Tradition Bearers - Dastangos
Translation - Stuti
After a while Amar grew very uncomfortable in his position, although he had asked for it, he did not like being alone, and he would fall unconscious or lay praying when suddenly he heard somebody wish him “Salaam”, Amar wondered if he was hallucinating. How could it be possible to find someone in the middle of the ocean? he looked up to see a divine man wearing green robes, a cap. Amar on asking found out that this was Hazrat Khijr sent by God to rescue him from his situation. Feeling very hungry Amar asked his savior for some food, and water. At this Hazrat retrieved for Amar a small piece of bread and some very little water. An indignant Amar started fighting – “ Sire you are God’s messenger and I can never hope to equal you, but this is no way to treat a man in peril, how do you expect me to satisfy my hunger with this morsel of food”, Khwaja asked him to have good faith and try and finish it, and as much as he tried the small piece of bread remained as it was and the water he couldn't drink enough to finish. Amar was pleased and begged Khwaja to partake the bread and water to him as his blessing, Khwaja agreed and hoped that they would help Amar in times of need. He instructed Amar to carry to Amir the drum that he had played and all other things atop the pillar. At this Amar had two questions to ask- how was he expected to carry this stuff and how could it be expected from him to carry the stuff? Khwaja gave him a blanket and said there would be no load, he asked Amar to recite holy incantations with closed eyes and once opened Amar found himself on the island of Ceylon
A despondent Amir Hamza did not expect Amar to have survived and declared forty days of mourning in the memory of his beloved, departed friend after landing in Ceylon. Amar meanwhile after reaching wandered here and there he chanced upon an abandoned mosque where five people were praying, he joined them. Four were on horses, one was on foot, on asking the fifth replied - "We are all martyrs, and departed souls on our way to God's kingdom, my comrades lost their lives with their horses, so they mount them, pray take a detour to my house where I will tell you the location of a buried treasure, give 1/3rd of it to my family,you may keep a third yourself and with the remaining and buy a steed and give it away in charity in God's name, thus I will be relieved of walking on foot." Amar followed the instructions faithfully. On his way back from there, he rested under a tree and fell asleep, on awakening he found a man on his right, the man introduced himself as Hazrat Ilyas and gave Amar two gifts, one was a net in which he could roll in as many things as he liked, the second was a blanket which could make him invisible. Amar gladly accepted these and made his way to Hamza's encampment.
On reaching there he was troubled to see people dressed for mourning and alms being distributed to the poor, on inquiring he was touched to find that his friend had done this all in his memory fearing him to be dead. To announce his return, we waited for dusk and he nightmare'd himself in all the generals tents, using the blanket that made him invisible he told them he was the messenger of death, and this way taking full advantage of their fright he extorted money from them all, the next day he made his invisible way to Hamza's tent. After pestering him for a while, when in the danger of being punched on the face he revealed himself to his friend, gave him the drum and other things and narrated his story of gifts and adventures. Needless to say the friends were very happy to be reunited with each other.
Translation - Stuti
There had been some thunderstorms, but by the grace of Amar’s prayers (as he declared to everybody) to Hazrat Ilyas they all cleared, and the weather cleared up, the merry wind carried forth the ships
and the oarsmen put their oars aside and everybody cheered up in temperament. However the happiness was short-lived, the boatmen announced they foresaw a storm coming in, and that coupled with the fact that the Sikandari (Alexander’s whirlpool) was also very close by, navigation through these troubled waters would prove to be extremely difficult. At this Amar as usual was the first to lose heart, he started crying aloud – “Dear Uncle Ilyas, save us - when I reach ashore I promise to offer my prayers and offerings in your holy name” sometimes he would cry aloud “Hazrat Khwaj Khijr – please talk to your brother on my behalf, lobby with God to help us reach the shore safely” at this an exasperated Amir cried out – “What is up with you now? Why do you keep crying out aloud in God's name!” , peril was however at hand, the crew said “Sir its only God who can save us through his intervention from what lies ahead” there were rumblings of a great storm already when the ship reached the dreaded whirlpool from which few had escaped. The ship was caught in its midst and started rocking, moving towards the eye of the storm, along with the huge ripples, at this people started getting faint, Amir however looked very carefully, in the center of the whirlpool was a big stone pillar, on top of which was a white slab of stone with black inscription in Arabic. He started to read and found the pillar mentioned that Sahibkiran’s ships (as Hamza himself was called) would come here and when his ship was stuck in the whirlpool he or one of his men should climb atop the pillar and beat the drum kept there very loudly and the ship would be allowed to pass.
