The legends of the Panjâb

416 LEGENDS 0¥ THE PANJAB.
she was ready to curse Khwdja KWzar, the god of the water.*
Bat Khwaja Khizar said that she should have no water unless
she showed herself to him. Now Niwal Dai had never yet
shown herself to any one except her own parents, and she felt
very uneasy, but, being helpless, and out of affection for her
father, she showed herself to the water, which rose up at once
to the brim of the well. But in doing this it madesuchanoiso
that the Pandavas heard it, and knew that Niwal Dal had come,
for none but she had the power to open the well.
Presently ths Pandava, to whom she had been betrothed, came
galloping up to the well and determined to seize her, but she
at once transformed herself into a Nagt (snake) and thrust
herself into the brick platform round the mouth of the well.
The Pandava remained there a long while urging her to come
out, and assuring her of his good intentions towards her.
She refused,
and used all her tricks and devices to avoid him,
but the Pandava Eaj4 would not budge an inch. So at last
Niwal Dai made him swear an oath not to touch her, and
promised to assume her proper human form and come out of
the platform. The Eaja swore a great oath, and Niwal Dai
assuming her human form came out and stood before him.
And when the Raja saw her full beauty he tried to seize her
again, but Niwal Dai reminded him of his oath and said "
: The
sea and the wind and the water are bound by their
vows and'
leave not their appointed places."
" But," answered the Eaja, " your father betrothed you to mo
and afterwards broke his word, and you will be married to
another husband after me ! Is such a thing tolerable in the
golden age The women of the Black AgeJ shall abandon
* Often regarded as a Muhammadan saint and identified with the
Prophet Elias : really he is the god of the flood, and probably represents
an old cult engrafted on to Central Asian Muhammadanism.
t This power of transformation is the main characteristic of the
legendaiy Nagas, and repeatedly occurs in all stories regarding them.
X Satjug, the golden age, represents in a loose way the Krita Yuga
of Sanskrit, the first age of the world, when all men behaved well and
there was no trouble. KAljug, the black age, represents the Kali Yuga,
the fourth or present depraved age of the world, when righteousness
has ceased and trouble has begun.