Bagh O Bahar, or Tales of the Four Darweshes Part 15

and in order to prove what she said, the mother a.s.sumed the garb of a _fakir_, and acted as above related. When she came to the first door the second time, and received her son's lecture on the sin of avarice; she suddenly threw off her disguise, and said, "I told thee, my son, not to think of imitating _Hatim_. By _him_ I have been served three times running, in this very manner, without ever a question being asked."

[202] This and the following _jeu de mots_ cannot be easily explained to a person who does not understand a little Arabic or Persian.

[203] The original is, "as yet _Dilli_ is a long way off," a proverb like that of the Campbells--"It is a far cry to Loch Awe."

[204] The expression in the original is so _plain_ as to need no translation.

[205] Some would-be knowing critics inform us that "_Dastar-khwan_"

literally signifies the "turband of the table"!!! How they manage to make such a meaning out of it is beyond ordinary research; and when done, it makes nonsense. They forget that the Orientals never made use of tables in the good old times. The _dastar-khwan_ is, in reality, both table and table-cloth in one. It is a round piece of cloth or leather spread out on the floor. The food is then arranged thereon, and the company squat round the edge of it, and, after saying _Bism-Illah_, fall to, with what appet.i.te they may; hence the phrase _dastar-khwan par baithna_, to sit on, (not _at_,) the table. The wise critics seem to be thinking of our modern mahogany, which is a very different affair.

[206] In the original, an infinite variety of dishes is enumerated, which are necessarily pa.s.sed over in the translation, simply, because we have no corresponding terms to express them in any Christian tongue. They would puzzle the immortal Ude himself, or the no less celebrated Soyer, the present autocrat of the culinary kingdom. But my chief reason for pa.s.sing them over so lightly is the following, viz.: I have fully ascertained from officers home on furlough, that these pa.s.sages are never read in India, nor is the student ever examined in them. They can interest only such little minds as are of the most contemptibly frivolous description. A man may be a first-rate English or French scholar, yea, an accomplished statesman, without being conversant with the infinite variety of dishes, &c., set down on the _carte_ of a first-rate Parisian restaurateur.

[207] The Asiatics eat with the right hand, and use no knives or forks; so to draw back the hand from eating is to leave off eating. Of course, spoons are used for broths, &c, which cannot be eaten by the hand.

[208] As it were intended to be stored up and not eaten.

[209] This exceedingly plain expression is, so far from seeming gross or indelicate, considered as a very high compliment among Orientals.

[210] Literally, "recite the _la haul_," &c, vide note 2, p. 5.

[211] _Jogis_ are _Hindu_ ascetics, or fanatics; some of them let the nails grow through the palm of their hands by keeping their fists shut, &c.

[212] The _maunis_ are _Hindu_ ascetics who vow everlasting silence.

[213] The _sevras_ are mendicants of the _Jain_ sects.

[214] _Majnun_ is a mad lover of eastern romance, who pined in vain for the cruel _Laili_. _Farhad_ is equally celebrated as an unhappy _amant_ who perished for _s.h.i.+rin_.

[215] The word _salam_, "salutation," is used idiomatically in the sense of our terms "compliments" or "respects," &c. And in that sense it has now become, in India, adopted into the English language.

[216] The marriage portion here alluded to is not to be taken in the vague sense we attach to the term. The word _mahar_ denotes a present made to, or a portion settled on, the wife at or before marriage.

[217] _Nimroz_ is that part of Persia which comprehends the provinces of _Sijistan_ and _Mikran_, towards the south-east.

[218] The _man_, commonly called "maund," a measure of weight, about eighty pounds avoirdupois.

[219] It is needless here to enumerate the stores of various articles detailed in the original, as they will all be found in the vocabulary.

[220] Literally, "her own leavings." In the East it considered a very high compliment on the part of a person of rank to present his guest with the remnants of his own dish.

[221] Literally, "night of power or grandeur," would in that place be "without grandeur." The _shabi kadr_, or as the Arabs have it, _lailatu-l-kadri_, is a sacred festival held on the 27th of _Ramazan_, being, according to the _Musalmans_, the night on which the _Kur,an_ was sent down from heaven.

[222] Meaning that, under present circ.u.mstances, her commands were altogether out of place.

[223] It is inc.u.mbent on good Mussulmans to wash the hands and face before prayers. Where water is not to be had, this ceremony, called _tayammum_ is performed by using sand instead.

[224] _Lukman_ is supposed to be the Greek slave aesop, the author of the Fables. _Bu 'Ali Sina_ is the famous Arab physician and philosopher, by mediaeval writers erroneously called Avicenna.

[225] _Khizr_ or _Khwaja Khizr_ is the name of a saint or prophet, of great notoriety among the _Muhammadans_. The legends respecting his origin and life are as numerous as they are absurd and contradictory. Some say he was grand _Vizir_ to Solomon, others to Alexander the Great. They all agree, however, that he discovered the water of immortality, and that in consequence of having drunk thereof, he still lives and wanders about on the earth.

