Sind. After +trying in vain to establish himself at Sehwan and Bukkur, he started +for Bikanir, only to learn that the Chief meant to hand him over to his +enemy. He turned back and made his way first to Jasalmir and then +through the desert to Umarkot. Most of his companions died of thirst. +The others losing in their misery all respect for their leader, let him +walk so that his wife, Akbar’s mother, should ride. At last with only +seven attendants he reached Umarkot and there on the 14th October 1542 +Akbar was born. Humayun had neither gifts to distribute to his friends +nor clothes in which to wrap the baby. The first difficulty he overcame +by breaking a pod of musk and letting its perfume spread among his +guests, at the same time exclaiming with prophetic truth that his baby +boy’s fame would diffuse itself through the world like the fragrance of +the musk. The second difficulty he met by cutting Akbar’s first garment +out of the coat of Sayad Ali Shirazi, who had been sent by the people +of Tatta with gifts and greetings. Ali Shirazi lived for thirty years +afterwards and the date of his burial is inscribed on his tomb, viz., +1752 A.D. + +South of the Sayad’s tomb is that of Makli, the eponymous heroine of +the hill, and south of Makli’s is that of Jam Nindo. It is easily +distinguished as it has no roof and its stones were evidently taken +from some ancient Hindu temple. Jam Nindo or the Little Jam was the +founder of Tatta. His real name was Jam Nizam-ud-din and he was a Samma +by caste. Here we must go back into early Sind History. When the Afghan +Emperor Ala-ud-din Khilji conquered Sind, a Rajput tribe named the +Sumras were in possession. Subdued then, they successfully revolted in +the reign of Ghazi-ud-din Tughlak. In the middle of the 14th century, +however, they were ousted by another Rajput tribe the Sammas. The +latter ruled Sind from 1350 A.D. to 1521 A.D. But until Jam Nindo’s +time they did not live at Tatta. They lived at Samui three miles to the +northwest. When Jam Nindo had established his power and cleared the +land of robbers, he thought he would build a new town, “wherein +happiness might remain for ever.” He chose a site to the east of the +Makli Hill and on a day picked out by the Brahmans, he founded his +city, Tatta. There he ruled for at least fifty years and was buried on +the Makli Hill. Another Samma chief buried there was Jam Tamachi. He +was the Jam who loved the fisher maiden Nuri and was the ancestor of +the Jadeja Raos of Cutch. But it is not possible to say with certainty +which his tomb is! [3] + +Jam Nindo’s son and successor was Jam Feroz. But the new Jam loved too +warmly the beauty of his dancing girls and the jokes of his jesters to +be a good ruler. The result was that in 1521 A.D. he was driven from +his throne by Shahbeg Arghun, who had himself been driven from Kandahar +by the lion-hearted Babar. In 1536 A.D. Shah Hussein Arghun succeeded +his father Shahbeg and was the ruler of Sind when Humayun fled to it +and Akbar was born. In 1554 he died and Mirza Isa Tarkhan, the founder +of the Tarkhan Dynasty, became master of Tatta. It is to his tomb to +which we come, shortly after saying goodbye to Jam Nindo’s. Isa Khan’s +last dwelling place stands in a large courtyard close to an old mosque. +The tomb is entirely of carved stone with perforated slabs let in here +and there. It was in Mirza Isa’s time that the Portuguese sacked Tatta. +It seems that in 1555 Mirza Isa Khan quarrelled with Sultan Mahmud the +Governor of Bukkur by whose aid he had become King of Sind. Isa Khan +sent an envoy to Goa to ask help from the Portuguese. The fame of that +nation in India was then at its height. Only a few years before they +had helped the King of Guzarat to drive out Humayun and in return had +received Bassein and the whole Province of the north including Salsette +Island. With their aid Isa Khan felt sure that he could humble Sultan +Mahmud. On the other hand, no doubt, the Portuguese Governor-General +dreamed visions of a second northern province on the banks of the +Indus. He sent a fleet of 28 ships with 700 men under Pedro Baretto. +The gallant Pedro duly sailed up the Indus and reaching Tatta asked for +orders. In the meantime, however, Isa Khan had in several actions +instilled into Sultan Mahmud Khan a sense of his inferiority and had +forced him to sue for peace. Isa Khan sent word from Bukkur that he no +longer needed Portuguese help. Pedro then asked for the cost of the +expedition, estimated, I dare say, on a liberal scale. Isa Khan +politely refused to pay. Dom Pedro flew into a rage, sacked Tatta, +killed 800 people, took away two millions sterling and left the town in +flames. Isa Khan rebuilt the town but he entered into no more alliances +with the Portuguese. He ruled prosperously until 1572 A.D. when he died +and was buried on the Makli Hill. + +On Isa Khan’s death his son Mahomed Baki succeeded him. His tomb is a +small ruined brick enclosure, the one immediately to the north of Tural +Beg’s, of whom I shall say a word or two later. Isa Khan’s tomb is a +poor thing compared with his father’s and his son’s, but then so was +Mahomed Baki himself. For twelve years he gave the good people of Tatta +a dreadful time. To slit their ears and noses and shave off their +beards was the favourite pastime of his leisure moments. To hang them, +impale them and throw them under the feet of his elephants was the +serious business of his life. At last in 1584, having lived to see his +daughter returned with thanks by the Emperor Akbar, he committed +suicide. To him succeeded his son Jani Beg, whose tomb is the +southernmost of all. It is of brick, faced with glazed blue and green +tiles. It has a perforated window above the door and there are +geometric tracery windows also on the four sides. By the time Jani Beg +had succeeded his father, the genius of Akbar was at its zenith. Sultan +Mahmud of Bukkur yielded to the great Emperor his sovereignty without a +blow. But Jani Beg was of sterner stuff. Entrenching himself behind the +river Phito, he withstood for some months the imperial forces. Driven +from his trenches he fell back on the great fort of Kalankot; but that +Akbar should not use Tatta as his base, he destroyed it and left the +emperor a smouldering ruin. Yet brave as he was, he had at last to kiss +the stirrup of the world conqueror, was graciously received and +confirmed as imperial governor of Tatta. He died there in 1599. The +Emperor confirmed in his place his son Ghazi Beg. The latter lived +until 1612, when he was murdered. His body was buried in the same tomb +as Jani Beg and the common grave was for many years the scene of a +curious pilgrimage. Both father and son were renowned as poets and +musicians and childless couples who desired off-spring, used to visit +their tomb and try and win the favour of their spirits by songs and +instruments. But efficacious as his spiritual aid may have been in +procuring sons for barren women, poor Ghazi remained childless himself. +He had no son and with him the Tarkhan dynasty of Sind ended. + +The Moghul emperors thereafter ruled Sind through governors appointed +directly from Delhi. The Tomb of Diwan Shurfa Khan, the minister of one +of these governors, Amirkhan by name, is one of the best preserved on +Makli Hill. Another less well preserved, but even more imposing tomb, +that of Nawab Isa Khan, dates from the same period A.D. 1628–1644. It +has an upper storey to which leads a flight of stairs. To the east of +Isa Khan’s tomb are the graves of the ladies of his ample Zanana. To +the south of Isakhan’s tomb is quite a small one, that of Mirza Tural +Beg. It appears that he misused his position by artificially forcing up +the price of grain and then selling his stock at a large profit. He was +so hated in his life-time that he took the precaution to build his own +tomb. But even so he did not escape infamy. He was nicknamed the +“Dukario” or “Famine Man” and every one who passed his grave used +regularly to heave a stone at it. In time the stones were piled up +right to the stone canopy above it. Fortunately for the “Famine Man” +the Public Works Department have taken charge of his tomb and have +removed the stones. But his memory is still detested and his present +address is believed to be somewhere in the very centre of the flaming +halls of Iblis. + + + + + + + +LARKANA. + + +A few miles from Larkana at a place called Fatehpur is a handsome +mosque. In its courtyard hang innumerable bells. I long tried in vain +to learn its history but at last I obtained from Mr. Bherumal, +Inspector of Excise, the following legend. + +The town of Larkana derives its name from the tribe of Larak and was +probably at one time called Larakanjo got or the village of the Larak +tribesmen. They were followers of a family known to history as the +Kalhoras, whose family name Abbassi lent strength to their claim that +they were sprung from the loins of Abbas, the uncle of the holy +Prophet. After the conquest of Sind by Akbar, it became a province of +the Moghul empire; but with the decline of the imperial power, +authority relaxed and disorder grew. Of this disorder the Kalhoras took +advantage. The first great Kalhoro was Adam Shah, who “drank the +sherbet of martyrdom at Multan” or in simpler language was killed in an +obscure fight with the Moghul governor of that city. Adam Shah’s +grandson Shahlal Mahomed was the famous saint, whose memory still lives +in the Fatehpur mosque. His first and perhaps greatest—certainly his +most useful—miracle was the digging of the Ghar canal that runs past +Larkana town. He did not dig it with a spade. His methods were simpler +and more efficient. He mounted a Kando or thorn tree. Once firmly +seated in its upper branches, he made the wretched vegetable drag its +roots from Larkana to Kambar, a distance of twelve miles. In the deep +hollow caused by the progress of the Kando tree, flowed the obedient +water. The stream so created came to be known as the Shahlal Wah or the +canal of Shahlal Mahomed. Many years later Mian Nur Mahomed Kalhoro +widened the Shahlal Wah and changed its name to Ghar canal, i.e., the +canal broken by the tree driven by the Saint’s superhuman powers. The +Ghar canal bears this name to the present day and the tree which +Shahlal Mahomed used as his humble instrument is still pointed out on +the bank of the Chilo canal in the Kambar taluka. + +The miracle of the Ghar canal was followed by so many others that the +imperial governor became alarmed at the Saint’s growing fame and power. +He reported the facts to Aurangzeb and obtained that emperor’s leave to +shorten Shahlal Mahomed’s stature by a head. After a mighty resistance +the Saint was taken captive and executed. The governor put his head in +a wooden box and sealing it sent it in