RÁJÁ HARICHAND’S PUNISHMENT

RÁJÁ HARICHAND’S PUNISHMENT

To notes T HERE was once a great Rájá, Rájá Harichand, who

every morning before he bathed and breakfasted

used to give away one hundred pounds weight of

gold to the fakírs, his poor ryots, and other poor people.

This he did in the name of God, “For,” he said, “God

loves me and gives me everything that I have; so daily I

will give him this gold.”

Now God heard what a good man Rájá Harichand was,

and how much the Rájá loved him, and he thought he

would go and see for himself if all that was said of the Rájá

were true. He therefore went as a fakír to Rájá Harichand’s

palace and stood at his gate. The Rájá had already given

away his hundred pounds’ weight of gold, and gone into his

palace and bathed and breakfasted; so when his servants

came to tell him that another fakír stood at his gate, the

Rájá said, “Bid him come to-morrow, for I have bathed,

and have eaten my breakfast, and therefore cannot attend to

him now.” The servants returned to the fakír, and told him,

“The Rájá says you must come to-morrow, for he cannot

see you now, as he has bathed and breakfasted.” God went

away, and the next day he again came, after all the fakírs

and poor people had received their gold and the Rájá had

gone into his palace. So the Rájá told his servants, “Bid

the fakír come to-morrow. He has again come too late for

me to see him now.”

[ Pg 225] On the third day God was once more too late, for the

Rájá had gone into his palace. The Rájá was vexed with

him for being a third time too late, and said to his servants,

“What sort of a fakír is this that he always comes too late?

Go and ask him what he wants.” So the servants went to

the fakír and said, “Rájá Harichand says, ‘What do you

want from him?’” “I want no rupees,” answered God, “nor

anything else; but I want him to give me his wife.” The

servants told this to the Rájá, and it made him very angry.

He went to his wife, the Rání Báhan, and said to her,

“There is a fakír at the gate who asks me to give you to

him! As if I should ever do such a thing! Fancy my

giving him my wife!”

The Rání was very wise and clever, for she had a book,

which she read continually, called the kop shástra; and this

book told her everything. So she knew that the fakír at the

gate was no fakír, but God himself. (In old days about two

people in a thousand, though not more, could read this

book; now-a-days hardly any one can read it, for it is far

too difficult.) So the Rání said to the Rájá, “Go to this

fakír, and say to him, ‘You shall have my wife.’ You need

not really give me to him; only give me to him in your

thoughts.” “I will do no such thing,” said the Rájá in a

rage; and in spite of all her entreaties, he would not say to

the fakír, “I will give you my wife.” He ordered his servants

to beat the fakír, and send him away; and so they did.

God returned to his place, and called to him two angels.

“Take the form of men,” he said to them, “and go to Rájá

Harichand. Say to him, ‘God has sent us to you. He

says, Which will you have—a twelve years’ famine throughout

your land during which no rain will fall? or a great

rain for twelve hours?’”

The angels came to the Rájá and said as God had bidden

them. The Rájá thought for a long while which he should [ Pg 226] choose. “If a great rain pours down for twelve hours,”

he said to himself, “my whole country will be washed away.

But I have a great quantity of gold. I have enough to

send to other countries and buy food for myself and my

ryots during the twelve years’ famine.” So he said to the

angels, “I will choose the famine.” Then the angels came

into his palace; and the moment they entered it, all the

Rájá’s servants that were in the palace, and all his cows,

horses, elephants, and other animals became stone. So did

every single thing in the palace, excepting his gold and silver,

and these turned to charcoal. The Rájá and Rání did not

become stone.

The angels said to them, “For three weeks you will not

be able to eat anything; you will not be able to eat any

food you may find or may have given you. But you will

not die, you will live.” Then the angels went away.

The Rájá was very sad when he looked round his palace and

saw everything in it, and all the people in it, stone, and saw all

his gold and silver turned to charcoal. He said to his wife,

“I cannot stay here. I must go to some other country. I was

a great Rájá; how can I ask my ryots to give me food? We

will dress ourselves like fakírs, and go to another country.”

