Chapter 22

[149] The _masnad_ and its large back pillow are criterions of Asiatic etiquette. To an inferior or dependant, the master of the house gives the corner of the _masnad_ to sit on; to an equal or intimate friend, he gives part of the large pillow to lean on; to a superior, he abandons the whole pillow, and betakes himself to the corner of the _masnad_.

[150] A kind of _palki_ or sedan, for the conveyance of the women of people of rank in India.

[151] A sign of afflicting surprise.

[152] _Majnun_, a lover famed in eastern romance, who long pined in unprofitable love for _Laili_, an ugly hard-hearted mistress. The loves of _Yusuf_ and _Zulaikh@a, Khusru_ and _Shirin_, also of _Laili_ and _Majnun_, are the fertile themes of Persian romance.

[153] The _Muhammadans_ reckon their day from sunset.

[154] By sitting and drinking with the young merchant, when he ought to wait on his guests, and attend to their entertainment.

[155] A figurative and highly poetic expression as old as Homer. In this instance it is said to signify that the sun had been two _gharis_ above the horizon.

[156] Literally, "a friendship of two days," where the number two is employed indefinitely to denote "few."

[157] The month of _Ramazan_ consisting of thirty days, is the Lent of the _Muhammadans_. During tgat whole period, a good _Musalman_ or "true believer," is not allowed either to eat, or drink, or smoke from sunrise to sunset. This naturally explains the anxiety they must feel for the arrival of evening; more especially in high latitudes, should the _Ramazan_ happen in the middle of summer. As a mere religions observance this same fast, enjoined by _Muhammad_, is the most absurd, the most demoralizing, and the most hurtful to health that ever was invented by priestcraft. The people are forced to starve themselves during the whole day, and consequently they overeat themselves during the whole night, when they ought to be asleep in their beds, as nature intended. Hence they fall by thousands an easy prey to cholera, as happened in Turkey a few years ago. The fast of Lent among tho followers of the Pope of Rome is, though in a less degree, liable to the same censure. Why, instead of these unwholesome observances, do not the priests, whether of Mecca or of Rome, preach unto the people temperance and regularity of living? Ah, I forgot, the priests both of Mecca and of Rome can always grant _dispensations_ and _indulgences_ to such good people as can adduce _weighty_ reasons to that effect.

[158] As frogs live in wet, they are not supposed to be extremely subject to catch cold; the simile is introduced to ridicule the extravagant idea of a merchant's son presuming to be in love with a princess. The simile is a proverb.

[159] Washermen in India, in general, wash their linen at the _ghats_, and their dogs of course wander thither from home after them, and back again. This is one of their proverbs, and answers to ours of "Kicked from piller to post."

[160] The _Khutba_ is a brief oration delivered after divine service every Friday (the _Musalman_ Sabbath,) in which the officiating priest blesses _Muhammad_, his successors, and the reigning sovereign.

[161] A kind of sedan chair, or _palki_.

[162] The _Khabar-dars_ are a species of spies stationed in various parts of oriental kingdoms in order to forward intelligence to head quarters.

[163] A mode of humble address, when the inferior presumes to state something contrary to what the superior maintains or desires; and as human life in India was, in olden times, not only precarious, but considered as insignificant, the oriental slave acts prudently by begging his life before he presumes to be candid.

[164] Literally, "He who is the changer of hearts."

[165] Here the first _Darwesh_ addresses himself directly to the other three, who were his patient listeners.

[166] The _jama_ is an Asiatic dress, something like a modern female gown, only much more full in the skirts. It is made of white cloth or muslin.

[167] A superstitious custom in India; it implies that the person who goes round, sacrifices his life at the shrine of the love, prosperity and health of the beloved object.

[168] The _kazi_ is the judge and magistrate in Asiatic cities; he performs the rites of marriage, settles disputes, and decides civil and criminal causes. As the _Muhammadan_ laws are derived from their religious code, the _Kuran_, the _kazi_ possesses both secular and ecclesiastical powers.

[169] All good _Musalmans_ bathe after performing the rites of Venus, hence the purport of the princess's _simple question_ is obvious enough.

[170] Called _warku-l-khiyal_; it is made from the leaves of the _charas_, a species of hemp; it is a common inebriating beverage in India; the different preparations of it is called _ganja, bhang_, &c.

[171] Literally a "weighty _khil'at_," owing to the quantity of embroidery on it. The perfection of these oriental dresses is, to be so stiff as to stand on the floor unsupported.