charge of a police guard to the +emperor’s camp. When the police guard reached Lahore they out of +curiosity opened the box, in order to see what the head looked like. +The lid was no sooner lifted than the head flew out and made its way +through the air to Shahlal Mahomed’s favourite village of Fatehpur, +wherein the Saint’s body lay buried. The police guard were so alarmed +at the strange behaviour of the head that they dared neither return to +Larkana nor go on to Delhi. They buried the empty box in Lahore and +building a shrine over it, appointed themselves its guardians. + +The emperor, however, who was eagerly expecting the sealed box, got +disturbed at its delay. He sent a body of troops to Lahore to find out +what had happened to it. At first they could find out nothing. At last +hearing of the new shrine, they went there and extorted from its +guardians the whole truth. They then dug up the ground and unearthed +the box. Opening it they found it, not only to their own amazement but +to that of the quondam police guard, by no means empty. It contained +another head of Shahlal Mahomed exactly similar to the one that had +flown away. The troops carried away box and head and showed them to +Aurangzeb. Convinced of the miracle, the devout emperor felt sure that +he had killed a Saint. To show his repentance of his cruel deed, he had +a tomb built at Delhi over the box and the head. In the meantime, the +Larak tribe and the other countless disciples of Shahlal Mahomed had +built the mosque at Fatehpur over the holy man’s body and true head, +once more in union. Thus the great saint is honoured by no less than +three tombs, one at Fatehpur, where lie his real head and body, a +second at Lahore where the empty box was buried and disinterred, and a +third at Delhi where the second head lies. + +The descendants of Shahlal Mahomed were the famous Kalhoro Mirs who +ruled Sind until overthrown by the Talpurs. Their capital was +Haidarabad but they always loved Larkana for the sake of their +ancestor; and the fame of its prosperity and wealth under the Kalhoros +is still preserved in the well-known couplet + + + Hujie Nano + Ta gumh Larkano + + +If you have money (to spend) then go to Larkana. + + + + + + + +TWO LOVE TRAGEDIES. + +KUTTEJI KABAR AND MAUSUM SHAH. + + +One of the highest peaks of the Baluch mountains along the frontier of +the Larkana district is known as the Kutteji kabar. This is the tale +they tell about it. Once upon a time a rich Brohi hillman owned a very +faithful and obedient dog. The Brohi was at one time rich, but from one +cause or another he lost his wealth and of all his riches nothing was +left to him but his dog. One day when he had no money left, he +mortgaged his dog for a hundred rupees to a bania of the neighbourhood. +Before leaving it, he bade his hound serve its new master as faithfully +as it had served him. The dog wagged its tail as if it fully understood +what the hillman told him. + +Several months passed by and the dog was as obedient to the bania as it +had been to the Brohi. One night a band of fierce robbers broke into +the house of the bania, over-powered the inmates and carried off the +savings of the merchant’s life-time. After the robbers had left, the +bania began to mourn and beat his breast. In an hour or so the dog came +to him and tugged at his coat. The bania abused and beat it for not +having guarded him against the robbers. But the dog continued so to +pull at his coat, that the neighbours advised him to go with the dog +and see what it wanted. The dog led by the way for a mile or so until +it came to a torrent bed, when it began to dig in the ground with its +paws. The bania and his neighbours also began to dig; at last they came +upon the bania’s safe with his money secure inside it. The dog seeing +that it could not fight with success against a band of armed robbers, +waited until they had left and then followed them until it saw them +conceal their plunder. Then it went back to tell the bania. The latter +was so touched at the dog’s fidelity and sense that he tied round its +neck a letter to the Brohi. In it he told his debtor that he cancelled +his debt and asked him to take his dog back free of incumbrances. Then +he told the dog to go back to its master. Off it went wagging its tail +and barking delightedly at the thought of seeing its old master. + +Now it so chanced that the Brohi hillman had by working in the plains +saved a sum sufficient to pay off his debt and he was returning to the +hills to do so. On the way he met his hound. It rushed towards him in a +transport of joy. But the hillman who knew nothing of the dog’s conduct +and did not notice the letter round its neck, thought that it had +disgraced him by running away from his creditor before he had paid his +debt. A man of high honour, he grew very angry and holding out the +fingers of his right hand made the bhundo sign in the dog’s face. This +deadly and contemptuous insult was too much for the poor dog. It fell +at its master’s feet and died on the spot. The Brohi tried in vain to +bring it back to life. As he tried, he saw the bania’s letter round its +neck and learnt too late how innocent the dead dog had been. In his +grief, he bore the dog’s body to the highest peak of the neighbouring +mountains and buried it there. For some time he remained by the tomb as +its majawar or guardian. Then he sickened and died also. But the peak +is still known as Kutteji kabar. + +Another love story of a different kind is told of the minaret of Mausum +Shah, that looks down from a great height on the thriving town of +Sukkur and the splendid river Indus, as it runs through its two +limestone banks. A certain Musulman called Mausumshah fell in love with +one of the bania girls of Sukkur, whose beauty is renowned through all +Sind. But he was a Musulman and the lady was a Hindu. The lady would +not join Islam and he could not, if he would, become a Hindu. Yet +unless one or the other became a convert, marriage between them was +impossible. The lady moreover had little liking for her Musulman wooer, +although perhaps a little flattered by his pressing attentions. To be +rid of his ardent importunities, she bade him build a minaret, two +hundred feet high before he aspired to her hand. But she had not +realised the passion of the unhappy Mausum Shah. He set to work, +collected stones and coolies and before the Hindu lady was very much +older, she saw to her horror a splendid minaret rising above the +ground. In a few more months it was finished and Mausum Shah full of +pride and love went to claim the hand of his beloved. But as Francis +the First, an experienced judge of the fair sex, used to say “Souvent +femme varie, fol qui s’y fie,” and the lady proved as untractable as +ever. In spite of her former implied promise she still refused to wed a +circumcised barbarian. “I did not say that I would marry you,” she said +“when you had finished the minaret. I only wanted you to build it that +you might throw yourself from the top!” Cruelty could go no further; +and the broken-hearted lover ascending the minaret, took a last view of +the splendid panorama unrolled before his eyes and plunged head first +from the pinnacle. Legend, however, relates that he never struck the +ground, nor was he dashed to pieces. A divine hand caught him as he +fell and put him safely on his feet. His love for the beautiful Hindu +girl had died within him. He had seen the selfish heart that beat +within her beautiful body. Giving up the things of this world, he +became an anchorite and taught the precepts of Islam until death +overtook him. He was buried at the foot of the tower from which he had +once thrown himself. And to this day his tomb and those of his +disciples may be seen there by the visitor to Sukkur. + + + + + + + +SWAMI VANKHANDI OF SADH BELO. + + +The early history of Sadh Belo is closely connected with that of the +famous Swami Vankhandi. Swami Vankhandi had been incarnated once in the +seventeenth century, for we find him receiving worship as early as +1710. We, however, are only concerned with his second incarnation, +which occurred in or about A.D. 1764. In the later descent on earth he +lived and practised yog or asceticism at Muran Jharee in the territory +of H.H. The Maharaja of Nepal. While he was still a young man his +reputation for holiness spread far and wide; but it aroused the envy +and malice of another anchorite of Muran Jharee named Gusai Sanyasi +Sadhu. At last Gusai could contain himself no longer and made his way +to the court of the Maharaja. There he told his sovereign that a +certain sadhu of Muran Jharee had vowed by his austerities to destroy +the kingdom. He warned the Maharaja that for several months the Sadhu +had touched neither food nor water and he begged his master to destroy +the Sadhu before it was too late. The Maharaja was alarmed and sent an +army to take prisoner the seditious anchorite and bring him to +Kathmandu, the chief town of Nepal. + +When the army appeared at Muran Jharee, they found Swami Vankhandi +absorbed in contemplation. As they watched him their own warlike spirit +ebbed away and they were filled with a great calm; without saying a +word they waited until the Swami thought fit to lift his eyes towards +them. The Nepal General then told the Swami that he had received orders +to take him prisoner and humbly implored his pardon. The Swami forgave +him and told him that he would go on ahead of the army and wait for +them at Kathmandu. With these words the Swami vanished and although the +General and his officers searched for him everywhere, they could not +find him. At last they returned to Kathmandu and just outside the +walls, they found the Swami sitting in a deep religious trance, in the +shade of a banian tree. They did not disturb him but went straight to +the Maharaja, to whom they told all that had happened. The Maharaja saw +that he had been deceived by the wicked Gusai and drove him from the +town; then he asked for the pardon and blessing of Swami Vankhandi. The +Swami saw that the Maharaja had truly repented and forgave and blessed +him. Then he vanished and in the twinkling of an eye was once more to +be seen at his own place in Muran Jharee. + +Many and great were the miracles recorded of Swami Vankhandi, but the +one that will interest English readers most is the summary way in which +he dealt with a certain Captain Pauk Wales, a gentleman whom I have not +been able to trace in English works of reference. In 1822 Swami +Vankhandi after many pilgrimages to the holy shrines of India came to +Sind. Cholera was then raging in Haidarabad, but the Swami’s presence +proved sufficient to drive it away. From Haidarabad he went to Khairpur +and Rohri and seeing Sadh Belo island in the river Indus near Sukkur +resolved to settle