COLUMN: VOTIVE AND PROTECTIVE TALES.

There is a kind of literature in Urdu called muraadi kahaaniyan [votive tales] which are listened to in gratitude upon the fulfilment of a prayer. While praying for something - happiness, prosperity, marriage, children, etc - the person making the prayer solicits the intercession of a saint on her or his behalf, and pledges to make a food offering and listen to the history of that saint's life and deeds.

The votive tales serve the function of keeping alive and propagating the memory of the lives and deeds of saints. These tales must be listened to with devotion, after cleansing the body. If someone forgets to listen to the votive tale after a prayer has been answered, something can likely go wrong. However, if the missed offering is made and the votive tale listened to, the calamity may be reversed.

Another kind of tale is one which offers protection against calamity. One example is Teesray Ke Chaand Ki Kahaani [Tale of the Third Day's Moon], the sight of which, according to the tale, is inauspicious, and can be guarded against by listening to the tale's narration.

If a person is suffering from the adverse effects of sighting the third day's moon and is unable to find someone who can narrate the tale, she or he can recite to others the tale of their own woes for relief. A summary of the Tale of the Third Day's Moon is given below, whose opening has similarities with Qissa Agar-o-Gul (translated as A Girl Named King Agar).

Tale of the Third Day's Moon

Once upon a time, there was a king who had no offspring. His vizier, too, was childless. One day, the queen was giving audience in her vestibule when she saw a faqeer [mendicant] asking for alms in the neighbourhood. The queen sent for him and offered him gold and silver, but the faqeer refused them, saying that he would not accept alms from the house of a barren woman. Upon hearing these words, the queen became sorrowful.

If someone forgets to listen to the votive tale after a prayer has been answered, something can likely go wrong. However, if the missed offering is made and the votive tale listened to, the calamity may be reversed.

When the king returned to the palace, he found the queen in tears and asked her the reason. Upon learning what had happened, the king went in search of the faqeer. He found him saying his prayers in a forest. When the faqeer finished his prayers and asked the king why he was there, the king replied that he would not leave his side until his fortunes changed and he...