Bengal Fairy Tales/The Redeeming Power of the Ganges

by Francis Bradley Bradley-Birt

 

XIV

THE REDEEMING POWER OF THE GANGES

THE Ganges is believed by Hindus to be a manifestation of Bhagabati, who came down to earth in the form of a river for the sole purpose of redeeming men from their sins, so that the mere touch of her waters buys forgiveness for even the foulest of crimes. Bhabaghuray records two illustrations of this, which we give here.

There was once a Brahmin, named Lochan,^[1] who was a ship's sircar, or supplier of orders to foreign ships lying in the Ganges. On one occasion he had to go on board a vessel which was on the point of starting for England, for the purpose of receiving his dues. It took some time for the accounts to be squared and settled, and when the Brahmin was counting the columns of rupees, annas, and pies, the ship, unknown to him, unfurled its sails and began to proceed on its journey. By the time the transaction between the Captain and Lochan came to an end, she was off Saugur Island. When the Brahmin, to his great discomfiture, perceived this, he implored the Captain to land him. The Captain at first represented to him the dangers to which he might be exposed in being cast ashore alone in the jungle just when night was falling, but he was at length persuaded by Lochan's importunities to accede to his wishes. A jolly-boat was lowered, and Lochan was landed on the shore many miles away from the haunts of his fellow creatures.

As night was rapidly approaching, the Brahmin walked away from the seashore in search of shelter. But there was none to be found. On he trudged, amidst the howls of tigers, the grunts of wild boars, and the hissing of snakes, that frequent the Sunderans, until he reached a beautiful stretch of grass surrounded on all sides by palmyra trees. Finding the place not so desolate and gloomy as the rest of the jungle, he sat down in one corner of it, giving up the hope of finding a better protection for the night. His wearied limbs found rest, and at last he fell into a doze, from which he was roused by the noise of sweeping brooms. On opening his eyes, he found a number of sweepers brushing the grass lawn. These were followed by Bhistis, busy with their work of laying the dust. Behind them came others, who after spreading a very large piece of gaudy carpet, put a number of bolsters on it, and completed their work by placing all round it beautiful white candles that burned brightly against the approaching darkness, with a throne at one end of the carpet. The preparations being complete, there marched on to the lawn a procession of richly dressed beings who were apparently human, and he who led the procession walked up to the throne and sat down upon it, while the others took their seats at a respectful distance, the bolsters supporting only those of highest rank.

One dressed like a Magistrate's Peshkar^[2] then approached the occupier of the throne, and read the contents of a scroll of paper, the meaning of which was quite unintelligible to Lochan, although he sat close to the throne itself. Some discussion followed, which ended with certain orders being given by the chief. At length, business done, the chief ordered tobacco to be prepared for him to smoke, and a gold hubble-bubble was immediately placed before him. He at once began smoking, and the delicious smell of the tobacco filled the air. Lochan was a confirmed smoker, and as he had not had a smoke for many hours, greatly desired to have a pull at the kalkay even if the pipe should not be given him. He resisted the temptation for some time, but when quite unable to do so any longer, he crept up to the feet of the chief, and most piteously begged him for the kalkay. The chief looked at him, and to his surprise recognizing him at once, said, "Ah! what is it, Lochan?" Lochan, growing bolder, looked up at his questioner, and said, "Can it be Pishemohashoy?"^[3] The two men thus recognizing each other, the smoking pipe was handed over to Lochan, who, in obedience to etiquette that no one should smoke in the presence of one superior to himself, drew aside behind a palmyra tree and smoked to his heart's content.

Lochan then returned to his uncle's side and they began to converse.

"Well, Lochan," said Pishemohashoy, "what has brought you here? And how are you getting on? Have you got any family? I have neither seen nor heard of you for a long time. And there is good reason for it."