[172] The _paisa_ is the current copper coin of India; it is the 64th part of a rupee, and is in value as nearly as possible 3/4 of our halfpenny, or a farthing and a-half.

[173] The word _kafir_ denotes literally, "infidel," or "heathen." It is here used as a term of endearment, just as we sometimes use the word "wicked rogue."

[174] Literally, "_lakhs_ of rupees." In India money accounts are reckoned by hundreds, thousands, _lakhs_ and _crores_, instead of hundreds, thousands, and millions, as with us. A hundred thousands make a _lakh_, and a hundred _lakhs_, a _crore_. As the Indian mode of reckoning, though simple enough, is apt to perplex the beginner, let us take for example the number 123456789, which we thus point off,--123,456,789; but in India it would be pointed as follows:--12,34,56,789, and read 12 _crores_, 34 _lakhs_, fifty-six thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

[175] The _muwazzin_ is a public crier, who ascends the turret or minaret of a mosque and calls out to the inhabitants the five periods of prayers; more especially the morning, noon and evening prayers.

[176] This is a proverb, founded on a short story, viz.: "A certain Arab lost his camel; he vowed, if he found it, to sell it for a dinar, merely as a charitable deed. The camel was found, and the Arab sorely repented him of his vow. He then tied a cat on the camel's neck, and went through the city of _Baghdad,_ exclaiming, 'O, true believers, here is a camel to be sold for a _dinar_, and a cat for a thousand _dinars_; but they cannot be sold the one without the other.'"

[177] _Taks_ are small recesses in the walls of apartments in Asia, for holding flower-pots, phials of wine, fruits, &c.

[178] In the original it is a proverb, "When evil comes, the dog will bite even the man that is mounted on a camel," said of a person who is extremely unfortunate.

[179] The term _barah-dari_ is applied either to a temporary pavilion, or a permanent summer-house; it is so called from the circumstance of its having "twelve doors," in honour of the twelve _Imams_.--Vide note, page 4.

[180] The various kinds of fire-works here enumerated admit not of translation.--Vide vocabulary.

[181] A proverb meaning that people or things are well matched; as the soul, at the hour of death, is committed to the charge of good or evil angels, according to its dessert.

[182] A proverb applied to those who act in a manner utterly at variance with their condition.

[183] The _patka_ is a long and narrow piece of cloth or silk, which is wrapped round the waist; among the rich a _shawl_ is the general _patka_. The act of throwing one's _patka_ round the neck and prostrating one's self at another's feet, is a most abject mark of submission.

[184] Literally, "a collar or yoke, round my neck."

[185] The _Mughal_ princes in the days of their splendour had guards of _Kalmuc_, or _Kilmak_, women for their seraglios; they were chosen for their size and courage, and were armed; other Tartar women were likewise taken, but they all went by the general name of _Kilmakini_.

[186] Here the first _Darwesh_ resumes his address to his three companions.

[187] In a note to my edition of Mr. F. Smith's translation of the _Baghobahar_, 1851, I inserted the following "petition." "May I request some friend in India, for auld lang syne, to ask any intelligent _munshi_ the exact meaning of _panchon hathiyar bandhna_, showing him at the same time the original where the expression occurs." To this request I received, a few months ago, a very kind and satisfactory reply from Lieut. J.C. Bayley, 36th Regt., M.N.I., which I have the pleasure here to insert; and at the same time, I beg to return my best thanks to that gentleman. "The _five weapons_ are, 1st, the _talwar_ or sword; 2nd, the _pesh-kabz_ or dagger; 3rd, the _tabar_ or battle-axe; 4th, the _barchhi_ or lance; 5th, the _tir o kaman_ or the bow and arrows. The phrase, _panchon hathiyar bandhna_ is very nearly equivalent to our expression, 'to be armed cap à pié.'" I may add to Lieut. B.'s obliging account that in more recent times, the "bow and arrows" are very naturally superseded by "a pair of pistols." Still the meaning of the phrase is the same in either case.

[188] The word _chikmak_ or _chikmak_, is wrongly called "a flint" in the dictionaries. It merely denotes the piece of steel used in striking a fire. The flint is called _chikmak ka pathar_.

[189] Literally, "at the seeing of which the liver would be turned into water."

