GIFT OF 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2007 witii funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/easternlegendaryOOcaunrich 
 
^v^ 
 
 . EASTERN 
 LEGENDARY TALES 
 
 (©masMTAiL miDSHAMSii 3 
 
 A RKPRRSENTATIOA OF ORIENTAL MANNERS, AND HABITS, 
 EXHIBITING 
 
 A TRUE PICTURE OF EASTERN SOCIETY 
 
 EMBELLISHED WITH TWENTY-ONE ENORAVINGS ON STEEL 
 
 KROM DR.iWINQS BT THE LATE 
 
 W. D A N I E L, R. A. 
 
 LONDON: 
 WHITTAKER AND CO., 
 
 AVE MARIA LANE. 
 
• a* • • • 
 
 C3 
 
 cAnmNtlm 
 
-1 
 
 x^ 
 
'^ 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Poor Daniell ! my excellent and worthy associate in 
 the Oriental Annual, has passed to his immortality. 
 He lived to see the volume for 1838 completed, and 
 shortly after quitted a life, the close of which was 
 marked by intense suffering, for an eternity of 
 ineffable glory. My acquaintance with him com- 
 menced many years ago ; and during a long period 
 of frequent intercourse, our friendship grew into a 
 warm and earnest attachment. He was one of the 
 best of men — good in all the relations of life. I 
 have never known a man combining so many moral 
 
 58873S 
 
?rj ^e**** • "tt TftB'.tlOyiV^ DEVOTEE, 
 
 This cavern-temple, hollowed by human labour into 
 the very heart of a high rocky hill, is entered through 
 a lofty portico, in which there still remain some 
 favourable specimens of ancient sculpture. Upon the 
 top of a large octagonal pillar are three lions passant, 
 with their heads turned towards the spectator in op- 
 posite directions. Their forms are remarkably good ; 
 and the minuter details of the sculptor's art are treated 
 with considerable skill. This pillar, with its majestic 
 capital, stands in front of the portico. On entering, 
 in a deep niche on the east side is a gigantic statue, 
 " with his left hand raised in the attitude of benedic- 
 tion ; and the screen, which separates the vestibule 
 from the temple, is covered immediately above the 
 dodo with a row of male and female figures, nearly 
 naked, but not indecent, and carved with considerable 
 spirit, which apparently represent dancers. In the 
 centre is a large door, and above it, three windows 
 contained in a semicircular arch, so like those seen 
 over the entrances of Italian churches, that I fully 
 supposed them to be an addition to the original plan 
 by the Portuguese, who are said, I know not on what 
 ground, to have used this cave as a church, till I 
 found a similar and still more striking window of the 
 same kind in the great cave of Carlee^ Within, 
 the apartment is, I should conceive, fifty feet long by 
 twenty, an oblong square terminated by a semicircle, 
 and surrounded on every side, but that of the en- 
 
 ' Near a small village so called on the road between Bombay 
 and Poonah. Upon two occasions, on my journey from the latter 
 place to the former, I passed a whole day in this celebrated cavern- 
 temple. 
 
(f^/iyAaz/iiXv /6- //^t 
 
 '/a-^kwy^^H^i/i 
 
 !iiiicrul'iUk^sl:£a iS.'iS iiy K'hK,: 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 3 
 
 trance, with a colonnade of octagonal pillars. Of 
 these the twelve on each side nearest the entrance 
 are ornamented with carved bases and capitals, in 
 the style usual in Indian temples. The rest are un- 
 finished. 
 
 " In the centre of the semicircle, and with a free 
 walk all round it, is a mass of rock left solid, but 
 carved externally like a dome, and so as to bear a 
 strong general likeness to our Saviour's sepulchre, as 
 it is now chiseled away and enclosed in St. Helena's 
 Church at Jerusalem. On the top of the dome is a 
 sort of spreading ornament, like the capital of a co- 
 lumn. It is, apparently, intended to support some- 
 thing ; and I was afterwards told at Carlee, where 
 such an ornament, but of greater size, is also found, 
 that a large gilt umbrella used to spring from it. 
 This solid dome appears to be the usual symbol of 
 Bhuddist adoration, and, with its umbrella ornament, 
 may be traced in the Shoo-Madoo of Pegu and other 
 more remote structures of the same faith. Though 
 different in its form and style of ornament from the 
 Lingam, I cannot help thinking that it was originally 
 intended to represent the same popular object of that 
 almost universal idolatry, which Scripture, with good 
 reason, describes as ' uncleanness and abomination.' 
 
 ** The ceiling of this cave is arched semicircularly, 
 and ornamented, in a very singular manner, with 
 slender ribs of teak-wood of the same curve with the 
 roof, and disposed as if they were supporting it, 
 which, however, it does not require, nor are they 
 strong enough for the purpose. Their use may have 
 originally been to hang lamps or flowers from in 
 B 2 
 
4 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 solemn rejoicings. My companions in this visit, 
 who showed themselves a little jealous of the anti- 
 quity of these remains, and of my inclination to 
 detract from it, would have had me suppose that 
 these too were additions of the Portuguese ; but 
 there are similar ribs at Carlee, where the Portuguese 
 never were. 
 
 "On one of the pillars of this portico, on the right 
 of the large figure in the niche, is a copious inscrip- 
 tion, in a character different both from the Nagree 
 and the popular running hand which, more than the 
 Nagree, prevails with the Mahrattas. 
 
 " There are many similar instances in different parts 
 of India, of inscriptions in characters now unintel- 
 ligible ; nor will any one who knows how exceed- 
 ingly incurious the Brahmins are on all such subjects 
 wonder that they are not able to assist Europeans in 
 decyphering them\" 
 
 These temples are occasionally visited by devotees, 
 though they have long ceased to be places of regular 
 convocation. Those severe enthusiasts who prefer 
 the bare earth or the hard rock to exhibit their 
 penances on, occasionally resort to these extraordi- 
 nary excavations for the sake of performing their 
 piaculary impositions with the greater strictness. 
 The Suniassi, a description of devotee which the hero 
 of the present legend chanced to be, is sometimes seen 
 upon the rocky floor of some sacred cavern, lacerating 
 himself with the hard flint, and tearing his flesh in 
 
 ' Narrative of a Journey, &c., by the Right Rev. Reginald Heber, 
 D.D. Vol. iii. p. 92— m.' 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 5 
 
 token of his patience under suffering, and of his high 
 elevation in the order of sanctified beings. 
 
 Before I enter upon the narrative to which I am 
 about to invite the reader's attention, as an illustra- 
 tion of Hindoo manners and superstition, it may be 
 necessary he should be informed who and what a 
 Suniassi is. 
 
 The Suniassi is a Brahmin of the highest spiritual 
 order, — a devotee who imagines that by rigid penance 
 and a life devoted to great privations, and absorbed 
 in the severest mental abstractions, he can so dis- 
 cipline his body as to cleanse it from all carnal 
 defilements, and thus at length elevate it to such a 
 state of sublime purity, as to fit it for Indra's paradise 
 without any vicarious expiation ; in which method of 
 remedial intervention on the part of ai^ all- wise and 
 merciful God, he, as a heathen, does not'*of course 
 believe. •' 
 
 It is supposed by the Hindoos that tljere are four 
 necessary degrees of probation. The/ first ma)' be 
 entered by the young Brahmin so early as his eighth 
 year, when the preliminary ceremony of putting on the 
 zenar is performed. This badge is a cord composed 
 of three threads, as a memorial of the Trimourti, or 
 three great deities of the Hindoos, — the creator, the 
 preserver, and destroyer, — under the respective names 
 of Brahma, Vishnoo, and Siva. As soon as this cord 
 is attached to the youthful candidate for spiritual 
 distinction, perpetually directing his thoughts to the 
 Hindoo triad, represented in some of their temples 
 by an idol with three heads attached to one body, his 
 first probation commences. The initiatory discipline, 
 B 3 
 
6 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 though suflficiently severe, is light in comparison with 
 what is to follow. Having assumed the zenar, and 
 thus entered upon his noviciate, the incipient saint 
 quits his father's house, and is at once placed under 
 the tuition of a Brahmin, who instructs him in all the 
 cryptic rites of the sacred order. He is enjoined the 
 strictest secrecy ; and no doubt it was from this form 
 of initiation into the mysteries of sainthood among 
 the Hindoos, that Pythagoras, who had visited the 
 east and held intercourse with its sages, adopted 
 that mode of discipline, which he imposed upon his 
 disciples before he would acknowledge them members 
 of the sect of Pythagoreans. 
 
 When the young candidate for the honour of 
 canonization has been sufficiently long with his tutor 
 to have become cleansed from the grosser feculencies 
 of moral defilement, his head is shaved, except a 
 small portion at the back of the crown ; upon this a 
 single lock is permitted to grow, by which, when 
 he shall have attained the highest state of spi- 
 ritual exaltation, he is to be raised to the supreme 
 heaven by the hand of some Deva or archangelic mi- 
 nister. He is now denied every kind of animal enjoy- 
 ment: the most perfect purity of conversation and 
 of action is maintained ; his youth is passed in the se- 
 verest mortifications ; his days are occupied in prayer, 
 ablutions, and studying the Vedas, or Hindoo scrip- 
 ture ; at night he casts himself upon a bed of foul 
 straw, or under the first tree that stands in his path, 
 wrapped in the skin of a tiger or of a stag, the bodies 
 of all other animals being supposed to communicate 
 pollution. This first probationary state continues 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 7 
 
 generally twelve years ; in some instances, though 
 these are rare, only five. 
 
 The second stage of probation, which immediately 
 succeeds the first, is one of still greater self-denial. 
 The stern novice rises at least two hours before day- 
 break, and his whole time is passed in the strictest 
 ceremonial observances ; he supports life by gleaning 
 in the fields, by undergoing the severest mortifications, 
 or by begging a handful of rice from the casual pas- 
 senger ; and even part of this scanty supply he throws 
 into the fire as an ofi^ering to the dead, eating barely 
 sufficient to sustain life, and allowing his body to 
 become painfully emaciated, and often even offen- 
 sively loathsome. He passes the greater part of the 
 night in observing the course of the moon and planets, 
 and contemplating the spangled skies, which will 
 suffiiciently account for the skill in astronomy exhi- 
 bited by many of the Brahmins, who have left behind 
 them learned treatises upon this sublime science, still 
 existing in the Sanscrit, or classical language of Hin- 
 dostan. 
 
 Tlie third probationary stage is one of still more 
 severe trial than either of the two former. It is hard 
 to conceive how human endurance can support the 
 terrible privations which it exacts, and which must 
 be performed by the candidate for exclusive celestial 
 honours. The devotee retires to the desert, where 
 he passes his days in utter solitude, rendered the more 
 intolerable by the most rigid mortification and the 
 most painful bodily infliction; thus preparing his 
 soul, by holy contemplations, for that state to which 
 it aspires in the Swerga, or eternal paradise. He 
 b4 
 
8 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 wraps his withered limbs in the scantiest covering, 
 neither cuts his hair nor pares his nails, sleeps upon 
 the bare ground, fasts all day, and, at the approach of 
 night, relieves his long and severe abstinence with a 
 few grains of boiled rice. His whole life is one uni- 
 form scene of dreadful torture, and he often expires 
 under the frightful severity of his penances, remote 
 from any human habitation, beyond the reach of 
 human sympathy, without a relative to close his eyes, 
 or a friend to receive his last sigh, which relieves 
 him from an existence of lingering agony. 
 
 The fourth stage of probation undergone by the 
 fanatical Brahmin is the state of Suniassi, — if possible 
 the most intolerable of all, and rarely attained in the 
 perfection of expurgatorial consummation. The real 
 Suniassi is seldom met with ; few are the favoured 
 mortals who rise to this sublime elevation of spi- 
 ritual spotlessness. It only differs from the third 
 state, in the horrible tortures endured by the aspirant 
 for the Swerga. The self-inflicted torments by which 
 the Suniassi signalizes his term of successful purifi- 
 cation, positively exceeds belief; and yet the facts 
 are established by testimony not to be impeached ^ 
 
 When the devotee has advanced himself to the envi- 
 able state of Suniassi, he immediately becomes a sort 
 of subordinate divinity in the eyes of his inferiors. 
 They pay him the profoundest homage, frequently 
 seeking the desert in which he passes his days, to 
 attest their veneration for so sanctified a being. By 
 
 ' The writer of this narrative has witnessed, in India, acts of self- 
 torture absolutely frightful to behold. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. if 
 
 the austerity of his life, and the extreme severity of 
 his torments, the Suniassi imagines that he entitles 
 himself to everlasting reward in the sensual heaven of 
 his idolatry, into which the gods themselves cannot 
 refuse him admission. Having paid the price, he 
 claims the reward as a right, which is at once ad- 
 mitted. 
 
 It is maintained by the Brahmins, that a devotee 
 in the fourth stage of probation can, by some mys- 
 tical act of devotion, dispossess his living body of the 
 spirit, and ascend to the regions of immortal fruition ; 
 that he can return at pleasure, and repossess the in- 
 animate but not defunct frame, which acquires addi- 
 tional purity during these intervals of exanimation ; 
 the soul, by its intercourse with beatified spirits, be- 
 coming the more purified in proportion to the fre- 
 quency of such heavenly communion. 
 
 b5 
 
10 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 In a large tract of uncultivated country in the 
 north of India, betwixt the Indus and the Ganges, 
 there was a vast extent of impermeable jungle, 
 where the tiger and hyena prowled undisturbed 
 by the traveller, who seldom ventured into those 
 almost impenetrable recesses. Here the sunbeam 
 never enlivened the murky solitude, and in vain the 
 reptiles crawled from their thick covert, to bask in its 
 refreshing glories. The dews of night drew from the 
 earth a rank but exuberant vegetation, pernicious to 
 human life, yet affording shelter to creatures repug- 
 nant to mortal eyes ; and in places where the bones 
 of animals lay unburied after the carnival of wild 
 beasts, the forest appeared a gloomy Golgotha. Here 
 the huge constrictor skulked in search of prey, occa- 
 sionally lifting its prodigious body from the damp 
 earth, where it had deposited its noxious slime, and, 
 rearing its bright but appalling crest amid the branches 
 of the loftiest trees, threatened the casual passenger 
 below with sudden destruction : and instances have 
 been known of persons having thus lost their lives. 
 This fact was awfully verified some years ago in the 
 island of Java, a government messenger being taken 
 from his horse by one of these gigantic snakes. 
 
/L. ^^Z/^Ji^/ \^;aj^/iy 6Z cy<2Z^>y/i^7?Z0?l/.^^U^^&^l^' 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 11 
 
 Even the tiger and colossal elephant are said occa- 
 sionally to become the victims of this powerful mon- 
 ster, possessing strength and activity far beyond that 
 of the largest and most ferocious quadrupeds. 
 
 Just within the confines of the forest, under the 
 rude canopy of a naked rock, in a natural cavern by 
 the side of a lofty hill, a Suniassi might be seen by 
 such as sought the sacred abode of the devotee, per- 
 forming his daily discipline of spiritual penance. He 
 was a prince holding supremacy over a territory of 
 considerable extent, and exacting obedience from a 
 numerous population. Since his elevation to the 
 highest spiritual as well as to the most exalted tem- 
 poral dignities, he had espoused a princess of great 
 beauty, who rather reverenced him for his eminent 
 sanctity, than loved him for those personal distinc- 
 tions which, no doubt, generally contribute more to 
 endear the marriage state, than any celebrity arising 
 from a life exclusively passed in austerities almost 
 intolerable, and utterly repugnant to the natural bias 
 and to the more dominant instincts of humanity. 
 She had, however, united herself to the reputed 
 saint in consequence of the extraordinary reputation 
 he had acquired, as a man honoured even by the 
 gods, and reverenced with the profoundest homage 
 by men of the highest character for devotion and 
 integrity of life. He professed that he had allied 
 himself to so much beauty, merely as a test of self- 
 denial, rigidly abstaining from all the privileges of 
 connubial intercourse, and never indulging in the 
 luxury of profane conversation, but constantly dila- 
 ting, in the presence of his lovely consort, upon the 
 b6 
 
12 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 perfection of his own spiritual state, and the eternal 
 enjoyments of that heaven to which he had, by his 
 severe penances, purchased the indefeasible right of 
 inheritance. He was, nevertheless, happy in his mar- 
 riage, as his beautiful partner exhibited towards him 
 extreme respect, not to say submission ; and, when 
 not employed in the severities of his probationary 
 discipline, he was said by some, who did not care to 
 wound the fair reputation even of saints, to enjoy 
 her society with a relish proportioned to the privation 
 which his condition of Suniassi, and especially of one 
 who bore the temporal honours of regality, necessarily 
 imposed upon him. 
 
 It was whispered by those who considered a gossip 
 upon the frailties of their betters as the most trans- 
 cendent of delights, that when the royal devotee 
 returned from the jungle to the blessings of his 
 domestic hearth, his visits to the palace were ordered 
 to be kept a profound secret, as any thing like relax- 
 ation from the rigid abstinence from all enjoyments, 
 however rational or moderate, imposed by the severe 
 rules of his order, would be deemed incompatible 
 with that celestial spiritualization claimed by the 
 Suniassi over the rest of the Hindoo community. It 
 was generally supposed that he seldom quitted the 
 cavern in the forest, but daily practised there those 
 dreadful austerities, which have consigned thousands 
 to the enviable distinction of martyrdom, but which, 
 by torturing his body, purified his soul for those 
 scenes of immortal fruition where the Suniassi is sup- 
 posed to reign paramount over every inferior order 
 of spiritualized beings. This supposition, however. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 13 
 
 was erroneous ; for the royal saint frequently returned 
 to his capital, from the scene of his inflictions, in 
 order to look after the affairs of his government, 
 which were conducted during his absence by a 
 nephew, to whom, though a very young man, he 
 entrusted their management; and the trust was 
 worthily bestowed, as the prince was no less honest 
 than wise, — directing with a prudent discretion, 
 aided by the acute sagacity of the queen, the 
 intricate machine of state, and producing general 
 satisfaction. His uncle, having no children, had 
 named him his heir ; and so much power was already 
 consigned to his hands, that he virtually enjoyed all 
 the honours of royalty, though only acting in the 
 capacity of vicegerent. Although scarcely advanced 
 beyond his twentieth birthday, he was considered 
 a miracle of prudence, and was so distinguished for 
 the grace and dignity of his person, that ladies of 
 the first rank in his uncle's dominions sighed to be- 
 come sharers of his present honours and future pros- 
 pects. As, however, he had not yet discovered the 
 woman likely to bind his heart with the silken fetters 
 of love, the coldness of the youthful rajah was the 
 frequent theme of conversation among the maidens 
 of high birth who looked upon themselves as fit 
 objects of preference. 
 
 Meanwhile the royal devotee pursued his course of 
 sanctification, leaving the almost entire management 
 of his kingdom to the superior wisdom of his nephew 
 and of his queen. The periods of his visits to the 
 jungle, and of his return to the palace, were only 
 known to a single slave, who had for many years 
 
14 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 served him with such fideHty as to obtain his esteem, 
 which seemed daily to strengthen. The slave fre- 
 quently attended him on his journeys ; and was an 
 eye-witness to those tortures which the saintly Brah- 
 min inflicted upon himself, by way of realizing the 
 aims of spiritual ambition. By a long course of 
 compliant and obsequious behaviour, the menial had 
 entirely secured the confidence of his master, who 
 at length made him the depository of all his secrets, 
 except those which it would have been a violation of 
 the strict canons of his sect to divulge. 
 
 Youghal — for such was this confidant's name — 
 had been originally a Lascar on board one of the ves- 
 sels which transport merchandise of various kinds from 
 the Arabian and Persian gulfs to the difieirent ports 
 of Bengal, or to certain towns upon the Coromandel 
 and Malabar coasts . He had been left an orphan when 
 only three years old; and as soon as he was big 
 enough to labour for the means of existence, he was 
 put on board one of those traders, where his toil was 
 none of the lightest, and his enjoyment none of the 
 most enviable. These boats are of rather singular 
 construction, having generally a high poop, and being 
 extremely low at the bows, though some of them are 
 flush fore and aft, carrying large lug sails, which ex- 
 pose them to great danger when overtaken by a sud- 
 den squall. They are sluggish sailers, and in calm 
 weather are urged forward by the oar, which is a 
 matter of intolerable labour, in a latitude where the 
 thermometer frequently rises, in the shade, to a hun- 
 dred and fifteen degrees of Fahrenheit. The number 
 of men employed to navigate them is from twelve to 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 15 
 
 thirty, according to their size. The)' are so loosely 
 put together, that their seams open, and admit such 
 a quantity of water as often greatly to endanger the 
 safety not only of the cargo but of the crew. In 
 stormy weather their commanders seldom venture 
 out of sight of land, as these vessels are not con- 
 structed for weathering severe gales. They have, 
 however, a very picturesque appearance when seen 
 coasting along the shores of Malabar or Coromandel, 
 freighted with cargoes from Arabia the happy or from 
 Persia the magnificent. 
 
 Youghal was released from his maritime servitude 
 by an Arab pirate, who took the vessel in which he 
 was employed, and, having disposed of the cargo, 
 sold the crew for slaves. He was transported to the 
 capital of the Suniassi sovereign, and, by one of those 
 chances which rise out of circumstances the least 
 foreseen, became, by right of purchase, the property 
 of that monarch, who, being pleased with his quick- 
 ness of parts and compliant suavity of temperament, 
 first employed him about his person, and finally took 
 him into his confidence. 
 
