12th November, 2015 // 8:51 a.m. // Mess, N.I.D., Ahmedabad
City of Djinns - William Dalrymple
'Jalal-ud-din Rumi used to tell a story about a far-distant country, somewhere to the north of Afghanistan. In this country there was a city inhabited entirely by the blind. One dat the news came that an elephant was passing outside the walls of the city.
The citizens called a meeting and decided to send a delegation of three men outside the gates so that they could report back what the elephant was. In due course, the three men left the town and stumbled forwards until they eventually found the elephant. Th three reached out and felt the animal with their hands, then they all headed back to the town as quickly as they could to report what they had felt. The first man said: 'An elephant is a marvelous creature! It is like a vast snake but it can stand vertically upright in the air!'
The second man was indignant at hearing this: 'What nonsense' he said, 'this man is misleading you. I felt the elephant and what it most resembles is a pillar. It is firm and solid and however hard you push against it, you will never knock it down.' The third man shook his head and said: ' Both these men are liars! I felt the elephant and it resembles a broad pankah. It is wide and flat and leathery and when you shake it, it wobbles around like the sail of a dhow.' All three men stuck by their stories and for the rest of their lives they refused to speak to each other. Each professed that they and only they knew the whole truth.
Now of course all three blind men had a measure of insight. The first man felt the trunk of the elephant, the second the leg and the third the ear. All had part of the truth, but not one of them had begun to grasp the totality of the greatness of the beast they had encountered. If only they had listened to one another and meditated on the different facets of the elephant, they might have realised the true nature of the beast, But they were too proud and instead preferred to keep to their own half truths.'
- Dr. Jaffrey in the City of Djinns.
City of Djinns - William Dalrymple
'Jalal-ud-din Rumi used to tell a story about a far-distant country, somewhere to the north of Afghanistan. In this country there was a city inhabited entirely by the blind. One dat the news came that an elephant was passing outside the walls of the city.
The citizens called a meeting and decided to send a delegation of three men outside the gates so that they could report back what the elephant was. In due course, the three men left the town and stumbled forwards until they eventually found the elephant. Th three reached out and felt the animal with their hands, then they all headed back to the town as quickly as they could to report what they had felt. The first man said: 'An elephant is a marvelous creature! It is like a vast snake but it can stand vertically upright in the air!'
The second man was indignant at hearing this: 'What nonsense' he said, 'this man is misleading you. I felt the elephant and what it most resembles is a pillar. It is firm and solid and however hard you push against it, you will never knock it down.' The third man shook his head and said: ' Both these men are liars! I felt the elephant and it resembles a broad pankah. It is wide and flat and leathery and when you shake it, it wobbles around like the sail of a dhow.' All three men stuck by their stories and for the rest of their lives they refused to speak to each other. Each professed that they and only they knew the whole truth.
Now of course all three blind men had a measure of insight. The first man felt the trunk of the elephant, the second the leg and the third the ear. All had part of the truth, but not one of them had begun to grasp the totality of the greatness of the beast they had encountered. If only they had listened to one another and meditated on the different facets of the elephant, they might have realised the true nature of the beast, But they were too proud and instead preferred to keep to their own half truths.'
- Dr. Jaffrey in the City of Djinns.
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