there and found a monastery. There he lived for +twenty years until such time as Sir Charles Napier conquered Sind and +appointed Captain Pauk Wales as Collector of the Shikarpur district. +Captain Pauk Wales, wholly ignorant of the power and fame of the Swami, +thought that Sadh Belo island would be an ideal place for a collector’s +bungalow. With Captain Pauk Wales, action followed swiftly on the heels +of thought. He sent for masons and building materials and began to +build a bungalow. But every morning that he went to look at the work, +he found that during the night it had been levelled with the ground. He +was convinced that the masons and the Swami were acting in collusion +and he set a guard of English soldiers over Sadh Belo. Although the +soldiers never closed their eyes all night, Captain Pauk Wales next day +found that not only had the masonry work been thrown down in the night, +but that the bricks, mortar and all the building materials collected by +him had vanished. In a rage he went up to the Swami and roundly abused +him. While Captain Pauk Wales was swearing horribly, the Swami, shocked +beyond measure, vanished into thin air. That night both Captain Pauk +Wales and his wife were seized with internal pains of an agonising +description. After a night of anguish Mrs. Pauk Wales advised her lord +and master to beg the Swami’s pardon. For a long time the Swami could +not be found, but with the aid of the townspeople, he was eventually +traced to a spot outside Sukkur, where he was quietly singing to +himself. Captain Pauk Wales threw himself at the Swami’s feet and +promised never more to interfere with his holy island. + +Swami Vankhandi lived on to the ripe age of a hundred. Feeling himself +nigh to death, he sent for his disciples and warned them of his +approaching end. He told them that he would hold his breath until his +soul departed. When they thought him dead, they should put a pat of +butter on his forehead. If it did not melt, it meant that he had ceased +to live. They should then throw his corpse into the Indus river. The +disciples faithfully carried out their master’s wishes and when the pat +of butter did not melt on his forehead, they threw his body into the +great river. They had barely done so, when a rich merchant of Shikarpur +came to Sadh Belo with a precious necklace of pearls for Vankhandi, of +whose death he was unaware. Learning that Vankhandi was no more, the +merchant refused to return to Shikarpur and infinitely firm of purpose, +he vowed to sit by the edge of the river and neither to eat nor to +drink until the Swami came himself to accept the necklace. On the +second night the Swami in a dream promised that he would appear before +his devoted follower the next day. Fortified by the vision, the +Shikarpur merchant sat on by the edge of the stream. At noon the body +of the Swami rose out of the Indus and the merchant put the necklace +round its neck. The body then lay on the bank and the merchant called +to him the anchorites of the place, who once more consigned reverently +the body of the Saint into the whirling waters of the mighty river. + + + + + + + +II. + +GUZARAT FOLK STORIES. + + +GUZARAT FOLK STORIES—I. + +KING MANSING OF SIROHI. + + +King Mansing of Sirohi was a very brave Rajput; but he had one fault. +He was greatly addicted to opium, of which he used to drink daily vast +quantities from the hand of his favourite queen. Now it so happened +that the Emperor of Delhi came to Rajputana and camped outside the +walls of Sirohi. All night long the emperor and his nobles drank deep +and revelled, while beautiful dancing girls sang to them lascivious +songs. The noise of the music and the dancing could be heard from King +Mansing’s palace; and all one night, as the king slept, his favourite +queen sat up and listened to it. When Mansing awoke, his queen gave him +his opium. As he drank it, she talked about the wonderful revels of the +emperor and the noise of his music and the lights that blazed all night +in his camp. At first Mansing paid no heed to his queen’s chatter; but +at last he got cross and told her not to mention in his presence the +name of the Mleccha emperor. The queen was so infatuated with what she +had seen and heard that she would not stop, but began to compare the +gaiety of the emperor’s camp with the dullness of life in Sirohi. At +last the king lost all patience and boxing his wife’s ears told her +that if she thought so much of the emperor’s camp, she had better go +there. + +The queen left the room in a rage and all that day brooded over the +king’s words. That night she took her maid with her and stole out of +the palace and through the city walls into the emperor’s camp. When she +reached his tent, she sent her maid to tell the emperor. He was +listening to the singing of his dancing girls and the music of his +players; but as soon as he learnt that the queen was outside, he +stopped the music and the singing and had the queen brought before him +with the greatest respect. As she entered the tent the whole company +rose and greeted her. The emperor asked her why she had come. She +replied “Grant me a boon, shelter of the world, and I shall tell you.” +The emperor replied “The boon is yours; you have but to name it.” The +queen told the emperor all that had happened and claimed as a boon that +the emperor should marry her. After she had spoken, she took the +emperor’s cup in her hands and drank from it, thus breaking her caste +in the sight of all. The emperor had no wish to quarrel with King +Mansing of Sirohi, but having made the queen a promise, he had to keep +it. He called the kazi and married the queen. The same night he left +Sirohi and marched back to Delhi. + +The king had seen the queen leave his room in a rage, but he thought no +more of the matter until next morning, when she did not come with his +opium. He sent for her; but as she did not come he called her maids and +forced from their trembling lips the truth. The king said nothing, but +swallowing a prodigious quantity of opium, he put on his armour and +summoned his chiefs and nobles. When they had assembled, he told them +that the emperor had seduced his queen and then like a coward had run +away to Delhi. The chiefs and nobles all vowed vengeance and bade the +king call out his troops. At noon the king held a great parade; but +when he came to count his warriors, he found that they barely numbered +6,000. On hearing this, the king’s minister Motishah told him that he +could do nothing with only 6,000 men against the 120,000 men led by the +emperor. “What then can I do?” cried the king. “Let us go to Delhi in +disguise,” said Motishah. “There we shall be able to hit on some plan +to win back the queen.” The king agreed; and disguising themselves as +two Rajput soldiers, he and Motishah rode from Sirohi to Delhi. At +Delhi they put up with a mali woman, who worked in the imperial +gardens. From her they learnt that the emperor fearing a rescue, had +dug round the queen’s palace no less than seven trenches. Of these six +were filled with water and the inner one with fire. Outside the +trenches he had built a mighty wall. + +That night the king and Motishah disguised as mendicants, but with +swords and shields hidden beneath their yellow robes sallied forth to +the queen’s palace. On coming to the wall, Motishah climbed on to the +king’s shoulders and thence on to the wall. He let down his turban and +by its means hauled the king after him. As both could swim, they easily +crossed the six water trenches. They had hoped to find the fire-trench +burning low at night. But the king’s guards before going home had +filled it with fresh wood and it was burning fiercely. Motishah threw +his shield into the middle and jumped on to it. But so great was the +heat that he soon felt that his legs would be burnt off. So keeping his +right leg on the shield, he kept his left leg as high as he could, to +save it from the flames. He supported himself on his spear while the +king sprang on his shoulders and leapt to the far side of the trench. +Near the palace was a tall palm tree. Mansing climbed it and reaching +the top, tied his turban to one of the branches. He then swung on his +turban to and fro until he was able to swing into one of the windows of +the upper storey of the palace. He tied his turban to the window sill +and went inside. In a room close by he saw his queen sleeping with the +emperor. At first he felt so angry that he would have killed them both, +as they slept. Then he remembered that he was a Rajput and that it was +wrong to kill a helpless enemy. So he woke the queen and with the point +of his sword at her throat, he made her get up without waking the +emperor. Tying a rope round her arms and legs and throwing her like a +bundle across his back, he swung back to the palm tree by his turban +and slid to the ground. + +Poor Motishah’s right leg was by this time all but burnt off; but when +he saw the king coming back he put his left leg on the shield and over +his shoulders the king climbed across the fire trench. But he could not +save his minister. No sooner had Mansing reached safety than poor +Motishah fainted and falling into the trench was burnt to ashes. +Mansing swam with his queen on his back across the six water trenches. +By the aid of Motishah’s turban, which still hung from the wall, he +climbed over it and pulled his wife after him. He seated her on his +horse and mounting Motishah’s mare, galloped off towards Sirohi. When +they had ridden some fifty miles, Mansing stopped to have his morning +dose of opium. He then discovered for the first time that he had +dropped his opium box inside the emperor’s palace. Addicted as he was +to the drug, he could do without food, but he could not do without his +opium. It would have been useless for him to ride further, for he would +have fallen off the saddle. After stamping on the ground several times +with rage, he tied his queen to a tree. Then he lay down on the ground +and covering his head with a sheet fell asleep. + +In the meantime the emperor had awakened and had missed the Sirohi +queen. He asked his guards and his servants and searched everywhere for +her but in vain. Then his eyes fell on Mansing’s gold opium box. He +picked it up and saw engraved on it the name “Mansing.” He summoned to +him his nobles and called for a volunteer to chase Mansing and bring +him back alive. A Musulman noble famed for his courage rose, saluted +the emperor and promised to bring the king back alive. He galloped +towards Sirohi and after riding 50 miles overtook the king and queen. +Mansing still lay asleep. The Musulman noble untied the queen but he +refused to kill Mansing, although she begged him to. He must bring him +back alive, the Musulman said. He would give the king opium and then +take him