Banarasidas ARDHAKATHANAK (A Half Story) Read online

  They stood in front of His image, and took the vows of fasting and abstinence.(434)

  They vowed to eat only twice a day—at dusk, and in the morning after reciting the Namokar mantra,

  To give away half a paisa everyday forever in charity,

  To chant the Namokar mantra at least once every day,

  That if they did not fulfil their vows on any day, in reparation they would abstain from taking ghee that day.(435)

  They promised to observe their vows even while on the road.

  They vowed to fast every chaudash.

  Lord Parshvanath was their witness.

  They also vowed to give up fifty kinds of green vegetables.(436)

  They would not marry more than twice,

  Though the future may hold something else.

  They would not keep company with the wives of other men.

  Both friends, together, in the same place,(437)

  In Samvat 1671,

  During the bright half of the month of Baisakh,

  They made these vows and offered puja to Lord Parshvanath,

  And felt they had found a fortune.(438)

  After offering puja, they returned home

  And ate a meal and some paan.

  Soon they started their business, which prospered.

  Some time later, a letter arrived from Kharagsen.(439)

  The letter contained both good news and bad.

  Both friends began to read it:

  Banarasidas’s wife

  Who had been living at her father’s home in Khairabad,(440)

  Had given birth to a third son.

  She had attained happiness and forgotten sorrow.

  Fifteen days after her son was born,

  The mother and child, both died.(441)

  Banarasi’s first wife had a sister.

  After giving the matter great thought, Banarasi’s father-in-law had sent her to Jaunpur

  With the family barber, offering her hand in marriage to Banarasi.

  Kharagsen had accepted the proposal at an auspicious hour.(442)

  Reading of both these matters together,

  Banarasi’s condition became similar to that of the blacksmith’s tongs

  Which are plunged one moment into burning fire, the next into cold water.

  Thus was Banarasi plunged one moment into joy, another into grief.(443)

  Upon reading this letter,

  Both friends began crying like children.

  Banarasi wept and wept,

  Then he pulled himself together and became quiet.(444)

  He busied himself in his work again

  And, with Narottam, turned his attention to earning a livelihood.

  Business sometimes increased, sometimes decreased;

  They traded in the dust of precious stones, in rubies, pearls and emeralds.(445)

  Sometimes one of them would go to Jaunpur,

  While the other remained in Banaras.

  Even when both friends were together in the same city,

  Their work would take them to different areas within the city.(446)

  They worked hard and took no rest,

  Even postponing their meals till late afternoon.

  Six or seven months passed in this manner

  Before they got some respite.(447)

  As a horseman drives his labouring horse through a ditch,

  So did the Creator drive Banarasi and Narottam.

  The governor of Jaunpur at that time was Chini Qilich Khan.

  He called Banarasi to him and honoured him with a siropao.(448)

  He was the son of the elder Qilich,

  A Mir, and a commander of four thousand in the emperor’s court.14

  He was one among the wealthy of Jaunpur,

  A generous, learned and brave man.(449)

  Chini Qilich and Banarasi—

  The two men had a strange and unusual bond.

  He was gracious to Banarasi and showed him great favour;

  Banarasi considered him a friend.(450)

  Many days passed in this manner,

  During which Banarasi passed through many situations.

  A man who must have been his enemy even in a previous existence,

  Appeared.(451)

  He made life difficult for Banarasi and Narottam in many ways.

  There is no point in relating that in detail.

  Let it only be said that what he did to Banarasi and Narottam,

  May no one do that again to another.(452)

  Banarasi and Narottamdas,

  He would not let the two of them breathe.

  He caused much misery in their lives.

  He caused them distress, and he took their money.(453)

  Meanwhile, two months passed.

  Chini Qilich had been away.

  He came back after his victory over some fort he had laid siege to,

  And once again renewed his friendship with Banarasi.(454)

  He studied the Namamala with Banarasi,

  As well as the Chhandkos and the Shrutabodh.

  He was kind and gracious every day;

  There was never any conflict between them.(455)

  Banarasi did not say a word,

  But seeing his friendship with Chini Qilich, his enemy became afraid.

  He called four men to act as arbitrators,

  Who settled his dispute with Banarasi.(456)

  With the quarrel resolved, Banarasi felt as happy

  As a bird escaping from a snare.

  In Samvat 1672

  Chini Qilich passed away.(457)

  Banarasi and Narottamdas

  Went to Patna in the hope of expanding their business.

  They stayed for six or seven months in that land.

  The deals they struck were few, their distress great.(458)

  The two friends returned home.

