Chapter 50 — The Muslim King Comes to See Shri Guru

Literal. Closing of the Bidar arc that started in Chapter 9. The washerman of Kuravpur, having died and been reborn as a Muslim king of Bidar, is now ruling. He is impartial to all religions; he says God is one; only the names are different. He develops a tumor on his thigh; physicians fail. He visits Papvinashi tirth; meets a sannyasi who tells him about Shri Guru at Ganagapur. He goes; the people of Ganagapur are afraid of the Muslim king's procession but the king walks behind Shri Guru's palanquin barefoot, holds his sandals. They go to Bidar (88 miles in a day); Shri Guru returns to Papvinashi. The king prostrates again, asks for liberation, has his palace bow to Shri Guru. The tumor has vanished by the time he returns. Hindus and Muslims of the kingdom both accept Shri Guru.

Symbolic. The arc of identity preservation across rebirth, completed. The washerman's brief desire for kingship in Ch. 9 is honored, the rebirth occurs, the reunion happens fifteen years later (the original number, plus the elapsed narrative time), and the relationship is recognized and resumed by both parties.

Structural. 88 miles in a day (Shri Guru and the king travel from Bidar to Papvinashi). 5 great elements named ("the earth is the mother of all"). Cross-religious dialogue explicit.