Indian Antiquary Vol 51

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 356

46
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(JULY, 1922
and girl together. He has humbled himself for my sake. He has renounced home and fortune and has tended buffaloes. He has bored his ears and has become a Jogi for my
sake."
And Sehti tossed her head and said: “You clasp my feet to achieve your own object. You turned me out of the house and now you come and beseech me with folded hands. Verily selfishness rules the actions of all people in this world."
And Hir still further besought Sehti with honeyed words saying: "Sister, speak kindlly to me. You should sympathize with those who are in trouble. Let us go into the garden and become reconciled with the Jogi. Bhag bhari,o help me to meet my Ranjha. Those who do good actions will be rewarded in Paradise. If you restore Hîr to her lover, you will meet your own lover Murad."
CHAPTER 26.
(Sehti and Hir make friends.) And Sehti's heart leapt with joy even as Satan dances with delight when a sinner forgets to say his morning prayers. And she said to Hir: "Go, I have forgiven your fault, as you have been faithful in love from the beginning. Let us go and bring about a reconciliation of the lovers."
So Sehti filled a big dish with sugar and cream and covered it with a cloth and put five rupees therein. Then she went to the garden of Kalabagh and stood with her offering near the Jogi.
And the Jogi when he saw her coming muttered : "Why does a blast from hell blow on holy men? We asked for rain and a hot wind has sprung up to scorch us."
And Sehti salaamed with folded hands, but Ranjha gave no reply. The heart of the lover bowever softened on seeing Sehti in a mood of entreaty.
And the Jogi said to Sehti: "Women were created as the origin of discord from the very beginning of the world. Those who wedded them were ruined while those who held aloof from women became saints and acceptable to God. It was women who got Adam expelled from Paradise."
And Sehti replied: "It was not women but the greed of men that expelled Adam from Paradise. The angel told him not to eat the grain of wheat and not to go near the forbidden tree and the same order was given to the peacock and the snake. But the lust of the belly prevailed. He ate wheat and he was expelled from Paradise."
The Jogi replied: "Why do you speak ill of men ? Women have been bad from the beginning. Has not God said: 'Verily, women, your deceit is great.' Their deceitfulness is mentioned in the Koran. When have they ever been faithful to any one ?"
And Sehti replied: "Why abuse women? It is men who are bad. They are not content with their lawful wives but go hunting for the petticoats belonging to other men. It is men who are shameless and black faced. They come to their senses when they lose their wives and then they say: 'It is Destiny.' They sit at the feet of Mullahs and listen to the doctrines of Hypocrisy. How goes the well-known saying: To have a wife is equivalent to being in possession of Half Religion. Only he who is married can have prayers lawfully said over him when he dies. God has said in the Koran," MARRY."
A home looks well with a wife even as lamps look well on a dark night. Why do you find · fault with those who gave you birth and why do you declare them to be the sisters of Satan?
9 This is an apostrophe to the woman with whom the poet Waris Shah fell in love