{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_76982/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_76982","id":"gutenberg_76982","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76982","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Gujaratis (Indic people) -- Folklore","Sindhi (South Asian people) -- Folklore","Tales -- India -- Gujarat","Tales -- Pakistan -- Sindh"],"text":"FOLK TALES OF SIND AND GUZARAT\n\n\n                                   BY\n                     C. A. KINCAID, C.V.O., I.C.S.\n                   Officie de l\u2019Instruction Publique.\n\n\n                     THE DAILY GAZETTE PRESS, LTD.,\n                                KARACHI.\n\n                                 1925.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                                   To\n                  JEAN LOUIS RIEU, C. S. I., I. C. S.,\n                         Commissioner-in-Sind.\n\n                  this book is inscribed in memory of\n               an unclouded and greatly valued friendship\n                     lasting for over thirty years.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n    \u201cSatan is the only true lover, all others are mere prattlers.\n    Out of his great love for his Lord, the shining one (Satan)\n    incurred disgrace.\u201d\n\n                                                        Shah Latif.\n\n\nCommentator.\u2014God needed opposition to make Him realise His almighty\nstrength. To give God full possession of it, Satan sacrificed himself\nand rebelled, although he knew that he would thereafter be punished\neternally.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAUTHOR\u2019S PREFACE.\n\n\nMost of the articles collected in this little book have appeared in the\n\u201cDaily Gazette\u201d or the \u201cTimes of India.\u201d They are reprinted with the\nkind permission of the Editors. I do not claim for them any merit\nbeyond the fact that they touch the fringe of an unexplored country. My\nhope is that they will lead others more competent than I am and with\ngreater opportunities than I have had, to delve into the vast treasures\nof folklore possessed by the Province of Sind.\n\nThe four Guzarati stories have been added, because although they come\nfrom a different part of India, they are still folk tales and belong to\nthe same category as the Sind tales. I am indebted to Mr. Amritlal\nChunilal, Vakil of Kapadwanj, for the originals of the Guzarati\nstories.\n\n    C. A. K.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD.\n\n\nBe the fact good or bad for the Province, fact it is. The beauties of\nSind are not for the stranger, or casual visitor. He, perhaps merely\nseeking the shortest and quickest route to some temporary post up\nNorth, or possibly to his permanent home in the damp, grey West,\nnotices only torrid heat, arid wastes, blinding glare, suffocating\ndust, and a coastal Port somewhat reminiscent of Suez or Port Said. Not\nfor him the enchanting views from the little islands at Bhukkar, or\nfrom the banks of the lower reaches of the Indus below Hyderabad. Not\nfor him the green grain fields and shady forests that fringe the great\nriver between Larkana and the late Capital. Not for him the scent of\nthe old Kumbar Road, or the myriad bird life of the Munchar Lake. Not\nfor him the moonlight on the great desert on our Eastern frontier; or\nthe sunrise from the Indus delta, throwing its golden shafts across\nKarachi\u2019s beautiful lagoon to the rugged sky-line of the Hub hills.\n\nBut for the old Sindhi these things mean much. Further, nobody who has\nlived long in Sind, can have failed to be affected not only by its\nbeauties, but by the atmosphere of romance that pervades the whole\nProvince. It meets one on every side\u2014north, south, east and west. But\nlittle imagination is required to picture the argosies of bygone\ncenturies sailing silently down the river past the green fields of\nKushmore: or the old caravans from Kandahar with their strings of\nstately camels slowly emerging from the foot of the Bolan Pass on their\nway to Shikarpur: or the buggalas of old Nearchus nestling in the\nChinna Creek in the shelter of the Oyster Rocks during the monsoon,\npatiently awaiting the arrival of the Great Alexander shortly to appear\nat the Ghizree mouth of the Indus on the conclusion of his triumphal\nprogress through Western Asia! Then, too, think of the circumstances\nleading up to the birth at Oomerkot of that infant who was afterwards\nto be one of the greatest rulers in Indian history,\u2014the mighty Akbar.\nHere are materials for romances galore.\n\nWe are not dependent, however, simply on historical incidents to\nstimulate our imaginations. Though the vagaries of the Indus and the\nseverity of the hot season in the interior combine quickly to\nobliterate man\u2019s puny strivings for permanency, material evidence\nexists in many places of the great vitality and culture of those who\nhave lived before us in this ancient land of Sind. The beautifully\ncoloured and perfectly glazed tiles and pottery of Hala bear testimony\nto an art lost to the present generation of Sindhis; whilst the\nornamented graves and temples which can still be seen in many parts of\nthe Province, reveal the existence in the past of a God-fearing people\nwith well developed notions of sculpture and architecture. Who can\nregard the wonderful tombs on the Makli Hill at Tatta or the ruins of\nthe great city of Brahmanabad without realising that those responsible\nfor these things must have been, in their day, well advanced in social\nand civilised life, and deserving of the respect of the present\ngeneration.\n\nIt is about certain leaders\u2014religious and political\u2014of these peoples of\nthe bygone centuries that the Hon. Mr. Justice Kincaid has compiled the\nstories that have been reproduced in the following pages. The stories\nwhich have been passed on from generation to generation, are, like the\nlegends of the West, to some extent mythical, but no doubt based on\nactual incidents in the past which, in the repeated telling, have been\nadded to and embroidered in a way calculated to impress the minds of\nthe simple folk who heard them; and thus their remembrance and\ntransmission to later generations has been assured. Mr. Kincaid has\nwell caught the spirit of the stories, and his transcriptions are in\nhis happiest style. The thanks of every patriotic Sindhi will go out to\nhim for thus preserving in the printed page the legends that have grown\nup around some of the more celebrated figures and remains of ancient\nSind.\n\nBut we hope that Mr. Kincaid\u2019s good work will not cease yet. The\ninvestigations of the Archaeological Department of the Government of\nIndia have recently brought to light facts that have turned the eyes of\nthe whole world towards the valley of the Indus. Searching amongst the\nruins of northern Sind, Mr. Rakhaldas Bannerji has discovered at\nMohenjo Daro in the Larkana District buildings and domestic articles\nthat seem to indicate the existence in Sind of an advanced civilisation\nsome thousands of years ago! This discovery is confirmed by the\nunearthing, almost at the same time, of similar remains 400 miles away\nat Harappa in the Montgomery District of the Punjab. These remains\ninclude \u201chouses and temples, massively built of burnt brick, and\nprovided with well constructed water conduits covered with marble\nslabs. The smaller antiquities include a quantity of pottery\u2014painted\nand plain, terra cotta, toys, bangles of blue glass, paste and shell,\nnew types of coins (or tokens), curious stone rings and dice.\u201d Further,\nthere are a number of engraved and inscribed seals bearing inscriptions\nin a hitherto unknown pictographic script. A careful comparison has now\nconfirmed the surmise that these antiquities are closely connected and\ncontemporary with the Sumerian antiquities of southern Mesopotamia,\ndating from the third or fourth millennium before Christ. And so the\nconclusion has been arrived at that the peoples of Sind and the Punjab\nwere living in \u201cwell-built cities in a relatively mature civilisation\nwith a high standard of art and craftsmanship and a developed system of\nwriting 5,000 years ago.\u201d (vide Sir John Marshall, Director-General of\nArchaeology in India\u2019s communications to the Pioneer and to the Times\nin November and December, 1924).\n\nWhether any trace of this remote civilisation can be detected in any of\nthe old legends at present current among the country-folk of Sind, it\nis impossible to say. We hope that Mr. Kincaid will be able to continue\nhis investigations into these matters, and will give to the public all\nthat he can find. With the translation of the pictographic script on\nthe recently discovered seals, some clue or connection with later\ncivilisations may possibly be traced. A fascinating vista of Sind,\ni.e., the land of the Indus, as the cradle of modern Civilisation has\nbeen opened up, (for Sumerian culture was probably the source of\nBabylonian, Assyrian and Western Asiatic culture). It is to be hoped\nthat the Government of India will continue its investigations with\nredoubled energy, and will further explore the rich plains on both\nbanks of the Indus.\n\n\nM. de P. Webb.                             London, 16th December, 1924.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nI.\u2014SIND FOLK STORIES.\n\n                                                     Page.\n     1. Lal Shahbaz                                     7\n     2. Udero Lal                                      12\n     3. Jinda Pir                                      18\n     4. Abdul Latif, the author of Shah Jo Risalo      22\n     5. Makhdum Niamat Ullah and Makhdum Nuh           28\n     6. Haidarabad                                     32\n     7. Brahmanabad I                                  35\n     8. Brahmanabad II                                 38\n     9. The Eighth Key                                 45\n    10. The Noose of Murad                             53\n    11. The Makli Hill                                 57\n    12. Larkana                                        62\n    13. Two love Tragedies                             65\n    14. Swami Vankhandi of Sadh Belo                   68\n\n\nII.\u2014GUZARAT FOLK STORIES.\n\n    15. King Mansing of Sirohi                         75\n    16. The Wisdom Seller                              80\n    17. Magadha and Rupvati                            85\n    18. Rupsinh and the Queen of the Anardes           90\n\n\nIII.\u2014ROUND ABOUT NASIK.\n\n    19. Round About Nasik                             105\n    20. July and December                             111\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOLK TALES OF SIND AND GUZARAT.\n\nI.\n\nSIND FOLK STORIES.\n\n\nLAL SHAHBAZ.\n\nA SIND SAINT.\n\n\nSehwan is known to Englishmen chiefly as a handy station for those who\nwish to shoot on the Manchar lake. In the summer it enjoys an\nunenviable reputation for heat. The bare rocks of Lakhi known as the\nBagothoro are said to end the last struggles of the monsoon. Indeed the\nLakhi pass is known locally as the gate of the infernal regions; and an\noften quoted Persian couplet about Sehwan runs as follows:\n\n\n       \u201cWhen both Sehwan and Sibi grill so well\n        What good was there, O Lord, in making Hell?\u201d [1]\n\n\nBut besides its fame as a sporting and a roasting centre, Sehwan has an\nimmense reputation for sanctity. Within its confines repose in mighty\nstate the earthly remains of the greatest saint of all Sind, worshipped\nalike by Musulmans and Hindus, the renowned Lal Shahbaz, the Red\nPeregrine Falcon of the Indus valley.\n\nLal Shahbaz\u2019s real name was Hazrat Sayad Usman Shah Marwandi. He was\nborn at Marwand in Afghanistan in A.H. 538. His father Makhdum Sayad\nAhmed Kabir was a powerful noble and a great friend of the king of\nTabriz. From his earliest years, so it is said, the boy shewed a great\nleaning towards things spiritual. Before his twelfth year he had\nalready made the blind see, the deaf hear and the dumb speak. When Lal\nShahbaz reached manhood, he insisted on leaving his father\u2019s house and\nstarted on a pilgrimage. He first went to Baghdad where he stayed at\nthe court of the monarch Sayad Ali. When he wished to leave, Sayad Ali\nimplored him to remain at Baghdad for ever. But the religious call was\ntoo insistent and with three friends, Sheikh Bahawaldin, Sheikh Farid\nGanj Shakar and Makhdum Jalaluddin, Lal Shahbaz set off for the Persian\nGulf. In an island in the Gulf lived a fakir named Sheikh Jalal whose\nausterities had won him supernatural gifts. Lal Shahbaz determined to\nreduce him to obedience and make him his disciple. No boats were\navailable so Lal Shahbaz threw his \u201ckishta\u201d or begging bowl into the\nwater and it became a boat. Into it the four friends stepped and rowed\nfor Sheikh Jalal\u2019s island. About half way the boat stopped dead and no\nmatter how hard the saints plied the oar, it declined to move. At last\nLal Shahbaz realised that the island fakir had cast a spell on them.\nBut he could only have done that, if one among them was not a true\nanchorite and was still thinking of the joys of this world, while\npretending to have given them up for ever. Lal Shahbaz told this to his\nfriends and asked them whether they had one and all given up the world\nwholly. They protested their complete unworldliness. But as the boat\nstill refused to budge, Lal Shahbaz went through their pockets. In the\npocket of Sheikh Bahawaldin he found, as I regret to say, a brick of\nsolid gold, which the saint was keeping against a rainy day. Lal\nShahbaz threw it overboard. Once freed from this sordid freight, the\nboat began again to move. As they drew near the island, Lal Shahbaz saw\nSheikh Jalal looking at them through a window of his castle. To punish\nhim for stopping the boat, Lal Shahbaz made the window grow so small\nthat it gripped the fakir\u2019s neck as if in a vice. Sheikh Jalal yelled\nfor mercy, but it was not granted him until he had owned himself beaten\nand had promised to become an obedient and humble follower of Lal\nShahbaz.\n\nThe great saint acquired his appellation of Lal Shahbaz, by two\nremarkable miracles. After the defeat of Sheikh Jalal, Lal Shahbaz and\nhis three companions went to Mecca and Medina. As they were returning\nfrom the blessed vision of the prophet\u2019s tomb, they halted one night in\na town on the coast of Arabia. Sheikh Farid Shakar Ganj went to buy\nbread for the party. Unhappily the baker\u2019s wife conceived an unholy\npassion for the young man. Like a true ascetic he rejected her odious\nadvances with the icy disdain of Saint Joseph. The baker\u2019s wife\nthereupon behaved after the manner of Potiphar\u2019s consort. She began to\nscream that Sheikh Farid Shakar Ganj had tried to outrage her. The\nunhappy anchorite was seized, dragged before the governor and condemned\nto instant execution. Lal Shahbaz heard of it and took immediate steps\nto rescue his innocent friend. He changed one of his two remaining\nfriends into a deer and bade him run towards the gallows. The crowd ran\nmadly after the deer to catch it. Lal Shahbaz turned his second friend\ninto a lion. It charged the executioners roaring terribly. They fled\nincontinently. Lastly the Saint changed himself into a peregrine falcon\nand swooping down picked up Sheikh Farid Shakar Ganj and bore him to a\nplace of safety. By this miracle the Saint got the name of Shahbaz, the\nSindhi word for a peregrine falcon. How did he obtain the title of Lal?\nIt was this way: A certain Murshid once challenged Shahbaz\u2019s friends to\nbathe in a caldron of boiling oil. They not unnaturally declined the\nchallenge, whereupon the Murshid mocked them as unworthy impostors.\nThey sorrowfully told their master of their discomfiture. On the\ninstant he accepted the challenge and going to the Murshid\u2019s house,\nleapt into the boiling oil. He stayed so long at the bottom of the\ncauldron that his rival owned himself beaten. \u201cCome out,\u201d he cried,\n\u201cyou are indeed a Lal among Lals (a ruby among rubies)\u201d. The master\nrose triumphantly out of the oil. He had suffered no harm from the\nimmersion, but the heat of the oil had turned his robe crimson. That\nrobe he wore to his dying day and was in the end buried in it. So he\ncame to be known as Lal Shahbaz.\n\nAfter his journey to Mecca and Medina, Lal Shahbaz came to Sind. He\nwandered until he came to a spot still called \u2018Lal jo Bagh\u2019 or the\ngarden of the ruby, two miles from Sehwan. Sehwan was, however, already\na holy town and its worldly minded fakirs dreaded that the advent of so\nfamous a mendicant would reduce their earnings. They sent him a cup\nfull to the brim of milk, that he might know that just as the cup could\nhold no more milk, so Sehwan could hold no more anchorites. Lal Shahbaz\nsent to those worldly minded ones a fitting answer. He made a flower\nfloat on the milk and returned the cup, thereby shewing to the fakirs\nthat there was still room for yet another holy man and that the\nnewcomer meant to be above the others, even as the flower was above the\nmilk. After this event Lal Shahbaz spent most of his time in Sehwan.\nHis friend Sheikh Bahawaldin left him and went to Multan. Before\nleaving he offered to Lal Shahbaz and the latter accepted the hand of\nhis daughter. Not long afterwards Lal Shahbaz learnt in a trance of the\ndeath of his prospective father-in-law. He went to Multan and asked\nSheikh Bahawaldin\u2019s son, Sadaruddin for his betrothed. Sadaruddin\nrefused. The Saint thereupon cursed him and vowed that the girl should\nwed no one else, but would find an instant resting place in paradise.\nShortly afterwards the poor girl died and Lal Shahbaz returned to\nSehwan. He died on the 21st of the month of Shaban 650 A.H. at the ripe\nage of 112; and the anniversary of his death is kept as a great\nfestival. From all quarters of Sind come fakirs and musicians and\ndancing girls to dance before the shrine of the mighty anchorite. The\nchief feature of the celebration is the marriage of Lal Shahbaz to his\nlost bride.\n\nNow why do Hindus worship at his shrine? That is perhaps the strangest\npart of the story. In 56 B.C. lived the great king Vikramaditya of\nDharmanagar or Ujjain, the Arthur of Hindu historical legends. At his\ncourt lived the nine gems of learning and his valour and his arms\nreduced all India to subjection. Once upon a time he resolved to\ndisguise himself and see with his own eyes how his viceroys governed\nhis provinces. He appointed to be his regent during his absence his\nyounger brother Brartrahari. One day the Goddess Parvati gave to a\ndevout old couple in Ujjain an apple, that conferred immortality on\nanyone who ate it. The old couple preferring riches to immortality sold\nthe apple to the regent for a great price. The regent gave it to his\nyoungest and prettiest wife. She unfortunately had a lover and she gave\nthe apple to him. He in turn presented it to a dancing girl, who sold\nit back to Brartrahari. The regent thereby discovered his wife\u2019s\ninfidelity. In a rage he flung away the apple and abandoning his\noffice, became an anchorite. According to the local legend, he wandered\nuntil he came to Sind, where he became a devoted worshipper of Shiva.\nHe called his abiding place Shivisthan or the place of Shiva. From\nShivisthan has come the modern name Sehwan. Brartrahari lived at Sehwan\nuntil he died and by his life and death made the spot holy. The\nMusulman invasion swept away the temple of Shiva, but the memory of the\npious recluse lingered on; and when Lal Shahbaz came and worked\nmiracles at the spot where Brartrahari had lived, the Hindus declared\nthat Lal Shahbaz was his reincarnation.\n\nThe miraculous powers of Lal Shahbaz did not die with him. After his\ndeath streams of molasses, sugar and milk are said to have spurted from\nthe wall of his tomb. These articles he meant for the use of the poor\nof Sehwan only. Nor did he mean that any should take more than one\nhelping in any one day. Sad to relate, his pious wishes were brought to\nnought by the greed of the townspeople. Poor and rich alike rushed to\nprofit by the dead saint\u2019s bounty and none confined himself to a single\nhelping. In disgust the dead saint bade the streams dry up and all that\nnow remains of them is a group of stones that look exactly like\npetrified sugar molasses and milk. These the guardians of the shrine\nshew to wondering pilgrims as proof positive of the legend\u2019s truth.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUDERO LAL.\n\n\nUdero Lal was born on Cheti Chand, the first day of the Sindhi month\nCheti and also the first day of what is known as the Chaitradi year\u2014the\nyear that begins with the month of Cheti or Chaitra instead of the\nmonth of Kartak. In Udero Lal\u2019s honour the Government offices\nthroughout Sind are closed. So in common gratitude every Government\nofficer ought to enquire who Udero Lal was. He was the son of an aged\ncouple called Ratno and Devki, who lived at Nasarpur. Ratno hawked\ncooked gram and was a devout worshipper of the Indus river. They had\ntwo sons already, but had long passed the age when married couples hope\nfor more children. Ratno was sixty and Devki over forty, when Udero Lal\nwas born. But Udero Lal\u2019s birth was due to divine interposition. The\ncause of it was as follows:\u2014\n\nIn the year 939 A.D. one Marak was governor of Tatta. He was a bigoted\nMusulman and he suddenly resolved to convert to Islam the whole Hindu\npopulation under him. He proclaimed by beat of drum, that he would kill\nevery Hindu, who did not change his faith within twenty-four hours. So\nalarmed were the Hindus that, so the story runs, all their cooking pots\nfell from their shelves; and exclaiming that a camel had entered the\nking\u2019s head [2], they went in a body to his minister Aho. Through him\nthey gained a fortnight\u2019s respite. At that time, so the legend has it,\nthe Indus flowed past Tatta. On its banks the despairing Hindus\ngathered and prayed to the great river to save them from the hands of\nMarak. At the same time they vowed that if no answer was vouchsafed to\ntheir prayers within a week, they would throw their children into the\nstream. On the fourteenth day they would with their wives in their arms\nthrow themselves into it and thus escape the cruelty of Marak.\n\nOn the seventh day when they were on the point of drowning all their\nbabies, they saw the river god himself rise from the waves, a beautiful\nfigure, all of snow-white foam. He bade the Hindus no longer despair.\nHe had heard their supplications and within the allotted fortnight he\nwould be born in the house of Ratno, the gram hawker. He bade them warn\nMarak of his approaching birth. They did so and the wicked governor\nsent Aho to seize the baby directly it was born. The child Udero Lal\narrived on the last day of the fortnight. Aho was about to seize it,\nwhen it changed instantly into a youth of sixteen, then into an old man\nand once more into an infant. Aho was dumbfounded and his hatred and\nunbelief changed to love and faith. He begged the child to return with\nhim to Marak, so as to convince him also. The babe replied \u201cGo back to\nTatta. There stand on the banks of the Indus and call me and I shall\ncome.\u201d\n\nAho went back to Tatta and told Marak. The governor was frightened out\nof his wits, still he ordered Aho to go to the river bank and call on\nUdero Lal to rise from the river. Aho did so and as the words left his\nlips, a tall beautiful youth, riding a noble steed, rose from the river\nand behind him followed thousands of soldiers and horsemen, chariots\nand war elephants. The terrified minister fell at Udero Lal\u2019s feet and\nbegged him to send away the mighty army that followed in his footsteps.\nThe youth turned round and dismissed his warriors. A moment later the\ngreat army had vanished into the depths of the Indus. Aho led Udero Lal\ninto Marak\u2019s presence and told him the marvels that he had witnessed.\nMarak instantly seated Udero Lal on his right hand and craved his\nadvice. Udero Lal bade him to cease from his cruelty to his Hindu\nsubjects. But while Marak listened with pious looks to Udero Lal\u2019s\nwords, his heart was full of black treachery. After he had escorted\nwith all reverence the beautiful youth to one of his palaces, he\nordered his soldiers to surround it. For he now plotted to convert to\nIslam not only his Hindu subjects but Udero Lal also. But it was idle\nto strive to bind the Indus river. When the kazi and the surgeon came\nto convert him he had vanished.