and of impure Musalman literature;[1] but Hindus in the age of Nanak applied themselves to it as they do now—for the simple purpose of obtaining a livelihood. Nanak soon astonished his Persian as he had previously astonished his Hindu teacher. In reply to Rukn-ul-Din's injunctions he assumed the role of teacher in turn and composed the following acrostic on the letters of the Persian alphabet :—
ALIF.Remember God and banish neglect of Him from thy heart.
Accursed the life of him in this world who breatheth without uttering the Name.
BE.Renounce heresy and walk according to the Shariat.[2]
Be humble before every one, and call no one bad.
TE.Repent with sincerity of heart lest thou afterwards grieve.
Thy body shall perish: thy mouth shall be buried with it; what canst thou do then?
SE.Praise God very much; draw not thy breath without doing so,
Or thou shalt be offered for sale from shop to shop, and not an adh[3] shall be obtained for thee.
JIM.Put together travelling expenses, and pack up wherewithal to go with thee:
Without the Lord thou shalt trudge about wearily.
HE.Embrace humility, renounce the pride of thy heart;
Restrain thy wandering mind, O Rukn-ul-Din, and every moment remember thy Creator.
KHE.They were traitors who forgot their Creator;
- ↑ In the institutes of Parāsar there is found an injunction not to speak the language of the inhabitants of Yavan—a word which originally meant Greece, but was afterwards applied to Arabia—even though it save life from issuing by the throat. Parāsar possessed the Hindu abhorrence of strange countries and gave expression to it. His words are now understood by the Hindus to refer to the language of the Musalmāns, though there were no Musalmāns for centuries after his time.
- ↑ Muhammadan law.
- ↑ About an eighth of a farthing of English money.