  Banarasi left for Jaunpur city,

  Where he established a successful business.

  There is a secret matter which cannot be told.(459)

  One’s age and income, and household matters,

  What one has given in charity, one’s acts of honour and dishonour,

  Medicines that one is taking, one’s sexual escapades and plans for oneself.

  These are the nine matters that cannot be spoken of.(460)

  This is the reason why this secret matter has not been related here.

  It is one of the nine matters which cannot be spoken of.

  Banarasi did both good deeds and bad,

  In Patna, Kashi and Jaunpur.(461)

  He spent a year in these three places.

  Then an event occurred which changed everything.

  There was an umrao called Agha Noor

  Who had been honoured with a siropao from the emperor.(462)

  When it became known that he was coming to Jaunpur, chaos broke out.

  People left their homes and ran away in all directions.

  That is when the two clever friends, Banarasi and Narottam,

  Returned to Jaunpur city.(463)

  Their families hidden safely somewhere,

  The two friends turned towards the north.

  The two friends travelled together,

  On foot, with stout staffs in their hands.(464)

  They reached the city of Ayodhya.

  Though they visited the Jain shrine there, they did not stop in the city.

  Journeying on, they reached Raunahi,

  Where they paid homage to Lord Dharmanath.(465)

  They worshipped Lord Dharmanath with great devotion.

  They stayed hidden there for seven days,

  And then turned back towards home.

  On the way they heard(466)

  That Agha Noor had, between Banaras

  And Jaunpur,

  Spread terror and confusion. He had had many men

  Beaten till they were half-dead.(467)

  He had imprisoned without any cause all

  Goldsmiths, merchants,

  Bank
ers, moneylenders,

  Jewellers and brokers.(468)

  Some were whipped,

  Some were put into chains,

  Some were kept hungry—

  All were punished.(469)

  Banarasi and Narottamdas

  Heard these tales from a fellow traveller.

  The two friends were on their way home,

  But when they heard this news they became afraid.(470)

  They turned back towards Surharpur,

  Swimming across the river with the help of large earthenware pots.

  In the forest across there was an abandoned fort,

  Within which they took refuge.(471)

  They lived in the fort for forty days.

  Then the situation changed again.

  Agha Noor went away to Agra,

  Releasing the men he had imprisoned in Jaunpur.(472)

  A couple of men, who were very wealthy—

  He had them severely beaten,

  And putting them in chains, took them with him.

  Whether he was justified in doing so or not, God alone knows.(473)

  Meanwhile, these two men, Banarasi and Narottam,

  Returned home, no longer afraid.

  The entire family was together again.

  Then came a letter from Sabal Singh.(474)

  Sabal Singh Mothiya

  Was the son of Nemidas Sahu.

  He had written the letter in his own hand.

  ‘Both partners, Banarasi and Narottam, come here together.(475)

  ‘Don’t stay any longer in the east,

  Instead come here to me.’

  This is the letter that the Sahu had written,

  And which Banarasidas read.(476)

  Narottam’s father too

  Wrote him a long tale.

  That letter arrived in secret,

  And Narottam read it alone in privacy.(477)

  After reading the letter, in Banarasi’s

  Hand he placed it, and said,

  ‘Read—this is what your chacha has written!

  The tidings within are in his own hand!’(478)

  Banarasi began reading the letter.

  Only eight or ten lines had been written:

  After a general enquiry after Narottam’s well-being,

  This is what the letter contained:(479)

  ‘Kharagsen and Banarasi

  Are both crooked and depraved.

  They have entrapped you with trickery and deceit.

  They are dishonest and cunning.(480)

  ‘If you do what they say,

  You will end up begging for a living.

  Be wary of them.

  That is my counsel.’(481)

  This letter Banarasi

  Read calmly and composedly.

  But Narottam, with folded hands,

  Fell at his feet,(482)

  Saying to Banarasi,

  ‘You are my family, you are my true father.

  You know what he is like.

  Only a fool would say what he has said!’(483)

  Then both were happy again,

  United as ever in friendship and affection.

  From that day on, Banarasi

  Sang the praises of his friend unceasingly.(484)

  In praise of Narottamdas,

  Banarasi composed a verse

  Which he would recite day and night like a bard.

  At home, in the marketplace, anywhere and everywhere.(485)

  ‘Navpad meditation, and praise of God, occupies this wise and learned man;

  Acknowledge him as a man of steadfast knowledge.

  Religion occupies all eight watches of his day.

