Besides folktales, India also has an abundance of proverbs, many of which have their origin in ancient history. Proverbs are used regularly in daily conversation and, in earlier days, were sung by women as they went about their household chores. Native speakers might even use them to emphasise their point of view during a heated discussion.
Sari Ramayana sun-ke puchha Sita kis ki joru thi?
Translation: After listening to the whole Ramayana, he asks whose wife Sita was.
This saying expresses annoyance with someone who, after listening to an entire discourse, asks a most fundamental question, revealing that he was either distracted or is so stupid that he did not understand the basic facts. It refers to the Hindu epic the Ramayana, which is well-known to every Indian. This saying essentially pokes fun at a person for his ignorance.
Duba bans Kabir ka jo upja put Kamal.
Translation: The race of Kabir became extinct when his son Kamal was born.
This expression refers to the Indian mystic Kabir, a 15th-century Indian saint, known for his devotion to God and his poetry and lyrics espousing his universal spiritual teachings. When Kabir’s son Kamal was still an infant, he guided the child according to his policy of universal benevolence and taught him to treat all mankind as one. Kabir suggested that Kamal look upon all women as his mother, sister or daughter. When Kamal came of age, Kabir asked him to look for a wife. Kamal responded by asking how he could marry his mother, sister or daughter, since the world comprised only these categories of women. He refused to get married and thus brought an end to the family lineage.
Ya base Gujar, ya rahe ujar.
Translation: May Gujars live here or else may
it remain uninhabited.
(Gujars are members of the northern Indian Gujar tribe.)
According to myth, when the monarch of Delhi, Ghiyas ud-din Tughlaq, was building his fort at Tughlaqabad, near Delhi, Sufi saint Nizamuddin Aulea began to sink a well in its vicinity, which disrupted the work at the fort. The king, annoyed at this affront, immediately ordered all the workers to stop work at the well and to focus their energies on the construction of the fort. This only spurred the workers to split the tasks, and they worked at the fort during the day and at the well at night. One day, when the king observed workers at the fort site sleeping during the day, he questioned them closely and learned the truth. Further incensed, he ordered all the shopkeepers in the area to stop selling oil for the lamps to Nizamuddin. But even this move failed to deter the Sufi saint from completing the work on his well. Fed up with the situation, the king ordered Nizamuddin to be executed, to which the saint reacted by pronouncing a curse: “May lightning strike Tughlaq; may Gujars live in his fort or it remain uninhabited.” Soon after, the king was struck by lightning and since then, the fort has fallen to ruin, inhabited partially by Gujars and low caste Muslims.
Ninnanve ghare dudh men ek ghara pani kiya jana jae.
Translation: A pitcher of water cannot be noticed
among 99 pitchers of milk.
This saying has its origins in the court of Mughal Emperor Akbar. According to legend, Akbar asked his minister Birbal which was the most untrustworthy class in the kingdom. Birbal replied that milkmen were not to be trusted. To prove his point, he ordered all the milkmen to fill a tank with pure milk by pouring a pitcher of milk each into the tank. Each milkman poured in a pitcher of water instead, thinking to himself that no one would find out that he had put water in the tank of milk. When Akbar went to see the tank, it was filled with pure water, thus proving Birbal’s surmise.