Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/471

 The Folklore hi the Legends of the Punjab. 431

the casting of horoscopes, or the grant of peeps into the future, is the peculiar province of the Brahmans.

The whole vast fabric of fortune-telling, prophecy, sooth- saying, oracle-making, built up by the various kinds of Indian priesthood, is throughout Indian folklore and in the Legends to be seen to clearly rest on the universal and ineradicable belief in fate. Allusions to it are innumerable, and every act or chance of human life is referred to it as a matter of course — as an accepted incontrovertible proposition. The terms for fate and life are even found to be mutually con- vertible, though instances do occur in which, especially among Muhammadans, fate is distinguished from the conse- quences of evil deeds, being perhaps an echo there of Christian or Jewish or even Buddhist teaching. Of such a sentiment the following is an example : " If a bullet strike thy forehead, know it is the reward of thy (evil) deeds, know it not for thy fate." But such ideas as this are, however, extremely rare in story, and habitually every event is attri- buted to the action of fate.

Perhaps the best way of obtaining a comprehension of the depth and width of the sentiment of fatality among the Indian populace — a notion of the extent to which it per- meates their ideas as to the causes of the events of every- day life — is by an examination of the ipsissma verba of the bards and popular singers, for which the Legends afford very many opportunities. It will then be seen that the popular philosopy really amounts to this — every occurrence is fated, the action of fate is visible in every event, is in- evitable, is pre-ordained, "written," or decreed. The very terms in which the actors in the Legends apostrophise Fate shows this strongly. Cries an unfortunate more than once: "What, Fate, hast thou written in my fate?" Cry others again and again : " O Fate, what hast thou done ? " " O Fate, what is this that thou hast resolved on ? "

Widely differing occurrences are repeatedly attributed to the direct action of fate. Typical expressions are the