back to Delhi. “If you give him opium,” said the queen, “you +will never take him alive, he will kill you.” The Musulman did not heed +her, but mixing opium with water he poured it down Mansing’s throat. +Directly Mansing recovered his senses, he refused to go back to Delhi. +He sprang on his horse and fought the Musulman. But Mansing was still +faint from his long privation and the Musulman disarmed him and tied +him to a tree. Leaving the queen to guard her husband the Musulman went +down the steps of a well to wash his face and hands. The queen seeing +her chance, picked up Mansing’s sword as it lay on the ground and +struck a blow at his head. Mansing jerked his head aside. The blade +missed his head and grazing his side cut through the rope which bound +him. In a moment he was free. Rushing at the queen, he twisted the +sword from her hand and tied her to the tree. He mixed himself some +more opium. Then arming himself with sword and shield, he went to the +mouth of the well and challenged the Musulman to a second fight. The +Musulman came out of the well, but now that Mansing had had his full +dose of opium, no one in the world could have beaten him. With a single +sweep of his sword he severed the Musulman’s head from his body. Then +tying his wife’s hands and feet to her horse, he rode back with her in +triumph to Sirohi. There all the nobles and common people rejoiced at +the king’s feat of arms and were very angry with the queen, who had +first left him and then had tried to kill him. Mansing had her tied to +a pillar in the market place. There everyone threw bricks and stones at +her or hit her head with their shoes. She soon died and her body was +burnt outside the city walls. + +The emperor was very angry when he heard that Mansing had killed the +brave Musulman noble. He raised a great army and marched against +Sirohi. Yet small though the Sirohi army was, it won repeated victories +over the Moghul troops. At last the emperor challenged the king to a +duel, but the emperor was no match for the Rajput king. He was soon +wounded and disarmed. As the price of his life, he agreed to make a +treaty by which he gave great wealth and wide lands to the king of +Sirohi. + + + + + + + +GUZARAT FOLK STORIES—II. + +THE WISDOM SELLER. + + +Once upon a time there lived a poor Brahman, who earned a tiny income +as a clerk. He had one son, a bright, clever boy, who went to school +and was a favourite alike of boys and masters. He might have risen to +great learning, had his father lived. Unhappily before the boy had left +school the poor Brahman died. The boy had to leave school and try to +keep his mother and younger brothers and sisters. At first he became a +candidate for a clerkship in a public office. But this brought him no +pay; and although he wrote petitions in his spare time, he only earned +thereby Rs. 3 or Rs. 4 a month. This sum was not enough to keep him and +his family from starving. One day he resolved to seek some other way of +earning a living and this is what he did. + +He went into the town and hired the smallest shop he could find. He +spent the few annas he had in the world in buying some writing paper, +an ink pot, a bottle of ink, a pen and an empty box. Over the shop he +got painted the words “WISDOM SELLER.” All round him were jewellers’ +shops, cloth shops, green-grocers’ shops. The other dealers waited for +customers, but the green-grocers shouted to the passersby “Pumpkins! +Pumpkins!—three pice a pound!” The Brahman boy thought that he would do +as the green-grocers did and when any one passed, he called out at the +top of his voice, “Wisdom! Wisdom! All kinds! All prices!” At first the +passersby could not make out what he meant. When they understood, they +did not think of buying his wares. They crowded round his shop and +laughed at him. “Who would buy wisdom,” they cried, “especially from a +lad like that?” But the Brahman boy did not mind them at all. He went +on shouting at the top of his voice “Wisdom! Wisdom! All kinds! All +prices!” For several days he made no money at all; but at last the +whole city got to hear of the new shop and four or five passersby +stopped and bought an anna or two worth of wisdom. He was thus rather +better off than when he had been an unpaid clerk; but he knew that when +the novelty wore off, he would get no more customers. Still he did not +despair. + +It so happened that a certain Nagar lived in that city. He was really +very stupid; but he had inherited a large fortune from his father and +so he thought himself very clever. Just to show off, he called his only +son VIDHYA or LEARNING. But in spite of this grand name, the son was +just as stupid as the father. One day Vidhya passed the Brahman boy’s +shop and heard him shout “Wisdom! Wisdom! All kinds! All prices!” So +foolish was he, that he thought wisdom was a sort of vegetable. He +first asked its price per pound. The Brahman boy said “I sell not by +weight, but by quality.” Vidhya then put two pice on the counter and +said he would take half an anna’s worth. The boy wrote on a piece of +paper “It is not wise to stand and watch two people fighting.” He then +tied the paper inside Vidhya’s scarf and took the money. Vidhya went +home and said to his father “I have bought some wisdom for two pice and +it is tied inside my scarf. Let us undo the knot and look at it.” His +father did not understand, but undid the knot and finding the paper +read “It is not wise to stand and watch two people fighting.” He was +very angry and said to his son “Well, you are a fool! Fancy paying two +pice for this nonsense! Why, every one knows that it is not wise to +stand and watch two people fighting.” In a great rage the Nagar walked +to the Brahman’s shop and began to call out “Rogue! Thief! Cheat! you +did my son out of his money, just because he was a foolish boy. Give me +back the two pice, or I shall call the police!” The Brahman kept his +temper and said quietly: “Why are you so angry about nothing? I did not +make your son give me the two pice. He asked me to sell him so much +wisdom and I did so. Give me back my wisdom and take back your money.” +At once the Nagar threw the paper at the Brahman and cried: “Now give +me my money!” The Brahman said “No, I said I would give you back your +money if you gave me back my wisdom. You only offer me the paper. If +you want your two pice back, you must sign a document, binding your son +never to abide by my advice and always to stand and watch people +fighting.” The passersby took the side of the Brahman boy. The Nagar +signed the document and went away with his two pice, very pleased to +get them back so cheaply. + +Two or three months later each of the king’s two queens sent her maid +to buy her some groceries. They both went to the same grocer and both +tried to buy the same article. As the grocer had only the one sample +they began to quarrel so fiercely that the grocer in a fright took to +his heels and ran out of the shop. But the two maids went on +quarrelling. Just then Vidhya strolled up and saw the quarrel. Before +meeting the Brahman boy he would have run away; for stupid though he +was, he knew it was unsafe to stand and watch a fight especially +between the two queens’ maid-servants. But he remembered the promise +made by his father, so he went close up and watched. One of the maids +noticed him and called on him to witness that the other maid had struck +her. The other maid retorted that so far from giving blows, she had +received any number of them; and she, too, called on Vidhya to be her +witness. At last they separated and the maid-servants and Vidhya went +to their several homes. + +The two maids went to their mistresses and exaggerated what had +happened. The queens in turn became furious and sent their maids to +complain to the king. At the same time each sent word to Vidhya that if +he did not depose in favour of her maid-servant he would be beheaded. +Vidhya was very frightened and told his father. The two talked the +matter over all that day and all the next night, but they could not +find a way of escape. At last Vidhya said “Let us ask the Brahman boy, +who sells wisdom; if he really has any to sell, he may help me out.” As +a last resort, the Nagar agreed and father and son went to the Brahman +boy’s shop and told him what had befallen Vidhya. The Brahman boy asked +for a fee of Rs. 500. On getting the money, he told Vidhya to feign +insanity and to pretend that he did not understand what the king asked +him. Next day the king heard the case. The king questioned him closely, +but no question would he answer. He merely gabbled all the time, until +the king lost all patience and drove him out of the court room. Very +pleased with himself, Vidhya ran home and to all whom he met he praised +the wisdom of the Brahman boy, whose fame thus spread through the whole +city. + +The Nagar was at first delighted at his son’s escape; then he began to +reflect that his son must always feign insanity or the king would learn +that he had been tricked and would certainly cut Vidhya’s head off. He +went to the Brahman boy, who asked for another fee of Rs. 500 which the +Nagar paid. “Vidhya should go to the king,” said the Brahman boy, “when +he is in a merry mood and tell him the whole story. When he is in a +good temper, he will laugh at it and forgive him.” Vidhya followed the +advice and one day finding the king in a good humour he confessed +everything. The king laughed heartily and forgave him. Then he sent for +the Brahman boy and asked him whether he would sell him wisdom and, if +so, at what price. “Yes,” said the boy, “I shall be very proud to sell +the king wisdom; but my fee will be one lakh.” The king paid the lakh +and got in return a paper on which the boy had written: “Do nothing +without thinking deeply first.” The king knew the advice to be +excellent and dismissing the young Brahman, he had the words +embroidered on all his clothes and engraved on all his plates, cups and +dishes. + +A few months later the king fell very ill. The prime minister eager to +get rid of him, urged the doctor to put poison in the royal medicine. +The doctor agreed and gave the king a poisoned draught. As the king +lifted his gold cup to his lips, he saw engraved on it the words “Do +nothing without thinking deeply first.” Without suspecting anything he +thought over the words and lowering the cup looked intently at its +contents. The doctor’s guilty conscience made him fear that the king +guessed that the medicine was poisoned. He threw himself at his +master’s feet and confessing everything, prayed for mercy. The +astonished king called the guard and had the doctor seized. He sent for +the prime minister and bade him drink the poisoned medicine. The +minister in his turn threw himself at the royal feet and begged for +mercy. But