\n\nThe indignant Marak resolved not to give his Hindu subjects a day\u2019s\nmore grace and announced that he would convert or kill them all that\nvery evening. They went to Ratno\u2019s house. There they found Udero Lal,\nonce more a baby in the cradle. They prayed to the divine child and he\nbade them go to the river and sit in a temple that they would find\nthere. When all the Hindus had assembled, a fearful thunderstorm burst\nand fire from heaven consumed the palace of the governor and the houses\nof his officers. Marak, Aho and the kazi, although badly burnt, escaped\nfrom the conflagration and ran to the river. There they saw a splendid\ntemple and in it were seated Udero Lal, once more a beautiful youth and\nround him thousands of Hindus, perfectly sheltered from the storm that\nhad fallen on Tatta. The three wicked men fell at Udero Lal\u2019s feet and\nMarak took a mighty oath never again to harass the Hindus. Udero Lal\nthen bade the winds be still and the storm at once passed away. Udero\nLal vanished and so did the magic temple. But the Hindus built on the\nspot a real one of stone that stands to this day. Lights burn in it day\nand night and it is known as the Khudio temple or the temple of Refuge.\n\nWhen the Hindus went to Nasarpur to tell Ratno and Devki how their\nchild had helped them, they found Udero Lal once more a baby sleeping\npeacefully in his cradle. Nothing further happened until Udero Lal was\na little boy of six, when his mother Devki thought that he might help\nhis father by hawking cooked gram too. She gave him a tiny jar of\ncooked gram and bade him hawk it through the streets of Nasarpur,\ntaking payment either in cash or in kind. That evening Udero Lal\nbrought back a huge pot full of grain and gave it to his mother. This\nwent on for several days until his parents grew more and more curious\nto know how he got grain many times its value for the cooked gram. Next\nday they followed him and they saw their little son go to the river\nbank and dip the jar of cooked gram into the water. When he pulled it\nout again, it had become a great pot brimming over with grain. When\nUdero Lal was ten and old enough to be invested with the sacred thread,\nhe asked to be given a guru. He took his father and mother to the river\nbank and found sitting near it the great God Shiva. Udero Lal went up\nfearlessly to the mighty God and told him that he had come in search of\na guru. The god replied \u201cWhy do you, who are the guru of gurus, want a\nguru?\u201d Udero Lal pleaded that even Vishnu\u2019s avatars, such as Rama and\nKrishna had had their gurus, why then should one be denied to him? It\nso chanced that the saint Gorakhnath passed by at that moment and Shiva\nbade him take Udero Lal as his pupil. Gorakhnath did so and taught him\nall his holiness and wisdom.\n\nNow Udero Lal had a cousin called Phugar, who was greatly attached to\nhim. He made Phugar his disciple and taught him the learning which he\nhad received from Gorakhnath. One day to test Phugar\u2019s faith he told\nhim that he wished to be alone and meditate. But Phugar refused to\nleave his master\u2019s side. \u201cWill you plunge with me into the Indus?\u201d\nasked Udero Lal. \u201cWhere you go, I go,\u201d was the reply. Udero Lal took\nhis cousin\u2019s hand and dived into the river. A few minutes later they\ncame to the surface and found themselves in mid-stream between Rohri\nand Sukkur. In front of them was a little island on which they climbed.\nThis was the famous island of Zinda Pir, of whom more hereafter. Master\nand pupil stayed there some weeks until Udero Lal learnt that Ratno and\nDevki were both very ill at Nasarpur. He reached his birthplace in time\nto bid them farewell. But their deaths preyed on his mind and he longed\nto rejoin the mighty river from which he had sprung. He first called to\nhim his elder brothers Somo and Bhayandev and bade them give up the\nthings of this world and like Phugar become his disciples. But though\nthey promised always to worship light and water, they would not give up\nall and follow him. Udero Lal then declared that Phugar would be his\nonly disciple. He called him and gave him the following seven gifts:\u2014\n\n\n    A Var or ring that fulfilled every wish of the wearer.\n    A Jot or lamp that gave to him who looked into its flame a vision\n    of the Most High.\n    A Kanta or quilt that guarded the wearer from demons and from human\n    weapons.\n    A Deg or cooking pot that remained always full of food.\n    A Tegh or sword that put to flight the five evil passions\u2014kam or\n    lust, krodh or anger, lobh or greed, moh or love of the things of\n    this world and ahankar or selfishness.\n    A Jhari or pitcher that remained always full of Ganges water.\n    A Daklo or musical instrument that reproduced the songs sung in\n    heaven.\n\n\nWhen twelve years old Udero Lal bade Phugar choose a spot, whereon to\nbuild him a temple, as he meant soon to leave the earth. Phugar chose\nan open field owned by a Memon. The saint asked the Memon to give him\nthe land. The Memon refused but offered to sell it. Udero Lal scratched\nwith his spear the surface of the earth and shewed the astonished Memon\ntreasures of gold and silver. Then he drove his spear deep into the\nground and it became a mighty kabar tree. The Memon was so startled\nthat he went away to take counsel of his wife. On his return he bade\nthe saint take the field as a gift. All he asked, was that he might be\nthe majavar or attendant of Udero Lal\u2019s tomb. The saint blessed him and\npromised him that his life long he would never lack food. Udero Lal\ntook another spear and smote the ground with it. Up spouted a fountain\nof clear water. He mounted his horse; the earth opened in front of him.\nSpurring his horse he leapt into the yawning pit.\n\nAt first Phugar was broken-hearted and nearly died of grief. One night\nhe saw in a dream Udero Lal who bade him put away his grief and build a\ntemple on the spot where the saint had vanished. Where the water had\nspouted from the ground he was to sink a well and near it to build a\nrest-house. When the saint\u2019s wishes were known, all Nasarpur flocked to\nPhugar\u2019s aid. Even the wicked Marak and his minister and kazi offered\ntheir help. But while the Hindus wished to build a temple, Marak and\nthe Musulmans wished to build a mosque and quarrels broke out between\nthem. At last they resolved to take the advice of Udero Lal himself.\nAll one night they kept vigil until they heard a voice that said \u201cIn my\nsight there is neither caste nor creed.\u201d Pacified, they built both\nmosque and temple. Of the temple Phugar was made guardian and Marak\nnamed the Memon the mujavar of the mosque. From that day on, lamps have\nburnt night and day in both temple and mosque. The rest-house built by\nPhugar may be seen to this day and near it is the well, which grateful\npilgrims have called Balambho or the well of ever-running water.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJINDA PIR.\n\n\nIn my last chapter I related how the saint Udero Lal and his disciple\nPhugar, after diving into the Indus near Nasarpur, came to the surface\nbetween Rohri and Sukkur and landed on a rocky island. The island is\nstill there and bears on its rounded back a temple to Zinda Pir.\nAccording to the Hindus Zinda or the living Pir is none other than\nUdero Lal. According to the Musulmans he is somebody quite different.\n\nAccording to the Musulmans, the river Indus flowed once past Alor and\nnot past Rohri. Somewhere in the tenth century A.D. a Hindu king called\nDalurai ruled at Alor. He and his brother Sasu Rai practised every kind\nof abomination. Such were their wickedness and their vigour that they\nenforced the jus primae noctis on every young lady, who was married\nwithin their dominions. On one occasion a pious Musulman merchant named\nShah Hussein was going down the Indus, so that he might sail from its\nmouth to Arabia and visit Mecca. With him journeyed his beautiful\ndaughter. On the way they stopped at Alor and the beauty of the\nmerchant\u2019s daughter was noised abroad and reached the ears of King\nDalurai, who instantly demanded that she should be sent to his palace.\nBut neither Shah Hussain nor his daughter had any wish that she should\nbecome the concubine of a Hindu king. They both prayed fervently to\nZinda Pir. He appeared in a vision to the young girl and bade her and\nher father board their boat and weigh anchor. They did so and the\nstream at Zinda Pir\u2019s command, changed its course and leaving Alor,\nbrought the boat and its burden to Rohri. When Shah Hussain awoke next\nmorning, he was close to Udero Lal\u2019s island. To it he moored his boat\nand built the temple, that stands there to this day. On it are the\nwords \u201cDarga Ali.\u201d These give the date 341 A.H. or 961 A.D.\n\nThe above tale explains the foundation of the temple but it does not\ntell us who the saint himself was. Earnest Christians will hear with\nsurprise that he is none other than their old friend the prophet\nElijah. They will probably exclaim with Moli\u00e8re\u2019s M. G\u00e9ronte \u201cMais que\ndiable allait-il faire dans cette gal\u00e8re?\u201d It was this way. According\nto the Islamic legend, Elijah was in a former life a very holy man\nindeed, named Balya Ebn Malkan. Because of the colour of his garment,\nhe was also known as Al Khisr or the Prophet of the Green robe. Balya\nEbn Malkan was the contemporary of Moses and in Chapter 18 of the Koran\nwe find him going with Moses on a most interesting circular tour. The\nstory is shortly this. Once the great Jewish sage was preaching to his\npeople with such wisdom and eloquence that at the close of his sermon,\nthey asked him whether there was any man in the world wiser than he\nwas. Conscious of his great powers, he replied in the negative. That\nnight God appeared to him in a dream, rebuked him for his vanity and\ntold him that his servant Al Khisr was wiser than he was. Moses asked\nwhere he could meet this paragon of wisdom. God answered that Moses\nwould find Al Khisr near a rock where two seas met. If Moses took a\nfish with him in a basket, the spot where he missed the fish would be\nthe place where the prophet of the green robe dwelt. Moses took Joshua\nand a fish with him and in due course missed the fish and found the\nprophet. Moses asked leave to be Al Khisr\u2019s disciple and to learn his\nwisdom. Al Khisr answered that if Moses came and suffered all that Al\nKhisr did without asking any questions he could be his disciple, but\nnot otherwise. Moses promised to do so and the two prophets went to the\nsea shore and boarded a ship. Al Khisr at once made a hole in the\nbottom of it. Moses indignantly asked whether he wanted to drown every\nsoul on board. But his companion sternly reminded Moses of his promise\nand left the ship. A little later they met a youth. Al Khisr struck him\nso violently on the head that he died at once. Moses angrily asked why\nhe had taken an innocent life. Al Khisr again rebuked him and went his\nway to a city. There they saw a crumbling wall which the citizens could\nnot repair. Al Khisr touched the wall with his hand and it became as if\nit had been newly built. Moses asked him why he did not claim from the\ncitizens a rich reward. Al Khisr then turned on his unfortunate\ndisciple and cast him forth. \u201cThree times\u201d said Al Khisr, \u201cyou have\nbroken your promise and questioned my acts. You are not worthy to be my\npupil. I made a hole in the ship to save it from the king\u2019s men. Had it\nbeen seaworthy, they would have taken the ship by force and given the\nowner nothing. I killed the youth, because although the son of true\nbelievers, he was himself an unbeliever and I feared lest he should\ncorrupt the faith of his parents. I repaired the wall for nothing,\nbecause hidden under it was a treasure, which a righteous man had\nburied there before he died. He left two orphan sons and it is God\u2019s\nwill that when they reach man\u2019s state, they shall find their father\u2019s\ntreasure.\u201d\n\nDuring Al Khisr\u2019s existence as Balya Ebn Malkan he found and drank the\nwaters of immortality. That was why as Elijah he did not die, but was\ntransported to heaven in a fiery chariot. And because he drank the\nwaters of immortality, he is always connected with running water; and\nwith what nobler stream, could he be associated than the Indus, as it\npasses through the Sukkur gorge?\n\nTo-day the special duty of Zinda Pir is to help the Indus boatmen when\nin distress. His functions are thus similar to those of the ancient\nDioscuri, of whom Macaulay wrote:\n\n\n           \u201cSafe comes the ship to harbour\n                Through billows and through gales\n            If once the great twin brethren\n                Sit shining on the sails.\u201d\n\n\nThe Indus is terribly dangerous in July and August, when the mighty\nriver swollen by the melting snows of the Himalayas comes tearing and\ntossing through the gorge. So one who has seen the Indus in flood can\nnever forget the sight. It is then that the boatmen pray to Al Khisr.\nTo attend more closely to their prayers, Al Khisr comes in person to\nhis temple and for forty days sits in a little niche specially reserved\nfor him. The niche has comfortable cushions and in front of it is laid\na copy of the Koran. The saint is invisible, but the mujavars or\nattendants of the mosque or temple know that he has been there; for\nwhen the forty days begin they place in front of the niche the Koran\nopen at the first page and when the forty days are past, they find the\nKoran open at the last page. Elijah has in his leisure moments read the\nKoran from cover to cover.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nABDUL LATIF, the Author of SHAH JO RISALO.\n\n\nAbdul Latif\u2019s grandfather Shah Karim was a Sayad of Matari and so\ncelebrated for his piety that his mausoleum at Bulree in the Karachi\nDistrict is still the scene of an annual fair. Shah Karim was born in\n1558 A.D. and died it is said in 1660 A.D. The tale runs that while\nShah Karim was yet a boy, he met a fakir in a mosque. The fakir had\nbeen a soldier, but the awful consequences of war had so preyed on his\nmind that he had deserted the army. Shah Karim became the spiritual\nfollower of this fakir and grew up so renowned a saint that it was\ncommonly said that whereas Bahawaldin, a rival saint, could make a live\nman dead, Shah Karim could make a dead man alive. Shah Karim removed to\nBulree and had three sons, one of whom Shah Habib was the father of\nAbdul Latif, the subject of our article. The date of his birth is to be\nfound in the Persian line on his mausoleum.\n\n\n           Gardeed mahw ishk wujoode Latif Meer.\n    (The spirit of the lordly Latif was absorbed in love).\n\n\nAccording to the Abjad system, this gives the date of his death as 1751\nA.D. As he was sixty-three when he died, he was born in 1688 A.D. He\nthus lived to see the establishment of the Kalhora dynasty, the\ninvasion of Nadir Shah in 1739 and that of Ahmad Shah Durani in 1748.\n\nAbdul Latif fell in love with a beautiful Moghul girl, the daughter of\none Mirza Beg. He was said to be a descendant of Mirza Jani Beg of the\nTurkhan dynasty, whose tombs are among the Makli Hills. Abdul Latif\nserenaded the lovely girl in verses written by himself, until he was\nordered off the premises  by her father. Undefeated, he turned himself\ninto a pigeon and cooed his love to the fair maiden from the trellis of\nher balcony. Even so Mirza Beg with a father\u2019s vigilance pierced his\ndisguise and threatened to set his falcons on Abdul Latif, unless he\nflew away. The unhappy Abdul Latif went and sat on a sandhill and\nwatched the house of the Moghul girl with such devotion from afar, that\nthe sandhill grew round him until it had covered all but his head. A\ngoatherd Jam by name who passed saw his head sticking out. He told\nAbdul Latif\u2019s father, Shah Habib, who had his son dug up. But Abdul\nLatif was still beside himself with amorous passion. He went to a\ncarpenter and induced him to hollow out a tamarisk tree, that stood by\nitself in a cemetery. Latif got inside the hollow tree and looked out\non the world through a single cleft. In vain Shah Habib sought\neverywhere for his son. At last his lamentations touched the heart of\nthe carpenter, who shewed him his son\u2019s hiding place. Shah Habib took\nhis son home, but an evil fate overtook the carpenter. As a punishment\nfor betraying Abdul Latif\u2019s hiding place, he became a leper. Shah Habib\nlicked the sores, so that they healed, all save one obstinate one that\nremained open on his forehead.\n\nAbdul Latif did not stay long in his father\u2019s house, but began to\nwander about Sind. One day he came to Lakhpat. There he saw some Sami\nfakirs worshipping an idol, probably of Parvati. They were pouring milk\nover it and as they did so, they repeated \u201cO Grandmother, drink this\nmilk.\u201d But the idol being of stone, hearkened not at all. Latif went\ninto the village, bought a bowl full of milk and stood close to the\nidol. In one hand he held his shoe and then he said to the idol \u201cO\nGrandmother of the Samis, drink this milk or I shall beat you with this\nshoe.\u201d The idol no longer hearkened not. Terrified at the threat, it\ndrank up all the milk in the bowl. The Sami fakirs were filled with\nwonder and envy. After Abdul Latif had left the spot, they plotted to\nkill and eat him, so as to obtain his supernatural powers. They invited\nhim to a feast, intending to make their guest the principal dish. But\nAbdul Latif by his inner knowledge guessed their wickedness and\ndeparted.\n\nAs he journeyed he met another fakir, whose beautiful face was haggard\nand worn, as if with care. As the fakir walked, he cried always \u201cJhal\nfakir, Hal fakir (Take it fakir, go fakir).\u201d Abdul Latif asked him why\nhe did it. The fakir refused to tell him, unless Abdul Latif promised\nto help him to win what he sought. \u201cIf,\u201d said the fakir, \u201cI win my goal\nthrough your help, I shall get you a Burat or letter of salvation.\u201d The\nsaint gave his promise and the fakir told him what ailed him. Some\nmonths before he had met a jungle tribe and had daily begged from them.\nWhenever he did so, a lovely maiden of the tribe had given him alms and\nas she gave them, she repeated these words \u201cJhal fakir, Hal fakir.\u201d The\nbeauty of the girl\u2019s voice and face had burnt into his brain. When the\ntribe left, he could think of nothing but of her and he set out to seek\nher. As he went, he repeated her words in the hope of finding her.\nAbdul Latif by his inner knowledge soon located the jungle tribe. With\nthe fakir he went to their camp and began to recite to them his verses.\nThey were so charmed with the verses that they asked him to name his\nreward. He told them to send the lovely girl to the hut wherein he had\nput his humble belongings. The girl was sent and in the hut the fakir\nawaited her. Their eyes met, but the storm of passion that swept over\nboth of them was too mighty for their strength to bear. They fell back\nlifeless into Abdul Latif\u2019s arms. He called the girl\u2019s parents and told\nthem the tale of the fakir\u2019s wooing and its tragic end. At his request\nthe man and the maiden were buried in the same grave. That night Abdul\nLatif watched by the grave, for he had not yet received the Burat or\nletter of salvation. At midnight a woman\u2019s hand rose from the grave and\noffered him a letter. But Abdul Latif doubted the virtue of a Burat\nthat came from a woman. \u201cI shall not take the Burat,\u201d he said, \u201cunless\nhe who promised it to me gives it.\u201d The girl\u2019s voice answered that that\nwas impossible. The fakir for very shame, she said, dared ask nothing\nfrom God. He had not been able to hide his love but to the whole world\nhad told his sorrows. Her love had been as ardent as his, but she had\nhad the strength to hide it. It was at her request that God had given\nthe Burat and the saint must take it from her hands.\n\nAnother time Abdul Latif went to Kotri and there exposed the impostures\nof the Mullas who surrounded the governor Lalla Beg. At their\ninstigation the cruel ruler ordered Abdul Latif to be impaled and then\ncut to pieces. When the executioners went to Shah Latif\u2019s house to\nseize him, they found him already dead and dismembered. As they\nreturned to tell Lalla Beg, they saw the saint standing in the roadside\nalive and well. They spoke of these marvels to Lalla Beg, who at once\nremitted the sentence.\n\nAbdul Latif, before he started on his wanderings, had, because of his\nunsatisfied love for the Moghul girl, cursed the whole tribe of the\nMoghuls, who then lived in Sind. All this time his curse had been\nquietly working. One by one they had died off, including the\nhard-hearted Mirza Beg. Of all the Moghul children only one boy Gulla\nby name survived and the beautiful girl, whom Abdul Latif loved. Freed\nfrom her father\u2019s cruelty by his death, she no longer hesitated but\nsought out and found her lover. With her she took her kinsman Gulla.\nAbdul Latif overjoyed at her coming recalled his curse and Gulla lived\nto be the ancestor of many Moghuls thereafter.\n\nAbdul Latif, or as we should now call him Latif Shah, did not settle\ndown to enjoy his wedded happiness at Varsum, where Shah Habib had\nlived and where he himself had been born. Near it was the tomb of an\nearlier saint Nuh Halani. The jealous spirit of the dead saint envied\nLatif Shah\u2019s happiness and glory. Nuh Halani\u2019s spirit haunted Shah\nLatif night and day. In despair Shah Latif sought the aid of Bahawal\nHak, a holy man of Multan. He advised him to consult Sayad Mahmad\nMassum Shah. The latter in turn advised him to migrate to Bhitta, then\na desolate mound of sand. Latif Shah obeyed the Sayad, but even at\nBhitta\u2014tantaene animis caelestibus irae\u2014he was not safe from\npersecution. Nuh Halani changed the spirit of a former disciple into a\nhuge snake and bade it bite the unhappy Shah Latif. But the latter\nprayed to Sayad Mahmad Massum Shah and with his aid and his own\nsanctity, he tamed the snake and kept it in a cage, as a trophy of his\nvictory. Nuh Halani\u2019s descendant Makhdum Mahmad Zaman could not bear\nthe sight. He redeemed the snake at the cost of a vast stretch of\ncountry and turning the snake again into a spirit, sent it back to do\nservice to Nuh Halani in the house of Hades.\n\n\u201cHappy is the wooing that\u2019s not long in the doing,\u201d is an old English\nproverb and perhaps it was of the long delay in the union of Shah Latif\nand his bride, that they were not blessed with children. Two legends\nare told to account for this calamity. One is that Shah Latif drew\nafter him the son of one Jani, who in anger cursed the saint that his\nwife should bear him no sons. Latif Shah accepted the curse and\nconsoled himself with the remark that his disciples were his sons. The\nsecond legend is that Latif Shah\u2019s wife, a year after marriage, was\nexpecting a child. After the manner of women in delicate health, she\nhad strange longings. One day she sent her maid-servant to a great\ndistance to get a certain kind of fish. Latif Shah missed the\nmaid-servant and asked whither she had gone. On learning what had\nhappened, he flew into a rage\u2014if I may say such a thing of so holy a\nman. He cursed his unborn child, saying \u201cIf the child gives all this\ntrouble now, what terrible trouble it will give when it is grown up!\nMay such a blossom be nipped in the bud.\u201d The child was still-born and\nno other came to soothe the poor mother\u2019s grief.\n\nIt was at Bhitta that Shah Latif wrote the Shah jo Rasalo. When he had\nfinished it, his two faithful disciples Tamar and Hashim brought it to\nhim. As he read over the lines in which he had told the sorrows of\nSaswi, he exclaimed that the verses did not truly convey a spiritual\nmeaning, but were full of sinful passion. As he said this, he flung the\ngreat work into the Kirar Dandh, a lake close by. His horrified\ndisciples beseeched him to let them write the Shah jo Rasalo from\nmemory. Reluctantly he consented and the Shah jo Rasalo was saved.