 The slave occasionally conducted parties to the 
 forest, while the Suniassi was performing his acts of 
 penance, in order that the sanctity of his master and 
 sovereign might be seen by the admiring subjects of 
 the latter, and be thus proclaimed throughout his do- 
 minions. The fame of it did in consequence spread 
 rapidly through the neighbouring towns. 
 
 This anxious desire to enhance the saint's reputa- 
 tion, on the part of his dependant, so entirely won his 
 reliance, that the holy penitentiary occasionally per- 
 
16 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 formed before him those mysterious rites not permit- 
 ted by the rules of his order to be witnessed by mor- 
 tal eye. In proportion as the master's assurance of 
 the menial's fidelity strengthened, the latter appeared 
 more anxious to deserve this flattering opinion of the 
 royal fanatic, by unremitting attention to his com- 
 mands. Perceiving the influence he was rapidly gain- 
 ing, Youghal took care to increase it by greater ob- 
 sequiousness of attention to the commands of his 
 sainted master, endeavouring to anticipate his most 
 trifling wishes; and when he was suflfering under 
 the positive agonies of corporeal infliction, mitiga- 
 ting the severity of those pains, by extolling the mar- 
 vellous magnanimity of him who bore them — for your 
 Hindoo saints seek the reward of their fatuitous en- 
 durance of bodily torture, no less in the praises of 
 men than in the superior blessings of the Swerga\ 
 Those exclamations of amazement which burst from 
 the wily attendant were as celestial harmony to the 
 ears of the self-tormented devotee, who was more 
 completely confirmed in the conviction of Youghal's 
 extraordinary reverence and fidelity, in proportion 
 to the frequency of his exclamations, and the appa- 
 rent fervour of his astonishment. 
 
 The result of such severe and continued austerity 
 was, that the Suniassi had secured not only the 
 favour but the admiration of those divinities who pre- 
 side over the different mansions in the Hindoo para- 
 dise, and by frequent penances, so intolerable that 
 few men could undergo them without falling a sacri- 
 
 • The celestial paradise of the Hindoos. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 17 
 
 fice to the dreadful torments^ they endured, he had 
 attained so extraordinary a degree of sanctification, 
 as to be endued with the power of separating his 
 soul from his body. In consequence of this marvel- 
 lous capability, it was his occasional practice to trans- 
 port his spirit from the clay in which it was im- 
 prisoned, to the regions of everlasting light, where 
 the Suras ^ dwell in undisturbed tranquillity amid 
 gardens of eternal bloom and fragrance, in Indra's 
 heaven. This power is a privilege conferred upon 
 the Suniassi, and upon him alone, by the gods, as the 
 meed of corporeal endurance undertaken upon this 
 condition ; and it was exercised by the saintly po- 
 tentate whenever he felt disposed to give his poor 
 emaciated body a respite from the torments of piacu- 
 lary infliction. 
 
 ' An order of beneficent spirits. 
 
18 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 About twenty coss, or forty English miles, from 
 the capital of the Suniassi's dominions, in a moun- 
 tainous part of the country, was a village, which 
 had no other claim to distinction than its locality, 
 being situated amid a cluster of hills, at the base 
 of a peak which towered above it into the clouds. 
 It lay betwixt the capital and the jungle, where the 
 regal penitentiary used to retire to his penances and 
 to his prayers. In many places the ascent of these 
 hills was difficult, and even dangerous, most of the 
 deep gullies being crossed by a single plank, and 
 the road winding occasionally so near the edge of a 
 precipice as to afford scarcely footing to the tra- 
 veller, and almost impracticable to any animal save 
 those quadrupeds of the mountains, whom habit 
 and natural organization have rendered capable of 
 traversing regions inaccessible by human foot. 
 
 The village was a general scene of misery, being 
 inhabited solely by a tribe of Pariahs, who lived 
 in wretched huts, several families crowding together 
 under one roof, frequently enduring the severest 
 miseries of destitution, aggravated by the deepest 
 abjection. Though some of them enjoyed rather a 
 better condition of temporal ease, yet all were poor. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 19 
 
 and, what was far worse, socially degraded. Their 
 huts were built of wood, having two stories, the lower 
 story being tenanted by whatever animals might be 
 the property of the occupants, and sometimes by those 
 worse-conditioned Pariahs, who had no better prospect 
 of obtaining a meal than the carrion which occasion- 
 ally lay scattered on the mountain side, — the refuse 
 of the vulture's or of the jackal's banquet. 
 
 Among the inhabitants of this mountain hamlet 
 was a man of middle age, who had an only daughter, 
 a beautiful and interesting girl of fifteen \ Though 
 the sun had darkened her cheek, by nature of a deep 
 yet clear brown, it had imparted brightness to her 
 eye, and, being accustomed to exercise her healthy 
 and elastic limbs upon the hill side, or in the smiling 
 valley in which the mountains terminated below, she 
 had acquired a buoyancy of gait and activity of move- 
 ment, which, in her, was far more graceful than the 
 studied gesticulations of the light-heeled nautch-girl, 
 whose elegance of motion and grace of attitude, in 
 the luxuriant dance of the East, calls forth alike the 
 admiration of princes and the acclamations of the 
 vulgar. 
 
 Mariataly was the pride of the village, but much 
 more so of her only surviving parent, who found in 
 her not merely a beautiful but an obedient daughter. 
 Her affections had been sought by several young 
 Pariahs of her native hamlet : she had hitherto turned 
 a deaf ear to the entreaties of all, determined to remain 
 
 * It must be borne in mind that a Hindoo girl of fifteen is a per- 
 fect woman. 
 
20 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 unmarried, and enjoy the blessings of freedom, rather 
 than unite her fortunes with any one who should be 
 excluded from the natural rights of humanity. 
 
 It happened that Youghal, during one of his visits 
 to the jungle with his sovereign, whom, as I have 
 said, he usually attended when the latter retired 
 thither to his mortifications, met the Pariah's daugh- 
 ter, and, while his master had retired to a secluded 
 part of the mountain, to perform some secret rite of 
 his religion, he entered into conversation with the 
 lovely maiden, the theme of universal praise among 
 the mountaineers, and an object every way worthy of 
 it. Youghal was a strong, well-made, handsome fel- 
 low, smart, merry, and facetious, and, though a slave, 
 the confidential attendant of a man who was at once 
 a prince and a Suniassi, — the highest of all earthly 
 distinctions in the estimation of a Hindoo. He was 
 not only treated with kindness by his pious master, 
 but even his sovereign's queen and nephew acted 
 towards him as one who, having secured the good 
 opinion of so great a saint, deserved attention, and 
 even respect, from all persons in the confidence of 
 that holy being. 
 
 Youghal was struck with the sprightly conversa- 
 tion and lively beauty of the young Pariah. He saw 
 in her something very much above the ordinary girls 
 of her class, and was animated with a new feeling 
 of admiration for the sex, unknown to him until 
 now. The girl's father occupied one of the most 
 respectable huts in his native village, carrying on the 
 occupation of a charcoal-burner in the jungle, which 
 extended from the base of the hills over the neigh- 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 21 
 
 bouring country to a considerable extent. Here tlie 
 means of existence were supplied to many a laborious 
 parent from the thick growth of the forest, which 
 for ages had not been cleared by the industry of man. 
 
 Whenever the devotee visited the jungle, his at- 
 tendant, who, after his acquaintance with Mariataly, 
 always made some excuse for accompanying him, 
 took the opportunity of renewing his intercourse 
 with the beautiful outcast, when he never failed to 
 pour into her inexperienced but willing ear the 
 grateful accents of attachment which had already 
 warmed his heart towards this interesting highland 
 maiden. Frequent communications naturally begot 
 mutual confidence ; and, ere long, Youghal revealed 
 to his lovely favourite what he was in the habit of 
 witnessing in the cavern, to which his master so fre- 
 quently retired for the purpose of torturing his body 
 for the better purification of his soul. 
 
 The saint had not the slightest suspicion that his 
 slave would, under any circumstance, so far forget the 
 respect due to him, as one not only favoured but re- 
 spected even by the superior divinities, and, at the same 
 time, the certain degradation which such a forfeiture 
 of confidence must of necessity entail upon himself, 
 as to conclude a matrimonial alliance with a Pariah. 
 Indeed, the possibility of such a contingency had never 
 for an instant entered into the abstracted mind of the 
 heaven- doomed monarch. Youghal, however, consi- 
 dering that he was secure from discovery, knowing the 
 over-credulous and unobserving character of his mas- 
 ter, did not deny himself the pleasure of meeting Ma- 
 riataly whenever he accompanied his royal patron to 
 
'22 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 the forest cavern, — always imparting to her the pre- 
 cise nature of the Suniassi's devotions, so far as he 
 was permitted to witness them. 
 
 Occasionally, — but these acts were rare, and 
 performed with the greatest secrecy, — the kingly 
 devotee would avail himself of his peculiar capability 
 of disengaging his soul from his body, and continue 
 for days together in the other world, enjoying all the 
 delights of the celestial paradise, leaving his royal 
 carcase to the care of his faithful slave, — for he ima- 
 gined him to be so in the highest degree, — who, 
 upon these occasions, used to abandon it to the ver- 
 min, which disrespectfully covered it with filth and 
 slime, whilst the unworthy guardian enjoyed, with- 
 out interruption or suspicion, the society of the earthly 
 object of his idolatry. The soul of his master, when 
 enjoying such temporary release from its earthly pri- 
 son, became utterly unconscious of what was passing 
 in this gross world. Youghal, therefore, did just as 
 he pleased, with impunity, neglecting his duty, that 
 of guarding the royal body, satisfied that he was 
 perfectly secure from suspicion. His whole time was 
 spent at the hamlet on the hill ; and though the ac- 
 commodation afforded him there was not such as he 
 had been accustomed to in his sovereign's palace, still 
 it was better than he often found when absent from 
 the capital in attendance upon that sovereign, during 
 his seasons of sequestration from the world. The 
 slave's absence was not felt by the queen, because 
 she supposed him engaged with the most sanctified 
 monarch of his time, and whom she had no doubt 
 would be eventually ranked among the seven cele- 
 11 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 23 
 
 brated penitents^ who have been canonized by Hindoo 
 superstition. 
 
 For more than two years these visits to the moun- 
 tain village were enjoyed by Youghal, whenever the 
 opportunity recurred ; and they became at length 
 so essential to his happiness, that he was never 
 easy when absent. Fortunately the saint whom he 
 served was too much abstracted by his rigid devo- 
 tions to observe any striking change in his domestic, 
 whom he continued to treat with great kindness, and, 
 if possible, with increased confidence ; for although it 
 generally happened that, during the intervals of ex- 
 animation, his body became squalid with filth, being 
 covered with the slime of the toad and the cobra di 
 capello, yet as these were both hallowed objects, and 
 much venerated by all pious Hindoos, — the cobra^ 
 especially, — he was rather gratified to find that, dur- 
 ing the migration of his soul, its fleshly tenement had 
 been preserved from profane contact by the sacred 
 exudations of creatures reverenced even by gods, and 
 subjects, therefore, of human adoration. Thus the 
 very negligence of the servant procured increased 
 kindness from the master, and this caused the for- 
 mer to encourage those besetting impulses of his na- 
 ture, which it was much more agreeable in his esti- 
 mation to indulge than to mortify. 
 
 ' Among the Hindoo saints, who are ranked with their gods, there 
 are seven especially celebrated, whoai they call the seven Rishis, or 
 penitents ; their names are Casyapa, Atri, Bharadwaja, Gautama, 
 Viswamitra, Jamadagni, and Vasishta. 
 
 ^ The cobra di capello snake is universally venerated by the 
 natives of Hindostan. 
 
24 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 Upon one occasion, whilst the spirit of the holy 
 man was among the Suras, Youghal sought the 
 mountain village. Here he was, as usual, when no 
 longer restrained by the presence of the penitentiary 
 whom he served, passing his time with the sprightly 
 Mariataly. To her he expressed the great desire he 
 felt to become acquainted with the words of that 
 mystic prayer, called the mandiram, at the utterance 
 of which the soul of his master quitted the flesh 
 that confined it to this world of trouble and painful 
 vicissitude, and took its flight above the stars. 
 
 " Can't you listen," inquired the anxious girl, 
 " and note down his words ?" 
 
 " No. He mutters the potential mantra^ so in- 
 audibly, that none but disembodied spirits can catch 
 the sound ; I therefore despair of being able to make 
 myself master of his secret." 
 
 *' Never despair while opportunity supplies the 
 chance of success. You may be a good deal nearer 
 Paradise than you imagine." 
 
 " I have no doubt upon the subject ; for while you 
 are before me, I am not only near but actually in 
 Paradise." 
 
 " Why, Youghal, one would think that the holy 
 man to whom your life is devoted in service, had 
 taught you to extract honey out of the bitters of his 
 earthly torments." 
 
 ' A mantra is an imprecatory incantation. It is generally com- 
 posed of a passage from the Veda (the inspired volume of the 
 Hindoos), in which the names of some tremendous deity occur. 
 The Hindoos, and indeed the Mohammedans likewise, have great 
 faith in the efficacy of propitiatory incantations, and great dread of 
 such as have a tendency to provoke malevolent influences. See 
 Moor's Hindoo PantJieon, page 402. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 25 
 
 " No, Mariataly ; you have taught me to extract 
 the honey, and I am longing to taste it." 
 
 " Nay, but you may be cloyed, and then you will 
 prefer the bitter to the sweet." 
 
 " In that case I must lose all perception of the better, 
 and, like a dull simpleton, cleave to the worse." 
 
 " Suppose, now," asked the pretty Pariah, with a 
 sly smile, " you could get a peep into the Swerga, 
 would you, upon your return, tell me all the delight- 
 ful things you saw there ? No, no ; I have scarcely 
 faith enough in you yet to take assurance of your 
 constancy from your professions. You would, it is 
 more than likely, fall in love with one of the Suras in 
 the guise of a celestial maiden, and altogether aban- 
 don me." 
 
 "No, bibi^ ; that's just as likely as that I should 
 prefer mere perfume to a water-melon. My master 
 is a lover of spiritual creations, but they are above 
 my deserving — I don't covet their society. Don't 
 be jealous ; for even if I should ever manage to get 
 above the skies before death shall appear on his mis- 
 sion to transport me there, I am sure to come down 
 again." 
 
 " Because, I suppose, you are too wicked to remain 
 in such good company." 
 
 " Not so, sweetheart ; but because there is better 
 attraction below for a poor slave like me, who is 
 desperately in love with the prettiest Pariah maiden 
 within a circle of fifty coss^. " 
 
 I Bibi is a term equivalent to wench, used as an expression of 
 endearment, or lady. 
 
 * The coss is about two miles. 
 
 C 
 
•26 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 *' It would be good-bye to the pretty Pariah, I 
 fear, should you ever chance to find yourself among 
 the divinities. You know there are no delectable 
 bowers in the Swerga reserved for the outcast. Pa- 
 riahs are not admitted to the possession of those joys 
 reserved for the privileged castes, and denied to the 
 degraded. Naraka' must be their doom when the 
 spirit abandons their bodies to the vultures. Ours 
 is a dull prospect in that far land of dim futurity, of 
 which death holds the seal of admission." 
 
 " Nay, don't despair, bibi ; your presence will con- 
 vert the lowest abyss of Naraka into a Swerga 
 bower, and thus achieve a triumph of which Indra 
 himself might be proud." 
 
 " Is this jesting a fair sample of your truth ? If 
 your love is of a piece with it, I have very little 
 security for its outlasting the season." 
 
 ** Nay, I am satisfied you have no more doubt of 
 my love than of my making one of the best husbands 
 on this side of the mighty Ganges." 
 
 " If you don't make a better husband than the 
 generality of our tribe, I had better remain under 
 my own protection for the rest of my days. You 
 have seen sufficient of our domestic condition to be 
 convinced that Pariah wives are the most miserable 
 of women." 
 
 " I swear to thee, Mariataly, not upon the oath of 
 a slave, but upon the credit of the confidential do- 
 mestic both of a king and saint, that I love thee 
 better than the paradise whither I confess I am rather 
 
 > The fifth of the Hindoo hells. Naraka signifies the region of 
 serpents. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 27 
 
 anxious to accompany my most holy master on one 
 of his spiritual journeys to the world above." 
 
 " Well, then, if you are really so anxious to take 
 your leave of this world for a season, you have only 
 to get at the secret of quitting it without calling upon 
 death to lend you his assistance, and the matter is 
 settled at once." 
 
 " Ay, but there's the difficulty ; the Suniassi is 
 too cunning to part with his mystery : how to obtain 
 it by stealth requires both thought and management. 
 I must watch him closely, or I shall never go on a 
 journey to the stars in this life." 
 
 " Will you promise me, and the promise must be 
 ratified by a solemn vow, that, should you take a 
 journey to the upper world, you will communicate to 
 me all you see there upon your return ?" 
 
 " Depend upon me. Adieu for the present. One 
 kiss ; — we meet again to-morrow, when I may have 
 better news for one who loves a bit of gossip as dearly 
 as a kid loves the mother's milk." 
 
 Youghal was transported with the playful good 
 humour and ready intelligence of the fascinating Pa- 
 riah. He really loved her fondly, as he had fully 
 persuaded himself she entertained towards him a 
 simple but earnest affection. His visits were daily 
 repeated until the period of his master's penances 
 had expired, when he returned with him to the capi- 
 tal. Nevertheless, amid the splendours of the palace, 
 and surrounded as he was by every thing calculated 
 to captivate his senses, the enamoured slave thought 
 of nothing but the beauty of the mountain villager, 
 whom he determined to marry at the first convenient 
 c 2 
 
28 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 opportunity, though, as he knew such a marriage 
 would excite the severe indignation of his sovereign, 
 it was a matter of extreme uncertainty when the 
 desired opportunity might occur. 
 
 Mariataly was no less anxious that the time should 
 arrive when she might claim the protection of the 
 man she loved; for she not only desired to be re- 
 moved from the society of an outcast and degraded 
 tribe, but encouraged a faint hope of seeing herself 
 recognized as a being fitted to hold communion with 
 the best among her fellow -creatures. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Not long after the return of Veramarken, for this 
 was the name of the regal fanatic, it became evident 
 to his obsequious slave that he meditated one of his 
 aerial journeys out of the body, as his penances had 
 of late been extremely rigid, it being his invariable 
 practice to torture himself with more than usual 
 severity whenever he determined to pay a visit to 
 the gods of his idolatry in their own celestial habi- 
 tations. 
 
 Veramarken at length commanded his obedient 
 menial to prepare for a journey to the cavern, and 
 to provide a horse, in order that the fatigue of tra- 
 velling might not impair his strength, and thus render 
 him less fit to endure the additional penance which, 
 upon this occasion, he was resolved to undergo. On 
 the day named by the saint he set forward with his 
 confidential slave, who rode behind his master upon 
 the crupper of a small tattoo', until they reached the 
 hills amid which the Pariah village was situated, when 
 they were obliged to dismount and lead the pony, 
 in consequence of the difficulty and frequent peril of 
 the route. The passes were occasionally so narrow 
 
 * A native pony. 
 
 c 3 
 
30 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 that it required the greatest caution to maintain a 
 footing. 
 
 When the travellers had reached a certain eleva- 
 tion, they had to descend an abrupt declivity, at all 
 times held to be dangerous, even by the practised 
 mountaineer. After turning a projecting angle of the 
 hill, the sheer side of the precipice presented itself, in 
 which was a dark cleft, as if the entire body of the 
 mountain had been split by some mighty convulsion 
 of nature. Across this chasm a rude bridge had been 
 thrown, consisting of three planks fastened to piles 
 driven horizontally into the sides of the hill. This 
 bridge sloped considerably, which rendered it a matter 
 of much diflEiculty to get the horse across ; but on reach- 
 ing the end of the platform, or scaffolding, for this it 
 much more resembled than a bridge, the difficulty was 
 greatly increased. Here the descent became perilous 
 in the extreme, being almost perpendicular to a depth 
 of twenty feet. In order to render the descent prac- 
 ticable, a number of steps had been cut out of the 
 solid rock ; but they slanted so little out of the per- 
 pendicular, that it was not without much cautious 
 management that the tattoo was prevented, and this 
 entirely by the superior strength and dexterity of 
 Youghal, from falling headlong over the precipice. 
 This impediment being at length overcome, the re- 
 mainder of the journey became comparatively easy , 
 and the travellers reached the cavern without any fur- 
 ther obstacle, to the great but suppressed joy of Ve- 
 ramarken, and to the equal satisfaction of his slave. 
 
 Whilst the Suniassi was engaged at his penance, 
 Youghal took care to enjoy himself as well as his 
 
 1 
 
<i_y'Aey ^yfu?t/y7t6(Z^r. ^u^^^j- 
 
 loridmiTuoUshai 133».iy TfftillaJetri-GI'.ivaMaruLZa^ 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 31 
 
 solitude would permit, being supplied with as much 
 as he could conveniently eat and drink at the cost of 
 his master, who never stinted his dependants, though 
 he mortified his own body to the last degree. For 
 several days he continued in the cavern, and only 
 allowed himself a few grains of rice at sunset, wash- 
 ing them down with a single mouthful of fetid water, 
 which had been conveyed from the Ganges at least 
 two months previously, and which was considered 
 spiritually efficacious in proportion to its foulness. 
 He sat hour after hour absorbed in holy meditation, 
 having given orders to his attendant not to appear 
 within the cavern, the hallowed scene of his stern 
 devotion, for at least seven days. 
 
