English
" This is sometimes recited with much feeling, and great are the lamentations of the bereaved, who now with sobs and tears present a little boat and paddle, made of gold, or silver, or copper, according to their position, to tho Brail man ; and in the boat they place ghk milk, butter, and rice. Tho boat is for the conveyance of the spirit across Vaitarahi, and tho provisions are for the appeasement of the contrary powers preta, matsya, and others, who will try to turn back tho boat, but who on having these, ghi and rice, Ac, thrown to them, will at once depart tliuir own way. The HindAs believe that if this ceremony is performed in a right manner, a boat will bo at once present upon tho waters, close to that portion of the bank of the river, wliere the spirit is waiting and praying for it, and that tho spirit getting into it will be s^ifi^ly convoyed to the opposite side. The gift-boat, however, is taken home by the BHkhroan, and generally tamed into money as soon as possible. At the moment of death amongst other things a pais& is placed within the mouth of the corpse, wherewith to pay tho ferry. The belief hero expressed ia common in one shape or another to all nations and peoples, bat epectally to all Indo-Kuroiiean nations. In Grecian mythology it was the rirer Styx, Acheron, or Cocytus ; and Charon rowed tho shades across in his little boat. A small piece of money, too, was placed in the mouth of the dt-ad, to pay the fare to the Stygian ferryman. In Scan<linavia biMlios were buried in ships and boats under the belief that tlic dea<l crossed the waters in them. Coleman, p. 319, mentions that among the Garrows of Bengal also, " tho dead are kept for four days ; burnt on a pile of wood in a dingy or small boat, placed on the top of a pile," Ac. In the old French romance of Lancelot du Lac the demoi- selle d' Escalot orders that after death, her body richly dressed should be placed in a ship, and that the ship should be let go to find its own way before the \vind and waves. In Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie, 3te Ausgabe, 701, a story is told concerning some monks crossing the Rhine at Spires. In former times the Rhine, the political boundary of Germany, was also regarded as the boundary between the upper and lower world ; and " to go to the Rhine" and "to die" were mutually efjuivalent expressions: — *' A drowsy boatman is ronsed np one stormy night by a monk, who put some money into his hand, and asked to bc> ferried over the river. At first six monks get into the boat, but no sooner is it started than u great company press in, to the great iucouvenieiice of the boatman. 20 With xnnch diflBcnlty the river is crossed ; and the passengers having disembarked, the boat is immediately carried back by a strong wind to the place whence it started. More passengers are waiting there, and they, too, embark directly the boat touches the bank ; and as they enter the foremost of the strange company puts the fare into the ferryman's hands with his icy-cold fingers. Some readers may not know that the Germans in olden times thoroughly believed that our own little island was the island of souls, and that to this day remnants of this belief are still to be found among them." For more particulars concerning traditions about the dead, their world, and the way to it, &c., cf . Kelly's most interesting book on " Curiosi- ties of Indo-European Traditions," Ch. IV. Ayih wonis gayih h'ndris- She came to the baniya's but arrived at the baker's. To miss the mark. This saying has its origin in a story well-known in Kashmir. Lai Ded, whose name has been mentioned before, used to peregrinate in an almost nude condition, and was constantly saying that " He only was a man, who feared God, and there were very few such men about." One day Shdh Hamadan, after whom the famous mosque in Srinagar is called, met her, and she at once ran away. This was a strange thing for Lai DM, to do ; but it was soon explained. *' I have seen a man," she said, to the astonished baniyi, into whose shop she had fled for refuge. The baniyi. however, turned her out. Then Lai Dcd rushed to the baker's house and jumped into the oven, which at that time was fully heated for baking the bread. When the baker saw this he fell down in a swoon thinking that, for certain, the king would hear of this and punish him. However, there was no need of fear, as Lai Ded presently appeared from the mouth of the oven clad in clothes of gold, and hastened after Shah Hamadan. Cf . Note 743, Part XX of " Panjab Notes and Queries.'^ The Kashmiri Muhammedan will tell as many and long stories concerning this Shah Hamadan, or Saiyid 'Ali as the Kashmiri Pandit will tell about Lai Ded — how that when Timur Lung slew all the saiyids in his country, he accxised that monarch of impiety and said that he would not stay in his country, but by virtue of his holiness would transport himself through the air to Kashmir ; and how that he alighted in the very spot, where now the famous mosque stands in the midst of Srinagar, and within a few days after his arrival here converted so many Hindus to Islam that two-and-a-half JCharwars of Yonis or Brahmanical threads were delivered up to him. Sh5h Hamad^n's mosque is one of the most beautiful as well as one of the most famous in the Valley. Over and beside the entrance and upon the wall of the first of the five divisions of the building axe these three Persian inscriptions ; — 21 At dil (igarat matlah i faiz e diZ jahan cut. Rav bar dar i shahansfiah i Shdh e Hamaddn att. Makrun i ijdhat ast ti dare aust du'd rd. *Arsh ast dar ash halki azii,* 'arsh nishdn ast. • • • • Har faiz ki dar sdfyikay e hnr-dH jahdn ast. l)ar pairaine hnzrat i Shdh e Hamaddn, ast. Shdh e Hamaddn ahki Shahanshuh e jahdn ast Ai Khdk bardh d{da ki dar raib o gumdn ast. ^ • • • • In Hamaddn Hamaddni dihad. Ma'rifat e sirr i nihdni dihad. Ya*ne agar b^ishidat in tirru ; Az dar i Shiih e Hanuiddni hi jo, Az gov beguh wuini tculah paguh. To-day is not the time. Now (is not the time). Come to-morrow. Ad Gracas Kalendat, Az nah tah, adah har. Not to day, — when then ? To-morrow is no day. 22 B Bubah Adamas zui zdh gabar, aki rat uwareni beyih ratlcabr. Father Adam had two sous. One was burnt and the other was buried (i.e., one became a Hindu and the other became a Muhammedan). Bobah, budatham iah hhidmatak hartam. O father, become old and serve me. The old parents are very often the slaves of the family. Bubah matyov tah ded tih mateyih. The father has became mad and the mother also has become mad. A kingdom or city in a wretched plight. During a certain king's reign the gods determined that the people should become mad from drinking the ordinary water. Now the king's wazir being versed in astrology discovered this matter and at once told the kiug of it privately. "0, king," said he, " after one month all your subjects will lose their reason from drinking the water of the country." " What shall we do ?" said the king, " that we two, at all events, may be saved." " Procure water at once," replied the wazir, "and store it up in skins." The king did so, and the result was that at the time appointed, when all the people were raving mad, he and the wazir were perfectly sane. It happened, however, that the whole country being quite beyond governing, the people were murdering one another and doing the most strange acts. At length some determined to slay the king and his wazir, and so in order to save themselves these two also drank of the diseased water and became mad. Then it was that the father and mother wei*e mad, and the above saying was fii'st spoken. Persian — Ab-i-diwdnarji. Babah nethar zih hamin s''>at. O father, let me be married thi moment. Impatience. Bnbam Rishin kati. Babam Rishi's child (i.e., disciple). A stupid fellow. This good saint's followera were most ignorant and stupid people. People gave alms to them only for the sake of their saint and leader, Biiham Rishi died about the year 1474 a. d. His shrine, and a convent attached to it, lie on the road from Baramula to Gulmarg, and are amongst the richest, as well as the most frequented, places of pilgrimage in the vaUey. 23 The Bifihfs must not be confoanded with the Rishis, a sect of Muhammedan peasants, nor with the seven Rishis (also Rikhis), or ancient llindft sagos, Vashishta and others.