\n\nShah Latif died in 1751 at the age of 63, three years after Ahmad Shah\nDurani\u2019s invasion. The saint\u2019s body lies in a splendid tomb designed by\na celebrated mason of Sukkur, under the orders of Ghulam Shah Kalhoro.\nThe door with silver bars was added by Mir Mahmad and a deep well for\nthe use of pilgrims was sunk in the courtyard by one Laung Fakir. The\nPir of the tomb is the descendant of Jam the goatherd, who found Shah\nLatif buried up to the neck in sand. Every Friday night pilgrims keep\nwatch by the tomb and sing passages from the saint\u2019s immortal poem.\nThis custom had its origin in a dream dreamt by his disciple Hashim.\nAfter his master\u2019s death, he was ill of fever and could not get well.\nOne night Shah Latif appeared to him in a vision and bade him recite on\nthe following Friday some lines from the Shah jo Rasalo. He did so and\nwas cured.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMAKHDUM NIAMAT ULLAH AND MAKHDUM NUH.\n\n\nEarly in the 18th century the greatest saint in Sind was Makhdum Niamat\nUllah, the father of a still greater religious luminary, the famous\nMakhdum Nuh. So renowned was Makhdum Niamat Ullah that an ancient fakir\nmore than a hundred years old and known as La Ikhtyar or the\nIndependent One was so affected by the stories told of the saintly\nMakhdum Niamat Ullah, that he gave up his independent life and went to\nTorio in the Hala taluka on the chance of seeing the object of his\nadmiration. Torio was not Makhdum Niamat\u2019s usual place of residence,\nbut La Ikhtyar had had a vision that it would be at Torio that he would\nsee the Desired One.\n\nAfter some weeks Makhdum Niamat Ullah did go to Torio on business and\npassed La Ikhtyar, as he sat on his cot. At once the old fakir\nrecognised the passer-by from the radiant glow on his countenance. The\nfakir got off his cot and made the saint sit on it and knelt at his\nfeet. But as Makhdum sat, the fakir\u2019s tame birds of which he had a\nlarge number suddenly flew away. The saint asked the reason and was\ntold that he would be the father of a son who would love to shoot\nbirds. When the fakir\u2019s pets learnt this, they had flown away in\nterror. After bidding the fakir goodbye, Makhdum Niamat Ullah walked\ninto the bazaar. As he passed a Hindu\u2019s shop, the owner\u2019s wife fell so\ndesperately in love with him, that she begged him to take her away from\nher husband and marry her. The saint could not stoop to such\nwickedness; but to get rid of her importunities, he promised to fetch\nher away that very night. He left her and went to take a siesta in the\nshade of a high wall, some streets away. As he slept, a certain Amin,\nthe chief of the Lankas, passed by on his way to Lower Sind. He had\nwith him a comely marriageable daughter, who at once fell in love with\nthe sleeping saint. Amin woke up Makhdum Niamat Ullah and offered his\ndaughter to him in marriage. The saint gladly accepted the offer and\nwas married to the beautiful girl the same evening. Next morning the\nHindu woman saw the saint and going up to him, reproached him for not\nkeeping his tryst. The saint explained that he was now a married man\nand must cleave to his wife. He, however, blessed the amorous Hindu\nlady and nine months from that very day, she presented to her husband a\nson called Zabhar.\n\nOn the same day as Zabhar was born, the wife of Makhdum Niamat Ullah\npresented her lord with a son, the celebrated Makhdum Nuh. Even as a\ntiny baby, Makhdum Nuh shewed his precocious saintliness. When only six\ndays old, he compelled the fakir La Ikhtyar, who was his devoted slave,\nto go through the ceremony of becoming his disciple. The fakir lived\nuntil his infantile preceptor was five years old; then he died at the\nripe age of 106 and his tomb may still be seen at Old Hala. His\nreputation for independence has survived him and many persons who are\nin difficulties still visit his tomb and ask the Independent One for\nhis advice.\n\nMakhdum Nuh took to the Koran, as the proverbial duck takes to water.\nAt the age of seven he knew the mighty book by heart. At the age of\nfourteen he was vouchsafed a vision of no less a personage than Mahomed\nhimself. As Makhdum Nuh was washing in the river his slate on which he\nhad written some lines of the Koran, he saw a boat approach. In it were\nthe Prophet, his son-in-law Ali and Huzrat Isa or Jesus. The boat\nstopped and the Holy Prophet called Makhdum Nuh by name. The boy went\nup to the boat and Jesus took his slate and wrote on one side of it\nfourteen lines. Then Ali took it and wrote on it eighteen lines and the\nboat glided away. The astonished Makhdum Nuh took his slate to his\nteacher, who found that what was written on it far transcended even his\nunderstanding. He asked his pupil what hand had written the lines.\nMakhdum Nuh told him about the three strangers in the boat; thereupon\nhis teacher guessed what had happened and embraced the boy, as one to\nwhom the Prophet had vouchsafed a vision.\n\nMakhdum Nuh became when he grew up, as prophesied by the fakir, a great\nbird-shot; but he also worked many and mighty miracles. His most famous\nachievement was connected with the great mosque at Tatta. This mosque\nhad been built at a cost of many lakhs of rupees by the orders of the\nMoghul Emperor. When it was completed, the faithful noted with dismay\nthat it did not correctly face the Kaaba. This was too dreadful for\nwords; for unless a mosque faces the Kaaba properly, it is useless. The\nfaithful, too, of Tatta had been bragging loudly to their neighbours\nabout their future mosque and they now would be exposed to their\nmocking laughter. The faithful of Tatta appealed to Makhdum Nuh. He\ncalled to his aid another holy man Ali Shirazi and they assailed Allah\nwith continuous and soul-compelling prayers. At first nothing happened\nand the faithful began to murmur discordantly at the failure of the two\nsaints. \u201cBut verily\u201d as the Koran has it, \u201csome suspicions are as\nsins.\u201d Another half hour\u2019s steady prayer and the great edifice began to\nquiver. Makhdum Nuh then called on all true Musulmans present to tie\nropes to the building and pull it round; and lo! and behold! under the\ncombined pressure of the prayers of the saints and the pushings of the\nfaithful, the great mosque turned round slowly and then stopped dead.\nIt had come to face exactly in the true direction of Mecca.\n\nEven a man so holy as Makhdum Nuh could not escape from the malice of\nmankind. He had two great friends Muzaffar and Salar. Salar had\npromised his daughter in marriage to Muzaffar\u2019s son. Unhappily a\nquarrel broke out between these two eminent men and Salar refused to\ngive his daughter. Now in Sind marriageable girls are few and this was\na home thrust. Muzaffar complained to Makhdum Nuh, who after hearing\nboth sides ordered Salar to keep his promise. Salar obeyed, la mort\ndans l\u2019\u00e2me; but he vented his spleen by cursing the said saint in the\nfollowing quatrain:\n\n\n    \u201cO Makhdum, you have done an act not pleasing to God; You have set\n    at nought what God had ordained.\n    You will suffer by having your corpse put in three different places\n    after your death.\u201d\n\n\nThe curse of this impious blasphemer was unhappily fulfilled. The river\nIndus twice threatened the spot where Makhdum Nuh had been buried. The\nsecond time the river approached so rapidly that the disciples had to\nremove their master\u2019s body in broad daylight instead of at night, as\nwas seemly. Heaven, however, came to their help. As they began to lift\nthe body from the grave, the sky became overcast and a mist as thick as\na London fog spread over the land, so that none could see the decaying\nremains of one who in life had been strong and beautiful. The saint\u2019s\nbody found its last resting place about two miles to the west of Old\nHala. A small town has sprung up round the tomb and is known as\nMurtazabad. A beautiful mausoleum now stands over Makhdum Nuh\u2019s grave\nand the cupola over it was erected in 1795 A.D. by Mir Fateh Ali Khan\nTalpur. On the tomb were engraved the following words in order to\nsilence possible slanderers of the dead man:\n\n\n    \u201cIf the wind were to blow furiously all over the world\n    It could never extinguish the lamp of those accepted by the Most\n    High.\n    Men who spit on a lamp, lit by Almighty God soon find that they\n    have in their folly, set fire to their own beards.\u201d\n\n\nAccording to my chronicler, these lines had an excellent effect. They\nwere the proper stuff to hand out to the back-biters.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHAIDARABAD.\n\n\nHaidarabad was once known as Nerankot and the king of it was Raja\nNeran. He had a beautiful daughter, who, from the exquisite skill with\nwhich she darkened her eyes with Kanjal or lampblack, reddened her\ncheeks with rouge and coloured her finger nails with henna, was known\nas Nigar or the Painted lady. Her courage was, if possible, greater\neven than her beauty. She scorned to ride camels or horses, as other\nwell born Hindu ladies did. The only beast she would bestride was a\nlion and every evening outside Nerankot she might have been seen riding\na splendid maned lion, who, when bridled by her, was as docile as the\nmeekest ambling palfrey, to the touch of her finger on the reins. Nor\nwould she suffer cowardice in others. She vowed and made public her vow\nthat she would wed no man who feared to saddle and mount a lion.\n\n\n\nIt so happened that Shah Makai and Haidar Ali came about this time to\nSind. Shah Makai\u2019s real name was Shah Mahmud; but because he lived at\nMaka or Mecca, he was known as Shah Makai. Haidar Ali\u2019s real name was\nAli. But, because as a child he had torn to pieces a live snake with\nhis bare hands, he was called Haidar Ali or the Ali who tore the \u201cHai\u201d\nor snake. His fortune was as great as his childhood foretold; for in\ndue course he became the son-in-law of the holy prophet and the fourth\nImam of the Faithful. As the two friends journeyed through Sind, they\ncame to hear the fame of Nigar\u2019s beauty and courage. Straightway they\nhastened to Nerankot and one evening Shah Makai saw the lovely girl\nastride of her lion, riding outside the walls. He fell madly in love\nwith her. Then he heard that she had vowed not to marry anyone, unless\nhe could tame and mount a lion. Shah Makai as a true and devout\nbeliever, had but little difficulty in performing this feat and the\nnext time that Nigar rode abroad, she saw to her surprise and pleasure\nShah Makai astride of a maned lion, hardly less majestic than her own.\nShe asked him who he was; and learning that he had broken in the lion\nfor love of her, she vowed that she would wed him and no other. Shah\nMakai sought an audience of Neran Raja and asked for his daughter\u2019s\nhand. Nigar, too, pressed her father to give his consent to the\nmarriage. But the proud king\u2019s heart was as hard as stone and although\nhe heard the full tale of Shah Makai\u2019s courtship, he refused to give\nhis daughter to one who was not a Hindu, but a Mleccha. With contumely\nhe drove Shah Makai from his Court. When Nigar vowed that in spite of\nher father she would wed the bold Arabian, Raja Neran threw her into a\nwell and had a huge stone put over its mouth. The evil news reached\nShah Makai. He tried to move the stone; but it was so big, that even\nhe, saint though he was, failed. He implored the help of Haidar Ali. To\nthat pillar of Islam the task was light. He mounted his white mule Dhul\nDhul and made it dance on the top of the stone. Then he dismounted and\nthrowing himself at full length on the ground, he prayed Allah to\nremove it. He had hardly finished his prayer, when the stone rolled\naside and Nigar with Haidar Ali\u2019s help was able to climb out of the\nwell. He gave her to Shah Makai, who carried her off in triumph. But\nHaidar Ali cursed the wicked Neran; and stretching wide the five\nfingers of his right hand made the bhundo sign at him. Not long\nafterwards the curse was fulfilled. The Arabs landing on the sea coast\nof Sind swept through the land, stormed Nerankot and killed Raja Neran.\nFor many centuries Nerankot lay in ruins. Then the wise and pious\nGhulam Shah Kalhoro came to the spot and deeming it well fitted for the\nsite of his capital city, he rebuilt Nerankot. While the new fortress\nwas building, he raised a small mud stronghold close to the spot where\nShah Makai and the beautiful Painted Lady were in their old age buried\nside by side. When Nerankot was finished, Ghulam Shah Kalhoro went to\nlive in it and renamed it Haidarabad after Haidar Ali. He gave his mud\nstronghold to the Fakirs who guarded Shah Makai\u2019s tomb. Up to Burton\u2019s\ntime a lion\u2014said to be a descendant of Nigar\u2019s riding lion\u2014used to be\nkept in a cage under a tamarind tree, close to Shah Makai\u2019s last\nresting place. The tree still stands, but the lion has vanished. The\nrise in the price of lion\u2019s food was no doubt the cause of its\ndisappearance.\n\nAbout a quarter of a mile from the tomb of Shah Makai is another small\nbut holy building known as Shah Kadam. Within it are preserved the\nstones on which Haidar Ali\u2019s white mule Dhul Dhul did its\nmiracle-working dance. Its hoof marks may still be seen stamped deep in\nthe stone. By its side a slab bears the marks of Haidar Ali\u2019s hands,\nknees, feet and forehead, which he made when he prostrated himself in\nprayer before Allah. And a third stone bears the marks of the saint\u2019s\nfingers and thumb when he made the bhundo at Raja Neran. So violent was\nthe Imam\u2019s curse that it has lived on, monumentum aere perennius. The\nwell into which Nigar was thrown is one of the three inside Nerankot,\nbut none could tell me with certainty which it was. Perhaps the most\ninteresting relic of that golden time is a great \u201cdjar\u201d tree that grows\nnear Shah Makai\u2019s tomb. The guardian of the shrine assured me that it\nhad grown from a bit of stick, which the saint had one day used as a\ntoothbrush and then carelessly thrown aside.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBRAHMANABAD.\u2014I.\n\n\nThe ruined town of Brahmanabad, probably the most interesting spot in\nSind, lies about eleven miles from Shahdadpur. A road sufficiently good\nfor a Ford Car leads thither and a run there on a cold weather morning\nis a bracing and exhilarating experience. When Brahmanabad is reached\none sees, as far as the eye can range, an endless waste of brick ruins,\nthe site of a once mighty city. It flourished in the time of Alexander.\nIt was still great in the eighth century when Mahomed Kasim invaded\nSind. What caused its downfall? The whole question was admirably\ndiscussed in 1854 by Mr. Bellasis of the Indian Civil Service. His\nconclusion was that the city had been overwhelmed by an earthquake,\nwhich at the same time changed the bed of the Indus, formerly close by\nthe city walls and the source of its greatness. The destruction of\nBrahmanabad, wrote Mr. Bellasis, was so complete that it could not have\nbeen caused by a fire or by a hostile force. There were, moreover, no\nsigns of fire. There were quantities of jewellery among the ruins,\nwhich neither fugitive inhabitants nor an enemy would have left. At the\nsame time there were many skeletons visible in corners and doorways\u2014the\nskeletons of men and women overwhelmed, no doubt, as they sought to\nescape. The skeletons have long ago gone to manure the neighbouring\nfields, just as the bricks of the houses in which they once lived are\nto be found in the villages round about. Still we may safely accept the\nevidence of Mr. Bellasis as well as the accuracy of his conclusions.\nBut if Brahmanabad was overwhelmed by an earthquake, what were the\ncircumstances attending it? We have no historical record. But there\nexist two legends\u2014a Musulman and a Hindu legend. They differ widely\nfrom each other, only agreeing in this that the end of Brahmanabad came\nbecause of God\u2019s wrath at the wickedness of its ruler, Dalu Rai. I\nshall relate the Musulman legend first. It is to be found in the\nTufat-ul-Kiram and runs somewhat as follows:\n\n\nOnce upon a time there ruled over the city of Brahmanabad a Hindu king,\ncalled Dalu Rai (May Allah confound him!) whose wickedness is still\nwell remembered in the land of Sind. He had, however, a brother called\nChota Amrani, who had given up kufar or ingratitude and had won\nimmortal happiness by embracing Islam. He had left Brahmanabad and had\ncommitted to memory the whole Koran and also all the customs of the\nTrue Believers. On his return to the city his relatives wanted him to\nmarry; but King Dalu Rai said with a cruel sneer \u201cHe is a renegade. Let\nhim go on a pilgrimage to Mecca and there wed the daughter of some\nfamous Arab; but he shall not marry the daughter of any Hindu subject\nof mine!\u201d\n\n\nChota Amrani feared to stay longer in Brahmanabad, so he set out on a\npilgrimage to Mecca. After many hardships and dangers he reached the\nHoly City. As he walked through the streets, he passed a shop, wherein\na woman, instead of attending to her customers was reading aloud the\nKoran. Chota Amrani stopped to listen. The woman saw him and asked him\nwhy he did not pass on. \u201cI have stopped,\u201d said Chota Amrani, \u201cto listen\nto the words of Holy Writ. I have learnt the Koran by heart; but if you\nwill teach me its various readings, I shall become your slave.\u201d \u201cNay,\u201d\nsaid the woman, \u201cI am not fit to teach you. I have a teacher of my own.\nShe is a maiden and you cannot enter her home in a man\u2019s dress. But if\nyou change your clothes and dress like a girl, I shall take you to\nher.\u201d Chota Amrani who was still quite young and without any beard on\nhis chin, agreed. He dressed up as a girl and was taken to the house of\nthe learned maiden by the woman in the shop. The maiden\u2019s name was\nFatima and she readily undertook the instruction of the foreign girl,\nwho had come from so far off to see Mecca. One day the shopwoman asked\nFatima some questions concerning the marriage of her daughter. Fatima,\nwho was skilled in astrology as well as in matters religious, answered\nthe questions with ease. Chota Amrani then to test the maiden said \u201cAs\nyou can tell the future of others, you can surely tell your own\nfuture.\u201d Fatima replied \u201cMy fate is to be married to a man from Sind.\u201d\n\u201cBut when?\u201d asked the astonished visitor. \u201cIn no long time,\u201d replied\nFatima. \u201cBut where is the man?\u201d asked Chota Amrani. Fatima pretended to\nconsult her astrological books and said with a smile \u201cYou are the man.\u201d\nThen she added \u201cBegone and come no longer in the garb of a girl. Put on\na man\u2019s dress and ask formally for my hand, for I am destined to be\nyours.\u201d\n\nChota Amrani, abashed at the penetration of his disguise, went away and\nreturned dressed as a man. He formally asked for the hand of Fatima.\nHis request was granted and she became his wife.\n\nAfter two or three months had passed, Chota Amrani told Fatima that he\nmust take her back with him to Sind. Fatima made no objection and they\nset sail for the land of the Indus river. When they reached\nBrahmanabad, they found that Dalu Rai had recently issued a law that\nevery young married woman should be brought to his couch for at least\none night. He therefore demanded that Chota Amrani should send Fatima\nto his palace. Chota Amrani refused and Dalu Rai did nothing for the\nmoment. But one day when Chota Amrani was absent from the city, Dalu\nRai forced his way into his brother\u2019s house and tried to seduce Fatima.\nThe noble lady virtuously resisted all his efforts to lead her astray\nand fortunately before he could use violence to her, Chota Amrani\nreturned. He drove the wicked king from his house and instantly left\nBrahmanabad with Fatima. As he left, a voice from heaven was heard to\nsay \u201cThis city will soon be swallowed because of its king\u2019s wickedness.\nLet those who are warned flee from the accursed spot or keep watch\nagainst the day of atonement.\u201d A few obeyed and shook from their feet\nthe dust of the doomed city, but most of the people paid no heed. The\nfirst night the city was spared, because an old woman working at a\nwheel kept awake all night, as the voice had commanded. The second\nnight an oil presser kept watch unceasingly. But the third night the\ninhabitants forgot the divine warning. Suddenly, while all slept the\nentire city was swallowed up. Of all its splendid buildings only one\nminaret remained, as an example and a warning to other kings and\npeoples.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBRAHMANABAD.\u2014II.\n\n\nNow let us turn to the Hindu legend which I came across in a Sind\nmagazine. It ran as follows:\u2014\n\n\n\nOnce upon a time Brahmanabad, now a heap of ruins, was the glory of all\nSind. It stood on an oasis in the desert; and to guard its people from\nsudden raids by desert tribes, one of its kings had built round it a\ngreat wall. Beneath the wall flowed the river Indus, on whose waters\nthe merchant ships of Brahmanabad carried the city\u2019s commerce up and\ndown Sind. Inside the walls were rich houses, countless gardens, and a\nmighty tower, that served as a landmark for miles around. About a mile\nand a half from Brahmanabad was the royal suburb of Dalor in which\nstood the king\u2019s palace and the quarters of his guards. Some five miles\nfrom Brahmanabad stood the suburb of Depur. Therein lived the ministers\nwith their public offices and their record-rooms and storehouses. Along\nthe banks of the river was a collection of huts, wherein lived a wild\ngipsy tribe known as Madu. They lived by selling milk and ghi to the\nrich burghers of Brahmanabad.\n\nThe reigning King Amrai was beloved by his people and when his queen\ndied, he would not give her place to another. He devoted his life to\nthe upbringing of their only son, prince Dalu Rai. Unhappily so evil\nwas the lad\u2019s nature, that the more care the king spent on him the\nworse he grew. He gathered round him a band of bad companions and all\nday and every day the royal palace resounded with the cries of the\nprince\u2019s victims. At last the king out of all patience, shut up his son\nin the tall tower which looked over the country round Brahmanabad. But\nthe fickle mob at once turned round. \u201cWhat a cruel father!\u201d they cried.\n\u201cFancy treating thus the heir to the throne!\u201d King Amrai consulted his\nministers and they advised him to free his son, but at the same time to\nput in charge of him some wise and virtuous old man, who by example and\nprecept would show him the error of his ways. King Amrai thought their\nadvice good and freeing the prince, appointed a wise old man to look\nafter him and to teach him. Although the king said nothing to Dalu Rai,\nthe latter guessed, when an aged pandit called on him, that he was in\nsome way to be over him. He instantly resolved to treat the old man in\nsuch a way that neither he nor any other old man in the kingdom would\naccept the post again. He pretended to listen with the greatest\nattention to all the old man\u2019s words and seemed so eager to do what was\nright, that the sage thought the prince the most charming of pupils.\nAfter some hours of talk, the prince made his master dine with him.\nDuring the meal the old man talked as one inspired; and as he talked,\nthe prince\u2019s servants filled his glass over and over again with drugged\nwine. Before the meal was over the poor old pandit was fast asleep. The\nprince had him put to bed and as he lay asleep, the prince\u2019s barber\nshaved off the sage\u2019s moustaches and stuck in their place crow\u2019s\nfeathers. Next morning when the old man awoke, he passed his hand over\nhis face and found the horrible thing that had been done to him. He\nrose, fled from the prince\u2019s house and threw himself at King Amrai\u2019s\nfeet and told him of the prince\u2019s cruel trick. The king soothed the old\nman as best he could; but he was so affected, that he never shewed\nhimself in the Darbar Hall again.