 This order at once confirmed Youghal in the sup- 
 position that his master meditated a flight to the 
 upper world, which determined him to discover, if 
 possible, the secret of Veramarken's spiritual manu- 
 mission ; but if he should fail in making this discovery, 
 to leave the exanimated body to the reptiles, and pass 
 the time of its mysterious disunion at the mountain 
 village with the object of his best affections. 
 
 Imagining the day preceding that to which Vera- 
 marken had limited his attendant's entrance into 
 the consecrated cave would probably be the one on 
 which he would disunite body and soul, for the pur- 
 pose of allowing the latter a flight to the Swerga, 
 Youghal, on the sixth morn, stole stealthily into the 
 sacred retreat of his sovereign, unobserved by the holy 
 penitent, who was at that moment subjecting himself 
 to one of those so-called religious inflictions almost 
 too dreadful for physical endurance. The place was 
 c 4 
 
32 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 wrapped in solemn gloom, except one corner of the 
 cavern, where a sickly taper, formed of a reed en- 
 veloped in flax and dipped in cocoa-nut oil, difi^used 
 a faint glimmer that extended not many feet beyond 
 the spot in which it was fixed. The place was only 
 fit to form the lair of the hyena, or to be a sanctuary 
 for the fox-bat. It was so low, as scarcely to afibrd 
 room for a man of ordinary stature to stand upright. 
 From the roof and sides of the cave sharp masses 
 of rock projected, covered with a green coat of 
 slimy matter, clammy and cold to the touch, and 
 offensive to the smell. The floor was strewed with 
 the accumulated incrustations of years, which rolled 
 under the naked feet, and rendered the slightest 
 movement insecure. Every part of the vault was 
 blackened to the very darkest hue by the smoke of 
 the solitary taper w^hich now faintly illumined its 
 gloomy recesses ; and the whole aspect of the place 
 was such as to inhibit the visitation of any thing 
 under the form of humanity. 
 
 The royal penitent was too much absorbed in his 
 devotions to observe the entrance of Youghal, who 
 advanced softly into the dungeon, where he could 
 witness, unperceived, what was going on. Having 
 seated himself upon the damp and slippery earth, he 
 awaited the issue of a scene which he expected 
 would terminate in his master's temporary ascent to 
 Indra's paradise. 
 
 The Suniassi was lying on his back; underneath 
 his spare emaciated form was an iron frame, covered 
 with spikes about an inch long, sufficiently sharp to 
 irritate severely without puncturing the skin. Upon 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 33 
 
 these he lay, muttering certain mantras of mystical 
 import, whilst his body was racked by inexpressible 
 pangs; still he disdained to utter a cry. On the 
 contrary, he expressed his grateful satisfaction at the 
 ease with which the gods of his idolatry, whom 
 he served with a proud devotion, had blessed him. 
 His eyes were fixed upon the roof of the cavern with 
 a stare of painful intensity ; and his flesh seemed to 
 quiver, as if expressing a kind of mute horror at the 
 severity of the torture to which it was subjected : 
 his fingers were pressed firmly against the palms of 
 each hand; and his neck, stretched to its utmost 
 elongation, exhibited every fibre of the anatomical 
 structure with so revolting a distinctness, that the 
 only human witness of this degrading fatuity of su- 
 perstition felt a thrill of painful disgust creep through 
 his frame, as he cast his eyes upon the haggard and 
 deluded object before him. 
 
 Youghal listened with anxious impatience to catch 
 the words of the mysterious mandiram, which he 
 knew the royal fakeer must utter before his spirit 
 could be released from the encumbrance of emaciated 
 flesh to which it was doomed to be imprisoned in 
 this state of bitter probation, for an everlasting des- 
 tiny of fruition among beatified spirits in the bowers 
 of Indra's heaven. No intelligible sound, however, 
 met the slave's ear. He was mortified at his repeated 
 disappointments ; nevertheless, he had learned suf- 
 ficient philosophy to feel satisfied that the exercise 
 of patience is the best, and indeed the surest mode 
 of triumphing over the greatest difficulties which may 
 oppose the immediate consummation of our hopes, 
 c 5 
 
34 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 The Saniassi did not cease to invoke his idols in a 
 tone so utterly unintelligible, that the disappointed 
 but still anxious listener began, at length, to despair 
 of catching a word. Nothing but a confused mur- 
 mur reached his ear ; and his vexation was becoming 
 extremely painful to repress. 
 
 Veramarken continued to mutter his devout aspi- 
 rations, and the baulked intruder had, by this time, 
 abandoned the thought of realizing his expecta- 
 tion, so long and ardently encouraged. Hour after 
 hour passed on ; still the saint did not raise him- 
 self from his bed of torture. He seemed to chng to 
 the iron frame upon which his enfeebled body was 
 writhing in suppressed, indeed, but actual agony, as 
 if it were at once the cause and instrument of su- 
 perlative, nay, of ecstatic enjojrment. Sometimes, 
 by his deep and hollow breathing, he appeared to 
 have sunk into an unquiet slumber in the midst of 
 his torments ; but the mutterings were so soon re- 
 sumed, that the interval of repose, if obtained, could 
 have been only of the shortest possible duration. 
 Youghal had never before, during the whole period 
 of his servitude, endured so severe a trial of his 
 patience. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 35 
 
 CHAPITER V. 
 
 The slave having long and patiently waited in hopes 
 of becoming master of the secret that would en- 
 able him to take an aerial flight above the sun, but 
 not receiving the desired communication, resolved 
 at length to quit the cavern, and leave his master to 
 his painful reveries. On putting his head beyond the 
 entrance, however, he found that the rain was falling 
 copiously; he therefore determined to remain until 
 the shower should abate, preferring the gloom of a 
 dry shelter, though a very disagreeable one, to a 
 certain drenching, although with a prospect of meet- 
 ing the sprightly Mariataly. He began to while 
 away the time, that lagged heavily, by giving all 
 the encouragement in his power to the sugges- 
 tions of hope, now crowding upon his mind like 
 motes in the sunbeam, which the mountain mist has 
 embraced with its prismatic wings; but he soon 
 grew tired of these visionary imaginings, and longed 
 for the company of his beloved, to dissipate the me- 
 lancholy already oppressing his spirits as with the 
 influence of a malignant exhalation. There did not, 
 however, appear any immediate probability of release 
 from a situation with which, though he had been 
 c6 
 
36 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 long familiar, was on the present occasion more than 
 usually painful. 
 
 The winds were already beginning to lift their 
 voices, and a darker gloom was rapidly mantling the 
 heavens. The sun had withdrawn his shining; the 
 air felt loaded with vapour — it was thick and murky. 
 Every moment the obscurity increased, until the dis- 
 mal glimmering of the solitary taper within the cave 
 was a relief from the external dreariness with which 
 the whole face of nature appeared to be invested. 
 
 The lightning now flickered lightly, at intervals, 
 from the heavy purple clouds in which it had been 
 long pent, and the thunder growled audibly in the 
 distance. This was altogether a grievous disappoint- 
 ment to the anxious attendant, who was becoming 
 every instant more dissatisfied with his vigil. There 
 was, however, no opposing the fiat of Omnipotence, 
 which had evidently gone forth, and he had, there- 
 fore, no alternative but to wait patiently until the 
 tempest should subside. Retiring with much reluc- 
 tance into the innermost recesses of the cave, in the 
 obscurity of which he knew himself to be perfectly 
 concealed from the penitent's observation, he deter- 
 mined there to await the issue of the threatening 
 storm, which soon assumed a more fearful aspect, 
 and rendered a visit to the Pariah that evening an 
 enjoyment no longer to be hoped for. 
 
 The rain now fell in streams, hissing through the 
 air and ploughing up the parched earth with the vio- 
 lence and force of a cataract. The hghtning blazed 
 round the whole vault of heaven, hanging upon the 
 skirts of the clouds, which were charged with ele- 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 37 
 
 raental ammunition, and appeared every moment to 
 be rent asunder by some invisible concussion, and 
 to pour forth their central fires, which expanded 
 with inconceivable velocity as they quitted their aerial 
 prison, wrapping the whole firmament in one vast 
 sheet of living flame. The thunder rolled and burst 
 in a rapid succession of explosions, so loud and deaf- 
 ening that it seemed to the appalled slave as if the 
 artillery of the skies were opened against this lower 
 world by the incensed deities, whom the wicked- 
 ness of mankind had roused to sudden retribution. 
 Youghal's terrors were so great that he began to cast 
 his thoughts back upon the past, and trace the lapses 
 of his past life. The gloom and solemnity of the 
 objects before him tended to quicken this mental 
 survey. His conscience quickly showed him that he 
 was not yet by any means a fit subject for the other 
 world, and he quite made up his mind to think no 
 more of possessing the secret of temporary exanima- 
 tion, fearing that if his spirit once quitted its prison- 
 house of healthy and luxurious flesh, it would be 
 seized by the Asuras', and kept in bonds that would 
 gall everlastingly, and detain him through eternity 
 within the molten atmosphere of Lohangaraka^. 
 
 The din of elemental conflict had by this time 
 become so great as entirely to drown the ejaculations 
 of the holy man, whose voice increased with the 
 tempest, and whose prayers rose in power and vehe- 
 
 ' An order of malignant spirits. 
 
 2 Lohangaraka signifies hot burning souls, and is the lowest of the 
 twenty-one hells of the Hindoos. 
 
38 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 mence in proportion to the tumult without ; never- 
 theless, he did not move from his position of prostrate 
 humiliation, but crossed his arms over his breast, 
 occasionally placing his fingers upon his forehead, in 
 token of profound devotion. The perspiration rolled 
 from his temples in torrents, yet not a single expres- 
 sion of agony escaped his lips. 
 
 Youghal felt not the slightest pity for the sufferer, 
 whom he now pretended to look upon as a mere 
 pious madman, though he knew that this sancti- 
 fied enthusiast occasionally went upon a visit to 
 heaven ; and did not hesitate to wish him fifty times 
 in the cow's mouth ^ through which the Ganges 
 pours its fertilizing stream over the hills of Hima- 
 laya, and thence through the Gangetic plain into 
 the sea. He dared not stir, lest the sovereign 
 fakeer should be made conscious of his propinquity, — 
 a discovery which might expose him to something 
 worse than either stripes or imprisonment; for al- 
 though his master was a very indulgent one, under 
 the impression that he was rewarding the fidelity of 
 a worthy dependant, yet, had his suspicions been 
 once roused, he would have had no more mercy upon 
 the body of his menial than he had upon his own. 
 Fortunately for the slave, though the lightning was 
 so vivid, that when it flashed into the cavern it ren- 
 dered every object for the moment distinctly visible, 
 the position of his master, who lay flat upon his 
 
 ' A rock in the Himalaya mountains, in which is an opening, 
 something like the mouth of a cow, and long supposed to be the 
 source of the Ganges. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 39 
 
 back, prevented him from seeing any thing but the 
 roof immediately above him, upon which he fixed his 
 glassy eyes with devout intensity, as if gazing upon 
 the sanctuary about to be entered by his soul as a 
 temporary visiter. Youghal consequently escaped 
 that notice dreaded by him far more than thunder 
 and lightning, — though he dreaded both sufficiently, — 
 and which would certainly have been attended with 
 such severe castigation as might have scored his 
 shoulders for the rest of his days ; — for although the 
 Suniassi permitted his confidential servant to attend 
 him to the cavern upon ordinary occasions, he never- 
 theless always forbade his immediate presence when- 
 ever he was about to perform those mysterious rites 
 and piaculary inflictions that invariably preceded 
 his separation of body and spirit for one of those 
 visits to the other world, which he was exceedingly 
 fond of taking, both by way of relaxation from the 
 rigid discipline of his ascetic life, and in order to form 
 an acquaintance with Indra and his blessed commu- 
 nity, before he should finally be exalted, and for 
 ever, to the highest condition among them. 
 
 After some hours, the tempest having subsided, 
 the cavern was left to its original gloom and silence, 
 only interrupted by the mantras of the holy man, 
 now heard with fearful and appalling distinct- 
 ness. His lips quivered, and his teeth clenched, 
 with the spiritual agony of the afflatus under which 
 he was labouring. He rolled himself upon the iron 
 bed, as if to ascertain whether the spikes were still 
 in contact with his body — for this seemed to be 
 utterly insensible of pain. On a sudden the fanatic 
 
40 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 raised his meagre frame from its recumbent position, 
 and, throwing himself prostrate upon the bare earth, 
 repeated dehberately, and with an audible utterance, 
 the mystical and potential mandiram. The menial's 
 ear drank in every word as it fell from his master's 
 lips. He thus became possessed of the secret of dis- 
 possessing his body of its spiritual occupant, and of 
 taking a journey to the regions of everlasting glory — 
 a privilege which had accrued to his master and 
 sovereign after nearly a life spent in exercising the 
 severest discipline of self-denial and bodily infliction. 
 No sooner had the Suniassi uttered the potent 
 incantation, than his soul was on its way to the 
 Swerga. His body remained upon the natural floor 
 of the cavern, without either motion or conscious- 
 ness. Youghal turned it over and over, to make 
 himself sure that it was without a soul, and soon 
 satisfied his anxious mind that it was nothing more 
 than a lump of senseless flesh. The principle of life, 
 however, remained, for the pulse sensibly throbbed, 
 and the breath came feebly, though there was no 
 other sign of animation. Here was, at length, pre- 
 sented the opportunity so long sought by the slave. 
 He had the power of emancipating himself from the 
 trammels of humanity, and of paying a visit to the 
 divinities whom he professed to worship. He felt by 
 nt) means easy. Quitting this world was to him 
 altogether such a novelty, that he could not imme- 
 diately reconcile himself to the thought of undertak- 
 ing a journey out of the body, for the sake of satis- 
 fying a mere idle curiosity. This curiosity was like 
 a giant within him : he could not control it. His 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 41 
 
 bosom expanded under its influence, and his heart 
 throbbed with painful acceleration. He was, never- 
 theless, repelled by his fears from uttering the awful 
 words which had rendered his master a visiter of the 
 omnipotent Indra. Should he likewise avail himself 
 of his newly-acquired power, and travel in the spirit 
 to the unknown world? This was an extremely serious 
 question. He did not know precisely how to answer 
 it, as he had many and strong misgivings. How 
 should he face the inhabitants of the celestial para- 
 dise, if he appeared in their presence without having 
 undergone the necessary penances of propitiation ? 
 They might expel him from those abodes which had 
 never yet been profaned by the presence of an un- 
 clean spirit, and cast him down to the obscurity and 
 torments of the dreadful Maha-raurauva \ How 
 should he meet his master in such company as he 
 must be enjoying in Indra's heaven, sanctified by the 
 austere devotions of a whole and sufficiently long 
 life, and thus rendered fit, even before death, for in- 
 tercourse with celestial society ! He had too much 
 reason to fear that a menial who had spent all his 
 days in merriment and good living, would be looked 
 upon as an intruder into the heavenly presences, 
 among whom there was nothing but innocent plea- 
 sure, except upon certain occasions where the immu* 
 nities procured by terrestrial penances allowed of 
 particular indulgences, which would be looked upon 
 
 ' Maha-raurauva is the third of the twenty-one Hindoo hells, and 
 signifies most dreadful. 
 
42 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 as heinous offences, if practised by any but those 
 thus specially privileged ; for in the profane heaven 
 of Hindoo superstition, the frailties of humanity are 
 sometimes mixed up with the enjoyments peculiar to 
 spiritual intelligences. 
 
 Having balanced all these and sundry other parti- 
 culars carefully in his mind, Youghal, in spite of the 
 yearnings of curiosity, came finally to the conclusion, 
 that he had better for the present keep the secret of 
 which he had become so fortunately possessed to 
 himself, and use it hereafter as occasion might war- 
 rant. Upon casting his eyes, however, on the atte- 
 nuated frame of his master, it suddenly occurred to 
 him, that if he were to utter the mysterious words 
 which would instantly disengage his essence from the 
 dross of clay by which it was encumbered, he might, 
 in place of aspiring to explore the regions above the 
 firmament, and these he did not feel much ambition 
 at present to survey, cause it to enter the uncon- 
 scious trunk of the regal Suniassi, and thus advance 
 himself to the dignity of immediate sovereignty, in- 
 stead of continuing in the humiliating capacity of a 
 bondman. He was transported at the idea, his brain 
 grew dizzy with rapture, and, under the excitement 
 of ambitious anticipations, he pronounced the awful 
 mandiram. He had no sooner ended the form of 
 incantation than a sickness overcame him, a palsy 
 seized his limbs, they gradually became powerless, 
 his head drooped, his tongue clove to the roof of his 
 mouth, his eyes closed, and his spirit, after a severe 
 but brief paroxysm, was disengaged, and transfused 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 43 
 
 into the inanimate form of his master. The latter 
 being now endued with consciousness, its physical 
 powers were restored, and, rising from the earth, 
 the soul of a menial gave animation to the body of a 
 king. 
 
44 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 YouGHAL was for a moment astonished at his sudden 
 transformation; but quickly recovering himself, he 
 looked upon his own vile carcase, and spurned it 
 with contempt. 
 
 " Well," said he aloud, knowing there was no one 
 present to overhear him, " I venture to say this is 
 the last time the body which now incarcerates my 
 soul shall lie upon spikes. No more starvings, mor- 
 tifications, and agonies in a jungle cavern ! What a 
 change shall be wrought in the dominions of Veramar- 
 ken the saint ! He will wear a jewel in his turban, in- 
 stead of encasing his sapient head in a greasy skull-cap, 
 unctuous with the sacred exudations of years of pious 
 self-abasement and righteous penance. The Suniassi 
 will henceforward grow fat, or Youghal's love of 
 good feeding must greatly abate with his exaltation — 
 of which, however, the present sharpness of his 
 appetite does not warrant the expectation. All pen- 
 ance shall be foreclosed for the time to come, and 
 I warrant me the dignities of a prince will be much 
 better enjoyment than the devout discipline of starva- 
 tion and cold iron. What will the subjects of the 
 sovereign saint think when they see their monarch 
 get rid of his leanness, cast off his slough like the 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 45 
 
 lithe snake, and grow at once into comeliness and 
 rotundity ? It is of no use for them to expect that I 
 shall be continually with my bare forehead upon the 
 earth, and with a few grains of parched rice in my 
 belly, as though I were anxious to become so trans- 
 parent that the sunlight should make its way through 
 my frame, as if it were a mere lump of flattened crys- 
 tal. I would have it as opaque as the trunk of a teak 
 tree, and as sound into the bargain. Now for royalty 
 and the society of a beautiful queen for the rest of 
 my days ! May my master long continue to enjoy a 
 paradise above the clouds, while I content myself 
 with enjoying his paradise below them." 
 
 The counterfeit monarch almost lost his wits when 
 he found himself so suddenly transmuted from a 
 slave to a sovereign. He could scarcely trust his 
 senses. He reeled under the weight of rapturous 
 anticipations. Had the fumes of a pint of arrack 
 been at that moment in his brain, he could not have ap- 
 peared more unlike what he had been just two minutes 
 before. He danced round the cavern with such mad 
 delight, that the scared bats fell about his ears, and 
 obliged him to quit the place of his concealment, 
 covered with foam produced by the extraordinary 
 violence of his exertions. By way of precaution, 
 however, — for he did not an instant lose sight of 
 his interests, under the influence of joyous intoxica- 
 tion, — ^before quitting the place of his auspicious trans- 
 formation, he took a knife from a pocket of the tunic 
 that covered the body which his spirit had so lately 
 quitted, and, having severed the head from the trunk, 
 in order efi^ectually to prevent his soul from taking up 
 
46 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 its future abode in the corporeal tenement of a slave, 
 he passed the night in sleepless ecstasy at the thought 
 of his happy change, under the broad canopy of the 
 star-studded skies. 
 
 No sooner did the grey tints of dawn tinge the 
 lofty trees that skirted the jungle to the east, than 
 he rose from the reeking earth, and, in defiance of 
 rheumatism or catarrh, mounted the tattoo, and 
 proceeded on his journey towards the palace. Be- 
 fore he had advanced two coss, the sun was flooding 
 the plain through which his road lay with its early 
 glories. As he jogged onward, a most agreeable 
 reverie overcame him. Visions of bright things flitted 
 before his excited imagination, and, under the trans- 
 port of some happy thought, he unluckily impelled 
 his heels so lustily into the galled flanks of the pony, 
 that the smart caused it suddenly to raise its hind 
 legs to a level with its ears, and cast its royal burden 
 over them into a dry nullah ^ without doing him any 
 other injury than slightly grazing his ribs, and de- 
 priving his nose of a minute portion of its cuticle. 
 
 Upon reaching the neighbourhood of Mariataly's 
 abode, Youghal perceived her on the borders of a 
 tank, accompanied by three female companions. 
 They had evidently been performing their matu- 
 tinal ablutions — a practice strictly attended to by all 
 Hindoo women, though this did not obviate the 
 odium of pollution which every where in India at- 
 taches to the outcast. At the sight of a stranger, and 
 that stranger a Suniassi, the four women rushed from 
 
 * A watercourse. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 47 
 
 the edge of the tank, and immediately disappeared in 
 a neighbouring thicket. 
 