the king had him hanged on the spot. He then sent for the +doctor and after rating him soundly, banished him from the kingdom. +Lastly he made the Brahman boy, whose wisdom had saved his life, Prime +Minister and loaded him with honours. + + + + + + + +GUZARAT FOLK STORIES—III. + +MAGADHA AND RUPVATI. + + +Once upon a time there was a town called Avanti on the banks of the +river Kshipra. It was a famous town and in it lived very many rich men. +But all the inhabitants were not rich, some were very poor. Among the +latter was a pious old Brahman called Vishnupriya or dear to the Lord +Vishnu. He had two sons named Deval and Madhav. The former he married +to a proud and lovely girl called Rupvati. For Madhav he got a pure and +saintly girl called Magadha. In course of time the good old Brahman +died and after his death the family became so poor that the two +brothers resolved to leave Avanti and seek their fortune elsewhere. +Before they left, they handed over the whole management of the house to +Rupvati. Even Madhav said to Magadha in Rupvati’s presence “You must +obey Rupvati in everything. She is my elder brother’s wife. You are but +a foolish, ignorant girl. She is clever and wise in the ways of the +world.” Magadha was not vexed at what her husband said. She felt sure +that what he ordered was for the best and she promised to do everything +that Rupvati told her. + +Now Rupvati for all her beauty was really a bad hearted woman and +directly her husband had gone, she began to take as her lovers all the +handsome young men of the neighbourhood. But she feared that Magadha +would tell tales about her, so she resolved to turn her out of the +house. She told Magadha that she had been born under an unlucky star +and was the cause of her husband’s and her brother’s poverty. After +rating her well, she beat her and pushing her into the street slammed +the door in her face. + +Poor Magadha was at first broken hearted at the way Rupvati had treated +her. But after shedding some tears, she took courage and began to earn +her living as a day labourer. From time to time, too, she used to go to +Rupvati’s house and work for her; for so gentle was her nature that she +never bore Rupvati any ill-will. One day in Purshotam Mas she saw +Rupvati worshipping the God Krishna. As she had never seen this done +before, she asked Rupvati to tell her all about it. Rupvati flew into a +temper and screamed at her “You wretched girl, fancy not knowing how to +worship Shri Krishna! Why your very presence is a sin!” With these +words she drove her sister-in-law into the street. As poor Magadha was +going home in tears, she met one Bhamini, a friend of Rupvati and just +as unkind and cruel as she was. Bhamini asked her why she cried. +Magadha told her. But Bhamini instead of taking Magadha’s part, thought +it a good chance to play a cruel practical joke on her. She told her +that it was Purshotam Mas and that therefore she should worship the God +Krishna. “Most people,” added Bhamini, “bathe in a river and burn a +ghee lamp in a corner of their house in front of images of Krishna and +Radha. Thereafter they feed Brahmans. But I know a much better way to +worship Krishna than that. Choose the dirtiest, nastiest pool that you +can find. Bathe in it and after bathing eat nothing but cold, stale +food. Next worship the pipal tree, thinking all the while of Krishna +and Radha. Then give to Brahmans alms wrapped in pipal leaves.” Now +this was all wrong; for Shri Krishna does not live in the pipal tree, +which is only the abode of devils. But the cruel Bhamini hoped that in +this way Magadha would incur both God’s displeasure and the curses of +the Brahmans. + +Poor Magadha was far too trusting to guess Bhamini’s wickedness and +went home very pleased with her new knowledge. She looked about until +she found a pool full of dirty rain water and swarming with water +insects. She bathed in it, then worshipped a pipal tree, thinking all +the while of Shri Krishna. Lastly she went home and ate some cold, +stale food, which she had put by on purpose. Having done this for +several days she invited 108 Brahmans to dine at her house. After she +had invited them, she suddenly remembered that she had no money with +which to buy them food, still less to give them alms afterwards. She +did not know what to do, so she prayed all that night and all next +morning to the God Krishna to help her honour the Brahmans when they +came. A little before noon the 108 Brahmans began to collect outside +Magadha’s house. But poor Magadha, who had no dinner to give them, had +not the heart to go to the door and welcome them; so she just stayed +inside and prayed to the God Krishna. At last the Brahmans got very +angry and said “What is the use of waiting outside this wretched little +hut? Even if the door was opened, there would be nothing inside to +eat.” They were about to go away when three other Brahmans came up and +one of them asked which was Magadha’s house. Hopes of a good meal once +more sprang up in the breasts of the 108 hungry guests and they pointed +it out to the newcomers. “We are guests,” they said, “but she has shut +her door in our faces. Are you her relative?” The Brahman who had +spoken, said “Yes, I am Magadha’s brother and these two are our +kinsmen. Please wait outside and I shall go in and see. My sister must +be getting ready your dinner.” With these words he went inside the +house, but he found nothing ready. In the middle room was poor Magadha, +praying with all her might to the God Krishna to help her. “Why do you +not serve the dinner for the 108 Brahmans?” asked the newcomer. “There +is no worse sin than to send away Brahmans hungry from your door.” “I +know that,” replied poor Magadha, “but what can I do? I have no food +and no money to buy any.” “Look in your kitchen,” said the newcomer, +“and you will find plenty of food.” Magadha looked and sure enough the +kitchen was as full as it could be. She was so pleased that she began +cooking at once; and two maid-servants, whom she had never seen before +helped her and swept the floor of the dining room and got baths ready +for the Brahmans; when dinner was ready the newcomer called in the 108 +other Brahmans and he and his two kinsmen served the dinner on leaves, +which turned into gold plates when the guests touched them. The +Brahmans had never eaten so rich or so big a dinner before. They got +back their good spirits and instead of cursing poor Magadha, they +blessed her from the bottom of their hearts. As they rose to go, the +newcomer gave each guest a packet of pipal leaves as a parting present. +The guests thought this a very odd “dakshina” but when they opened the +leaves they found them full of diamonds and pearls and rubies. + +When all the guests had left, Magadha begged the three Brahmans who had +so wonderfully helped her, to have their meal also. They excused +themselves, pleading that they had already eaten. But they pressed +Magadha to eat and she did so. Directly she had finished, her eyes were +opened and she saw the three Brahmans and the two maid-servants as they +really were. For the Brahman, who had said he was her brother was none +other than Shri Krishna himself and his two so called kinsmen were his +two friends Uddhav and Akrur; while the two maid-servants were Shri +Krishna’s queens Rukmani and Satyabhama. Magadha threw herself at Shri +Krishna’s feet; but the great God raised her and said “The ceremonies +you performed in my honour were all wrong. But ceremonies are of little +value. The true worth of worship is in faith; and your faith was such +that I granted you your prayers.” With these words he took Magadha by +the hand and led her back with him to his heaven Vaikunth. But what +happened to the wicked Rupvati and Bhamini? They were very properly +punished. Rupvati in order to humble poor Magadha still more, had on +the same day asked another 108 Brahmans to dinner, intending to give +them a splendid feast and get their blessing, while poor Magadha fell +under the curses of her 108 guests. But the very opposite happened. +Rupvati cooked her dinner and had her house swept and garnished and +went out to welcome her guests. But when she took them into her house +there was nothing to eat at all. All the fine dinner which she had +cooked for them had gone. She looked everywhere but she could not find +it. At last she had to send the Brahmans away as hungry and cross as +could be. As they went they called down the most frightful curses on +her, so that she died soon afterwards and went straight to Hell. Nor +did Bhamini fare any better. The God Krishna was very angry with her +for telling Magadha to worship him in the way she did. She lost all her +money and became very poor; and when she died she went to Hell too, and +she and Rupvati are still there, keeping each other company. + + + + + + + +GUZARAT FOLK STORIES—IV. + +RUPSINH AND THE QUEEN OF THE ANARDES. + + +Once upon a time there was a great king of Guzarat, who died leaving +two sons Phulsinh and Rupsinh. On the father’s death Phulsinh mounted +the throne. In no long time he died leaving a widow and no children and +Rupsinh became king of Guzarat, although still a little boy. Phulsinh’s +widow would have burnt herself on her husband’s pyre had not the +townspeople bidden her live and care for their child king. + +The widowed queen was very wise and clever. So deft was she with her +fingers that she could dress her hair with oil and afterwards press the +hair so skilfully that not a drop of oil remained in it. On a day when +Rupsinh was a lad of fifteen, he lay asleep with his head resting on +the lap of the queen. As he slept, she dressed his hair with oil and +then began to squeeze it out. By chance she pulled out one of Rupsinh’s +hairs. Rupsinh awoke and said crossly: “You are not so clever to-day as +usual with your fingers, or you would not have pulled out my hair.” The +queen said with a laugh: “Yes, I am getting old and make mistakes. If +you want someone who will never make mistakes, you had better marry the +queen of the Anardes.” The queen was only joking, for the Anardes were +a race of fairies. But Rupsinh took her words in earnest and cried +“Marry the queen of the Anardes, then, I will! And till I have done so, +I shall neither eat nor drink inside my kingdom.” The poor queen +regretted bitterly her words and begged the young king to pay no heed +to them. But the headstrong boy would not mind her. He told his grooms, +to saddle his horses. “Shew me,” he said to the queen, “the house of +the queen of the Anardes. If not, I shall seek her without your aid. I +shall ask my way and with God’s help I shall find it.” The widowed +queen was greatly grieved at the way the boy king had taken her words; +still, she thought it best now to help him on his way, rather than to +thwart him. + +She said: “If you will go, my King, then heed my words carefully, for +the road is long and full of perils. Trust none whom you meet or you +will perish miserably. On leaving the palace gates ride to the north. +In three days’ time you will come to a dense forest. Ride boldly into +it and in its very heart you will find a lake. But beware of the lake +and do not bathe in it or drink its waters. If you do, you will die; +for the lake is a fairies’ lake and no mortal who bathes in it or +drinks its waters can live. Ride therefore past the lake until you come +to a great mountain. Avoid the mountain; for near it lives a monstrous +elephant; and should it see you, it will trample you to death. Beyond +the mountain you will come to Thugtown, a town full of thugs and +cheats. They will kill you if they can. If you can outwit the men of +Thugtown, you will come next to a beautiful wood. Here above all be on +your guard, for the wood is peopled by demons who live on human flesh. +Beyond the demon’s wood lie the lands of the Princess Phulpancha. She +is so called because her weight is only that of five flowers. In her +country you will surely die; but if someone will drop on your body +three drops of Amrita, or ambrosia from the bottle that I give you, you +will come back to life. Such are the perils that await you, yet if you +still wish to go, take with you my blessing.” As the widowed queen +spoke, her voice trembled and the tears rolled down her cheeks, for she +loved Rupsinh as if he had been her own son. She put in the youth’s +hands a bottle of Amrita. He took it, bowed his head to her feet, +mounted his horse and spurring it along the northern road was soon out +of sight. + +Three days later Rupsinh saw, as he rode, the forest of which the +widowed queen had spoken. He rode into it and rejoiced in the shade of +the great trees overhead. Suddenly he saw in front of him, like a sheet +of silver, a beautiful lake. Forgetting what the widowed queen had +said, he let his horse walk to the edge and quench its thirst. A moment +later he heard a noise of wings above him. He looked up and saw a great +company of fairies on horseback flying towards the lake. The young king +in a fright turned his horse’s head towards the road and tried to spur +it into a gallop. But the poison of the fairy lake was killing the poor +horse and after trying feebly to answer to the spur, it fell down dead. +The king undid the girths and taking with him the saddle ran to a big +tree close by and climbed into its branches. The fairies had not seen +him, so they dismounted; tied their horses to trees and plunged gaily +into the fairy lake. Rupsinh slipped down from his tree and slipped +noiselessly to where the queen of the fairies had tethered her horse +and put his saddle on its back. He jumped on it and galloped off. The +fairies did not notice their loss until they came out of the water. The +queen was in great distress; and she and other fairies followed +Rupsinh’s tracks until they came near the elephant mountain. Far off +they saw Rupsinh galloping away on the fairy queen’s horse. They called +to the elephant to stop him, as he was a horse thief. The elephant ran +after the king and caught him and his horse in its mighty trunk. +Carrying them to the mountain, it tried to crush them to death against +one of its steep sides. The young king was in despair. Then regaining +courage, he slashed so fiercely at the elephant’s trunk with his sword +that it let him and the horse go. + +Rupsinh galloped away until he reached Thugtown. At its gate he saw an +old man sitting. As the king rode up, the old man rose and with great +courtesy said “Welcome, Thakor. Your father married you when a child to +my daughter; and yet you have never come to see her until now.” “This +is Thugtown,” thought the king, “and the old man must be one of the +thugs who live there.” Still Rupsinh could not but return the old man’s +greeting. He said “My father died so long ago that I cannot remember +him at all, nor anything he did. It was only the other day that I heard +from a kinsman that my father had married me to your daughter. I at +once set out to claim my bride.” The old man bade the king enter the +town and stay at his house, that he might meet his daughter. They +entered the town gates together. At the old man’s door his four young +sons came out and greeted the king as their brother-in-law. At night +they would have led him to a room at the top of the house. But the king +guessed that in the night they meant to throw him from the window. He +said he could not sleep anywhere but on the ground floor. He was so +obstinate that the old man at last put a bed for him in the verandah on +the ground floor, while he and his sons slept in rooms off it. The king +kept awake all night. It was well he did so. The queen of the fairies, +who had never ceased to follow her horse’s tracks, came to the old +man’s house and saw Rupsinh lying in the verandah. She tied a magic +thread round his ankle and ran to the stable to mount the horse which +the king had stolen. But Rupsinh untied the thread and tied it round +the ankle of the old man. He had no sooner done so, than the magic +thread became quite taut. The fairy queen had mounted her horse and +riding off dragged the old man after her. She never thought of looking +back, but galloped straight off to the elephant mountain. There she +threw him before the elephant, who at once trampled the old man to +death. In the meantime Rupsinh drew his sword. Going to the beds of the +four sons, he sternly demanded his horse. One of the four sons went to +the stable to saddle it. As it was not there, Rupsinh made him give him +one of the old man’s own horses instead. He then rode as fast as he +could out of Thugtown. + +Rupsinh rode north for some hours when he saw in front of him a +beautiful wood. He at once recalled the widowed queen’s warning about +the demons who lived in it. He entered it. Suddenly he saw two demons +fighting together. When they saw the king they stopped fighting and +began to laugh. Rupsinh laughed back and then asked them what amused +them. “We have not tasted human flesh,” said one of the demons, “for +twelve years. When we saw you we laughed for joy. But why did you +laugh?” “I am a messenger of the god Shiva” said Rupsinh. “The +parchment on one of his drums is torn and he sent me out to get two +demon skins with which to repair it. The drum is so big that the skin +of one demon would not be enough. So when I saw two demons in front of +me, I laughed for joy.” Rupsinh drew his sword and rode at the demons +as if to skin them alive. In an agony of fear they begged him to take +the skin of their blind uncle instead. “One demon’s skin will not do,” +said the king sternly; “besides the skin of a blind demon would sound +hollow.” The demons in despair offered Rupsinh a large ransom, but he +would not accept it. At last they offered him a flying machine known as +a pavanpavdi. “In it,” they said, “you can fly all over the sky and +whenever you see a demon on earth, you can come down and skin him.” The +king took the pavanpavdi and tied it on to his horse’s back and rode on +until he crossed the borders of the Princess Phulpancha’s country. Some +time later he reached her town and lodged with an old woman who owned a +garden outside the city. + +The king had not been there many days before the princess came to hear +of him. One day as he rode under her window her maid-servants whispered +to her, “That is the young king, my Princess.” Phulpancha on the spot +fell in love with him. One day Rupsinh came to his lodging, hungry and +thirsty, and asked the old woman to cook him some food at once. The old +woman said that she could not, as she was weaving garlands for the +Princess Phulpancha. The king bade the old woman cook his dinner while +he wove the garlands, which he did very skilfully. He then took off his +diamond ring and hid it in one of them. When his dinner was ready, he +ate it and the old woman went to the palace with the garlands. As the +Princess put them round her neck, her fingers touched the diamond ring. +She knew that it must have been sent to her by Rupsinh, as he lodged +with the old woman. Some days later Rupsinh left his lodging and +dressed as a poor Rajput, went to the court of Phulpancha’s father and +asked for service. The old king was pleased with Rupsinh’s speech and +bearing and made him chief of the guards round the Princess’ palace and +paid him three gold pieces a day. In this manner Rupsinh came to see +the Princess almost daily and told her all about himself. Some days +later came the weighing of the Princess Phulpancha. It was the custom +of the land that once a year the Princess should be weighed on a pair +of magic scales. If no man but the king had seen her during the +previous year, her weight would only be that of five flowers. But if a +man had seen her, her weight would be that of an ordinary girl of her +age and height. At the appointed hour Phulpancha sat on one of the +scales, while the weigher put five flowers on the other. Instead of the +five flowers balancing the Princess, her scale clung obstinately to the +ground; and it was not until two maunds had been put in the other, that +the Princess began to move upwards. The old king made enquiries and +came to know that Rupsinh had several times spoken to Phulpancha. +Instantly he had Rupsinh hanged, from the branch of a tree. Fortunately +before entering the king’s service, Rupsinh had told the old woman of +the garden about the Amrita. Hearing of the poor young king’s +execution, she went at night and sprinkled three drops of Amrita over +his body. Rupsinh came to life again. But the old woman fearing the old +king’s anger would not take him back. Rupsinh was at first at his wit’s +end. Then he remembered the demons’ pavanpavdi and seating himself in +it he rose in the air and flew northwards. + +After some time the young king came to a big garden in the midst of +which was a palace seven stories high. He entered the palace and ran +upstairs until he reached the seventh storey. On the top stair was +seated an aged anchorite who said to him, “Welcome Rupsinh.” The king +was astonished that the anchorite should know his name and he asked the +anchorite how he knew it. “My inner knowledge, my son, tells me your +name. I also know that your brother’s widow anxiously awaits your +return. I know, too, that you are fated to win the queen of the +Anardes.” The king begged the anchorite to bless him. The anchorite did +so and added, “To-morrow I shall go to bathe in a pool in the palace +gardens. When I do so, watch carefully the pomegranate trees in the +orchard. You will see the pomegranates on them suddenly open and from +each one will come out an Anarde. They will play and dance