Indian Antiquary Vol 11

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 50

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[FEBRUARY, 1882.
occurs in charms and mantras. Guru Nanak" terf kar or Bhai Phêre tért kár.-Guru Nanak protect you,' or BhAf Phêrd protect yon,' are common Sikh exclamations on seeing one of those "devils" or small sand-whirlwinds so common in Sindhi and the Panjab. The exclamation is used much in the same way as a Roman Catholic peasant would cross himself or mutter & paternoster on seeing some repulsive sight, and corresponds to the Muhammadan láhaul parhná (God forbid !).
In these mantras, kdr occurs again in the same sense as here, and also obviously as the charmed circle, for in Mantra 4, we have Jo hamri kar na mane galle vich kar, " Who disregards our charmed circle let him dissolve in the circle." The idea is that no outsider can enter the kdr to injure the person round whom it is drawn. The word kdr is apparently purely Panjabi, and I can find no trace of it in Hindi. There is also no mention of it in the Hindustani or Panjabi dictionaries at my disposal. In Sansk. we have kard, root doubtfal, a prison :-the root kat means to surround, whence kataka, a zone, Hindi kard and kart, ring, bracelet: 80 perhaps the word is of Prakrit origin. To illustrate kdr and the idea it conveys to the modern native, I may as well relate the following: - There was a wandering painter going about the streets of Firozpur with what he called "pictures illustrating Hindu classical subjects." These were gaudily coloured in a style not fit to be seen in our nurseries in England and wholly devoid of perspective. They were painted on any paper the man could get-backs of accounts, &o. One was on an old Commissariat account during the Mutiny, and another on a native soldier's kindred roll. However, they were readily bought by the lower classes of natives who took great interest in them, and understood them at once. One which I bought for half an anna (three farthings) represented the abduction of Site by Ravana, an episode in the Ramdyana. In the dietance, i.e. at the top of the picture, are Rama and Lakshmaņa hunting a stag, who is characteristically jumping over the tops of the trees.
In the foreground is Ravana dressed up partly as & Sikh and pertly as a Bairagi mendicant, enticing Site to come out of her house and across the kar by asking her for alms. She is dressed as a Panjabi woman, and is coming out of the house with a bowl of food. The kar is represented by a strong red-line round the house and Site Its purport is unmistakeable if one reads the account in the Ramdyana and compares it with the above description. The "learned" in Firozpur among the Brahmans say that the lodr on that particular occasion was merely a line across the door, and that kar represents the classical rekha, a line, but that is impossible, and its derivation must be looked for from kard, a prison.
Elliot, History of India, vol. I, p. 88, quoting Al-Idrisi, who wrote in Sicily at the Court of Roger II. (Elliot, p. 74) in the beginning of the 11th century, on the country of the Balbara, makes & remark which evidently refers to the custom of the kár. "The Indians are naturally inclined to justice and never depart from it in their actions. Their good faith, honesty and fidelity to their engagements are well known, and they are so famous for these qualities that people flock to their country from every side, hence the country is flourishing and their condition prosperous. Among other characteristic marks of their love of truth and horror of vioe the following is related. When a man has a right to demand anything of another, and he happen to meet him, he has only to draw a circular line upon the ground, and to make his debtor enter it which the latter never fails to do," and the debtor cannot leave the circle without satisfying his creditor and obtaining remission of the debt."
(2.) CHARM FOR TOOTHACHE Jhára jáhas di pîr dá ya Jhára" ghunándre"
A dd. Kila kira kajlA* batis dant chare, Barkat Shekh Faride kâlâ kira vich mare. Hudda" Pir Ustad dâ, ik, do, tin, chår, panj,
chhi, sat, Foho! Foh! Foh!
* Guru Nanak was the great saint and founder of the Sikh religion. BhAl Phêrů and Bhát Birsingh mentioned in later mantra are oelebrated Sikh saints or holy men. Pherd lived about 65 years ago, in Sirdar Shamsingh's time, and his tomb, much reverenced, is in the village of Manke, tahsil Chùniân, district Láhor. After him is named Phershahr, the celebrated battlefield called by Europeans Ferozeshah; heaven only know why, perhaps because of its proximity to Firozpur ! Bhai is
title given to the disciples of the Sikh Gurus, and bhai or granthi is also the title of the men who, sit at the publie free inns or dharmalas and read the Adi Granth or sacred book of the Sikhs.
* I referred the point to Dr. Hoernle who kindly considered it, and says he has no doubt this is its origin.
" On this custom see Ind. Ant. vol. VIII, p. 267 and references tbere given.-ED. I. 4.
Jahar for dahar Panj. & molar tooth, tusk. Cf.
Sansk, and PAlt dasana, das, dans whenoe slao darahtra large tooth, tusk. Prakrit dadha, a tooth. j for d is not uncommon. Cf. Tasrat for Dasrat - Dasaratha, the father of Ramachandra
* Ghunandrit, ghunahda, ghunanda, ghunadha, Panj. the tooth weevil--the weevil supposed to cause toothache. Chur, Sansk, and Panj., ghun, Hindi, a weevil, also the dust caused by a weevil in wood.
30 Kaju, lampblack applied to the eyes. Sansk, kajjala, Panj. kajjal, Hindi kijal, kojar, kajru. si Chare, feeds on; charni, to graze.
Hudda, Panj., corruption of the Arabic 'ohda, a word in common use in India, commission, occupation, office, charge, here meaning order. Similarly Panj. hud. dedar, Hindost. 'ohdedAr, officer,
13 Foh, foh, foh, represent three powerful puffs with the breath to drive out the weevil. This charm is repeated as often as necessary till the toothache disappears.