My Mother — Page 15
Trial of Faith 15 placed in a bowl fashioned out of flour, turmeric powder, and melted butter and the concoction should be placed at the highest point above the roof of the house. The wick should be lighted on the birth of the child. Husain Bibi mentioned the dream to her husband. At the time indicated in the dream I was born, the date being February 6, 1893. When the happy mother regained conscious- ness, she noticed certain articles on her bedside table. Her sister- in-law, my father’s first cousin, was tending her. She enquired what those articles were, and was told those were the articles indicated in her dream. protested that she would have no truck with any of that nonsense. My aunt said, ‘But my cousin (meaning my father) thinks there is no harm in it. ’ Indeed there is great harm, affirmed the mother. All this is superstition. Allah is the Lord of life and death. If He bestows life on this morsel of humanity, it shall live, and if He calls it away it must die. I shall not put my faith in jeopardy by indulging in any senseless proceeding. With that she put forth her feeble arm and swept the silly articles away from the table. That was the end of Jai Devi, so far as was concerned. The wretched woman dragged on her miserable existence for many years. Everyone shunned her. When she grew feeble, there was no one to look after her. She found it difficult to procure food, and in her extremity she could not even get drinking water. In the end she set a light to her bedcover and was burnt to death.