🧚 Makhdum Niamat Ullah and Makhdum Nuh. · page 3

The prince was thus free to act as he pleased.225 One evening he and his good for nothing companions went out a-hawking.226 Game was scarce and their hawks caught nothing.227 At last they reached a well near a Madu hamlet not far from the town.228 Vexed at their ill luck, they loosed their hawks at some tame pigeons that belonged to the villagers and happened to be circling near the well.229 All the pigeons but one took shelter in their dovecotes.230 One pigeon flew into the air followed by the prince’s hawk.231 For some time the two birds soared in the air, one unable to rise above the other.232 At last the hawk’s strong wings bore it above the pigeon and it made its swoop.233 The frightened pigeon dropped like a stone to the ground at the feet of a Madu maiden of 16, who was filling her jar at the well.234 The girl picked up the pigeon and stroking its feathers put it in her bosom.235 The hawk robbed of its prey, flew back to perch on the wrist of the prince’s huntsman.236 The prince rode up to the girl and with an evil smile on his lips, told her that she might keep the pigeon.237 He would not hunt it now that it had taken shelter in her bosom.238 The girl turned on him scornfully and said “A fine hunter you are to hawk a tame pigeon!”239 The prince pretended to be sorry for what he had done and then asked the girl to give him a drink of water from her jar.240 But the Madu maiden disliking his looks and tone, told him to get one of his servants to fetch water for him.241 But the prince pressed her, pleading that their horses were restive.242 Reluctantly the girl went close to him to give him a cup of water.243 Suddenly he caught her by the waist and swung her in front of him.244 A moment later he and his companions were riding as fast as they could to the prince’s palace.245 Some Madu men ran after them but in vain.246 The prince carried off the girl and the men with him said in jest “The prince’s hawk lost its prey, but the prince had better luck!”247 As the party neared the palace, they passed an aged Brahman, who, hearing the cries of the struggling girl, begged the prince to free her.248 But Dalu Rai only snarled at him to mind his own business.249 The Brahman, who was a mighty anchorite, flew into a passion and cursed him.250 “As a punishment for your cruelty,” he cried, “you will never live to be old.251 Your city will be destroyed and you will perish with it so suddenly, that you will not have time to give even a handful of grain in charity!”252

The prince paid little heed to the anchorite’s curse, but bore his prey inside the palace.253 There he found everyone excited as the princess had just borne her lord a son.254 But the prince pushed past his servants and took the Madu girl to a distant part of the palace and there tried to win her consent.255 But she scornfully rejected his promises of rich clothes and fine jewels.256 At last when he had lost all patience and was about to offer her violence, he heard a knock at his door.257 It was a messenger who brought the news that King Amrai was dead.258 At the same time he told the prince that Banbho, one of his associates wished to speak to him most urgently.259 The prince was unwilling to leave the Madu girl, but he could not refuse so grave a message, especially as Banbho was not only the wickedest but by far the wisest of his evil companions.260 The prince went out, locked the door behind him, and took Banbho into another room.261 The news Banbho brought was of the gravest.262 “The news I bring, my Prince,” he said slowly, “is as bad as it can be.263 Unless you act at once this palace of yours is certain to become your prison.264 The late king was angry with you, as you know, and before he died, he had engraved as his will on a brass plate that you were never to sit on the throne.265 In your stead the ministers were to put your son if you had one, and if not, your distant cousin.266 Now that a son has been born to the princess, think what a handle your enemies will have against you!267 They will put you in prison and make your infant son king of Brahmanabad.268 You must act at once!”269 Banbho’s plan was simple.270 It was to proclaim the prince as king in Brahmanabad and then to gallop with every available man to Depur where the ministers had assembled to carry out the late king’s wishes.271 Banbho taking some men with him, first rode through the streets of Brahmanabad, shouting “Victory to Dalu Rai Maharaj!”272 The crowd at once caught up the cry and were soon shouting “Victory to Dalu Rai Maharaj” through every lane and byway in the city.273 This done, Banbho returned to the prince’s palace and he and the prince and his companions and all the guards whom they could muster, set off together at headlong speed for Depur.274 While Banbho was thus rousing his master to action, the prime-minister and the commander-in-chief and the principal nobles of Brahmanabad were seated together in one of the council rooms of Depur.275 The prime-minister, respected above all for his age and wisdom and for his faithful service of the late king, put before his colleagues the brass plate of King Amrai and proposed that they should take instant steps to seize the person of Dalu Rai and put his newly born son on the throne.276 Several of the nobles objected strongly.277 For all their respect for the late king and their dislike of Dalu Rai, they disliked still more the coronation of a newly born infant with all the dangers of a long regency.278 While they were in high debate, the commander-in-chief heard a noise in the courtyard and guessing its cause, said with a smile and a shrug of his shoulders: “I am afraid we are too late, gentlemen.279 The prince has come in person to settle the succession.”280 Dalu Rai and Banbho followed by their troopers rushed up the stairs and Banbho knocking at the door, demanded entrance in the king’s name.281 Receiving no answer, he caught up a heavy pickaxe and with a single blow broke open the lock.282 The door flew open and the prince and his men rushed in.283 Many of the nobles at once joined him.284 But the chief minister and a few others remained seated.285 As the prince stepped forward, the prime-minister gave him the brass plate on which was engraved his father’s will.286 The prince read it and glowing with rage “from his topknot to his toenails,” rushed at the old man.287 Both sides drew their swords.288 A fight ensued, but it was soon over.289 The prime-minister and the commander-in-chief lay dead on the ground and the rest surrendered.290