 At the base of the hill on which the highland vil- 
 lage stood, ran a broad placid stream. Here the female 
 population bathed themselves upon certain days, and 
 performed other ceremonies peculiar to their creed, 
 which indeed promised them little in this world, and 
 less in the next — for the bliss of immortality is denied 
 to the unhappy Pariah. Youghal knew that if he 
 presented himself at the hamlet under his present 
 transformation, he must at once resign all chance of 
 meeting his beloved, as she would immediately flee 
 at the sight of so sacred an object. He therefore 
 determined to pass the day in the forest, and watch 
 towards evening for the approach of Mariataly, as 
 he felt certain she would visit the banks of the river, 
 it bemg one of those days on which it became impe- 
 rative on the younger women to perform certain cere- 
 monial observances sanctioned by the custom of ages, 
 in a running stream. 
 
 About half an hour after sunset, the fictitious Ve- 
 ramarken concealed himself behind a tree, a little way 
 out of the path by which he knew the object of his love 
 would return to her humble habitation in the moun- 
 tain village. The moon rose majestically and bright 
 above the darkening waters, over which there spread 
 a thin mist, investing every object with a shadowy 
 covering that imparted to it a hue of subdued beauty, 
 relieving the intensity of the shadows flung upon the 
 placid surface of the stream by the various projec- 
 tions of the landscape. The broad bright orb, which 
 marched up to the zenith in the glory of its heavenly 
 
48 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 radiance, was occasionally overshadowed by a passing 
 cloud, so transparent that, like a thin veil over fea- 
 tures of Grecian symmetry, it heightened rather than 
 concealed the loveliness beneath, by lending an 
 impulse to imagination, which often so pleasingly 
 enhances the reality. 
 
 The slave-king had not been long in his place of 
 ambush, before he observed Mariataly and her three 
 companions approach the river side. After they had 
 gone through those ceremonies of time and place, 
 peculiar to the day, each took a lamp from be- 
 neath her tunic. Placing them on the bank, they 
 filled them with oil, and, having trimmed and 
 lighted them, launched them upon the unruffled 
 stream. The frames of the lamps were composed of 
 a light wicker-work, in the shape of a boat, being 
 flat at the bottom, and containing a small earthen 
 receptacle for the oil, out of which a wick of twisted 
 cotton projected through a small tube. 
 
 Youghal was delighted at observing the trembling 
 anxiety with which his beloved launched her lamp on 
 the gentle waters, upon which there was not a ripple 
 to disturb the perfect placidity of its repose. He 
 knew that at this moment he was the object of her 
 thoughts, and his heart bounded as he gazed at 
 the interesting maiden. The lamps glided quietly 
 down the stream, anxiously watched by those who 
 had committed them to the uncertain and often trea- 
 cherous element, until they disappeared as the cur- 
 rent bore them beyond the reach of vision, still cast- 
 ing their pale light over the bright speculum on 
 which they so quietly floated. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 49 
 
 To the cause of this interesting ceremony, very 
 common in Hindostan, Youghal was no stranger. 
 He knew that the lamps were intended to repre- 
 sent the lovers of those superstitious yet innocent 
 girls, who had committed them thus confidently to 
 the stream, and who were fully impressed with the 
 conviction, that if they gradually disappeared without 
 becoming extinguished, their sweethearts were not 
 only safe, but thinking tenderly of them ; — on the 
 other hand, that if a sudden ripple of the water 
 should overturn and quench the bright symbol of 
 absent love, those to whom they had been betrothed 
 were either in jeopardy, or had banished them from 
 their faithless hearts. 
 
 On the present occasion the ceremony was per- 
 fectly propitious, and Youghal trembled with un- 
 usual delight, as he marked the intense anxiety 
 with which the lovely Mariataly gazed at the reced- 
 ing emblem of her lover's constancy. He observed 
 her occasionally turn her eyes to the broad heavens, 
 studded with radiant stars, which seemed to twinkle 
 in mute but expressive admiration of her beauty, 
 while, with her hands crossed upon her bosom, she 
 was evidently breathing a fervent prayer for his 
 safety, who was about to belie the favourable omen 
 which had elated her spirits and given a new impulse 
 to her affections. She was the last to return from 
 the scene of such affecting interest. Her companions 
 having ascended the gaut*, she followed them at a 
 
 ' Gau are flights of steps on the banks of rivers in India, made 
 the convenience of bathers. 
 
50 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 distance, absorbed in grave but tender reflections. 
 Youghal at length heard from his retreat the tripping 
 step of his beloved, as she pattered with her naked 
 feet the beaten pathway. On her nearer approach 
 he sprang forward to meet her, but she started back 
 as if a huge scorpion had risen before her feet. For 
 a moment the slave had forgotten his transformation, 
 and, actuated by an impulse of indignant surprise, he 
 exclaimed — 
 
 "How now, girl ! why, you start from me as if I 
 were a white man who had his unholy stomach filled 
 with sacred beef, and made no distinction between a 
 cow and a guana ^ Why do you shun me thus 
 eagerly ?" 
 
 " Because you need not be told that a Pariah 
 maiden may not come within reach of a Brahmin's 
 breath, and that Brahmin a Suniassi, without hazard- 
 ing her own life." 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha!" cried the transformed menial; 
 " by the chuckra^ of Vishnoo, that cannot be denied ; 
 but I am no Brahmin, bibi : I am Youghal your slave, 
 though no longer a bondman. Why do you stare } 
 Do I look like a Brahmin ? If so, all the better. ^ am 
 a rare counterfeit, but no true saint, as you will find 
 when we come to be man and wife." 
 
 Mariataly was incredulous. She imagined that the 
 Suniassi, who, among the few unhappy outcasts resid- 
 ing in the immediate neighbourhood of his sacred 
 
 1 A large lizard so called. It is, at its full size, from three to four 
 feet long. 
 
 2 The chuckra is a sort of missile discus, with which the god 
 Vishnoo is always represented armed. 
 
 12 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 51 
 
 retreat, — so at least it was reported after his last 
 ascent to the Swerga (for the greatest saints are not 
 secure from scandal), — had become as notorious for 
 his gallantries as for the severities of his penances, 
 was endeavouring to tamper with her credulity, for 
 the most undevout of purposes. Certain it is, that 
 however undeserving Veramarken might have been 
 of such an imputation on the purity of his sainthood, 
 it was no micommon thing to find members of his 
 sacred order who, though they pretended to mortify 
 the rebellious appetites, administered to them without 
 stint, wearing the garland of licentiousness, while they 
 affected to be distinguished with the crown of im- 
 mortality. Mariataly, therefore, after a short pause, 
 replied with some asperity, retreating gradually as 
 she spoke. 
 
 " My eyes are not yet dim, most holy Suniassi ; 
 and I cannot mistake the spare, withered, but sacred 
 form of the venerable Veramarken, for the round, 
 elastic, yet gross material frame of the comely Youghal. 
 Would you persuade me that I am unable to distin- 
 guish between the saint and the slave, when both my 
 eyes and heart are engaged in the scrutiny ?" 
 
 " Pah, pah, bibi, this is well enough when others 
 are by, but we are alone, and there is no need of 
 such reverence. I don't want your respect, but your 
 love, Mariataly. I'm no more Veramarken than thou 
 art Lakshmi', except in seeming: I'm no more nor 
 less than thy adorer Youghal." 
 
 " This jesting, most reverend man of many pen • 
 
 ' The consort of Vishnco. 
 D 2 
 
62 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 ances, is rather unbecoming thy holy functions : it 
 certainly suits better with the light-heartedness of the 
 slave than with the sacred gravity of the master." 
 
 " Don't take me for a saint, girl, but come to the 
 arms of thy tenderest of adorers." 
 
 He hurried towards her ; she retreated with such 
 activity that he could not overtake her. The severity 
 of those tortures to which the ascetic's body had 
 been so lately exposed, rendered it incapable of 
 much exertion ; and its new tenant was extremely 
 mortified to find that he could neither manifest the 
 warmth nor energy which his feelings really prompted. 
 The limbs were almost fleshless, the joints had become 
 inflexible, and the muscles rigid : in short, the whole 
 frame was out of harmoay. The body of Veramar- 
 ken was too feeble to give full expression to the 
 youthful and buoyant passion of Youghal. 
 
 " Come, sweetheart," cried the impetuous lover, 
 impetuous in spirit, but weak and altogether wanting 
 in physical energy, " none of this pretended modesty ; 
 you were not wont to be so coy, when we talked to- 
 gether in the grove on yonder hill." 
 
 " I never talked with you in the grove on yonder 
 hill, nor any where else, in all my life. This jesting 
 would be thought unbecoming even in a pariah. I 
 wonder, then, that a devout Suniassi can practise it." 
 
 " Devout nonsense. I tell thee I'm no more a 
 Suniassi than thou art a brahminee ; though I may 
 venture to say, without any flattery, that I richly de- 
 serve all the privileges of the one, and thou all the 
 devotion of the other." 
 
 '* But as I do not happen to be a brahminee, and 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 53 
 
 you do happen to be a brahmin of the most sacred 
 order, you know that the shghtest personal contact 
 with me would destroy all the effect of your long 
 penances ; prithee, therefore, take thyself off, and 
 leave me to my pollution." 
 
 " Don't talk so, bibi. Indra would be proud to 
 make thee his queen." Saying this, he hobbled 
 after her, as she retreated beyond the reach of his 
 extended arm. 
 
 " Why am I thus persecuted ?" exclaimed the in- 
 dignant girl, perceiving that the brahmin, as she 
 imagined her withered interlocutor to be, was deter- 
 mined to pursue her with his disgusting love — " I 
 feel it no honour to be distinguished by the unhal- 
 lowed preference of a devotee, who values me only 
 for my person, and looks upon my soul as abandoned 
 to the demons of Loha-Sanku^ You pursue me in 
 vain, for I am determined never to listen to the love of 
 one who, while he asserts the highest spiritual purity, 
 indulges in the grossest and most revolting sensuality. 
 Look elsewhere for a victim, for you will not find one 
 in me." 
 
 Saying this she bounded forward, and was in a few 
 moments lost amid the mazes of the forest, which her 
 more inexperienced lover was unable to penetrate. 
 He gazed after her with an expression of mortified 
 surprise, but was at once made conscious, when he 
 raised his right leg for the purpose of pursuing her. 
 
 * The sixteenth of the twenty-oue Hindoo hells. Loha-Sanku 
 signifies iron-pointed. 
 
 D 3 
 
54 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 of the utter impracticability of overtaking one so 
 nimble of foot, and so earnest of will. He fixed his 
 eyes for a short interval on the moon, which seemed 
 to smile in mockery at his vexation, and then threw 
 himself under a tree, where he slept until dawn. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 YouGHAL was greatly mortified at the first issue of 
 his transmutation. He became of a sudden rather 
 disheartened, fearing that so inauspicious a com- 
 mencement augured very unfavourably of the ulti- 
 mate success of his elevation to kingly honours. He 
 resolved, however, to be revenged upon the Pariah 
 girl for having slighted his love, and, with this de- 
 termination, mounting his tattoo he resumed his 
 journey towards the capital of Veramarken. His 
 thoughts were none of the most consoling, as he 
 jogged pensively onward. If the rest of his career of 
 royalty should turn out of a piece with the com- 
 mencement, he would not have much reason to con- 
 gratulate himself upon the acquisition of such a 
 questionable distinction. 
 
 When the fictitious Veramarken reached his mas- 
 ter's palace, the queen treated him with cold respect ; 
 but he, dazzled by her beauty, sprang eagerly for- 
 ward to embrace her, when the stifihess of his limbs, 
 from long and rigorous penance, caused him to stum- 
 ble, and the lady's hookha happening unfortunately 
 to be in the way, he fell over it, and measured his 
 lean length upon the Persian rug which had been 
 spread under it. The beautiful Maldavee, with a 
 d4 
 
56 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 grave composure of countenance which at once showed 
 how far her veneration for the saint outstripped her 
 love for the man, approached the Suniassi, who lay 
 rolling on the floor, and, bending upon her knee 
 beside him, just touching the carpet with her small 
 delicate palms, then applying them to her forehead, 
 in token of the profoundest reverence, she raised 
 the counterfeit of her devout lord from his unsancti- 
 fied prostration, and, having placed him upon his 
 legs, making a second salaam, as graceful as it was 
 profound, expressed a hope that he had sustained no 
 mischief. The soul of Youghal was sensible of pain 
 through the bodily organs of Veramarken ; but al- 
 though he felt himself very unpleasantly shaken by 
 his fall, he nevertheless pursed up his grim features 
 into a smile, and, throwing his arms round the 
 queen's neck, much to her astonishment, and still 
 more to her confusion, he kissed her with an energy 
 which she had never before experienced from his 
 lips. She did not receive the greeting as he ex- 
 pected, but reminded him that such warm demon- 
 strations of affection were not quite consistent with 
 the mortified life of a Suniassi. 
 
 Youghal found, to his unexpected mortification, 
 that Veramarken and his queen had, ever since their 
 marriage, lived more as brother and sister than as 
 man and wife, the saint not choosing to sully the spot- 
 less purity to which he had attained, — as he pretended, 
 at least, — ^by any other intercourse with his royal con- 
 sort than that which every subject of his realm might 
 enjoy, without being guilty of a crime, or incurring a 
 reproach; and Maldavee soon made known to the 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 57 
 
 fictitious monarch, that she did not intend to alter 
 her life of connubial self-denial, however the disposi- 
 tion of her august partner might have changed, since 
 she was as proud, though married, of being still a 
 maiden queen, as he was of being specially distin- 
 guished by intelligences dwelling above the planets. 
 The supposed saint could not persuade her to change 
 this determination, though he kissed her a thousand 
 times, and pleaded with all the earnest eloquence of a 
 man whose fervid feelings gave to his thoughts the 
 brightest colouring of words, against a resolution 
 which deprived his subjects of all hopes of an heir, 
 and thus did them injustice, by subjecting them 
 to an unlawful and impolitic privation. She was, 
 nevertheless, deaf to persuasion, declaring that so 
 pure and devout a man should never taint the sublime 
 spirituality of his nature, and thus degrade the name 
 of Suniassi, either on her account or through her 
 means. 
 
 " We must continue to live apart," she said, ** as 
 we have hitherto lived — you as a spotless devotee, I 
 as a virgin queen. I am unfit to pair with one by 
 whose presence the deities themselves hold that they 
 are honoured. Leave me to my sins and defile- 
 ments, and do you return to your sublime mortifica- 
 tions." 
 
 " Tut," cried Youghal, with a squeaking levity of 
 tone, " I have done with mortification now ; no more 
 tearing of my own flesh, and defrauding the natural 
 appetite ; — no more sleeping upon a metal bed covered 
 with flesh-hooks, in a dark cavern, with the bats for 
 lookers on, and snakes to hiss their applause. No, 
 D 5 
 
58 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 my sita\ I am now at the very zenith of spiritual 
 perfection — the cardinal point of bliss is reached; 
 I therefore intend henceforward to devote my days 
 to those innocent gratifications which I have hither- 
 to denied myself. I shall eat and drink to the 
 utmost amount of my heart's longing. I will spend 
 money like a prodigal, and make gold as vulgar as 
 copper. You shall soon see my hand at the bottom 
 of the state coffers. Instead of this lean, withered, 
 hungry frame, you will shortly behold a set of comely 
 limbs encased in the fat of health, and cheeks as 
 round and broad as the lotus -leaf, pampered into 
 vigorous rotundity by means of an unfailing appetite 
 and a most accommodating digestion. Come, consort, 
 though you don't love the natural man, but only vene- 
 rate the spiritual, you can nevertheless comfort me, T 
 suppose, with a decent refection. Chuck, order me 
 a curry of prawns, and a pilau by way of garnish, for 
 T feel a grievous craving after so long a fast. Don't 
 stint the measure of this first meal, for I am as empty 
 as a toad in an old wall, the reptile having been built 
 in with the foundation, and so doomed to a perpetual 
 fast. I should like to fortify my stomach at the same 
 time, for it sadly wants distending, with a draught of 
 fine arrack distilled from the rice of Serindib^." 
 
 This was uttered with a volubility which fully 
 confirmed the avidity of his longing after the enjoy- 
 ment of a speedy meal. 
 
 The queen's amazement increased every moment 
 at these extravagant demands of her late sanctified 
 
 * Sita signifies bride. 2 The island of Ceylon. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 59 
 
 husband, as she supposed the miserable object before 
 her to be. She could not account for the change. 
 He seemed to her possessed ; but she knew his power, 
 and therefore feared to contradict him. The curry of 
 prawns, the pilaa, and the arrack, were accordingly laid 
 before him, the whole of which he dispatched within 
 the space of three minutes, devouring it with ravenous 
 impetuosity. Her astonishment now rose to a climax. 
 The hungry saint, observing the unusual expression 
 of her countenance, cried with an exulting tone — 
 
 '* Is not this the way to make a lean body 
 fat?" 
 
 The queen was silent, not yet daring to enter upon 
 too close a familiarity with a man whom the gods 
 delighted to honour. . 
 
 " "Well, Maldavee," continued the slave-king, 
 " don't you think it wiser to eat, drink, and adore 
 one's wife, like a faithful husband, than to fast, groan, 
 and love nothing in this world but air, penances, and 
 the society of reptiles, in order to be allowed a visit 
 now and then among the divinities ?" 
 
 Maldavee hesitated to reply. She imagined that 
 this might be nothing more than an artifice of the 
 holy man, to try how far she was impressed with 
 sacred awe for those austere obligations by which 
 the Suniassi was bound. Youghal, perceiving her 
 hesitation, said gaily — 
 
 " Nay, don't be under any apprehension at com- 
 municating your thoughts : I am no longer a devotee, 
 except it be at the shrine of thy beauty." 
 
 The queen stared. This was the first time she had 
 ever known her husband guilty of an act of gallantry, 
 D 6 
 
60 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 either in word or deed, and she began to fancy that 
 his head had been turned by the extreme austerity of 
 rehgious mortification. It would not, however, do to 
 betray her suspicious to the holy man ; therefore, 
 instead of leading him to suppose that she considered 
 him already more than half mad, she exclaimed, in a 
 grave but solemn tone, and with a low salaam — 
 
 " Pride of Suniassis ! Siva forbid you should so 
 indulge the demands of a carnal appetite, after such a 
 long course of exemplary penance, as to confound 
 the sacred outline of that venerable figure, by puffing 
 it out with those interdicted luxuries which destroy 
 the spiritual angularity so becoming to the frame of 
 a godly ascetic, and swelling it into that pursy, round, 
 unholy shape, only befitting men of mere gross 
 animal senses, in whom the divinities take no plea- 
 sure. What a privilege to be honoured by three 
 hundred and thirty millions^ of celestial intelli- 
 gences!" 
 
 " Fah, fah, my sita, I have been meagre long 
 enough to justify my infringing now those stern 
 canons of devotion which direct the life of the 
 Suniassi. In my last visit to the Swerga, the Suras 
 taunted me with my leanness ; and Indra has granted 
 me a special permission to grow portly. I am de- 
 termined, therefore, to stuflf to my heart's content, 
 for thy sake, bibi, as well as my own ; for I am sure 
 you must prefer a plump, healthy partner, to one 
 whose bones constitute almost the entire unseemly 
 aggregate of his external man." 
 
 ' The number of gods in the Hindoo Pantheon. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 61 
 
 "I can have no preference, most holy Vera- 
 marken ; — whether fat or lean, it is my duty to be 
 alike obedient and respectful." 
 
 •* Nay, I don't seek respect now, all that is gone 
 by; I want you to adore me like a little dove. I 
 shall never leave you any more for caverns and holy 
 places, for, to tell you the truth, I prefer your society 
 to that of the glendo veers \" 
 
 "This is really very kind of you, but I am sure 
 you cannot have forgotten that love, except the love 
 of penances and self-abasement, is forbidden to the 
 Suniassi, and you are too holy a saint to divert to 
 the gross things of this world those thoughts which 
 have been so long employed in contemplating the 
 blessed delights of the world above." 
 
 " It's all very well, queen Maldavee, to be saintly 
 for the sake of a reputation, but who, in the name 
 of the great Siva, can live upon iron spikes and 
 unsoddened rice, without recruiting the craving ani- 
 mal with a little refreshment ?" 
 
 "I never heard you before talk thus profanely. 
 Do you forget that you are heard by all the three 
 hundred and thirty millions of our divinities ?" 
 
 " I don't value them a kabob, sita ; I have won 
 my prize in the next world, and am now, therefore, 
 determined to enjoy my pleasure in this. Why 
 should I cut myself off from the privileges claimed 
 by the meanest of my subjects ? There is not even 
 a Chandallah in my dominions who does not eat 
 and drink when it pleases him, if he can get it, 
 and — " 
 
 * An order of good spirits. 
 
62 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 ** But a Chandallah and a Suniassi, you will admit, 
 are two very different beings." 
 
 "Yes I do admit it without the slightest demur 
 of conscience — the one is a fool and the other a 
 knave. But thou, fair queen, besides being the 
 privileged consort of a man who has been honoured 
 by the notice of omnipotent beings, art more beauti- 
 ful than an elephant, more elegant than a dromedary, 
 and sweeter than toddy i; and I again declare to 
 thee, that I would rather dwell in thy presence for a 
 single day than in the Swerga for a whole month. 
 I am more at home with thee than with those 
 impassible dignitaries who neither know the bless- 
 ings of wedded life nor the luxuries of good eating 
 and drinking." 
 
