Banarasidas ARDHAKATHANAK (A Half Story) Read online

  Heard the call of dharma.(273)

  He would wake everyday at dawn and visit the Jain temple;

  He would not even clean his teeth without first visiting the temple.

  He observed the fourteen vows of Jainism,

  And practised the Jain rites of samayik and pratikraman.(274)

  He gave up green vegetables,

  And, for the rest of his life, brinjals and the five fruits forbidden to Jains.

  For eight days a year he performed ritual puja to the tirthankars

  And recited from memory the sacred Jain texts.(275)

  In this manner, listening to discourses on Jainism,

  And discoursing to others on what he had learnt, he would spend his time.

  That which is to happen in the future no one can see

  For unforeseeable is the nature of life.(276)

  Banarasi, earlier a man considered disreputable and low,

  Now was talked of in glowing terms by all.

  Came the year Samvat 1664.

  Banarasi now relates the events of that year.(277)

  Kharagsen Shrimal

  Had two daughters, living in two cities.

  One had been married into a family in Jaunpur,

  The other was still unmarried.(278)

  He married off his second daughter in Samvat’ 64

  In the month of Phalgun.

  She left for Pataliputra,

  And worry and anxiety regarding her marriage ended.(279)

  To Banarasi

  A second son was born.

  In a few days he flew away like a parrot,

  Leaving behind his body, an empty cage.(280)

  In the joys and sorrows of daily life

  Three years passed.

  Seeing the continuing good behaviour of his son

  Kharagsen rejoiced in his heart.(281)

  Samvat 1667.

  Kharagsen collected the merchandise he had,

  Including loose jewels and ornaments.

  He listed the goods on a piece of paper and wrote down their price:(282)

  Two bracelets, two rings

  Twenty-four rubies, thirty-four other jewels,

  Nine sapphires, emeralds twice ten,

  Four bags filled with the dust of precious stones—(283)

  These were the jewels.

  There were also twenty maunds of ghee, two large earthen vessels full of oil,

  And fine Jaunpur cloth.

  This mechandise was worth two hundred rupees.(284)

  Partly with his own money, partly with borrowed funds,

  Kharagsen managed to pay for this merchandise.

  When the goods were gathered and ready,

  Then Kharagsen, after careful consideration,(285)

  Called his son Banarasi to him.

  He explained to him,

  ‘Take all these goods with you

  To Agra and sell them there.(286)

  ‘Now take the weight of this household upon your shoulders

  And feed and support this family.’

  So saying, he put a tilak on Banarasi’s forehead

  And gave him the gathered merchandise.(287)

  The heavy goods loaded on to a cart,

  The jewels carefully with him,

  Tied into his underpants,

  Banarasidas set off for Agra.(288)

  He travelled in company with other merchants;

  They travelled five kos every day,

  Gradually, steadily covering the distance to Agra,

  Till they reached Itawah.(289)

  Close to the city of Itawah

  They stopped. Drawing their carts into a circle,

  They alighted. It was a deserted, desolate spot.

  Soon it was dusk.(290)

  Rain clouds gathered, dark and heavy

  And it began to rain.

  Everyone began to run,

  Wondering where they would find shelter in this deluge.(291)

  Banarasi covered himself with a blanket

  And set off on foot in search of shelter.

  He came at last to a sarai—

  But two noblemen from the Mughal court were staying there.(292)

  The marketplace was very crowded

  Not a single shop was empty, but crammed full of people seeking shelter.

  Banarasi could find no place of refuge from the rain.

  He knocked on every door in the town.(293)

  He wandered here and there in vain.

  No one asked him to sit or offered shelter.

  His feet were covered in mud and slush from the ground beneath,

  While the rain came down relentlessly from above.(294)

  It was a dark night,

  And the winter month of Agahan.

  A woman offered him shelter,

  But her husband picked up a stout stick(295)

  And chased Banarasi away.

  At last, outside the city gates he reached,

  Where, in a small hut,

  Sat some watchmen.(296)

  Banarasi approached the hut;

  With him were two other Jain shravaks.

  The watchmen asked, ‘Who are you?’

  ‘We are miserable wretches, with no place to shelter from the rain.’(297)

  Banarasi said to them,

  ‘We are merchants

  Driven distracted without shelter.

  Our luck has turned against us.’(298)

  Compassion arose in the watchmen’s hearts.

  They said, ‘Come, sit here and rest.

  We will be going home soon.

  You can stay the night in this hut.(299)

  ‘There is one more thing;

  In the morning the city authorities will find out about you.

