Part 2
Gopi Chand Begs from Queen Patam De
Introduction
As part 1 closes, Manavati has completed her account to Gopi Chand of how she acquired him as a loan from Jalindar Nath. The point of this narrative is to persuade Gopi Chand of the necessity to submit to his destiny and renounce his kingdom. Part 2 opens, then, with Gopi Chand's response to his mother's advice: he pushes his guru down a well. Following his performance of the birth story, Madhu had informally previewed these events for me. From that telling I had gathered that Gopi Chand alone had conceived this bright idea of how to dispose of Jalindar. Several weeks later, when Madhu performed the episode as it appears here, he made it clear that it was "Royal Servants and relatives" who "misguided" Gopi Chand in advising this remedy for his distress.
No matter whose idea the mischief is, the opening events of part 2 hardly follow the course that Manavati had in mind. Gopi Chand marches in pomp to the guru's camp and boldly attempts to do away with him. Note that the sung portion refers in one verse only to Jalindar's captivity in the well and then takes up the consequences in greater detail. In the explanation, however, Madhu Nath elaborates considerably on the well episode, to everyone's enjoyment. This is a no-lose entertainment situation. Since nothing can really hurt or shame a powerful yogi like Jalindar Nath, to picture him buried under horse manure offers unmitigated delight.
That Jalindar, despite being buried under horse manure, is able
to smoke a pipe with Gorakh Nath and—between the two of them—to free Gopi Chand from Death's Messengers is also an enjoyable representation and trumpeting of yogis' superior power. Neither Death's Messengers nor the anonymous "god" who deployed them puts up much of a fight when Gorakh Nath brandishes his tongs. Note too the unstated causal connection between Manavati's vow to Jalindar that she will spend one and one-quarter lakh of rupees on good works should Gopi Chand come back to life, and the yogis' prompt rescue of her son. This link sustains her role as Gopi Chand's protectress and birth-giver. Also sustained is the familiar pattern of bargaining materially with divine powers established in the birth story. When Gopi Chand regains consciousness and tells Manavati with poignant simplicity and wonder what it was like being dead, she insists that he carry out her vow and distribute the cash even before fulfilling his destiny as a yogi.
The melodrama of Gopi Chand's tale reaches one of its several peaks in his encounter with Patam De Rani and the multiple keening chorus of concubines and slave girls. The conflicted identity experienced by Gopi Chand—who despite all Jalindar's efforts to make him a firm disciple never seems fully transformed (Gold 1989)—emerges vividly as he approaches his former palaces as a begging yogi.
Spatially, this entire episode is a movement inward. Gopi Chand's emotional crises grow more intense as he travels from forest to waterside to Jewel Square to portal to the interior of the Color Palace. There—surrounded by wailing queens and slave girls, his little daughter clinging to his neck—he is completely drowned in sound and sentiment. Patam De's reproaches to Gopi Chand are different from Pingala's to Bharthari. Pingala accuses Bharthari of ruining her life by marrying her when he was born to be a yogi. She had plenty of other suitors. She could have stayed a virgin.
Patam De's reproaches have less to do with status, more with relationship, and thus are more intimate. "You like the guru better than you like me" seems to be her most acute complaint. Unlike Pingala she has a daughter, so she cannot lament her childlessness, nor does she care that Gopi Chand has left the kingdom without a male heir. Rather, for her the crux of misery is that her husband, her man, has denied their former marital bond by calling her "Mother" and spurned her charms in favor of the guru's. Everything Patam De says is reinforced by the hundreds of other wailing women; her final
acceptance of Gopi Chand's new status is forced on her by her mother-in-law.
Whereas Bharthari succeeds in walking away from Pingala with alms for the guru, Gopi Chand fails. From his complete immersion in an inner abyss of emotional rhetoric and copious tears, he cannot emerge on his own. He needs help from both his motherly guru and his mother to extricate himself. Reduced to ashes for the second time, he is restored to life a third time in Manavati Mother's palace, where she is able to feed and advise him. As she hurries off to succor her son, Manavati's parting words to the queens—"You've killed my son, now take a rest!"—are biting but also true. The destructive, burning power of passionate love has taken its toll. By the grace of Jalindar's infinite patience, however, Gopi Chand escapes death once again.
It is in keeping with the maternal bias of Gopi Chand's entire tale, versus the paternal stress and scheme of Bharthari's, that Jalindar is a soft, forgiving, "motherly" guru where Gorakh Nath is hard and strict. Gorakh Nath is Bharthari's father's guru. He shocks Bharthari into enlightenment and neither coaxes nor coaches him. Jalindar is Gopi Chand's mother's teacher and benefactor. He nourishes, encourages, and supports his disciple in every way. In one of Madhu's rather rare asides during an arthav , he noted and praised the special quality of Jalindar's care for Gopi Chand, contrasting it with the indifference of contemporary gurus.
Text
"Gopi Chand, abide in prayer, son,
Praise the true Master, O Gopi Chand,
king and king's son, darling boy.
Recite prayers, my dear darling boy,
and your body will be immortal.
"My son, from piling up pebbles
the castle was built, Gopi Chand,
the castle was built.
But it's not our lot to live there,
my dear, darling boy
You must take fakirhood."
Jalindar Baba was covered up
with horse manure,[1] completely covered up with horse manure.
Gopi Chand was sleeping in the palace, Lord,
in the early afternoon,
when Death's Messengers[2] came.
The eleven hundred queens
were fanning him,
the sixteen hundred slave girls
were standing in the Color Palace.
When Death's Messengers came for Gopi Chand,
they grabbed him and took him.
They took Gopi Chand, and
he truly died.
Eleven hundred queens were wailing
in the Color Palace,
Sixteen hundred slave girls were wailing
in the Color Palace.
Manavati Mata came from her Color Palace:
"Why are you wailing, slave girls and queens?"
Mother came into Gopi Chand's castle
while eleven hundred
queens and slave girls were wailing.
As soon as she came
Manavati saw;
and she placed her hand on Gopi Chand's chest,
she placed her hand, but
Gopi Chand had no heartbeat at all,
He had truly died.
What did Manavati Mata
say to Jalindar Nath?
"Baba, I shall make a resolution,[3]
[1] Only here does the singing refer to Gopi Chand's attempt to get rid of his guru; the arthav that follows will explain what happened.
[2] jam ka dut; these are familiar figures in Hindu mythology.
[3] Manavati's resolution in part I was ironically conceived, but this one is sincere and reflects the usual practice of village religion where a large offering is promised if and only if a greatly desired boon is granted.
of one and one-quarter lakh ,[4] Baba,
I shall make a resolution.
If Gopi Chand returns to life, my guru,
I will have that much distributed for dharma."
This much had happened,
when the yogis Jalindar Baba
and Gorakh Baba
were smoking hashish
in the Chapala Garden.
What did Gorakh Baba say
to Jalindar?
"My guru Jalindar,
You said you gave Gopi Chand,
But where did you give him?
"Death's Messengers
are taking Gopi Chand, look!
Death's Messengers took him."
When Gorakh Nath had said this much,
what did Jalindar Baba
say to Gorakhji?
"Gorakh Nath, I did give Gopi Chand,
I gave him to Mother.
Set Gopi Chand free, Gorakh Baba,
hurry up, set Gopi Chand free."
When Jalindar Nath had said this much,
Gorakh Baba the yogi
took the form of the wind,
took his iron tongs,
and flew up in the sky.
As soon as he got there he gave Death's Messengers
a couple of whacks with his tongs.
"Why are you taking
this disciple of ours?
[4] One lakh equals 100,000; presumably Manavati means she will spend 125,000 rupees. The amount "one and one-quarter" (sava ) is commonly used in offerings both of cash and kind at Rajasthani shrines and is often associated with the removal of inauspiciousness.
Did God give him to you?
He was given from my disciples, so
How can God ask for one of ours?"
(GC 2.1.s)
So, the first time when he went to become a yogi there were seventy-three hundred drums, and seventy-two hundred noblemen. They went with great drums and flags and armies, to a military drumbeat. He was going to be a yogi, and many Royal Bards and Genealogists were calling out respectful greetings. They were wailing, "Hey Grain-giver, you are the Hindu Sun!" Seven hundred thousand horses were going before him and seven hundred thousand were going behind him, and Gopi Chand was enthroned on an elephant's back.
