144 
G. A. Grierson —The Sonfj of Bijai Mai. 
[Sp. No. 
into the world ? Shame upon their lives.’ (730) Up rose Prince Bijai 
and said, ‘ What is ^Jour mother like, and what your husband like, 
that you whose body is lovely as a flower, (735) are allowed to wander 
alone in the forest. Shame upon their lives.’ ‘ What is your Honour’s 
father’s name, and what your mother’s ? What is the name of your 
brother (740) and of his wife ?’ Up rose Prince Bijai and said, ‘ What 
is your Honour’s father’s name, and what your mother’s ?’ Saith Tilki, 
(745) ‘ My father’s name is Bawan Sdba, my brother’s Manik Chand^ 
and my mother’s Maina.’ Saith Prince Bijai, ‘ My father’s name is 
Gorakh Singh, (750) and my mother’s Ghaghelwa. My brother’s name is 
Bandhir Chhattri, and his wife’s name is Sonmati.’ Up rose Princess 
Tilki, and said, ‘ What is the name of your wife’s father, (755) and what 
of her brother, and mother ? and what is your wife’s' name ?’ Up rose 
Prince Bijai and said, ‘ What is the name of your husband’s father, (760) 
and what of your husband’s elder brother ? What is the name of that 
elder brother’s wife, and what is the name of your husband ?’ Saith 
Tilki, ‘My husband’s father’s name is Gorakh Singh, (765) and my 
husband’s elder brother’s name is Bandhir Chhattri. My husband’s 
mother’s name is Gaghelwa, and that of my husband’s brother’s wife is 
Sonmati, but I never came to know my husband’s name.’ Saith Prince 
Bijai, (770) ‘ My wife’s father’s name is Bawan Siiba, and her mother’s 
name is Maina, but my wife’s name I never came to know.’ When 
Tilki heard these words she turned back her face which had been facing 
him,^ (775) and Chalhki rose and said, ‘ Hear, my,brother-in-law,f you 
have been talking to your wife before you have taken her to your house. J 
0 Prince, you must pay the customary forfeit.’ The Prince gave her 
a gold mohar, (780) and then she continued, ‘ 0 Prince, in excellent 
manner will I prepare the marriage platform for you, and will send for a 
well-read pandit. In excellent manner will I send you home with your 
wife.’ Up rose Prince Bijai and said, (785) ‘ I have taken the thirty-six 
gods upon my head (in a vow) that till I shall have cut my father’s chains 
(I will not do this).’ Then said the goddess Diirga to him, ‘ Leap upon 
A woman cannot talk to her husband in public. 
t A is the husband of a husband’s sister (^*J^). A woman is 
billowed to banter with her Chalhki, of course, was not really married to 
Tilki’s brother, but amongst women of the same village who are friends, it is cus¬ 
tomary to call each other sister or other blood-relations and when not of the same 
village, sister-in-law or other relationship by marriage. In verse 678 we have seen 
that Chalhki and the princess were great friends, and from this it evidently appears 
that they did not belong to the same village. Hence they called each other sister- 
in-law. And as Chalhki called Tilki her husband’s sister, she exercised the privilege 
of bantering Tilki’s husband. 
X See note about gaund to verse 179. 