\n\nThe prince was thus free to act as he pleased. One evening he and his\ngood for nothing companions went out a-hawking. Game was scarce and\ntheir hawks caught nothing. At last they reached a well near a Madu\nhamlet not far from the town. Vexed at their ill luck, they loosed\ntheir hawks at some tame pigeons that belonged to the villagers and\nhappened to be circling near the well. All the pigeons but one took\nshelter in their dovecotes. One pigeon flew into the air followed by\nthe prince\u2019s hawk. For some time the two birds soared in the air, one\nunable to rise above the other. At last the hawk\u2019s strong wings bore it\nabove the pigeon and it made its swoop. The frightened pigeon dropped\nlike a stone to the ground at the feet of a Madu maiden of 16, who was\nfilling her jar at the well. The girl picked up the pigeon and stroking\nits feathers put it in her bosom. The hawk robbed of its prey, flew\nback to perch on the wrist of the prince\u2019s huntsman. The prince rode up\nto the girl and with an evil smile on his lips, told her that she might\nkeep the pigeon. He would not hunt it now that it had taken shelter in\nher bosom. The girl turned on him scornfully and said \u201cA fine hunter\nyou are to hawk a tame pigeon!\u201d The prince pretended to be sorry for\nwhat he had done and then asked the girl to give him a drink of water\nfrom her jar. But the Madu maiden disliking his looks and tone, told\nhim to get one of his servants to fetch water for him. But the prince\npressed her, pleading that their horses were restive. Reluctantly the\ngirl went close to him to give him a cup of water. Suddenly he caught\nher by the waist and swung her in front of him. A moment later he and\nhis companions were riding as fast as they could to the prince\u2019s\npalace. Some Madu men ran after them but in vain. The prince carried\noff the girl and the men with him said in jest \u201cThe prince\u2019s hawk lost\nits prey, but the prince had better luck!\u201d As the party neared the\npalace, they passed an aged Brahman, who, hearing the cries of the\nstruggling girl, begged the prince to free her. But Dalu Rai only\nsnarled at him to mind his own business. The Brahman, who was a mighty\nanchorite, flew into a passion and cursed him. \u201cAs a punishment for\nyour cruelty,\u201d he cried, \u201cyou will never live to be old. Your city will\nbe destroyed and you will perish with it so suddenly, that you will not\nhave time to give even a handful of grain in charity!\u201d\n\nThe prince paid little heed to the anchorite\u2019s curse, but bore his prey\ninside the palace. There he found everyone excited as the princess had\njust borne her lord a son. But the prince pushed past his servants and\ntook the Madu girl to a distant part of the palace and there tried to\nwin her consent. But she scornfully rejected his promises of rich\nclothes and fine jewels. At last when he had lost all patience and was\nabout to offer her violence, he heard a knock at his door. It was a\nmessenger who brought the news that King Amrai was dead. At the same\ntime he told the prince that Banbho, one of his associates wished to\nspeak to him most urgently. The prince was unwilling to leave the Madu\ngirl, but he could not refuse so grave a message, especially as Banbho\nwas not only the wickedest but by far the wisest of his evil\ncompanions. The prince went out, locked the door behind him, and took\nBanbho into another room. The news Banbho brought was of the gravest.\n\u201cThe news I bring, my Prince,\u201d he said slowly, \u201cis as bad as it can be.\nUnless you act at once this palace of yours is certain to become your\nprison. The late king was angry with you, as you know, and before he\ndied, he had engraved as his will on a brass plate that you were never\nto sit on the throne. In your stead the ministers were to put your son\nif you had one, and if not, your distant cousin. Now that a son has\nbeen born to the princess, think what a handle your enemies will have\nagainst you! They will put you in prison and make your infant son king\nof Brahmanabad. You must act at once!\u201d Banbho\u2019s plan was simple. It was\nto proclaim the prince as king in Brahmanabad and then to gallop with\nevery available man to Depur where the ministers had assembled to carry\nout the late king\u2019s wishes. Banbho taking some men with him, first rode\nthrough the streets of Brahmanabad, shouting \u201cVictory to Dalu Rai\nMaharaj!\u201d The crowd at once caught up the cry and were soon shouting\n\u201cVictory to Dalu Rai Maharaj\u201d through every lane and byway in the city.\nThis done, Banbho returned to the prince\u2019s palace and he and the prince\nand his companions and all the guards whom they could muster, set off\ntogether at headlong speed for Depur. While Banbho was thus rousing his\nmaster to action, the prime-minister and the commander-in-chief and the\nprincipal nobles of Brahmanabad were seated together in one of the\ncouncil rooms of Depur. The prime-minister, respected above all for his\nage and wisdom and for his faithful service of the late king, put\nbefore his colleagues the brass plate of King Amrai and proposed that\nthey should take instant steps to seize the person of Dalu Rai and put\nhis newly born son on the throne. Several of the nobles objected\nstrongly. For all their respect for the late king and their dislike of\nDalu Rai, they disliked still more the coronation of a newly born\ninfant with all the dangers of a long regency. While they were in high\ndebate, the commander-in-chief heard a noise in the courtyard and\nguessing its cause, said with a smile and a shrug of his shoulders: \u201cI\nam afraid we are too late, gentlemen. The prince has come in person to\nsettle the succession.\u201d Dalu Rai and Banbho followed by their troopers\nrushed up the stairs and Banbho knocking at the door, demanded entrance\nin the king\u2019s name. Receiving no answer, he caught up a heavy pickaxe\nand with a single blow broke open the lock. The door flew open and the\nprince and his men rushed in. Many of the nobles at once joined him.\nBut the chief minister and a few others remained seated. As the prince\nstepped forward, the prime-minister gave him the brass plate on which\nwas engraved his father\u2019s will. The prince read it and glowing with\nrage \u201cfrom his topknot to his toenails,\u201d rushed at the old man. Both\nsides drew their swords. A fight ensued, but it was soon over. The\nprime-minister and the commander-in-chief lay dead on the ground and\nthe rest surrendered.\n\nDalu Rai would at once have gone back to the Madu maiden; but Banbho\nwho \u201chad a crow\u2019s wisdom\u201d prevailed on him to spend the day and the\nfollowing night on the late king\u2019s funeral ceremonies. All day long and\nall that night Dalu Rai\u2019s thoughts were far away with his unhappy\ncaptive. Next morning Banbho pressed him to hold a Darbar and win over\nthe state officers and townspeople by concessions and gifts. But Dalu\nRai could restrain himself no longer. \u201cYou spoiler of pleasure!\u201d he\ncried angrily to Banbho, \u201cI am not going to hold a Darbar! Tell my\nofficers that I am too stricken with sorrow to hold one.\u201d With these\nwords King Dalu Rai left Banbho to manage as best he could, and rode\noff with all speed to the conquest of the Madu maiden. Unluckily for\nhim, he had carelessly left behind him his dagger when summoned by\nBanbho. The Madu girl had picked it up and when the wicked king would\nhave caught her in his arms she pointed the dagger at him and\nthreatened to stab him if he came near her. As he stood uncertain what\nto do, he heard cries outside his palace \u201cMaharaja! Maharaja!\u201d Dalu Rai\nwent to the verandah and looking down saw his courtyard full of\nfrightened people. \u201cMaharaja, save us!\u201d they cried. \u201cBrahmanabad will\nbe destroyed.\u201d Dalu Rai looked towards the horizon and saw a huge mass\nof sand like a tidal wave advancing on Brahmanabad. The sky was as\nblack as pitch. The sun was hidden and the Indus had left its course\nand seemed to be fleeing before the sandstorm. As he gazed at the\nfearful scene, a voice cried: \u201cTo-day Brahmanabad shall perish because\nof its ruler\u2019s wickedness!\u201d The king remembered the anchorite\u2019s curse\nand would have ridden away leaving his city and his people to their\nfate. But as he walked to the door a youth with drawn sword barred his\nway. \u201cWho are you?\u201d asked the king. \u201cI am your death,\u201d was the grim\nanswer. The king had no other wish but to flee from the doomed town;\nbut the youth would not let him pass. At last the king drew his sword\nand the two men fought. The youth was skilled in swordmanship but even\nso he was no match for Dalu Rai, who was a master of the art. In a few\nminutes the king drove his sword through the youth\u2019s heart and bending\nover him dragged him into the Madu maiden\u2019s room. As he did so, the\ngirl drove her dagger into his back. \u201cWhy did you strike me?\u201d asked the\ndying king. \u201cWas the youth your kinsman?\u201d \u201cHe was my betrothed,\u201d said\nthe girl with white lips and blazing eyes. The king fainted and life\nleft him. The girl took some wood from the hearth where a fire was\nburning and lit the drapery in the room. In a few minutes it was\nblazing. The fire spread to the rest of the palace and it was soon a\nburning mass. At the same time the sand reached the walls of\nBrahmanabad. The burghers sought flight in all directions, but flight\nwas useless. The sandwave caught them and stifled them, until at last\nthere was not a living soul left in Brahmanabad.\n\nThe curse of the anchorite had been fulfilled to the letter.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE EIGHTH KEY.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there ruled over Sind a king, who throughout his reign\nhad been distinguished for wisdom and justice; but he had grown old and\nhad only one son, born to him by one of his queens, when he was in the\nevening of his life. His darling wish was to see his son of an age to\nsucceed him before he died. But as kings even are only pawns in the\nhands of the great chessplayer, his hope was never fulfilled. Feeling\ndeath approach, he sent for his chief minister and gave him the eight\nkeys of his eight treasure chambers. \u201cGuard the throne for my son,\u201d\nsaid the dying man, \u201cand when he is of an age to rule by himself, give\nhim seven of the eight keys; but do not give him the eighth until he\nhas ruled for five years.\u201d The chief minister promised faithfully to do\nhis master\u2019s bidding and the old king died in his arms.\n\nThe young prince was duly raised to the throne and the chief minister\nwatched over him as if he had been his own son. When the prince came of\nage, he succeeded to a rich and prosperous kingdom and the minister\nhanded over to him, just as the old king had desired, seven out of the\neight keys. With the seven keys the prince opened seven treasure vaults\nand found them chock full of silver and gold pieces and precious stones\nof every description. He was pleased beyond measure; and he felt deeply\ngrateful to the faithful minister, who had discharged his trust so well\nand while keeping the people happy had made their king rich beyond the\ndreams of avarice. For a time all went well; then some evilminded old\nman, who envied the chief minister, told the king that there were\nreally eight treasure vaults and that the minister had not handed over\nthe eighth key, so that he might keep for himself the contents of the\neighth treasure vault. In a great rage the young king sent for the\nchief minister and demanded on pain of instant death the eighth key.\nThe old statesman fell at his young master\u2019s feet and telling him with\nmany tears the whole story handed him the eighth key. The king was so\nexcited at the tale, that he snatched away the key and running as fast\nas he could to the eighth treasure vault, turned the key in the lock\nand flung open the door. To his amazement the room was absolutely bare,\nsave for the portrait of a beautiful girl, that hung on one of the\nwalls. The king\u2019s eyes ran round the empty room and then they rested on\nthe face in the picture. There they stayed until the youth fell so\ndeeply in love with the beautiful girl, that he grew gradually fainter\nand at last swooned away. The minister and the courtiers sprinkled\nrosewater over their prostrate master and at last revived him; but he\nvowed that unless the minister promised to bring him the lovely picture\nmaiden, he would not only refuse to reign, but would starve himself to\ndeath.\n\nThe old minister was dismayed at the state of the king and soothed him\nby telling him that he would at once set out to fetch the beautiful\ngirl. He loaded a vessel full of merchandise of all descriptions and\nwith some chosen companions weighed anchor and set sail for the open\nsea. They touched at various ports, but although they shewed the chief\nmen there the portrait found in the eighth chamber, none recognised it.\nAt last after the voyage had lasted a whole year, they reached a\ndistant haven and there they shewed their picture. The people standing\nby clapped their hands and cried out \u201cWhy, it\u2019s our own princess!\u201d The\nminister was taken to the king and queen who shewed them their daughter\nand all agreed that she was the original of the portrait. The minister\ntold the king that he was a merchant and after giving the king splendid\ngifts stayed in the country until he had sold all his merchandise. He\nthen turned his prow homewards and many months later he was able to\ntell his king that the lovely picture maiden had been found. Without a\nmoment\u2019s delay the king vowed that he would seek her himself. Again\nfilling the vessel with merchandise, the king, the minister and the\nsome band of trusty companions went on board and weighing anchor, they\nset sail for the distant land wherein the princess dwelt. After a\nvoyage of several months and many hardships, they reached it and the\nminister again presented himself in the guise of a merchant before the\nprincess\u2019 father. On his earlier visit the minister had learnt that the\nprincess was very fond of toys; so he had brought for her a number of\ntoys, in the making of which the people of his country were very\nskilled. There were toy dogs that ran for miles, toy lions and tigers\nthat roared horribly, toy partridges that rose with a whirr just like\nlive ones, toy pheasants that flew up slantwise into the air and toymen\nwho walked about and talked just as if they had been real. The princess\ngave a cry of delight on seeing all these wonderful play-things; but\nthe minister said \u201cThese are nothing to what you will see, if you will\nvisit our ship. My master the merchant who is on board would only let\nme bring the commonest toys ashore.\u201d The princess was wild to see the\nother toys and taking six maid-servants with her went with the minister\nto the seashore and aboard the ship. There the young king received her\nwith the greatest courtesy and respect and began to shew her other\ntoys. But as she was looking at them and clapping her hands at each\nfresh one, the crew quietly cut the anchor cable and were out to sea,\nbefore the princess or her friends on shore had any idea what was\nhappening.\n\nWhen the poor princess found that she had been taken captive, she wept\nbitterly, but the king soothed her and told her how he had fallen in\nlove with her picture and had sailed across half the world to win her.\nAt last she dried her eyes and promised to be his queen directly the\nship brought them to his country. The journey took many weary months,\nbut at last they were only three days sail off and the king and\nbetrothed, as happy as possible, together were walking up and down the\ndeck, hand in hand. The chief minister was sitting in the bows\nstraining his eyes trying to get a glimpse of the land. Now among the\nold man\u2019s many accomplishments was the power to understand the speech\nof birds. As he looked landwards, he saw a parrot and a maina fly to\nthe ship and perch in the rigging. After a little while the maina felt\ndull and begged the parrot to tell her a story. At first the parrot\ndemurred, then he said: \u201cThere is a story going on before your very\neyes. You see how happy the king and queen seem to be? Well, the king\nhas only three more days to live! When he lands three days hence, he\nwill be met by his officers and his troops, his elephants, his horses\nand his chariots. He will be given the most beautiful horse of all to\nride; but that horse is not really a horse at all, but a demon.\nDirectly the king is on its back, it will fly away with him into the\nair and will then drown him by flinging him into the sea.\u201d The maina\nwas affected to tears by this story; for she loved the parrot dearly\nand knew how the princess would grieve at the loss of her betrothed.\n\u201cIs there no way,\u201d cried the maina, \u201cby which the king can be saved?\u201d\n\u201cYes, my beloved,\u201d answered the parrot, \u201cthere is one way. If someone\ngoes up to the horse just before the king mounts it and cuts its head\noff, the king will be saved. But do not repeat what I have told you;\nfor if anyone repeats it, one third of his or her body will be turned\ninto stone.\u201d The parrot and the maina then flew away, leaving the\nminister, who had understood all that they had said, a prey to the\ncruelest anxiety.\n\nNext day the parrot and the maina flew back to the ship and perched in\nthe rigging. The minister on seeing them went back to his seat in the\nbows of the ship, so that he might listen to what they said. The maina\nsaid \u201cTell me, please, what will happen to the king, if he escapes from\nthe demon horse? Will he not wed the princess and live happily ever\nafterwards?\u201d \u201cNay, my heart\u2019s desire,\u201d said the parrot, \u201cthe king and\nthe princess will never, I fear, be happy together. Even although the\nking escapes from the demon horse he will still be in the gravest\nperil. During the wedding the king will see a beautiful gold plate. He\nwill be so pleased with it, that he will pick it up and pass it round\namong his courtiers to collect alms for the Brahmans, who are\nconducting the ceremony. But he will not live to pass the plate to all\nhis courtiers, for it is poisoned and as he passes it round, the poison\non it will enter the pores of his skin and will kill him in a few\nseconds.\u201d The poor maina was as much upset at this story as she had\nbeen at the other. \u201cIs there no way,\u201d she sobbed, \u201cto save the poor\nking?\u201d \u201cYes, my beloved,\u201d answered the parrot, \u201cif anyone were to put\non gloves and snatch away the plate before the king can handle it, he\nwill be saved. But do not repeat what I have told you, for if you do, a\nthird of your body will be turned into stone.\u201d Shortly afterwards, the\nparrot and the maina flew away, leaving the minister sadder even than\nhe had been the previous day.\n\nThe next day, which was the last of the voyage, the disheartened\nminister went and sat in the prow of the ship, to hear anything more\nthat the parrot might say to the maina. He had not been seated more\nthan a few minutes before the two birds came and perched a few feet\nabove his head. \u201cDear Parrot,\u201d said the maina, \u201cif the king is not\npoisoned by the plate, will he and the princess not even then marry and\nlive happy together ever afterwards?\u201d \u201cNay, well beloved, even then the\nking will not live long enough to make the princess happy. After the\nwedding ceremony, the king and the princess will be so tired that\ndirectly their heads touch the pillow, they will go off to sleep. While\nthey are asleep, a snake that lives in the roof of the bridal chamber\nwill drop poison from his fangs on to the princess\u2019 cheek. When the\nking wakes out of his first sleep and kisses the princess, he will\ntouch the poison with his lips and will die instantly.\u201d The maina was\ndreadfully sorry to hear this new danger and asked tearfully whether\nthere was no way by which the king could escape from that death also.\n\u201cYes, well beloved,\u201d said the parrot, \u201cthere is one chance of his\nescape, but it is so remote that the king is sure to die. If someone\nwere to hide himself in the bridal chamber until the poison fell and\nkissed the princess\u2019 cheek, the king would be saved; nor would his\nsaviour die either if he drank at once a large glass of milk. But do\nnot tell anyone about this, for if you do a third of your body will be\nturned into stone.\u201d The two birds then flew away.\n\nThe minister was in despair, but he was a brave and loyal man and he\nresolved to save his master, even if it cost him his life. When the\nking landed and tried to mount the demon horse, the minister drew his\nsword and with a single stroke cut its head off. The king was very\nangry and asked the minister why he had done it; but the minister dared\nnot explain for fear of a third part of his body being turned into\nstone. The king could not understand it, still in view of the\nminister\u2019s great services he forgave him. The wedding ceremonies of the\nking and his bride were celebrated with great splendour; and in the\nmiddle of them, the king seeing a beautiful gold plate stretched out\nhis hand to take it and to collect alms for the officiating Brahmans.\nThe minister at once pushed past the king and with a gloved hand,\nseized the golden plate and threw it far away into a running stream.\nThe king was still more angry especially as the minister, afraid of\nbeing turned into stone, would not say why he had done it.\n\nAfter the wedding ceremonies were over, the king and queen tired out\nwith the fatigues of the day went to rest; and so sleepy were they that\ndirectly their heads touched their pillows, they fell asleep. The\nminister, however, had hidden himself behind a screen in the bridal\nchamber. He saw the snake come out of his hiding place in the roof,\nwriggle along a beam and then drop poison on the face of the sleeping\nqueen. He stepped up to the bed, kissed the poison off the queen\u2019s face\nand then took a deep draught of milk. The queen woke up on feeling the\nkiss and roused the king. They were both very angry at seeing the\nminister in their room and the king called to his guards to seize the\nminister and hang him early next morning from the battlements of the\npalace. The guards seized the poor old minister and took him to prison.\nThere the old man asked to see the king before he died, as a last\nfavour. The king had not the heart to refuse it. The minister was taken\nin chains to the royal palace and there he poured out the whole truth.\nBut as he related how the parrot had warned him about the demon horse,\nhis feet and legs turned to marble; then as he told about the poisoned\nplate, his body as far as his armpits turned to marble; lastly when he\nhad finished the tale of the poison dropped by the snake, his head and\nshoulders became marble, too.\n\nThe king was at first too astonished to do anything and then he wept\nbitterly at the awful fate that had overtaken his loyal and faithful\nservant. He put the petrified body in a room in his palace and daily\nfor several years prostrated himself at its feet to shew his sorrow. In\ncourse of time the queen bore him a son and every day he used to bring\nthe little boy into the minister\u2019s room to shew him what a good and\ntrue servant he had once had. One day when the little boy was three\nyears old, the very same parrot and maina, that had perched in the\nship\u2019s rigging, flew into the minister\u2019s room and began talking to each\nother. The king just because he was standing close to the minister was\nable to follow what they were saying. The parrot said to the maina \u201cThe\nking is very sad at the fate of his minister; but he could bring him\nback to life now, if he wanted to.\u201d \u201cHow could he?\u201d asked the maina.\nThe parrot answered \u201cIf he kills his own son and sprinkles his blood\nover the stone body, the minister will become flesh and blood once\nmore.\u201d The king thought long and deeply where his duty lay; at last he\nfelt that he owed more to the faithful minister who had saved his life\nthree times than to his son. He drew his sword, cut off the little\nboy\u2019s head and sprinkled his blood over the marble body. The minister\nat once came to life again. Nor was this all. The minister learning of\nthe death of the little prince prayed so earnestly to God to bring him\nback to life that his prayer was granted. The king then took the\nminister and the little prince to the queen\u2019s room and told her all\nthat had happened. She agreed that the king had acted rightly, even\nthough his act would but for God\u2019s mercy, have cost her her son. The\nminister once more resumed his duties; and he and the king, the queen\nand the little prince lived together happily for ever so long\nafterwards.