Gopi Chand ka Biyavalo (The Epic Tale of Gopi Chand - Instructions from Gorakh Nath)
Madhu Natisar Nath and Shivji Nath
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Gopi Chand ka Biyavalo (The Epic Tale of Gopi Chand - Instructions from Gorakh Nath)
This is a part of the chapter "Instructions from Gorakh Nath" of Gopi Chand ka biyavalo. It concerns a dispute between Gorakh Nath and Kanni Pavji, a disciple of Jalindar. Kanni Pavji informed Gorakh that his guru Machhindar Nath was living in Bengal and had fallen prey to worldly desires. Gorakh in turn told Kanni Pavji that his guru Jalindar Nath was in the bottom of a well. Then Gorakh Nath went and rescued Machhindar Nath, and brought him back. On returning, he tricked Jalindar Nath into granting immortality to Bharthari and Gopi Chand, and persuaded him to emerge from the well. Subsequently, Gorakh Nath organized a "wish-feast", where whatever food an invitee wishes for will materialize in his cup. The disciples of Kanni Pavji asked for snakes, lizards, scorpions, goat heads, buffalo heads and other inedible things, thinking Gorakh will not be able to produce them and thus suffer humiliation. However, Gorakh succeeded in this as well. Kanni Pavji's disciples were first forced to eat the things they had wished for, and then condemned to a life as wandering snake-charmers. All the rest lived happily ever after. The section presented here describes how Gorakh Nath tricked Jalindar Nath into making Bharthari and Gopi Chand immortal. He went to the well in which Jalindar Nath was meditating. He made two dolls out of grass and named them Gopi Chand and Bharthari. Then he instructed (the real) Gopi Chand and Bharthari to start beating loudly on a drum. When an irritated Jalindar asked who was playing the drum, Gorakh Nath replied "Gopi Chand and Bharthari." Jalindar Nath said "Ashes! Let Gopi Chand and Bharthari be ashes!" And the two dolls burnt down. Gorakh Nath repeated the entire rigmarole a second time. Once again, the dolls were reduced to ashes. The third time it happened, and Jalindar Nath was told Gopi Chand and Bharthari were playing the drum, he declared, "As long as the earth shall be/ Live Gopi Chand and Bharthari." In other words, he promised them the boon of immortality.