[190] The _pipal_ or "ficus religiosa," is a large tree venerated by the _Hindus_; it affords a most agreeable shade, as its leaves are large, in the shape of a heart. Many writers confound it with the "_ficus Indicus_" or "_baniyan_ tree," or rather, they devise an imaginary tree compounded of the two species, investing it with the heart-shaped leaves of the former, and the dropping and multiplying stems of the latter.

[191] Respecting the ceremony called the _tasadduk_, vide note 3, p. 66.

[192] Literally, "much dust did I sift the dust."

[193] _Murtaza 'Ali_, the son-in-law of the prophet; one of his surnames is _Mushkil-kusha,_ or " the remover of difficulties." The _Saiyids_, who pretend to be descended from _'Ali_, wear green dresses, which is a sacred colour among the _Muhammadans_.

[194] The phrase _char-zanu ho-baithna_, signifies "to sit down with the legs crossed in front as our tailors do when at work." It is the ordnary mode of sitting among the Turks.

[195] The _dalk_, or _dilk_, is a garment made of patches and shreds worn by _darweshes_; the epithet _dolk-posh_, "a _dalk_ wearer," denotes a "darwesh," or "mendicant."

[196] _Ispahan_ was once a fine city. In the time of the Chevalier Chardin, nearly two centuries ago, it was pronounced by that traveller to be the largest in the world. It is now about the size of Brighton; yet a few weeks ago, we saw in the "Illustrated London News," an account of it by a _Frenchman_ (a fire-side traveller), who declares it to be, still, "the largest city in the world!"

[197] The _Muhammadans_ divide the world into seven climes, and suppose that a constellation presides over the destiny of each clime.

[198] The Arabic phrase _lantarani_, a corruption of _la-an-tarani_, literally signifies "egad, if you saw me [do so and so];" hence _lantarani-wala_ is equivalent to our terms, "an egregious egotist," or "great boaster."

[199] A novice in the language would say, "Here a distinction seems to be drawn between the words _zaban_ and _jibh_. Both signify 'tongue,' but the former applies to men and the latter to animals." To this profound bit of criticism I should reply--Not so fast, Mr. Novice; a distinction there is, but that is not it. The word _zaban_ in Persian and _Hindustani_ means both the fleshy member of the body, called the tongue, and also language or speech, just like our word "tongue," which has both significations. In the former sense it applies alike to man and beast; in the latter it is mere truism to say that it applies to man only. _Jibh_, in _Hindi_ and _Hindustani_, means the tongue only in the sense of the member of the body, never in the sense of speech; hence it is equally applicable to man or brute. Ask any physician who has practised in India the _Hindustani_ for "show the tongue," he will tell you _jibh dikla,o_, or _zaban dikla,o_; and if he was a man of discernment, he would use _jibh_ with a _Hindu_, and _zaban_ with a _Musalman_; but I believe he would be perfectly understood, whichever word he used to either party.

[200] The case is _Hatim's_ philanthropy in respect to the old woodman, which on the part of any other than _Hatim_ might seem super-human.

[201] It is related by grave historians, that _Hatim_ actually built an alms-house of this description. On _Hatim_'s death, his younger brother, who succeeded him, endeavoured to act the generous in the above manner. His mother dissuaded him, saying, "Think not, my son, of imitating _Hatim_: it is an effort thou canst not accomplish;" and in order to prove what she said, the mother assumed the garb of a _fakir_, and acted as above related. When she came to the first door the second time, and received her son's lecture on the sin of avarice; she suddenly threw off her disguise, and said, "I told thee, my son, not to think of imitating _Hatim_. By _him_ I have been served three times running, in this very manner, without ever a question being asked."

[202] This and the following _jeu de mots_ cannot be easily explained to a person who does not understand a little Arabic or Persian.

[203] The original is, "as yet _Dilli_ is a long way off," a proverb like that of the Campbells--"It is a far cry to Loch Awe."

[204] The expression in the original is so _plain_ as to need no translation.

[205] Some would-be knowing critics inform us that "_Dastar-khwan_" literally signifies the "turband of the table"!!! How they manage to make such a meaning out of it is beyond ordinary research; and when done, it makes nonsense. They forget that the Orientals never made use of tables in the good old times. The _dastar-khwan_ is, in reality, both table and table-cloth in one. It is a round piece of cloth or leather spread out on the floor. The food is then arranged thereon, and the company squat round the edge of it, and, after saying _Bism-Illah_, fall to, with what appetite they may; hence the phrase _dastar-khwan par baithna_, to sit on, (not _at_,) the table. The wise critics seem to be thinking of our modern mahogany, which is a very different affair.