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE NOOSE OF MURAD.\n\n\nNear the small town of Naushahro in the district of Nawabshah, there is\nan old fort called Murad jo Killo or Murad\u2019s Fort. It is a big place,\nbut crumbling to ruins; still the walls that remain are so wide that\nthree men, so it is said, can sleep on them side by side. There is also\nin that part of the country a proverbial saying, used when anyone\ngrumbles at his lot, \u201cDoes he want Murad jo phaho\u201d (the noose of\nMurad). Now this is the tale that is told both of the fort and of the\nproverbial saying:\n\nSomewhere in the early part of the eighteenth century, when Nur Mahomed\nKalhoro was ruler of Sind, he had as jamadar or headman of his\ngrass-cutters a certain Murad, known as Murad Ganjo or Murad the Bald.\nSo completely had his hair vanished, that you might have looked all\nover his head from north to south and from east to west and then any\nother way you liked, but you would not have found a single hair on any\npart of it. Murad used daily to inspect the grass-cutters\u2019 work and\nwhen on this duty, he noticed an old half-mad woman called Fatima. For\nsome days he paid no attention to her. Then it occurred to him that the\nold woman might be a witch or sorceress, whom it might be well to\npropitiate; so he reverently went up to her and asked for her blessing.\nThe old woman looked at him attentively and then blessed him, adding\n\u201cMurad the Bald, you will become a kardar,\u201d or as we should say\nnowadays a tapedar or talati. Murad thought no more about the prophecy\nuntil one day Nur Mahomed Kalhoro, in return for Murad\u2019s honesty and\nhard work, promoted him from jamadar of grass-cutters to be a kardar.\n\nMurad was now quite certain that the old woman was a real sorceress,\none to be made much of in every way. For many months he brought her\ndaily small gifts of food or money; then he summoned up courage to ask\nagain for her blessing. Again the old woman looked at him intently,\nblessed him and added \u201cMurad the Bald, you will be a naib subha,\u201d or as\nwe should say nowadays a Deputy Collector. Not many months passed\nbefore Nur Mahomed Kalhoro, still more pleased with Murad\u2019s steady and\nfaithful work, promoted him to be a Naib Subha. There is a French\nproverb which says L\u2019app\u00e9tit vient en mangeant, that is to say the\ngreedy are never satisfied; and Murad began to feel soon that the post\nof Naib Subha was far beneath his merits. He plied the old woman with\nmore valuable gifts and for the third time asked her blessing. She\nlooked intently at him as before and blessing him for the third time\nsaid \u201cMurad the Bald, you will become a subha\u201d or as we should say a\nCollector of a district. Murad the Bald not very long afterwards was\ngiven charge of a district, thereby reaching a post far above his\ndeserts. He was still an ignorant, unlettered boor and for a time he\nwas fully satisfied with his office. He built the great fort known as\nMurad jo Killo and seemed perfectly contented. But after a year or two\nbe began to think that the old woman, who had raised him so high, might\nraise him higher still, might make him a king or perhaps even emperor\nof Delhi. After all stranger things had happened before and \u201cAllah\nalone knoweth all.\u201d Tortured by his insatiable greed, Murad the Bald\nshowered jewels and gold on the old woman and for the fourth time asked\nfor her blessing. But this time a terrible thing occurred. Instead of\nthe fixed kindly look, that she had been used to give him, her eyes\nflashed with demoniac fury and instead of a blessing, she cursed him\n\u201cMurad the Bald,\u201d she screamed at him \u201cyou will rise higher still, you\nwill be hanged.\u201d Poor Murad left the witch as she raved and gnashed her\nteeth and going home, tried in vain to put the matter out of his mind.\n\nNow it so happened that the Afghan ruler of Multan, Nadir Khan by name,\nlost the youngest and most beautiful of his wives. She fell in love\nwith one of her lord\u2019s servants and ran away with him right out of the\nMultan province into Murad\u2019s district. She took with her a huge diamond\nand a priceless manuscript on surgery and medicine. Murad the Bald came\nto hear of the arrival of the two fugitives and promptly took from them\nthe diamond and the manuscript, which he stored in the royal treasure\nhouse of Nur Mahomed Kalhoro. The queen and her lover, fearing that\nthey might themselves be detained and given over to Nadir Khan, fled\nfrom Sind pretending that they were going on a pilgrimage to Mecca.\n\nIn the meantime the indignant Nadir Khan in vain looked all over his\nkingdom for his missing queen and servant. At last he learnt that she\nand her lover had fled into the lands of Nur Mahomed Kalhoro. Nadir\nKhan summoned his army and marching to the frontier, demanded the\nsurrender of the queen and her lover, the diamond and the manuscript.\nNur Mahomed Kalhoro enquired of Murad and learnt that the guilty couple\nhad fled, but that the diamond and the manuscript were safe in his\ntreasury. He sent back the manuscript and the diamond. \u201cThese came into\nour hands,\u201d he wrote, \u201cbut they do not belong to us. The guilty couple\nhave fled, so we cannot return them, but take the manuscript and the\ndiamond since they are yours. We do not want them nor do we wish for\nwar. Nevertheless, if you are bent on war, we shall accept your\nchallenge. We shall gladly shew you how strong are our arms and how\nsharp are our swords.\u201d\n\nNadir Khan liked Nur Mahomed\u2019s answer and instead of war there was\npeace, and instead of battles and skirmishes there were visits and\nreviews and banquets. Nevertheless Nadir the Afghan was not quite sure\nthat Nur Mahomed Kalhoro had not seized his beautiful queen and hidden\nher in some deep recess of his own harem. He sent for Murad and begged\nhim to speak the truth: \u201cIf my queen and servant have really gone to\nMecca, it is useless to search for them here; but if Nur Mahomed\nKalhoro is secretly keeping my queen, then I shall slay him and give\nhis throne to the man, who tells me the whole truth.\u201d As Murad listened\nto the words of the Afghan, Satan the Stoned seized his five senses.\nForgetting all his master\u2019s kindness and favours, he thought to himself\nthat there now stretched in front of him an open and easy road to a\nthrone. With seeming reluctance he confessed that the queen and her\nparamour had never left Sind. Nur Mahomed Kalhoro had taken the queen\nto be his concubine and had cut off the head of her paramour with a\nsingle stroke of his sword, just as if he had been a buffalo. Nadir the\nAfghan believing Murad and angry at what he believed to be the double\ndealing of Nur Mahomed Kalhoro, resolved to march into Sind and to seat\nMurad on the throne in his place. He had gone only one march when the\nnews reached him that his missing queen and her lover had been found in\nthe country of a neighbouring Raja, who was sending them back in chains\nto their master.\n\nNadir the Afghan was now as angry with Murad as he had been with Nur\nMahomed Kalhoro. He told the latter the lying tale told by his subha\nMurad. Mahomed Nur was shocked at the ingratitude of the base born\nwretch on whom he had lavished favours. His horsemen rode out and\nseized Murad the Bald and at the king\u2019s orders, hanged him from the\nbattlements of his own fortress. So ended the fortunes of the greedy\nand faithless adventurer; and that is why men say to-day that it is\nbetter to be contented with one\u2019s lot than to rise so high that in the\nend one dangles from the end of a rope forty or fifty feet above the\nground.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAKLI HILL.\n\n\nMost English visitors to Tatta go there for the shooting only and I\nshould be the last to blame them. Below the ancient fort of Kalankot\nnear Tatta is a lake of the same name. It is quite shallow and\novergrown with tall reeds, the home of innumerable duck. They rise all\nround, as one is poled in boats through lanes cut among the reeds and\nquick eye and hand are needed before they can be bagged. But close to\nthe bungalow are a number of ancient tombs; and as no record of their\nowners is to be found on the walls, a few facts about them may prove\ninteresting to future visitors.\n\nThe tombs are built on a ridge known as the Makli Hill. Two derivations\nof the name are given. Some say that the hill owes its title to a pious\nwoman called Makli who lived and was buried on it. Others say that a\nholy man gave it the name of Makli because he deemed it Maka laali or\nthe threshold of Mecca. Whatever the true origin may be, let us take\nthe tombs from north to south and put down what we know about them. The\nfarthest to the north is a brick tomb on a masonry plinth, plastered\nand white-washed. Beneath it lie the earthly remains of Sayad Ali\nShirazi. Great saint though he was, he would long ago have been\nforgotten, save for the fact that for a moment his career touched that\nof the great Akbar. The Emperor Humayun, defeated in battle after\nbattle by the great Afghan soldier Sher Shah, fled to Sind. After\ntrying in vain to establish himself at Sehwan and Bukkur, he started\nfor Bikanir, only to learn that the Chief meant to hand him over to his\nenemy. He turned back and made his way first to Jasalmir and then\nthrough the desert to Umarkot. Most of his companions died of thirst.\nThe others losing in their misery all respect for their leader, let him\nwalk so that his wife, Akbar\u2019s mother, should ride. At last with only\nseven attendants he reached Umarkot and there on the 14th October 1542\nAkbar was born. Humayun had neither gifts to distribute to his friends\nnor clothes in which to wrap the baby. The first difficulty he overcame\nby breaking a pod of musk and letting its perfume spread among his\nguests, at the same time exclaiming with prophetic truth that his baby\nboy\u2019s fame would diffuse itself through the world like the fragrance of\nthe musk. The second difficulty he met by cutting Akbar\u2019s first garment\nout of the coat of Sayad Ali Shirazi, who had been sent by the people\nof Tatta with gifts and greetings. Ali Shirazi lived for thirty years\nafterwards and the date of his burial is inscribed on his tomb, viz.,\n1752 A.D.\n\nSouth of the Sayad\u2019s tomb is that of Makli, the eponymous heroine of\nthe hill, and south of Makli\u2019s is that of Jam Nindo. It is easily\ndistinguished as it has no roof and its stones were evidently taken\nfrom some ancient Hindu temple. Jam Nindo or the Little Jam was the\nfounder of Tatta. His real name was Jam Nizam-ud-din and he was a Samma\nby caste. Here we must go back into early Sind History. When the Afghan\nEmperor Ala-ud-din Khilji conquered Sind, a Rajput tribe named the\nSumras were in possession. Subdued then, they successfully revolted in\nthe reign of Ghazi-ud-din Tughlak. In the middle of the 14th century,\nhowever, they were ousted by another Rajput tribe the Sammas. The\nlatter ruled Sind from 1350 A.D. to 1521 A.D. But until Jam Nindo\u2019s\ntime they did not live at Tatta. They lived at Samui three miles to the\nnorthwest. When Jam Nindo had established his power and cleared the\nland of robbers, he thought he would build a new town, \u201cwherein\nhappiness might remain for ever.\u201d He chose a site to the east of the\nMakli Hill and on a day picked out by the Brahmans, he founded his\ncity, Tatta. There he ruled for at least fifty years and was buried on\nthe Makli Hill. Another Samma chief buried there was Jam Tamachi. He\nwas the Jam who loved the fisher maiden Nuri and was the ancestor of\nthe Jadeja Raos of Cutch. But it is not possible to say with certainty\nwhich his tomb is! [3]\n\nJam Nindo\u2019s son and successor was Jam Feroz. But the new Jam loved too\nwarmly the beauty of his dancing girls and the jokes of his jesters to\nbe a good ruler. The result was that in 1521 A.D. he was driven from\nhis throne by Shahbeg Arghun, who had himself been driven from Kandahar\nby the lion-hearted Babar. In 1536 A.D. Shah Hussein Arghun succeeded\nhis father Shahbeg and was the ruler of Sind when Humayun fled to it\nand Akbar was born. In 1554 he died and Mirza Isa Tarkhan, the founder\nof the Tarkhan Dynasty, became master of Tatta. It is to his tomb to\nwhich we come, shortly after saying goodbye to Jam Nindo\u2019s. Isa Khan\u2019s\nlast dwelling place stands in a large courtyard close to an old mosque.\nThe tomb is entirely of carved stone with perforated slabs let in here\nand there. It was in Mirza Isa\u2019s time that the Portuguese sacked Tatta.\nIt seems that in 1555 Mirza Isa Khan quarrelled with Sultan Mahmud the\nGovernor of Bukkur by whose aid he had become King of Sind. Isa Khan\nsent an envoy to Goa to ask help from the Portuguese. The fame of that\nnation in India was then at its height. Only a few years before they\nhad helped the King of Guzarat to drive out Humayun and in return had\nreceived Bassein and the whole Province of the north including Salsette\nIsland. With their aid Isa Khan felt sure that he could humble Sultan\nMahmud. On the other hand, no doubt, the Portuguese Governor-General\ndreamed visions of a second northern province on the banks of the\nIndus. He sent a fleet of 28 ships with 700 men under Pedro Baretto.\nThe gallant Pedro duly sailed up the Indus and reaching Tatta asked for\norders. In the meantime, however, Isa Khan had in several actions\ninstilled into Sultan Mahmud Khan a sense of his inferiority and had\nforced him to sue for peace. Isa Khan sent word from Bukkur that he no\nlonger needed Portuguese help. Pedro then asked for the cost of the\nexpedition, estimated, I dare say, on a liberal scale. Isa Khan\npolitely refused to pay. Dom Pedro flew into a rage, sacked Tatta,\nkilled 800 people, took away two millions sterling and left the town in\nflames. Isa Khan rebuilt the town but he entered into no more alliances\nwith the Portuguese. He ruled prosperously until 1572 A.D. when he died\nand was buried on the Makli Hill.\n\nOn Isa Khan\u2019s death his son Mahomed Baki succeeded him. His tomb is a\nsmall ruined brick enclosure, the one immediately to the north of Tural\nBeg\u2019s, of whom I shall say a word or two later. Isa Khan\u2019s tomb is a\npoor thing compared  with his father\u2019s and his son\u2019s, but then so was\nMahomed Baki himself. For twelve years he gave the good people of Tatta\na dreadful time. To slit their ears and noses and shave off their\nbeards was the favourite pastime of his leisure moments. To hang them,\nimpale them and throw them under the feet of his elephants was the\nserious business of his life. At last in 1584, having lived to see his\ndaughter returned with thanks by the Emperor Akbar, he committed\nsuicide. To him succeeded his son Jani Beg, whose tomb is the\nsouthernmost of all. It is of brick, faced with glazed blue and green\ntiles. It has a perforated window above the door and there are\ngeometric tracery windows also on the four sides. By the time Jani Beg\nhad succeeded his father, the genius of Akbar was at its zenith. Sultan\nMahmud of Bukkur yielded to the great Emperor his sovereignty without a\nblow. But Jani Beg was of sterner stuff. Entrenching himself behind the\nriver Phito, he withstood for some months the imperial forces. Driven\nfrom his trenches he fell back on the great fort of Kalankot; but that\nAkbar should not use Tatta as his base, he destroyed it and left the\nemperor a smouldering ruin. Yet brave as he was, he had at last to kiss\nthe stirrup of the world conqueror, was graciously received and\nconfirmed as imperial governor of Tatta. He died there in 1599. The\nEmperor confirmed in his place his son Ghazi Beg. The latter lived\nuntil 1612, when he was murdered. His body was buried in the same tomb\nas Jani Beg and the common grave was for many years the scene of a\ncurious pilgrimage. Both father and son were renowned as poets and\nmusicians and childless couples who desired off-spring, used to visit\ntheir tomb and try and win the favour of their spirits by songs and\ninstruments. But efficacious as his spiritual aid may have been in\nprocuring sons for barren women, poor Ghazi remained childless himself.\nHe had no son and with him the Tarkhan dynasty of Sind ended.\n\nThe Moghul emperors thereafter ruled Sind through governors appointed\ndirectly from Delhi. The Tomb of Diwan Shurfa Khan, the minister of one\nof these governors, Amirkhan by name, is one of the best preserved on\nMakli Hill. Another less well preserved, but even more imposing tomb,\nthat of Nawab Isa Khan, dates from the same period A.D. 1628\u20131644. It\nhas an upper storey to which leads a flight of stairs. To the east of\nIsa Khan\u2019s tomb are the graves of the ladies of his ample Zanana. To\nthe south of Isakhan\u2019s tomb is quite a small one, that of Mirza Tural\nBeg. It appears that he misused his position by artificially forcing up\nthe price of grain and then selling his stock at a large profit. He was\nso hated in his life-time that he took the precaution to build his own\ntomb. But even so he did not escape infamy. He was nicknamed the\n\u201cDukario\u201d or \u201cFamine Man\u201d and every one who passed his grave used\nregularly to heave a stone at it. In time the stones were piled up\nright to the stone canopy above it. Fortunately for the \u201cFamine Man\u201d\nthe Public Works Department have taken charge of his tomb and have\nremoved the stones. But his memory is still detested and his present\naddress is believed to be somewhere in the very centre of the flaming\nhalls of Iblis.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLARKANA.\n\n\nA few miles from Larkana at a place called Fatehpur is a handsome\nmosque. In its courtyard hang innumerable bells. I long tried in vain\nto learn its history but at last I obtained from Mr. Bherumal,\nInspector of Excise, the following legend.\n\nThe town of Larkana derives its name from the tribe of Larak and was\nprobably at one time called Larakanjo got or the village of the Larak\ntribesmen. They were followers of a family known to history as the\nKalhoras, whose family name Abbassi lent strength to their claim that\nthey were sprung from the loins of Abbas, the uncle of the holy\nProphet. After the conquest of Sind by Akbar, it became a province of\nthe Moghul empire; but with the decline of the imperial power,\nauthority relaxed and disorder grew. Of this disorder the Kalhoras took\nadvantage. The first great Kalhoro was Adam Shah, who \u201cdrank the\nsherbet of martyrdom at Multan\u201d or in simpler language was killed in an\nobscure fight with the Moghul governor of that city. Adam Shah\u2019s\ngrandson Shahlal Mahomed was the famous saint, whose memory still lives\nin the Fatehpur mosque. His first and perhaps greatest\u2014certainly his\nmost useful\u2014miracle was the digging of the Ghar canal that runs past\nLarkana town. He did not dig it with a spade. His methods were simpler\nand more efficient. He mounted a Kando or thorn tree. Once firmly\nseated in its upper branches, he made the wretched vegetable drag its\nroots from Larkana to Kambar, a distance of twelve miles. In the deep\nhollow caused by the progress of the Kando tree, flowed the obedient\nwater. The stream so created came to be known as the Shahlal Wah or the\ncanal of Shahlal Mahomed. Many years later Mian Nur Mahomed Kalhoro\nwidened the Shahlal Wah and changed its name to Ghar canal, i.e., the\ncanal broken by the tree driven by the Saint\u2019s superhuman powers. The\nGhar canal bears this name to the present day and the tree which\nShahlal Mahomed used as his humble instrument is still pointed out on\nthe bank of the Chilo canal in the Kambar taluka.\n\nThe miracle of the Ghar canal was followed by so many others that the\nimperial governor became alarmed at the Saint\u2019s growing fame and power.\nHe reported the facts to Aurangzeb and obtained that emperor\u2019s leave to\nshorten Shahlal Mahomed\u2019s stature by a head. After a mighty resistance\nthe Saint was taken captive and executed. The governor put his head in\na wooden box and sealing it sent it in charge of a police guard to the\nemperor\u2019s camp. When the police guard reached Lahore they out of\ncuriosity opened the box, in order to see what the head looked like.\nThe lid was no sooner lifted than the head flew out and made its way\nthrough the air to Shahlal Mahomed\u2019s favourite village of Fatehpur,\nwherein the Saint\u2019s body lay buried. The police guard were so alarmed\nat the strange behaviour of the head that they dared neither return to\nLarkana nor go on to Delhi. They buried the empty box in Lahore and\nbuilding a shrine over it, appointed themselves its guardians.\n\nThe emperor, however, who was eagerly expecting the sealed box, got\ndisturbed at its delay. He sent a body of troops to Lahore to find out\nwhat had happened to it. At first they could find out nothing. At last\nhearing of the new shrine, they went there and extorted from its\nguardians the whole truth. They then dug up the ground and unearthed\nthe box. Opening it they found it, not only to their own amazement but\nto that of the quondam police guard, by no means empty. It contained\nanother head of Shahlal Mahomed exactly similar to the one that had\nflown away. The troops carried away box and head and showed them to\nAurangzeb. Convinced of the miracle, the devout emperor felt sure that\nhe had killed a Saint. To show his repentance of his cruel deed, he had\na tomb built at Delhi over the box and the head. In the meantime, the\nLarak tribe and the other countless disciples of Shahlal Mahomed had\nbuilt the mosque at Fatehpur over the holy man\u2019s body and true head,\nonce more in union. Thus the great saint is honoured by no less than\nthree tombs, one at Fatehpur, where lie his real head and body, a\nsecond at Lahore where the empty box was buried and disinterred, and a\nthird at Delhi where the second head lies.\n\nThe descendants of Shahlal Mahomed were the famous Kalhoro Mirs who\nruled Sind until overthrown by the Talpurs. Their capital was\nHaidarabad but they always loved Larkana for the sake of their\nancestor; and the fame of its prosperity and wealth under the Kalhoros\nis still preserved in the well-known couplet\n\n\n                        Hujie Nano\n                        Ta gumh Larkano\n\n\nIf you have money (to spend) then go to Larkana.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTWO LOVE TRAGEDIES.\n\nKUTTEJI KABAR AND MAUSUM SHAH.\n\n\nOne of the highest peaks of the Baluch mountains along the frontier of\nthe Larkana district is known as the Kutteji kabar. This is the tale\nthey tell about it. Once upon a time a rich Brohi hillman owned a very\nfaithful and obedient dog. The Brohi was at one time rich, but from one\ncause or another he lost his wealth and of all his riches nothing was\nleft to him but his dog. One day when he had no money left, he\nmortgaged his dog for a hundred rupees to a bania of the neighbourhood.\nBefore leaving it, he bade his hound serve its new master as faithfully\nas it had served him. The dog wagged its tail as if it fully understood\nwhat the hillman told him.\n\nSeveral months passed by and the dog was as obedient to the bania as it\nhad been to the Brohi. One night a band of fierce robbers broke into\nthe house of the bania, over-powered the inmates and carried off the\nsavings of the merchant\u2019s life-time. After the robbers had left, the\nbania began to mourn and beat his breast. In an hour or so the dog came\nto him and tugged at his coat. The bania abused and beat it for not\nhaving guarded him against the robbers. But the dog continued so to\npull at his coat, that the neighbours advised him to go with the dog\nand see what it wanted. The dog led by the way for a mile or so until\nit came to a torrent bed, when it began to dig in the ground with its\npaws. The bania and his neighbours also began to dig; at last they came\nupon the bania\u2019s safe with his money secure inside it. The dog seeing\nthat it could not fight with success against a band of armed robbers,\nwaited until they had left and then followed them until it saw them\nconceal their plunder. Then it went back to tell the bania. The latter\nwas so touched at the dog\u2019s fidelity and sense that he tied round its\nneck a letter to the Brohi. In it he told his debtor that he cancelled\nhis debt and asked him to take his dog back free of incumbrances. Then\nhe told the dog to go back to its master. Off it went wagging its tail\nand barking delightedly at the thought of seeing its old master.