Volume 1

Rambles and recollections of an Indian official / [Sir William Henry Sleeman].

  • William Henry Sleeman
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rambles and recollections of an Indian official / [Sir William Henry Sleeman]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    190/492 page 150
    The old man and I got into a conversation upon the characters of different governments, and their effects upon the people; and he said that bad governments would sooner or later be always put down by the deity; and quoted this verse, which I took down with my pencil. “ TulasI, gharib na satae, Buri gharib kl hai; Mari khal ke phunk se Loha bhasm ho jae.” “Oh, Raja Tulasi! oppress not the poor; for the groans of the wretched bring retribution from heaven. The con- temptible skin (in the smith’s bellows) in time melts away the hardest iron.”^ On leaving our tents in the morning, we found the ground all round white with hoar frost, as we had found it for several mornings before;- and a little canary bird, one Religions Ihoiight and Life in India, page 334). Compare the account of the marriage between the mango-tree and the jasmine, ante. Chapter V, p. 38. ‘ These Hindi verses are very incorrectly printed, and very loosely rendered by the author. The translation of the text, after necessary emendation, is :—“Tulasi, oppress not the poor; evil is the lot of the poor. From the blast of the dead hide iron becomes ashes.” Mr. W. Crooke informs me that the verses are found in the Kabirki Sakhi, and are attributable to Kabir Das, rather than to Tulasi Das. But the authorship of such verses is very uncertain. Mr. Crooke further observes that the lines as given in the text do not scan, and that the better version is :— “ Durbal ko na sataiye, Jaki mati hai; Mue khal ke swans se Sar bhasm ho jae.” Sdr means iron. The author was, of course, mistaken in supposing the poet Tulasi Das to be a Raja. As usual in Hindi verse, the poet addresses himself by name. ^ Such slight frosts are common in Bundelkhand, especially near the rivers, in January, but only last for a few mornings. They often cause great damage to the more delicate crops. The weather becomes hot in February.
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