Thomas Lambert

“ We believe that Hindus are to Mahomedans as horses are to jackasses, and you see, your Majesty, that all the washing and lathering in the world will not make the donkey into a horse, neither can I by any power that I possess transform a Moslem into a Hindu. ”

“ He had only just time to say to his disciple, “See what you have brought on yourself by your greediness and avarice; and now do as I tell you. When you see me prostrate myself before the King, call out at the top of your voice, ‘No, I will not suffer my holy “Guru” to die for me; I must and will die, so go on with the execution.’ Mind you do this, for I intend as I prostrate myself to offer my life in exchange for yours.” ”

“ It is very unlucky to look at a one-eyed man, and even if he should be in a high position, as was the case a long while ago with a celebrated chieftain in the North of India, he does not escape a sneer. ”

“ In an instant there was a rush for the hall, and in a little time when light was thrown on the scene, each pillar had its man clutching it in strong embrace, but only Bīrbal knew that which was of gold.
“Behold, oh King!” he said “the scramble for the prize; so it is in the world around us: all rush and divide off into sects to lay hold of the prop and support of immortal happiness, each in the firm belief of exclusive possession. It will only be when the true Light shines, that the Deity who alone has the secret shall pronounce the reward.” ”

“ India is full of it, where the evil spirits are called “Bhût,” and so is Persia, where necromancers examine for marks and signs the blade bone of a newly killed sheep, very much as is done in the art of Palmistry which by marks and signs professes to discover the character of any person from the palm of his hand. ”

“ Go up yourself, and we will believe in you!” In patience did the Mahomedan Fakir bear their reproaches, when suddenly there was a sound heard in the air as if someone was beating a door with the palm of his hand, and very shortly afterwards the body of the Hindu Fakir came in sight, and as it descended, there was seen over his head the shoe of the Mahomedan Fakir, which in some unaccountable way was slapping the head of the Hindu Fakir, and beating him down to the earth, and when he came to the ground he fell at the feet of the Mahomedan. ”

“ He replied, “I have done all I can, but there is no cure for his disease.” They said, “Then why do you not send for the Priest here, who would soon expel this evil spirit, which comes now and again to torment him?” Now Gopee did not believe in the power of the Priest. At last one of the “Chuprassies” went to their European Chief’s house, and begged him to come up to the quarters to see what could be done. When he arrived there and saw the state that Shivedas was in, and Gopee, his brother, in such great distress, he said, “What can be done to relieve this man?” ”

“ It is also very clear that the Folk-lore of xiva long-established and independent community such as that of Ghazi, or other out-of-the-way village of India, is not to be got at all of a sudden, for it lies deep down in the memories of only a certain few of the people, and these not always willing to impart it unto strangers to their country. ”

“ It is considered by the people to be a good action to build a well for the general use of travellers, and a still further work of merit to build a tank, for then both animals and birds can also enjoy the benefit. ”

“ In every shop and market all the goods are of one and the same value: gold, silver, precious stones, wheat, fruit, vegetables, and, indeed, everything that man can wish for and want, can be had for the same sum. ”

“ They are supposed by some to be deities of the ancient pagans. By the Greeks believed to be spirits never engaged in matter, nor ever joined to bodies, subdivided into good and bad, every man having one of each to attend him at all times. ”

“ In this village, as indeed may be found in many towns and villages of Upper India, there was a little colony of blind men who subsisted on the alms of the benevolent, and they were generally to be found near the markets or bazaars, or along the thoroughfares leading to them. ”

“ The wife had no sooner lost the flower than she became depressed and like a mad thing, and at last told “Sakhi” that she should die unless it could be recovered; so distressed indeed was she, that she quite worried him out of his life. “Sakhi,” one morning when he was at his usual place of prayer by the riverside, thought of the jackal, and he was not long before he made his appearance. He then told him all about the flower, and what misery and suffering it had brought upon his wife since the day she had lost it. ”