"Grain-giver, are you going to become a yogi?"
He said, "Brothers, my mother is forcing me."
"Burn your mother.[5] Where did your mother get this notion?"
Then they misguided him. Who? His companions. Who were they? His relatives, and the Royal Servants: "Grain-giver, where is your guru?"
"On the edge of the blind well in the Chapala Garden."
"You prostrate yourself to him and I'll get behind him and push him into the well. Then, after that, who will make you a yogi?"
So they pushed him into the well from behind, brother. They pushed him and now they came and said to Gopi Chand, "Graingiver, your mother keeps crying like this, but now your guru is dead. We have pushed him in the well and put a flat rock on top of him. So tomorrow get the dung of seven hundred and fifty horses, fill up carts with it, and use it to fill up the well. Press it down thoroughly. Fill up the well with horse manure. So the Guru Sovereign really will die. Who then will make you into a yogi?"
"Yes, this is also a good idea." The next day he gave an order. Gopi Chand commanded all the Cultivators and Gardeners[6] in his kingdom to give free labor[7] —and fill the blind well with horse
[5] thanki mata badi lagavo; a conventional curse.
[6] Two populous peasant castes in the bard's village and area are loda (cultivators) and mali (gardeners).
[7] begar; labor conscripted by the ruler from his peasants with no pay.
manure. Those Cultivators got up at the time of flour-grinding[8] and called to one another, "Brother let's go and do the king's labor." Laboring for the king, they filled carts with horse manure and pressed it all into the blind well and filled it up. They worked for four or five days. They made an entire heap. They filled it and pressed it down, so that was it: the problem of the Guru Sovereign was finished. And Gopi Chand continued to rule the kingdom.
Gopi Chand did not become a yogi although Manavati Mata had ceaselessly pleaded with him.
"I sent Gopi Chand to be a yogi. Why has he come back?"
Then some Royal Servant or other said, "Mother, he threw his guru down the well and then he covered him up with horse manure and pressed it down thoroughly. Gopi Chand won't be a yogi."
"What, Gopi Chand won't be a yogi?"
"No, he won't."
"Alas, he'll die, my son will die, now what can I do, he will die. Things have turned out strangely. O sorrow-makers, oh dear, what to do?"
She kept after him for a few days, but the last chance came and went. Whose? Gopi Chand's. Now the twelve promised years were over, and on that very day Gopi Chand was sleeping in the early afternoon. He had eaten a good meal and he lay down for a comfortable siesta. His eleven hundred queens were fanning him; his sixteen hundred slave girls were in attendance.
Then Death's Messengers arrived. As soon as they came up to Gopi Chand they touched him with their sticks.[9] They yanked out Gopi Chand's breath and took out his soul.
They threw down a palanquin and laid him on it and then four of Death's Messengers took Gopi Chand. As soon as they took him, he died. Death's Messengers took him.
Now all eleven hundred queens and sixteen hundred slave girls were crying hard, their eyes filled with Indra's misty rain; they were wailing.[10] The sixteen hundred slave girls' resonant weeping[11] filled the whole palace.
[8] A convention of traditional time-reckoning: about 4 A.M. , the hour when, before the introduction of electric flour-mills, all village women used to rise to grind grain for the day's bread.
[9] kutera ; 3- to 3 1/2-foot-long sticks, such as policemen carry.
[10] The first two references to the ladies' weeping are exactly the same as those applied again and again to Gopi Chand's own crying; the third, kurlari , is by contrast never done by Gopi Chand. One of its meanings is the wailing that women do at death. More generally, it is any crying out in unison.
[11] ranohi jagari . The aural image here is of a resonant echoing within buildings.
Now his mother's palace was separate. She thought to herself, Uh oh! The queens and slave girls are happy and content. So why are they wailing? With a little stick in her hand and wooden sandals on her feet[12] Manavati Mata went to Gopi Chand's palace. The eleven hundred queens and sixteen hundred slave girls were beating their chests. What had happened? Gopi Chand had died. Oh my! Manavati Mata saw that something very strange had happened. Just today he was very happy and content. He had neither pain nor flatulence.[13] So what happened to Gopi Chand?
Quickly Manavati Mata went and grabbed his hand, but she found no signs of life whatsoever, no pulse. She laid her hand on hischest, but there wasn't any heartbeat.
/He had arrived./[14]
"Oh no! He's gone, Gopi Chand. O son, Gopi Chand, for many days I've been telling you, 'Be a yogi, son, and your body will be immortal.' But you didn't accept what I said, and you had the Guru Sovereign pushed into a well and covered him up with horse manure.
"Hey Guru Sovereign, I vow to give one and one-quarter lakh , Grain-giver, one and one-quarter lakh of rupees. If my Gopi Chand comes back to life, Guru Sovereign, then I will distribute one and one-quarter lakh for dharma and merit, and then straightaway I myself will make him a yogi. But he must come back to life, Guru Sovereign. I was heedless for too long, but now I won't let him go with anyone else—I'll take him myself. As soon as Gopi Chand comes back to life, first I'll have one and one-quarter lakh distributed for dharma; then I will go with him. I'll take him to the garden and make him a yogi. But Guru Sovereign, my Gopi Chand ought to come back to life, Guru Sovereign."
Over here, then, Manavati Mata made a vow to spend one and
[12] Why the queen mother carries a little stick is unclear; she wears wooden sandals, perhaps because of her affinity with yogis.
[13] koi khai dukhyo na padyo na; a common expression meaning that not the least thing was wrong with him.
[14] That is, he had arrived elsewhere, left this world.
one-quarter lakh for dharma. And over there were Jalindar Baba and Gorakh Nathji, smoking hashish. Where? Over there in the garden. On the edge of that blind well.
When he meets water, then he's water. Who? Jalindar Baba. And when he meets wind, then he's wind. And when he meets flame, then he's flame.[15] So he hardly remained buried in the well—he also came out.[16]
So, Jalindar Baba and Gorakh Nath Sovereign were smoking hashish, and Death's Messengers had seized and taken Gopi Chand. Then Gorakh Nath Sovereign looked up. "Jalindar Baba, you said, 'I have given Gopi Chand.' You said, 'From my disciples I gave one disciple to Manavati Mother.' But Death's Messengers have taken Gopi Chand."
"What?"
"Yes, they are taking him."
"Oh, the sister-fuckers! Why are they taking my disciple, my disciple that I myself gave. To whom? I gave him to Manavati Mother. And that little-God-fellow,[17] why is he asking for him? He is hardly the one who gave him."
"They've taken him, Death's Messengers have grabbed him."
"Oh, run, Gorakh Nath. Beat those sister-fuckers with your tongs and free Gopi Chand and bring him here."
Then Gorakh Nath Sovereign took the wind's form. He took his tongs and flew up in the sky. Meanwhile, inside the palanquin, the four Death's Messengers had thrown Gopi Chand face down, with his hands bound behind his back, and they carried him like a rolled-up banner. Thus they were taking him when Gorakh Nath Sovereign came along and gave each of them a whack with his tongs. He struck Death's Messengers: "Oh, you sister-fuckers! Why are you taking our disciple? Do you think God gave him? He is our disciple! We gave this disciple, and that sister-fucker God is hardly the one who gave him, so why has God demanded him?"[18]
As soon as he said this, and as soon as he dealt them one or two
[15] According to Bhoju, these phrases describe a "siddh purus " or perfected being who may at will take on the characteristics of any medium. The meaning here is that Jalindar Baba is not affected by being pushed down a well.
[16] As we will see in part 4, he did remain buried and must be excavated.
[17] bhagvanyo; a disrespectful diminutive of bhagvan .
[18] Recall that Manavati Mata came from God's door a barren woman.
blows with his tongs, Death's Messengers released Gopi Chand and went far away.
As soon as they released him, he came back into the palace and returned to life at once. "Oh my! I've slept very deeply." The wailing queens saw him. "Oh my! I've slept very well." And Manavati Mother was standing near.
"O son, Gopi Chand. What came over you? For many days I've been telling you to be a yogi, and then your body would be immortal. And the Guru Sovereign's deadline arrived, and you did not become a yogi. Son, what came over you?"
"Mother, they really took me."
"Look, the queens and the slave girls are wailing. Where is your royal throne, and your horse-drawn chariot and palanquin? Did they go with you? Just now they took you and if the guru hadn't freed you, then who would have freed you?"