\n\nNow it so chanced that the Brohi hillman had by working in the plains\nsaved a sum sufficient to pay off his debt and he was returning to the\nhills to do so. On the way he met his hound. It rushed towards him in a\ntransport of joy. But the hillman who knew nothing of the dog\u2019s conduct\nand did not notice the letter round its neck, thought that it had\ndisgraced him by running away from his creditor before he had paid his\ndebt. A man of high honour, he grew very angry and holding out the\nfingers of his right hand made the bhundo sign in the dog\u2019s face. This\ndeadly and contemptuous insult was too much for the poor dog. It fell\nat its master\u2019s feet and died on the spot. The Brohi tried in vain to\nbring it back to life. As he tried, he saw the bania\u2019s letter round its\nneck and learnt too late how innocent the dead dog had been. In his\ngrief, he bore the dog\u2019s body to the highest peak of the neighbouring\nmountains and buried it there. For some time he remained by the tomb as\nits majawar or guardian. Then he sickened and died also. But the peak\nis still known as Kutteji kabar.\n\nAnother love story of a different kind is told of the minaret of Mausum\nShah, that looks down from a great height on the thriving town of\nSukkur and the splendid river Indus, as it runs through its two\nlimestone banks. A certain Musulman called Mausumshah fell in love with\none of the bania girls of Sukkur, whose beauty is renowned through all\nSind. But he was a Musulman and the lady was a Hindu. The lady would\nnot join Islam and he could not, if he would, become a Hindu. Yet\nunless one or the other became a convert, marriage between them was\nimpossible. The lady moreover had little liking for her Musulman wooer,\nalthough perhaps a little flattered by his pressing attentions. To be\nrid of his ardent importunities, she bade him build a minaret, two\nhundred feet high before he aspired to her hand. But she had not\nrealised the passion of the unhappy Mausum Shah. He set to work,\ncollected stones and coolies and before the Hindu lady was very much\nolder, she saw to her horror a splendid minaret rising above the\nground. In a few more months it was finished and Mausum Shah full of\npride and love went to claim the hand of his beloved. But as Francis\nthe First, an experienced judge of the fair sex, used to say \u201cSouvent\nfemme varie, fol qui s\u2019y fie,\u201d and the lady proved as untractable as\never. In spite of her former implied promise she still refused to wed a\ncircumcised barbarian. \u201cI did not say that I would marry you,\u201d she said\n\u201cwhen you had finished the minaret. I only wanted you to build it that\nyou might throw yourself from the top!\u201d Cruelty could go no further;\nand the broken-hearted lover ascending the minaret, took a last view of\nthe splendid panorama unrolled before his eyes and plunged head first\nfrom the pinnacle. Legend, however, relates that he never struck the\nground, nor was he dashed to pieces. A divine hand caught him as he\nfell and put him safely on his feet. His love for the beautiful Hindu\ngirl had died within him. He had seen the selfish heart that beat\nwithin her beautiful body. Giving up the things of this world, he\nbecame an anchorite and taught the precepts of Islam until death\novertook him. He was buried at the foot of the tower from which he had\nonce thrown himself. And to this day his tomb and those of his\ndisciples may be seen there by the visitor to Sukkur.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSWAMI VANKHANDI OF SADH BELO.\n\n\nThe early history of Sadh Belo is closely connected with that of the\nfamous Swami Vankhandi. Swami Vankhandi had been incarnated once in the\nseventeenth century, for we find him receiving worship as early as\n1710. We, however, are only concerned with his second incarnation,\nwhich occurred in or about A.D. 1764. In the later descent on earth he\nlived and practised yog or asceticism at Muran Jharee in the territory\nof H.H. The Maharaja of Nepal. While he was still a young man his\nreputation for holiness spread far and wide; but it aroused the envy\nand malice of another anchorite of Muran Jharee named Gusai Sanyasi\nSadhu. At last Gusai could contain himself no longer and made his way\nto the court of the Maharaja. There he told his sovereign that a\ncertain sadhu of Muran Jharee had vowed by his austerities to destroy\nthe kingdom. He warned the Maharaja that for several months the Sadhu\nhad touched neither food nor water and he begged his master to destroy\nthe Sadhu before it was too late. The Maharaja was alarmed and sent an\narmy to take prisoner the seditious anchorite and bring him to\nKathmandu, the chief town of Nepal.\n\nWhen the army appeared at Muran Jharee, they found Swami Vankhandi\nabsorbed in contemplation. As they watched him their own warlike spirit\nebbed away and they were filled with a great calm; without saying a\nword they waited until the Swami thought fit to lift his eyes towards\nthem. The Nepal General then told the Swami that he had received orders\nto take him prisoner and humbly implored his pardon. The Swami forgave\nhim and told him that he would go on ahead of the army and wait for\nthem at Kathmandu. With these words the Swami vanished and although the\nGeneral and his officers searched for him everywhere, they could not\nfind him. At last they returned to Kathmandu and just outside the\nwalls, they found the Swami sitting in a deep religious trance, in the\nshade of a banian tree. They did not disturb him but went straight to\nthe Maharaja, to whom they told all that had happened. The Maharaja saw\nthat he had been deceived by the wicked Gusai and drove him from the\ntown; then he asked for the pardon and blessing of Swami Vankhandi. The\nSwami saw that the Maharaja had truly repented and forgave and blessed\nhim. Then he vanished and in the twinkling of an eye was once more to\nbe seen at his own place in Muran Jharee.\n\nMany and great were the miracles recorded of Swami Vankhandi, but the\none that will interest English readers most is the summary way in which\nhe dealt with a certain Captain Pauk Wales, a gentleman whom I have not\nbeen able to trace in English works of reference. In 1822 Swami\nVankhandi after many pilgrimages to the holy shrines of India came to\nSind. Cholera was then raging in Haidarabad, but the Swami\u2019s presence\nproved sufficient to drive it away. From Haidarabad he went to Khairpur\nand Rohri and seeing Sadh Belo island in the river Indus near Sukkur\nresolved to settle there and found a monastery. There he lived for\ntwenty years until such time as Sir Charles Napier conquered Sind and\nappointed Captain Pauk Wales as Collector of the Shikarpur district.\nCaptain Pauk Wales, wholly ignorant of the power and fame of the Swami,\nthought that Sadh Belo island would be an ideal place for a collector\u2019s\nbungalow. With Captain Pauk Wales, action followed swiftly on the heels\nof thought. He sent for masons and building materials and began to\nbuild a bungalow. But every morning that he went to look at the work,\nhe found that during the night it had been levelled with the ground. He\nwas convinced that the masons and the Swami were acting in collusion\nand he set a guard of English soldiers over Sadh Belo. Although the\nsoldiers never closed their eyes all night, Captain Pauk Wales next day\nfound that not only had the masonry work been thrown down in the night,\nbut that the bricks, mortar and all the building materials collected by\nhim had vanished. In a rage he went up to the Swami and roundly abused\nhim. While Captain Pauk Wales was swearing horribly, the Swami, shocked\nbeyond measure, vanished into thin air. That night both Captain Pauk\nWales and his wife were seized with internal pains of an agonising\ndescription. After a night of anguish Mrs. Pauk Wales advised her lord\nand master to beg the Swami\u2019s pardon. For a long time the Swami could\nnot be found, but with the aid of the townspeople, he was eventually\ntraced to a spot outside Sukkur, where he was quietly singing to\nhimself. Captain Pauk Wales threw himself at the Swami\u2019s feet and\npromised never more to interfere with his holy island.\n\nSwami Vankhandi lived on to the ripe age of a hundred. Feeling himself\nnigh to death, he sent for his disciples and warned them of his\napproaching end. He told them that he would hold his breath until his\nsoul departed. When they thought him dead, they should put a pat of\nbutter on his forehead. If it did not melt, it meant that he had ceased\nto live. They should then throw his corpse into the Indus river. The\ndisciples faithfully carried out their master\u2019s wishes and when the pat\nof butter did not melt on his forehead, they threw his body into the\ngreat river. They had barely done so, when a rich merchant of Shikarpur\ncame to Sadh Belo with a precious necklace of pearls for Vankhandi, of\nwhose death he was unaware. Learning that Vankhandi was no more, the\nmerchant refused to return to Shikarpur and infinitely firm of purpose,\nhe vowed to sit by the edge of the river and neither to eat nor to\ndrink until the Swami came himself to accept the necklace. On the\nsecond night the Swami in a dream promised that he would appear before\nhis devoted follower the next day. Fortified by the vision, the\nShikarpur merchant sat on by the edge of the stream. At noon the body\nof the Swami rose out of the Indus and the merchant put the necklace\nround its neck. The body then lay on the bank and the merchant called\nto him the anchorites of the place, who once more consigned reverently\nthe body of the Saint into the whirling waters of the mighty river.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\nGUZARAT FOLK STORIES.\n\n\nGUZARAT FOLK STORIES\u2014I.\n\nKING MANSING OF SIROHI.\n\n\nKing Mansing of Sirohi was a very brave Rajput; but he had one fault.\nHe was greatly addicted to opium, of which he used to drink daily vast\nquantities from the hand of his favourite queen. Now it so happened\nthat the Emperor of Delhi came to Rajputana and camped outside the\nwalls of Sirohi. All night long the emperor and his nobles drank deep\nand revelled, while beautiful dancing girls sang to them lascivious\nsongs. The noise of the music and the dancing could be heard from King\nMansing\u2019s palace; and all one night, as the king slept, his favourite\nqueen sat up and listened to it. When Mansing awoke, his queen gave him\nhis opium. As he drank it, she talked about the wonderful revels of the\nemperor and the noise of his music and the lights that blazed all night\nin his camp. At first Mansing paid no heed to his queen\u2019s chatter; but\nat last he got cross and told her not to mention in his presence the\nname of the Mleccha emperor. The queen was so infatuated with what she\nhad seen and heard that she would not stop, but began to compare the\ngaiety of the emperor\u2019s camp with the dullness of life in Sirohi. At\nlast the king lost all patience and boxing his wife\u2019s ears told her\nthat if she thought so much of the emperor\u2019s camp, she had better go\nthere.\n\nThe queen left the room in a rage and all that day brooded over the\nking\u2019s words. That night she took her maid with her and stole out of\nthe palace and through the city walls into the emperor\u2019s camp. When she\nreached his tent, she sent her maid to tell the emperor. He was\nlistening to the singing of his dancing girls and the music of his\nplayers; but as soon as he learnt that the queen was outside, he\nstopped the music and the singing and had the queen brought before him\nwith the greatest respect. As she entered the tent the whole company\nrose and greeted her. The emperor asked her why she had come. She\nreplied \u201cGrant me a boon, shelter of the world, and I shall tell you.\u201d\nThe emperor replied \u201cThe boon is yours; you have but to name it.\u201d The\nqueen told the emperor all that had happened and claimed as a boon that\nthe emperor should marry her. After she had spoken, she took the\nemperor\u2019s cup in her hands and drank from it, thus breaking her caste\nin the sight of all. The emperor had no wish to quarrel with King\nMansing of Sirohi, but having made the queen a promise, he had to keep\nit. He called the kazi and married the queen. The same night he left\nSirohi and marched back to Delhi.\n\nThe king had seen the queen leave his room in a rage, but he thought no\nmore of the matter until next morning, when she did not come with his\nopium. He sent for her; but as she did not come he called her maids and\nforced from their trembling lips the truth. The king said nothing, but\nswallowing a prodigious quantity of opium, he put on his armour and\nsummoned his chiefs and nobles. When they had assembled, he told them\nthat the emperor had seduced his queen and then like a coward had run\naway to Delhi. The chiefs and nobles all vowed vengeance and bade the\nking call out his troops. At noon the king held a great parade; but\nwhen he came to count his warriors, he found that they barely numbered\n6,000. On hearing this, the king\u2019s minister Motishah told him that he\ncould do nothing with only 6,000 men against the 120,000 men led by the\nemperor. \u201cWhat then can I do?\u201d cried the king. \u201cLet us go to Delhi in\ndisguise,\u201d said Motishah. \u201cThere we shall be able to hit on some plan\nto win back the queen.\u201d The king agreed; and disguising themselves as\ntwo Rajput soldiers, he and Motishah rode from Sirohi to Delhi. At\nDelhi they put up with a mali woman, who worked in the imperial\ngardens. From her they learnt that the emperor fearing a rescue, had\ndug round the queen\u2019s palace no less than seven trenches. Of these six\nwere filled with water and the inner one with fire. Outside the\ntrenches he had built a mighty wall.\n\nThat night the king and Motishah disguised as mendicants, but with\nswords and shields hidden beneath their yellow robes sallied forth to\nthe queen\u2019s palace. On coming to the wall, Motishah climbed on to the\nking\u2019s shoulders and thence on to the wall. He let down his turban and\nby its means hauled the king after him. As both could swim, they easily\ncrossed the six water trenches. They had hoped to find the fire-trench\nburning low at night. But the king\u2019s guards before going home had\nfilled it with fresh wood and it was burning fiercely. Motishah threw\nhis shield into the middle and jumped on to it. But so great was the\nheat that he soon felt that his legs would be burnt off. So keeping his\nright leg on the shield, he kept his left leg as high as he could, to\nsave it from the flames. He supported himself on his spear while the\nking sprang on his shoulders and leapt to the far side of the trench.\nNear the palace was a tall palm tree. Mansing climbed it and reaching\nthe top, tied his turban to one of the branches. He then swung on his\nturban to and fro until he was able to swing into one of the windows of\nthe upper storey of the palace. He tied his turban to the window sill\nand went inside. In a room close by he saw his queen sleeping with the\nemperor. At first he felt so angry that he would have killed them both,\nas they slept. Then he remembered that he was a Rajput and that it was\nwrong to kill a helpless enemy. So he woke the queen and with the point\nof his sword at her throat, he made her get up without waking the\nemperor. Tying a rope round her arms and legs and throwing her like a\nbundle across his back, he swung back to the palm tree by his turban\nand slid to the ground.\n\nPoor Motishah\u2019s right leg was by this time all but burnt off; but when\nhe saw the king coming back he put his left leg on the shield and over\nhis shoulders the king climbed across the fire trench. But he could not\nsave his minister. No sooner had Mansing reached safety than poor\nMotishah fainted and falling into the trench was burnt to ashes.\nMansing swam with his queen on his back across the six water trenches.\nBy the aid of Motishah\u2019s turban, which still hung from the wall, he\nclimbed over it and pulled his wife after him. He seated her on his\nhorse and mounting Motishah\u2019s mare, galloped off towards Sirohi. When\nthey had ridden some fifty miles, Mansing stopped to have his morning\ndose of opium. He then discovered for the first time that he had\ndropped his opium box inside the emperor\u2019s palace. Addicted as he was\nto the drug, he could do without food, but he could not do without his\nopium. It would have been useless for him to ride further, for he would\nhave fallen off the saddle. After stamping on the ground several times\nwith rage, he tied his queen to a tree. Then he lay down on the ground\nand covering his head with a sheet fell asleep.\n\nIn the meantime the emperor had awakened and had missed the Sirohi\nqueen. He asked his guards and his servants and searched everywhere for\nher but in vain. Then his eyes fell on Mansing\u2019s gold opium box. He\npicked it up and saw engraved on it the name \u201cMansing.\u201d He summoned to\nhim his nobles and called for a volunteer to chase Mansing and bring\nhim back alive. A Musulman noble famed for his courage rose, saluted\nthe emperor and promised to bring the king back alive. He galloped\ntowards Sirohi and after riding 50 miles overtook the king and queen.\nMansing still lay asleep. The Musulman noble untied the queen but he\nrefused to kill Mansing, although she begged him to. He must bring him\nback alive, the Musulman said. He would give the king opium and then\ntake him back to Delhi. \u201cIf you give him opium,\u201d said the queen, \u201cyou\nwill never take him alive, he will kill you.\u201d The Musulman did not heed\nher, but mixing opium with water he poured it down Mansing\u2019s throat.\nDirectly Mansing recovered his senses, he refused to go back to Delhi.\nHe sprang on his horse and fought the Musulman. But Mansing was still\nfaint from his long privation and the Musulman disarmed him and tied\nhim to a tree. Leaving the queen to guard her husband the Musulman went\ndown the steps of a well to wash his face and hands. The queen seeing\nher chance, picked up Mansing\u2019s sword as it lay on the ground and\nstruck a blow at his head. Mansing jerked his head aside. The blade\nmissed his head and grazing his side cut through the rope which bound\nhim. In a moment he was free. Rushing at the queen, he twisted the\nsword from her hand and tied her to the tree. He mixed himself some\nmore opium. Then arming himself with sword and shield, he went to the\nmouth of the well and challenged the Musulman to a second fight. The\nMusulman came out of the well, but now that Mansing had had his full\ndose of opium, no one in the world could have beaten him. With a single\nsweep of his sword he severed the Musulman\u2019s head from his body. Then\ntying his wife\u2019s hands and feet to her horse, he rode back with her in\ntriumph to Sirohi. There all the nobles and common people rejoiced at\nthe king\u2019s feat of arms and were very angry with the queen, who had\nfirst left him and then had tried to kill him. Mansing had her tied to\na pillar in the market place. There everyone threw bricks and stones at\nher or hit her head with their shoes. She soon died and her body was\nburnt outside the city walls.\n\nThe emperor was very angry when he heard that Mansing had killed the\nbrave Musulman noble. He raised a great army and marched against\nSirohi. Yet small though the Sirohi army was, it won repeated victories\nover the Moghul troops. At last the emperor challenged the king to a\nduel, but the emperor was no match for the Rajput king. He was soon\nwounded and disarmed. As the price of his life, he agreed to make a\ntreaty by which he gave great wealth and wide lands to the king of\nSirohi.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGUZARAT FOLK STORIES\u2014II.\n\nTHE WISDOM SELLER.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a poor Brahman, who earned a tiny income\nas a clerk. He had one son, a bright, clever boy, who went to school\nand was a favourite alike of boys and masters. He might have risen to\ngreat learning, had his father lived. Unhappily before the boy had left\nschool the poor Brahman died. The boy had to leave school and try to\nkeep his mother and younger brothers and sisters. At first he became a\ncandidate for a clerkship in a public office. But this brought him no\npay; and although he wrote petitions in his spare time, he only earned\nthereby Rs. 3 or Rs. 4 a month. This sum was not enough to keep him and\nhis family from starving. One day he resolved to seek some other way of\nearning a living and this is what he did.\n\nHe went into the town and hired the smallest shop he could find. He\nspent the few annas he had in the world in buying some writing paper,\nan ink pot, a bottle of ink, a pen and an empty box. Over the shop he\ngot painted the words \u201cWISDOM SELLER.\u201d All round him were jewellers\u2019\nshops, cloth shops, green-grocers\u2019 shops. The other dealers waited for\ncustomers, but the green-grocers shouted to the passersby \u201cPumpkins!\nPumpkins!\u2014three pice a pound!\u201d The Brahman boy thought that he would do\nas the green-grocers did and when any one passed, he called out at the\ntop of his voice, \u201cWisdom! Wisdom! All kinds! All prices!\u201d At first the\npassersby could not make out what he meant. When they understood, they\ndid not think of buying his wares. They crowded round his shop and\nlaughed at him. \u201cWho would buy wisdom,\u201d they cried, \u201cespecially from a\nlad like that?\u201d But the Brahman boy did not mind them at all. He went\non shouting at the top of his voice \u201cWisdom! Wisdom! All kinds! All\nprices!\u201d For several days he made no money at all; but at last the\nwhole city got to hear of the new shop and four or five passersby\nstopped and bought an anna or two worth of wisdom. He was thus rather\nbetter off than when he had been an unpaid clerk; but he knew that when\nthe novelty wore off, he would get no more customers. Still he did not\ndespair.\n\nIt so happened that a certain Nagar lived in that city. He was really\nvery stupid; but he had inherited a large fortune from his father and\nso he thought himself very clever. Just to show off, he called his only\nson VIDHYA or LEARNING. But in spite of this grand name, the son was\njust as stupid as the father. One day Vidhya passed the Brahman boy\u2019s\nshop and heard him shout \u201cWisdom! Wisdom! All kinds! All prices!\u201d So\nfoolish was he, that he thought wisdom was a sort of vegetable. He\nfirst asked its price per pound. The Brahman boy said \u201cI sell not by\nweight, but by quality.\u201d Vidhya then put two pice on the counter and\nsaid he would take half an anna\u2019s worth. The boy wrote on a piece of\npaper \u201cIt is not wise to stand and watch two people fighting.\u201d He then\ntied the paper inside Vidhya\u2019s scarf and took the money. Vidhya went\nhome and said to his father \u201cI have bought some wisdom for two pice and\nit is tied inside my scarf. Let us undo the knot and look at it.\u201d His\nfather did not understand, but undid the knot and finding the paper\nread \u201cIt is not wise to stand and watch two people fighting.\u201d He was\nvery angry and said to his son \u201cWell, you are a fool! Fancy paying two\npice for this nonsense! Why, every one knows that it is not wise to\nstand and watch two people fighting.\u201d In a great rage the Nagar walked\nto the Brahman\u2019s shop and began to call out \u201cRogue! Thief! Cheat! you\ndid my son out of his money, just because he was a foolish boy. Give me\nback the two pice, or I shall call the police!\u201d The Brahman kept his\ntemper and said quietly: \u201cWhy are you so angry about nothing? I did not\nmake your son give me the two pice. He asked me to sell him so much\nwisdom and I did so. Give me back my wisdom and take back your money.\u201d\nAt once the Nagar threw the paper at the Brahman and cried: \u201cNow give\nme my money!\u201d The Brahman said \u201cNo, I said I would give you back your\nmoney if you gave me back my wisdom. You only offer me the paper. If\nyou want your two pice back, you must sign a document, binding your son\nnever to abide by my advice and always to stand and watch people\nfighting.