together in +the garden and she to whom the others will pay deference is their +queen. After a time they will go back to their hiding places. Note +carefully the fruit which the queen enters. Then go down into the +garden, pick it and take it back with you. But do not look behind you, +as many others before you have done, or you will be turned into stone.” +Next morning the ascetic went to bathe and Rupsinh did as the ascetic +had told him. He watched the pomegranate trees and soon from each fruit +there dropped to the earth a tiny fairy. One of them, slightly bigger +than the others, was clearly their queen. They played and danced for a +time. Then they ran back to their hiding places. The pomegranates +closed and hid their fairy lodgers from view. The king, however, had +seen which pomegranate held the queen. He went into the garden, plucked +the fruit and turned back to the palace. Voices all round him cried +out, “Strike him! Kill him!” But remembering the anchorite’s words, he +never once looked round until he had reached the palace door. Then he +turned and saw the anchorite trying to soothe the other Anardes, for it +was their voices which the king had heard. “It was fated that one of +you should wed a mortal. What was fated has happened. So cease from +troubling the king and his bride and give them your blessing instead.” +When he had calmed the fairies, he went to the king and said, “My son, +start at once homewards and tarry nowhere on the road. Shew the +pomegranate to no one until you reach your city.” + +The king mounted his horse without delay and started on his homeward +journey. In no long time he saw an ascetic, who for 700 years had been +doing penances, in order to win the queen of the Anardes. The king +saluted the anchorite, who asked him whether he had won his goal. The +king foolishly shewed the anchorite the pomegranate and let him take it +in his hand. The sage put it under his foot and when Rupsinh asked for +it back, sternly bade the prince begone. The king grew angry and +threatened to take it back by force. The anchorite turned towards a big +tree close by and consumed it with a single fiery breath. He then said +to the youth with a mocking laugh: “When I can blast a tree with a +single breath, do you think that I fear you for all your valour? For +700 years I have sought to win the queen of the Anardes. I shall not +give her up.” But seeing how downcast Rupsinh looked, he gave him a +wand and said “This is a magic wand. Take it. It will beat anyone whom +you hate or fear and in battle it will always give you victory.” The +king took the wand, although he thought it a poor exchange for the +queen of the Anardes, and going sadly to his horse got ready to mount +it. As he put his foot in the stirrup, the wand spoke to him with a +human voice, “O King, you do not know my name. It is Lalia Lath. For +700 years I have faithfully served the anchorite and now he has given +me away in exchange for a woman. If you bid me I will give my old +master a sound beating.” Rupsinh, who felt very cross with the +anchorite for stealing the queen of the Anardes, was delighted and said +“Yes, give him a beating, the sounder the better.” The wand then flew +from the king’s hand and began mercilessly to belabour the old sage, +until in his pain and fear he threw away the pomegranate and begged for +mercy. + +The king picked up the fruit and with it the wand and he resumed his +journey. Several days later he reached his capital. There he took out +of the pomegranate the queen of the Anardes, who had by this time +become reconciled to marrying Rupsinh. After greeting his +sister-in-law, the widowed queen, he began to make everything ready for +his marriage to the fairy queen; and in due time their wedding was +celebrated with the greatest pomp and splendour. Unhappily in the crowd +that watched the wedding was a pretty sweeper girl, called Rukhi and +deeply skilled in black magic. She fell in love with the young king’s +handsome face and was filled with jealous rage at the happy look on the +face of the queen of the Anardes. She devised a cruel plot, to kill +her. She sought and obtained service in the palace, where the fairy +queen shewed her the greatest kindness. One day the king, weary with +the chase, fell asleep. The fairy queen had to go to a neighbouring +well, to fetch water for her bath. She did not like to leave the king +alone, so she asked Rukhi to watch by him until she came back. Rukhi +promised to do so, but a minute or so later she followed her mistress +to the well and pushed her in. Then she returned to the palace and by +her magic made the king believe that she was the queen of the Anardes. +But she could not so deceive the widowed queen. One day the latter in +open durbar challenged Rukhi to go back inside the pomegranate. But +Rukhi was too clever to be caught. She answered with ready wit: “I can +no longer do that, sister, now that I am wedded to a mortal.” She then +complained to the king that the widowed queen always tried to vex her. +So Rupsinh quarrelled with his sister-in-law and drove her out of the +palace. + +Now out of the well into which the fairy queen had fallen, there grew a +most beautiful lotus. The gardener picked it and gave it to the king, +who in turn gave it to Rukhi. The latter by her magic knew that the +lotus had sprung from the body of the Anarde queen. She pulled off all +its petals and threw it out of the window. The flower fell into a bed +of soft earth and in a month or two there had sprung up a splendid +mango tree that bore delicious fruit. Rukhi had the tree cut down but +before it was felled, a bania had picked one of the mangoes and given +it to his wife to eat. A year later she bore him a beautiful little +baby girl. As the little girl grew up, she became the living image of +the queen of the Anardes. + +Rukhi guessed that she must have sprung from the mango, which had +sprung from the lotus that had grown in the well, where the poor queen +had been drowned. Rukhi began to complain of a bad pain and told the +king that she had been bewitched by the bania girl and would not get +well while the girl lived. The king had the bania girl hanged outside +the eastern gate of his city. Another marvel then happened. The girl’s +head changed into an image of the God Shiva and her body into an image +of the Goddess Parvati. Her right eye turned into a cock sparrow and +her left eye into a hen sparrow. Her two legs turned into two plantain +trees. When Rukhi heard of this, she got terribly afraid that the king +would pass that way and see what had occurred. She told him never to +pass by the eastern gate or the spirit of the witch girl would possess +him. The king did not pass that way for a long time; but one day his +horse ran away with him and took him to the eastern gate. He saw there +a noble temple to the God Shiva. He went inside to pray. + +As he prayed, he heard the hen sparrow say to her mate: “The king of +this city is a fool” and thereupon she told the cock sparrow the whole +tale of the queen of the Anardes. “This very night,” continued the hen +sparrow “the queen will come out of one of the plantain trees, into +which the bania girl’s legs have changed. She will worship the God +Shiva, re-enter the plantain stem and never again be seen on earth.” +The king heard the story and resolved to stay there all night. He did +so and at midnight he saw one of the plantain stems open. Out of it +came the queen of the Anardes. She began to pray to the God Shiva. +Before she had ended her prayer, the king caught her by the hand. “Who +are you?” cried the queen “and why do you take my hand?” “I am your +husband Rupsinh,” replied the king penitently. “I have been blind and +cruel. But pray forgive me and I shall live with you always.” + +The queen was unwilling to stay, but Rupsinh held her firmly all night +by the hand. Next morning the king’s ministers and the widowed queen +missing him, went in search of him. When they found him at the temple, +the king told his sister-in-law all that had happened and begged her +forgiveness also. The widowed queen, to test the story, shewed the +pomegranate to the fairy queen and bade her hide herself inside it. She +did so. The widowed queen called to her and she came out. The widowed +queen had no longer any doubts. She buried the pomegranate in the earth +and went back with the king into his city. There the king called +together the townspeople and before them all repudiated the sweeper +woman Rukhi. He then had her hanged on the very spot where the bania +girl had been executed. After thus ridding himself of Rukhi, he sent +for the Princess Phulpancha and married her as well as the queen of the +Anardes. In their company and that of the widowed queen, the king lived +happily for ever so many years afterwards. + + + + + + + +III. + +ROUND ABOUT NASIK. + + +The Nasik golf course with its many traps for the unwary, the club +house with its friendly welcome, the dak bungalow embowered in trees +are well known to the golf-loving Bombay resident. But there is another +part of Nasik, its river, which is to him an unknown province. Yet +pilgrims go there in thousands from all parts of the peninsula. Bones +of dead men, who died a hundred leagues away are brought almost daily +to be thrown into its waters. On its banks may be seen at any time +young Brahmans practising Prayanam or breathing exercise or doing the +Achaman rite, that is to say sipping water while repeating the name of +some particular deity. There too may sometimes be seen the naked +anchorite to whom the whole world stands in lieu of a garment; and he +is not the least unhappy. As the Sanskrit verse has it “Courage is his +father, Forgiveness is his mother, Tranquility is his wife; Truth is +his son, Mercy is his sister, Self-restraint is his brother, Earth is +his bed and the eight directions are his dwelling place.” Let us +therefore leave the golf course and the club house and wander together +along the banks of the holy river. + +In the first place how did the Godavari come to Nasik? Once upon a time +the river Ganges was brought down from heaven by the austerities of +King Bhagiratha of Ayodhya, so that he might perform the funeral rites +of his kinsmen, the sixty thousand sons of King Sagar. To prevent the +Ganges destroying the earth, the God Shiva caught her in his hair as +she fell and kept her there for a whole year. Well the Ganges is a lady +as well as a river and after some time Shiva’s queen, Parvati, grew +bitterly jealous of the fair woman, whom her husband carried +continually in her hair. She consulted her son the elephant-headed +Ganpati. That wise one found a solution for the difficulty. It so +happened that at this time a rishi of extraordinary powers and merits +named Gautama lived near what is now the bed of the