 The queen smiled. Although she could not account 
 for such a signal chail|ge in the sentiments of so holy 
 a man, and the somewhat gross tendency of his con- 
 versation, her vanity was nevertheless qualified by the 
 extravagant compliments so unexpectedly paid to her. 
 She held down her head, and the animated Suniassi 
 once more embraced her with a fervour which fully 
 satisfied her that a change had come over his spirit, as 
 he had never before evinced such fondness. It was 
 altogether a marvel: but though her royal consort 
 seemed inclined to merge the sanctified husband in 
 the privileged lover, she was determined not to alter 
 in the slightest degree the terms of connubial inter- 
 course upon which they had hitherto lived, however 
 
 ' Toddy is an exudation from the palm which is drunk with 
 great relish by the Orientals. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 63 
 
 much the sovereign might desire it, as his reputation 
 for immaculate abnegation and renunciation of everj' 
 solicitation of sense was as dear to her as to him, 
 and she was proud of her alliance with so spotless a 
 being. 
 
 After this interview with Veramarken, Maldavee 
 retired to her apartment, told her favourite maidens 
 the strange occurrence of the morning, and having 
 discussed the matter for some hours with an acute- 
 ness and copiousness of elocution peculiar to Hindoo 
 matrons, came at length to the conclusion that her 
 sainted husband was about to complete his proba- 
 tion — that he would shortly enter upon his metem- 
 psychosis, appear with the spiritualised body of a 
 Sura, and in that celestial form dwell with her for 
 the rest of her days. This was an agreeable anti- 
 cipation enough, for she could not help thinking that 
 it would be a change for the better. 
 
64 
 
 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Although Youghal had for the first few hours after 
 his return to the palace been occupied chiefly with 
 the pleasures of feasting, and in calculating the 
 various enjoyments in store for him, he still had 
 not forgotten his determination to revenge himself 
 upon the Pariah for her defection, as he was pleased 
 to term it, forgetting that she could no longer recog- 
 nize the slave Youghal under the form and linea- 
 ments of the saint Veramarken. He resolved, 
 nevertheless, to visit her with a signal chastisement, 
 especially as the superior charms of Maldavee had 
 entirely effaced those impressions once excited by 
 the less dazzling indeed, but not therefore the 
 less attractive, beauties of Mariataly. In conse- 
 quence of this determination, he ordered a drome- 
 dary to be dispatched to the mountain hamlet, 
 and the innocent maiden to be brought before him. 
 By the following morning her arrival was announced, 
 and her former lover heard with delight tidings 
 which foretold the accomplishment of his unnatural 
 revenge. 
 
 About an hour after dawn, the unhappy girl was 
 placed under a balcony, from which she could be 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 65 
 
 conveniently seen by Veramarken and his court, in 
 order that her polluted frame might not taint the 
 atmosphere breathed by the royal fakeer. As she 
 stood trembling before the imagined potentate, in 
 whom she recognised the man who had so lately 
 assailed her with his vows of love, he asked her 
 with a stem voice — ** Where is Youghal ?" 
 
 The trembling girl, astonished at this question, 
 not supposing that her intimacy with the Suniassi's 
 slave was known beyond the precincts of her native 
 village, for she had never communicated it to a 
 creature save her father, protested with solemn 
 earnestness that she knew not. 
 
 " He was seen in thy company only a few days 
 since. What has become of him ?" 
 
 Again the affrighted maiden declared that she 
 was entirely ignorant of his movements, as he had 
 quitted her in good health after their last meeting, 
 and she imagined he had returned to the palace of 
 his sovereign. 
 
 *'Thou wilt not confess then?" said the enraged 
 Youghal, elevating his voice to a pitch of dissonant 
 vehemence. 
 
 " I have nothing to confess," meekly replied the 
 wronged Mariataly. 
 
 " Hast not thou, or have not some of thy detested 
 tribe, murdered my slave — the most worthy and 
 confidential of menials ?" 
 
 " I am incapable of taking the life even of the 
 meanest insect, much more incapable then am I of 
 shedding human blood. But I trust Youghal is not 
 dead, for I love him too well not to feel deeply at 
 
66 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 the bare possibility of such a mischance. If you 
 only suspect him to have been murdered, I am still 
 disposed to hope that your suspicions may prove 
 unfounded." 
 
 The features of the mock- sovereign seemed to 
 relax; the corners of his mouth assumed, for a 
 moment, a less decided curve downwards, and his 
 eyes began to twinkle ; but, looking on the nobles 
 who stood around him, his countenance resumed its 
 sternness ; his brow lowered ; the point of his nose 
 became gradually elongated ; his teeth gnashed, and 
 he cried vehemently — 
 
 ** There stands the murderess of my faithful slave 
 Youghal." Then turning to those persons who had 
 brought her from the hamlet, he exclaimed with 
 truculent ferocity of aspect — " Take her to the 
 cavern in the jungle, and let her behold the mangled 
 remains of that worthy man." 
 
 Mariataly was confounded at hearing such a direct 
 confirmation of Youghal' s death from the lips of his 
 master, and the more so at an imputation so unequi- 
 vocal of her having murdered him. She was borne 
 rudely from the presence of her royal judge, placed 
 again upon the back of a dromedary, and hurried to 
 the late scene of pious penance and mysterious 
 evocation, with the same painful dispatch with which 
 she had been forced from her home on the preceding 
 day. 
 
 Her journey from and to her home was one of no 
 little peril. Some of the passes of her native hills 
 were of the most fearful description. She was often 
 obliged to descend from her dromedary, where the 
 
u^?^ 
 
 '-^^j^tyc<r/7^/y^/^^^, /y^7^^ ^/ ( Jyzr^-O-. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 67 
 
 path wound round an abrupt projection of the moun- 
 tain, a horrible chasm yawning beneath, so deep that 
 the eye could scarcely penetrate to the bottom. 
 Peaks capped with clouds rose to a dazzling height, 
 pouring from their naked sides cataracts which fell 
 with a frightful rush and roar into the valleys below, 
 Mariataly, however, was now too much occupied by 
 her own misery to be alive to the sublimities of 
 nature : she had no sight for external objects — her 
 sad condition absorbed every sense. 
 
 On reaching the cavern a sight presented itself 
 that paralyzed her with horror. There lay the 
 headless trunk of Youghal in a state of rapid de- 
 composition. She gazed upon it with terrified asto- 
 nishment. Tears of anguish streamed down her 
 quivering cheeks as her eye fell upon the mutilated 
 corpse of one whom she had really loved with a 
 fondness not at all common among Hindoo women. 
 The cavern was filled with sufibcating exhalations 
 from the disfigured object before her, and the sicken- 
 ing fumes only added to the horror which swept like 
 an inundation upon her heart. When asked if she 
 had not murdered her lover, she again declared her 
 innocence with that artless eloquence of truth which, 
 carries conviction to every mind unclouded by pre- 
 judice or passion ; and enquired how it was possible 
 that a feeble girl should have been able to overpower 
 a young, strong, healthy man like him, whose livid 
 corpse was at that moment lying at her feet under 
 the most unsightly aspect of death. 
 
 Her appeals to those instruments of inflexible 
 justice, by whom she was surrounded, moved not 
 
68 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 their stony hearts : she was again placed upon the 
 dromedary, and the putrid body of her late lover 
 fastened to the back of the animal beside her. She 
 sat in the abstraction of speechless grief, and was so 
 absorbed by the agony of her sorrows as to be 
 insensible to what was passing around her. On 
 reaching the capital she was thrown into a dungeon, 
 and the next morning placed again under the balcony 
 before the inflexible spirit of her once fond Youghal: 
 who now asked her, with savage severity of tone and 
 manner, how she had contrived to put her victim 
 to death. 
 
 " I am innocent," she cried, ** of a crime so revolt- 
 ing to humanity ! I am incapable of violating, by 
 so detestable an act, at once the dignity and natural 
 tenderness of woman, in whose bosom the seeds of 
 the highest virtues are lodged, where they are fre- 
 quently brought to quick and affluent maturity. Be- 
 sides, how should the weak overpower the strong? 
 Some enemy has done me this wrong, for the 
 despised Pariah has no friends." 
 
 •' Take her home," exclaimed the still unrelenting 
 Youghal, " and let the sepulchre be prepared for her 
 and the body of my unhappy slave, who has become 
 the victim of a woman's treachery." 
 
 Mariataly, by the royal command, was imme- 
 diately removed to a remote apartment in the palace, 
 where she was left to the solitary silence of her own 
 unhappy thoughts. In the course of that evening, 
 the door of her dismal chamber was unexpectedly 
 opened, and, to her united astonishment and indigna- 
 tion, the venerable Suniassi stood before her. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 69 
 
 " I am come, Mariataly," said he, " to convince 
 thee that the love which thou hast so lately slighted 
 deserved a more grateful requital." 
 
 The devotee paused; but the unhappy maiden 
 making no reply, he continued, affecting a tone of 
 extreme tenderness, " Why was I repelled by her 
 who had received my vows, and from whom T had 
 heard a declaration of the fondest attachment ? Your 
 coldness, bibi, was heart-breaking." 
 
 " Why thus basely sue to one whom your tyranny 
 has doomed to an unjust and cruel death .'' Does it 
 become the sanctity of your order to steal into the 
 miserable prison, where I am to await the doom 
 which base injustice has pronounced upon me, and 
 insult me with this mockery of love? Though de- 
 graded in the eyes of all save those of my own 
 unhappy tribe, I am not, still, so lost to the decencies 
 of my sex, as to listen to the unhallowed vows of a 
 saint by profession and avowed practice, whose pro- 
 fanation of his sacred calling shows him to be a 
 scorner of the divinities whom he pretends to serve." 
 
 " Ha! ha!" burst forth the intemperate ascetic in 
 seeming, with an ill-timed merriment, " is it pos- 
 sible, bibi, you cannot see my soul through my skin ? 
 Why, it is more transparent than a dried palmyra leaf, 
 and you can distinguish moonshine through that any 
 day of the month when Chandra's^ fair lamp is hung 
 in the broad heavens. I am not Veramarken, as 
 I seem to be, but Youghal, whom I seem not to be, 
 and whom you used to own you loved better than 
 
 • Chandra is the Hindoo Diana, or the moon. 
 
70 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 a banana with the fresh morning dew upon its stem. 
 The genuine Suniassi is on a journey to the stars, 
 and, having left his trunk behind him, with all its 
 appurtenances, I, his counterfeit, by means of the 
 mysterious mandiram, have crept into it, and now 
 stand before you, Veramarken in body, but Youghal 
 in spirit." 
 
 " Nay, that is impossible ; Youghal would not 
 have abandoned his own body and cut off his own 
 head, of which he was too vain to think so lightly, 
 when, if what you say be true, his soul must so 
 shortly be called upon to relinquish its present 
 usurped tenement, and take to its own shell. Where 
 will he find that, when its ashes shall have been 
 wafted upon the wings of the wind over the far 
 country ?" 
 
 " Don't fear, sweetheart, — my holy master cannot 
 resume his own flesh, until it shall please me to quit 
 it ; and this, you may rely upon, I shall never do, 
 while I can enjoy a crown, be received as the hus- 
 band of a beautiful queen, — who, by the bye, has a 
 very singular notion of connubial felicity, — and, as I 
 hope, the lover of a still more beautiful Pariah. Will 
 you accept my love, Mariataly, as before I became a 
 sovereign ?" 
 
 " Never. You may be Youghal, but I only see 
 before me the unsightly form of Veramarken. I can- 
 not imagine deformity to be beauty, and therefore 
 will not yield my love to what my heart recoils 
 from with a feeling little short of abhorrence. Be- 
 sides, how am I to know that what you tell me is 
 true ?" 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 71 
 
 '* How dare you disbelieve the declaration of a 
 prince ?" 
 
 " If a prince, you are no longer the slave Youghal — 
 you cannot be both." 
 
 " Thou art growing metaphysical, bibi; thou wilt 
 prove by and by, that an elephant cannot be an 
 oyster, because he does not suck salt water through a 
 shell. Take my word for it, I am not what I seem." 
 
 '* In truth you are not : never was sinner more 
 belied than Veramarken, who is the wickedest saint 
 that ever performed penance, or drank bottled water 
 from the Ganges." 
 
 *' Well, well — never mind my failings, girl ; you 
 always knew that Youghal, who now stands before 
 you, was a sad fellow when the wicked fit was on 
 him." 
 
 " Aye, the Youghal whom I now see before me is 
 no doubt a sad fellow ; and that is why he so sadly 
 resembles the hypocritical Veramarken." 
 
 " Don't I tell thee, that the slave's soul has be- 
 come an inhabitant of his master's body, and that 
 thy adorer is now ready to raise thee to distinction, 
 being determined no longer to submit to the hungry 
 penances of a saint, but devote his future life in this 
 world to those enjoyments for which princes were 
 made, and which are only denied to the vulgar." 
 
 "Do as you please; but I don't fear to tell you 
 that I will never consent to participate with you in 
 those honours of which you now boast the posses- 
 sion. Youghal I tenderly loved, but cordially detest 
 Veramarken. In you I see only the latter. Listen 
 to my suspicions : I believe you are endeavouring to 
 
72 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 delude me into a false belief, for the basest of 
 purposes. You are no more Youghal than I am the 
 queen. If you really are the man I love, why assume 
 so disgusting a disguise ?" 
 
 " You reject me, then ?" 
 
 " I do." 
 
 " Are you prepared to die ?" 
 
 " I am ; rather than become the concubine of Ve- 
 ramarken, were he purer than the purest of the seven 
 Rishis." 
 
 " Your wish shall not be delayed : to-morrow you 
 shall lie in the cold earth with Youghal's body." 
 
 Thus saying, he quitted the unhappy Mariataly 
 with a frown of fiery indignation, which the more 
 strongly confirmed her suspicions that her former 
 lover had not been addressing his beloved highland 
 maiden, as he had ever been tender, and was utterly 
 unused to manifest the least excitement, even under 
 disappointment or provocation. She was, conse- 
 quently, now fully persuaded that he was dead, — for 
 at first she had some doubts, even though she had 
 been so many hours in the presence of his corpse, — 
 and the idea of being buried in the same grave with 
 him was to her a matter of rejoicing rather than of 
 grief. For her, death had no terrors, since the ob- 
 ject of her dearest attachment was no more ; and she 
 therefore cheerfully resigned herself to the fate which 
 awaited her. 
 
 That very afternoon the beautiful Pariah was placed 
 in a hackery with the corpse of the once sprightly 
 Youghal, wrapped in a cerement. The doom pro- 
 nounced against her was, that she should be buried 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 73 
 
 in the same grave with the body of her deceased 
 lover, in the neighbourhood of the mountain village 
 where her father dwelt, and in which she was born. 
 The persons who accompanied her had sufficient com- 
 passion to allow her to pass a few hours with her 
 disconsolate parent, previously to her being consigned 
 to that tomb prepared for the reception of one for 
 whom she had entertained an earnest attachment. 
 She passed the night under her paternal roof, and in 
 the morning early, accompanied by those who had 
 been appointed to conduct the interment of the living 
 with the dead, proceeded towards the place of sepul- 
 ture. It was at the foot of a lofty cone, which, rising 
 among a cluster of small hills, lifted its proud crest 
 to the clouds, and seemed to stand there a monument 
 of the stupendous exercise of omnipotent power. 
 
 The body of Youghal had been sent forward to this 
 solitary place of burial, and the unhappy victim of 
 usurped and pampered tyranny was allowed to follow 
 rather than accompany an object which, though con- 
 cealed from sight, was still loathsome to a more 
 delicate sense, in spite of the cerement by which it 
 was enveloped. The party slowly ascended the hill. 
 In front was an official on horseback, who had the 
 charge of conducting this melancholy business, at- 
 tended on either side by a man armed. The innocent 
 maiden followed between two persons, likewise armed, 
 who had neither respect for her sorrows nor com- 
 passion for her condition. 
 
 Having arrived in sight of the hill's base, which 
 had been fixed upon as the scene of cruel punish- 
 ment, the party reached a rude wooden bridge 
 
74 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 thrown over a gully, presenting a frightful aspect of 
 turbulence and of danger. It had a steep irregular 
 channel, through which the mountain torrent poured 
 with frightful impetuosity, occasionally impeded in 
 its precipitous descent by projecting masses of rock 
 and other impediments collected there in the more 
 temperate seasons of the year, when, during the 
 prevalence of temporary storms, portions of the hills 
 are loosened from their parent masses, and thrown 
 into the watercourses, then nearly dry, or only charged 
 with shallow and more gentle streams. 
 
 The bridge consisted of a single wide plank of 
 teak, about half a foot in thickness and nearly two feet 
 wide, sustained under one end by beams inserted 
 among the inequalities of the bank, and affording 
 effectual support to the rude fabric, secured on the 
 other side by two thin but strong upright poles, 
 that kept it sufficiently steady to afford a safe yet 
 fearful footing. The torrent roared ominously as the 
 procession passed over the bridge, which vibrated at 
 every step. Mariataly's father accompanied her to the 
 gully, and then turned homeward from a scene of 
 distress which he had not the fortitude to encounter. 
 
 After a silent march of about two hours, the victim 
 and her guards reached the place of interment. In 
 a small hollow between two rocks, a large deep hole 
 had been dug, about three feet square. Upon the brink 
 was placed the corpse of Youghal, in a state of sicken- 
 ing decomposition, covered with a ragged palampore. 
 The wretched girl advanced to the side of the pit 
 without shedding a tear, and, strewing some flowers 
 over the corpse, expressed her satisfaction at the 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 75 
 
 privilege of being laid beside him in death, whom 
 she had so fondly loved in life. Having completed 
 the preliminary ceremonies, she desired that the 
 solemnity might proceed. Her manner was solemn, 
 though gentle, exhibiting a calm yet lofty determi- 
 nation to meet death with that spirit of resigned 
 endurance which best becomes beings who are born 
 to die. At length, declaring she was ready to suf- 
 fer the dreadful penalty to which she had been 
 doomed by an unjust and selfish tyrant, the body 
 of her late lover was lowered into the sepulchre, 
 and Mariataly having again scattered some flowers 
 over it, descended into the dreary chamber of death. 
 Her dress consisted of a tight vest of pale red silk, 
 under a loose flowing drapery of thin white calico ; 
 her black hair was rolled up into a large knot upon 
 the top of her head, secured by a long brass pin, 
 tapered and polished like gold. Upon her wrists she 
 wore several thin bangles and armlets of buff"alo's 
 horn. The tips of her nails were slightly tinctured 
 with henna. 
 
 Having been lowered into the vault, the beautiful 
 Pariah seated herself upon a projecting ledge, pur- 
 posely left in the head wall of the grave, and placed 
 the corpse upon her knees. At the bottom of the 
 pit a horizontal opening had been dug, to admit the 
 dead body, so that its legs were forced into this hole, 
 and its head allowed to rest upon the lap of its living 
 companion. A few bamboos were now crossed above 
 the latter's head, and fixed firmly into the sides of 
 the pit; upon these slender beams branches were 
 thrown, and a canopy being thus formed, which 
 b2 
 
76 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 prevented the earth from falHng in, the innocent 
 girl was thus consigned to a living sepulchre, without 
 one ejaculation of sympathy being expressed at her 
 horrible doom. 
 
 The dry soil, from which the sun had caused to 
 exhale every particle of moisture, was lightly strewed 
 upon the bamboos, at once covering the living and the 
 dead. After the task of inhumation had been per- 
 formed, the delegates of Veramarken left his victim 
 to her fate, and returned to the capital, where they 
 announced the completion of their mission. Upon 
 hearing it, the counterfeit sovereign expressed his 
 satisfaction with an oath little becoming the lips of 
 a saint ; but a timely bribe rendered his hearers deaf 
 to so unjustifiable a profanation. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 77 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 YouGHAL soon perceived that it would not do entirely 
 to discard the severity of the devotee into whose body 
 his soul had been transfused ; for vulgar eyes already 
 began to perceive the strange change which had come 
 over the spirit of their master, and vulgar tongues to 
 make free comments upon that change. Finding 
 there was no stopping the voice of censure, which, 
 in spite of interdiction, was heard in frequent mur- 
 murs, he determined to announce a pilgrimage to a 
 celebrated pagoda in the province of Bahar, near the 
 banks of the Ganges, and to undertake the journey 
 thither on foot, in order to prove to such as doubted 
 his sanctity, that he had not really thrown off all 
 respect for those bodily mortifications which had 
 gained him so extended a reputation for piety, and 
 rendered him the pride of four millions of adoring 
 subjects. 
 
 The pagoda which the Suniassi had announced his 
 intention of visiting, was the constant resort of pil- 
 grims and fanatics of every description, from all parts 
 of Bengal and the bordering districts ; indeed, some 
 of the most celebrated devotees of Hindostan have 
 prostrated themselves before its venerated shrines. 
 It is situated on the brow of a small hill covered with 
 
 £3 
 
78 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 jungle, and, though exposed to the brunt of tropical 
 storms from every quarter of the compass, it has, 
 nevertheless, stood for ages without suffering any 
 perceptible diminution of its architectural beauty. 
 The masonry is extremely massy, being composed of 
 large blocks of granite, squared and fitted with so 
 great a nicety that the divisions are scarcely percep- 
 tible, and cemented with a bituminous mastic, so ad- 
 hesive and indestructible as to bind the walls into one 
 solid compact mass, inseparable either by the hammer 
 or the wedge. Before the main building is a large 
 and lofty portico, supported in front by two plain 
 square columns, and by six within, of corresponding 
 shape and character. Upon the roof of the vestibule 
 are four bell-shaped turrets, or rather cupolas, em- 
 ployed more for ornament than for use. The entrance 
 into the body of the building is through a small low 
 portal in the left-hand corner, under the portico. 
 Within this sanctuary all is drear and murky. The 
 air is close, fetid, and suffocating. Here, round a 
 huge shapeless stone, daubed with red ochre, and 
 converted by the prolific fancy of Hindoo superstition 
 into a divinity, may be daily seen the wretched vic- 
 tims of priestly delusion, prostrating themselves and 
 presenting their offerings to an insensible idol, which 
 offerings become the perquisites of the hierophants of 
 the temple, who plunder the besotted worshippers, 
 and grow rich upon the follies of those whom they 
 thus basely mislead. "Without, the pagoda is sur- 
 mounted by a high pyramidal tower, the whole sur- 
 face of which is squared into chequers, diminishing 
 in size towards the top of the building, the divisions 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 79 
 
 between the squares being apparently deeply indented 
 in the stone. The tower terminates in two richly 
 ornamented domes, from the smaller of which rises a 
 gilt style or cuUice. 
 