"Mother, there was a sadhu with hair this long and with tongs this big, and he came. I was bound with my hands behind my back, and they were taking me. And he gave them each one blow with his tongs. He told Death's Messengers: 'Hey, it's our disciple and hardly yours, hardly God-given—it's our disciple. And you sister-fuckers, why has God demanded him? And why are you taking him, sister-fuckers? Let go!'
"Then he let them have it with his tongs, and they released me and ran away."
"Son, they released you. Now be a yogi or else Death will eat you. And these queens and slave girls will remain right here, and your royal throne will remain right here. Nothing goes with you. I made a resolution to distribute one and one-quarter lakh for dharma—so you must do that."
So he distributed one and one-quarter lakh for dharma, in order to fulfill her resolution.
Then the son and mother went together, informing no relatives, informing no queens and slave girls, informing no one.
(GC 2.I.e)
Hurriedly, before dawn, Manavati Mata grabbed Gopi Chand by the hand: "Let's go, son, I will make you a yogi." So Manavati Mata pushed Gopi Chand in front of her, saying, "There is no meaning in these things, son, Time will eat them. The queens and slave girls will
stay over here wailing. You died, but if you become a yogi your body will be immortal."
This sermon affected Gopi Chand, because he had died. From dying, he really found out[19] that we must all die. So Manavati Mother took Gopi Chand into the Chapala Garden.
They entered through the gateway. In the distance they could see Gorakh Nathji Sovereign and Jalindar Baba, over there, doing tapas by the campfire. Gopi Chand went before her, and Manavati said, "Go, son, sit by your guru, clasp his feet." But suddenly both gurus became nine-hand-tall lions. They became nine-hand-tall lions and came at Gopi Chand as if to kill him, in order to frighten him, brother, to scare him away. They both came at him, roaring.
Gopi Chand said, "Hey Guru Sovereign, it was my fault, Graingiver. I pushed you down under horse manure. Forgive my error, Grain-giver."
Gopi Chand shut his eyes tight. And then he clasped the paws of those who had become lions. "If they want to eat me, let them eat me. There's nothing left for me to do but die or become a yogi. So, fine, let them eat me, and my misdeed will be removed."
As soon as he clasped their paws, then Jalindar Baba and Gorakh Nath Sovereign turned back into yogis. When they were yogis,Jalindar Baba said, "Son, Gopi Chand."
"Yes, Guru Sovereign."
"Go son, your desires are not yet satiated.[20] Go rule the kingdom for another twelve years. You've had twelve years of queens and slave girls, but your desires are not satiated. So go, son, rule for another twelve years. Go, run away."
"Guru Sovereign, now I won't go. Now, I will be a yogi. I will become your disciple, I won't go back."
"Oh go back, sister-fucker, you will ruin my karma.[21] Sisterfucker, your cravings for queens and slave girls have not yet been
[19] marnau jach gi; jachno means "to examine and find out" or "to learn through experience."
[20] dhapyo; the common village term for having had enough, used at the end of a meal, for example.
[21] The Rajasthani karam is sometimes equated with an uncontrollable fate or destiny (kismat, lekh, takdir , etc.). But at times its meaning approaches that of Hindi and Sanskrit karma —in that responsibility for all individuals' destinies is attributable to their past or present actions. Here Jalindar Nath is worried that his karma will be stained by initiating someone who is unprepared for renunciation.
removed. And your desires for the throne of rule are not satiated. Go back!"
"No, Guru Sovereign, I won't go."
"You won't go?"
"I won't go."
"OK, then sit down by the campfire." He seated him in a posture of meditation. And Jalindar Nath Sovereign took out his dagger with four blades. As soon as he took out his four-bladed dagger he told Gopi Chand, "Say 'Shiv! Shiv!'"
So first Jalindar Nath Sovereign pierced Gopi Chand's left ear. As soon as he pierced the left ear, milk came out. And he drove a wooden peg into it. As soon as he had driven in the peg, he then turned to put the dagger in the second ear. But Gopi Chand thought, "Now, the game of life is spoiled. That's it. He gives one blow with the dagger and the game of life is spoiled ... queens and slave girls ... the whole kingdom has turned to dust."
While Gopi Chand's imagination was running on like this, the guru raised the dagger and pierced his right ear and blood came out. Blood came out, and the Guru Sovereign was incensed: "You sister-fucker! I told you that your mind wasn't satiated with queens and slave girls, your mind wasn't satiated with ruling the kingdom. I told you to go and rule for another twelve years and, sister-fucker, you didn't go. But still your spirit is led astray in the net of illusion."[22]
"Guru Sovereign, what is to happen happens."
"You have spoiled my karma. Milk used to come out of my yogis' ears. Milk came out; but now blood has begun to come out. It's a sign of things to come."[23]
He inserted a wooden peg in the ear, made from nim ,[24] and then he put an iron platter weighing one and one-quarter maunds[25] on
[22] maya jal ma jiv na dula diyo; dularno is to be caused to be restless, demoralized, nervous, fickle, unsteady, deviated, or astray. The suggestion is that Gopi Chand is more helpless than culpable.
[23] lag jay ainda se; according to Bhoju the phrase implies that from this day only blood will come out.
[24] The nim tree's leaves and wood have many ritual and healing uses in rural Rajasthan.
[25] suvaman; as noted above, the sum of one and one-quarter is associated with the removal of inauspiciousness; here, the heat of the flames cooks or heals the wounds in Gopi Chand's ears and averts inauspicious influences thought to threaten the healing process.
Gopi Chand's head. On top of the platter he ignited a wood fire and the flames rose up. He put the platter on a cloth pad on Gopi Chand's head, and took him on a pilgrimage tour. The flames rose up, so that the fire at times hung down over his ears.
After the pilgrimage tour the Guru Sovereign took him to our campfire.[26] Where? In the Kajali Woods. Over there in the Kajali Woods, fourteen hundred of the Guru Sovereign's disciples were doing tapas invisibly. And fourteen hundred visible disciples were doing tapas .
As soon as they got there, the Guru Sovereign took the iron platter down from Gopi Chand's head and said, "Son, you have become a firm[27] disciple. Now you have become a yoga-holder. So take your tongs, son, and take this sack, and take this deer-horn instrument, and wear these wooden sandals on your feet.[28] Now son, this is the kind of work that needs to be done. You have become a yogi."
"Yes sir."
"Go into your castle and get alms. Say 'Mother' to your special wife, Patam De Rani, and beg for alms and bring them back. Then your yoga will be fulfilled."
"Hey Guru Sovereign, Patam De Rani is my woman. How can I call her 'Mother'? I have scattered all her leaves and smelled all her flowers.[29] She is my woman, Guru Sovereign. It would shame my saintly guru[30] and my mother's milk. How can I call her 'Mother'?"
"Yes, son, Gopi Chand. Patam De Rani was your woman, but that was in your ruling time. Now you have become a yogi, a yoga-holder, so son, now in the time of yoga she is your mother. Call her 'Mother' and bring back alms, and then your yoga will be fulfilled."
"Well, you have given the order, the Guru Sovereign's order, and if you say it, it must be done."
"Yes. So son, come on the roads and go on the roads and call all
[26] Here the singer identifies himself with the legendary Nath yogis.
[27] pakko chelo; H. pakka has many meanings including ripe, cooked, unassailable, genuine, fried.
[28] Thus the guru bestows the emblems of a yogi's identity on his cooked disciple.
[29] Unai pana pana baroli phula phula dhumari; according to Bhoju, this poetic saying means that he knows each part of his wife's body as well as a gardener knows the leaves and flowers on his plants.
[30] guru-pir; actually a pairing of Hindu and Islamic terms for a religious teacher.
women 'Mother' and 'Sister.' And don't bring shame to your yogi's robes. Hurry and get alms from Patam De."
So let's see what happens to Gopi Chand, and what alms he will bring.
(GC 2.2.e)
So Gopi Chand put on his wooden sandals, picked up his tongs, picked up his sack, and took his deer-horn instrument. A seated yogi's a stake in the ground, but a yogi once up is a fistful of wind. The Nath took the wind's form and turned his face toward Gaur Bengal.[31]
He crossed one woods, he crossed a second woods, in the third woods Gopi Chand came to the border. As soon as he came to the border, his white, white castles came into view, and Gopi Chand remembered the things of his ruling time. As soon as he remembered, it was just like when a spark falls into one hundred maunds of gunpowder. When a wick is set to one hundred maunds of gunpowder—then flames shoot up. Just so, flames rose up violently in Gopi Chand's mind.
