The Tale of the Tulasi Plant

7/22/2019 The Tale of the Tulasi Plant

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PREFAOE..

^As nearly all the ensuing sketches have alreadyappeared in the Times of India and are reproducedwith the kind permission of its editor, no preface isreally required. Since, however, the article onMarathi proverbs gave, when published, some offenceto Deccani readers, I take this opportunity ofassuring them that the suggestion that Maharashtrameant the country of the Mhars (Mahar Rashtra)was not mine at all. It may be found at p. yyifi of


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THE TALE OF THE TULSIPLANT.

say that it has often happened that ayoung Englishman riding past an Indian's house hasseen a small plant growing in a pot just opposite thedoor and has enquired its name. The answer hasbeen that it is the Tulsi, a plant sacred to Vishnu.If incurious, this answer has satisfied the questioner.If curious toprobe into the secrets of the world aroundhim, he will have returned home and searched forth^ word Tulsi in Molesworth's dictionary. Thereinit is written that the Tulsi is the Basil plant orOcymum Sanctum. If Basil be traced in theleaves of Webster, the searcher will learn that Basilis derived from the Greek word b$spikon, meaningkingly, and that the Basil plant ha HI Erance been


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2 TALK OF THE TULSI PLANTstrange occult properties. In the second part ofthe Secrets of Alexis of Piedmont, translated byW. Ward, 1563, there is this entry : To make a woman shall eate of nothing thatis set upon the table. Take a little greene Basill andwhen men bring the dishes to the table put itunderneth them, yet the woman perceive it not, formen saye that she will eate of none of that which is inthe dish whereunder the Basill lieth.In The Cyclades by P. Bent there occurs thefollowing passage: I have frequently realized how much prizedthe Basil is in Greece for its mystic properties. Theherb, which on Christ's is almost


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4: TALE OP THE TULSl PLAOT

make war on them* And by Rahu% his messenger,Jalandhar ordered Indra to hand over the jewelswhich had sprung from the churning of Ocean* ButIndra refused saying that Ocean had sheltered theenemies of the gods and that, therefore, they hadrightly churned Ocean and had robbed him of hisjewels*So Jalandhar and the demons fought Indra andthe gods in the forest of Nandan, and as the gods fellBrahaspati revived them with the nectar plant thatgrew on the slopes of Dronadri. But Jalandharhurled Dronadri into the sea and the terrified godsfled for shelter into the caves that

piercethe sides of

Suwarna or the gold mountain. Ihen the gods


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TALB OF THE TXJLSI PLANT 5

Kailas where he had seen Shiva and ;Parvati andherds ofKamdhenus, or Cows that grant desires, andforests of Kalpavriksh, or trees that fulfil wishes, andmasses of Chintamanis or the jewels that bestowfavours, and that he had come to see whether in thethree worlds there was any wealth like that of Shivaorany beauty like that of Parvati. And in this wiseNaradmuni stirred up hatred against Shiva in Jalan-dhar and he gent by Rahu a message calling on himto hand over his wife and wealth, and covering him-self with ashes to live for ever in the burning ground-Then Shiva was exceedingly wroth, and from his eye-brow there came forth a terrible shape with a man'sbody and a lion's face. It ran to eat up Rahu, but


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14 TATVTC OF THE SHAMI TKEEmade him for three andra-hftlf ghatkas the same nightshower gold on Ayodhya. And the gold all fell in oneplace where a giant Shami tree stood. And nextmorning, the 10th of Ashwin Sudh, the day chosenbyhis astrologers as auspicious for his advance againstIndra, king Baghu saw masses of gold heaped all-round the tree. He called Kautsa and told him to takeit away* But the sage said that he wanted but thefourteen crores with which to pay Vartantu. Andtaking them he went his way- But the proudKashattriya refusedto touch what had been obtainedfor the needs of a Brahmana and the rest of thegold lay there that all who wanted it might helpthemselves. And still on the 10th Ashwin Sudh


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TALE OH1 OTIS SHAMI TREE 15

captains did likewise and on Dassara started forthon their raids. Then in the Peshwa's time whenwarfare became more scientific and organisedcampaigns took the place of razteias, the DaSsarabecame a great festival on which the Peshwa distribu-ted amid regal state dresses of honour to the Indianprinces. And this custom when the Peshwai passedaway was continued by the English Resident untilin the late Empress' time the date was changed fromthe Dassara to the Sovereign's birthday, a practicewhich continues to this day. And thus it is thatwhen the Agent for the Sirdarsand the Deccan noblesassemble at theyearly Durbar to express their loyaltyto their august master, the they also


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18 STORY OF THE BEL PLANT

[Here follows a page full of virulent abuse ofShiva to which Shiva replies at equal length and withequal acrimony*]

This was how the quarrel commenced and Shivarose from his seat before the sacrifice had begun andwent homewards. And King Daksh then initiatedthe ceremonies to which the assembled guests hadbeen invited and which lasted 1,000 years. Sati,however, had not been present, and does not seemfully to have appreciated Shiva's explanation thatexternal honour was only good for those absorbed inthe Karma marg* and that he had really in his hearthonoured King Daksh who had been too unenligh-tened to see it* Some ages later for time was of little


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VISHALOAD 23Our business, however, was not with Panhala so weskirted its scarped defences and switching ofi rollednoiselessly down its farther side. Another l^our atalmost full speed along a deserted road and weentered, amid the musical salute of the VishalgadhChief's armed forces, that feudatory's boundariesand shortly afterwards alighted at Amba.The Diwan and I had now reached that day'sjourney's end and after careful inspection of mapsand histories we parted early for the night. Fornext morning the serious business of our trip wasto begin and we would ride through the woods toVishalgadh, At 7 a.m. next day we started andtook a path that had once been trodden by a Bah-


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VISEALGAD 25

liglitly play among such inextricable tangles ? Af-ter two hours of blind struggling we emerged asdid the Bahmani army on a small valley hemmedin on every side with hills and still known as theBadshah's Tal (the Imperial camp)* Here Malik-ul-Tujar's army, exhausted utterly, flung themsel-ves on the ground. Shirke had already disappearedand had fled to Vishalgad. Thence he at mid-night returned with its garrison led by his supposedenemy Shankar 'Rai. They at once threw themsel-ves on the wearied invaders and killed of themnearly seven thousand including the confidingGeneral. Next morning the survivors dispersedin every direction. Thus the Maratha Chief made