Godavari river. To +supply his limited needs he cultivated a little rice field. Ganpati +turned himself into a cow and wandering towards Gautama’s rice field +began shamelessly to eat the holy man’s scanty crop. Gautama, justly +enraged, rose and with his staff admonished sharply the cow, that +respected so little his sanctity. This was what Ganpati had foreseen. +He fell dead on the spot. The news spread that Gautama had killed a +cow. The neighbourhood was deeply shocked. Then through Parvati’s and +Ganpati’s combined contrivance, the monsoon failed. The cause was +clear. The rishi had killed a cow and the gods to punish him for this +fearful sin had withheld the rains. The neighbours going in a body to +the guilty rishi dilated on the sin that he had committed, until they +had extracted from him a promise that he would by his austerities +obtain water for their crops. Gautama to fulfil his promise went +through the most incredible penances in honour of the God Shiva, until +the latter asked the rishi what he wanted. “I want some of the Ganges +water for the country side,” replied the sage and he told Shiva the +story of the sin which he had inadvertently committed. The God smiled +as he heard the tale, because he guessed how it had come to pass. To +humour his queen and at the same time to oblige the rishi, he released +a part of the Ganges river at Trimbak and it became the Godavari. The +neighbours of Gautama sowed their crops, the Ganges having lost the +fairest portion of her waters lost half her beauty and Parvati ceased +to be jealous. + +Having brought the Godavari to Nasik let us next consider why Nasik +rather than other spots along the river bank is so holy. The reason is +that it was at Nasik that the hero King Rama of Ayodhya built his +hermitage. The tale runs that his father King Dasharatha, urged thereto +by his queen Kaikeyi, drove his eldest son Rama into exile, so that her +son Bharata might succeed to the throne. The intrigue failed because +Prince Bharata refused to oust his eldest brother. But Rama in order to +abide by his father’s words went with his brother Laxman, and his wife +Sita, to live at Panchvati or Nasik. There they built themselves a +hermitage and there Rama performed the funeral ceremonies of his +father, when the latter died of grief at the loss of his son. It was +there, too, that Laxman cut off the nose of a female demon called +Surpanakha who fell in love with Rama and tried to kill Sita in the +hope of winning Rama’s undivided affections. Ravana, King of Ceylon, +was the brother of Surpanakha and when his mutilated sister came +shrieking to his court, he promised her that she should be avenged. To +carry out this promise, he called in the aid of another demon named +Maricha. The latter disguised himself as a deer with a golden hide and +with horns glittering with precious stones. Sita attracted by the +beautiful beast begged Rama to go and kill it and fetch her the hide +and the horns. Rama agreed but before he went, he drew with his finger +two long lines which together formed a sort of enclosure. “If you stay +inside these two lines,” he said to his wife, “no harm can come to you. +If you stray beyond them, I shall not be able to protect you.” Sita +promised to stay within the two lines and Rama and Laxman went in +pursuit of the golden deer. Instantly King Ravana who had been hovering +in the sky inside his aerial car, descended to earth and assuming the +form of a mendicant approached the hermitage of Sita and asked her for +alms. Sita invited him to come to the door. But intending evil as he +did, he could not cross the lines which Rama had drawn. So he answered +haughtily that a religious mendicant did not run after alms. Those who +wanted his blessings had to come to him. He accepted alms not as a +favour received but as a favour conferred. The unsuspecting Sita +unwilling to enrage the holy man went towards him, crossed the southern +line and handed Ravana the alms. At once he reassumed his proper guise +and seizing her by the hair threw her into his chariot and carried her +off to his island kingdom of Lanka. The two lines are visible to this +day and are known as the Aruna and Varuna streams. + +The chief temple in Nasik is known as Kapileshwar. This is the story +told of it. On one occasion the goddess Parvati for fun put her hands +over her husband Shiva’s eyes. But the great god was in no humour for +fun. He opened his third eye and with it burnt up the sun, the earth +and last but not least Brahmadev’s fifth head. When Shiva had recovered +his temper, he restored the sun and the earth, but he was not able to +restore Brahmadev’s fifth head. As a punishment for burning up another +god’s head, he was condemned always to see it dancing before his eyes. +The punishment was a very severe one and to rid himself of the horrible +vision, Shiva wandered all over India visiting in vain shrine after +shrine. At last he came to the banks of the Godavari and sat down to +rest under a tree. As he sat he overheard a conversation between a +young bull and a staid old cow, its mother. “To-morrow,” said the old +cow, “our master will put a ring through your nose and yoking you to a +plough will make you work for the rest of your life.” “Indeed, he will +do nothing of the kind,” said the wicked young bull. “If he tries, I +shall gore him to death.” “O, you cannot gore him to death,” said its +mother deeply shocked. “He is a Brahman.” “Never mind,” said the +abandoned young bull, “I know how to purify myself even from the deadly +sin of Brahmahatya or Brahman murder.” The God Shiva was greatly +interested in this talk. He thought to himself that if the bull could +purify itself from Brahman murder, he (Shiva) could, by doing what it +did, purify himself from the sin of having burnt off one of Brahmadev’s +five heads. Next morning he returned to the spot, where he had heard +the conversation. In a little time the Brahman came and tried to fasten +the ring in the young bull’s nose. The graceless beast threw him on his +back and gored him to death. From being pure white, it became jet black +with sin. However, it did not mind a bit, but galloping off with its +tail in the air, plunged into the pool where Rama had performed the +obsequies to his dead father. It became at once pure white, such was +the holiness of the water. The tip of its tail, however, which it had +held high in the air to shew its defiant spirit, remained black. The +God Shiva watched the incident closely and immediately afterwards +plunged also into the water. The same moment the ghastly vision which +had haunted him disappeared. Close to the spot where these events +happened was built the temple of Kapileshwar or the god of the head. It +is a temple to the God Shiva and commemorates his punishment and his +release. It is the only temple in India where no bull kneels reverently +in front of the God. For whereas in other spots the bull is regarded as +Shiva’s servant, here the bull is regarded as the great god’s guru or +teacher; for he taught the god to get rid of the vision that haunted +him. Another fact proves the truth of the above story. Ever since, all +white Deccan bulls have had black tips to their tails. + +At a little distance from the river is a pool known as Indra’s pool. +The tale told about it is the following: Once upon a time there lived +another great rishi also called Gautama. He had a charming and virtuous +wife called Ahalya. Unfortunately her beauty caught the fleeting fancy +of the God Indra. He made to her certain improper proposals which she +indignantly rejected. He then plotted with the moon to overcome her +resistance. The moon rose two hours earlier than he (for the moon is +masculine in India) should have done. Gautama anxious to worship the +sun before he rose went to the river bank to bathe. The moment he went, +Indra took his form and bade Ahalya rise and go with him. She thinking +that it was her husband did as she was told. But just then Gautama +detected the moon peeping over the horizon to see the fun. He at once +ran back to the hermitage and caught Indra in the very act of going off +with his wife. He held a summary trial, turned his wife into a stone, +painted a black patch on the moon’s face and made a thousand sores come +on Indra’s body. This state of things endured for several hundred years +until one day King Rama’s foot touched by accident the stone that had +been Ahalya. She at once resumed her former shape. Rama took her to her +husband and made him forgive her. The God Indra took courage at this +and begged Gautama to forgive him too. The rishi turned his sores into +eyes, but told him that, as he had behaved in a manner unbecoming a +god, he never would be worshipped again. Indra went sadly away and at +the rishi’s command bathed in the pool of which I have spoken, and his +sores all became eyes. But never since has he been worshipped in India. +Lastly the moon begged for mercy. But the rishi would not abate a jot +of his punishment and he wears a black smudge to this day. + + + + + + + + JULY AND DECEMBER + + + When the wild Indian rains hide the hilltops and the plains— + Teeming rain, steaming rain, blotting out the sky— + When the breakers leap and fall at the bidding of the squall, + Then I think me of England, of England in July. + I wander in my dreams by her meadows and her streams— + Olden streams, golden streams flowing towards the sea— + And I see their tiny billows as they lap against the willows, + And the red rose is blowing—Ah! ’tis there I would be. + + * * * + + But when Autumn with a sigh in December turns to die, + She’s a dark land, a stark land, grim and chill and grey. + When they lie the sodden leaves on the choking, dripping eaves + And the window panes are blurred, then ’tis well to go away! + Yes, ’tis well to go away where there’s sunshine all the day, + Where down from the hills blows the dry, crisp wind, + Where one hears the wild duck whirring and one sees the rushes + stirring + And the hog deer’s in the forests by the waterways of Sind! + + * * * + + Then she’ll come across the brine, dear lady love of mine + (Steamship, dreamship! bring her safe again!) + And the white clouds above, they will greet my ladylove, + And the blue skies will laugh as she speeds across the main. + And the great seas will roar on the gleaming Arab shore, + (White rocks, bright rocks smile at her from me!) + While the trade wind blows, just to fan her as she goes, + Till I see her kerchief waving, as I stand upon the quay. + + + + + + + +NOTES + + +[1] The Persian runs:—Shiristan o Sibi Sakhti chira dozakh pardakhti. + +[2] i.e. That he had gone mad. + +[3] For the story of Jam Tamachi and Nuri, see “Tales of Old Sind” +(Oxford University Press). + + + + + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76982 *** |