and the oarsmen put their oars aside and everybody cheered up in temperament. However the happiness was short-lived, the boatmen announced they foresaw a storm coming in, and that coupled with the fact that the Sikandari (Alexander’s whirlpool) was also very close by, navigation through these troubled waters would prove to be extremely difficult. At this Amar as usual was the first to lose heart, he started crying aloud – “Dear Uncle Ilyas, save us - when I reach ashore I promise to offer my prayers and offerings in your holy name” sometimes he would cry aloud “Hazrat Khwaj Khijr – please talk to your brother on my behalf, lobby with God to help us reach the shore safely” at this an exasperated Amir cried out – “What is up with you now? Why do you keep crying out aloud in God's name!” , peril was however at hand, the crew said “Sir its only God who can save us through his intervention from what lies ahead” there were rumblings of a great storm already when the ship reached the dreaded whirlpool from which few had escaped. The ship was caught in its midst and started rocking, moving towards the eye of the storm, along with the huge ripples, at this people started getting faint, Amir however looked very carefully, in the center of the whirlpool was a big stone pillar, on top of which was a white slab of stone with black inscription in Arabic. He started to read and found the pillar mentioned that Sahibkiran’s ships (as Hamza himself was called) would come here and when his ship was stuck in the whirlpool he or one of his men should climb atop the pillar and beat the drum kept there very loudly and the ship would be allowed to pass.
Amir immediately readied himself to go but was stopped by Amar; he reminded Amir that one of his men could also go, "So why not me?" While he said this he thought to himself, "Ill sit happily atop the pillar, I anyway hate the sea, Ill take a ride on a ship passing by and since I don't have a family to care for, I can pass my life this way roaming in distant land." However before leaving he delivered an emotional speech and bade everyone to pay him for his remarkable feat of risking his life for them, he took a full breath and jumped with all his might, however he fell short and dropped below into the jaws of a waiting alligator, luckily for him he tried jumping again from over the alligator's teeth and landed on top of the pillar, he played the drum there with all his might and there was a huge uproar as all the sea creatures came up and the wind of the flapping of the birds, helped push Hamza’s ship out of harm’s way.
A despondent Amir Hamza did not expect Amar to have survived and declared forty days of mourning in the memory of his beloved, departed friend after landing in Ceylon. Amar meanwhile after reaching wandered here and there he chanced upon an abandoned mosque where five people were praying, he joined them. Four were on horses, one was on foot, on asking the fifth replied - "We are all martyrs, and departed souls on our way to God's kingdom, my comrades lost their lives with their horses, so they mount them, pray take a detour to my house where I will tell you the location of a buried treasure, give 1/3rd of it to my family,you may keep a third yourself and with the remaining and buy a steed and give it away in charity in God's name, thus I will be relieved of walking on foot." Amar followed the instructions faithfully. On his way back from there, he rested under a tree and fell asleep, on awakening he found a man on his right, the man introduced himself as Hazrat Ilyas and gave Amar two gifts, one was a net in which he could roll in as many things as he liked, the second was a blanket which could make him invisible. Amar gladly accepted these and made his way to Hamza's encampment.
On reaching there he was troubled to see people dressed for mourning and alms being distributed to the poor, on inquiring he was touched to find that his friend had done this all in his memory fearing him to be dead. To announce his return, we waited for dusk and he nightmare'd himself in all the generals tents, using the blanket that made him invisible he told them he was the messenger of death, and this way taking full advantage of their fright he extorted money from them all, the next day he made his invisible way to Hamza's tent. After pestering him for a while, when in the danger of being punched on the face he revealed himself to his friend, gave him the drum and other things and narrated his story of gifts and adventures. Needless to say the friends were very happy to be reunited with each other.