  Of immense beauty, comeliness and wealth reside in him; praise him as the very image of the god of love. No

  Trace of conceit is there in him. Seven fields did he give away in charity.

  To the whole world, spread his fame.

  A man glorious and great, beloved as life to Banarasi.

  Make up his name using the first letter of each line.’(486)

  Banarasi thought to himself,

  ‘There is no other friend like him in the whole world.’

  Meanwhile, the two partners, Banarasi and Narottam,

  Had been making preparations to leave for Agra.(487)

  But Kharagsen fell very ill.

  His illness seemed incurable, and the doctors were helpless.

  Banarasi and Narottamdas

  Performed the customary final alms-giving for Kharagsen.(488)

  In Samvat 1673, in the month of Baisakh,

  On the seventh day of the bright half of the month, a Monday,

  Banarasi and Narottam wrote out the necessary papers to dissolve their partnership

  And divided their goods between them.(489)

  They made two copies of their daily transactions,

  Each kept one copy with him.

  Narottam left for Agra.

  Banarasidas remained behind.(490)

  Banarasi remained in Jaunpur.

  Watching his father deteriorate, he was desperate.

  On the night of the fifth day of the dark half of the month of Jyeshth,

  Kharagsen’s days came to an end.(491)

  ‘Kharagsen has reached Heaven,’

  So said everybody.

  Where he had gone in truth, into which place of rest,

  That only a kevali can tell.(492)

  Banarasi grieved deeply for his father;

  He wept copious tears.

  Then he pulled himself together. After all,

  No one lives in this world forever.(493)

  When another month had passed,

  He again turned his attention to business and trade.

  He took out a hundi for five hundred rupees,

  And started laying in a store of cloth.(494)

  He bought cloth to sell,

  When again came a letter from the Sahu.

  In his letter Sabal Singhji wrote,

  ‘Without you it is not possible to settle our accounts.(495)

  ‘So please come to Agra quickly.

  To that which I am asking, please send a reply.’

  Banarasi heard of this matter

  And, abandoning his stock of cloth, left at once for Agra.(496)

  There was a brahmin called Shivaram.

  To whom he handed over his cloth business.

  Then, on an auspicious day in the month of Ashadh,

  Banarasi left for Agra.(497)

  A single horse, and nine serving men,

  He took as his companions.

  They reached a village called Ghesua

  On the first day of their journey.(498)

  That same day, to Ghesua

  Had come another rider—

  A Maheshwari, who ran a moneylending business,

  And lived somewhere near Agra.(499)

  He had six servants, and he, their master, was one,

  There were two brahmins from Mathura as well.

  So a party of nineteen men was formed.

  Banarasi found all the company he could desire on his journey.(500)

  They agreed that they would all halt at the same place,

  That no one would stop anywhere on his own.

  The next morning they left, all together.

  A merry band, laughing, and in happy mood.(501)

  They crossed many towns and villages,

  And came at last to that place

  Where, near Ghatampur,

  Lies the village of Korara.(502)

  They halted at a sarai,

  Where they ate and rested.

  The two brahmins from Mathura

  Went off to the house of an Ahir woman.(503)

  One of the two brahmins got up

  And went to the market.

  He took out a rupee and

  Changed it into smaller coins at a gold-and-silver merchant’s shop.(504)

  He bought food and sweetmeats

  And took them to the Ahiri’s house.
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br />   A little later, the merchant turned up there

  And said, ‘This rupee(505)

  ‘Is counterfeit. Change it.’

  The brahmin replied, ‘This coin is not mine.’

  Each kept saying that the coin belonged to the other,

  Till at last a fight broke out between the two.(506)

  The brahmin from Mathura

  Beat the merchant mercilessly.

  Many people interceded, pleading with the brahmin to stop;

  But he would not relent.(507)

  A brother of the merchant

  Had appeared on the scene, meanwhile.

  Outwardly, he appeared to be sweet-spoken and polite.

  In his heart he was a cheat and a fraud, a low and dishonest man.(508)

  Filled with envy, pretending great offence, he searched

  The brahmin’s clothing,

  And found the bundle of rupees the brahmin had kept carefully hidden.

  Upon counting the rupees, he found that they came to twenty-five.(509)

  He waved the coins in front of everyone,

  Cried, ‘All this money is counterfeit!

  I will take these coins to the kotwal,

  Take a good look, everyone!’(510)

  The two brahmins fell upon the floor, pretending

  To faint, and lay silent, as though dead.

  The bania, after showing the coins around,

  Took the bundle home.(511)

  He hid the genuine coins at home,

  And substituted them with counterfeit ones.