They put on fakírs’ clothes and went out of their palace.

They wandered in the jungle till they saw a plum-tree

covered with fruit. “Do gather some of those plums for me,”

said the Rání, who was very hungry. The Rájá went to the

tree and put out his hand to gather the plums; but when

he did this, they at once all left the tree and went a little way

up into the air. When he drew back his hand, the plums

returned to the tree. The Rájá tried three times to gather

the plums, but never could do so.

He and the Rání then went on till they came to a plain

in another country, where was a large tank in which men

were fishing. The Rání said to her husband, “Go and [ Pg 227] ask those men to give us a little of their fish, for I am very

hungry.” The Rájá went to the men and said, “I am a fakír,

and have no pice. Will you give me some of your fish,

for I have not eaten for four days and am hungry?” The

men gave him some fish, and he and his wife carried it to a

tank on another plain. The Rání cleaned and prepared the

fish for cooking, and said to her husband, “I have nothing

in which to cook this fish. Go up to the town (there was a

town close by) and ask some one to give you an earthen pot

with a lid, and some salt.”

The Rájá went up to the town, and some one in the bazar

gave him the earthen pot, and a grain merchant put a little

salt into it. Then he returned to the Rání, and they made a

fire under a tree, put the fish into the pot, and set the pot on

the fire. “I have not bathed for some days,” said the Rájá.

“I will go and bathe while you cook the fish, and when I

come back we will eat it.” So he went to bathe, and the Rání

sat watching the fish. Presently she thought, “If I leave

the lid on the pot, the fish will dry up and burn.” Then she

took off the lid, and the fish instantly jumped out of the pot

into the tank and swam away. This made the Rání sad; but

she sat there quiet and silent. When the Rájá had bathed,

he returned to his wife, and said, “Now we will eat our fish.”

The Rání answered, “I had not eaten for four days, and

was very hungry, so I ate all the fish.” “Never mind,” said

the Rájá, “it does not matter.”

They wandered on, and the next day came to another

jungle where they saw two pigeons. The Rájá took some

grass and sticks, and made a bow and arrow. He shot the

pigeons with these, and the Rání plucked and cleaned

them. Her husband and she made a little fire, put the

pigeons in their pot, and set them on it. There was a tank

near. “Now I will go and bathe,” said the Rání; “I have

not bathed for some days. When I come back, we will eat [ Pg 228] the pigeons.” So she went to bathe, and the Rájá sat down

to watch the pigeons. Presently he thought, “If I leave the

pot shut, the birds will dry up and burn.” So he took off the

lid, and instantly away flew the pigeons out of the pot. He

guessed at once what the fish had done yesterday, and sat

still and silent till the Rání came back. “I have eaten the

pigeons in the same way that you ate the fish yesterday,”

he said to her. The Rání understood what had happened,

and saw the Rájá knew how the fish had escaped.

So they wandered on; and as they went the Rání remembered

an oil merchant, called Gangá Télí, a friend of theirs,

and a great man, just like a Rájá. “Let us go to Gangá

Télí, if we can walk as far as his house,” she said. “He will

be good to us.” He lived a long way off. When they got

to him, Gangá Télí knew them at once. “What has happened?”

he said. “You were a great Rájá; why are you

and the Rání so poor and dressed like fakírs?” “It is God’s

will,” they answered. Gangá Télí did not think it worth

while to notice them much now they were poor; so, though

he did not send them away, he gave them a wretched room

to live in, a wretched bed to lie on, and such bad food to eat

that, hungry as they were, they could not touch it. “When

we were rich,” they said to each other, “and came to stay

with Gangá Télí, he received us like friends; he gave us

beautiful rooms to live in, beautiful beds to lie on, and delicious

food to eat. We cannot stay here.”