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26 VISHAL&ABral never relaxed his vigilance. In vain the Ma-vaJis without tried to co-operate with the garrisonwithin. Famine began to make itself felt amongthe defenders of Panhala. Then Shivaji saw thathe had made an error. If the Deccan was to beliberated he must escape and the plan that headopted showed equal skill in design and execution.Lulling the besiegers by offers of surrender he lateone night slipped with a chosen band from a gatestill known as Shivaji9s window and was well on themarch to another fort before his flight was dis-covered. When it was Sidi Johar acted withdecision and promptitude. He despatched in pur-


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Anger was cast out from him. Now one day KingSahasrarjun visited the sage's hermitage. He wasabsent but his wife received the monarch withfitting respect. But Sahasrarjun made her hos-pitality an ill-return. For he carried off despiteher protests the calf of the milch-cow of the sacredoblation. In the subsequent dispute between theSage and the King, the former fared badly. Havingcast forth Anger he was unable to lose his temper.But all the time smiling beatifically he received 21wounds in the head and died. To avenge thesage's death Vishnu became incarnate in his sonParashuram and this is his 6th incarnation. Foreach wound in Jamadagnf s head he cleared the


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penetrating intellect of the Brahman with thedevotion and fidelity of the Kshattriya. BajiDe$hpande realized his master's and his country'sdanger and persuaded Shivaji to press on with themain body to the fort while he with a picked bandof Mavalis held a gorge against the pursuers. Shi-vaji with some reluctance agreed and promisedthat the cannon of the stronghold would announcehis entry. The small band skilfully posted heldthe gorge for some hours and when at length BajiBeshpande fell covered with wounds the lastsound he heard was the salvo proclaiming Shivaji'ssafe arrival,


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34 FORGOTTEK BATTLEFIELD

sumption, Eaghunathrao renewed againsthis bro-

ther Narainrao the plot which had been foiled bythe talents and character of Madhavrao. Lessthan a year after Narainrao's succession he was,with the connivance of Raghunathrao and at theinstigation of his infamous wife Anandibai, mur-dered in cold blood by the officers of the palaceguard. It is satisfactory to note that this crimebrought on its author nothing but misery. Forshortly after Narainrao's murder his widow gavebirth to a son, called Madhavrao, after his uncle,thus again interposing a direct heir between Eaghu-nathrao and the PeshwaL Having murdered his

next was to his


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J6 FORGOTTEN BATTLEHBLB*nd a rumour, baseless as is now believed and pro-bably arising only from the burning of TaJegaon,spread that Nana Fadnavis intended similarlyto .destroy Chinchwad and Poona. It is difficultto understand why this rumour should have alar-med the Committee of senior officers who, from the6th January, on Colonel Egerton's sickness, hadassumed the command. A quick march to Poonawould have saved it. But even had this failedno greater blow could have befallen the Marathaarms than their own arson of the capital.

Nevertheless* in spite of the protest of a civilianMr. Holmes and of the one bright genius m theforce the Committee


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FORGOTTEN BATTLEFIELD 37of the English force so as to enfilade it as it passedBodies of horse plundered the baggage and ei>gaged the head of the retreating army, and butfor the signal skill and bravery of Captain Hartley,the English force would probably have not longsurvived* But every charge of the Deccan horsewas met and defeated by this gallant soldier'sresource and valour. The whole of the 12th Janu-ary he occupied, in spite of the efforts of the entireMaratha grand army now arrived to dislodge him,a low rising ground with big unsupported rearguard. And as evening fell he was able to makegood his retreat to Wadgaon where the rest of hiscomrades had halted.


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38 EOBGOTTEN BATTLEJB1ELDing away Raghunathrao's liberty by his own as-tuteness. For correctly gauging the situation, he,shortly after the retreat began, deserted his alliesand threw himself on Shinde's mercy. On theacceptance of the latter's terms, a treaty was drawnup and signed. The Committee were then allowed,as an act of clemency, to withdraw with theirarmy to Bombay. I am glad to say that theirconduct received there a fitting punishment. Thesenior officers of the expedition were one and allignominiously dismissed, and Captain Hartley waspromoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Un-fortunately, his promotion was conferred withoutdue consideration, and on the petition of such of


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FORGOTTEN BA1TLBBIBLB 39mists of a November evening the long purple hillslook calmly down on the babul-dotted plain, onthe old stronghold of the Dabhades and on thetrees mirrored in the sleeping lake, it is hard topicture that they once enjoyed a spectacle uniquein Western India, the Surrender of an Englisharmy*


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THE BAKHAR OF THE DABHADES.To many probably of my readers the word Bakharwill be unknown. And perhaps it will be as well

to clear the ground by explaining that the wt>rddoes not mean a he-goat, as I once heard it tran-slated by an enthusiastic but ill-informed Marathistudent. I am unaware of the origin of the term,but it is applied to the family histories of the greatDeccan houses and these bakhars formed one of themines from which Grant Duff took his materials.The bakhar with which this article will deal musthave been written not long after the downfallof the last Bajirao and narrates in simple languagethe history of a family that for more than a centurya in


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BAKHAfe OF $HE DABHADSS 45above all the rare felicity of diction* that for cen-turies has been the peculiar gift of the KonkanasthaChitpawan produced an irresistible effect. Andwhen at the close of a lofty peroration, the ministerfixed on Shahu his glowing gaze and said, MaharajaSahib, if you but listen to my counsel, I shall plantyour banner in the walls of Attock, the scene thatensued was the most dramatic in history. Regard-less of the rigid etiquette of an Eastern Durbar,king Shahu, with blazing eyes, sprang from the gadi to his feet : Plant my banner on Attockfort, he cried, half drawing his sword. ByGod, you shall plant it on the throne of theAlmighty t


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48 BAKHAB OF THE DABHADESBajirao would not listen, to his proposals, but hisson Balaji had none of his father's scruples. Dur-ing Shahu's lifetime, it is true, Damajfs schemescame to nothing. For theking saw through themandsupported with admirable loyalty the descendantsof his old playmate. But at his death Balaji, bythe imprisonment of Shahu's heir 'Ramraja and theforced sati of Shahu's widow, became the masterof the kingdom and readily fell in with a proposalto humble his only serious rival the Senapati. Hedemanded from him the cession of half Gujarat.The Senapati consulted Damaji, who, posing as afriend, scouted the idea and advised him stronglyto fight.* joined forces, claiming to be the


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52 BAXHAR OF PILAJI GAIKWAD


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Now if thewordGaikwad does notmean cowherdwhat then does it mean ? It is made up of twowords : Gai a cow and Kavad a Small door .Gaikwad therefore means cow door. And of theStory of the name as told me by a Baroda oificialis this. One Nandaji, the great grandfather ofPilaji Gaikwad, was in charge of Bher for tin thePawan Mawal. A Musalman butcher one daydrove past the fort gates a quantity of cows, inten-ding at the end of his journey to convert them intobeef. Nandaji, like a virtuous Hindu, rushed outand rescued the cows which ran for shelter througha side door or Kavad in the fort wall. Now this

a son Keroji Keroji


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54 BAKHAfc 6tf frlLAJl GAtKWAD


