In this column, we return to the structure of Qissa Chhabili Bhattiyari [Chhabili the Innkeeper] discussed earlier, to study how its opening foreshadows Chhabili’s violent end, what it tells us about the concern of this qissa, and how this concern prevails in other such narratives of this genre, where the lack of an heir threatens a kingdom’s future and the continuous prosperity of its subjects.

The qissa opens with the introduction of Sikandar Shah who, for all appearances, is a good king. “...liberal as Hatim Tai, as just as Naushervan, and the possessor of as great a fortune as Qarun. What he did not possess, however, was an offspring to call his heir.”

At the outset, we learn that all other qualities and his great fortune notwithstanding, the childless Sikandar Shah cut a sorry figure. With all his virtues and resources, Sikandar Shah is under a curse, and in some ways unworthy of his line continuing. Could it be Divine judgment against the king, or something else?

One day, sitting in his private hall of assembly, the king sees a sweeper. When their eyes meet, the sweeper turns away after casting a dispirited look at him. The king realises that the sweeper turned away at the sight of him because he was afraid of attracting bad luck, seeing a childless person’s face early in the morning.

Sikandar Shah reflects that while he and his father before him had kept alive their ancestors’ names, there was nobody to carry forward his line. Deciding that a life of mendicancy would be preferable to such an accursed kingship, he appoints his vizier to rule the kingdom and goes out into the forest, wrapped in an unstitched sheet of cloth.

As he is sitting sad and despondent in the forest, God is pleased by Sikandar Shah’s humility. A holy personage appears to Sikandar Shah who gives him his blessings, and tells him that he should return to his throne, and that a son will be born to him. The mysterious curse has been lifted from Sikandar Shah’s head. Turns out, God only wanted Sikandar Shah to demonstrate a modicum of humility, understandably an important virtue for a king.

By the time Prince Zaman is born to the king, this rather short qissa has committed almost a thousand words to the subject of heirship. Qissas justifiably represent the continuation of a benevolent king’s rule as a material good for the subjects, and hence the centrality of royal births to qissas. And it is always a good king who is worried about his heir, never an evil king.

The nature of adventures that befall the qissa characters, and how they become involved in them, are another important clue to the qissa’s anatomy. Once Prince Zaman grows up and his association with the innkeeper Chhabili becomes known, a match is arranged for him with the beautiful Bichhittar. Chhabili soon discovers Bichhittar’s beauty, and decides to start a rumour that Bichhittar is so hideous and monstrous that the prince would die from terror upon beholding her.

With this ploy, Chhabili hopes to continue her relationship with the prince. The silliness of the ploy is revealing of Chhabili’s nature, but the insular and cowardly Zaman Shah is also gullible. He believes Chhabili, and studiously avoids looking at Bichhittar or initiating any intimacies. There is no consummation of Zaman Shah and Bichhittar Kunwari’s marriage as a result.

The qissa had already suggested that not having an heir was shameful for Sikandar Shah, and a portent of ill-luck, to the extent that a lowly sweeper would not deign to look at him. The situation was serious enough that Divine intercession brought about the birth of Zaman Shah.

The reader’s sympathy for Chhabili and her love for the prince may blind her or him to Chhabbili’s actions when they flout the qissa’s interest: the continuity of the throne. The jealous and loving Chhabili has unwittingly painted a target on herself, for the reader would be mistaken to think that the qissa’s concern with the stability of its universe, which is tied to an heir’s birth, and which, in turn, has a direct bearing on the weal and prosperity of the kingdom’s subjects, was forgotten after Prince Zaman was born. The future of Zaman Shah’s throne is equally important. A child born of Chhabili would not rise to the throne, but a child born of Bichhittar Kunwari would.

The triumph of the hero or heroine is central to the qissa. It is clearly apportioned, and ultimately belongs to the protagonist. From a humanist view, the torture and death of Chhabili at Bichhittar’s orders is a great injustice to Chhabili. But from the view of power, as the lawful wife of Zaman Shah and, more importantly, the mother of his future son, Bichhittar Kunwari is the aggrieved party, and Chhabili the one who had sinned against her and threatened the safety of the qissa’s universe by stalling a royal birth. Chhabili is not only standing before the royal right to heirship, but also Divine sanction, and must therefore be punished in an extraordinary way.

The latter view is further strengthened by a versified version of this qissa. A category of cautionary literature exists in the Indian Subcontinent, that warns men about the deceitfulness of women. A versified version of Chhabili’s qissa, titled Ajeeb Dastan-i-Ghareeb Yaani Qissa Raman Shah o Bichhittar Kunwar o Chhabilia Bhattiyari Mausooma Qissa Fareb-un Nisa [The Strange and Marvellous Dastan, to wit the Qissa of Raman Shah, Queen Bichhittar Kunwari and Chhabilia the Innkeeper Known As the Deceitfulness of Women] contains gruesome details of Chhabili’s torture. It provides further evidence that, from an early time, Chhabili was seen and depicted as a villain by the authors and narrators of this qissa.

Based on the evidence of Qissa Chhabili Bhattiyari, we can say that the safety and continuity of the qissa’s universe is an important feature of the qissa, and the roles of the characters, not their human traits, define their destinies and whether or not they will emerge triumphant.

The columnist is a novelist, author and translator.

He can be reached via his website: micromaf.com

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, June 6th, 2025