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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY,
A JOURNAL OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH.
VOLUME XXXIX – 1910.
LEGENDS FROM THE PANJAB. BY SIR R. C. TEMPLE AND H. A. ROSE.
No. IV. THE WEDDING OF RAI MOBNI OR PRINCESS PEAHEN.
A Panjabi Extravaganza.
(Continued from Vol. XXXVIII, p. 321.) W H EN Rop Chand saw that the Pûrbiâs had gone, he went qnickly through the six courtyards
and called out:-"The R&já will rule, and the people prosper. The pigeon will coo, and who-so desires knowledge of what is hidden should apply to me."
R&i Morni told her maid to see who it was, as no one could get into the palace and it must be some one come down from heaven, and a great god. So one maid began :-"Brahman tell me who is to marry me." And another said: -"Tell me first." Râi Mornt said she must question him first and said : " Brabman, do you know anything ?" He replied: "I can tell of the past twelve years and foretell the next twelve.". And when she told him to tell her, he said: "I have never told a lie. What is to be I will declare qnite truly. Bait.
Verse. On adhá ferd wichnd, jerhid likha si Parwardi- I can read thy wedding-day which is written by yar.
the Preserver. Pahlon mdrid Tdradhird. magaron mårid First died Târadhîrâ, next died Chalmal Rai.
Chalmal Rdi. Tekidi putridi ndt mdrid, magaron mdríd Rdi Then died twenty-one daughtors, and next died Majhdr.
Rai Majhår. Qismat teri, Rani, kitte wal sunidd Hansd Rdi." Thy fate. Rani, is Hansa RAR I have heard of
somewhere." Rai Mornt got in a great rage and began to beat the Brahman, who, after a severe thrashing, fell into a swoon and tumbled down, and one of her attendants said that the Brahman was dead.
The Brâhman held his breath, and when Mornt asked if he were dead, they said he was. Râi Mornt said that each one of her sixty attendants must bring a piece or two of wood from her home; and that she herself would provide the shroud. They must place half the wood underneath and half on top of the corpse) and light the fire. Then all standing round must beat (their breasts ) and lament over "the doll." No one would think it was a Brâhman burning : they would fancy it was a doll being burnt. So they all brought wood, and when they had put it beside the Bråhman's head, he reflected that he had escaped (with his life ) from the beating, but how was he to escape from the fire ? So he opened his eyes and when one of the girls saw this, she said: "The Brahman is alive! He had only fainted."