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* )

a continual struggle. From the north, of Gujaratthe Imperial troops came pouring in anxious torestore the old Mogal sovereignty. From theEast pressed the Mzam-ul-Mulk and Pilaji's onlysafety lay in dexterous diplomacy. Fortunatelyhe was equal to the occasion. The first battle ofArass will, I think, serve as a typical instance.The Imperial side was led by Ruslam Ali Khan andto him Pilaji joined himself. On the day of thebattle lending a ready ear to the Nizam's emissariesPilaji got rid of his ally in this ingenious manner.Taking advantage of a momentary success of Rus-tam Khans' artillery, Pilaji persuaded him to finish

battle a cavalry charge. guile-


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56 BAKEAE OF PILAJI GAIKWAI)


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admirably suited to the times, enabled Mm to thriveexceedingly. Had he been a Frenchman of theearly years of the 19th century, he would in allprobability have risen to be a marshal of the empireor even to be Duke of Warsaw or King of PortugalHe would with Murat have deserted the strugglingTitan when his throne began to totter, and wouldwith Bernadotte have avoided the grievous errorof returning to his old allegiance with the violetsin the spring. Had Damaji been an Italian of thecinque cento, he would have shot, stabbed and poi-soned himself into the overlordship of Seina orVerona and would have proved a serious rival to

of


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BAKSAB Off 2ILAJ1 GA1KWAD 59


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Panipat died broken-hearted and his brother Baghu-nathrao tried to usurp the throne from his nephewMadhavrao, a boy of 16. Uncle and nephew tookthe field. With the latter was Damaji, but his Skil-ful desertion to Raghunathrao gave the latter thevictory. In the meantime, the Nizam, who hadno claim to make, had wisely wasted no time indoing so. He collected an army and advanced onPoona, proposing coolly to resume it as a formerpart of the Mogal empire. He, however, littleknew the hero Spirit that glowed within the boyishbreast of the young Peghwa. He mounted anelephant and rode unattended into his uncle's camp.

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as he prepared to charge Malharrao Holkar cameup fleeing from the battle. He tried to dissuadeMadhavrao and urged him to seek in Poona safetyand a throne. The young prince turned on him likea wounded tiger. Then it fs true he said, thatyou left Sadashivrao to die at Panipat ? Malhar-rao stung to the quick could but join his prince, andas the Mogal army advanced in the disorder of suc-cess, Madhavrao's cavalry burst on them stabbing,sabring, trampling down all resistance. Few troopsthen in India could have stood that furious onsetand the Mogal army, that but a moment before hadhad victory in their grasp, were hurled headlong into


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TO MAHULI BY MOTOR.


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Duty had brought me to Satara, and three milesfrom the City and barely two fromthe Cantonment,lay the little double village of Mahuli Vasti andMahuK Kshetra, As I was anxious thoroughly toexplore the spot, I invoked the assistance of a lear-ned Indian friend. By a happy chance he had atthe time staying with him a party one of whompossessed a motor car. This was promptly com-mandeered and the same afternoon was fixed forour voyage of discovery. It happened that of ourparty 3 were acquainted with Gujarati, 4 withEnglish, all 5 with Marathi. This, therefore, weadopted as the language of conversation and amid

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such srapassing sanctity that eventually growinga tail he became an avatar of the godhead tantumreligio potuit. Let us only hope that on translationto a higher sphere his tail did not drop off with thecold like Brer Rabbit's did in the iced water.

It does not take long for a motor car to devourtwo miles and soon we reached the empty bed ofthe Krishna river wherein a stranded ferry boatmade it possible, though still hard, to realize thatin a month or two the pebbly channel would beone mass of roaring yellow water striving to findits way to the far off Bay of Bengal. In front of usa notice forbidding strictly the exciting sport ofmade it clear to us that we were


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66 MAHIILI BY MOTOR


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opposite is a temple built on a different model* Itwas built by ShrinivaSrao's widow in honour ofher gallant husband, and designed, as it is, in thenorthern style, bears witness unwittingly to theonward march of the Maratha armies. In front ofus and across the Krishna rose the splendid flightof 35 Steps leading to the temple of Eameshwarbuilt by Parashuram Angal of Dehgaon. At itsside and as if clinging to the main Staircase may beseen another flight of steps which start firmly fromthe river bed, and then unfinished lose themselvesin the sands of the bank above. The flight wasbegun and left unfinished by Bajirao Raghunathrao,

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Everything Seemed to point to a prosperous reign.His early childhood had been passed among theEnglish with whom his father had so often beenallied. Nature, too, had lavished on him her gifts*Even the tall envoys of Britain were struck by hisbearing and commanding stature, and in Marathaeyes, no surer archer not bolder horseman shot orrode in the plains of Gangathadi. Nor was hismind legs finely formed than his body. And thePandits were alike amazed and confounded by theerudition of their princely student. Yet just asat the christening of the Regent d'Orleans somewicked uninvited fairy came and spoilt all his gifts,

the of availed


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70 MAHtfLI BY MOTOR


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three men carrying morchels or peacock featherfans with, silver handles approached the grave andwaved the insignia of royalty over the dead King'sashes. Then a horn-blower blew a wild blast torouse his and Sakvarbai's deeping spirits* Theywere now deemed to be awake and a Brahmin kneltand carefully bathed the Shivlingas and the deadqueen's image. Again the morchels waved andagain the echoes work to the wild horn's music.Then both Shivlingas and statuette were carefullydried. Halud or yellow turmeric lines were madeon the Shivlingas arid across Sakvarbai's breast.And on her forehead was placed a kanku tila or the


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THE FORT AT SHOLAPUR.


