AT one time two men were engaged to wrestle. One of them was Hanuman Singh and the other a Mussulman from the Punjab. The Mussulman was a strong and stout man. Pie had eaten lustily of butter and meat for fifteen days before the day of the wrestling-match, and even on that day. All thought he would be the victor.
Hanuman Singh, on the other hand, clad in dirty cloth, had eaten sparingly for some days before the day of the match and devoted himself to repeating the holy name of Mahavir1. On the day of the match he observed a complete fast. All thought he would surely be defeated.
But it was he who won, while the man who had feasted for fifteen days lost the fight. (70)
- Mahavir, or Hanuman, is the patron deity of wrestlers. ↩︎