Saint Namdev, The Emperor And The Cow

  


     Namdev, a great 17thcentury Saint from Maharashtra, India, was a devotee of Lord Pandurang. TheLord helped Saint Namdev in a great many ways due to his intense devotion.Tales of these incidents reached far and wide. His fame finally reached theMughal Emperor in Delhi. The Emperor decided to testNamdev.

          One day, Saint Namdev was teaching some people about God andchanting. The Emperor ordered his men to place a dead cow outside of the placewhere Namdev was teaching. When Namdev heard the commotion, He came outside. Heimmediately felt compassion towards the cow and said that it would come back tolife in a few days. The Emperor watched withinterest.

    Saint Namdev prayed to TheLord and chanted His Name; devoutly calling to God to bring the cow to backlife in a few days. Sure enough, Lord Pandurang appeared in front of Namdev onthe 4th day and revived the cow. Everyone was amazed to see the cow come backto life! The Emperor too, lost his pride and bowed in prayer to The Lord."But," it was asked, "Why did The Lord wait 4 days beforebringing the cow back to life?" Namdev explained, "Godloves His devotee and does what the devotee prays for. Since we asked Him tobring the cow to life in a few days, He came to revive her in 4 days. If we hadprayed to Him to bring the cow back to life at that moment, He would have doneso."

Thomas Hewes Hinkley,Cow, 1869, Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania

Cooking For Madam 2 (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Summer Recipes)

         

        Feeling alittle parched and somewhat blue, I thought it would be a restorative andcheerful thing to supplement the recententry concerning cuisine chez Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis with this recipe for Peches Cardinal.

        It is meant toserve 4 and to be paired with the Raspberry Sauce found in the earlier post  (which should, of course be re-viewed in itsentirety and circulated to friends).  

        This isdedicated to Elizabeth Jeffords of Bangalore, India and Jane Roberts, currentlyof Denmark, Maine.

        Stay cool – it’sHOT here.

Peches Cardinal

8 ripe peaches

1 ½ cups sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

1 cinammon stick

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped pistachio nuts

        Choose a potwide enough that all the  peaches can be inone layer and deep enough that they can be covered by liquid.  Using the pot as a pattern, cut out a circleof waxed paper the size of the inner circumference.

        Arrange theunpeeled peaches in the pot.  Add thesugar, lemon juice and cinnamon stick. Pour in cold water to cover, then place the waxed paper disk over thetop and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat,cover the pot, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes until the peaches are soft enough tobe pierced easily with the point of a sharp knife.

        Let thepeaches cool in the liquid.

        When they arecool, slip the skins off with the help of a small knife.

        To serve, poursome Raspberry Sauce (please click on link) into the bottom of a serving bowlor a platter with a high rim.  Arrangethe peaches on the sauce and dribble more over the tops, then sprinkle with the pistachios.

        Serve at roomtemperature with the rest of the Raspberry Sauce in a bowl passed at the table.

Notes:  

[1]  All Jacqueline Kennedy photos taken during her March, 1962 visit to India.  

[2]  Peche Cardinal recipe from:  Marta Sgubin, Cooking For Madam: Recipes and Reminiscences from the Home ofJacqueline Kennedy Onassis. (New York, Scribner, 1998)