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Every cold weather the outward-bound steamersbring thei^ loads of eager sight-seers, who on landingin Bombay, bifurcate as a rule into two divisions.The larger band rushes north to see the Taj andAgra Fort, the monument at Gawnpore and theDelhi ridge, the smaller of the two turns southwardtowards Bijapur and thence towards the Gauveryfall and the great temples of Madras. Off bothbeaten tracks, however, may be found spots whichif lacking the gorgeous architectural wealth of thecities dear to tourists hardly, if at all, yield to theman historical interest. Among these spots is Shola-pur. Its old fort dates back beyond human re-cords. The its districts

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Musulman raids thatoverthrew Delhiand Hindustafc,and until IRamdev, king of Devgad, espoused thecause of Karan Ghelo, the last Rajput ruler ofGujarat, Sholapur, like the surrounding country,formed part of the domain of the Yadav princesAnnexed by the Afghan emperor Alauddin Khiljithe Deccan supported Hasan Gango Bahmani inhis revolt against Delhi. With the unity of con-ception which the Musulmans first introduced intoIndian politics, this able tyrant formed into onevast kingdom all the imperial provinces and thepetty States south of the Narbadda. But theadministration of his descendants, resting wholly,as it did, upon local support, became eventually

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Ahmednagar. Five and a half districts were in1511 annexed to Bijapur by the regent KamalKhan. And eventually a partition might havebeen acquiesced in by both kingdoms. Unfortuna-tely, in 1524, when the princess Mariam of Bijapurwas, in order to cement the alliance of the twokingdoms against Vijayanagar, married to theAhmednagar king her ; dowry was declared to beSholapur and the Bijapuri half of the elevendistricts.Now the dowries of princesses have been afruitful source of political trouble. Readers ofDumas will remember the difficulties that beset


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76 FOBT AT SEOLAPTTR


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won it all and wide lands besides for his youngmaster, the 2ndMadhavrao. And in 1818, it was toSholapur that Bajirao IPs army, defeated at Ashta,retreated. On the 10th May 1818, his spiritless forcewas dispersed never to re-assemble, and on the14th, the fort with its garrison, surrendered toGeneral Munro. And so with this final flicker,Sholapur passed out of history.The fort* has nothing in common with the usualMaratha fastness perched upon a cliff and owingless to human than to Nature's hands. The Sholapurfort standson the open plain, and consists of a squareenclosed by heavy walls and a wide encircling moat.

FOBT Atf


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the carriage window that a slipper is hurled afterthe vehicle that bears away the married pair. Itis in her honour that in England house-warmingparties are given, that in France they hang th$cremaill&re, and that in India they perform theceremony called Vastushanti. Maha&ali was angry,said the Brahmans. How was she to be appeased ?By the sacrifice of a living pregnant woman, was thereply. The poor widow of a Lingayat Bania wasoffered by her brother-in-law as the victim. Shewas buried alive and the tower stands firm to thisday. But though the tower moves not the widow'sghost gets at times restless. And to quiet her, thedescendants ofher brother-in-law, now and ever since


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80 PRVATI OF THE PESHWAS


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promise* The tale told in the Peshwas' Bakhar is^different. For there the founding of Parvati isascribed to Balaji Bajirao's wish to honour kingShahu to whose memory the Shivaite temple waserected. It is probable, however, that this latterstory really describes the origin of Vishnu's templeand the former that of Shiva's. In either eventthe pious founder of Parvati was the 3rd Peshwaand it is related in the Peshwa Bakhar that he sentthe Holkar and Shinde Jaghirdars to extort forher temples the sacred stones of the Gandaki riverfrom the Maharaja of Nepal*.The hill is usually approached by the Shankar-

FABVATI Off THE PEHHWAS SI


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horses and did likewise and the dam soon nearedcompletion. At a later date Mahadji Shinde wish-ing to oust Nana Phadnavis from the control ofthe second Madhavrao took the latter to the littleGanpati temple on the Sarasbag island in the centreof the lake. While rowing across, Shinde so poisonedthe young prince's mind against the old statesmanthat they in the end quarrelled, with terrible resultsto both. Madhavrao II perished in the ShanwarWada. Nana Phadnavis died broken hearted anddisgraced. But the house of Shinde grew till itovershadowed the whole Maratha Empire.On reaching the pathway that branches off toParvati, do not continue until the are reached

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by, showed that but a few minutes before a wor-shipper had offered a fowl to the Hang's ghost. Asad tale was also told me of this Mang's doings*On dark nights he spirits away fair women of highcaste while sleeping by their husband's sides and inthe early morning leaves them soiled and helplesson the roadway. Possibly erring ladies of highdegree, surprised by daylight, may have found inthe Mang's ill-repute a welcome shelter. But let usleave the Mang and still go northward. Twenty orthirty paces on we shall come to the realm of Vetal*and Mhasoba. Here indeed we enter on primitivetheology. In the centre are two whitewashed stones.


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On other occasions he but rides round Poona City.But on that night as the Mhar attendant told me** ratrabhar dhingana karito (or as we might say,he plays Old Harry all night long). Sorcerers andespecially wrestlers are his votaries and often beforea wrestling competition one may, if one cares tovisit the spot at midnight, see some stout youthbathe in the adjoining canal and then pray at theshrine for victory in the morrow's tournament.But whoever makes offering to the god must atthe same time present a pipe of hemp to BhangiaBawa, for he has the ear of and will samjao theSahib.

let us return to the east face of hill


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OF THE


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Let us now leave Shiva's court-yard and skirt-ing the southern wall look down the hilFs edge. Weshall see a vast compound girt by a ruined stonewall. This is the old * Bamana ' or enclosure whereBalaji Bajirao paid dakshina to Brahmins by thou-sands. The cost one year rose to sixteen lakhsand the Peshwa was forced at last to examineBrahmin applicants as to their holiness and learn-ing. And the chronicle of the Peshwas relates inall seriousness that the Konkanastha Brahminspassed most frequently the examiner's tests.*Due west of Shiva's temple we shall enter a smallenclosure over which several bel-trees hang theirrounded fruit. Therein a small to Kartik*


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90 rOETUOUESE LADY AT MOGAL COURTcareer of a who a in the


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lady played great parthistory of the Portuguese Indies.The early years of 'the 16th century brought un-exampled prosperity to Portugal. Five centuriesof uninterrupted conflicts with the Moors had madeall its small population soldiers. Ihe royal house,founded by a bastard prince of Burgundy, had beenunusually rich in able men. And ruled and rulersalike had with wonderful quickness grasped thepossibilities of their long coast line, and had laidaside ambitions of Mediterranean for those of worldempire. In 1494, a Papal Bull had divided theundiscovered earth between the Portuguese and theand in all directions the Lisbon


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LADtf A* MOGAt COlrttT &cadet of the house of Navarre, fled from France as


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a result of a fatal duel, and making his way fromMadras to Delhi, applied to enter Akbar's service.He was received with great distinction, giventhe title of Nawab, appointed governor of theroyal harem, and wedded to Juliana Mascarenhas,Maria's sister. The two Portuguese ladies thusformed a strange link between the great house ofChagatai, and the no less splendid line that for twocenturies overawed Europe from the throne ofClovis.*Having saved her countrys' possessions, Maria