 Here Youghal arrived after an easy journey, which 
 he had forgotten to undertake on foot, but more 
 wisely performed in a palanquin. Having made his 
 offering at the shrine of this eminent sanctuary, he 
 passed a week or two in the neighbourhood, without 
 subjecting himself to a single mortification, and at 
 length returned to his own capital, so much fatter 
 and improved in personal attractions, that he could 
 scarcely be recognised as the late meagre but holy 
 Veramarken. 
 
 After the ill-reqaited Mariataly had been com- 
 mitted alive to the earth, she began to think that 
 the sooner she should be released from the still lin- 
 gering principle of life, the better ; to her surprise, 
 however, she found that she could breathe without 
 great difficulty, though placed under ground with 
 the dead. A considerable space was left betwixt 
 her head and the bamboo canopy, which latter pre- 
 vented the earth from falling in upon and suffocating 
 her. A small jar of water and a rice cake had been 
 laid in the grave beside her, previously to the inter- 
 ment. Perceiving that her lungs were not at all pain- 
 fully oppressed by her unnatural confinement, her 
 thoughts immediately reverted to the objects of this 
 world, and it soon became manifest that, though she 
 did not fear to die, the natural love of life prevailed 
 over the unnatural desire of death. But how was it 
 possible she should escape from her present imprison- 
 E 4 
 
80 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 ment ? Her cell was so straitened that there was not 
 room for more than two persons to stand conve- 
 niently upright, and she had nothing but her hands to 
 remove the impediment above which interposed be- 
 twixt her and liberty ; besides this, she was greatly in- 
 commoded by the body of her unhappy lover. Amid her 
 reveries at this melancholy moment, she could not help 
 reflecting upon Youghal's murder. The mystery 
 which hung over this dreadful event perplexed her 
 exceedingly. Having turned the matter every way 
 in her mind, she came at length to the conclusion 
 that he must have been put to death by his master. 
 She accounted for it by supposing that Youghal had 
 possessed himself of the secret so jealously with- 
 held by Veramarken, who, on discovering this, had 
 killed him with his own hand, in order that he 
 should not have any communication with the pos- 
 sessors of the Swerga — a privilege only granted to 
 pious Suniassis. This was a conclusion so satisfactory 
 to the mind of the Pariah maiden, that she set it 
 down at once as a solution of the mystery, and longed 
 to charge her sovereign with the crime. 
 
 Mariataly's singular captivity was now becoming 
 every moment more painful. The stench from the 
 body, which she continued to support upon her lap, was 
 intolerable. A sickness overcame her, followed by 
 a dizziness, which rendered her all but insensible. 
 She gave herself up as about to be released from 
 a miserable life and misfortune together, when her 
 ear caught a strange noise. The sudden shock of 
 surprise roused her from the stupefaction which was 
 fast creeping upon her, and she plainly distinguished 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 81 
 
 the sound as of something scraping above her head. 
 It continued without pause until the bamboos which 
 supported the earth that covered the grave of a living 
 victim began to crack. Turning her face upwards, 
 some particles of dust fell upon it betwixt the inter- 
 stices of the bamboo canopy. This, after the ex- 
 piration of a few seconds, was followed by a gush 
 of air almost instantly filling the vault, and relieving 
 her from that state of distressing unconsciousness 
 into which she was rapidly sinking. A short inter- 
 val of painful suspense succeeded, when light sud- 
 denly streamed into the gloomy receptacle of death. 
 Gazing in joyful surprise, she saw the slender bam- 
 boo rafters bending beneath some superincumbent 
 pressure; they gradually yielded, and several of 
 them being forced from the sides of the pit, into 
 which they had been fixed, gave way with a loud 
 crash, when a huge jackal fell at the feet of the 
 anxious maiden. 
 
 The mystery was now explained. It was evident 
 that some jackals, attracted by the scent of Youghal's 
 corpse, had collected round his grave to disinter the 
 dead. This they commonly do in hot countries, where 
 they abound, by scraping the fresh earth beneath 
 which the body has been deposited, and, having re- 
 moved so easy an impediment to their banquet, they 
 immediately despoil the sepulchre, dragging the corpse 
 from its unconsecrated tenement, then leaving the 
 bones to parch beneath a tropical sun, and crumble 
 into dust under the natural process of decay, 
 
 Mariataly was somewhat disconcerted at the in- 
 trusion of the jackal, which did not appear in the 
 b5 
 
82 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 slightest degree scared by the proximity of a living 
 occupant in a place only fit to be the habitation of 
 the dead, but began to tear the cerement which 
 enveloped the corpse of Youghal, and to devour the 
 latter with savage greediness. The terror of the over- 
 joyed girl was overborne by the transport which ex- 
 panded her bosom, and roused the failing pulses of 
 her heart, as the hopes of a restoration to freedom 
 from the cold and withering embrace of death were 
 thus suddenly quickened within her. But how to li- 
 berate herself from the gulf which had swallowed her 
 up alive, was a question by no means easy to be solved, 
 at the bottom of a hole three feet square and upwards 
 of nine feet deep. She was a good deal alarmed 
 at the prodigious voracity of her uninvited compa- 
 nion, who, however, was too much occupied with 
 her late lover to offer her the slightest molesta- 
 tion. 
 
 It fortunately happened that several of the bam- 
 boos forming the canopy constructed for the purpose 
 of protecting Mariataly from the pressure of the 
 earth above, had fallen to the bottom of the grave. 
 A thought happily struck her that she might con- 
 vert these into instruments of deliverance. Having 
 refreshed herself with a draught of water with which 
 she had been supplied by the considerate humanity of 
 those who had inhumed her, she broke the canes 
 into short lengths, and, by digging holes with them 
 into the soft walls of the pit, into which she thrust 
 her feet, she gradually, and after considerable labour, 
 reached the top, whence she emerged to liberty, 
 leaving the jackal to conclude his disgusting meal. 
 6 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 83 
 
 Making the best of her way towards a small pagoda 
 at the top of a hill near her native village, having first 
 prostrated herself before the idol, she offered up a fer- 
 vent thanksgiving for her unexpected deliverance, and 
 invoked a blessing upon her future life. The offici- 
 ating brahmin, who had beheld her on her way to the 
 place where she had been so lately interred, per- 
 ceiving a person enter the sanctuary, whom he sup- 
 posed to be in the bowels of the earth, concluded, 
 as a matter of course, that she had completed her 
 metempsychosis, and had been advanced from the 
 condition of a Pariah, the lowest among the social 
 orders of mankind, to that of a brahminee, the 
 highest. The superstitious mind of this heathen mi- 
 nister could lead him to no other conclusion. Ad- 
 vancing solemnly towards the prostrate maiden, he 
 addressed her as one who had been chastened by death 
 from the stains of mortality acquired in the polluted 
 form of an outcast, and elevated to the enviable condi- 
 tion of a brahminee, through the purifying medium 
 of transmigration. 
 
 The quick and intuitive sagacity of Mariataly in- 
 stantly suggested to her the personal benefits which 
 might be made to arise from this timely delusion ; 
 and she determined to convert the hallucination of 
 the brahmin to her own advantage. Under the im- 
 pression that she was one whom the gods had distin- 
 guished and raised to the highest caste among mor- 
 tals, the deluded priest did not hesitate to im- 
 press the well-known marks of that caste upon her 
 forehead. 
 
 " Daughter," he said, with a grave deliberation of 
 b6 
 
84 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 tone, " thou hast gone through thy probation, and 
 art exalted to the first distinction upon earth. Thou 
 hast passed through the grave to the purification of 
 the brahminee." 
 
 Mariataly nodded her head, and, having quitted 
 the pagoda with the brahminical mark, took care to 
 show herself to such persons as she expected would 
 proclaim her resurrection from the grave, and her 
 exaltation, through the metempsychosis, to the highest 
 condition both of civil and social existence. The 
 report of her miraculous deliverance spreading rapidly 
 abroad, soon reached the ears of Youghal, who be- 
 came seriously alarmed lest some horrible pun- 
 ishment should overtake him for having so cruelly 
 consigned an innocent victim to a doom which he 
 knew to be unjust. Mariataly, however, for the pre- 
 sent carefully avoided general publicity ; nevertheless, 
 every one who had known her previously to her in- 
 humation, and who was aware likewise of the sentence 
 visited upon her by the royal Suniassi, implicitly be- 
 lieved the story propagated by the brahmin of the 
 pagoda upon the hill, of her having accomplished 
 her term of probation ; and persons of the highest 
 caste no longer hesitated to hold communion with 
 her. It singularly happened, as if the fates were 
 resolved to remove every impediment to her future 
 exaltation, that her father, on the very day after 
 her extraordinary deliverance, while pursuing his 
 occupation of charcoal-burner in the jungle, was 
 bitten by a snake, and almost instantly died. The 
 aflfectionate daughter mourned her parent's decease 
 with a deep and abiding sorrow; but finding now 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. S5 
 
 no further obstruction to her taking that station in 
 society which chance had pointed out to her, she 
 resolved to repair without further delay to the capital 
 of Veraraarken. 
 
86 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Meanwhile the disembodied spirit of the Suniassi 
 which had been taking its pleasure among the beati- 
 fied in Indra's paradise, satisfied at length that he 
 had been sufficiently long in such good company for 
 all spiritual purposes, and being anxious to see his 
 queen, whom he had now, as he imagined, grievously 
 pained by too protracted an absence, determined to 
 return to this nether world, resume his body, and, 
 putting off the penitentiary, at least for a season, 
 devote, if not the remainder of his life, at all events 
 a long interval of it, to those enjoyments from which 
 he had hitherto debarred himself with painful but 
 religious perseverance. 
 
 With this determination Veramarken sought the 
 imperial God of the elements to take a respectful 
 leave, and to thank him for his divine hospitality. 
 Approaching him just as he had descended from the 
 lofty back of his omnipotent elephant Iravaty, whose 
 trunk is a mighty water- spout, his tail a thunder- 
 cloud, and whose tusks are each the axis upon which 
 a planet revolves, the favoured Suniassi respectfully 
 declared his intention of descending to the terrestrial 
 regions, there to re-assume his grim form of mor- 
 tality, and in that sainted image of humanity, ex- 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 87 
 
 purgated from all carnal impurity, do homage to all 
 the divinities worshipped by devout Hindoos. 
 
 Indra, having majestically ascended his throne 
 composed of sun and moonbeams beautifully inter- 
 mixed by the hands of adoring PitrisS looked 
 benignently on the spirit of the venerable Veramar- 
 ken. His consort, the ineffable Indrani, blooming 
 with immortal youth, was seated on his right hand, 
 and at his feet lay his chief musician Chitrarat'ha 
 with a vina in his hand ready to commence his 
 celestial minstrelsy : the Iris, Indra's bow, hung 
 from the luminous shoulders of the divinity, whilst 
 his arrows, barbed with thunder-bolts and feathered 
 with lightnings, lay on one side of the throne 
 innocuous, but showing, by those vivid coruscations 
 they momentarily emitted, the deadly powers of mis- 
 chief with which they were charged. Near the 
 throne grew the celestial tree Paryataka, that arose 
 from the sea when it was churned with the moun- 
 tain Mandara ^. Upon each side of the trunk stood 
 the sacred and all-prolific cow Kamdenu and the 
 eight-headed horse Oochisrava, which both arose 
 with the tree from the churned ocean, and were the 
 faithful guards of Indra's throne. 
 
 The venerable dispenser of the elements nodded 
 graciously when Veramarken declared his intention 
 
 1 An order of good spirits. 
 
 ^- Vishnoo is fabled to have become incarnate iu the form of a 
 tortoise, in which shape he sustained the mountain Mandara, placed 
 on his back, to serve as an axis whereon the gods and demons, the 
 vast serpent Vasoky serving as a rope, chunied the ocean for the 
 recovery of the Amrita, or beverage of immortality. 
 
88 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 of resuming his mortality, and the lovely Indrani 
 bowed her head with a dignified motion of approval, 
 which caused every spark in the celestial throne 
 to gleam with a lustre so dazzling, that the spirit 
 even of a Suniassi could scarcely endure the inten- 
 sity of their united effulgence. 
 
 Having thus taken a respectful leave of Indra and 
 his celestial consort, the soul of Veramarken quitted 
 the Swerga, shot with the velocity of a sunbeam 
 from a height immeasurably above that of the most 
 distant star visible through the largest telescope, 
 and dropped like a ray of light into the cavern 
 where it had so lately quitted its carnal prison. The 
 spiritual Veramarken looked anxiously round for his 
 body ; — alas, it was not to be found ! The radiance 
 which his soul had imbibed in, and bore with it from, 
 the celestial mansions, filled the entire space with a 
 lambent glow that showed distinctly every object, 
 but the fleshly form of the Suniassi was no where 
 visible. What could have become of it } No beast 
 of prey had devoured it, because it >was charmed 
 against the power of wild beasts by the potency of 
 the Mandiram. Not being able to discover it, he 
 proceeded into the darkness, for it was now night, 
 and spread like a mist over the neighbouring jungle, 
 hiding the stars and affrighting the superstitious 
 inhabitants scattered here and there through that 
 desert tract with the apprehensions of evil omens or 
 of coming mischief. 
 
 With the dawn, Veramarken renewed his search ; 
 but being unable to discover the tenement of flesh 
 which his spirit had so lately quitted, he rose into 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 89 
 
 the air, and, wafted by the gentle breeze, hovered 
 over his capital, uttering no perceptible cry of la- 
 mentation, but enduring, nevertheless, all the agony 
 so keenly felt by incorporeal beings when doomed to 
 suffer. He knew not whither to direct his flight in 
 order to be relieved from the torments by which he 
 was overborne. He could not return to the Swerga, 
 having once quitted it, without being again dismissed 
 from his mortal remains by uttering the Mandiram, 
 and this could not be done without bodily organs ; 
 so that he was now for ever excluded either from 
 living upon earth as a human creature, or dwelling 
 with Indra as a beatified spirit. This was a dreadful 
 predicament to fall into, after having just been 
 honoured with a nod from that omnipotent Deity, 
 and with a smile from his all-beautiful consort. 
 
 In despair, the immortal part of Veramarken rose 
 above the clouds, which, for a while, hid this dull 
 earth from its view, (for, though without eyes, it had 
 the power of perception imparted by its own inherent 
 light,) and directing its flight to mount Meru, upon 
 the top of which it rested, invested the peak in the 
 form of a light silvery cloud. Restless, however, 
 and disconsolate, it sailed from hill to hill, and at 
 length settled upon the highest point of the Hima- 
 laya range. Here it became so chilled with the 
 excessive cold, that it was finally obliged to take 
 shelter in one of the valleys at the bases of those 
 sublime mountains : these valleys are clothed with the 
 freshest verdure, while the gigantic hills beneath 
 whose projecting shadows they are sheltered remain 
 covered with perpetual snows. 
 
90 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 Here was a romantic scene, the contemplation of 
 which relieved for a while the intensity of his grief. 
 On every side were hills rising one above the other, 
 and hiding in the clouds their snow- clad summits, 
 which glistened with eternal sunshine. In this 
 valley was a cluster of rude buildings roofed with 
 wood, one of which was employed as a military 
 guard-house ; the upper part of the pass being pro- 
 tected by a thick stone wall forming the buttresses 
 of a rude bridge, and passing in front of a lofty tower 
 evidently built to defend the pass against an in- 
 vading force. The tower had three distinct stories 
 above the ground floor, and was strongly built of 
 stone. The windows projected from the wall, form- 
 ing a sort of recess within, whence archers could 
 discharge their arrows from loopholes cut in the 
 casements. The disembodied spirit, almost condensed 
 to a palpable substance by the extreme cold of the 
 mountain whither it had at first rested after its 
 disturbed flight from that capital, in which a sensual 
 slave was revelling in all the luxuries of royalty, 
 sought shelter in the upper story of this highland 
 tower, where, shut out from this world of probation, 
 it could hold communion with itself undisturbed by 
 external objects, and seek at least a temporary relief 
 from the vexations to which it was at that moment 
 a prey. The tower was inhabited by soldiers, who 
 gaily discoursed upon the dangers of their profession 
 with light hearts and smiling faces ; and the miserable 
 Veramarken, as he listened to their noisy conversa- 
 tion, could not help contrasting the buoyant cheer- 
 fulness of the mountain soldier with the deep-rooted 
 
'^v. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 91 
 
 melancholy of the Suniassi sovereign. The former 
 appeared to have no cares amid the severe toils of 
 a military life, but evidently possessed a keen relish 
 for those temporary relaxations which were to him 
 a recreation and a bliss. Some among these hardy 
 highlanders spoke of their wives in a tone of rough 
 affection, which showed that they had not only a 
 sensible, but even a refined perception of the fru- 
 ition of wedded Hfe. Others talked of their chil- 
 dren with a rude eloquence, that sufficiently at- 
 tested how deeply they felt the influence of parental 
 affection, while the forlorn Veramarken was over- 
 whelmed by the sad reflection that his home was 
 not only barren of connubial bliss, but that the 
 reciprocations of filial and paternal love could never 
 be known by him, doomed as he now was to be a 
 wanderer, out of the body, over the face of a world 
 which could furnish no enjoyment to him. He could 
 by no means account for such a doom, as his life 
 of severe penance and mortification had entitled him 
 to look for a very different issue. Had he not received 
 the approbation of that mighty divinity who governs 
 the elements, and to whom all terrestrial things are 
 obedient } Had he not been honoured by the most 
 distinguished of mortals ? Had he not obtained 
 the right of entering the Swerga by the purchase 
 of a mortified body and constantly abstracted mind ? 
 Why then was he punished with a severity which 
 could only be merited by the mass of sinners ? — He 
 set it down as a matter too manifest to need any 
 proof, that he was the most ill-used spirit that had 
 ever inhabited a human frame. 
 
92 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 When day dawned, the soul of Veramarken, dis- 
 satisfied with its present retreat, rose hke an essence 
 into the air, and, quick as the sudden transition of 
 thought, was hovering over the palace in which 
 Maldavee was enjoying the sweetest repose, and 
 Youghal reaping the dangerous fruits of his viUany. 
 When the sun had accomplished full a two hours* 
 journey above the horizon, he had the mortifying 
 opportunity of witnessing his own lost body pos- 
 sessed by the soul of his menial, and for the first 
 time made the vexatious discovery that Youghal was 
 a treacherous knave. Of the latter being found in 
 the cavern a headless corpse, together with the nar- 
 rative of his burial and that of the lovely Pariah, he 
 soon heard from the usual gossip of his domestics. 
 It was the theme of constant conversation, as Youghal 
 had been of so merry a temperament that his loss 
 was seriously felt by every member of the kitchen and 
 domestic offices. The bodiless Suniassi felt exasper- 
 ated beyond description, though unable to express the 
 vehemence of his emotions, at the treachery of his 
 slave, who he now perceived must have overheard 
 him utter that solemn form of incantation which pro- 
 duced immediate exanimation. His soul flitted about 
 from place to place like a noxious exhalation, one 
 while nestling within the petal of a flower, at another 
 dilating its ethereal substance, and spreading over a 
 surface that enabled it to catch at the same moment 
 the conversation of all the palace inmates, from the 
 chamber of state down to the scullery of the royal 
 establishment. 
 
 Nothing, however, reached Veramarken' s ear that 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 93 
 
 tended to appease his restless impatience once again 
 to assume his natural form, and enjoy the conversa- 
 tion of his queen. His nephew, since the appear- 
 ance of the counterfeit sovereign, had retired from 
 the capital to a country seat, where he enjoyed the 
 pleasures of the chase, expecting that he would be 
 recalled to the chair of state when his uncle should 
 be fatigued with the toils and perplexities of legisla- 
 tion, and retire to his usual devotions in the jungle. 
 He was rather surprised that the summons was so 
 long delayed, as the intervals hitherto between 
 the royal Suniassi's assumption of regality and his 
 devotion to the severe requisitions of his sacred 
 profession, had never before been so protracted. 
 
 On the day after his return from the mountains, 
 to the extreme mortification of the incorporeal de- 
 votee, he saw the counterfeit of himself enjoying the 
 society of his queen, whom it almost maddened 
 him to perceive listening apparently with more 
 pleasure than she had been wont when he was with 
 her, to the unrefined discourse of his slave. What 
 was to be done ? "Was there no remedy ^ The 
 miserable spirit, though almost rendered palpable 
 with indignation, had no power of expressing it, 
 because, to his bitter annoyance, he was dispossessed 
 of every physical qualification. 
 