So they went away very sorrowful, and wandered for a

whole week, and all the time they had no food, till they came

to another country whose Rájá, Rájá Bhoj, was one of their

friends. Rájá Bhoj received them very kindly. “What has

brought you to this state? How is it you are so poor?” he

said. “What has happened to you?” “It is God’s will,” they

answered. Rájá Bhoj gave them a beautiful room to live

in, and told his servants to cook for them the very nicest [ Pg 229] dinner they could. This the servants did, and they brought

the dinner into Rájá Harichand’s room, and set it before

him and left him. Then he and the Rání put some of the

food on their plates; but before they could eat anything, the

food both in the dishes and on their plates became full of

maggots. So they could not eat it. They felt greatly

humbled. However, they said nothing, but worshipped God;

and they buried all the food in a hole they dug in the floor

of their room.

Now the daughter of Rájá Bhoj had left her gold necklace

hanging on the wall of the room in which were Rájá

Harichand and the Rání Báhan. At night when Rájá Harichand

was asleep, the Rání saw a crack come in the wall

and the necklace go of itself into the crack; then the wall

joined together as before. She at once woke her husband,

and told him what she had seen. “We had better go away

quickly,” she said. “The necklace will not be found to-morrow,

and Rájá Bhoj will think we are thieves. It will be

useless breaking the wall open to find it.” The Rájá got up

at once, and they set out again. Rájá Bhoj, when the necklace

was not found, thought Rájá Harichand and the Rání

Báhan had stolen it.

They wandered on till they came to a country belonging

to another friend, called Rájá Nal, but they were

ashamed to go to his palace. The three weeks were now

nearly over, only two more days were left. So the Rání

said, “In two days we shall be able to eat. Go into the

jungle and cut grass, and sell it in the bazar. We shall

thus get a few pice and be able to buy a little food.” The

Rájá went out to the jungle, but he had to break and pull

up the grass with his hands. He worked half the day, and

then sold the grass in the bazar for a few pice. They were

able to buy food, and worshipped God and cooked it; and

as the three weeks were now over they were allowed to eat it.

[ Pg 230] They stayed in Rájá Nal’s country, and lived in a little

house they hired in the bazar. Rájá Harichand went out

every day to the jungle for grass, which he pulled up or

broke off with his hands, and then sold in the bazar for a

few pice. The Rání saved a pice or two whenever she

could, and at the end of two years they were rich enough

to buy a hook such as grass-cutters use. The Rájá could

now cut more grass, and soon the Rání was able to buy

some pretty-coloured silks in the bazar.

Her husband went daily to cut grass, and she sat at home

making head-collars with the silks for horses. Four years

after they had bought the hook, she had four of these head-collars

ready, and she took them up to Rájá Nal’s palace to

sell. It was the first time she had gone there, for she and

her husband were ashamed to see Rájá Nal. Their fakírs’

dresses had become rags, and they had only been able to get

wretched common clothes in their place, for they were

miserably poor.

“What beautiful head-collars these are!” said Rájá Nal’s

coachmen and grooms; and they took them to show to their

Rájá. As soon as he saw them he said, “Where did you get

these head-collars? Who is it that wishes to sell them?”

for he knew that only one woman could make such head-collars,

and that woman was the Rání Báhan. “A very

poor woman brought them here just now,” they answered.

“Bring her to me,” said Rájá Nal. So the servants brought

him Rání Báhan, and when she saw the Rájá she burst into

tears. “What has brought you to this state? Why are you

so poor?” said Rájá Nal. “It is God’s will,” she answered.

“Where is your husband?” he asked. “He is cutting grass

in the jungle,” she said. Rájá Nal called his servants and

said, “Go into the jungle, and there you will see a man

cutting grass. Bring him to me.” When Rájá Harichand

saw Rájá Nal’s servants coming to him, he was very much [ Pg 231] frightened; but the servants took him and brought him to

the palace. As soon as Rájá Nal saw his old friend, he

seized his hands, and burst out crying. “Rájá,” he said,

“what has brought you to this state?” “It is God’s will,”

said Rájá Harichand.