Mascarenhas next tried to save her husband's soul,Her own palace had long been adorned with fres-


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POBTWU33SE LADY AT MO&AL COTTRT 07off the Spanish yoke and offered her crown to John,


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Duke of Braganza, in whose veins flowed the bloodof the oldBurgundian line, Catalonia, deserted byFrance, had to submit. * But Portugal won theEnglish alliance and her own independence by offer-ing with a great dowry the Princess Catherine toCharles II. Now in that dowry were included theharjbour and island of Bombay, which the charmsof Queen Maria had saved from the Mogal con-queror. Thus, but for her, Catherine of Braganza'sdowry, must have been sought elsewhere. Andthe Presidency of Bombay might now be crampedwithin Ascension or Madeira island ; or, worse still,urbs prima in Indis might be located in some


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PES&WAS OF poosrA. 99Emperors on Italian affairs at the time of Odoacer*


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In the course of the lecture I have endeavour-ed to present before you the second dynasty as awhole. And, to do so, I have found it necessaryto sketch not only the third period, but the secondperiod also of Maratha history. From this sketchI have omitted everything that was not essentialto the narrative. I have even done so at the riskof producing a mere arid and jejune string of facts.But the time at my disposals, both for preparationand for addressing you, has been so short that thiswas inevitable.

Let us first approach the subject with the query,what is a Peshwa ? Lord Macaulay in his essay


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108 THE PESHWAS Off POOSApainter drew him and shewed his picture to the


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Emperor. The latter looked at it and said wuhshaitan hai and gave the order Baji Rao, yanshisamjoot padoon wates lavle pahije. *The firm hold that the Bhat family had taken inthe Satara State is well exemplified by the circum-stance that Bajirao's son Balaji succeeded him asPeshwa without serious opposition. But it was notlong before the Dabhade faction raised up a newenemy in Raghuji Bhosle. This person, the founderof the afterwards famous house of Nagpur, had ob-tained Shahu's favour by his skill as a hunter andsealed it by his marriage with the sister of Shahu'swife Sakvarbai. The subject of the dispute was


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114 THE PESHWAS OF POONAto Bombay, and the victorious Holkar thoroughly

the inhabitants of the beautiful capital.


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plunderedThePeshwa to obtain revenge agreed to the treaty ofBassein.In return for English assistance he promised to

maintain a large body of hired troops,and signed

his own complete political subordination. Amritrao,his elder adopted brother, had, however, in themeantime usurped the Peshwai, and the interferenceof the British brought onthem the whole confederacyof the Maratha Empire. The great resources,however, which that Government had then acquired,and the ability of the two brothers, the Marquisand General Wellesley, then at the head of the Civil


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116 HE PESHWAS Off POOSAachievement of that Titanic figure than that during

centuries his the mere terror of his name


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If memory,was sufficient to protect his helpless posterity. Nowas they were usurpers, the Peshwas3 kingdom wassubject to the common rule. Decay was the inevit-able accompaniment of their deterioration. Duringthe Peshwas5 greatness, Western aggression waspromptly dealt with. The Portuguese were, as wehave seen, driven out of Bassein, and it is idle toargue that the English could not have been similarlyoverpowered. The independence of the Jahagirdarswas a still later symptom. The great Mahadji Shindehimself had tried to measure himself against the firstMadhavrao, but the young prince drove him from


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IN THE COURT OF THE YOUNGERMADHAVRAO.*


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It used to be some years ago and I daresaythat it still is a not uncommon saying that Hinduwriters have no historical sense, and it must beadmitted that the earlier literature of India affordedsome ground for this reproach. It was left to threeEnglishmen, Colonel Tod, Mr. Forbes and CaptainGrant Duff, to write the histories of Rajasthan,Kathiavad and the Maharashtra. The splendidperiod of Mussulman greatness found no Hinduhistorian and even the spirited bakhars of the greatDeccan houses can hardly be termed, in the usualsense of the word, histories. But whatever may


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122 COURT Off THE YOOTOEBhis father gladly accepted on his behalf a writershipin the East India In the winter of 1770


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Company.the young man landed in Bombay, and his earlierservice was spent in Muscat, Bushire and in othercoast towns along the Persian Gulf. In 1774, hewas selected to officiate as English Agent at theCourt of Cambay. Here he earned the approval ofhis chiefs by an act of resolution certainly remarkablyin a boy of twenty-three. When the intense feelingroused by the murder of Narain Rao had alienatedfrom Raghunathrao the great jaghirdars, he turnedin despair to the English with whom, on March 6th,1775, he drew up a treaty making to them largecessions in the Konkan in return for the of


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124: COURT OF THE YOTTNGEE MADHAVBAO walas* including Malet himself. Of these, three of them are entitled to palanquins. There are


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35 horses, 200 guards, 100 servants, 50 kamathi porters, 75 palanquin men, 425 Mhars, 2 elephants, 4 palanquins. His camp kit consists of 1 big and 2 small tents, 3 big raotis and pals for servants.** Malet's Musalman dancing girl is for also with** them in a palkhLOn Malet's arrival at Poona there occurred adifference between him and the regent. The latterwas engaged in an expedition in the Carnatic andwished Malet without delay to join his army. Maletpleaded that he wished first to pay his respects to theyoung Peshwa and this the regent was at last forced


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132 COUET OP THE YOtTNGEE MADHA.VBAOMalet's services were highly appreciated, and pre-sents worth Rs. 20,000.


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On his return to England Malet resided until hisdeath in 1815 at Wilbury House. By Susan LadyMalet, he had 8 sons of whom the eldest Sir Alex-ander Malet succeeded to his father's title and from1856 to 1866 was English ambassador at Berlin*Another son, Sir Arthur Malet, became a memberof the Bombay Government* And a third son,Mr. Hugh Malet, while Collector of Thana, dis-covered by an unconscious atavism the hill stationof Matheran.Here I must take leave of Mr. Parasnis and his


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MARATHI COMEDYbetrothed to Pramila's Commander-in-chief Rup-maya, and two old men Maitraya and Jagruka, whofurnishmost of the comic


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element in the play. Theydo not, like Tennyson's gallants, adopt women's dis-guises, but Arjuna affects to be a vakil come with anoffer of marriage from Arjuna. Pushpadhanwa putson an old man's wig and beard and pretends to belike Maitraya and Jagruka, an ancient counsellorin attendance on Arjuna's vakil. The first scenecloses as the four start on their quest armed withletters from King Shvetketu. The second sceneopens on the frontier of Queen Pramila's Kingdom.Some lady soldiers are on duty and are passingtheir time abusing the male sex when


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140 MABATHI COMEDYlooked at me ? Now answer truly. Am I in anyway worse to look at than Pushpadhanwa in the?