He thought, Oh, a very astonishing thing has taken place! There was a day that once rose for me when I would sport at hunting lions in the jungle. Seven hundred thousand horses were in my company, and I rode in a throne on the back of an elephant, whisks waving over me. Many Royal Bards were shouting my praises.
But today look at the splendor with which Gopi Chand was going into the palace. On his fair body he was wearing a loincloth, and on his fair neck spread matted locks, and his whole body was smeared with ashes. In his hand he had tongs and on his shoulders was a sack and there was no one to herald his coming.
Remembering the things of his ruling time, Gopi Chand was crying hard, his eyes filled with Indra's misty rain. Water poured from his eyes. "Hey Guru Sovereign, how has my condition changed so fast? There is no one to herald my coming. No one to say 'Victory to Shiva!'"
He was crying over there. Gopi Chand cried a lot, he cried so much. There used to be fifty-two portals and fifty-three doorways and twelve districts' rule and a home court of justice and today—nothing at all.
"Today sacred ash is smeared all over me, look, and on my
[31] Madhu pronounces this location Gor; see chapter 2.
shoulders there's a sack and in my hand tongs. I'm wearing a loincloth, and I am all alone in the jungle, wailing. But if things hadn't turned out like this, thousands, hundreds of thousands of men were in my service."
Gopi Chand was crying hard, his eyes filled with Indra's misty rain. Water poured from his eyes. And he besought[32] his guru. "Hey Guru Sovereign, I beseech you, quickly come, Baba Nath. Your fireplace in Kajali Woods is far away, and Guru Sovereign, my castle also is far away, and Grain-giver, now in the jungle I'm wretched."
So he besought his guru with body and mind, and as soon as he besought the guru, Jalindar Baba came. As soon as he came, he rebuked Gopi Chand:
"O son, if you're already wretched here in the jungle, what will your condition be when you're near the queens and slave girls?"
Gopi Chand was crying hard, his eyes filled with Indra's misty rain. Water poured from his eyes. He said to his guru, "Hey, Guru Sovereign, you have no knowledge of these things, to cry or not to cry about them. What do you know? I have eleven hundred queens in the castles weeping, sixteen hundred slave girls weeping, and Manavati Mata, my old mother, she is crying very hard. And in my kingdom were fifty-two portals, fifty-three doorways, twelve districts' rule, and a home court of justice. But now the court is deserted and the great drum lies upside down. And Guru Sovereign, you have no knowledge of these things. You were thrown down from the sky and caught by Earth Mother,[33] and you have neither mother nor father, nor any woman, nor any nanny goats, nor any sister, nor any nieces."[34]
"Calm down, son. Go on reciting prayers and keep your attention on those prayers. Go thus to your palaces, meet your queens and slave girls, get some alms and hurry back, son."
(GC 2.3.e)
[32] arodhya; a variant of aradhno , meaning to pray or praise. This term always occurs when Gopi Chand implores Jalindar Nath for help and in no other context in the two tales. To distinguish it from samaran or the calm recitation of prayers, I shall translate it "beseech" throughout.
[33] Gopi Chand refers to Jalindar's presumably mythic birth and elaborates the argument in subsequent encounters when the guru chides him for "tangling in maya 's net." See Gold 1989.
[34] Note that, except for "father," everything the guru lacks is female.
A seated yogi's a stake in the ground, but a yogi once up is a fistful of wind. The Nath took the wind's own form, and turned his face toward Bengal. Gaur Bengal, that was his village, and Dhak Bengal was his sister's place, her marital home.[35] He crossed one woods, he crossed a second woods, and in the middle of the third woods he reached the waterside. As soon as he reached the waterside in Bengal, Gopi Chand set up his meditation seat and ignited his yogi's campfire. He sat in a meditation posture and began reciting prayers.
So, Gopi Chand had lowered his eyelids and was reciting prayers when the sixteen hundred slave girls came from the palace with their double water pots, to fetch water.
They emerged from the village and looked out over the waterside. There they saw a yogi doing tapas . Among them was Hira Dasi.[36] They were talking of other things when Hira Dasi spoke: "Hey, slave girls, burn up all other matters. Today there's a yogi doing tapas on the waterside. Today's our lucky day! Our king became a yogi. So we will ask this yogi about him, we will ask for news of our king—where our yogi king went and where he didn't go—whether he's well, whether he's sad or happy, we'll find out about our king."
They didn't know if he had really become a yogi, or if he had just got angry and left. The queens and slave girls knew nothing at all. So right away the sixteen hundred went and set their double water pots down on the waterside, and surrounded Gopi Chand, as I am surrounded here [Madhu refers to the audience surrounding him at the time of telling]. He had set up his campfire, and on all four sides of him were women, nothing but women, slave girls. Now what did they say to Gopi Chand? As soon as they had surrounded him, Hira Dasi spoke.
(GC 2.4.e)
"Hey, yogi, from which city do you come and go? You seem to be an established Nath. Raise your eyelids, Baba Nath, we have come to take your darsan ."
As soon as this much was said, Gopi Chand thought, Brother, some truthful servant[37] has come to serve me. Someone has brought flour and things, things to cook with. Let me see. And he raised his
[35] Madhu offers this clarification of geography as an aside.
[36] When Dasi is part of a name I do not translate it.
[37] sevak; derived from seva or service, a term with religious implications.
eyelids and saw that his campfire was surrounded by nothing but slave girls—sixteen hundred were standing there. As soon as he saw them, Gopi Chand knew. "Brother, these are my own slave girls who have come. But if they recognize me, then look out! Illusion's net will spread here."
As soon as he raised his eyelids, Hira De Dasi spoke: "O, Guru Sovereign, O Great Soul, O noble Grain-giver, our king became a yogi, and went away. Noble Grain-giver, tell us about him. We will take you into the palace, and Guru Sovereign, we will serve you. Our king became a yogi. Is he happy or is he sad? In what country are he and his guru? Did he pierce his ears or didn't he pierce them?" These are the kinds of things she asked.
"O brother, I know nothing about your king and I know nothing about any queen. I am a wandering sadhu who has come, what should I know?"
There were sixteen hundred slave girls surrounding him. And they were crying hard. And as they cried they were asking him news of Gopi Chand. "Hey Guru Sovereign, our king had sixteen hundred slave girls and eleven hundred queens, and because of him all of us in the Color Palace are wearing long blouses.
"And his Manavati Mother—may she burn up!—she made her son a yogi secretly. Our king had fifty-two portals and fifty-three doorways, twelve districts' rule, and seven hundred thousand horses were raised in his company. He rode in a throne on an elephant's back, with whisks waving over him. But the kingdom has become desolate. And the great drum is lying upside down.
"Noble Grain-giver, please tell us about our king! We will take you into the palaces and serve you." The sixteen hundred slave girls were crying very hard. "Noble Grain-giver, our king resembled you. He had a face just like yours. Our king became a yogi, and we yearn for him. Where is our king?"
Gopi Chand was wretched. "Now if these sluts recognize me here then maya 's net will spread." So Gopi Chand braced himself and lifted his tongs from the middle of his campfire. He brandished his tongs at the slave girls, the sluts who kept on crying. "Get out of here, I have no knowledge of your king or of any queen. Why have you come here bothering me? Get going or else I will beat each one of you with my tongs, you sister-fuckers."
After he had rebuked them, the slave girls filled their water pots.
Lifting up their pots, they returned to the palace. As soon as they entered the palace, they put down their double pots. Queen Patam De took her whip from its peg and gave Hira De a couple of whacks.
"Slave girl, you left in the morning to get water, so where have you been sitting the whole day? Wanton slut, who knows where? Maybe you went to see some show? Where were you sitting, getting water, for the whole day, all sixteen hundred of you?"
So she gave her a couple of whacks. Then, crying, Hira De said, "O Mistress, send me away if you like, or if you like take away my life, but there's a yogi doing tapas . Where? At the waterside. So I joined my hands in greeting to that yogi and asked him to tell me some information about our king, and I offered to serve him and to bring him into the palace. I asked, 'Is the king sad or happy? In what country is he? At whose campfire has he become a disciple? Who is his guru? Where is he? Give me information about my king.' I only asked for this kind of information, Grain-giver, and that's why I was late."