\u201d The passersby took the side of the Brahman boy. The Nagar\nsigned the document and went away with his two pice, very pleased to\nget them back so cheaply.\n\nTwo or three months later each of the king\u2019s two queens sent her maid\nto buy her some groceries. They both went to the same grocer and both\ntried to buy the same article. As the grocer had only the one sample\nthey began to quarrel so fiercely that the grocer in a fright took to\nhis heels and ran out of the shop. But the two maids went on\nquarrelling. Just then Vidhya strolled up and saw the quarrel. Before\nmeeting the Brahman boy he would have run away; for stupid though he\nwas, he knew it was unsafe to stand and watch a fight especially\nbetween the two queens\u2019 maid-servants. But he remembered the promise\nmade by his father, so he went close up and watched. One of the maids\nnoticed him and called on him to witness that the other maid had struck\nher. The other maid retorted that so far from giving blows, she had\nreceived any number of them; and she, too, called on Vidhya to be her\nwitness. At last they separated and the maid-servants and Vidhya went\nto their several homes.\n\nThe two maids went to their mistresses and exaggerated what had\nhappened. The queens in turn became furious and sent their maids to\ncomplain to the king. At the same time each sent word to Vidhya that if\nhe did not depose in favour of her maid-servant he would be beheaded.\nVidhya was very frightened and told his father. The two talked the\nmatter over all that day and all the next night, but they could not\nfind a way of escape. At last Vidhya said \u201cLet us ask the Brahman boy,\nwho sells wisdom; if he really has any to sell, he may help me out.\u201d As\na last resort, the Nagar agreed and father and son went to the Brahman\nboy\u2019s shop and told him what had befallen Vidhya. The Brahman boy asked\nfor a fee of Rs. 500. On getting the money, he told Vidhya to feign\ninsanity and to pretend that he did not understand what the king asked\nhim. Next day the king heard the case. The king questioned him closely,\nbut no question would he answer. He merely gabbled all the time, until\nthe king lost all patience and drove him out of the court room. Very\npleased with himself, Vidhya ran home and to all whom he met he praised\nthe wisdom of the Brahman boy, whose fame thus spread through the whole\ncity.\n\nThe Nagar was at first delighted at his son\u2019s escape; then he began to\nreflect that his son must always feign insanity or the king would learn\nthat he had been tricked and would certainly cut Vidhya\u2019s head off. He\nwent to the Brahman boy, who asked for another fee of Rs. 500 which the\nNagar paid. \u201cVidhya should go to the king,\u201d said the Brahman boy, \u201cwhen\nhe is in a merry mood and tell him the whole story. When he is in a\ngood temper, he will laugh at it and forgive him.\u201d Vidhya followed the\nadvice and one day finding the king in a good humour he confessed\neverything. The king laughed heartily and forgave him. Then he sent for\nthe Brahman boy and asked him whether he would sell him wisdom and, if\nso, at what price. \u201cYes,\u201d said the boy, \u201cI shall be very proud to sell\nthe king wisdom; but my fee will be one lakh.\u201d The king paid the lakh\nand got in return a paper on which the boy had written: \u201cDo nothing\nwithout thinking deeply first.\u201d The king knew the advice to be\nexcellent and dismissing the young Brahman, he had the words\nembroidered on all his clothes and engraved on all his plates, cups and\ndishes.\n\nA few months later the king fell very ill. The prime minister eager to\nget rid of him, urged the doctor to put poison in the royal medicine.\nThe doctor agreed and gave the king a poisoned draught. As the king\nlifted his gold cup to his lips, he saw engraved on it the words \u201cDo\nnothing without thinking deeply first.\u201d Without suspecting anything he\nthought over the words and lowering the cup looked intently at its\ncontents. The doctor\u2019s guilty conscience made him fear that the king\nguessed that the medicine was poisoned. He threw himself at his\nmaster\u2019s feet and confessing everything, prayed for mercy. The\nastonished king called the guard and had the doctor seized. He sent for\nthe prime minister and bade him drink the poisoned medicine. The\nminister in his turn threw himself at the royal feet and begged for\nmercy. But the king had him hanged on the spot. He then sent for the\ndoctor and after rating him soundly, banished him from the kingdom.\nLastly he made the Brahman boy, whose wisdom had saved his life, Prime\nMinister and loaded him with honours.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGUZARAT FOLK STORIES\u2014III.\n\nMAGADHA AND RUPVATI.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Avanti on the banks of the\nriver Kshipra. It was a famous town and in it lived very many rich men.\nBut all the inhabitants were not rich, some were very poor. Among the\nlatter was a pious old Brahman called Vishnupriya or dear to the Lord\nVishnu. He had two sons named Deval and Madhav. The former he married\nto a proud and lovely girl called Rupvati. For Madhav he got a pure and\nsaintly girl called Magadha. In course of time the good old Brahman\ndied and after his death the family became so poor that the two\nbrothers resolved to leave Avanti and seek their fortune elsewhere.\nBefore they left, they handed over the whole management of the house to\nRupvati. Even Madhav said to Magadha in Rupvati\u2019s presence \u201cYou must\nobey Rupvati in everything. She is my elder brother\u2019s wife. You are but\na foolish, ignorant girl. She is clever and wise in the ways of the\nworld.\u201d Magadha was not vexed at what her husband said. She felt sure\nthat what he ordered was for the best and she promised to do everything\nthat Rupvati told her.\n\nNow Rupvati for all her beauty was really a bad hearted woman and\ndirectly her husband had gone, she began to take as her lovers all the\nhandsome young men of the neighbourhood. But she feared that Magadha\nwould tell tales about her, so she resolved to turn her out of the\nhouse. She told Magadha that she had been born under an unlucky star\nand was the cause of her husband\u2019s and her brother\u2019s poverty. After\nrating her well, she beat her and pushing her into the street slammed\nthe door in her face.\n\nPoor Magadha was at first broken hearted at the way Rupvati had treated\nher. But after shedding some tears, she took courage and began to earn\nher living as a day labourer. From time to time, too, she used to go to\nRupvati\u2019s house and work for her; for so gentle was her nature that she\nnever bore Rupvati any ill-will. One day in Purshotam Mas she saw\nRupvati worshipping the God Krishna. As she had never seen this done\nbefore, she asked Rupvati to tell her all about it. Rupvati flew into a\ntemper and screamed at her \u201cYou wretched girl, fancy not knowing how to\nworship Shri Krishna! Why your very presence is a sin!\u201d With these\nwords she drove her sister-in-law into the street. As poor Magadha was\ngoing home in tears, she met one Bhamini, a friend of Rupvati and just\nas unkind and cruel as she was. Bhamini asked her why she cried.\nMagadha told her. But Bhamini instead of taking Magadha\u2019s part, thought\nit a good chance to play a cruel practical joke on her. She told her\nthat it was Purshotam Mas and that therefore she should worship the God\nKrishna. \u201cMost people,\u201d added Bhamini, \u201cbathe in a river and burn a\nghee lamp in a corner of their house in front of images of Krishna and\nRadha. Thereafter they feed Brahmans. But I know a much better way to\nworship Krishna than that. Choose the dirtiest, nastiest pool that you\ncan find. Bathe in it and after bathing eat nothing but cold, stale\nfood. Next worship the pipal tree, thinking all the while of Krishna\nand Radha. Then give to Brahmans alms wrapped in pipal leaves.\u201d Now\nthis was all wrong; for Shri Krishna does not live in the pipal tree,\nwhich is only the abode of devils. But the cruel Bhamini hoped that in\nthis way Magadha would incur both God\u2019s displeasure and the curses of\nthe Brahmans.\n\nPoor Magadha was far too trusting to guess Bhamini\u2019s wickedness and\nwent home very pleased with her new knowledge. She looked about until\nshe found a pool full of dirty rain water and swarming with water\ninsects. She bathed in it, then worshipped a pipal tree, thinking all\nthe while of Shri Krishna. Lastly she went home and ate some cold,\nstale food, which she had put by on purpose. Having done this for\nseveral days she invited 108 Brahmans to dine at her house. After she\nhad invited them, she suddenly remembered that she had no money with\nwhich to buy them food, still less to give them alms afterwards. She\ndid not know what to do, so she prayed all that night and all next\nmorning to the God Krishna to help her honour the Brahmans when they\ncame. A little before noon the 108 Brahmans began to collect outside\nMagadha\u2019s house. But poor Magadha, who had no dinner to give them, had\nnot the heart to go to the door and welcome them; so she just stayed\ninside and prayed to the God Krishna. At last the Brahmans got very\nangry and said \u201cWhat is the use of waiting outside this wretched little\nhut? Even if the door was opened, there would be nothing inside to\neat.\u201d They were about to go away when three other Brahmans came up and\none of them asked which was Magadha\u2019s house. Hopes of a good meal once\nmore sprang up in the breasts of the 108 hungry guests and they pointed\nit out to the newcomers. \u201cWe are guests,\u201d they said, \u201cbut she has shut\nher door in our faces. Are you her relative?\u201d The Brahman who had\nspoken, said \u201cYes, I am Magadha\u2019s brother and these two are our\nkinsmen. Please wait outside and I shall go in and see. My sister must\nbe getting ready your dinner.\u201d With these words he went inside the\nhouse, but he found nothing ready. In the middle room was poor Magadha,\npraying with all her might to the God Krishna to help her. \u201cWhy do you\nnot serve the dinner for the 108 Brahmans?\u201d asked the newcomer. \u201cThere\nis no worse sin than to send away Brahmans hungry from your door.\u201d \u201cI\nknow that,\u201d replied poor Magadha, \u201cbut what can I do? I have no food\nand no money to buy any.\u201d \u201cLook in your kitchen,\u201d said the newcomer,\n\u201cand you will find plenty of food.\u201d Magadha looked and sure enough the\nkitchen was as full as it could be. She was so pleased that she began\ncooking at once; and two maid-servants, whom she had never seen before\nhelped her and swept the floor of the dining room and got baths ready\nfor the Brahmans; when dinner was ready the newcomer called in the 108\nother Brahmans and he and his two kinsmen served the dinner on leaves,\nwhich turned into gold plates when the guests touched them. The\nBrahmans had never eaten so rich or so big a dinner before. They got\nback their good spirits and instead of cursing poor Magadha, they\nblessed her from the bottom of their hearts. As they rose to go, the\nnewcomer gave each guest a packet of pipal leaves as a parting present.\nThe guests thought this a very odd \u201cdakshina\u201d but when they opened the\nleaves they found them full of diamonds and pearls and rubies.\n\nWhen all the guests had left, Magadha begged the three Brahmans who had\nso wonderfully helped her, to have their meal also. They excused\nthemselves, pleading that they had already eaten. But they pressed\nMagadha to eat and she did so. Directly she had finished, her eyes were\nopened and she saw the three Brahmans and the two maid-servants as they\nreally were. For the Brahman, who had said he was her brother was none\nother than Shri Krishna himself and his two so called kinsmen were his\ntwo friends Uddhav and Akrur; while the two maid-servants were Shri\nKrishna\u2019s queens Rukmani and Satyabhama. Magadha threw herself at Shri\nKrishna\u2019s feet; but the great God raised her and said \u201cThe ceremonies\nyou performed in my honour were all wrong. But ceremonies are of little\nvalue. The true worth of worship is in faith; and your faith was such\nthat I granted you your prayers.\u201d With these words he took Magadha by\nthe hand and led her back with him to his heaven Vaikunth. But what\nhappened to the wicked Rupvati and Bhamini? They were very properly\npunished. Rupvati in order to humble poor Magadha still more, had on\nthe same day asked another 108 Brahmans to dinner, intending to give\nthem a splendid feast and get their blessing, while poor Magadha fell\nunder the curses of her 108 guests. But the very opposite happened.\nRupvati cooked her dinner and had her house swept and garnished and\nwent out to welcome her guests. But when she took them into her house\nthere was nothing to eat at all. All the fine dinner which she had\ncooked for them had gone. She looked everywhere but she could not find\nit. At last she had to send the Brahmans away as hungry and cross as\ncould be. As they went they called down the most frightful curses on\nher, so that she died soon afterwards and went straight to Hell. Nor\ndid Bhamini fare any better. The God Krishna was very angry with her\nfor telling Magadha to worship him in the way she did. She lost all her\nmoney and became very poor; and when she died she went to Hell too, and\nshe and Rupvati are still there, keeping each other company.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGUZARAT FOLK STORIES\u2014IV.\n\nRUPSINH AND THE QUEEN OF THE ANARDES.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a great king of Guzarat, who died leaving\ntwo sons Phulsinh and Rupsinh. On the father\u2019s death Phulsinh mounted\nthe throne. In no long time he died leaving a widow and no children and\nRupsinh became king of Guzarat, although still a little boy. Phulsinh\u2019s\nwidow would have burnt herself on her husband\u2019s pyre had not the\ntownspeople bidden her live and care for their child king.\n\nThe widowed queen was very wise and clever. So deft was she with her\nfingers that she could dress her hair with oil and afterwards press the\nhair so skilfully that not a drop of oil remained in it. On a day when\nRupsinh was a lad of fifteen, he lay asleep with his head resting on\nthe lap of the queen. As he slept, she dressed his hair with oil and\nthen began to squeeze it out. By chance she pulled out one of Rupsinh\u2019s\nhairs. Rupsinh awoke and said crossly: \u201cYou are not so clever to-day as\nusual with your fingers, or you would not have pulled out my hair.\u201d The\nqueen said with a laugh: \u201cYes, I am getting old and make mistakes. If\nyou want someone who will never make mistakes, you had better marry the\nqueen of the Anardes.\u201d The queen was only joking, for the Anardes were\na race of fairies. But Rupsinh took her words in earnest and cried\n\u201cMarry the queen of the Anardes, then, I will! And till I have done so,\nI shall neither eat nor drink inside my kingdom.\u201d The poor queen\nregretted bitterly her words and begged the young king to pay no heed\nto them. But the headstrong boy would not mind her. He told his grooms,\nto saddle his horses. \u201cShew me,\u201d he said to the queen, \u201cthe house of\nthe queen of the Anardes. If not, I shall seek her without your aid. I\nshall ask my way and with God\u2019s help I shall find it.\u201d The widowed\nqueen was greatly grieved at the way the boy king had taken her words;\nstill, she thought it best now to help him on his way, rather than to\nthwart him.\n\nShe said: \u201cIf you will go, my King, then heed my words carefully, for\nthe road is long and full of perils. Trust none whom you meet or you\nwill perish miserably. On leaving the palace gates ride to the north.\nIn three days\u2019 time you will come to a dense forest. Ride boldly into\nit and in its very heart you will find a lake. But beware of the lake\nand do not bathe in it or drink its waters. If you do, you will die;\nfor the lake is a fairies\u2019 lake and no mortal who bathes in it or\ndrinks its waters can live. Ride therefore past the lake until you come\nto a great mountain. Avoid the mountain; for near it lives a monstrous\nelephant; and should it see you, it will trample you to death. Beyond\nthe mountain you will come to Thugtown, a town full of thugs and\ncheats. They will kill you if they can. If you can outwit the men of\nThugtown, you will come next to a beautiful wood. Here above all be on\nyour guard, for the wood is peopled by demons who live on human flesh.\nBeyond the demon\u2019s wood lie the lands of the Princess Phulpancha. She\nis so called because her weight is only that of five flowers. In her\ncountry you will surely die; but if someone will drop on your body\nthree drops of Amrita, or ambrosia from the bottle that I give you, you\nwill come back to life. Such are the perils that await you, yet if you\nstill wish to go, take with you my blessing.\u201d As the widowed queen\nspoke, her voice trembled and the tears rolled down her cheeks, for she\nloved Rupsinh as if he had been her own son. She put in the youth\u2019s\nhands a bottle of Amrita. He took it, bowed his head to her feet,\nmounted his horse and spurring it along the northern road was soon out\nof sight.\n\nThree days later Rupsinh saw, as he rode, the forest of which the\nwidowed queen had spoken. He rode into it and rejoiced in the shade of\nthe great trees overhead. Suddenly he saw in front of him, like a sheet\nof silver, a beautiful lake. Forgetting what the widowed queen had\nsaid, he let his horse walk to the edge and quench its thirst. A moment\nlater he heard a noise of wings above him. He looked up and saw a great\ncompany of fairies on horseback flying towards the lake. The young king\nin a fright turned his horse\u2019s head towards the road and tried to spur\nit into a gallop. But the poison of the fairy lake was killing the poor\nhorse and after trying feebly to answer to the spur, it fell down dead.\nThe king undid the girths and taking with him the saddle ran to a big\ntree close by and climbed into its branches. The fairies had not seen\nhim, so they dismounted; tied their horses to trees and plunged gaily\ninto the fairy lake. Rupsinh slipped down from his tree and slipped\nnoiselessly to where the queen of the fairies had tethered her horse\nand put his saddle on its back. He jumped on it and galloped off. The\nfairies did not notice their loss until they came out of the water. The\nqueen was in great distress; and she and other fairies followed\nRupsinh\u2019s tracks until they came near the elephant mountain. Far off\nthey saw Rupsinh galloping away on the fairy queen\u2019s horse. They called\nto the elephant to stop him, as he was a horse thief. The elephant ran\nafter the king and caught him and his horse in its mighty trunk.\nCarrying them to the mountain, it tried to crush them to death against\none of its steep sides. The young king was in despair. Then regaining\ncourage, he slashed so fiercely at the elephant\u2019s trunk with his sword\nthat it let him and the horse go.\n\nRupsinh galloped away until he reached Thugtown. At its gate he saw an\nold man sitting. As the king rode up, the old man rose and with great\ncourtesy said \u201cWelcome, Thakor. Your father married you when a child to\nmy daughter; and yet you have never come to see her until now.\u201d \u201cThis\nis Thugtown,\u201d thought the king, \u201cand the old man must be one of the\nthugs who live there.\u201d Still Rupsinh could not but return the old man\u2019s\ngreeting. He said \u201cMy father died so long ago that I cannot remember\nhim at all, nor anything he did. It was only the other day that I heard\nfrom a kinsman that my father had married me to your daughter. I at\nonce set out to claim my bride.\u201d The old man bade the king enter the\ntown and stay at his house, that he might meet his daughter. They\nentered the town gates together. At the old man\u2019s door his four young\nsons came out and greeted the king as their brother-in-law. At night\nthey would have led him to a room at the top of the house. But the king\nguessed that in the night they meant to throw him from the window. He\nsaid he could not sleep anywhere but on the ground floor. He was so\nobstinate that the old man at last put a bed for him in the verandah on\nthe ground floor, while he and his sons slept in rooms off it. The king\nkept awake all night. It was well he did so. The queen of the fairies,\nwho had never ceased to follow her horse\u2019s tracks, came to the old\nman\u2019s house and saw Rupsinh lying in the verandah. She tied a magic\nthread round his ankle and ran to the stable to mount the horse which\nthe king had stolen. But Rupsinh untied the thread and tied it round\nthe ankle of the old man. He had no sooner done so, than the magic\nthread became quite taut. The fairy queen had mounted her horse and\nriding off dragged the old man after her. She never thought of looking\nback, but galloped straight off to the elephant mountain. There she\nthrew him before the elephant, who at once trampled the old man to\ndeath. In the meantime Rupsinh drew his sword. Going to the beds of the\nfour sons, he sternly demanded his horse. One of the four sons went to\nthe stable to saddle it. As it was not there, Rupsinh made him give him\none of the old man\u2019s own horses instead. He then rode as fast as he\ncould out of Thugtown.\n\nRupsinh rode north for some hours when he saw in front of him a\nbeautiful wood. He at once recalled the widowed queen\u2019s warning about\nthe demons who lived in it. He entered it. Suddenly he saw two demons\nfighting together. When they saw the king they stopped fighting and\nbegan to laugh. Rupsinh laughed back and then asked them what amused\nthem. \u201cWe have not tasted human flesh,\u201d said one of the demons, \u201cfor\ntwelve years. When we saw you we laughed for joy. But why did you\nlaugh?\u201d \u201cI am a messenger of the god Shiva\u201d said Rupsinh. \u201cThe\nparchment on one of his drums is torn and he sent me out to get two\ndemon skins with which to repair it. The drum is so big that the skin\nof one demon would not be enough. So when I saw two demons in front of\nme, I laughed for joy.\u201d Rupsinh drew his sword and rode at the demons\nas if to skin them alive. In an agony of fear they begged him to take\nthe skin of their blind uncle instead. \u201cOne demon\u2019s skin will not do,\u201d\nsaid the king sternly; \u201cbesides the skin of a blind demon would sound\nhollow.\u201d The demons in despair offered Rupsinh a large ransom, but he\nwould not accept it. At last they offered him a flying machine known as\na pavanpavdi. \u201cIn it,\u201d they said, \u201cyou can fly all over the sky and\nwhenever you see a demon on earth, you can come down and skin him.\u201d The\nking took the pavanpavdi and tied it on to his horse\u2019s back and rode on\nuntil he crossed the borders of the Princess Phulpancha\u2019s country. Some\ntime later he reached her town and lodged with an old woman who owned a\ngarden outside the city.\n\nThe king had not been there many days before the princess came to hear\nof him. One day as he rode under her window her maid-servants whispered\nto her, \u201cThat is the young king, my Princess.\u201d Phulpancha on the spot\nfell in love with him. One day Rupsinh came to his lodging, hungry and\nthirsty, and asked the old woman to cook him some food at once. The old\nwoman said that she could not, as she was weaving garlands for the\nPrincess Phulpancha. The king bade the old woman cook his dinner while\nhe wove the garlands, which he did very skilfully. He then took off his\ndiamond ring and hid it in one of them. When his dinner was ready, he\nate it and the old woman went to the palace with the garlands. As the\nPrincess put them round her neck, her fingers touched the diamond ring.