Indian Antiquary Vol 51

SR No.: 032543
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1985
Total Pages: 374
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

Page 354

44
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JULY, 1922
And Sehti replied: "Your cup got broken by fate. You can buy a tub at my expense if you like. Who can resist God's fate? Fate expelled Adam and Eve from paradise and drove them down to earth. Fate overthrew Pharoah in the river and fate put a prince and a prophet like Joseph in the well. Fate has shaved your beard and bored your ears. No one can escape from Fate."
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And Hir said to Sehti: What strange perverseness is this? Why quarrel with holy fakirs whose only support is God? Why do you break his cup and ill-treat him at my door? Why bring down ruin on happy homes and why burn those who have already been scorched by the fire of love?"
And Sehti replied: "O virtuous one whose sheet is as stainless as a praying mat. The whole house is yours and who are we. You are as important as if you had brought a shipload of clothes from your father's house. You flirting hussy and milker of buffaloes! You are still running after men. You never speak a word to your husband Saida, but you are hand and glove with the Jogi."
Hir replied: "You have picked up a quarrel with the fakir. You are sure to run away with somebody. You won't stay long in your husband's house and you will be defamed in all the streets and bazaars of the town. Beware! The Fakir is dangerous. Do not tease him or he will cause trouble. He is simply and quietly worshipping his Guru. Take care that he does not invoke his aid. Otherwise his wrath will descend on us like a sudden invasion of Ahmed Shah and God save Jandiala.8 Remember Alexander touched the feet of a fakir and then he conquered the fort of Daz. A fakir gave his blessing to Timurlane and sovereignty remained in his family for several generations. Go and fall at the feet of the fakir or his curse will fall on you."
Sehti replied: "Sister, I have been scorched by your taunts and bitter words. I will take poison. I will either die or kill him or get you beaten. As sure as I am a woman I will tell my brother of your disgraceful conduct with the shepherd."
Finally, after many hot words on both sides, Sehti got so enraged that she and her maid snatched up the long pestle with which they grind rice and rushed on the Jogi. They broke his beggar's bowl and rosary. They felled him to the ground. They broke his head with milk pots and crushed him even as Abu Samand fell on Nawab Hosain Khan at
Chunian.
Then the Jogi was wrath. He remembered his Pîr. He girded up his loins and he smote his assailants even as the Pathan of Kasur looted the camp of the Bakhshi. He caught them by the hair and dragged them round the courtyard. He slapped them, beat them, and pinched them.
And Hit cried out from inside: "For God's sake Jogi stay your hand." And the women of the neighbourhood hearing the altercation assembled like a flock of Cabul dogs and they thrust the Jogi out of the courtyard.
And Ranjha complained bitterly to Hir of the way he had been used, and he entreated God, saying: "Why hast thou separated me from my beloved after bringing us together? What sin have I committed that I have been given a glimpse of Paradise and then turned out in the wilderness? What can I do? I have no money to give to the officers and no tribute to enable me to reach to the darbar." And the Jogi wept bitterly and he said to himself: "I will fast forty days and forty nights and I will recite a powerful enchantment which will overcome all difficulties and will unite me to my beloved." And he swore to take vengeance on Sehti, if the five Pirs would help him.
8 The birthplace of the poet.