"You slut, I was burned and now you're putting salt in my wounds. You'll be the death of me, if every day you go to get water and meet some yogi and ask him for information. You're putting salt in my burns, and you'll be the death of me. My king became a yogi, and that's why you feel free to taunt me."
Such was her justice.[38] (GC 2.5.e)
Meanwhile, Gopi Chand picked up his sack and his tongs from the waterside. He put on his sandals and ... a seated yogi's a stake in the ground, but a yogi once up is a fistful of wind. The Nath took the wind's own form and fixed his consciousness in Gaur Bengal. He entered the city. Gopi Chand was wearing a loincloth on his fair body, and matted locks spread over his fair neck. He had tongs in his hands and a sack on his shoulder.
As Gopi Chand was going along, he remembered the times when he ruled. "Oh my! What an amazing thing has happened!"
Gopi Chand was crying hard, his eyes filled with Indra's misty rain. In the center of the city, he entered the marketplace. It used to be that people went before him crying "Grain-giver, greetings!
[38] nyay hoyo; an ironic comment on her treatment of the slave girls, who were only trying to help.
Grain-giver!" They would cry "Greetings, Giver of grain!" But today, no one even glanced.
"I'm still the same man I was before. But look! No one even says 'Victory to Mahadev!' [People could at least remark,] 'Brother, there's a sadhu going along, and for this reason we will cry victory to Mahadev!'"
Gopi Chand was crying hard, his eyes filled with Indra's misty rain. Water poured from his eyes. He entered the main market. Crying hard he went along, thinking, No one even says, "Sovereign, where do you live? Victory to Mahadev! Come and be seated please." No one even says "Ram Ram ."[39]
Gopi Chand was crying hard, his eyes filled with Indra's misty rain. Water poured from his eyes. He went into the Jewel Square, and after passing through the gateway, he saw an elephant tied up. Where? To the fodder trough. It was Mangano Hathi, the one he used to ride.
From this side Gopi Chand was coming, crying hard, and as soon as he saw Mangano Hathi, Gopi Chand shrieked. From the other side Mangano Hathi too began to bellow. "Hey Grain-giver, O king, what have you done? You became a yogi and left and there is no one to feed me bread and no one to give me fodder and water. Grain-giver, what troubles have come into my life! I don't even get any water, there is no one to look after me at all."
"O brother Mangano, now what to do? Fortune has inscribed this destiny in my karma with thick writing: immortal fakirhood. There is no one to remove it."
"But Grain-giver, what is to become of me?"
"Son, this was written for me, in my kismat .[40] Yours also is written: to die of hunger. So go and die."
Gopi Chand passed through one portal and a second portal, and then he came to the third portal, where he lit his campfire. And he set up his meditation seat. Then Gopi Chand gave a rousing "Alakh! " He gave a rousing "Alakh! " and sounded his deer-horn instrument in the portal. As soon as he sounded his horn, the sound reached the
[39] Ram Ram is the most common greeting between equals in the bard's region. Thus Gopi Chand seems to crave any human intercourse, not just the adulation he received as a king or should receive as a yogi.
[40] Yet another word for fate, from the Urdu-Persian tradition, and one very common in village talk.
ears of Patam De Rani. As soon as the sound reached the ears ofPatam De Rani, she spoke to Hira De Dasi.
"Slave girl!"
"Yes, Grain-giver."
"Go! Today, after many days, a yogi has come and given us a rousing 'Alakh! ' Our king became a yogi and left. Previously, many yogis used to come but this is the first yogi to come since our king left. So fill a platter with diamonds and rubies, and give very fine alms to the yogi. And ask for a fine blessing and bring it from the yogi. Go right away and do it. Go at once, because it's a yogi and he might get angry and go away, and then he will curse us."[41]
As soon as she said this, the slave girl put on a skirt with eighty pleats and wrapped herself in a flowered Gujarati sari and put on her nose ring and her toe rings and a three-ring set of hollow anklets. She put on many delicate ankle chains, and eyeliner and henna, and she threaded pearls in her hairs. She smeared on eyeshadow, and she put on necklaces—one strand, two strands, seven strands, so she became like the flame of Holi, and like lightning in a black cloud.[42]
If the wind blows this way she bends this way, and if the wind blows that way she bends that way, and if the wind should blow in all four directions then that slave girl would break into pieces.[43] And if an opium-eater like brother Hardev [a member of the audience] met her, then he would take her for a dose of opium and eat her up.
(GC 2.6.e)
The bondwoman now filled a platter with
diamonds, rubies, and pearls.[44] Hira, my slave girl,
[41] If a yogi goes away empty-handed, he may well curse the uncharitable house. Patan De seems to have forgotten her previous rage at the slave girls' mentioning yogis.
[42] Metaphors of fire and lightning evoke danger as well as beauty and are particularly appropriate for a dangerous woman.
[43] This same image of extremely delicate yet dangerous female beauty occurs in the Rajasthani Dev Narayanji epic to describe Rani Jaimti—an incarnation of the goddess whose aim is to destroy the heroes.
[44] This sung portion is more than double the length of most, indicating that Madhu may have simply become carried away while singing and neglected to break at the usual place. He begins his arthav at a point in the narrative that omits a portion of the sung story. I therefore translate the singing until the arthav catches up with it.
passed through one portal,
the bondwoman passed the second portal,
now she came to the third portal.
When she reached the third portal, Lord,
what did she say to the yogi?
"Take these, Baba,
spread open your sack,
and hold out your cup, yogi.
I have a platter filled with diamonds and rubies, yogi,
now your poverty has fled."
When Hira had said this much,
Gopi Chand raised his eyelids
and gazed at the slave girl.
"My bondwoman, why have you brought a platter
filled with stones and pebbles?
What will I do with these pebbles?
"Such stones and pebbles
l left behind at home,
Hira De, my slave girl.
Slave girl, bring me a stale, leftover scrap,
a feast from Patam De Rani's hands."
"O Yogi, you don't seem to be a yogi,
it seems to me you're sick,
princely yogi.
Yesterday or the day before you were
a householder's boy, dying of hunger,
and that's why you became a yogi.
Up until now your hunger hasn't left you, yogi,
and that's why you crave a scrap of bread.
"Yogi, were there leaves
in the middle of your fate
they might fly away,
but there must be a boulder in the middle of your fate, yogi,
if you're calling diamonds 'pebbles.'"
When Hira De had said this much,
what did Gopi Chand reply?
"Hira De, my bondwoman,
O bondwoman, there was once a day
that rose for me when
they would gnaw on my polluted[45] scraps,
but today, bondwoman, people speak to me any old way."
"O Yogi, you don't seem to be a yogi,
it seems to me you're sick,
princely yogi.
Yogi, quit saying 'bondwoman,' yogi,
or I'll let fly my bamboo.
Yogi, I will hang you high from the bitter nim tree,
and rub your wounds with salt.
"Yogi, I am the queen,
Yogi, I am the queen.
Yogi, I alone am mistress of the fort:
You won't get away with calling me 'bondwoman'!"
"Bondwoman, your front teeth stick out
and your forehead's ugly![46] Bondwoman, your fate is shattered.
Bondwoman, where have you come from,
claiming to be my Queen Patam De?"
"Yogi, the mistress of the kingdom
doesn't call me 'bondwoman,'
yogi, nor do the city people call me 'girl,'
princely yogi.
"You just quit this 'bondwoman' business, yogi,
or I will split your skin with my bamboo.
Yogi, I will hang you high from the bitter nim tree,
and rub your wounds with salt."
(GC 2.7.s)
[45] uthyara; Rajasthani for jhutha, or polluted by saliva. Presumably he refers in the third person to the slave girls, who would have eaten his leftovers.
[46] thari bhundi cha ye laladi; bhundi can mean ugly or inauspicious or improper; laladi is another of the many words that in rural Rajasthan refer to preordained fate. Literally, however, it means the "forehead"—where fate is written. This phrase thus carries a double meaning: your face is ugly, your fate is inauspicious.
So this is what happened with the bondwoman. She said to Gopi Chand, "Yogi you aren't really a yogi, it seems to me you're sick! I will hang you high from the bitter nim and rub your wounds with salt."