[206] In the original, an infinite variety of dishes is enumerated, which are necessarily passed over in the translation, simply, because we have no corresponding terms to express them in any Christian tongue. They would puzzle the immortal Ude himself, or the no less celebrated Soyer, the present autocrat of the culinary kingdom. But my chief reason for passing them over so lightly is the following, viz.: I have fully ascertained from officers home on furlough, that these passages are never read in India, nor is the student ever examined in them. They can interest only such little minds as are of the most contemptibly frivolous description. A man may be a first-rate English or French scholar, yea, an accomplished statesman, without being conversant with the infinite variety of dishes, &c., set down on the _carte_ of a first-rate Parisian restaurateur.

[207] The Asiatics eat with the right hand, and use no knives or forks; so to draw back the hand from eating is to leave off eating. Of course, spoons are used for broths, &c, which cannot be eaten by the hand.

[208] As it were intended to be stored up and not eaten.

[209] This exceedingly plain expression is, so far from seeming gross or indelicate, considered as a very high compliment among Orientals.

[210] Literally, "recite the _la haul_," &c, vide note 2, p. 5.

[211] _Jogis_ are _Hindu_ ascetics, or fanatics; some of them let the nails grow through the palm of their hands by keeping their fists shut, &c.

[212] The _maunis_ are _Hindu_ ascetics who vow everlasting silence.

[213] The _sevras_ are mendicants of the _Jain_ sects.

[214] _Majnun_ is a mad lover of eastern romance, who pined in vain for the cruel _Laili_. _Farhad_ is equally celebrated as an unhappy _amant_ who perished for _Shirin_.

[215] The word _salam_, "salutation," is used idiomatically in the sense of our terms "compliments" or "respects," &c. And in that sense it has now become, in India, adopted into the English language.

[216] The marriage portion here alluded to is not to be taken in the vague sense we attach to the term. The word _mahar_ denotes a present made to, or a portion settled on, the wife at or before marriage.

[217] _Nimroz_ is that part of Persia which comprehends the provinces of _Sijistan_ and _Mikran_, towards the south-east.

[218] The _man_, commonly called "maund," a measure of weight, about eighty pounds avoirdupois.

[219] It is needless here to enumerate the stores of various articles detailed in the original, as they will all be found in the vocabulary.

[220] Literally, "her own leavings." In the East it considered a very high compliment on the part of a person of rank to present his guest with the remnants of his own dish.

[221] Literally, "night of power or grandeur," would in that place be "without grandeur." The _shabi kadr_, or as the Arabs have it, _lailatu-l-kadri_, is a sacred festival held on the 27th of _Ramazan_, being, according to the _Musalmans_, the night on which the _Kur,an_ was sent down from heaven.

[222] Meaning that, under present circumstances, her commands were altogether out of place.

[223] It is incumbent on good Mussulmans to wash the hands and face before prayers. Where water is not to be had, this ceremony, called _tayammum_ is performed by using sand instead.

[224] _Lukman_ is supposed to be the Greek slave Æsop, the author of the Fables. _Bu 'Ali Sina_ is the famous Arab physician and philosopher, by mediæval writers erroneously called Avicenna.

[225] _Khizr_ or _Khwaja Khizr_ is the name of a saint or prophet, of great notoriety among the _Muhammadans_. The legends respecting his origin and life are as numerous as they are absurd and contradictory. Some say he was grand _Vizir_ to Solomon, others to Alexander the Great. They all agree, however, that he discovered the water of immortality, and that in consequence of having drunk thereof, he still lives and wanders about on the earth.

[226] _Kasra_ is the title of the King of Persia, hence the Greek forms Cyrus and Chosroes, and most probably the more modern forms Caesar, Kaisar, and Czar. The form _Kisra_ used in the text is generally applied to _Naushirwan_.--Vide note 3, page 13.

[227] _Ni'man_, also _Nu'man_, the name of an ancient king of _Hirat_, in Arabia.

[228] The first day of the new year, which is celebrated with great splendour and rejoicings.

[229] The _Brahmans_, erroneously called Bramins, do not eat meat.

