Near the small town of Naushahro in the district of Nawabshah, there is
an old fort called Murad jo Killo or Murad’s Fort. It is a big place,
but crumbling to ruins; still the walls that remain are so wide that
three men, so it is said, can sleep on them side by side. There is also
in that part of the country a proverbial saying, used when anyone
grumbles at his lot, “Does he want Murad jo phaho” (the noose of
Murad). Now this is the tale that is told both of the fort and of the
proverbial saying:
Somewhere in the early part of the eighteenth century, when Nur Mahomed
Kalhoro was ruler of Sind, he had as jamadar or headman of his
grass-cutters a certain Murad, known as Murad Ganjo or Murad the Bald.
So completely had his hair vanished, that you might have looked all
over his head from north to south and from east to west and then any
other way you liked, but you would not have found a single hair on any
part of it. Murad used daily to inspect the grass-cutters’ work and
when on this duty, he noticed an old half-mad woman called Fatima. For
some days he paid no attention to her. Then it occurred to him that the
old woman might be a witch or sorceress, whom it might be well to
propitiate; so he reverently went up to her and asked for her blessing.
The old woman looked at him attentively and then blessed him, adding
“Murad the Bald, you will become a kardar,” or as we should say
nowadays a tapedar or talati. Murad thought no more about the prophecy
until one day Nur Mahomed Kalhoro, in return for Murad’s honesty and
hard work, promoted him from jamadar of grass-cutters to be a kardar.
Murad was now quite certain that the old woman was a real sorceress,
one to be made much of in every way. For many months he brought her
daily small gifts of food or money; then he summoned up courage to ask
again for her blessing. Again the old woman looked at him intently,
blessed him and added “Murad the Bald, you will be a naib subha,” or as
we should say nowadays a Deputy Collector. Not many months passed
before Nur Mahomed Kalhoro, still more pleased with Murad’s steady and
faithful work, promoted him to be a Naib Subha. There is a French
proverb which says L’appétit vient en mangeant, that is to say the
greedy are never satisfied; and Murad began to feel soon that the post
of Naib Subha was far beneath his merits. He plied the old woman with
more valuable gifts and for the third time asked her blessing. She
looked intently at him as before and blessing him for the third time
said “Murad the Bald, you will become a subha” or as we should say a
Collector of a district. Murad the Bald not very long afterwards was
given charge of a district, thereby reaching a post far above his
deserts. He was still an ignorant, unlettered boor and for a time he
was fully satisfied with his office. He built the great fort known as
Murad jo Killo and seemed perfectly contented. But after a year or two
be began to think that the old woman, who had raised him so high, might
raise him higher still, might make him a king or perhaps even emperor
of Delhi. After all stranger things had happened before and “Allah
alone knoweth all.” Tortured by his insatiable greed, Murad the Bald
showered jewels and gold on the old woman and for the fourth time asked
for her blessing. But this time a terrible thing occurred. Instead of
the fixed kindly look, that she had been used to give him, her eyes
flashed with demoniac fury and instead of a blessing, she cursed him
“Murad the Bald,” she screamed at him “you will rise higher still, you
will be hanged.” Poor Murad left the witch as she raved and gnashed her
teeth and going home, tried in vain to put the matter out of his mind.
Now it so happened that the Afghan ruler of Multan, Nadir Khan by name,
lost the youngest and most beautiful of his wives. She fell in love
with one of her lord’s servants and ran away with him right out of the
Multan province into Murad’s district. She took with her a huge diamond
and a priceless manuscript on surgery and medicine. Murad the Bald came
to hear of the arrival of the two fugitives and promptly took from them
the diamond and the manuscript, which he stored in the royal treasure
house of Nur Mahomed Kalhoro. The queen and her lover, fearing that
they might themselves be detained and given over to Nadir Khan, fled
from Sind pretending that they were going on a pilgrimage to Mecca.
In the meantime the indignant Nadir Khan in vain looked all over his
kingdom for his missing queen and servant. At last he learnt that she
and her lover had fled into the lands of Nur Mahomed Kalhoro. Nadir
Khan summoned his army and marching to the frontier, demanded the
surrender of the queen and her lover, the diamond and the manuscript.
Nur Mahomed Kalhoro enquired of Murad and learnt that the guilty couple
had fled, but that the diamond and the manuscript were safe in his
treasury. He sent back the manuscript and the diamond. “These came into
our hands,” he wrote, “but they do not belong to us. The guilty couple
have fled, so we cannot return them, but take the manuscript and the
diamond since they are yours. We do not want them nor do we wish for
war. Nevertheless, if you are bent on war, we shall accept your
challenge. We shall gladly shew you how strong are our arms and how
sharp are our swords.”
Nadir Khan liked Nur Mahomed’s answer and instead of war there was
peace, and instead of battles and skirmishes there were visits and
reviews and banquets. Nevertheless Nadir the Afghan was not quite sure
that Nur Mahomed Kalhoro had not seized his beautiful queen and hidden
her in some deep recess of his own harem. He sent for Murad and begged
him to speak the truth: “If my queen and servant have really gone to
Mecca, it is useless to search for them here; but if Nur Mahomed
Kalhoro is secretly keeping my queen, then I shall slay him and give
his throne to the man, who tells me the whole truth.” As Murad listened
to the words of the Afghan, Satan the Stoned seized his five senses.
Forgetting all his master’s kindness and favours, he thought to himself
that there now stretched in front of him an open and easy road to a
throne. With seeming reluctance he confessed that the queen and her
paramour had never left Sind. Nur Mahomed Kalhoro had taken the queen
to be his concubine and had cut off the head of her paramour with a
single stroke of his sword, just as if he had been a buffalo. Nadir the
Afghan believing Murad and angry at what he believed to be the double
dealing of Nur Mahomed Kalhoro, resolved to march into Sind and to seat
Murad on the throne in his place. He had gone only one march when the
news reached him that his missing queen and her lover had been found in
the country of a neighbouring Raja, who was sending them back in chains
to their master.
Nadir the Afghan was now as angry with Murad as he had been with Nur
Mahomed Kalhoro. He told the latter the lying tale told by his subha
Murad. Mahomed Nur was shocked at the ingratitude of the base born
wretch on whom he had lavished favours. His horsemen rode out and
seized Murad the Bald and at the king’s orders, hanged him from the
battlements of his own fortress. So ended the fortunes of the greedy
and faithless adventurer; and that is why men say to-day that it is
better to be contented with one’s lot than to rise so high that in the
end one dangles from the end of a rope forty or fifty feet above the
ground.