But it was Gopi Chand. Gopi Chand was muttering, dizzy, all in a flurry, till he burst out in rage and fury.[47] Gopi Chand thrust his tongs into the middle of his campfire, right in the burning coals, until they got red hot. Then he struck the bondwoman in the middle of her back, and she went rolling. Her platter of diamonds and rubies scattered all over the portal, and the bondwoman went rolling and falling. He had struck her once on the back, but two streaks swelled up just as when a sick animal is branded.[48] And she was weeping loudly, she was crying very hard, her eyes filled with Indra's misty rain. Water poured from her eyes.
She returned to the Color Palace and went lamenting to Patam De Rani. Then Patam De Rani spoke:
"Slave girl, Hira De, I sent you laughing; why have you come crying? What kind of a yogi is it, a magician? a death-spell wielder? Did he feed you roasted hashish, so that you've come wailing and stoned?"
Then the slave girl said, "Mistress, you can have your job, and I will take two oxen and be a farmer. Should I eat blows from any yogi's tongs?"
Then Patam De Rani spoke, "Bondwoman, are you making useless excuses? Where did the yogi shove his dagger in you?"[49]
Hira was wrapped in that flowered Gujarati sari, but the pearls in her hair had scattered when he whacked her with the tongs. Now when Patam De said this, Hira De unwrapped her sari and balled it up and tossed it behind the queen. Then she ran and threw herself face down, and as soon as she did, Patam De Rani looked at her back.
From her neck right down to her buttocks were swollen welts like
[47] This is a stock phrase: Gopi Chand ka ayo sarnato ar ghasgyo bharnato ar ros agyo gado. Sarnato refers to the sound of a loud or rushing wind and may imply angry muttering; it is also an intoxication resulting from excitement and restlessness. Bharnato means chakkar or dizziness. Ros translates literally as anger.
[48] A tongs has two strips of iron, but Bhoju interprets the two welts from one blow to result from the blow's prodigious force. The term I translate "streaks" evokes lightning. Branding is a treatment still practiced on livestock.
[49] I was convinced that by this statement Patam De suggests that the yogi might have sexually assaulted Hira De; according to Bhoju she only asks sarcastically, "Where does it hurt?"
lightning streaks. "Bondwoman, he gave you one whack but two streaks have swollen on your back. It looks just like when a sick animal is branded in the middle of the back. What kind of a pitiless yogi is this? How could he treat you this way? That yogi has no compassion inside his hollow frame,[50] if he uses his tongs like this. Suppose you die, then what?"
Hira De kept crying, "Mistress, what does that yogi understand? He understands nothing of pity, there's no pity at all in his heart. Mistress, run him out of the portal. He almost took my life away. And if he had taken my life away, then who would take care of my children?"
And she wept like a waterfall. "Mistress, that yogi almost took away my life."
Patam De got angry and said, "Girl, what use is a yogi like that who doesn't even have compassion? A yogi is supposed to have compassion inside of him. But this one is a wicked one. He's not a yogi at all, he's sick! So, slave girl, go and call the sixteen hundred slave girls. All of you beat him with bamboo sticks and make that yogi's skin fly. Chase him out of the castle."
Hira De went running at once to call the sixteen hundred slave girls. She called them and they gathered in the presence of the queen. The queen ordered Hira to give each of them one bamboo stick, but instead she gave each of them two. Oh son of a ...! She gave two bamboo sticks to each person. "Now let's go get that yogi!"
(GC 2.7.e)
As they were going, she called to them from the balcony above—who?—Patam De Rani: "Hey, girls, wait, and listen to what I say. Don't kill the yogi, just frighten him and chase him out of the palace. O sluts, if you kill a Brahman, then you meet destruction, for age upon age.[51] And if you kill a yogi, then your lineage will truly sink, sluts, he'll curse us. And our kingdom is without a son, our kingdom is without a ruler, so if the yogi gives a curse, the kingdom will be
[50] ghat; literally a clay jug, often a reference to the body as a container of something more important; here, however, is the opposite implication—the yogi has nothing inside.
[51] jug jug hatya hojya; hatya is literally murder or slaughter. Powerful beings must be treated with care, for to damage them is to incur great damages to oneself in the Hindu karmic economy.
lost. Don't kill the yogi but just frighten him and chase him out of the palace."[52]
They passed through one portal, they passed the second portal, and they came to the third portal and challenged the yogi.
"Yogi, now pack up your bag and baggage, your club and gourd. We will make you remember the whack you gave with your tongs. Many days have gone by, and who knows whom you have beaten with your tongs. But today, we will make you remember it. We'll hang you high from the bitter nim tree and rub your wounds with salt. We'll beat you with bamboo sticks, and then you'll understand what kind of slave girls we are!"
While they were saying this, Gopi Chand raised his eyelids and gazed around the portal. In the month of Sravan , clouds of Indra the Great King mount in the sky; thus were the sixteen hundred slave girls like a red and yellow[53] cloud bank. And their bamboo sticks overshadowed him.
Gopi Chand squeezed his eyes shut. Oh my! If all these sluts hit me with their bamboo sticks then I will die.
"Look, you bondwomen, once the day rose for me when I had fifty-two portals and fifty-three doorways, twelve districts' rule and a home court of judgment. And today look at me ! I have fallen into the company of poverty and you sixteen hundred slave girls—you who were brought up on my scraps—are raising bamboo sticks over me. You have become ungrateful wretches, you who are my bought goods."
"Yogi, you're no yogi at all, you're sick! We will make you remember the blow you gave with your tongs. Now you try to make yourself into our king. Now you're afraid of being beaten so you pretend to be our king. But we don't count such a king. We will make your skin fly off with our bamboo sticks and we will rub your wounds with salt."
Meanwhile, son of a ...! They had surrounded Gopi Chand, and some prodded him, and some grabbed his matted locks, and some
[52] Obviously Patam De Rani is a little overexcited and confused here. Her kingdom is already in big trouble, her lineage already "sunk" with no male heir and the king a renouncer. Her statement reflects the culturally prevalent fear of angry yogis.
[53] These colors are favored by Rajasthani women for outer wraps.
began to toss his club and gourd and all his bag and baggage here and there.
Gopi Chand thought, Son of a ...! These sluts won't accept me. Gopi Chand was crying hard, his eyes filled with Indra's misty rain. Water poured from his eyes. And he besought his guru. "O Guru Sovereign, I beseech you, come quickly Baba Nath! OJalindar Baba, these sluts who were nourished on my scraps are going to spoil my honor."
He mediated on the guru with body and mind, and he besought the guru with body and mind. "Jalindar Baba, Guru Sovereign, come quickly." He was such a truthful manly disciple, and Jalindar was such a truth-speaking guru, that immediately upon Gopi Chand's beseeching him, he was standing there.
[As an aside, Madhu adds: The gurus of today have become such that even if their disciples cry out in agony, still they don't glance in their direction.]
The guru came at once, and as soon as he came he said, "Well, Gopi Chand?"
"Guru Sovereign, these sluts, raised on my scraps, have spoiled my honor."
"O son, Gopi Chand, they will not accept you as you are. So take a square of cloth and get it wet; in your gourd is water—wet a square of cloth with it, and remove all the offering-ash from your body. Reveal the face of your ruling times, son, and right away all of those sluts will fall at your feet."
So, Gopi Chand took water from his gourd and wet a square of cloth and began to wipe off the offering-ash with the wet cloth.
As soon as he had wiped off the offering-ash—on his foot a lotus sparkled, and on his left arm a jewel gleamed, and on his head was the moon, so that it seemed as if the sun had risen in the portal. As soon as the sun rose, as soon as they saw the face of his ruling times, all of the sluts immediately threw down their bamboo sticks and fell at his feet.
They said to Gopi Chand, "Hey, Grain-giver, King, Baba, we are your purchased goods, and we have become ungrateful wretches. We came holding bamboo sticks above you, Grain-giver, and we are sluts reared on your scraps."
All sixteen hundred slave girls went falling and rolling and weeping into the Color Palace. Then Queen Patam De spoke: "O slave
girls, first I sent one and she came back weeping, and just now I sent sixteen hundred and they all have come back crying.
"O girls, O bondwomen, I sent you laughing. Why have you come weeping like this? What kind of a yogi is it, a black magician? a death-spell wielder? Did he feed you roasted hashish, that you have come stoned—all sixteen hundred slave girls crying, huh? Is it some kind of a yogi magician who fed you powdered green hashish and you have come weeping, stoned on hashish?"