  They won’t let you go without an inquiry.

  Offer them some baksheesh; they will accept that and let you go.’(300)

  Banarasi agreed to all that they said

  And rested in the hut.

  He had some water fetched, and washed his feet,

  And spread out his wet clothes to dry.(301)

  They had spread some straw on the floor and lain down to sleep

  When a strong, powerfully built man entered the hut.

  He entered and said. ‘Who are you? What are you doing here?

  This hut is my home.(302)

  ‘I spread my cot and sleep here every night.

  Where have you turned up from?

  Either you leave instantly,

  Or get a taste of my whip.’(303)

  Banarasi in panic and confusion,

  Got up and set off in the pouring rain again.

  But the man took pity on him and placing a hand on his arm, stopped him

  And made him sit in the shelter of the hut again.(304)

  He gave him an old mat

  Which Banarasi spread on the cot.

  He said, ‘Spread the mat on the floor for yourself.

  I cannot rest without a cot.’(305)

  ‘So be it,’ said Banarasi.

  Whatever comes one’s way, must be endured.

  As one spins, so one weaves.

  As one sows, so one reaps.(306)

  The man slept comfortably on the cot.

  The other three beneath the cot

  Did sleep. The night passed.

  They had covered themselves with their blankets, so did not feel the cold.(307)

  At dawn they rose and returned where

  Everyone had alighted from their carts the previous day.

  It had stopped raining and it was good weather again.

  The merchants set off as before.(308)

  At last they came to Agra city.

  That day, too, it was raining, and the ground was muddy and slushy.

  Banarasi left the cloth, oil and ghee this side of the river,

  And crossed the river to the other side.(309)

  Banarasidas wondered

  Where he ought to go and to whom.

  He thought and thought, and t
hen decided

  That he would go to Moti Katla.(310)

  There, close to Champsi’s house

  Lived Banarasi’s younger sister’s husband, Bandidas.

  Banarasi decided to go to his house at once.

  As he had heard said—one can always rely on relatives and saints.(311)

  Having so decided, Banarasidas came

  To his brother-in-law’s house.

  Bandidas greeted him with affection and asked

  Where he had left his load of cloth, oil and ghee.(312)

  Banarasi answered truthfully

  That he had left the merchandise in a hired warehouse.

  When a few more days had passed,

  He rented a separate place for himself to stay.(313)

  He moved the bale of cloth from the warehouse to his house.

  He would go to and from the marketplace every day.

  After he had sold the cloth, he did the accounts

  Upon deducting the interest from his income, he found that he had made a loss.(314)

  One day Banarasidas

  Went across the river to the hired warehouse.

  He sold the ghee and the oil,

  And made a profit of four rupees.(315)

  The hundi against which Kharagsen had raised money in Jaunpur became due. Banarasi paid the sum required.

  What was happening in Jaunpur, that only God knew.

  After selling the other merchandise, Banarasi crossed the river again

  And became a seller of gems and precious stones.(316)

  He would give articles of jewellery and precious stones to anyone who asked,

  Without checking if that person was trustworthy or not.

  Some would take his jewels away and never come back with the money;

  Others would pawn them, and use the money they raised, for themselves.(317)

  The ways of doing business in the city of Agra,

  The ignorant and rustic Banarasi did not understand.

  His bad luck began,

  Banarasi kept losing money on all fronts.(318)

  In the sheath which held the string of his pyjama

  He had tied and hidden some pearls.

  The string broke, and the pearls fell out.

  Banarasi realized his loss too late.(319)

  The loose gems that he had,

  They too were hidden there.

  He bore this loss in silence

  And did not say a word to anyone.(320)

  To the string of another pyjama, Banarasi had tied some rubies.

  Somewhat carelessly

  He left the pyjama hanging on a clothes line.

  Mice cut through the pyjama string and ran away with his rubies.(321)

  The two jewel-studded bracelets,

  He sold to a customer.

  But the tax collector took away what he had received for the bracelets,

  And Banarasi became bankrupt.(322)

  A jewel-studded ring,

  That too, he lost.

  He had tied the ring with a knot, but saw one day the knot was undone.

  The ring had fallen somewhere; he never found it again.(323)

  Bits and pieces of gold and silver, a few small ornaments,

  A small bundle of cloth, and two long kurtas,

  He had no other merchandise left.

  He no longer needed his book of accounts and would leave it behind at home.(324)

  In this manner, as his past karma surfaced, as one of its rewards

  He began running a high fever.

  Banarasi fell very ill.