“ He was in quite a whirl of delight, and one might have thought that he would have kept the money and not have disclosed the secret to anyone, but as there were just the very one hundred gold mohurs that by their feeling and handling might make the old blind man of his village happy for ever, the first idea that entered his head was to go straight to the spot where he knew he always asked for alms, to let him run his fingers over them. ”

“ To protect the flocks and herds at nights from the depredation of wild animals, the shepherds in the summer time raise a high ring fence of thorny bushes; in the winter they are housed at nights in the closed sheds. ”

“ Many of the Jogis bury their dead in a sitting posture, and place rock salt round the body. Some of these Hindu Fakirs carry medicines, and others again, water from the Ganges for sale. One may meet with many also with a dry gourd slung over their shoulders, with the upper part cut to act as a sort of handle. ”

“ Those who take up purely financial matters are astute men of business; lending money at exhorbitant rates of interest they get many of the farmers into complete subjection to them. They are wise enough to keep in with the people generally, and often build masonry tanks and dig wells for general use. Sometimes in the very hot weather they will employ a high caste Brahmin to provide drinking water to passing travellers, and will keep them in their pay for a whole hot season. ”

“ Some say he was also a general in the army, and that by his skill he greatly assisted Akbar to extend his dominions. Bīrbal was, however, a Hindu, a Brāhman of the tribe of Bhât, and his real name was Mahes Dās, but so tolerant was “Akbar Badshah” to all religious sects that if a man were wise and skilful he cared not of what faith he might happen to be. Bīrbal was also full of wit and humour, and had such a pleasing way of putting things, that he could talk to the Badshah in a manner that other ministers would not dare to do. ”

“ One day, as the tale goes, two Fakirs, “Kallundars,” or begging monks as they are sometimes called, were on their way to Mecca to perform that pilgrimage which is obligatory on every devout Moslem once in his life, and on their way thither they had to pass through the village in which “Sakhi” resided, so they made up their minds to pay him a visit, and obtain his blessing on their journey.
As they entered the village they accosted the first man they met, and asked him to direct them to the house of the famous “Sakhi.” ”

“ Some live in solitude, others in communities under a leader or ruler, and the house they congregate in is called a “Guddi,” literally, a seat or cushion, on which the head of the community sits.
The Mahomedan Fakirs in the district may be divided into, say four leading sects, viz., the Chishti, Nuksh-Bhudee, Kadria, and Malang. There is also a sub-division denominated “Majzub,” from the Arabic word 19“juzb,” which means absorbed. ”

“ Bahadūr Singh used to hear this plaintive cry almost daily when he went to the Bazaar, and being kind as well as brave, he often thought to himself, I should much like to satisfy that old blind man’s wish, but I suppose I shall never be able to do so, for the little I have scarce supplies my own daily wants; so he contented himself, with others round him, in casting a pice into the blind man’s wallet. ”

“ A particular woodpecker, called the Babeeâh, has an evil spell and is dreaded on account of its bringing heavy rains, to the injury of agriculture, and in a village called Vasnal the farmers and villagers all turned out and drove it from the district, and the rain, they say, at once stopped. ”

“ I cannot go, but if you will take this rope with which you always tethered your ass, and the ‘Tobrâ’ or nose-bag in which the ass had his grain, and go to Jaunpūr all your difficulties will vanish. Time your arrival in the city on a Friday at the hour of prayer in the Mosque. You will see a large concourse of people being addressed by your son, who was, you know, your ‘ass.’ Put yourselves in a position where the Kazi can plainly see you, then keep shaking the rope and the nose-bag, and he will soon discover who you are, and come and claim you as his father and mother. ”

“ After feeding their horses and refreshing themselves with a little food the travellers were about to take their leave of the old Fakir, and trust themselves again to their wanderings, when the Fakir said “No! you must not go without protection.” So saying, he gave another whistle, and more “Lungoors” came, and detaching about twenty of them he told them to go before the travellers and to put them on the high road leading to the King’s country, and then slightly raising his voice he said, “And mind you do not go beyond your boundary.” ”