(GC 2.8.e)
So Hira De Dasi said to Queen Patam De, "Mistress, you may scold me or beat me or take away my life. But your fate is shattered. Your husband has come as a yogi. Gopi Chand is standing here as a yogi. Meeting is good and parting is bad and the noose of maya 's net is always very bad. Mistress, it's a carnival of parting. Your husband has come to your door, and if you want to take his darsan then go to the balcony. If you don't, then it's a yogi's bane.[54] If he gets up and goes, you'll never even have seen his face.
"Mistress, break and scatter these pearls in your hair; break and scatter these ivory bangles, too; break and scatter the sixteen kinds of ornaments you are wearing, for now you must put on a long blouse. Gopi Chand has come as a yogi. On his foot a lotus sparkles, and on his left arm a jewel gleams, and on his forehead is the moon so bright that it's as if the sun had just risen in the midst of the portal. Go onto the balcony and take your husband's darsan . If you like, beat me with the whip, and then go and look with your eyes.
"If the yogi gets up and goes empty-handed, he might give a yogi's curse. If he goes empty-handed, then the desire to see his face will stay with you the rest of your days."
Patam De Rani thought, Let's see, let's see from the balcony. She put wooden sandals on her feet and took a little stick in her hand.[55] And she went onto the balcony and looked into the portal. On his foot a lotus sparkled, and on his left arm a jewel gleamed, and on his
[54] jogi ki phatkar; this can mean the influence of yoga but here seems analogous to worry about any ordinary yogi, leaving empty-handed and sending back angry emanations.
[55] Why does the queen wear wooden sandals and carry a little stick? Later Manavati Mother comes in this fashion, more appropriate for a female yogi than a queen. Perhaps Madhu describes Patam De as shortly he will describe Manavati.
forehead the moon was as bright as if the sun had just risen in the portal.
Oh my! She went and saw his face, Gopi Chand's face, and Patam De Rani was satisfied. Oh my, look, how beautiful! What a king he is! But he has come under the spell of yogis.[56]
"Hey, King, so I seem bitter to you. And these Color Palaces and everything seem bitter to you and you met some yogi who seemed good. So you smeared yourself with offering-ash, and put great big rings in your ears. So I seem bitter to you, but that yogi seems good."
As she was saying this, Gopi Chand was looking up at the balcony, and Gopi Chand cried "Alakh! " and sounded his deer-horn instrument. He sounded it, and he held out his begging bowl in his hand: "Hey Patam Mother, drop in alms, my mother. This is my guru's strict order: Give me alms."
Oh my! As soon as he had said this, Patam De Rani beat her head against the wall, and said, "My own husband has called me 'Mother.' Better to die than to live." She beat her head against the wall and jumped off the balcony, and she fell into the portal.
As soon as she fell the queen lost consciousness. Then the sixteen hundred slave girls picked her up and began to massage her. They took her into the palace and wrapped her in a bedroll and massaged her. She had fainted. The eleven hundred queens were weeping and the sixteen hundred slave girls were weeping, and the combined resonance echoed through the palaces.
Manavati Mata lived in a different palace. "Why are the queens and slave girls weeping? What has happened?" Manavati Mother put on her sandals and picked up her little stick and hurried to Patam De's palace. As soon as she came, she asked, "O girls, why oh why are you weeping today? What has happened to make all the queens and slave girls weep? Are you in some kind of pain?"
Then the slave girls spoke, "Hey Mother-in-law, our Grain-giver is in the portal. Your son has come as a yogi. It's Gopi Chand: on his foot a lotus sparkles and on his left arm a jewel gleams and on his forehead is the moon so bright it seems as if the sun had just risen in the portal. Patam De Rani went to take his darsan and fell from above into the portal. She fell from the balcony and we have taken her into
[56] jogyan ki phatkar ma agyo; phatkar here is less yogis' evil emanation than their influence. Thus Patam De explains to herself her husband's desertion.
the palace to massage her. Grain-giver, Gopi Chand has come as a yogi."
"Why are you stirring up mischief? Many yogis come into the portal. What would Gopi Chand come here to take? Gopi Chand will not come here."
"Mistress, accept it if you like, or don't accept it. Mother-in-law, go out on the balcony and see for yourself."
(GC 2.9.e)
Manavati Mata
went onto the balcony.[57] Mother now saw Gopi Chand in the portal,
and bowed her head to him.
She bowed her head
to Gopi Chand,
and spoke to Gopi Chand:
"My son tell me what news
is in your heart?
Son, why did the guru send you here?
Why did you come to these castles?"
"For nine months, mother,
you kept me in your womb, Manavati Mother,
daughter and sister of kings.
It shames my saintly guru that my birth-giver
bows her head to me.
"Moreover, my birth-giver,
it shames your milk
if you prostrate yourself to me."
When Gopi Chand had said that much,
now what did Mother say?
"My Gopi Chand, King,
my darling boy, I didn't bow to you, my son,
I bowed to the guru's robes.
[57] This sung part is also oversize. As above, I give the singing for which there is no arthav .
"Son, it's no shame to your saintly guru,
nor does it shame
your mother's milk.
My son, tell me your heart's news:
Why did the guru send you?"
"My mother, the guru sent me for this:
'Son, go to your Queen Patam De's palace,
and cry "Alakh! " in the palace.
Gopi Chand, go and call Patam De "Mother,"
Gopi Chand, bring back alms.
"'Then your yoga
will be fulfilled.'
Thus the guru sent me.
Mother, if I get alms
from Patam De,
Then my yoga will be fulfilled."
When Gopi Chand had said this much,
then his mother said,
"Gopi Chand, I'll have alms given you,
but you must brace yourself.
"Illusion's net will fiercely spread,
so you must fiercely brace yourself.
When she gives you alms,
my son,
your yoga will be fulfilled."[58]
So, as soon as she had said this much, Manavati Mother went back into the palaces. As she was going she rebuked the queens and slave girls. "O you sluts, why are you crying for no reason? Many yogis come this way into the portals, calling "Alakh! '"
But the slave girls said, "Mistress, we didn't believe what we heard, but we came and saw for ourselves."
[58] The following paragraphs are not sung but spoken: Madhu keeps strumming the sarangi as he talks and at the end resumes his singing. Because the passage advances rather than recapitulates the tale, it is not arthav . This is one of only two occasions when Madhu Nath's performance style thus briefly shifted.
"Shut up your useless wailing, sluts!"
Then she went over to Patam De, lifted off the bedding, grabbed her hand, and sat her up.
Manavati Mata now lifted the bedding
from Patam De Rani.
"Patam De, give alms, my son,[59] many yogis come.
"Son, why are you choosing misery?
Patam son,
many yogis come into the portals."
"O Mother-in-law, I didn't believe
what I heard from others,
Mother-in-law, I didn't believe
what the girls said.
But Mother-in-law, I saw from the balcony today:
your son has come as a yogi.
"Mother-in-law, my husband
called me 'Mother.'
Better to die than to live."
When Patam De had said this much,
what did Mother say?
"A yogi's breathed upon him,[60] Son, but your husband is hungry and thirsty.
"Son, your husband has come
to your house,
you must feed him a good meal.
My son, make a meal for him,
Patam son,
Then bring him into the palace."
[59] In affectionate affectation, a Rajasthani mother-in-law or mother may call a daughter-in-law or daughter "son." Manavati Mata uses this device now when the greatest strength is required of her daughter-in-law.
[60] jogi ki lagari ye ukai ab phuk; this phrase means that Gopi Chand is under a guru's control, has received a mantra at initiation. Meaning 2 in the RSK for phuk is mantra parte hue muh se chhori jane vale vayu: "the breath that leaves the mouth when reciting mantras."
"Mother-in-law, I will feed him a good meal,
I will feed him a good meal.
Mother-in-law, if he doesn't speak the sound 'Mother,'
then I will feed him a good meal."
"Patam, son, a yogi's breathed
upon Gopi Chand.
Feed your husband a good meal, son,
he has come to your door in hunger and thirst.
"Or else, son, the yogi will get up
and quit the portal today.
As he came, hungry, he'll leave.
Your husband has
given you darsan ,
now you give him a good meal!"