\nShe knew that it must have been sent to her by Rupsinh, as he lodged\nwith the old woman. Some days later Rupsinh left his lodging and\ndressed as a poor Rajput, went to the court of Phulpancha\u2019s father and\nasked for service. The old king was pleased with Rupsinh\u2019s speech and\nbearing and made him chief of the guards round the Princess\u2019 palace and\npaid him three gold pieces a day. In this manner Rupsinh came to see\nthe Princess almost daily and told her all about himself. Some days\nlater came the weighing of the Princess Phulpancha. It was the custom\nof the land that once a year the Princess should be weighed on a pair\nof magic scales. If no man but the king had seen her during the\nprevious year, her weight would only be that of five flowers. But if a\nman had seen her, her weight would be that of an ordinary girl of her\nage and height. At the appointed hour Phulpancha sat on one of the\nscales, while the weigher put five flowers on the other. Instead of the\nfive flowers balancing the Princess, her scale clung obstinately to the\nground; and it was not until two maunds had been put in the other, that\nthe Princess began to move upwards. The old king made enquiries and\ncame to know that Rupsinh had several times spoken to Phulpancha.\nInstantly he had Rupsinh hanged, from the branch of a tree. Fortunately\nbefore entering the king\u2019s service, Rupsinh had told the old woman of\nthe garden about the Amrita. Hearing of the poor young king\u2019s\nexecution, she went at night and sprinkled three drops of Amrita over\nhis body. Rupsinh came to life again. But the old woman fearing the old\nking\u2019s anger would not take him back. Rupsinh was at first at his wit\u2019s\nend. Then he remembered the demons\u2019 pavanpavdi and seating himself in\nit he rose in the air and flew northwards.\n\nAfter some time the young king came to a big garden in the midst of\nwhich was a palace seven stories high. He entered the palace and ran\nupstairs until he reached the seventh storey. On the top stair was\nseated an aged anchorite who said to him, \u201cWelcome Rupsinh.\u201d The king\nwas astonished that the anchorite should know his name and he asked the\nanchorite how he knew it. \u201cMy inner knowledge, my son, tells me your\nname. I also know that your brother\u2019s widow anxiously awaits your\nreturn. I know, too, that you are fated to win the queen of the\nAnardes.\u201d The king begged the anchorite to bless him. The anchorite did\nso and added, \u201cTo-morrow I shall go to bathe in a pool in the palace\ngardens. When I do so, watch carefully the pomegranate trees in the\norchard. You will see the pomegranates on them suddenly open and from\neach one will come out an Anarde. They will play and dance together in\nthe garden and she to whom the others will pay deference is their\nqueen. After a time they will go back to their hiding places. Note\ncarefully the fruit which the queen enters. Then go down into the\ngarden, pick it and take it back with you. But do not look behind you,\nas many others before you have done, or you will be turned into stone.\u201d\nNext morning the ascetic went to bathe and Rupsinh did as the ascetic\nhad told him. He watched the pomegranate trees and soon from each fruit\nthere dropped to the earth a tiny fairy. One of them, slightly bigger\nthan the others, was clearly their queen. They played and danced for a\ntime. Then they ran back to their hiding places. The pomegranates\nclosed and hid their fairy lodgers from view. The king, however, had\nseen which pomegranate held the queen. He went into the garden, plucked\nthe fruit and turned back to the palace. Voices all round him cried\nout, \u201cStrike him! Kill him!\u201d But remembering the anchorite\u2019s words, he\nnever once looked round until he had reached the palace door. Then he\nturned and saw the anchorite trying to soothe the other Anardes, for it\nwas their voices which the king had heard. \u201cIt was fated that one of\nyou should wed a mortal. What was fated has happened. So cease from\ntroubling the king and his bride and give them your blessing instead.\u201d\nWhen he had calmed the fairies, he went to the king and said, \u201cMy son,\nstart at once homewards and tarry nowhere on the road. Shew the\npomegranate to no one until you reach your city.\u201d\n\nThe king mounted his horse without delay and started on his homeward\njourney. In no long time he saw an ascetic, who for 700 years had been\ndoing penances, in order to win the queen of the Anardes. The king\nsaluted the anchorite, who asked him whether he had won his goal. The\nking foolishly shewed the anchorite the pomegranate and let him take it\nin his hand. The sage put it under his foot and when Rupsinh asked for\nit back, sternly bade the prince begone. The king grew angry and\nthreatened to take it back by force. The anchorite turned towards a big\ntree close by and consumed it with a single fiery breath. He then said\nto the youth with a mocking laugh: \u201cWhen I can blast a tree with a\nsingle breath, do you think that I fear you for all your valour? For\n700 years I have sought to win the queen of the Anardes. I shall not\ngive her up.\u201d But seeing how downcast Rupsinh looked, he gave him a\nwand and said \u201cThis is a magic wand. Take it. It will beat anyone whom\nyou hate or fear and in battle it will always give you victory.\u201d The\nking took the wand, although he thought it a poor exchange for the\nqueen of the Anardes, and going sadly to his horse got ready to mount\nit. As he put his foot in the stirrup, the wand spoke to him with a\nhuman voice, \u201cO King, you do not know my name. It is Lalia Lath. For\n700 years I have faithfully served the anchorite and now he has given\nme away in exchange for a woman. If you bid me I will give my old\nmaster a sound beating.\u201d Rupsinh, who felt very cross with the\nanchorite for stealing the queen of the Anardes, was delighted and said\n\u201cYes, give him a beating, the sounder the better.\u201d The wand then flew\nfrom the king\u2019s hand and began mercilessly to belabour the old sage,\nuntil in his pain and fear he threw away the pomegranate and begged for\nmercy.\n\nThe king picked up the fruit and with it the wand and he resumed his\njourney. Several days later he reached his capital. There he took out\nof the pomegranate the queen of the Anardes, who had by this time\nbecome reconciled to marrying Rupsinh. After greeting his\nsister-in-law, the widowed queen, he began to make everything ready for\nhis marriage to the fairy queen; and in due time their wedding was\ncelebrated with the greatest pomp and splendour. Unhappily in the crowd\nthat watched the wedding was a pretty sweeper girl, called Rukhi and\ndeeply skilled in black magic. She fell in love with the young king\u2019s\nhandsome face and was filled with jealous rage at the happy look on the\nface of the queen of the Anardes. She devised a cruel plot, to kill\nher. She sought and obtained service in the palace, where the fairy\nqueen shewed her the greatest kindness. One day the king, weary with\nthe chase, fell asleep. The fairy queen had to go to a neighbouring\nwell, to fetch water for her bath. She did not like to leave the king\nalone, so she asked Rukhi to watch by him until she came back. Rukhi\npromised to do so, but a minute or so later she followed her mistress\nto the well and pushed her in. Then she returned to the palace and by\nher magic made the king believe that she was the queen of the Anardes.\nBut she could not so deceive the widowed queen. One day the latter in\nopen durbar challenged Rukhi to go back inside the pomegranate. But\nRukhi was too clever to be caught. She answered with ready wit: \u201cI can\nno longer do that, sister, now that I am wedded to a mortal.\u201d She then\ncomplained to the king that the widowed queen always tried to vex her.\nSo Rupsinh quarrelled with his sister-in-law and drove her out of the\npalace.\n\nNow out of the well into which the fairy queen had fallen, there grew a\nmost beautiful lotus. The gardener picked it and gave it to the king,\nwho in turn gave it to Rukhi. The latter by her magic knew that the\nlotus had sprung from the body of the Anarde queen. She pulled off all\nits petals and threw it out of the window. The flower fell into a bed\nof soft earth and in a month or two there had sprung up a splendid\nmango tree that bore delicious fruit. Rukhi had the tree cut down but\nbefore it was felled, a bania had picked one of the mangoes and given\nit to his wife to eat. A year later she bore him a beautiful little\nbaby girl. As the little girl grew up, she became the living image of\nthe queen of the Anardes.\n\nRukhi guessed that she must have sprung from the mango, which had\nsprung from the lotus that had grown in the well, where the poor queen\nhad been drowned. Rukhi began to complain of a bad pain and told the\nking that she had been bewitched by the bania girl and would not get\nwell while the girl lived. The king had the bania girl hanged outside\nthe eastern gate of his city. Another marvel then happened. The girl\u2019s\nhead changed into an image of the God Shiva and her body into an image\nof the Goddess Parvati. Her right eye turned into a cock sparrow and\nher left eye into a hen sparrow. Her two legs turned into two plantain\ntrees. When Rukhi heard of this, she got terribly afraid that the king\nwould pass that way and see what had occurred. She told him never to\npass by the eastern gate or the spirit of the witch girl would possess\nhim. The king did not pass that way for a long time; but one day his\nhorse ran away with him and took him to the eastern gate. He saw there\na noble temple to the God Shiva. He went inside to pray.\n\nAs he prayed, he heard the hen sparrow say to her mate: \u201cThe king of\nthis city is a fool\u201d and thereupon she told the cock sparrow the whole\ntale of the queen of the Anardes. \u201cThis very night,\u201d continued the hen\nsparrow \u201cthe queen will come out of one of the plantain trees, into\nwhich the bania girl\u2019s legs have changed. She will worship the God\nShiva, re-enter the plantain stem and never again be seen on earth.\u201d\nThe king heard the story and resolved to stay there all night. He did\nso and at midnight he saw one of the plantain stems open. Out of it\ncame the queen of the Anardes. She began to pray to the God Shiva.\nBefore she had ended her prayer, the king caught her by the hand. \u201cWho\nare you?\u201d cried the queen \u201cand why do you take my hand?\u201d \u201cI am your\nhusband Rupsinh,\u201d replied the king penitently. \u201cI have been blind and\ncruel. But pray forgive me and I shall live with you always.\u201d\n\nThe queen was unwilling to stay, but Rupsinh held her firmly all night\nby the hand. Next morning the king\u2019s ministers and the widowed queen\nmissing him, went in search of him. When they found him at the temple,\nthe king told his sister-in-law all that had happened and begged her\nforgiveness also. The widowed queen, to test the story, shewed the\npomegranate to the fairy queen and bade her hide herself inside it. She\ndid so. The widowed queen called to her and she came out. The widowed\nqueen had no longer any doubts. She buried the pomegranate in the earth\nand went back with the king into his city. There the king called\ntogether the townspeople and before them all repudiated the sweeper\nwoman Rukhi. He then had her hanged on the very spot where the bania\ngirl had been executed. After thus ridding himself of Rukhi, he sent\nfor the Princess Phulpancha and married her as well as the queen of the\nAnardes. In their company and that of the widowed queen, the king lived\nhappily for ever so many years afterwards.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\nROUND ABOUT NASIK.\n\n\nThe Nasik golf course with its many traps for the unwary, the club\nhouse with its friendly welcome, the dak bungalow embowered in trees\nare well known to the golf-loving Bombay resident. But there is another\npart of Nasik, its river, which is to him an unknown province. Yet\npilgrims go there in thousands from all parts of the peninsula. Bones\nof dead men, who died a hundred leagues away are brought almost daily\nto be thrown into its waters. On its banks may be seen at any time\nyoung Brahmans practising Prayanam or breathing exercise or doing the\nAchaman rite, that is to say sipping water while repeating the name of\nsome particular deity. There too may sometimes be seen the naked\nanchorite to whom the whole world stands in lieu of a garment; and he\nis not the least unhappy. As the Sanskrit verse has it \u201cCourage is his\nfather, Forgiveness is his mother, Tranquility is his wife; Truth is\nhis son, Mercy is his sister, Self-restraint is his brother, Earth is\nhis bed and the eight directions are his dwelling place.\u201d Let us\ntherefore leave the golf course and the club house and wander together\nalong the banks of the holy river.\n\nIn the first place how did the Godavari come to Nasik? Once upon a time\nthe river Ganges was brought down from heaven by the austerities of\nKing Bhagiratha of Ayodhya, so that he might perform the funeral rites\nof his kinsmen, the sixty thousand sons of King Sagar. To prevent the\nGanges destroying the earth, the God Shiva caught her in his hair as\nshe fell and kept her there for a whole year. Well the Ganges is a lady\nas well as a river and after some time Shiva\u2019s queen, Parvati, grew\nbitterly jealous of the fair woman, whom her husband carried\ncontinually in her hair. She consulted her son the elephant-headed\nGanpati. That wise one found a solution for the difficulty. It so\nhappened that at this time a rishi of extraordinary powers and merits\nnamed Gautama lived near what is now the bed of the Godavari river. To\nsupply his limited needs he cultivated a little rice field. Ganpati\nturned himself into a cow and wandering towards Gautama\u2019s rice field\nbegan shamelessly to eat the holy man\u2019s scanty crop. Gautama, justly\nenraged, rose and with his staff admonished sharply the cow, that\nrespected so little his sanctity. This was what Ganpati had foreseen.\nHe fell dead on the spot. The news spread that Gautama had killed a\ncow. The neighbourhood was deeply shocked. Then through Parvati\u2019s and\nGanpati\u2019s combined contrivance, the monsoon failed. The cause was\nclear. The rishi had killed a cow and the gods to punish him for this\nfearful sin had withheld the rains. The neighbours going in a body to\nthe guilty rishi dilated on the sin that he had committed, until they\nhad extracted from him a promise that he would by his austerities\nobtain water for their crops. Gautama to fulfil his promise went\nthrough the most incredible penances in honour of the God Shiva, until\nthe latter asked the rishi what he wanted. \u201cI want some of the Ganges\nwater for the country side,\u201d replied the sage and he told Shiva the\nstory of the sin which he had inadvertently committed. The God smiled\nas he heard the tale, because he guessed how it had come to pass. To\nhumour his queen and at the same time to oblige the rishi, he released\na part of the Ganges river at Trimbak and it became the Godavari. The\nneighbours of Gautama sowed their crops, the Ganges having lost the\nfairest portion of her waters lost half her beauty and Parvati ceased\nto be jealous.\n\nHaving brought the Godavari to Nasik let us next consider why Nasik\nrather than other spots along the river bank is so holy. The reason is\nthat it was at Nasik that the hero King Rama of Ayodhya built his\nhermitage. The tale runs that his father King Dasharatha, urged thereto\nby his queen Kaikeyi, drove his eldest son Rama into exile, so that her\nson Bharata might succeed to the throne. The intrigue failed because\nPrince Bharata refused to oust his eldest brother. But Rama in order to\nabide by his father\u2019s words went with his brother Laxman, and his wife\nSita, to live at Panchvati or Nasik. There they built themselves a\nhermitage and there Rama performed the funeral ceremonies of his\nfather, when the latter died of grief at the loss of his son. It was\nthere, too, that Laxman cut off the nose of a female demon called\nSurpanakha who fell in love with Rama and tried to kill Sita in the\nhope of winning Rama\u2019s undivided affections. Ravana, King of Ceylon,\nwas the brother of Surpanakha and when his mutilated sister came\nshrieking to his court, he promised her that she should be avenged. To\ncarry out this promise, he called in the aid of another demon named\nMaricha. The latter disguised himself as a deer with a golden hide and\nwith horns glittering with precious stones. Sita attracted by the\nbeautiful beast begged Rama to go and kill it and fetch her the hide\nand the horns. Rama agreed but before he went, he drew with his finger\ntwo long lines which together formed a sort of enclosure. \u201cIf you stay\ninside these two lines,\u201d he said to his wife, \u201cno harm can come to you.\nIf you stray beyond them, I shall not be able to protect you.\u201d Sita\npromised to stay within the two lines and Rama and Laxman went in\npursuit of the golden deer. Instantly King Ravana who had been hovering\nin the sky inside his aerial car, descended to earth and assuming the\nform of a mendicant approached the hermitage of Sita and asked her for\nalms. Sita invited him to come to the door. But intending evil as he\ndid, he could not cross the lines which Rama had drawn. So he answered\nhaughtily that a religious mendicant did not run after alms. Those who\nwanted his blessings had to come to him. He accepted alms not as a\nfavour received but as a favour conferred. The unsuspecting Sita\nunwilling to enrage the holy man went towards him, crossed the southern\nline and handed Ravana the alms. At once he reassumed his proper guise\nand seizing her by the hair threw her into his chariot and carried her\noff to his island kingdom of Lanka. The two lines are visible to this\nday and are known as the Aruna and Varuna streams.\n\nThe chief temple in Nasik is known as Kapileshwar. This is the story\ntold of it. On one occasion the goddess Parvati for fun put her hands\nover her husband Shiva\u2019s eyes. But the great god was in no humour for\nfun. He opened his third eye and with it burnt up the sun, the earth\nand last but not least Brahmadev\u2019s fifth head. When Shiva had recovered\nhis temper, he restored the sun and the earth, but he was not able to\nrestore Brahmadev\u2019s fifth head. As a punishment for burning up another\ngod\u2019s head, he was condemned always to see it dancing before his eyes.\nThe punishment was a very severe one and to rid himself of the horrible\nvision, Shiva wandered all over India visiting in vain shrine after\nshrine. At last he came to the banks of the Godavari and sat down to\nrest under a tree. As he sat he overheard a conversation between a\nyoung bull and a staid old cow, its mother. \u201cTo-morrow,\u201d said the old\ncow, \u201cour master will put a ring through your nose and yoking you to a\nplough will make you work for the rest of your life.\u201d \u201cIndeed, he will\ndo nothing of the kind,\u201d said the wicked young bull. \u201cIf he tries, I\nshall gore him to death.\u201d \u201cO, you cannot gore him to death,\u201d said its\nmother deeply shocked. \u201cHe is a Brahman.\u201d \u201cNever mind,\u201d said the\nabandoned young bull, \u201cI know how to purify myself even from the deadly\nsin of Brahmahatya or Brahman murder.\u201d The God Shiva was greatly\ninterested in this talk. He thought to himself that if the bull could\npurify itself from Brahman murder, he (Shiva) could, by doing what it\ndid, purify himself from the sin of having burnt off one of Brahmadev\u2019s\nfive heads. Next morning he returned to the spot, where he had heard\nthe conversation. In a little time the Brahman came and tried to fasten\nthe ring in the young bull\u2019s nose. The graceless beast threw him on his\nback and gored him to death. From being pure white, it became jet black\nwith sin. However, it did not mind a bit, but galloping off with its\ntail in the air, plunged into the pool where Rama had performed the\nobsequies to his dead father. It became at once pure white, such was\nthe holiness of the water. The tip of its tail, however, which it had\nheld high in the air to shew its defiant spirit, remained black. The\nGod Shiva watched the incident closely and immediately afterwards\nplunged also into the water. The same moment the ghastly vision which\nhad haunted him disappeared. Close to the spot where these events\nhappened was built the temple of Kapileshwar or the god of the head. It\nis a temple to the God Shiva and commemorates his punishment and his\nrelease. It is the only temple in India where no bull kneels reverently\nin front of the God. For whereas in other spots the bull is regarded as\nShiva\u2019s servant, here the bull is regarded as the great god\u2019s guru or\nteacher; for he taught the god to get rid of the vision that haunted\nhim. Another fact proves the truth of the above story. Ever since, all\nwhite Deccan bulls have had black tips to their tails.\n\nAt a little distance from the river is a pool known as Indra\u2019s pool.\nThe tale told about it is the following: Once upon a time there lived\nanother great rishi also called Gautama. He had a charming and virtuous\nwife called Ahalya. Unfortunately her beauty caught the fleeting fancy\nof the God Indra. He made to her certain improper proposals which she\nindignantly rejected. He then plotted with the moon to overcome her\nresistance. The moon rose two hours earlier than he (for the moon is\nmasculine in India) should have done. Gautama anxious to worship the\nsun before he rose went to the river bank to bathe. The moment he went,\nIndra took his form and bade Ahalya rise and go with him. She thinking\nthat it was her husband did as she was told. But just then Gautama\ndetected the moon peeping over the horizon to see the fun. He at once\nran back to the hermitage and caught Indra in the very act of going off\nwith his wife. He held a summary trial, turned his wife into a stone,\npainted a black patch on the moon\u2019s face and made a thousand sores come\non Indra\u2019s body. This state of things endured for several hundred years\nuntil one day King Rama\u2019s foot touched by accident the stone that had\nbeen Ahalya. She at once resumed her former shape. Rama took her to her\nhusband and made him forgive her. The God Indra took courage at this\nand begged Gautama to forgive him too. The rishi turned his sores into\neyes, but told him that, as he had behaved in a manner unbecoming a\ngod, he never would be worshipped again. Indra went sadly away and at\nthe rishi\u2019s command bathed in the pool of which I have spoken, and his\nsores all became eyes. But never since has he been worshipped in India.\nLastly the moon begged for mercy. But the rishi would not abate a jot\nof his punishment and he wears a black smudge to this day.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                      JULY AND DECEMBER\n\n\n    When the wild Indian rains hide the hilltops and the plains\u2014\n      Teeming rain, steaming rain, blotting out the sky\u2014\n    When the breakers leap and fall at the bidding of the squall,\n      Then I think me of England, of England in July.\n    I wander in my dreams by her meadows and her streams\u2014\n      Olden streams, golden streams flowing towards the sea\u2014\n    And I see their tiny billows as they lap against the willows,\n      And the red rose is blowing\u2014Ah! \u2019tis there I would be.\n\n                         *   *   *\n\n    But when Autumn with a sigh in December turns to die,\n      She\u2019s a dark land, a stark land, grim and chill and grey.\n    When they lie the sodden leaves on the choking, dripping eaves\n      And the window panes are blurred, then \u2019tis well to go away!\n    Yes, \u2019tis well to go away where there\u2019s sunshine all the day,\n      Where down from the hills blows the dry, crisp wind,\n    Where one hears the wild duck whirring and one sees the rushes\n    stirring\n      And the hog deer\u2019s in the forests by the waterways of Sind!\n\n                         *   *   *\n\n    Then she\u2019ll come across the brine, dear lady love of mine\n      (Steamship, dreamship! bring her safe again!)\n    And the white clouds above, they will greet my ladylove,\n      And the blue skies will laugh as she speeds across the main.\n    And the great seas will roar on the gleaming Arab shore,\n      (White rocks, bright rocks smile at her from me!)\n    While the trade wind blows, just to fan her as she goes,\n      Till I see her kerchief waving, as I stand upon the quay.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\n[1] The Persian runs:\u2014Shiristan o Sibi Sakhti chira dozakh pardakhti.\n\n[2] i.e. That he had gone mad.\n\n[3] For the story of Jam Tamachi and Nuri, see \u201cTales of Old Sind\u201d\n(Oxford University Press).","title":"Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":35065}