Indian Antiquary Vol 15

SR No.: 032507
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 446
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 428

880
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
must be turned over with a sharp knife for a day, before the medicine can be applied. In the case of tender constitutions there may be slight pain for a day, but on the second day the pain will go away, and shoots begin to appear. After that every day your hair will increase by a cubit, and a time will soon come when you will have to cut off a portion daily.""
Kurudi listened to the doctor's plan, and thought to herself, that, out of the ten days that remained to her before the marriage,-making allowance for the time required for the shooting of the hair, she might have eight cubits' length on her head on her wedding day. So she at once sat down for a clean shave.
Gangabai now wreaked full vengeance upon her enemy. Kurudi's head was shaved clean! The skin was then cut in all directions, and powdered pepper rubbed in-a soothing balm to a scored pate! Said the doctor:
"Madam, the medicine has now been applied: You may feel a little burning sensation, but it will be all right in a day. To-morrow, or the day after, in the morning, the shoots will begin to sprout."
[DECEMBER, 1886.
turned to restore her daughter. She sent servants to Gôp! to look for the doctor, but neither doctor nor Gôpf were to be found; for the sagacious Gangâbâi had removed her protector Govinda and her friend Gopi to a village outside the town on the night she tried her treatment on her one-eyed enemy.
Kurudi, in expectation of the fufilment of her wishes, patiently bore the pain. A full day and night elapsed, but still the burning did not cease. Fearing that if the balm were removed the medicine would lose its effect, she patiently bore the pain for a second day, and on the third day as soon as the morning dawned she put her hand to her head to see if there were any signs of the sprouts. "The shoots have begun really to sprout," thought she, for her fingers felt the worms which had already began to breed in the matter formed on her head! Several of her servants, who had been ordered not to see her till then, were now called in to examine her head. Her mother, too, made ber appearance. What they found was this:-Kurudi with her head shaved, ploughed up and pasted over with powdered pepper! They washed her head with warm water and began to treat the wounds. But they were past all treatment; for two days' exposure to such treatment had caused corruption to set in! Still the fond heart of Kurudi's mother left no stone un
Neither the old king Isabhajt nor his son Thâņuji, of course, knew anything of what had passed in the palace where Kurudi was living; and, in honour of his marriage, the prince wished to have his rooms adorned with paintings, the better to receive his visitors during the ensuing wedding. He therefore proclaimed that he would greatly reward any good painter that would come forward. Gangâbâl, who was now living outside Sivapuri, came to know of Thânaji's proclamation, and dressed herself up as a painter, and appeared before the prince, He was charmed with the fair face of the painter; and Gangâbâl's disguise was so complete that he failed to discover his lost love in the painter. He tested the sham artist's skill, but as Gangâbâî had learnt the five arts in her younger days she easily stood the test. Then the artist put the following condition on his undertaking the task,-that no one, not even the prince, should see him while at work, and that the prince must be the first to examine the pictures when finished. Thâņuji, who was much taken by the painter, agreed to everything and left him to his work.
Gangåbål now bolted the door, and mixing her colours proceeded to represent her whole story on the walls, from the time that Thâņuj! went the second time to Sivapuri, to the point of her appearing before her lord as a painter. She drew the old woman flying with her to Kurudi; the torture she underwent at Kuruḍi's cruel hands; the scene at the ruined well; the portraits of Govinda and Gôpi, her protectors in her calamity; her revenge on Kurudi, in the disguise of a doctor; and lastly her appearance in the attire of a painter. She not only painted the scenes, but also added explanatory notes. On the third day she came out of the room, and sent the messengers on watch outside to inform the prince that the painter had finished his work, and wanted to take his
[A very necessary proceeding where native pictures are concerned !-ED.]