The legends of the Panjâb

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318 LEGENDS OF THE PANJAB.
935 Tain rakhi liai Mj kare Gaj ki sahai
Aur Draupati ki chur sabha bicli bharai 1
Narsi ki kaj kare big sanwari
Is jalti agin bich laj rakhiyo hamari
Tulsi ki mala phir bath uthai :
940 Sila le nahg-e : nahin surkbi ^i
"
Harbhaj 8dh.
" Karm likhS. KartS.r ne, karm sake hai bancb !
Mahita, ab til dekh le, cabin sSch ko S,ncb !
935 Protecting tbe Elephant*, thou didst preserve his honor !
And didst increase (the length of) Dranpadi'sf garment
in the midst of the assembly !
And quickly didst Narsi'sf work (for him)
Preserve now my honor in the midst of this blazing
furnace !
I take my garland of tulsi beads§ in my hands :
940 And Sila bathes and no wound comes (to her) !
Harhhaj Sdh.
"
" God hath written our fate ; one can read his fate !
Mahita, look now :
truth cannot be injured.
* Apparent reference to tlie stories connected with tlie birth of
Ganesa, the Elephant-headed god, in the Brahmdvaivarta Purdna and
in the Bhdgavata Purdna.
f Reference to the well-known tale in the Mahdhhdrata where
Tndishthira in gambling with Duryodhana stakes and loses himself,
his family and his wife Draupati. Duhsasana, Duryodhana's brother
then seizes Draupati and begins to tear ofi her clothes on the ground
that being now a slave she could not object. Krishna, who was present,
however, lengthened her garment as fast as it was rolled ofE.
+ Narsi was a Nagar Brahman of Junagarh and one of the Bhagats.
The allusion here is to a very popular song about him in which he
gives a hundi (cheque) on Sawal Shah (Krishna) to two pilgrims en
route from Mathura to Dwarka, which was cashed on anival by
Krishna in the form Sawal Sh^h, a banker, who did not exist in
the flesh.
§ As a protection : the tulsi plant, sweet basil, ocymum sacrum, is
considered sacred everywhere.