EXPLANATORY NOTES.
“Aba-seine.”—The river Indus is so termed in the Pushtu language, and the word comes from the Arabic: Aba, father, and Seine, a river. Pushtu is spoken in the region of Kandahar Kafiristan, and round about Attock, and is said to bear a similarity to the Semitic and Iranian languages.
“Imam.”—From the Arabic, a leader in religious affairs; a priest of the Mahomedan faith; answers to “Mullah,” or “Mulwanah.” In the district round about Ghazi, and in other parts of India, the “Imam,” or “Mullah,” performs many religious offices. He often calls to prayer as a “Muezzin,” from the Arabic word “Izn,” and generally this is done from a minaret of the Mosque. After prayers, where with his face to Mecca he leads the worshippers, he collects the boys of the village and teaches them the Koran. He also bathes and washes the deceased male members of the faith, and prepares the body for burial, and puts on the “Kuffun,” or shroud. This Kuffun or shroud consists of three pieces of cloth if for a man, and five if for a woman, and must be white. After shrouding the body, they tie one band above the head, a second below the feet, and a third about the chest. He is present at all marriages, or “Nikahs.”
“Pulāo.”—From a Persian word, and means a kind of sweet pudding of meat with flour, ghee, and sugar, and sometimes raisins mixed with it.
“Parata.”—Or “Parātha,” a kind of bread or cake made from wheaten flour mixed with butter or ghee, and of several layers like pie-crust, and put on a griddle over a slow fire.
“Moslem Grave.”—This is dug down for about five feet or so, north and south. For a woman the depth should be to the height of a man’s chest, if for a man to the height of the waist. At the base a recess is cut out from the soil for the reception of the body, which is laid on its back, and the head is so turned as to be facing Mecca. In ordinary soils after the body has been put in the recess, slates or stones are placed to prevent the filled-in soil from coming in contact with the body. If the soil is sandy it is kept up by the use of chatties, or earthenware vessels, in lieu of slates or stones. There is always a stone placed on the surface at head and foot, to indicate the position of the body. These are called “Moonee.” The grave of a female is indicated by a third stone, placed between the others.
In the Ghazi district some of these head-stones are very high, often of five or six feet in height, and of slate, which is readily obtained in the neighbourhood.
On some of these slates used as tombstones it is customary to delineate over the graves of important Mahomedan personages, and known to have been devout men, sketches of the Rosary, or “Thusbee,” the goblet, or “Kooza,” and the tooth-stick, or “Miswak.” This stick, used as a dentifrice, is made here from the root of the “Pilvo” tree. In the village of “Kazeepur,” the names of the deceased are sometimes painted on the slates.[[2]]
[2]. Some people make various kinds of niches for lamps near the head of the grave called Churagdān.
Generally the graveyards of the Mussulmen are near the road-side, that the deceased may receive the benefit of the “Dua Khair,” or solemn prayers of devout passers-by.
Note.—Kazeepur has its local sayings also. Once a very devout man, and a born poet, visited this village and also that of Ghazi; his name was “Peeloh,” and it is currently said that before he quitted the district he ascended the Gundghur Hills, opposite to Harripur, and left the following lines with one of the bards of the village.
Peeloh! cheriya Gundgurh thay
Kias kureh khalo
Agê vagê Sinde Rani
Pichê vagê Haro.
Chach binah Summundur dhay
Jo gudhê soho
Dhunnie gurray Rungaree
Bhummy baithê ro.
TRANSLATION.
Peeloh ascended the Hills of Gundgurh
Was wrapped in deepest thought.
Before him was the Indus,
Behind him the Haro.
The plains of Chach like a sea are there
Where to plant ’tis sure to sprout,
But to sow your field in the soil of Dhunnie
You may well sit by its side and weep.
Another of their poets, a Pathan, and a man of “Huzro,” beholding Cashmere from the Mountains and the vale of the country stretched out before him, burst, it is said, into the following stanzas:
Kashmere to ajub ja hai
Juthay âp Khudâ râza hai
Kea kishtee! kea howa hai
Yek seir hai Huzrut “Bul” key
Vo tâkht-l-Suleemâni
Kashmere ka thanda pâni.
TRANSLATION.
Cashmere is a wonderful place
Where even God finds pleasure.
Behold the boats! and how sublime is the air!
One excursion is to the Shrine of Huzrut “Bul,”
Another to the Mountain, the “Throne of Solomon.”
Cashmere too! how cool and refreshing is your water!
“Musjid.”—The word is Arabic and from the root Sijdah, to bow; musjid, place of bowing; in the original a corrupted pronounciation is used, as “musseeth.”
Note (see “Imam”).—The natives of the district have a rather pithy saying when referring to an incompetent Imam, or Mullah.
Neem Mullâhn Kuthray iman,
Neem Hakeem Kuthray ijan.
