My Mother — Page 9
Trial of Faith 9 more good-looking and winsome than Zafar. His grandfather told his mother: ‘Till this one begins to run about and can be parted from you, it will not be wise for you to visit Data Zaidka. ’ She remained in Daska till Rafiq was almost two years old. Then a close relative of hers died and she had to go to Data Zaidka on a condolence visit. Rafiq’s grandfather suggested that she should not take him with her, but she could not reconcile herself to the separation, and the grandfather let her take him on condition that their visit should not last longer than a week or ten days. A couple of days after they arrived at Data Zaidka, Jai Devi came and repeated her demand, and received the same reply from Rafiq’s mother. On this occasion her father protested and urged compliance, observing that it was only a matter of articles worth a few rupees, and that if she had any scruple they would provide the articles. She pointed out that what was involved were not articles worth a few rupees, but the sincerity of her faith in God. How could she bring herself to acknowledge that a poor helpless woman was in control of her child’s life? That would be outra- geous blasphemy. Her child would live if God granted him life; but, if He did not grant him life, no one else could keep him alive. She would not compromise her faith, whether the child lived or died. Three or four days later she heard in her dream a woman of the village bewail that Jai Devi had killed her child by extracting its liver, and no one had taken her to task for her enormity. Had this calamity befallen some high-placed member of the community, the witch would have been expelled from the village in disgrace. Rafiq’s mother admonished the woman in her dream: ‘Life and death are in the hands of God; Jai Devi has no concern with them.