Lochan in reply informed his uncle how he had come there, and gave him all the particulars asked. He then asked his uncle why he was on the solitary seashore at that dark hour, apparently presiding over a court of justice. Lochan asked also why Pishemohashoy had for some years ceased all communication with his devoted nephew. To this the uncle replied, "Baba Lochan, hear my history from the time I left you, down to the present. You know that I was with the British army under Clive, and worked in the Commissariat, though it pleased me greatly to be present on the battlefield as often as I could. I was an interested spectator at the battle of Plassey, and just when Meer Jaffer with his men was about to leave the ranks of the Nawab for those of the English, a Mohamedan soldier on horseback rode up to the place where I was standing, and severed my head from my body. My body lay on the battlefield unnoticed and soon became food for dogs and jackals. My skull, however, remained intact, till a Jogi took it to his hut in the forest, and made a cup out of it. During the day it remains unused, but at night the ascetic fills it with Ganga water for his ablutions. An accidental death has turned me into an evil spirit, and during the day I have to live in the torments of hell, but during the night I enjoy the bliss of heaven, for then my skull contains the holy water. What you have seen is my nightly court, where, empowered by Yama, I administer Justice to those departed spirits who have been wronged by their fellow spirits. Now, my dear Lochan, do one thing for me and I will make you the master of immense wealth. Visit the ascetic's abode, and somehow or other take my skull thence and throw it into the Ganges. Then this supremacy that you now see me enjoying will be perpetual, and I shall never lose the joys of heaven."

Lochan gladly agreed to his uncle's request, and was that very night borne by two spirits in human shape to the hut of the ascetic. Here Lochan carried out his uncle's orders and was thence taken to the cave of a mountain near Madras. The cave was filled with gold mohurs, and very costly gems, which the spirits placed in baskets, and lifted up in their hands. They then told Lochan to shut his eyes, and in a trice he was carried to his home in the Burdwan District. There he and his family lived as happily as possible, his chief delight being to send out bands of men chanting mother Ganga's praises.

The scene of the second incident illustrating the saving and sanctifying power of the river Ganges is said to have happened in the recesses of a forest in southern Bengal, the chief actors being certain evil spirits of dead women, known as Shankchoornis. The narrator of the incident says that on a day of pilgrimage to Ganga Sagar^[4] a man was wending his way along the outskirts of a particular forest, when his ears caught sounds of rejoicing in the distance. There were shouts, huzzas, the sounds of conch-shells, and the far resounding cries of women. The traveller passed by, and reached the place of pilgrimage. The next day, however, when returning by the side of the same forest, he heard coming from the same spot cries of weeping and lamentation. In order to see who the people in that solitary place could be, and what might be the cause of this change in their lot within so short a time, he walked into the forest, and saw a number of women rolling on the ground in agony. Among them was a girl, who gave vent to her grief in greater abandonment than all the rest. The traveller waited for a short time, and when the first paroxysm of grief had passed he approached and asked the meaning of what he saw.

One of the mourners in a nasal tone, the tone peculiar to ghosts, said, "O Mahashoy, hear our misfortune. That girl lying there in mute despondency is our cousin, and we expected her to have been married to a youth who a few hours since has been gored to death by a bull. As a death of this kind makes men ghosts,^[5] we thought this handsome youth would be our cousin's husband, and we sent a friend to entice him into our midst. When you passed this way yesterday, we were rejoicing in anticipation of the wedding. We waited and waited till midnight for the bridegroom, but neither he nor our friend turned up. At length the friend whom we had sent returned, and from him we have heard that the intended bridegroom has not become a ghost, but a spirit in heaven. So all our rejoicings have turned into lamentations of intense grief. We asked our messenger the cause of his delay and he said that he had waited long to see if he could not get possession of the dead man's person. The issue depended on a struggle between the messengers of Shiva and Yama. The messengers of the former wanted to take the man to Kailash, while those of the latter desired to thrust him into the society of ghosts. At length Shiva's angels were victorious, and they carried the young man to the peaceful abode of their master, and consequently our messenger had to come away disappointed."

The traveller was amazed and asked the Shankchoorni if she had heard from her friend the cause which had led to the frustration of their hopes. She replied, "The man himself felt certain of becoming a ghost, if nothing intervened to alter his fate, for an accidental death implies damnation. There was one circumstance, however, in the case which turned the scale in the young man's favour; and that was that the bull which gored him had a little mud of the Ganges sticking to his horns, and the touch of this mud opened the young man's way to Kailash."

The traveller left the scene in great wonder, and devoted his life to the worship of the Ganges. He organized a band of his village-men to sing the praises of the river everywhere in lower Bengal, and Ganga Sagar became the revered spot of their annual pilgrimage.

 

1. The eye.
2. A Peshkar is a court officer, who lays before a Judge or Magistrate the cases to be decided on a particular day, and gives him the purport of the plaints.
3. The worshipful husband of my father's sister.
4. The place where the Ganges meets the Bay of Bengal.
5. Death by accident is supposed to bring suffering in the next world, and to cause the dead to frequent the earth as ghosts.