Indian Antiquary Vol 11

SR No.: 032503
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 396
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1882.
No. 9.-FOLKTALE.
The Two Brothers. Once upon a time there was a king, who had two young sons, that sat in school and learnt what kings' sons ought to know. But while they were still learning, their mother the queen died, and their father the king shortly after married again. Now tho new step-mother behaved as step-mothers usually do, and began by degrees to ill-use the poor boys. First she only gave them barley-meal cakes to eat, and then she took to making even these without salt.' Then the meal was full of weevils and bad, and so on, till at last she took to beating them, and when they cried she told the king they were peevish and sullen, so he beat them again.
At length the lads agreed that it was high time. to seek for some remedy.
"Let us go into the world," said the younger one, "and earn our own living."
“Yes," answered the elder, “ let us go at once, and never again eat bread under this roof."
"Not so, brother," replied the younger, who was a youth wise beyond his years, "never leave home with an empty stomach."
So they ate their bread, bad as it was, and both mounting on one pony set out to seek their fortune.
Now, after they had journeyed some way into the country, they dismounted under a tree,
and sat down to rest. By chance a maind and a parrot were resting on the branches, and quarrelled as to who should have the best place.
"I like your impertinence," said the maind, "pushing and striving to get to the top branch. Why! I am so important a bird, that if any man were to eat me he would become a minister."
"Make room for your betters," replied the parrot calmly, "if any man eats me he will become a king."
Hearing these words the brothers instantly drew out their cross-bows and aimed at the same time and the two birds fell dead. But the brothers were so fond of each other that neither would allow he had shot the parrot; even when the birds were cooked and ready to eat the lads were still disputing as to which bird they should eat, till the younger brother said, "we are only wasting time, you are the eldest and must take your right, for it was your fate to be born first."
So the elder brother ate the parrot and the younger the mainá, and then they mounted their pony and rode away. They had gone but a short way, however, when the elder brother missed the whip, and saying he had left it under the tree proposed to go back and find it.
“Not so," said the younger prince, "you are king, I am only the minister: it is my place to go and fetch the whip."
"I have kept this tale to the last owing to the strong doubts I had about it. It is so full of incident and bears so strong a family likeness to the tales in the Alif Laila and the Chuhar Darvesh that it seemed impossible to consider it as genuine Kashmiri folklore. One part of the tale reminds one strongly of the legend of St. George and the Dragon, and another takes us to the sea side and doings on board ship, which is odd for & Kashmir tale. There are also notions in it of the right of primogeniture and a reference to tree and serpent worship. However, in the "Adventures of Raja Rasala" of Siyalkot, Panjab, I have found a tale which is the counterpart of a portion of this one, and as I have every reason to believe the story of RAJA Rasåld to be genuine Panjab Folklore, I have determined to give this also as genuine.-R. O.T.
Jau ki roti, barley bread, as opposed to geh in kit rott, wheaton bread, is the poor man's as opposed to the rich man's food. Barley bread is apt to produce flatulence. There is a proverb
Gehf ki rotiyon ko faulad M pe chahiye.
For wheaton bread a stomach of steel. Wheaten cakes, which poor men cannot afford, are a sign of wealth, and it needs a strong mind to possess wealth without pride :-Fallon, New Hind. Dict. art. sg. In the hills the richer classes make jau mi bhagorit, leavened barley loaves or cakes corresponding to the Khamiri roti of the plains.-R. C. T. • There is a saying,
Kohl mat jo khalt pet, Howe Migh ya hove Jeth. Go nowhere on an empty stomach, Be it summer or be it winter. R.C.T.
• The maind is the Indian starling, gracula religiosa, the hill variety of which are good talkers. Parrots and mains are kept by Natives for their talking powers, and they will not usually suffer them to be killed. They are frequently taught to say " Ram, Ram" (the name of God), and then assume a semi-sacred character. The allusion here is very obscure, but I have a verse to the same effect:
Jo nar tota markar kháve per ke heth, Kuchh saned man na dhare, woh hoga raja jeth. Jo mainá ko már kha, man mer rakhe dhir; Kuchh chinta man na kare, woh sada rahega wasir. Who kills a parrot and eats him under the tree, Should have no doubt in his mind, he will be a great
king. Who kills and eata a maina, let him be patient. Let him not be troubled in his mind, he will be minister for life.
R.C.T. • Such idens of primogeniture rights are not altogether opposed to the ideas of the Him layan mountaineers. Primogeniture prevails in Spiti, and among the Thfkurs of Láhaul, and there is something very like it in Seors and among the Ring families of Kångra proper. "The eldest son has special rights of inheritance all over KAngra proper. These rights exist in the mountains side by side with polyandry and the ordinary pagvand (per capita) and chindavand (per stirpes) systems of inheritance of the Panjab. See Tupper's Panjab Customary Law, vol. II. pp. 182-92, quoting Lyall's Settlement Report of the Küngrá District.-R. C. To