94 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Raja Vitravtnga, the Suniassi's nephew, still re- 
 mained at his mansion, situated not far from the ca- 
 pital, on the borders of a beautiful river that laved 
 the walls of a magnificent garden, in which it stood 
 amid the most luxuriant growth of the East. He 
 was surrounded by every luxury which could contri- 
 bute to his enjoyment, and was so beloved by all his 
 domestics and retainers, that they took the greatest 
 pleasure in doing his bidding, instead of considering 
 the execution of his orders a toil. He richly de- 
 served their fervent affiance, because he took as ear- 
 nest an interest in their happiness as in his own, and 
 promoted it to the best of his power ; so that, whether 
 at the head of the government, directing the intricate 
 machinery of state, or exercising the more confined su- 
 perintendence of his own domestic establishment, he 
 was equally an object of expressed regard. Walking 
 one morning by the river side, as he passed a gaut he 
 perceived several women who had just completed the 
 morning bath, and were about to return to their 
 homes : the beauty of one among them particularly 
 arrested his attention, and he instantly felt a desire 
 to know something more respecting her than belongs 
 to ordinary curiosity. All, however, he could ascer- 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 95 
 
 tain was, that she was a brahminee who had come 
 from a distant part of the country, and taken up her 
 abode in that neighbourhood. She was very well 
 thought of by her neighbours, who were charmed 
 with the simplicity of her' manners and the amiable 
 tone of her general behaviour. The strangest thing 
 connected with her seemed to be, that she was still 
 a maiden, it being a rare event in India to find a 
 high caste girl unmarried after the age of six years ; 
 but in her case it was accounted for by her having been 
 in an extremely ill state of health for the first eight 
 or ten years of her hfe, and moreover, that her father, 
 lately dead, anxious not to be separated from his 
 child, who had lost her mother in infancy, kept her 
 at home as a companion whom he did not choose to 
 spare. 
 
 Vitravinga was more than ever anxious to meet 
 this beautiful Hindoo, but did not choose to intrude 
 upon her privacy without her consent, as he respected 
 too much that strict separation from the male sex to 
 which all girls of the superior castes rigidly adhere 
 in their maidenhood, to ofi"er violence to the deli- 
 cacy of one evidently, from her extreme beauty, 
 of wondrous sensibility and meekness. How fre- 
 quently is beauty the symbol of all virtues in the 
 estimation of many warm-hearted young men, who 
 show no lack of penetration in the ordinary, or even 
 in the extraordinary, matters of life ! For several 
 mornings he walked on the margin of the river 
 about the time that the brahminee came for her 
 daily supply of water. At his approach she in- 
 variably drew over her head the long veil which co- 
 
96 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 vered her shoulders, and shrouded that beauty which 
 she could not altogether conceal. 
 
 The young Rajah's curiosity continued daily to 
 increase, and something more than curiosity was 
 already working within his bosom. Unable longer 
 to refrain, he determined to take the first fit oppor- 
 tunity that might present itself of speaking to the 
 lovely stranger. 
 
 Mariataly, on quitting her native village after 
 her singular release from a living burial, bent her 
 steps towards Veramarken's capital. When ex- 
 amining her father's effects, she unexpectedly dis- 
 covered that he had amassed a small sum of money, 
 laid by from the earnings of his severe and ill- 
 requited toil. This money, with a frugal economy, 
 she knew would afford her the positive necessaries 
 of life for some time to come, and before her funds 
 should be exhausted she hoped to be in a condition to 
 secure her own maintenance. Her prospects, in- 
 deed, were none of the brightest, still she did not 
 despond. Her late release from jeopardy so imme- 
 diate, and from which there appeared no escape, 
 strengthened her faith in the favourable aspect of her 
 present position ; and she could not help indulging 
 the flattering hope, in opposition to the more chilling 
 suggestions of reason, which brought to her mind 
 a host of opponent probabilities, that she was not 
 born to die the death of an outcast, or to continue 
 her life in the world, as that portion of it up to the 
 present time had been passed. 
 
 On reaching the capital, she took up her abode 
 with an aged brahmin and his wife, the former of 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 97 
 
 whom officiated in a small but eminent pagoda in 
 the suburbs of the city. Coming with a direct re- 
 commendation from the ministering priest of the 
 temple on the hill near her native village, she had 
 no difficulty in obtaining a ready welcome from his 
 brother priest in the capital of the royal Suniassi. 
 
 The evening of her arrival at her new home she 
 repaired to the sanctuary, in order to offer up her 
 devotions to the presiding deity, through whose 
 benign dispensation she had been released from 
 death and advanced unexpectedly to the dignity of a 
 Brahminee. She cast herself before the idol, and 
 almost immediately sank into a kind of trance. The 
 whole building appeared to her illuminated by a 
 mysterious light, the source of which was not visible. 
 A fi-agrant incense rose from the floor, and, first gra- 
 dually enclosing the idol with a subtile mist, shortly 
 extended itself throughout the entire area of the 
 building. Mariataly was awe-struck. The chords 
 of a vina were touched by some unseen hand, and 
 the most exquisite music filled the enraptured ear. 
 The maiden at length raised her eyes in solemn 
 devotion towards the idol to which she was about 
 to offer the grateful thanksgivings of an overcharged 
 but guileless heart. As she gazed upon it intently 
 through the mist, a majestic shape arose from the 
 sacred stone and descended to the floor of the pa- 
 goda. It was mounted on a colossal eagle, which it 
 slowly quitted, and advancing to the spot where the 
 awe-struck girl had prostrated herself, stood before 
 her, august and motionless. Its form was of a dark 
 azure, and the intense brightness of its eye com- 
 
 F 
 
98 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 pletely illuminated the whole space around her, thus 
 explaining the mystery of the light which ap- 
 peared to proceed from some invisible agency, as 
 already stated. 
 
 Whilst Mariataly remained stupified with amaze- 
 ment and awe, the mysterious being uttered in a 
 deliberate tone, heightened by the sweetest melody, 
 the following words, — 
 
 " Maiden, attend to the voice of the Almighty 
 One : — * I was even at first, not any other thing — 
 that which exists unperceived — supreme ! After- 
 wards T am that which is ! and he who must remain 
 am I ! 
 
 " Except the First Cause, whatever may appear 
 and may not appear in the mind, know that to be 
 the mind's Maya or delusion, as light, as darkness. 
 
 " As the great elements are in various beings, 
 yet not entering, that is, pervading, not destroying, 
 thus am I in them, yet not in them. 
 
 " Even thus far may inquiry be made by him 
 who seeks to know the principle of mind in union 
 and separation, which must be everywhere always*'. 
 Bear in mind these sacred communications. I am 
 Vishnoo, the omnipotent! whose arrows, when he 
 launches them, pass through infinite space, and are 
 for ever upon the wing. 
 
 "Thou hast been an inhabitant of the abode of 
 death — thou hast risen from the grave purified from 
 the first stains of thy generation. Thou art, there- 
 fore, no more a Pariah, but a Brahminee. Vishnoo 
 
 ' This is an extract from the " Sri Bhagavata," a work considered 
 divinely inspired by the Hindoos. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 99 
 
 pronounces thy freedom from carnal defilement, and 
 classes thee with the chief among his adorers." 
 
 In an instant, the place was enveloped in pro- 
 found darkness — the form of the Divinity had dis- 
 appeared ; and Mariataly, recovering from her trance, 
 found herself upon the temple floor, the Brahmin 
 standing beside her. She immediately related to 
 him every particular of the vision, except what 
 referred to her having been a Pariah. The sacred 
 functionary, struck by so extraordinary a visitation 
 of the God of his idolatry, looked upon the agitated 
 girl as a person eminently favoured of heaven, and 
 endeavoured to persuade her to devote herself to the 
 temple in honour of the Deity who had so mer- 
 cifully revealed himself to her. Mariataly, knowing 
 the abandoned course of life pursued by women 
 so devoted, determined not to adopt the Brahmin's 
 suggestion, and at once declared her resolution. 
 He was angry that a woman, however pure, and 
 however distinguished by his Gods, should slight the 
 counsels of a priest of Vishnoo, especially too of 
 one who had acquired such long experience in reli- 
 gious matters ; he, therefore, told her, that she had 
 no alternative but to become a minister of the 
 sanctuary, or incur the everlasting indignation of 
 that august Being who had just appeared to her 
 under an aspect of the most benign mercy. 
 
 Mariataly, little moved by the subtle, but impure, 
 logic of the Brahmin, who did not hesitate to disgust 
 her with proposals of his odious love S determined 
 
 * Nothing ever exceeded the licentious practices of the priests and 
 other functionaries in some of the Hindoo temples. 
 f2 
 
100 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 to trust to her own virtue as her best security for 
 the reaUzation of those hopes inspired by the appear- 
 ance of the great dispenser of human benefit ; per- 
 ceiving, however, that to remain under the Brahmin's 
 roof would be attended, not only with annoyance, but 
 with probable danger, she quitted it on the following 
 morning, and soon found an asylum, a few miles out 
 of the capital, where for the present she took up her 
 temporary abode. 
 
 It was this beautiful girl, for she was still beauti- 
 ful and young, having not yet felt upon her clear 
 brown cheek the warmth of eighteen summers, w^hom 
 Vitravinga had beheld on the banks of the river, as 
 already related. She had observed him, but was 
 not aware that he looked upon her with the slightest 
 interest. Her utter unconsciousness of personal su- 
 periority over the generality of Hindoo maidens, was 
 only exceeded by the chaste simplicity of her beauty, 
 and her gentleness was the theme of admiration 
 among the community with whom she associated. 
 
 One morning, as she was returning from the river 
 with a bright copper vessel of water upon her head ' , 
 she was met by the nephew and heir of Veramarken, 
 who, accosting her with great delicacy and respect, 
 told her at once who he was. She felt somewhat 
 abashed at finding herself in the presence of one 
 so distinguished by birth and alliance, but more 
 especially by those moral qualities which best adorn 
 humanity, whether of the throne or of the hovel. 
 Quickly overcoming her embarrassment, she acknow- 
 
 ' This is a common practice in India, even among girls of the 
 highest caste. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 101 
 
 ledged, with bewitching modesty, the distinction of 
 being honoured by the notice of a prince, no less 
 eminent for his wisdom and justice, than for his 
 benevolence and love of virtue. 
 
 "Beautiful Brahminee," said the young Rajah, ap- 
 proaching the object of his admiration, "believe me, 
 I am not impelled by idle curiosity in thus seeking 
 to ascertain if you are betrothed, for I have been 
 informed that you have yet no husband ; though it 
 is surprising that such loveliness should have re- 
 mained so long unsought, or at least unwon." 
 
 " I am not betrothed, nor do I seek to part with 
 the liberty I now enjoy, for perhaps a bondage which, 
 during the remainder of my life, I might bitterly 
 deplore." 
 
 " Are you determined never to change your con- 
 dition of domestic sequestration ?" 
 
 Mariataly hesitated. The address of the prince 
 had been so direct, and his question so specific, that 
 she could not suppose he had no motive in putting 
 it. Being therefore unwilling to declare any thing 
 that might hereafter cause her regret, she said 
 blushingly : — 
 
 " Indeed, Rajah, I have never yet put the question 
 decidedly to my own heart. I am quite contented 
 with my present lot, and know not that I have any 
 desire to change. Why should I seek to accumulate 
 new cares upon me ?" 
 
 Vitravinga was not so poor a judge of human 
 
 nature as not to see, by the maiden's hesitation, that 
 
 she had by no means made up her mind to die 
 
 unwedded ; he consequently at once made a decla- 
 
 f3 
 
102 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 ration of his special predilection, telling her with 
 all that warm eloquence inspired by deep emotion, 
 the impression she had made upon his heart, and 
 offering to unite his destiny with hers. Mariataly, 
 though overtaken by surprise, did not so far lose 
 her presence of mind as to place a bar betwixt her- 
 self and the chance which fortune had cast at her 
 feet. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 103 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Meanwhile Veramarken was doomed to the intole- 
 able torment of witnessing what he could neither pre- 
 vent nor interrupt, and, in a paroxysm of spiritual 
 agony, he wished that he had never become a Su- 
 niassi, thinking, — though he could not give utterance 
 to his thoughts, — that his holy penances had heaped 
 misery upon his soul, instead of rendering it ever- 
 lastingly happy. He was shocked at the impiety of 
 his own reflections, but his misery was too much for 
 mortal endurance, — for he was still mortal, and 
 would continue so, until his body, now possessed by 
 another soul, should resign its mortality into the 
 hands of death. What was to be done in the sad 
 state of bereavement to which he was reduced ? 
 Reason suggested resignation, but that was entirely 
 out of the question ; he was altogether too miserable 
 to be resigned. In a state utterly disconsolate and 
 despairing, he continued to hover over the palace 
 which contained the earthly idol of his adoration, 
 now rendered a thousand-fold more dear to him, 
 under present and irremediable privation. Though 
 unseen by mortal eye, he was nevertheless observed 
 by the benignant Bhavani\ who quitted her mansion 
 
 * The Venus of the Hindoo Pantheon. 
 f4 
 
104 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 of bliss, and, meeting the unhappy spirit of her 
 favourite worshipper, — for the saint had been occa- 
 sionally in the habit of bowing before more than one 
 idol, — consoled it with divine compassion upon its 
 bereavement. 
 
 The goddess descended from her bright abode 
 above the firmament, riding on a sacred bull, the hide 
 of which was whiter than milk and smoother than 
 polished marble, and its breath more fragrant than 
 perfumes from the groves of Merut. The glance of 
 its eye was as the flash that heralds the thunderbolt, 
 and its tail swept like a luminous cloud behind its 
 celestial burthen. Bhavani, radiant with unearthly 
 beauty, alighted on a pinnacle of the palace, dis- 
 charged her faithful bull, which rose upon the wings 
 of the blast, and shot upwards like a rocket to the 
 seat of its immortal mistress, who, invisible to human 
 eyes, rested on the parapet, and commanded the soul 
 of the miserable Veramarken to place itself beside 
 her. 
 
 " Unhappy essence of a most devout Suniassi!" 
 said the divine mother of immortals, not in articulate 
 words, but by spiritual communication, " thou shalt 
 not wander about this world in a state of restless 
 disquietude, without some shape of mortality to em- 
 body thee. I know thou longest to be an inhabitant 
 of this earth, which thou didst quit for an interval, to 
 hold communion with the gods, and return hither 
 only to encounter bereavement of the sorest kind. 
 I will therefore prepare thee a body, in which thy 
 restless soul will find sanctuary until the opportunity 
 shall present itself of regaining thy own. To supply 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 105 
 
 thee with a human form is beyond my power, but 
 such as I can give thee thou shalt have without 
 further delay." 
 
 She had no sooner made this welcome communi- 
 cation than the form of a beautiful lory was wafted 
 towards her on the soft breath of the morning breeze. 
 The bird fell at her feet, where it seemed to flutter in 
 an ecstasy of delight, and was immediately possessed 
 by the disconsolate spirit of Veramarken. For some 
 minutes the lory tried its new-fledged pinions, mount- 
 ing above the clouds, but soon perched upon the sum- 
 mit of the palace roof, where, having made its acknow- 
 ledgments to Bhavani for her divine compassion, that 
 goddess said, in a tone that seemed to have imbibed 
 the music of those spheres of which harmony was 
 the presiding intelligence — 
 
 " Sainted Suniassi, despair not, and thy patience 
 shall be rewarded. Fly to Indraprastha\ once re- 
 nowned for the learning of its Brahmins, and amidst 
 its venerable ruins ofi^er up thy devotions in an edifice 
 v/ith three domes, converted into a temple by a pious 
 fakeer of thy own character, who has long been 
 among my favourite worshippers, and whom, next 
 to thyself, I distinguish with my especial approba- 
 tion." 
 
 Away flew the lory without a moment's hesitation, 
 and the goddess retired behind the sun, to those 
 celestial regions where she reigned undisputed queen. 
 The feathered Veramarken soon reached the banks of 
 the Jumna, and alighted near the building indicated 
 
 • The ancient city of Delhi. 
 f5 
 
106 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 by his celestial patron. It was a structure of singular 
 beauty, though part of it had suffered considerably 
 from the gradual but destructive progress of decay. 
 Its most striking feature was three domes, by which 
 the main roof was surmounted, the centre greatly 
 exceeding the two others in size, being in the form 
 of a hive, fluted and covered with fine chunam ; the 
 two other domes were similarly shaped, differing only 
 in this particular, that the sides swelled out like the 
 body of a compressed cushion. Parallel with these 
 domes was a square tower with an arched roof, having 
 in front three long narrow windows, and probably 
 originally intended as a place of defence in case of 
 hostile aggression. This building, which had been 
 long abandoned, was now converted into a halting- 
 jilace for travellers, who commonly stalled their 
 camels, horses, and other cattle within its lofty halls; 
 but a low narrow apartment was taken possession of 
 by a venerable Brahmin, as mentioned by the goddess 
 Bhavani ; and hither the lory, into which the spirit 
 of Veramarken had taken refuge, directed its flight. 
 Fluttering through the narrow opening, it perched 
 upon the fragment of a broken pillar that stood 
 almost in the centre of the chamber. The devotee 
 was in a corner of the gloomy apartment, devouring 
 a pilau from the leaf of a banyan tree, to the asto- 
 nishment of Veramarken, who thought such an in- 
 dulgence an unwarrantable breach of discipline. 
 After the holy man had devoured his pilau, he swal- 
 lowed about a pint of gheeS pouring it down his 
 
 ' Clarified butter. 
 
■^ 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 107 
 
 throat as if it had been a draught from the Amrita 
 cup\ 
 
 During the lory's sojourn in this sacred retreat, he 
 witnessed sufficient to satisfy him that its present 
 occupant, the reputed saint, was a great sinner, and 
 would have been stigmatized as such, had the secrets 
 of his dwelling passed beyond the portals of a place 
 too much reverenced among pious Hindoos to be 
 invaded by profane feet. Here, however, the Vedas 
 lay perpetually open before the holy man, who al- 
 lowed the worms to deposit their slime upon them, 
 without offering to remove the unhallowed increment. 
 The righteous bird was shocked at such a profanation 
 of these celestial revelations; and, perceiving that 
 the saint had fallen asleep after his refection, he 
 hopped from the broken column upon the sacred 
 volume, and read as follows : — 
 
 " Possessed of innumerable heads, innumerable 
 eyes, innumerable feet, Brahma fills the heavens and 
 the earth. He is whatever was, whatever is, what- 
 ever will be. He is separate from all. In this 
 separate state he exists in a threefold form, above 
 the universe : the fourth part is transfused through 
 the world. He is therefore called the Great Being. 
 His command is as the water of life. From him 
 proceeds the Viratoo-poorooshoo^. He is the source 
 of universal motion. He is not separate from the 
 universe. He is the light of the moon, of the sun, 
 of the fire, of the lightning, and of all that shines. 
 The Veda is the breath of his nostrils. The pri- 
 mary elements are his sight. The agitation of human 
 
 * The cup of Immortality. ^ The whole universe. 
 
 F 6 
 
108 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 affairs is his laughter. His sleep is the destruction 
 of the universe. In different forms he cherishes 
 his creatures, as in the form of fire he digests 
 their food ; in the form of air he preserves them 
 in existence ; in the form of water he satisfies them ; 
 in the form of the sun he assists them in the affairs 
 of life; and in the form of the moon he refreshes 
 them with sleep ; the progression of time forms his 
 footsteps ; all the gods are to him as sparks from 
 fire. In the form of fire he cherishes the gods ; 
 therefore I bow to him who is the universe. To 
 the gods who dwell in heaven I bow. To the 
 gods who dwell in space I bow. To the gods on 
 earth I bow. To the regent of waters I bow. To 
 the gods who guard the regions I bow\" 
 
 Veramarken having perused this holy passage 
 with devout attention, perceived in a moment that 
 it was his duty to bow without reservation to the 
 determinations of the All- seeing. All-pervading, and 
 Almighty one who governed heaven and earth. He 
 learned from the inspired teacher, that patience 
 was a cardinal duty, and therefore resolved henceforth 
 to succumb meekly to the will of him who had smitten 
 him hard in this life, for his better behoof in another. 
 He had received a lesson which he trusted would 
 make him wiser ; and, fluttering past the ear of the 
 snoring devotee, who, awaking in terror, fancied 
 he was within the gripe of the giant Ravana, flew 
 out of the temple, and, rising above the clouds, 
 was soon perched upon the parapet of his own 
 palace. 
 
 ' An extract from the Sama Veda. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 109 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 For some days the lory maintained his position on 
 the palace roof, without suffering himself to be dis- 
 concerted by what was passing below ; but after a 
 while the sacred words of the Veda became fainter 
 and fainter on the worn page of memory, and 
 were at length effaced altogether. He could no 
 longer endure the reflection of Youghal's baseness 
 and the queen's delusion. It was intolerable ; and 
 he absolutely moulted with the agony of his thoughts. 
 His eye grew dim, his wings drooped and draggled 
 in the dust, his tail became thin and taper, and en- 
 tirely lost its bloom. He fluttered from window to 
 window of the palace, anxious to obtain an entrance 
 into those chambers in which the queen and himself, 
 in happier days, were in the habit of enjoying the 
 pleasures of the purest domestic intercourse. The 
 Venetians remained still unbarred, as it was early 
 morning, and the sun had not yet flung its beams 
 over the distant hills ; there was consequently no 
 opening for the melancholy bird, which bruised its 
 head and wings against the wooden laths that com- 
 posed the blinds, in its unavailing efforts to enter the 
 palace. It made the attempt at every window in 
 vain. Finding there was no possibility of effecting 
 
110 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 an entrance, it returned to the parapet, overcome with 
 disappointment and vexation. Its beautiful throat 
 swelled with impatience, and, with a scream of pas- 
 sion, it again tried the Venetians, but without success. 
 