[230] Literally, "she would have repeated the _Kalima_," or "Confession of Faith" of the followers of _Muhammad_, which is as follows:--"There is no God but God, and _Muhammad_ is his prophet." Some profane wags have parodied this creed into a Jewish one, viz.--"There ish no God but the monish, and shent per shent (cent. per cent.) ish hish prophet" (profit.)

[231] The common mode to present large sums in specie to princely visitors, is to form a platform with the money, spread the _masnad_ on it, and place the visitor on the rich seat. Mr. Smith states that he had himself seen _Asafu-d-Daula_, the then _Nawwab_ of Lucknow, receive a lack of rupees in this way from _Almas_, one of his eunuchs.

[232] _Chand-rat_, is applied to the night on which the new moon is first visible, which night, together with the following day till sunset, constitutes the _pahli tarikh_, or _ghurra_, that is the first of the lunar month.

[233] _Ramazan_ is the ninth _Muhammadan_ month, during which they keep Lent. Vide note, p. 59.

[234] The _'Id_ is the grand festival after the Lent of _Ramazan_ is over. There is another _'Id_, called _Al-Kurban_, in commemoration of Abraham's meditated sacrifice of his son Isaac, or as the _Muhammadans_ believe of his son Ishmael.

[235] Literally, "having washed my hands of my life."

[236] _Rustam_, a brave and famous hero of Persia, whose Herculean achievements are celebrated in the _Shah-Nama_.

[237] Literally, "a _salam_ as low as the carpet;" or as we say, "a bow to the ground."

[238] The various editions of the text read _tunna_, "a particular kind of tree." In one of my MSS., however, the reading is _tane_, the inflected form of _tana_, the "trunk of a tree," which is better sense.

[239] Literally, "the parrot of my hand flew away."

[240] The _Muhammadans_ reckon a hundred and twenty years as the _'umri tabi'i_, or the natural period of man's life.

[241] The mountain of _Kaf_, is the celebrated abode of the _jinns_, _paris_, and _divs_, and all the fabulous beings of oriental romance. The _Muhammadans_, as of yore all good Christians, believe that the earth is a flat circular plane; and on the confines of this circle is a ring of lofty mountains extending all round, serving at once to keep folks from falling off, as well as forming a convenient habitation for the _jinns_, &c., aforesaid. The mountain, (I am not certain on whose trigonometrical authority) is said to be 500 _farasangs_ or 2000 English miles in height.

[242] With regard to the plain, simple sentence, "_yih kahkar takht uthaya_," we have somewhere seen the following erudite criticism, viz.:--"With deference to _Mir Amman_, this is bad grammar. The nominative to _kahkar_ and _uthaya_ ought to be the same!!!" Now, it is a great pity that the critic did not favour us here with his notions of _good_ grammar. Just observe, O reader, how the expression stands in the text: "_yih kahkar takht uthaya_," and you will naturally ask, "where is the fault in the grammar?" The nominative, or rather the agent, is _pari ne_, hence the translation, "the fairy, having thus spoken, took up the throne." The poor critic seems to confound "_uthaya_" with "_utha_."

[243] One of the would-be poets of our day has translated the above most elegantly and literally, as follows:--

"What mischiefs through this love arise! What broken hearts and miseries!"

[244] The _Muhammadans_ have great confidence in charms which are written on slips of paper, along with numerous astrological characters. They consist chiefly of quotations from the _Kuran_, and are often diluted in water, and drank as medicine in various distempers. As the Indian ink and paper can do no harm, and often act as an emetic, they are probably more innocent than the physic administered by eastern physicians, who are the most ignorant of their profession. The fact is, that the soi disant "teachers" of mankind, in all ages and countries--the African fetish, the American Indian sachem, the _Hindu jogi_, the _Musalman mulla_, and the Romish priest and miracle-monger--have all agreed on one point, viz., to impose on their silly victims a multitude of unmeaning ceremonies, and absurd mummeries, in order to conceal their own contemptible vacuity of intellect.

[245] The _Jata-dhari Gusa,in_ is a sect of fanatic _Hindu_ mendicants, who let their hair grow and matted, and go almost naked.

[246] _Mahadev_ is a _Hindu_ idol; the emblem of the creative power, and generally and naturally represented by the Lingum.

[247] _Shevrat_ is a _Hindu_ festival, which corresponds nearly with the Mahometan _shabi barat_.

[248] Plato is supposed by the _Muhammadans_ to have been not only a profound philosopher, but a wise physician. In short, it is too general an idea with them, that a clever man must be a good doctor.