Rájá Nal was very good to them. He gave them a palace

to live in, and servants to wait on them; beautiful clothes

to wear, and good food to eat. He went with them to the

palace to see that everything was as it should be for them.

“To-day,” he said to the Rání, “I shall dine with your

husband, and you must give me a dinner cooked just as

you used to cook one for me when I went to see you in

your own country.” “Good, I will give it you,” said the

Rání; but she was quite frightened, for she thought, “The

Rájá is so kind, and everything is so comfortable for us, that

I am sure something dreadful will happen.” However, she

prepared the dinner, and told the servants how to cook it

and serve it; but first she worshipped God, and entreated

him to have mercy on her and her husband. The dinner

was very good, and nothing evil happened to any one.

They lived in the palace Rájá Nal gave them for four and a

half years.

Meanwhile the farmers in Rájá Harichand’s country had

all these years gone on ploughing and turning up the land,

although not a drop of rain had fallen all that time, and

the earth was hard and dry. Now just when the Rájá and

Rání had lived in Rájá Nal’s palace for four and a half years

Mahádeo was walking through Rájá Harichand’s country.

He saw the farmers digging up the ground, and said,

“What is the good of your digging and turning up the

ground? Not a drop of rain is going to fall.” “No,” said

the farmers, “but if we did not go on ploughing and

digging, we should forget how to do our work.” They did

not know they were talking to Mahádeo, for he looked like [ Pg 232] a man. “That is true,” said Mahádeo, and he thought, “The

farmers speak the truth; and if I go on neglecting to

blow on my horn, I shall forget how to blow on it at

all.” So he took his deer’s horn, which was just like those

some yogís use, and blew on it. Now when Rájá Harichand

had chosen the twelve years’ famine, God had said, “Rain

shall not fall on Rájá Harichand’s country till Mahádeo

blows his horn in it.” Mahádeo had quite forgotten this

decree; so he blew on his horn, although only ten and a

half years’ famine had gone by. The moment he blew,

down came the rain, and the whole country at once became

as it had been before the famine began; and moreover, the

moment it rained, everything in Rájá Harichand’s palace

became what it was before the angels entered it. All the

men and women came to life again; so did all the animals;

and the gold and silver were no longer charcoal, but once

more gold and silver. God was not angry with Mahádeo for

forgetting that he said the famine should last for twelve years,

and that the rain should fall when Mahádeo blew on his

horn in Rájá Harichand’s country. “If it pleased Mahádeo

to blow on his horn,” said God, “it does not matter that

eighteen months of famine were still to last.” As soon as

they heard the rain had fallen, all the ryots who had gone

to other countries on account of the famine returned to Rájá

Harichand’s country.

Among the Rájá’s servants was the kotwál, and very

anxious he was, when he came to life again, to find the

Rájá and Rání; only he did not know how to do so, and

wondered where he had best seek for them.

Meanwhile the Rání Báhan had a dream that God sent

her, in which an angel said to her, “It is good that you

and your husband should return to your country.” She told

this dream to her husband; and Rájá Nal gave them horses,

elephants, and camels, that they might travel like Rájás [ Pg 233] to their home, and he went with them. They found everything

in order in their own palace and all through their

country, and after this lived very happily in it. But the

Rání said to Rájá Harichand, “If you had only done what I

told you, and said you would give me to the fakír, all this

misery would not have come on us.”

Later they went to stay again with Rájá Bhoj, and slept

in the same room as they had had when they came to him

poor and wretched. In the night they saw the wall open,

and the necklace came out of the crack and hung itself up

as before, and the wall closed again. The next day they

showed the necklace to Rájá Bhoj, saying, “It was on

account of this necklace that we ran away from you the

last time we were here,” and they told him all that had

happened to it.

As for Gangá Télí, they never went near him again.

Told by Múniyá, March 4th, 1879.

[ Pg 234]