[226] _Kasra_ is the t.i.tle of the King of Persia, hence the Greek forms Cyrus and Chosroes, and most probably the more modern forms Caesar, Kaisar, and Czar. The form _Kisra_ used in the text is generally applied to _Naus.h.i.+rwan_.--Vide note 3, page 13.

[227] _Ni'man_, also _Nu'man_, the name of an ancient king of _Hirat_, in Arabia.

[228] The first day of the new year, which is celebrated with great splendour and rejoicings.

[229] The _Brahmans_, erroneously called Bramins, do not eat meat.

[230] Literally, "she would have repeated the _Kalima_," or "Confession of Faith" of the followers of _Muhammad_, which is as follows:--"There is no G.o.d but G.o.d, and _Muhammad_ is his prophet." Some profane wags have parodied this creed into a Jewish one, viz.--"There ish no G.o.d but the monish, and shent per shent (cent. per cent.) ish hish prophet"

(profit.)

[231] The common mode to present large sums in specie to princely visitors, is to form a platform with the money, spread the _masnad_ on it, and place the visitor on the rich seat. Mr. Smith states that he had himself seen _Asafu-d-Daula_, the then _Nawwab_ of Lucknow, receive a lack of rupees in this way from _Almas_, one of his eunuchs.

[232] _Chand-rat_, is applied to the night on which the new moon is first visible, which night, together with the following day till sunset, const.i.tutes the _pahli tarikh_, or _ghurra_, that is the first of the lunar month.

[233] _Ramazan_ is the ninth _Muhammadan_ month, during which they keep Lent. Vide note, p. 59.

[234] The _'Id_ is the grand festival after the Lent of _Ramazan_ is over. There is another _'Id_, called _Al-Kurban_, in commemoration of Abraham's meditated sacrifice of his son Isaac, or as the _Muhammadans_ believe of his son Ishmael.

[235] Literally, "having washed my hands of my life."

[236] _Rustam_, a brave and famous hero of Persia, whose Herculean achievements are celebrated in the _Shah-Nama_.

[237] Literally, "a _salam_ as low as the carpet;" or as we say, "a bow to the ground."

[238] The various editions of the text read _tunna_, "a particular kind of tree." In one of my MSS., however, the reading is _tane_, the inflected form of _tana_, the "trunk of a tree," which is better sense.

[239] Literally, "the parrot of my hand flew away."

[240] The _Muhammadans_ reckon a hundred and twenty years as the _'umri tabi'i_, or the natural period of man's life.

[241] The mountain of _Kaf_, is the celebrated abode of the _jinns_, _paris_, and _divs_, and all the fabulous beings of oriental romance. The _Muhammadans_, as of yore all good Christians, believe that the earth is a flat circular plane; and on the confines of this circle is a ring of lofty mountains extending all round, serving at once to keep folks from falling off, as well as forming a convenient habitation for the _jinns_, &c., aforesaid. The mountain, (I am not certain on whose trigonometrical authority) is said to be 500 _farasangs_ or 2000 English miles in height.

[242] With regard to the plain, simple sentence, "_yih kahkar takht uthaya_," we have somewhere seen the following erudite criticism, viz.:--"With deference to _Mir Amman_, this is bad grammar. The nominative to _kahkar_ and _uthaya_ ought to be the same!!!" Now, it is a great pity that the critic did not favour us here with his notions of _good_ grammar. Just observe, O reader, how the expression stands in the text: "_yih kahkar takht uthaya_," and you will naturally ask, "where is the fault in the grammar?" The nominative, or rather the agent, is _pari ne_, hence the translation, "the fairy, having thus spoken, took up the throne." The poor critic seems to confound "_uthaya_" with "_utha_."

[243] One of the would-be poets of our day has translated the above most elegantly and literally, as follows:--

"What mischiefs through this love arise!

What broken hearts and miseries!"

[244] The _Muhammadans_ have great confidence in charms which are written on slips of paper, along with numerous astrological characters. They consist chiefly of quotations from the _Kuran_, and are often diluted in water, and drank as medicine in various distempers. As the Indian ink and paper can do no harm, and often act as an emetic, they are probably more innocent than the physic administered by eastern physicians, who are the most ignorant of their profession. The fact is, that the soi disant "teachers" of mankind, in all ages and countries--the African fetish, the American Indian sachem, the _Hindu jogi_, the _Musalman mulla_, and the Romish priest and miracle-monger--have all agreed on one point, viz., to impose on their silly victims a mult.i.tude of unmeaning ceremonies, and absurd mummeries, in order to conceal their own contemptible vacuity of intellect.

[245] The _Jata-dhari Gusa,in_ is a sect of fanatic _Hindu_ mendicants, who let their hair grow and matted, and go almost naked.

[246] _Mahadev_ is a _Hindu_ idol; the emblem of the creative power, and generally and naturally represented by the Lingum.

[247] _Shevrat_ is a _Hindu_ festival, which corresponds nearly with the Mahometan _shabi barat_.