12th Hikayat

12th Hikayat is the last Hikayat of Composition of Hikayat ani of Dasam Granth, In Hikayat twelve the series of stories reaches a climax of horror in the story of a Pathan woman who, out of fear for her husband, kills her lover, cooks him and serves him up as a special feast to her hungry husband and friends, thus winning his approval by her wifely devotion. He then goes and kills the informer.

 Zafarnamah  

ææ Beginning ææ Hikayat 2 ææ Hikayat 3 ææ Hikayat 4 ææ Hikayat 5 ææ Hikayat 6 ææ Hikayat 7 ææ ææ Hikayat 8 ææ Hikayat 9 ææ Hikayat 10 ææ Hikayat 11 ææ Hikayat 12 (End of Zafarnamah)) ææ

Translation by Pritpal Singh Bindra

Hikayat - Tale Twelve

Glory to God
He is blissful and endows abundance of amenities.
He is nurturer and emancipators.(1)

He is compassionate and provider of shelter.
He is magnanimous and knows all in the earth and heavens.(2)

I have heard a Tale at the lofty Khaiber Mountains.
There lived a Pathan whose name was Raheem.(3)

He had a wife who was as delightful as moon.
Her looks alone were homicidal for many a Princes.(4)

Like the clouds of rainy-season, her eyelashes had electrifying effect,
Which struck them (the princes) like arrows.(5)

The shine from her face made them to forget even the moon.
To all the Princes, she was epitome of the garden in the spring.(6)

Her eyelids were twined like a bow,
And they shot out calamitous arrows.(7)

Her looks accorded the ecstasy of wine,
And, as well as, desolated the blooming gardens,(8)

She was ravishingly beautiful and surpassed all norms of exquisiteness.
She was graceful, no doubt, but she possessed archaic thought.(9)

There lived a Pathan, called Hassan Khan at the same place.
The wisdom of his thought was quite mature.(10)

They both loved each other so much,
That even Majnu (Romeo) and Laila (Juliet) would have been envious of them.(11)

The love in them became so intense,
That they lost the control of reins and stirrups.(12)

She invited him home all alone,
And seeing him she was over-powered with lust.(13)

When eating and drinking, two, three and four months had passed by,
One of their enemies informed the Master.(14)

Raheem Khan Pathan flew into rage,
And, roaring, drew his sword from the scabbard.(15)

When she received the news that her husband was coming,
She killed that man with a sword.(16)

She put his meat in a saucepan, added spices,
And put it on fire.(17)

She served that cooked meat to her husband.
With what was left over, she entertained the servants.(18)

Her husband was satisfied that there was no other person there.
He went back and killed the person who had brought the news.(19)

(The poet says)

‘Oh! Saki, Give me the cup full of green (liquid),
‘Which I need at the time of struggle.(20)

‘Fill it up to the brim, so that I can drink it with every breath,
‘And forget the afflictions of both the worlds.(21)(12)

Tale Twelve – Complete