TRANSLATION.
Half a Priest endangers your salvation;
Half a Doctor imperils your life.
“Miserly.”—-The word for miser is in the original “Shūm,” an Arabic word. Misers are held in great detestation by the people, and they have many sayings about them. One is the soliloquy of a stingy man to a copper coin which he had held tightly in his hand on a hot day until a drop of perspiration fell from it.
Paisa ne rô
Merah pallay buddhay rô
Mungee, pinnee, Khansâhn
Thookee, na kurchay sânh.
TRANSLATION.
Weep not! my beloved Pice!
You shall not leave the hem of my garment.
I will ask, I will beg, and thus maintain my lot,
And never suffer you to be paid away.
Stories of misers are to be found in every country, and in Chinese Folk-lore it is told of a mean and stingy king that in peace time he caused his cavalry to dismount, that their horses might be used in the Government mills. War came; the horses were returned to the men, but they kept to their habit, and still persisted in going in a circle.—Dennys.
There is a saying also amongst the Punjabis that all misers are wretched, and collect money only for others to enjoy. They tell a tale of a miser who was once visited by some friends, and he advanced to meet them, and said:
“Aoo bow sujjeenâh
Ghur bar Toomhâhrâ
Khur. Peeoh apnâh
Burthun Khumbiarrâh
Rul mil Charreeay ‘Kicheree,’
Purr ‘Ghee’ Toomhâhrâ
Heeahn juggâh tung hai
Bâhair Thakur Dhivarrâh.”
TRANSLATION.
“Come in; pray sit down, my friends,
The house and all its contents are yours.
You must, however, provide your own meats and drinks,
and perhaps we’ll share in making some ‘Kicheree,’
though you must contribute the Ghee.
See how narrow, too, my home is, so let us adjourn
outside to the enclosure of the Idol house, where
you can do all the cooking for me.”
Note.—The Rosary[[3]] is, as has been said, (remarked under “Moslem grave,”) called a “Thusbee” by the Mahomedans; it is also called “Mâllânh” by the Hindus. The aimless counting and turning over of the beads by some is thus denounced by the people of the district:
[3]. The name comes from the Latin word “Rosarium,” a garden or chaplet of roses.
Dhil dhâ minkâh aik nâh sattaynn
Thay gyn sattaynn panj Veeânh.
You turn not one of the beads of your heart, though you
repeat Five score of them on your rosary.
Note.—It may not be generally known that the “Thusbee” or Rosary consists of 100 beads separated by a long bead called “Shumshah” (from the Arabic, meaning “tassels” on a rosary) over which there are ten beads called “Shummâr” (from the Persian, meaning “counting”). When one round of prayers is completed a special short prayer is often added, or the name of Allah is repeated on it one thousand times.
At the completion of the 100 beads, one bead is separated on the Shummâr, and so on each time, in order to count the 1,000 epithets of Allah if it should be so desired. To comprehend the mystic sound of the beads are matters of “Marifat,” or knowledge of Allah!
The beads are made mostly from the “Kaoo” wood, or wild olive, which in some places is called “Zythoon.” Walking sticks are often made of it. There are, however, beads made from the sacred clay found near Mecca and called “Khaka sharreef”; some are also made of glass or agates. Some prefer to have coloured glass beads after every 33 of the wooden beads. In early times frequently almonds and nuts were used for counting.
The Mâllânh of the Hindus consists of 108 beads, independent of one at the top called “Sumer.” As in the Hindu Ghastra there are 108 special letters, 54 of which are written upright and 54 downward, so this number has been fixed for the Mâllânh. The top bead is to indicate the completion of the 108. The special worshippers of “Krishna” (the eighth incarnation of Vishnu) have rosaries made from the “Tulsi” wood (O’cymum Sanctum or Holy Basil). Tulsi was a nymph beloved by Krishna, and by him metamorphosed into this plant. The wood is held in high veneration by all Hindus. Much of this wood comes from Mathra, India. The large bead in a Hindu rosary called a “Sumeru” after a high mountain, on the summit of which is supposed to reside the Hindu deities of Vishnu, Siva, and several others of lesser note. This bead remains fixed in the hand, and is not turned over in counting.
The Brahmins, when they repeat their prayers on a rosary, designate them under the term “Gayathri,” the mother of the Vedas, and of which there are five, according to the number of the principal deities. Gayathri is a form of metre, and is repeated inaudibly in the daily morning worship of the Brahmins.
“Nikah.”—This is the name given to marriages amongst Moslems, as “Nikah namah” is the marriage certificate.
The Nikah is the form of words used by the Kazi or Priest, and the Shadi or rejoicings are additional at the will of the relatives. Nikah is the binding ceremony, and Shadi is considered a more respectable form, and is attended with rejoicings,
Nikah is an Arabic word, and Shadi a Persian, meaning pleasure and delight.