“ The snake to evince its gratitude, vomited from its mouth a small lump of gold, which Indian snake-charmers quite believe that certain snakes can do; and asking “Sakhi” to follow him, he shewed him some wonderful herbs that would cure most of the ills that flesh is heir to, and which no man was yet acquainted with.
SAKHI, THE GENEROUS MOSLEM.
On his return to the well, the jackal expressed his thanks for his deliverance by saying that whenever “Sakhi” was in trouble, if he thought of him, he would come to his relief; “but beware,” he said, “of the man, for he will get you into distress.” ”

“ In a measure they were right, for the Mahomedan Fakir when he witnessed his ascent, was at his wits’ end to know how to prevail against such a rival. Collecting, however, a few of his own followers around him, he drew out his “Qoran” from its case. Then opening it with great caution and solemnity, he took off the shoe from his right foot, and threw it into the air with all his might. To the bewilderment of all, the shoe did not return, but seemed to go also into the skies whither the Hindu Fakir had gone. The Hindus then raised a cry: “What is a shoe compared to a man! ”

“ After the boatmen had pushed off and had got well into the stream, they all fixed their eyes on the Fakir, who they thought was a mad man; for his appearance made him look like one.
Some of the company in the boat belonged to a class called “Bhânds,” and the boatman said to them “Cannot some one of you perform some act that will please the Spirit of the River “Kwaja Khizr,” so that we may reach the opposite shore in safety?” ”

“ For ever kings do not reign in unalloyed happiness;
For ever friends each other’s society enjoy not. Note as to owl omens.—Certain physical infirmities in man are reckoned inauspicious, and forbode evil, such as to be blind of one eye. ”

“ He gazed in amazement for a little, when suddenly, in the hearing of them all, a voice came from the broken ruby, saying, “Now, behold! I have on purpose made myself of no value or service to you! When I was on the donkey’s neck I was in the hands and charge of one who knew not my real value; when, again, I was on the Ferryman’s oar, he was just as ignorant of his treasure; when I came into your hands, who knew well my worth, you estimated my price at five to ten rupees only! Learn, therefore, not to undervalue what is good for a mean and selfish object ”

“ Finally, after living in the world for perhaps several hundred years, he does not die (for a Jinn or Genii is immortal, though a spirit may not be so) , but he rides up to heaven on the back of a dragon, where he becomes a ruler of spirits. ”

“ As they were talking and chatting, they heard a great noise in the village, and suddenly they saw a farmer who was being pursued and beaten by his wife. The young men recognised the woman, and at once said to the stranger, “We know the character of that wretched woman; she is worse than ‘Shāitān’ himself.” Whereupon “Shāitān” said, “No! there I cannot agree with you, for how can any woman be more hateful than ‘Shāitān,’ who is the accursed one, and wears on his neck the necklace of evil?” ”

“ Looking at the donkeys the Ferryman came at last to the donkey with the ornament on his neck, and he said to the grain-carrier, “Where did you find this pretty stone?” He told him that he was crossing the bed of a little river and saw it. The Ferryman looked at it again, but he did not know that it was a precious stone, yet he wanted it to decorate one of his oars; so he said to the Donkey-man, “You do not seem to care much for the stone; give it to me, and I will take you and your donkeys across for nothing.” ”

“ THE FARMER, THE CROCODILE, AND THE JACKAL.
After this, the Crocodile saw that it was no use to try himself to catch the Jackal, “for,” said he, “he is too cunning for me; I must employ someone who comes to get water here.” So one day he saw a Farmer, and said 57to him, “If you will catch a Jackal for me, I will make you a rich man, for I will give you several jewels which people have dropped in this tank for years and years, and they are lying here at the bottom.” ”

“ As to Alexander, it is generally the result of a great name to be enshrined in fables, and as it has been said, to become the basis of mythopœic fiction as in this tale.
“Raven.”—The word used for this bird by the narrator was Dhur-Kōwa; Kōwa, literally meaning a crow, answering to the word Kawwâ in Hindustani.
The natives of the district draw a great contrast between the raven and the crow. With them the former is an emblem of greed and rapacity; the latter, of quickness and cunning. They hold the raven to be a bird of ill omen, and are not singular in their belief. ”