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pictureRupmaya : My lord, what can I say ? You dis-guised yourself as an old man and made me con-fess my love for you* So what else can this yourslave now say to you ? But dear one, if any wait-ing maid were by chance to come here suddenlyand were to see you ?Pushpadhanwa : Then what will happen ? She

will tell Pramila that Pushpadhanwa has enteredher kingdom. What then ?Rupmaya : Oh, no I do not want it to beknown now. become old

MABATHI COMEDY 141and arrow with which she wishes to defend her-self, and with one hand seizing the tigress by thethroat and with the other its two paws, holds it at


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arm's length and then drives it away half-strangledand wholly cowed. This is certainly a tall order*But tout eat permis to an Aryan hero Pramilais deeply impressed by this feat, but in order tomake her finally yield, Mr. Khadilkar resorts toa device similar to that of Tennyson. It will beremembered that after the Prince's disguise hadbeen betrayed by Cyril's drunken song, Ida in afury mounted her horse and rode off

Hoof by hoof,And every hoof a knell to my desires,on the and then another

142 MAEATH3 COMEDYthe latter discloses himself and offers his famousbow Gandiva for Pramila to trample on inrevenge for his treatment of her bow when the


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tigress charged. If she does trample on it Arjunawill know that she does not love him. Pramilahesitates and has she does so Satyamaya rushesacross a bridge whence she has overheard the dis-cussion in order to trample on it herself. Thebridge no doubt of Hemadpanthi architecturebreaks and Satyamaya is hurled into the river.Arjuna at once springs after her. Primala wishingto share Arjuna's danger refuses to stay behindand the scene closes with the heroic Pandav swim-ming to shore with a lady on each arm. In Ten-

MARATHI COMEDY 143affected. The bulk of the women army comes fromthe capital on the scene in time to face Arju-na's army, who have invaded Pramila's land to


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see that no harm comes to their general, Prami-la, however, intervenes, tells the opposing sidesthat her reign is over and that she is to be Arju-na's bride and the play closes with the couple'sarrival at the Kong Shvetketu's camp. He blessesthe pair, promises to hand them over his landsand wealth before retiring like a true Aryan kingto meet death in the practice of austerities, andthen turning to his servants, he tells them : Nowall of you go to the capital and arrange for themarriage ceremonies of Arjuna and Pramila.

144 MABATHI COMEDYwith the words keep in the path of Dharma orRighteousness. So much for Mr. Khadilkar'sdrama which I have tried to sketch for Anglo-


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Indian readers* May I venture to hope that insome future play he will throw aside old traditionsand use his undoubted talents to picture, withoutthe aid of epic heroes, Indian life as it is ? I cannotleave the subject without a word of praise for Mr.Mali, the artist, who has furnished the printedcopies* of A Woman's Revolt, 55 with illustrations.Although the dresses of Arjuna and Pushpadhan-wa are Rajput court dresses of to-day and notsuch as Aryan heroes wore, and although the bridgewhich broke down at across it

MAHASHIVRATRA DAY.To-day the Government officers are closed through-out the Presidency and the weary administrator

will have time to seek solace in the latest master-


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piece of Victoria Cross or Marie Corelli. Before,however, plunging into its delectable depths, itmay not perhaps be without profit or uninteres-ting to consider why to-day is a holiday. It is theMahashivratra, the greatest festival of Shiva, thepresent head of the Hindu triad. The Mahashiv-ratra falls on the 14th day of the dark half of Maghand I have come across two stories told to explainwhy it does go. They are, of course, mere tales,but religious tales are always of interest and theseperhaps especially so far they illustrate the peculiar

146 MAHA.SHIVRATEA DAYbeast strove to clamber after him, he defendedhimself with one of its branches. In the struggleBel leaves dropped both from the hunter's hand


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and the beast's mouth on to where in the sand be-neath lay a hidden Shivaite pindi. Now the layingof a Bel leaf on a Shivaite pindi constitutes theoffering dearest to Shiva. In an instant the sinsof the two were forgiven and Shiva himself appearedin his fiery chariot and bore them away with himto his heaven in Kailasa. In honour of this miraclethe 14th, Magh Wadya has been deemed to be theholiest of all Shiva's holy days.The second story is to be found in the SkandaPurana and was told by the sage Shuk to Shounak

3&lHASmVBATBA DAY 147eyes an inner eye of knowledge and with it he per-ceived that he had eaten human flesh* Furious,he cursed King Mtrasaha and condemned him to


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take the form of a man-eating demon. King Mit-rasaha protested that he knew nothing of the matter.Vasishta too learnt through his inner eye of know*,,ledge that King Mitrasaha wag not to blame. Butthe curse of a sage once spoken cannot be recalled.And all that King Mtrasaha could obtain was thatthe period of his demonhood should be reducedto 12 years. Then compelled by the curse he assum-ed the guise of a man-eating rakshasa and wentinto the deep jungle. One day when roamingthrough the forest he met a Brahman and his wife

148 , MAHASHIVEATEA DAYbefore Ms eyes alone. Maddened by the sightof this mystic shape he threw aside his kingdomand going into the jungle sought the sage Gautama*


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Gautama said that there was but one way to obtainrelease, and that was to go to Gokarna on the 14thMagh Nadya and there worship Shiva. KingMitrasaha asked wherein lay the greatness of Go-karna, and the merit of Magh Wadya Ohaturdashi.The sage Gautama replied that on that day in thepreceding year he had seen a hideous old Chan-dala woman lying on the ground and on the pointof death when suddenly from heaven came thelord Shiva's fiery chariot. From it his messen-

descended and in it the Chandalin.

MAHASHEVKATRA DAY 149came to Yama's Court, Chitragupta's* record showedthat she had committed gohatya, and she was atonce consigned to the blackest Hell, In her next


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life, she became a blind, leprous and filthy Chan-dala woman whom not even a Chandala wouldmarry. To-day she was begging from the pil-grims to Gokarna, but all refused her alms. Atlast, one pilgrim in derision placed a Bel leaf inher hand. In anger she threw it away and it fellon a hidden Shivaite pindi Then the lord of Kailas*heart melted in pity for her, and he sent his chariotand his messengers to bear her away to his heaven.With these words the messengers and the chariotbore away the Chandala woman to the snowy

PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY INWESTERN INDIA.I THE SAYINGS OF KATHIAWAR.