(GC 2.10.s)
So the eleven hundred queens and the sixteen hundred slave girls prepared a feast, and Manavati Mata took the fresh warm food, nine kinds of festive food, and placed it on a platter. She placed a golden water jug on the platter. Then she took it to the portal. The eleven hundred queens and the sixteen hundred slave girls went weeping. And there was Gopi Chand, who immediately called "Alakh! " and sounded his deer-horn instrument. "Patam Mother give me alms, my mother, it is the guru's strict order."
But as soon as he said "Mother," she about-faced and went back. "If he is going to call me 'Mother' then I won't give it, I won't give him alms. I t would be better to die than to live. Why has my husband called me 'Mother'?"
So Gopi Chand won't take alms without saying "Mother." And Patam Mother won't give alms.
When Patam De came back, Manavati Mata said, "Son, he is under the spell of yogis. Give him alms, and then afterwards we'll bring him into the palaces. And we'll give him a bath and we'll dress him in clothes. He's become a yogi, but now we'll keep him here.[61] Son, give him alms."
"Mother-in-law, he is calling me 'Mother,' so I won't give him alms."
[61] Clearly this speech is intended to deceive Patam De.
"He has come under the spell of yogis, son, and you must give them." Pushing her, she brought her near to Gopi Chand.
"Patam Mother give me alms, my mother. It is the guru's strict order."
The queen backed up again, but Manavati Mother grabbed her wrist and pulled her and forced her to empty the platter. As soon as she had spilled the food into his cup, he took the alms, and as soon as he had taken them, the eleven hundred queens surrounded him and the sixteen hundred slave girls surrounded him, and took him in their midst.
Patam De said, "Grain-giver, I taste bitter to you, but you think that yogi's just swell. He shoved a loincloth up your ass and put these earrings on you. He pierced your ears and put these great big earrings[62] in them, and he gave you these long, spreading, matted locks of hair. You used to wear a fine coat and shirt, but now in their place you've smeared ashes. Grain-giver, these palaces taste bitter to you because the guru made you think the jungle's swell."
They took him in their midst, and then they brought the little princess, just so big—Phulam De, Gopi Chand and Patam De Rani's daughter—and they flung her on to him. As soon as they flung her, she recognized her father, because he used to play with her, and so she clung to his neck. She clung to his neck, holding on with intertwined fingers. The girl was weeping and nearby the queens and slave girls were weeping too.
And Gopi Chand too was crying hard, his eyes filled with Indra's misty rain. Gopi Chand was miserable.
"Hey Guru Sovereign, if you want to take care of me, then do it, or else, Guru Sovereign, I will go back and take care of my kingdom. Yes, I will take care of my kingdom, because over here the net of illusion is spreading fiercely.
"And the queens and slave girls are weeping. Hey, Guru Sovereign, as I beseech you, come quickly, Baba Nath. If you want to take care of me then do it, or else I will go back to taking care of my kingdom.
[62] muraka; a special term for a man's car ornament but not one of the several special terms for yogis' earrings defined in the RSK simply as a "small earring" worn by men. Patam De says "great big murakas " either because she disdains yogis' earrings and will not accept Gopi Chand's having them (my theory) or because she is ignorant of the correct terminology (Bhoju's opinion).
And as for these earrings-and-stuff,[63] I'll get rid of them.
"Yes, I'll take care of my kingdom. Keep taking care of me, do."[64]
So he besought his guru with body and mind. And as soon as he besought him, then the Guru Sovereign, who had gone to the Kajali Woods, picked up his turn-to-ash tin and hurried to see what was happening.
The eleven hundred queens had surrounded Gopi Chand and the sixteen hundred slave girls were there too, and little princess Phulam De was hanging on his neck. And she was weeping, and the queens and slave girls were weeping, and from their mingled cries a single resonance arose.
Manavata Mata forbade them, but they wouldn't accept it.
The Guru Sovereign saw that whirlpool[65] and said, "Uh oh! Illusion's net is spreading very fiercely around here." So the Guru Sovereign took his turn-to-ash tin and circled it over Gopi Chand and burned him into a pile of ash.
Over here he turned Gopi Chand into ashes; at the same time he pushed him over there into his mother's palace. But right in front of the queens' and slave girls' faces he turned him to a pile of ashes. Manavati Mother looked toward her palace and saw Gopi Chand ascending into it. As soon as she saw him going in,[66] she said, "Weep, sluts! You've killed my son, now take a rest. May you all burn up! How many times did I explain to you, 'Don't cry, sluts, don't cry, don't surround him!' But you've killed my son, so take a rest, sluts! Now you can rest in comfort. You grabbed him and surrounded him, weeping. Now you've really killed him, he's dead."
Gopi Chand was seated in his mother's castle. When his mother got there, she lit the stove and prepared food. She prepared food and gave Gopi Chand a good meal.
(GC 2.10.e)
What did Manavati Mother say to Gopi Chand?[67]
[63] murakyan vurakan; here Gopi Chand seems to follow Patam De's lead in speaking disrespectfully of the sacred earrings.
[64] The consecutive but contradictory statements are typical of Gopi Chand's perpetual uncertainty about his renunciation.
[65] chakkar; also dizziness, circle, confusion.
[66] Manavati therefore knows Gopi Chand is all right; she makes the following speech to deceive his women.
[67] This is the final segment of GC 2; no arthav follows.
"Feast on this meal, my darling boy,
and take the guru his special portion.
Don't go forward my son,
don't go backwards.[68] Yes, my darling boy, don't go to the land of Bengal,
your mother forbids it.
My son, don't go to the land of Bengal,
your mother forbids it."
"Mother, I've looked ahead, my birth-giver,
and I have looked behind,
Manavati Mata, king's sister and daughter.
But I've never seen the land of Bengal.
Birth-giver, who lives over there?
"Reveal their mystery to me,
my mother,
and I will do your bidding."
"My son, on one branch
were two fruits,
King Gopi Chand,
King's son and brother.[69] My darling boy, younger than you is your sister:
Now she will die in tears.
"My darling boy she'll eat
opium-poison and die:
'My brother has come as a yogi.'"
"My mother, eleven hundred queens,
my birth-giver, sixteen hundred slave girls
Yet, birth-giver, none of these ate poison and died.
So why will my sister die?
Reveal this mystery to me,
my mother,
and I will do your bidding."
[68] The sense is probably something like, "Don't leave the straight and narrow path; don't vacillate."
[69] Of course, Gopi Chand has no brother; the phrase "king's son and brother" is a convention.
"My darling boy, those eleven hundred queens, Gopi Chand,
those sixteen hundred slave girls
were born of others,
King Gopi Chand,
King's brother and son.
But, my darling boy, you and your sister had
the same birth-giver,
my darling boy, she will die in tears.
"My son she will eat
opium-poison and die:
'My brother has come as a yogi.'"
"For nine months, my mother,
you kept me in your womb,
Manavati Mata,
King's sister and daughter.
Yes, my birth-giver, you slept in the wet,
and you laid me to sleep in the dry.[70]
"But mother, you didn't eat poison,
you didn't die, so
Why should my sister die?
Reveal this mystery to me,
my mother,
and I will do your bidding."
"My son for twelve years
I served the guru,
Gopi Chand King.
My darling boy, I served Shankar, Bhola Nath,
and brought you as a loan.
My son, be a yogi,
my dear,
and your body will be immortal."
"My mother, meeting is good, my birth-giver,
parting is bad,
[70] That is, she slept with him when he was a wetting infant, and when he soaked the sheets she traded places with him.
It's a carnival of parting, my birth-giver, so I will surely
meet with my sister, Champa De."
"My son, if you go
to Bengal today
don't show them your king's face.
My darling boy, or Champa De is dead,
your sister.
Gopi Chand, don't show your face.
Son, now take a special portion
for the guru,
and go and make prostrations to him,
from me as well.
Go, son, and reach his campfire."
When Manavati had said this much,
Gopi Chand crossed one woods,
the yogi crossed a second woods,
then he came to the third woods.
In the Kajali Woods was the guru,
he bowed his head to the guru.
[Madhu Nath's signature ][71]
The village, oh the city, is Ghatiyali,
Madhu Nath sang Gopi Chand.
Now praise Ram,
all brothers,
and recite Shankar's name.
Speak victory to Lord Shankar!
Victory to King Gopi Chand!
(GC 2.11.s)
[71] This is the only closing where Madhu actually sang a formal chhap or signature.