  For ten days he did not eat or drink.(325)

  Then, putting himself on a strict diet, he began to recover.

  He did not go to the marketplace for a month.

  Many letters from Kharagsen

  Arrived, but Banarasi would not answer them.(326)

  Uttamchand the jeweller,

  The younger son of Dulah Sahu,

  Was husband to the elder of Banarasi’s two

  Sisters, and his born enemy.(327)

  He sent home

  The news in a letter, writing to say

  That Banarasi had lost all his capital

  And become a pauper.(328)

  In Jaunpur

  Kharagsen heard of this matter.

  He came home lamenting loudly,

  And made a great fuss.(329)

  He quarrelled with his wife,

  And railed at her in grief and anger,

  ‘I had said it, right from the beginning,

  That my son will return home with nothing, that he would lose everything!(330)

  ‘What I had said has come true.

  My son has become a beggar!

  The shameless boy has lost the capital

  Gone are the resources to continue in business!’(331)

  Discouraged and despondent, he heaved a sigh.

  He ranted and raved, created a storm at home,

  And sent his son Banarasi’s wife

  To Khairabad.(332)

  This is what happened in Jaunpur.

  There, in Agra

  Banarasi was selling household articles

  To survive. Soon he had nothing left to sell.(333)

  Whatever bits and pieces had been there,

  He had sold them all and spent the money he had received in return.

  He also used up all the money that had been raised against the hundi.

  He was now left with only a rupee or two.(334)

  He would sit at home all day;

  He had stopped going to the marketplace.

  Madhumalati and Mirgavati—

  He began reading these two works.(335)

  Every evening he would read from these works

  To a group of ten or twenty men who would come to hear him.

  He would sing the poems, and talk about them.

  His listeners would bless him every day.(336)

  Banarasi had reached a situation where he did not even have food in the house

  To eat when he woke in the morning.

  A kachauriwala

  Used to come to hear him read every evening.(337)

  From his shop, Banarasi took on credit

  A ser of kachauris.

  This same food Banarasi

  Ate every day, every evening and morning.(338)

  Banarasi would sometimes go to the market,

  Sometimes stay at home.

  He told no one of his situation

  But lived on the kachauris he bought on credit.(339)

  One day Banarasi

  Finding some time alone

  With the kachauriwala, told him

  Of his true circumstances which he had so far concealed from everyone.(340)

  ‘You have given me a lot of credit.

  Now, don’t give me any more.

  I have nothing.

  How will you recover the cost of your kachauris from me?’(341)

  The kachauriwala replied,

  ‘Eat twenty rupees worth.

  No one will say a word to you.

  Come and go as you please.’(342)

  Then Banarasi said no more.

  No one knew of this.

  Every evening he would recite poetry, during the day he would do nothing.

  Some six or seven months passed.(343)

  Relating the events of a particular day, Banarasi says:

  Tarachand Tambi,

  Banarasi’s father-in-law’s younger brother,

  And the son of Parbat Tambi,(344)

  Came one evening

  To Banarasi’s house.

  While the others were still there,

  He kept silent.(345)

  Once the others had taken their leave

  And left for their own homes,

  He greeted Banarasi

  With great affection.(346)

  With affection he earnestly invited him,

  ‘Please come to my house in the morning.

  Take your meals there tomorrow.

&n
bsp; You must come, do not refuse.’(347)

  So saying, Tarachand left for his own house that night.

  He returned next morning

  And said to Banarasi,

  ‘Food is ready at home.(348)

  ‘So come with me now.

  Eat first, and then you can go to the marketplace.’

  This was Tarachand’s ploy to get him away,

  For as soon as Banarasi left for his house,(349)

  He sent one of his own men there.

  The man packed Banarasi’s meagre belongings and brought them to Tarachand’s home.

  He also settled the rent that had been outstanding.

  Tarachand fell at Banarasi’s feet.(350)

  With great humility Tara Sahu said,

  ‘Please stay here, don’t go back there.’

  He stubbornly refused to let him go, and made Banarasi stay with him.

  Banarasi began living in his house, and taking all his meals there.(351)

  In this way when two months had passed,

  Banarasi went into partnership with Dharamdas.

  Jasu and Amarsi were two brothers.

  They were Oswals from Delhi(352)

  And ran a large and successful business in jewels and gems.

  Dharamdas was the son of the younger brother, and a degenerate.

  He had many vices and kept bad company;

  He spent money too freely, and was addicted to opium.(353)

  Keeping in mind Dharamdas’s reputation, the partnership was formalized