Page:The Sikh Religion, its gurus, sacred writings and authors Vol 6.djvu/430

418 So Sur Das Madan Mohan now At dead of night hath run away.

The Emperor on reading these verses said that eating was an excellent thing, but absconding was not a course to be commended. He was even pleased to learn Sur Das's generosity and service to saints, and accordingly wrote an order pardoning his offence and expressing satisfaction at his devotion to holy men, but at the same time requesting him to appear before him. Sur Das said that it was a thousand times better to wipe the shoes of holy men than be governor and revenue collector of a province, and he refused to appear before Akbar. Todar Mai, Akbar's Prime Minister, could tolerate it no longer. He said to the Emperor, 'If such people can with impunity spend the money which belongs to the state and then abscond, there will be an end to all government.' Under the circumstances Akbar altered his resolution and ordered that Sur Das should be imprisoned. The poet's jailor was named Timir Das. The word timir means night or darkness; and the word das, if pronounced with a short vowel, means ten. From his prison the poet sent the Emperor the following couplet, which in the original contains a pun on the name of the jailor.

Sur Das was immediately released from prison and the governor of the jail obtained the sobriquet of Ten Nights from the pun on his name.

Sur Das subsequently wrote a stanza in which he prayed that the title of shoe-holder to the saints of God might be conferred on him. A holy man, to put him to the test, told him he was going to see the great lord Madan Mohan, also an epithet of Krishan, and asked him to keep watch