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DECEMBER, 1881.]
(De Malign. Herodoti. c. 26), and if Herodotus really recited a portion of his history at Athens before the Antigone was composed, it is perhaps more easy to suppose that Sophocles adopted from him than the converse."
CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEA.
But possibly the story is part of the common heritage of the Aryan races, for it is found in the Uchchhanga Játaka, No. 67 in Fausböll's edition. In this Jataka we are told that three husbandmen were by mistake arrested on a charge of robbery and imprisoned. The wife of one came to the king of Kosala, in whose realm the event took place, and entreated him to set her husband at liberty. The king asked her what relation each of the three was to her. She answered-" one is my husband, another my brother, and the third is my son." The king said "I am pleased with you, and I will give you one of the three, which do you choose ?" The woman answered," King, if I live, I may get another husband, and I may get another son too, but as my mother and father are dead, it will be difficult for me to obtain another brother, so give me my brother, king." When the king heard this, he was pleased, and set all the three at liberty. The teacher (i. e. Gautama Buddha) then proceeds to inform his disciples that the same woman had in a previous birth delivered the same men, and that he himself had on that occasion been the king, viz., Brahmadatta of Banaras. The gatha which the woman uttered in the presence of the king, is less romantic even than the speech of Antigone, so I give it in the original Pali: Ucchange deva me putto, pathe dhavantiyâ pati, tañ ca desam na passâmi yato sodariyam ânaye ti.
C. H. TAWNEY.
MUHAMMADAN BELIEF IN HINDU SUPERSTITION.
I have noticed and commented both in this journal and elsewhere on the mixture of superstitions believed in by the lower classes of Hindus and Musalmans in the Panjab. This belief by the one class of religionists in the superstitions of the other is not however confined altogether to the illiterate as the accompanying quotation will show. It is from the very popular Panjabi poem Sassi Punnin by Hashim Shah, a poet whose works are well known to all Panjabis.
På sandaq roṛha Sassî nûn, Nah Tafan walainda; Bashak Nag na hath liyawan, Dhal syâh bagendâ ; Pår urår balåen phirdyân, Deo dânw dhal rehndå. Hashim wekh nasib Sassi dâ Ki kujh hor karendâ ?
371
Putting Sasst into the box they launched her, Like Noah in the Deluge;
Even Bashak Nag gave no help,
But shamed her with black ashes; On both sides wandered evil spirits And demons flew about. Hashim watched the fortunes of Sassi To see what would happen next.
Here, it will be observed, is a fine mixture of religious sentiment. The story of Noah's Ark is of course as much the property of the Muham. madans as of the Christians. The unfortunate Sassi is put into a box and launched into the sea "Nah Tufan walaindd," "like Noah in the Deluge," and then we are told that Bâshak Nag gave her no help. Now Bashak Någ is Vasuki son of Kasyapa and Kadra, and is the same as Sêsha or Sêsha Naga, the serpent who upholds the world and is king of Pâtâla. He is as eminently Hindu as Noah is Muhammadan. In modern mythology Bâshak Någ was the preserver of the Vedas, and is commonly looked upon as the general helper of mankind. The point in the verse is that even Bâshak Någ, the general good friend, deserted Sassi in her extremity, and not only that, but helped to shame and disgrace her. The expression "Dhúl sydh bagenda" corresponds very much with the Hindi dhal (or khák) uránd, and I am told has its origin in the Hindu punishment of witches, viz., of painting them black, putting them on a donkey facing towards the tail, covering them with ashes, and driving them out of the place: hence, "to cover with black, ashes" is to thoroughly disgrace, to make utterly wretched.
To go a little further: balden is of Arabic origin, bald, a calamity, and is used both in Hindi and Panjabi for a female sprite, but I am not prepared to say only by Musalmans; however the deo dánw, male sprites, in the next verse are distinctly Hindu in origin.
Now Hashim Shah can hardly be called an ignorant man as native education goes, and this stanza is not the only instance of his belief in Hinda superstitions, for another occurs in the second stanza after it. That he was a good Musalman is shown by this opening stanza which I quote below, and his "education" is apparent in his fondness for interlarding (and thereby spoiling ?) his poetry with Arabic and Persian words and phrases. He opens his poem thus:
Sift Bart Ta'ala.
Hikmat ôs khudawand Wâli, Mâlik mulk malak dâ, Lakh karor karan chaturâyân Koi pachhân na sakda:
