henchmen, wanted him there. If you had met him, I am sure you too would have seen him as the villagers saw him: a man hardened and leathery with work, with deep lines etched on his face, but seldom without a smile on his lips or a twinkle in his dark eyes. What he exuded was both a love for knowledge and a tolerance for the weaknesses of others — the two characteristics that he believed were enjoined upon all Muslims. He would not interfere in other people’s affairs unless he was driven by a higher purpose. I think he was moved to interfere in this case because he genuinely believed in the innocence of Haldi Ram, having known his family for years. But perhaps there was also the desire — what Kaptaan Meadows might call ‘scientific curiosity’ — to apply his learning to a concrete situation.
This then, jaanam, is what he suggested, and his suggestion was accepted after a vigorous debate in which Habibullah’s objections were discarded by the other members of the panchayat. It was an old and time-tested method to ascertain the truth of a statement in such situations, a method that was used, Mustapha Chacha said, in the Mughal courts of the past. This is how it went, my love:
First, Mustapha Chacha had the servants from the house brought to the panchayat square. There were five in all, and it was clear that one of them, though not necessarily Haldi Ram, had stolen the necklace. After soaking a quantity of rice in cold water and drying it in the sun, which does not take long in the glorious sunlight of my land, jaanam, he weighed rice equal to the weight of a rupee on a pair of scales. He arranged five such weights of rice. Then calling the five servants, including Haldi Ram, to him, he told them to swear by their gods and on the heads of their near and dear ones that they had not stolen the necklace, and that they did not know who had done so. When the oath had been taken, and Mustapha Chacha had impressed its solemnity on the gathering once again, he asked each of the five servants to extend their right hand, palm upward. On each man’s palm, he placed a weight of the soaked and dried rice. Each man was told to hold the rice in his palm, not allowing any grain to drop, until all five had been served in a similar manner. Then, after repeating their oath again, they were made to sit down with a plantain leaf in front of them. Mustapha Chacha then said in a solemn voice: Some person among you has taken a false oath. But God, who is everywhere, is among us too. Let every man put his portion of rice into his mouth, and having chewed it, let him, when instructed, spit it out upon the plantain leaf before him. When this consecrated rice comes out from the mouth of the false, it will be different from the rice from the mouth of the honest and true.
And so it was done, jaanam: from four of the mouths, including that of Haldi Ram, the chewed rice came out much like milk and water, and from the fifth it came out almost like dry sand, fine as powder. Then Mustapha Chacha said: He who is the thief, or knows of the identity of the thief, from his false mouth the rice has come out dry and stricken; from the mouths of those who are innocent, it has come forth wet and well chewed.
Even though Habibullah grumbled, the panchayat sent, as agreed upon earlier, men to ransack the quarters of the servant who was now considered guilty, having been indicted by the consecrated rice. Even before the men returned with the recovered necklace, the servant had broken down and confessed.
Great was the rejoicing in the village, jaanam, not least in Haldi Ram’s family and community, and the reputation of my uncle as a learned and devout man was further enhanced, though it was not a reputation Mustapha Chacha ever courted. That evening, when he joined us at the dastakhan for dinner, we asked him about the significance of the event, the means by which he had charmed the rice. He smiled and replied: The greatest charms reside in the human mind,
This then, jaanam, is what he suggested, and his suggestion was accepted after a vigorous debate in which Habibullah’s objections were discarded by the other members of the panchayat. It was an old and time-tested method to ascertain the truth of a statement in such situations, a method that was used, Mustapha Chacha said, in the Mughal courts of the past. This is how it went, my love:
First, Mustapha Chacha had the servants from the house brought to the panchayat square. There were five in all, and it was clear that one of them, though not necessarily Haldi Ram, had stolen the necklace. After soaking a quantity of rice in cold water and drying it in the sun, which does not take long in the glorious sunlight of my land, jaanam, he weighed rice equal to the weight of a rupee on a pair of scales. He arranged five such weights of rice. Then calling the five servants, including Haldi Ram, to him, he told them to swear by their gods and on the heads of their near and dear ones that they had not stolen the necklace, and that they did not know who had done so. When the oath had been taken, and Mustapha Chacha had impressed its solemnity on the gathering once again, he asked each of the five servants to extend their right hand, palm upward. On each man’s palm, he placed a weight of the soaked and dried rice. Each man was told to hold the rice in his palm, not allowing any grain to drop, until all five had been served in a similar manner. Then, after repeating their oath again, they were made to sit down with a plantain leaf in front of them. Mustapha Chacha then said in a solemn voice: Some person among you has taken a false oath. But God, who is everywhere, is among us too. Let every man put his portion of rice into his mouth, and having chewed it, let him, when instructed, spit it out upon the plantain leaf before him. When this consecrated rice comes out from the mouth of the false, it will be different from the rice from the mouth of the honest and true.
And so it was done, jaanam: from four of the mouths, including that of Haldi Ram, the chewed rice came out much like milk and water, and from the fifth it came out almost like dry sand, fine as powder. Then Mustapha Chacha said: He who is the thief, or knows of the identity of the thief, from his false mouth the rice has come out dry and stricken; from the mouths of those who are innocent, it has come forth wet and well chewed.
Even though Habibullah grumbled, the panchayat sent, as agreed upon earlier, men to ransack the quarters of the servant who was now considered guilty, having been indicted by the consecrated rice. Even before the men returned with the recovered necklace, the servant had broken down and confessed.
Great was the rejoicing in the village, jaanam, not least in Haldi Ram’s family and community, and the reputation of my uncle as a learned and devout man was further enhanced, though it was not a reputation Mustapha Chacha ever courted. That evening, when he joined us at the dastakhan for dinner, we asked him about the significance of the event, the means by which he had charmed the rice. He smiled and replied: The greatest charms reside in the human mind,
Similar Books