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The day has in England long gone by when thewise saws and well-worn sayings of some timehonoured member of she family carried weight ina discussion* If one practised in ordinary con-versation the art of introducing happily rhymingproverbs, one would soon have no one left withwhom to converse and beyond that of an intoler-able bore one would have achieved no other repu-tation* Yet two hundred years ago, things weredifferent. The Squire Westerns whom Macaulayin the famous third chapter of his history describes

IN WESTERN INDIA 151the saws of Squire Western and the simples of hishelpmeet have gone their way, and an English pro-verb now is hardly ever used, save to distort it into


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a paradox.Western India, however, has not yet reached theparadox stage of human development. And I havemyself seen a happily applied proverb close morethan once an intricate discussion, and an Indianproverb on a European's lips invariably fills a nativeaudience with an immense and often excessive res-pect for his acquaintance with their language.Hereafter I may deal with the proverbs commonamongst the Marathas. But in this chapter I shallconfine myself to the Gujarati sayings of Kathiawar,

152 PBOVERBIAL PHILOSOPHYon a green tree there are many parrots (lilawanna suda ghana). We say penny wise andpound foolish ; he says it is useless to plug up


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the sink pipe and leave the door open ( khaleducha ne darwajo moklo ). Is there not an Irishstory which points out the uselessness of padlockingthe gate when there are gaps in the hedge ? How-ever to match a bribe in the lap blinds the eyes/ 3he also makes a reference to money. The sightof gold makes a saint wobble (sonu dekhi munichale).We who are an animal-loving nation make aconsiderable use of the domestic ones in our sayings.We say Don't count your chickens before they are


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nr WESTERN INDIA 155 The best of all ways to lengthen your days, is totake a few hours from the nigbt, my dear. Alittle pot is soon hot is on the other hand more


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felicitous than the weak man has a bad temper (kamzor ne gusso bot) ; and What the eye does notsee the heart does not grieve than not to see is

not to mourn (dekhvun nahi ne dajeun nahin).Yet we have nothing so good as to a wooden godgive a slipper as an offering(lakdana devne khasdanipuja).Some of the Kathiawadi proverbs have, likesome English ones, a deeper meaning than appearson the surface. Iftom afar the mountains arebeautiful

156 PBOVERBIAL PHILOSOPHYu Bavo and the soni. The tale runs that a certainBavo or religious mendicant went to a goldsmith'sshop and asked to be given a lump of gold. The


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soni began at length and with many interpolationsof My dear young friend to explain that goldwas a valuable thing and not to be given away inlumps. At last the Bavo got sick to death of thelecture and said I knew all that, and I did notfancy you would give it to me, but I thought thatthere was no harm in asking. As a reply to thequestion the candidate invariably grins feebly andmakes for the door. Should a last spark of hopeinduce him to linger on the threshold and to enumer-ate his then fire him out with the


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160 PBOVERBIAL PHILOSOPHYyou across the river in which she lies. Safely onthe other side you send her about her businesswith a good kick in the stomach. Lastly, theand the ant find a in


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elephant place mungi hounsakhar khavi ; pan hatti houn lakde khaun nayet (It is all very well for an ant to eat sugar, but anelephant should not live on sticks) ; in other words,one must live according to one's station. Thisidea finds more comic expressions in nesen tarshalu nesen, nahitar nagvi basen (If I wearclothes I shall put cloth of gold, if not I shallsit with 'nodings on5 ). The gender shews thatthe speaker was a lady.The time-honoured maxim * the rod and

IN WESTERN INDIA 161well and good, if you fail you can always eat it)expresses the same idea as the well known Irishsaying Be aisy, and if you can't be aisy, be asaisy as you can. I must however confess that an


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attempt to play a tune on this vegetable wouldalmost be as good an illustration of nonsense asthat of the youthful essayist c it would be nonsense,Sir, to bolt a door with a boiled carrot/Two somewhat sad proverbs are Daiv detopan,karm nete (the gods give, but karma takes away)and

Dushkalacha terava mahina

(a famine year)has always thirteen months). The first because

it expresses the terrible idea that no matter howwe strive we cannot escape the punishment of sins


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IN WffiSTBEN INDIA 163takes some thinking out. However, such as it ttt


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The English and the English waysHave ruined Poona City

IILTHE SAYINGS OF THE PARSEES.It is usually supposed that the language of the

Parsees is ordinary Gujarati, and, no doubt, inrecent years, there have been great and successfulefforts on behalf of Parsees with literary tastes toequal the purity of style attained by the Gujarati-

PBOVEBBIAL PHILOSOPHYBasiling aphorisms are peculiar to the Parsees,although many of them are- But all of them arecommonly used by Parsees even if some are notunknown to the Hindus also.


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The most remarkable trait in these Parsee pro-verbs is the bitterness with which the rival townsBombay, Bulsar, Cambay, Surat, Navsari and

Broach speak of each other. This enmity be-tween commercial cities is not, however, ttnknownin Europe, Here is a proverb that must be ex-tremely galling to Surati pride, 4 kiun Surati ? to bimurvat ki murti ' (What a Surati then (you see)the image of a shameless man). It is the ladies,

m WESTERN IKDIA 166( Suratni nari evi sari ke khua kariue kutwa chali)(The Surat woman is so good that she will commitmurder and then at the ensuing funeral be the loudestmourner present )* The weak points of the Cam-


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bay, Broach, Surat andNavsari ladies find expressionin the following :

Khambatan khodiyan ne Bharuchi chadlyanSuratan fankri ne Nosakri Aakri.

(The Cambay woman is ill-made, the Broach wo-man is a teU-tale, the Surat woman is a flirt andthe Navsari woman is hot tempered). I am toldthat the only reason why Navsari was left off solightly was because it is the home of the priests ofwhom the couplet-maker, perhapk, stood in awe.

166 PBOVEK&IAL PHILOSOPHYthe wife's but the husband's mother. Here is adelightful one.

Dime baadhyun dahiJiluetane chhas


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Gulie tavyun ghiNe Sasuji jame khas.Did prepared the curds, Jilu the butter-milk,Guli cooked the ghee, and then the mother-in-lawhad a rare good meal).A similar hit at the mother-in-law's gluttony isto be found in the following :

Juar dali sher ne git gaya terSasue muki rotli to ankhe aya pher/'

(She (the daughter-in-law) ground a seer of jowari

IN WESTEBN INDIA 167cc sarcastic/ 9 But in fairness to the mother-in-law,it should be added, that an old-fashioned HinduHoli festival is not the best place for a youngmarried woman


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Another rather amusing saying is Sasus bhangete kahaleda ne wahubhange tethikra (Wheneverthemother-in-law breaks anything it is only Kahe-lada, but whenever the wife breaks anything itis a thikra ) Kahaleda and thikra areearthen pots of which the thikra is the moreexpensive. The meaning is that the mother-in-law minimises her own faults and exaggerates herdaughter-in-law's and to use Butler's words :

* Compounds for sins she is inclined to

168 PBOVEBBIAL PHILOSOPHYtalk the hindleg oS a donkey. Then again satwaseta ne barni patli, vahune chatar palang ne sasunekhatli The first line is meaningless and like theDingdongDell Hickery Dickery-Dock of our


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nurseryrhyme is simply introduced for jingle* Thelast line is expressive, The wife has a Europeanbedstead with mosquito curtains, while the mother-in-law has a little native cot. Ihe mother-in-lawlike the lady of the Khine, felt no doubt the spretaeinjuria formae. 3

The mother-in-law is not the only victim. Hereis one that must excite avuncular disgust. Kakamama kekevana ne ganthe hoi te levana (youmust call them kaka (paternal uncle) and mama

IN WESTERN INDIA 160out cause to the end of a sentence. The retort tosuch a misuse of language is crushing.

