Indian Antiquary Vol 22

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 34

22
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JANUARY, 1893.
Gadariya came and wat by the Raja and after some time he woke. Then the Gadariya asked him what he had seen, which caused him to sleep in this way. The Raja got up and took the Gadariya with him to the jungle. They reached the same river where the fig tree stood. Then the Rajá told the Gadasiya what he had seen. The Gadariya asked what he wished. The RajA replied that he wished to see this woman. The Gadariyê asked if he knew from where she had come and where she had gone. The Râjâ replied that he did not know. The Gadasiyá answered "As she threw the ruby (lál) into the water, she lives in Lalpur; from her showing you the upper bone (asthi) of her chest, it appears that her name is the Bone Queen (Asthráni), and as she showed you her teeth, she must be the daughter of the Tooth King (Dantrájá)." So they both went off in the direction of Lalpur. They asked every one where Lalpur was, but could get no trace to it. At last, when it was very late, they came to & village, where they saw a man ploughing with a pair of oxen, one very large and the other very small. The Gadațiya said to him, "If you could not buy an ox to match the larger of the pair, why don't you sell the large ox and buy another small one and save a few rapees?". The ploughman answered, “How can I buy or sell P" The Gadariyê said to the Raja, "I know that there is something curious about this ploughman's wife. Let us stay with him for the night and I will afterwards explain it to you." So they arranged to stay with him for the night and went on ahead to his house. The ploughman's wife said, “There is no room here for you, but you can sit a short distance off." When the ploughman came back from the field and heard what had happened, he made his wife give them a place to stay, and asked them if they would eat anything. They refused, and after some time the Rajá fell asleep in the ploughman's hut.
The Gadariyê remained awake. At midnight a lover of the woman came and went inside. As dawn came he said to her, "Give me some place to stay, as I cannot go away now." So she told him to go into the large mud granary (kuthla) inside the house, and plastered up the opening with clay. In the morning the Raja and the Gadariya wanted to go on, but the ploughman would not let them go till they had eaten. Then the Gadariya said to the ploughman, "There is something in your granary which does not grow in our country. Let us take it and we will convey it to our land and grow it there." The ploughman agreed to let them have it, but his wife objected. The Rajâ said, “Why do you object to give us such a trifle P" Then they opened the granary and the man appeared, whom, having made over to the ploughman, the Raja and the Gadariya went their way.
As they went on they came to a garden which was in charge of a gardener woman (málin) and there they halted. She used to sapply the Râni of that land with flowers. The Gadariya, knowing that it was the Rânî, who had come in the boat, sent a message to her by the Malin that the traveller, whom she had met near the fig tree, had arrived. The Râni put some gold coins (ashrafi) in a tray, and covering them with rice secre:ly, gave it to the Mâlin, and, as if to show her diapleasure with her, marked her five times on each cheek with black, and told her to give the tray to the traveller and dismiss him from her house. If she failed to do so she would have her children forced to work at stoking the furnace of the grain parcher. The Gadariyâ, when he heard the account of the Målin's interview with the Ranî, said: “There are still ten days of the dark-fortnight remaining. When the light-nights come you will obtain an interview." When that time elapsed he again sent the Malin to inform the Râni that the traveller still awaited her pleasure. The Râni again appeared displeased, and gave the Malin, as before, e tray filled with gold coins for the traveller, and, marking each of her cheeks with five lines of white dismissed her. Then the Malin came back, and striking the Rajâ with a house broom (baru), ordered him and his companion to leave her house. After five days the Gadariyê again sent the Malin to the Rani to announce that the traveller was still waiting. The Râni again appeared displeased and pushed the old woman out of the wicket of her palace. But the Gadariya consoled her and enquired what had happened. Then he told the Raja, “The Rani means that it is by this wicket you are to go and visit her."