Dalu Rai would at once have gone back to the Madu maiden; but Banbho who “had a crow’s wisdom” prevailed on him to spend the day and the following night on the late king’s funeral ceremonies.291 All day long and all that night Dalu Rai’s thoughts were far away with his unhappy captive.292 Next morning Banbho pressed him to hold a Darbar and win over the state officers and townspeople by concessions and gifts.293 But Dalu Rai could restrain himself no longer.294 “You spoiler of pleasure!” he cried angrily to Banbho, “I am not going to hold a Darbar!295 Tell my officers that I am too stricken with sorrow to hold one.”296 With these words King Dalu Rai left Banbho to manage as best he could, and rode off with all speed to the conquest of the Madu maiden.297 Unluckily for him, he had carelessly left behind him his dagger when summoned by Banbho.298 The Madu girl had picked it up and when the wicked king would have caught her in his arms she pointed the dagger at him and threatened to stab him if he came near her.299 As he stood uncertain what to do, he heard cries outside his palace “Maharaja!300 Maharaja!”301 Dalu Rai went to the verandah and looking down saw his courtyard full of frightened people.302 “Maharaja, save us!” they cried.303 “Brahmanabad will be destroyed.”304 Dalu Rai looked towards the horizon and saw a huge mass of sand like a tidal wave advancing on Brahmanabad.305 The sky was as black as pitch.306 The sun was hidden and the Indus had left its course and seemed to be fleeing before the sandstorm.307 As he gazed at the fearful scene, a voice cried: “To-day Brahmanabad shall perish because of its ruler’s wickedness!”308 The king remembered the anchorite’s curse and would have ridden away leaving his city and his people to their fate.309 But as he walked to the door a youth with drawn sword barred his way.310 “Who are you?” asked the king.311 “I am your death,” was the grim answer.312 The king had no other wish but to flee from the doomed town; but the youth would not let him pass.313 At last the king drew his sword and the two men fought.314 The youth was skilled in swordmanship but even so he was no match for Dalu Rai, who was a master of the art.315 In a few minutes the king drove his sword through the youth’s heart and bending over him dragged him into the Madu maiden’s room.316 As he did so, the girl drove her dagger into his back.317 “Why did you strike me?” asked the dying king.318 “Was the youth your kinsman?”319 “He was my betrothed,” said the girl with white lips and blazing eyes.320 The king fainted and life left him.321 The girl took some wood from the hearth where a fire was burning and lit the drapery in the room.322 In a few minutes it was blazing.323 The fire spread to the rest of the palace and it was soon a burning mass.324 At the same time the sand reached the walls of Brahmanabad.325 The burghers sought flight in all directions, but flight was useless.326 The sandwave caught them and stifled them, until at last there was not a living soul left in Brahmanabad.327

The curse of the anchorite had been fulfilled to the letter.328