Shu, shuna baoha ne lasanni kali,Tari Sasu gadhere chadi.


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(What, whats' children and a piece of garlic,your mother-in-law rode on an ass.) The point ofthis polite observation is that in Musalman timesunchaste women were made to ride with inkedfeatures on a donkey and face tailwards. Onemight compare with this, the French saying usedto little boys when they say

Quoi ?

instead ofthe politer comment ? Quoi, quoi, les cor-beaux sont dans les bois.The custom indicated in the following proverb

170 PROVEBBIAL PHILOSOPHYmentions the belief as strongly rooted in Rajasthan,and it finds expression in the following Kathiawadi-proverb :

Kanio nar kok sadhu


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Talio nar kok nirdhanKhokhad danta kuk murkha

Danta kok mijhra(A one-eyed is rarely a saint, a bald man is rarelypoor, a man with projecting teeth is rarely a fooland a man with grey eyes is rarely generous).

I tried hard, but in vain, to discover the groundswhy these particular qualities were associated withthese peculiarities. As a matter of fact, this arbi-trary association is not entirely confined to theEast I have seen used M. Armand Silvestre

IN WESTERN INDIA* 171mouths of Northern rulers has acquired a pecijliarposition as the medium between the master andthe servant. A well-known Parsi pleader men*tioned to me that his father preferred to talk Hin-


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dustani to his Ahmedabadi servants, although,the mother tongue of master and man was Guja-rati. He found that they better obeyed his orderswhen delivered in the former tongue. Hindustanihas similarly descended as an appendage of Saber'sempire to the English rulers. English ladies useno other tongue in Indian households. Every dayin Bombay carriages are ordered in a strange jargon,which, if not Hindustani, is certainly nothing else.Thus, if for no other reason, Hindustani may claim

172 PKOVJ3RBIAL PHILOSOPHYI have translated it as follows :He knows not happy, humble oneWhat great men's sorrows are.Eclipses darken moon and sunAnd spare the lowly star.


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But most of the Musulmani proverbs which I havemet contain merely plain household truths. Nachna jane angan terha [(the dancing girl) who cannotdance (complains that) the courtyard is crooked] maybe translated * 'abad workman quarrelswithhis tools/' Our proverb speech is silvern, silence is gold findsexpression in two Hindustani sayings c sabse barriehup5 (Silence is the greatestof all things.) Ek chupaur hazarsukh (one silenceandathousand comforts).And it may be in unconscious

IN WESTBBN INDIA 173in sut na kapas kolhuse lath tham latha (htequarrelled with his spinning wheel before he hadbought either cotton or yarn), naturally the resultwas disaster. A delightfully elliptical phrase is


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the following: In tilon men tel nahin (Inthose sesamum seeds there is no oil). It is usedwhen a beggar tries in vain to get money from amiser and learns too late that it is useless to try totap that Pactolus Another reference to a miser isfound in the following, damri ki barhai taka sirmundai he defended himself from the chargeof not providing a barber for his mother by sayingwhy should I pay a taka (1 pice) for shaving thehead of an old woman who is only worth a c damri '

174 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHYon buttermilk before he will drink it) is the Hin-dustani rendering of the Kathiavadi proverb sap-no karadyo dhori thi bhie. (He who has beenbitten by a snake is afraid of a piece of rope).


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Both may be translated as A burnt child dreadsthe fire. It is, however, difficult to give a conciserendering of

wMitha hap hap karwa thu thu. Itmeans that things when sweet were gobbled upbut when bitter spat out. The saying is as a rule

used to a servant who did not grumble until thingswent badly, or of a friend who deserted one whentrouble came. Perhaps the nearest English equi-valent would be rats leave a sinking ship.Prom among so many household proverbs the

IN WESTERN INDIA 175after the horse has been stolen ; and the derivativeexpression lakir ka fakir a man who followingthetrail rather than the snake is applied to a blind de-votee of ancient rather than modern learning. Thecarrion kite, in almost be called a house-


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may, India,hold animal and there is no questioning the truthof the following chil ke ghonsle men mas kahan (you will not find meat in a carrion kite's nest)*Lastly, the elephant is the hero of a somewhatstriking aphorism Hathi ke dant dikhane ke aurhain, khane ke aur hain (an elephant has one setof teeth for show and another for use). This say-ing is curiously enough used of a hypocrite andrecalls the biting jest that was made of the shiftyand of the

$76 PBOYEBBIAI* PHILOSOPHYand the younger brother, well, God be praised Arcades ambo, id est, blackguards both Amongthfe second class are jaldi ka kam shaitan ka.(To do work quickly is of the devil). Undue haste


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is hateful to the slow and rather pompous Islamite,whose love of vain show is indicated in the two fol-lowing sayings. Makan men ata nahin aur ammapuriya pakati hai (There is no flour in the housebut mamma pretends she is making cakes) ; Dasghar mangna lekin masalchi rafrhna (To begat ten houses and yet keep a servant).One more saying and I have done* I write itwith some reluctance, nevertheless I trust that myPoona readers will accept my assurance that it is

IN WUSTEBK INDIA 177Timur the knightly Humayun to whom the UdaipurQueen sent her bracelet, Jehangir, the tojjer feeing,who loved the beautiful Nur Mahal* siiah Jehanthe conqueror and the friend of the Sesodia princes


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and himself the most splendid figure in his owmbrilliant court ? In either case what wonder, whenthe speaker looked to th,e East and South at the twodark thunder clouds of which one or other wouldassuredly hide for ever the sun of Islam, if his heartwas filled with bitterness to the brim and if, in thewords of the Hebrew prophet, he was mad forsight of his eyes which he saw

The Tale of the Tulasi Plant

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