Garbi 1
1 - Mata Bhavani is one of the names of Shakti.
2 - See above, p. 44.
3- Explained above, page 44.
Please check with Nagib, regarding these footnotes
.in our text
.we don't have a page 44
.should the footnote be clickable to the one on pg 44
.., which is
Garbi 2
4 - Sat Gur here obviously means the Imam.
5 - The expression "to reign", especially in Paradise, where there obviously cannot be place for rulers and ruled, apparently means nothing beyond "living as princes, in royal style".
Garbi 3
6 -The name of an ancient ascetic.
7 - The name of an ancient ascetic who was cursed. His wife was turned into stone.
8 - Dhruva is the mythological name for the polar star. For the myths connected with it see D., 91.
9 - Prahlād, Prehelad, Pelaj, etc., is the name of a mythical king, see D., 238-9, The bursting of the pillar refers to a miracle of Vishnu.
10 - Reference to the fourth avatar of Vishnu,
11- Harishchandra (see D., 118-9), a mythical king, one of
the heroes mentioned in the Mahabhar'ata. Vishnu saves him from the funeral pyre when he wished
to commit suicide.
12 - Dvapur yug is the third yug which lasted 864,000 years.
Garbi 4
13 - Naklank or Naklanki "stainless", perfectly pure, is apparently a rendering of the Ar. masum the usual epithet of the Imams.
14 - In the original it is plainly "Nizāri", not Nizār, and therefore must be translated by the "Nizāri Imam". To me such reference to the Imam seems utterly strange, because it presupposes familiarity with the other branch of the Imams, the Mustalian. As far as I could ascertain, the gnans never
go into such minute historical details, and reference to the
split is only contained in some later works, based on Muslim
historical literature (which they lavishly mix with legend and
fiction) as the Satveni-ji Vel. If this is to be understood as
simply a reference to the name of the, Imam at the time of the
real author Or translator, it must he Nizār of Kahak who
according to the inscription on his tombstone, was buried in
1134/ 722. Cf. the suspicious reference to Kahak in the Garbis
no. 18, sloka 12, and footnote on p. 75.
Garbi 5
15 - Qāsim Shah (the First) was, according to the traditional
sequence of succession, the Imam who succeeded Sham su din
the son of Ruknu'd-din Khūrshāh. There was, however,
another Qāsim Shah, the father of Abū'l-Hasan 'Ali of Kirman.
who apparently flourished in the second half of the XII/XVIII c.
Garbi 6
16 - Agricultural similes seem to be much used in the gnans ,
especially the expression "Good Harvest", which means salvation
as in the sloka 17 further on.
Garbi 7
17 - By the term "scriptures" the Puranas are meant.
18 - Jampudip, i.e. Jampu-dipa (see D., 132), is one of the
seven divisions of the earth of Hindu cosmology. India forms a part of it.
Garbi 10
19 - Kalap is Sanskr. Kalpa (D., 145), "a day and night of Brahma lasting 4320 millions years". Brahma is the Pir or guru
20 - " Yugs (D., 381) are four, each lasting an "astronomical" period, and the last is the Kali-yug, in which we are at present. In the gnans the word sometimes appears as "yug", and sometimes as "jug".
21 - Rukhi, bewitched by Maya, failed to recognize Vīshnu, and was therefore punished (not in D.)
22 - Jaksh, Sanskr, Yaksha are supernatural beings like the Jinn ((see D. 373.)
23 - About paval cf. above, pp. 36-38.
Garbi 11
24 - Megh, Sanskr. megha , means cloud. Meghmal = megha-mala
means "necklace of the clouds", which may refer to clouds in general, or also to lightning. Apparently some supernatural beings, residing in the clouds, are here in view.
25- Kinners, Kinnars, are supernatural beings, the celestial musicians, in the form of men with horses' heads (D., 158).
26 - Narsinh is one of the avatars of Vishnu.
27 - A king celebrated for his piety who lived at the time of the seventh avatar (see D., 118-9).
28 - Legendary king, the eldest of the Pandavas, famous for his piety (see D., 378-389).
Garbi 12
29 - See above, note on p. 60
Garbi 13
30 - It is not clear which yug is meant here, as this name is not used in Sanskrit works. Apparently it is the last Yug
31 - Note that the Pirs who according to tradition lived long after Pir Shamsh, appear here to be mentioned by him. Apparently such instances of anachronism do not attract the attention of readers.
32 - Cf. above, p.23
Garbi 14
33 - About Qasim Shah cf. above.p.60 the term al-i Imam obviously taken from Persian, originally means "the family of the Imam" but here is used in the sense of the Ismaili term itrat or dhurriyya . It does not mean the family but the line of the Imams in their legitimate succession. It is interesting that further on, in the same poem sloka 9 the author refers to another Imam, Salam Shah. It is not easy to understand the mentality of the author : if Qasim Shah is named the Imam of the time, then how can the followers at the same time recognize Salam Shah as an Imam?
Garbi 16
34 - Hinduism, as is known, knows no Adam. Thus the author here follows Islamic belief, but obviously to reconcile Hinduistic outlook he at once mentions that Adam was the incarnation of Ishavar, i.e. Ishvar, supreme Deity.
35 - The Panj Tan-i Pak , i.e. the Five Pure ones, are, as is well known, Muhammad, Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husayn. Thus Ali is included amongst those who were created from the Divine Light of Ishavar.
Garbi 17
36 - Ma ! means mother, but the word is often used as simply an exclamation of excitement.
37 - Why "bridegroom"? Does not this refer to the secret rites of the Shakti worship alluded to above, p. 38?
38 - The names of the cities, queens and kings are here obviously purely imaginary. Chenab, as is known, is the name of a river.
39 - Mount Meru is the Hindu Paradise (see Do, 208).
40 - Unch or Onch obviously is the modern Uchchh, now in Bahavalpur state, about 80 miles from Multan.
41 - Bahā'u'd-dln Zakariyā Multāni, the famous Sufi, died in 665/1266. His mausoleum is a landmark in Multan. Stories are narrated about his disputes with "Shams Tabrez".
Garbi 18
42 It is impossible to ascertain decisively, but it seems very doubtful whether, immediately after the fall of Alamūt, the Imams lived in Kahak, a village North of Isfahan, on the road to Hamadān, not far from the modem Mahallat: (cf. my paper, "The Tombs of some Persian Ismaili Imams", JBBRAS, 1938 pp 49-62)
Apparently only in the XI/XVIII c. they settled there. It is easy to feel grave doubts as to the genuineness of such references, and suspect that the person who translated the g'nan into Gujrati simply "corrected" the original, thus bringing it "up-to-date". Cf. also footnote on p. 59.
Garbi 19
43 - Such association of the Prophet and 'Ali with celestial bodies is an interesting parallel to similar Nusayri beliefs.
44 - The description of this symbolical figure brings to mind a similar passage in the
Ummu'l-kitab (ed. by W. Ivanow, "Der Islam", 1936, pp. 1-132), pp. 211-212 of the original copy. It is the figure of Fatima in Paradise, and Hasan and Husayn are similarly called her earrings. In India men also wear earrings.
45 - It is noteworthy that a similar idea that tithes should be paid on earnings by manual labour is quite systematically expressed in the gnans . Does this mean that income from trade
or other forms of occupation are tax-free?
Garbi 21.
46 - Pelaj is Prahalad, cf. note on p. 48.
Garbi 25
47 - "Falsehood" here obviously means idol-worship.
48 - It is strange that here the first three Veds are opposed. In many gnans their recognition is regarded as an act giving salvation. The fourth Ved, in the Satpanth doctrine, is the Coran.
Garbi 26