 At length, being denied access through the upper 
 stories, the lory descended to the lower, where it was 
 almost immediately caught by one of the menials, 
 who, admiring the splendour of its plumage, was 
 determined to present it to his royal mistress. The 
 extraordinary beauty of the little captive became the 
 talk of the kitchen, and the rumour of its gorgeous 
 array soon reaching the queen's most gracious ears, 
 she desired that it should be instantly brought into 
 her presence. This being done, she placed it upon 
 her finger, put her lips on its beak, and caressed it 
 with unfeigned delight. The enraptured bird flut- 
 tered its wings, rubbed its head against her cheek, 
 nibbled her smooth delicate hand, and exhibited a 
 thousand expressive indications of ecstasy. 
 
 Maldavee was in a transport, so was the lory, who 
 received the queen's caresses with a joy so excessive 
 that the royal lady was half- persuaded the bird must 
 be bewitched, as she had never before seen a dumb 
 creature manifest such singular symptoms of gratifi- 
 cation. She was, however, so captivated with its 
 appearance, that she ordered it to be hung up in a 
 gilded cage within her own private apartment, where 
 the lory remained thenceforward a very unwilling 
 prisoner. Its reflections were hourly embittered by 
 the presence of the detestable Youghal. The queen 
 was delighted with her beautiful captive, and the more 
 so when she found it could speak her native Ian- 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. Ill 
 
 guage with a fluency truly surprising, being appa- 
 rently endowed not only with the faculty of speech, but 
 of reason, — for it seemed to think as well as to talk. 
 It was exhibited to every body who visited the palace, 
 as a singular curiosity ; and so rapidly did its fame 
 travel over the world, that the Emperor of China was 
 said to have offered ten of the chief cities of his em- 
 pire, excepting only the capital, to be put in posses- 
 sion of so inestimable a treasure. The queen, how- 
 ever, not having much faith in the integrity of the 
 Chinese monarch, chose to keep her bird, and allowed 
 him to retain quiet possession of his ten cities, which 
 she did not care to be at the trouble of governing. 
 
 The captive was so placed in the 'royal apartment, 
 as to see and hear all that passed. Veramarken was 
 therefore continually put into a state of great torment, 
 at witnessing the usurpation of his rights by Youghal; 
 and although Maldavee rigidly maintained her reso- 
 lution of allowing to the counterfeit sovereign no 
 greater privileges, except now and then a harmless 
 salute, than to the humblest subject of the state, 
 nevertheless, to see a low-born slave daily convers- 
 ing familiarly with his queen, was a subject of inces- 
 sant anguish to the caged monarch. Nothing could 
 exceed his transports of indignation at beholding 
 his menial assume the airs of royalty, and receive 
 the cold, indeed, but nevertheless bestowed caresses 
 of his consort; and though he knew them to be 
 given merely to prevent the boisterous Youghal from 
 insisting upon any further exercise of his usurped 
 rights, stiU the sight was so agonizing, that the 
 excited bird often stunned himself against the bars 
 1 
 
112 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 of his gilded prison, in a paroxysm of unconquer- 
 able exasperation. He was, however, forced to en- 
 dure these daily provocatives to passion, without an 
 audible reproach, having no means of recovering his 
 body, which he had relinquished in an unfortunate 
 moment, for a mere idle visit to the skies, and 
 which had been occupied by the most ambitious of 
 slaves. 
 
 Having one day heard a domestic, who had been 
 abused by his master, call him, in his absence, a 
 mangy Pariah, whenever Youghal entered the apart- 
 ment in presence of the queen, the lory continued to 
 repeat this odious term of reproach. This so incensed 
 the supposed monarch, that one morning, excited by 
 the perpetual enunciation of such a degrading expres- 
 sion, he flung his slipper at the presumptuous offender, 
 knocked the cage off the peg from which it was sus- 
 pended, and was very nearly once more forcing the 
 soul of Veramarken to seek another tenement. The 
 captive was so stunned that it did not recover until 
 it had lain upwards of a quarter of an hour in the 
 warm bosom of the sorrowing Maldavee. 
 
 Although Youghal was elevated to a distinction 
 beyond what he ever could have contemplated, and was 
 in possession of a lovely bride, he still could not help 
 now and then reflecting upon the interesting Maria- 
 taly, whom he had so cruelly consigned to an un- 
 timely grave. Neither the queen nor Veramarken's 
 nephew had seen her when she was condemned to a 
 barbarous death, the unrighteous judge being too 
 conscious of the deep act of wrong he was commit- 
 ting, to allow either of them to be privy to it. He 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 113 
 
 deeply repented that he had so hastily given way 
 to the exacerbations of unmanly fury ; for the lovely 
 Pariah had really produced a strong impression 
 upon his heart, though it had been blurred, not 
 effaced, by ambition ; when, however, she dared to 
 reject him, and treat his offers of love with animated 
 scorn — when he heard from her lips a contemptuous 
 resistance of his unhallowed passion, declared in 
 the character of the royal devotee — his rage knew 
 no bounds, and his affections became immediately 
 swamped by the fierce impulses of vengeance. Gladly 
 now would he have recalled the iniquitous judgment 
 pronounced against that innocent maiden, under the 
 rash suggestions of revenge. His recollection of her 
 simple and unpretending beauty — of her artless and 
 affectionate conversation, when he met her in the 
 mountain village during the intervals of his master's 
 penance — her confiding love, — all rushed to his 
 recollection like a ton'ent, and bore upon his heart 
 with a pressure which he could with difficulty resist. 
 He perceived that the queen had no affection for 
 him : she merely treated him with cold and formal 
 respect, and he might just as well have had the pri- 
 vilege of calling a smooth but lifeless stone statue by 
 the endearing name of wife, as the beautiful Maldavee. 
 She would but seldom see him alone, and only when 
 the entrance to her apartment was guarded by do- 
 mestics who were frequently entering, and thus pre- 
 vented those declarations of affection to which he was 
 so anxious to give utterance. 
 
 Though playing the character of a king, Youghal 
 felt that he was in reality a slave ; nevertheless, he was 
 
114 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 determined not to relinquish any of the immunities 
 which his basely usurped authority conferred upon 
 him. In spite of the melancholy which frequently 
 oppressed him, he was so elated with his new posi- 
 tion, that his subjects began to murmur at his tyranny; 
 even the queen already felt that, little though it 
 was, she still had rather too much of his company, 
 and consequently soon came to the resolution of hav- 
 ing less. Her dislike of the counterfeit monarch 
 increased daily, but she was afraid to exhibit the 
 real state of her feelings, as he had already shown 
 when under the excitement of vexation, that he 
 could be more violent than became either a saint 
 or a sovereign. There was a coarseness, too, in the 
 general conduct of her no longer penitential husband, 
 for which she could assign no satisfactory reason, as, 
 with all his former austerity, there had been invari- 
 ably blended a certain refinement of manner, showing 
 that he was not only of princely lineage, but likewise 
 of a courtly mind ; for Veramarken traced his lineal 
 descent direct from Gautama, one of the canonized 
 penitents ; and how to account for his sudden change 
 was beyond the subtlest skill of her philosophy. 
 
 In proportion as the queen became frigid, the 
 fictitious Veramarken grew irritable ; there conse- 
 quently occurred occasional jars betwixt the royal 
 couple. The lory heard these bickerings, and the 
 beatings of its heart ruffled the very feathers of its 
 breast, as its ear caught the harsh accents with 
 which the presumptuous menial treated his mistress, 
 over whom he already began to exercise the severe 
 dominion of a husband and of a master. This unusual 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 115 
 
 severity of treatment was so undisguised as to be 
 observed and talked of among the domestics, who 
 were, one and all, astonished at so strange an alteration 
 in the Suniassi's character. Some of them ven- 
 tured to surmise, that his soul, during one of its 
 late absences from the body, instead of taking its 
 flight to the Swerga, and holding communion with 
 Suras and Devas, must have visited the regions of 
 darkness, and formed an acquaintance with the evilly 
 disposed inhabitants of Naraka. 
 
 These surmises of the servants, coming to the 
 ears of Youghal, only rendered him the more tyran- 
 nical ; and his frequent recollection of Mariataly's 
 tenderness, compared with the repelling apathy of 
 Maldavee, rendered him at once the victim of re- 
 morse and of anger. He was constantly abusing 
 the queen. She, however, received the stern re- 
 bukes of her tyrant with passive endurance, scarcely 
 condescending to utter a word, and thus aggravating 
 that passion which, though she did not resist, she 
 adopted no means to appease. It was not to be 
 supposed that such conduct on the part of her pre- 
 sumed lord could either win her esteem or concihate 
 her good-will ; on the contrary, her dislike increased 
 with her patience under tyranny, until it grew at 
 length into positive detestation. She could scarcely 
 bear the sight of a man whose reputation for sanctity 
 had spread from the Indus to the Ganges, and had 
 even been heard of so far as the southern extremity of 
 Hindostan. She no longer venerated one whose frame, 
 formerly grim and ghastly with incessant and severe 
 mortifications, had, by a long period of depraving 
 
116 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 indulgence, grown to a comely obesity, which never- 
 theless was to her far more odious than the rigid 
 angularity caused by a series of torturing inflictions. 
 
 Vitravinga, having retired from court, and being 
 occupied with the society of the interesting Maria- 
 taly, knew little of what was passing at the palace. 
 Rumour now and then conveyed to him the strange 
 vagaries of his supposed uncle, leaving him at a loss 
 to account for the lapse of so holy a being ; still he 
 did not suffer it to disturb the present even tenour 
 of his own enjoyment. He was delighted with the 
 prospect of soon becoming a happier man, being re- 
 solved to unite himself with the object who had so 
 recently w^on his affections. 
 
 Youghal had now sufficient experience that the 
 dislike of the royal consort was growing daily .more 
 confirmed, and this increased his irritability. He 
 grew to the last degree morose, and took such plea- 
 sure in playing the despot, that the prisons were 
 crammed with victims, and the arm of the execu- 
 tioner almost daily reeked with blood. His subjects 
 were heard to murmur ; smothered threats often 
 broke forth from lips unaccustomed until now to 
 any expressions towards the sovereign but those of 
 veneration and affiance. Severe declarations of dis- 
 satisfaction were uttered without reserve, even within 
 the walls of the palace. The domestics observed, with 
 a significant shrug of the shoulder, or a no less intel- 
 ligent compression of the eyelid, that things went on 
 very differently now, since their master never quitted 
 his capital, but indulged his criminal longings after 
 those gratifications forbidden by the canons of the 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 117 
 
 sacred community, of which, until lately, he had been 
 so distinguished a member, and for which prohibited 
 indulgences he blushed not publicly to avow that he 
 had a most ravenous appetite. They remembered 
 with a sigh of unaffected despondency, how com- 
 pletely they had been left to their liberty, a privi- 
 lege especially coveted by every class of domestics, 
 whether confined within the torrid or the frigid 
 zone, when the regal Suniassi was accustomed 
 to retire to the jungle, in order to prepare his soul 
 by devout abstractions for the paradise to which 
 it had there established an admitted claim'. He 
 never then interfered with the innocent recreations 
 either of his subjects or dependants. He thought 
 of nothing but his devotions ; all who preferred 
 pleasure to piety were left to their own choice, 
 without a word either of exhortation or enquiry. 
 Now the tribunals were thronged with criminals ; 
 stripes were administered upon the backs of the 
 refractory without stint or measure. The people 
 were as familiar with oppression as with boiled rice ; 
 the scales of justice no longer hung upon an equal 
 balance ; the greatest abuses every where prevailed, 
 and, consequently, universal discontent. The roads, 
 which had formerly been so secure from the depreda- 
 tions of robbers, that the traveller might journey 
 unmolested from one end to the other of the country, 
 rendered sacred by the name of Veramarken the saint, 
 were now infested by banditti, and murders nightly 
 
 * The Hindoos imagine, that by certain penances a positive right 
 to enjoy the blessings of Paradise, is obtained by the Brahmins, 
 which even the gods cannot set aside. 
 
118 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 committed under the very walls of the capital. Law- 
 yers began to multiply, and the business of the courts 
 increased to an alarming extent. The leaven of 
 dissatisfaction was manifestly heaving the vast mass 
 of popular opinion, and the horrors of civil war were 
 already anticipated by those political physicians, who, 
 from incipient symptoms, boldly pronounce upon 
 future results. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 119 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 To account for the sudden and unexpected change 
 which had come over the spirit of their sovereign, 
 puzzled all the conjurors ; not one of them could 
 unravel the mystery. Many ventured to imagine that 
 the venerable Veramarken was under the influence of 
 some of the emissaries of Yama, whose ofliice it is to 
 corrupt the souls of holy men, and seduce them to 
 his infernal abodes. And, yet, how this should pos- 
 sibly happen to a man who had reached the extreme 
 purity of a Suniassi, was too great a marvel to be 
 reduced to so simple an elucidation. Yama could 
 have no power over one who had obtained not only 
 the sanction, but the fellowship of the celestial 
 principalities, and had moreover performed those 
 penances which rendered him impermeable by the 
 assaults of evil. Besides, it was morally impossible 
 that the soul of a pious penitentiary, who had rival- 
 led each of the seven penitents in the severity of 
 his mortifications, should, on a sudden, have aban- 
 doned the claims to which those mortifications enti- 
 tled him, and have submitted to the dominion of 
 that retributory divinity, presiding over the infernal 
 prison of doomed souls, to whom he awards ever- 
 lasting tortures. 
 
120 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 No one could assign the true cause of that re- 
 markable moral transformation, which had lately 
 distinguished the conduct of their royal master, and 
 general gloom prevailed. Commerce became languid; 
 the cultivation of the land was neglected ; the rains 
 failed during one entire season, and famine was the 
 consequence. Robberies and highway murders mul- 
 tiplied. The roads were so unsafe, that travellers 
 were obliged to unite, and form caravans for their 
 mutual safety. This state of things was truly deplo- 
 rable ; still the sovereign seemed to feel no sympathy 
 for his unhappy people : he neither abridged his 
 pleasures nor his expenses. His troops were kept in 
 arrears, and his treasury was all but drained : the 
 royal voluptuary, nevertheless, made no abatement 
 in the extravagance of his pursuits. 
 
 Being informed of the great luxury in which 
 Vitravinga lived, the fictitious monarch resolved 
 to visit him, and, having privately made him ac- 
 quainted with his determination, arrived on the fol- 
 lowing day without attendants at the beautiful 
 mansion of the young Rajah. Though the visit was 
 by no means desired by the latter, he received his 
 imagined uncle with grave respect, but expressed no 
 rapture at the latter's condescension. Youghal could 
 not fail to observe that his presence was a restraint 
 upon the prince ; he, therefore, at once made up his 
 mind, that on his return to the capital he would cut 
 him off from the succession to the throne, and nomi- 
 nate some low-born fellow% in whose ignorance his 
 tyranny should be forgotten. He still took care 
 not to betray the feelings under which his bosom 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 121 
 
 was labouring, but affected the warmest satisfaction 
 at his reception, and praised the excellent taste dis- 
 played in the general arrangement of Vitravinga's 
 estabhshment. 
 
 The morning after Youghal had taken up his 
 temporary abode at the residence of Veramarken's 
 nephew, as he was strolling along the banks of the 
 river, occupied in reflecting upon the late singular 
 events of his life, and revolving new modes of enjoy- 
 ment and of tyranny, a figure emerged from a small 
 plantation of trees which skirted the stream, in whom 
 he immediately recognized the form of one supposed 
 to be either an inhabitant of paradise, or, much more 
 likely, of the Gehenna of the Pariahs. He was 
 astounded at the supposed vision, his tongue clove to 
 his palate, his teeth gnashed against each other, his 
 fingers were pressed convulsively into the palms of his 
 hands. He had started so violently at the sight of such 
 an unexpected apparition, that his turban flew from 
 his brows into the stream, leaving the dark naked 
 scalp exposed to the fierce sunshine, and with a sup- 
 pressed scream he dropped upon the earth, as if shot 
 with a cannon-ball. Upon raising his head after an 
 interval of several seconds, he found that the object 
 of his terror and surprise had disappeared. This was 
 a relief from the apprehension which fell upon his 
 heart with the weight and pressure of a mountain. 
 He breathed once more freely, still the blood gal- 
 lopped through his veins with painful precipitation. 
 He was satisfied that a disembodied spirit had ap- 
 peared to him, and, although he had, fortunately as 
 he was wont to think, beheld the Suniassi disengage 
 
 G 
 
122 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 his soul from his body, and had himself performed a 
 similar miracle, yet, as he knew that Pariahs were 
 not in the habit of returning to earth after they had 
 been once placed under the vigilant guardianship of 
 death, he apprehended that some fearful calamity 
 must be about to befal him, of which this appearance 
 from the grave was the awful announcement. 
 
 He returned to the young Rajah more than usually 
 grave; but though his disquietude was sufficiently 
 indicated in his countenance, Vitravinga took no 
 notice of the circumstance, and Youghal therefore 
 concluded that his distress had escaped observation. 
 It was, however, so obvious, that it could not elude 
 the keen observation of one used to study mankind 
 with too accurate a scrutiny to be easily blinded by 
 an assumption of indifference, when the bosom was 
 labouring under positive oppression. Youghal was 
 wretched the whole day, until a beam of hope that 
 the beautiful Pariah might still live passed into his 
 heart. If so, the person whom he had sent to super- 
 intend her funeral must have deceived him, but he 
 knew his fidelity too well to allow him to calculate 
 upon this as very probable; still it might have so 
 happened. Determined to ascertain a fact which^ 
 now so nearly interested him, he quitted the young 
 Rajah's abode, and repaired without delay to the 
 capital, when, having summoned his confidential 
 agent, this man confirmed, in a most satisfactory 
 manner, the burial of the beloved, but ill-requited 
 Mariataly. 
 
 Youghal was superstitious, and therefore readily 
 persuaded to any thing foreboded by his fears. He 
 11 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 123 
 
 was now daily and nightly haunted by the image 
 of his late victim, and this additional accession of 
 unhappiness only rendered him the more tyrannical 
 at home, and arrogant abroad. The day after his 
 return to the palace, as he was entering by the 
 garden-gate, the same apparition, which had so ter- 
 rified him on the previous morning, again appeared 
 before him. Rushing into the house, he alarmed 
 the queen with the portentous loudness of his cries. 
 All thought him mad. He foamed at the mouth, 
 struck down an attendant who attempted to hold a 
 bottle of perfume under his nose, and became so 
 violent, that it was thought necessary to strap him 
 down to a bed. He was outrageous at this pre- 
 sumption ; and his apparent frenzy was aggravated, 
 when he heard the queen order her domestics, who 
 had thus secured him, to tighten the straps if he 
 showed symptoms of increasing violence. He was 
 thus soon tamed by the severity of the discipline to 
 which his attendants subjected him, and which, after 
 a few hours' endurance, had become so intolerable, 
 that he begged most piteously to be released. For 
 some time no attention was paid to his appUcations, 
 until the kind-hearted Maldavee, being at length 
 moved at witnessing his sufi^erings, ordered him to 
 be unstrapped. When the bands were removed from 
 Youghal's limbs, his whole body was so stiff, that he 
 could scarcely stir a muscle ; but, after a little ex- 
 ercise, the power of motion returned, though the 
 stiflfness continued for several days. 
 
 The quondam slave did not regain his mental 
 equanimity with his bodily ease. The indignity to 
 G 2 
 
124 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 which he had been so unceremoniously subjected, 
 only rendered him the more petulant and intemperate. 
 He was, however, so much awed by the apparent 
 visitation of Mariataly from the dead, that it tended 
 somewhat to subdue his asperity, which was now 
 often overborne by his terrors. He had made the 
 minutest inquiries concerning that maiden's burial, 
 and received such circumstantial details of the 
 whole process, separately examining all who were 
 present, that he could no longer entertain any 
 doubt of the fact of her having been committed to 
 the earth with the corpse of her lover. He was from 
 this time a prey to the most tormenting superstition, 
 which aggravated the infirmities of his temperament, 
 and rendered him positively odious. The queen 
 shunned his presence, except upon those occasions 
 when she was obliged to endure it for the sake of 
 keeping up the forms of state ceremony. Being 
 haunted by the perpetual presence of her whom he 
 had doomed to such an unjust and cruel death, the 
 life of Youghal was becoming one protracted interval 
 of torture, which he knew not how to support. He 
 more than once thought of hanging himself with a 
 golden cord, but had not resolution to die ; he feared 
 to meet the spirits of the wronged Veramarken and 
 still more injured Mariataly. Although perceiving 
 himself to be universally hated, he was so constantly 
 a prey to irritation, that he could not now bend his 
 fierce temper to conciliate the good opinion of any 
 one. Passing one day into his garden, attended by a 
 couple of guards, his turban was struck from his head 
 by an arrow, the barb of which was found lodged in 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 125 
 
 the folds. The garden was searched, and a man 
 dragged from beneath a ruined bath, who confessed 
 that he had aimed at the life of his sovereign, as he 
 considered such a tyrant unfit to live. He declined 
 making any further disclosure, and was immediately 
 strangled. 
 
 This little incident aw^akened the terrified slave- 
 king to a sense of his danger, and he determined 
 for the future to confine himself within the palace 
 walls. The constant fear of assassination divided 
 his thoughts with the apparition of the murdered 
 Pariah, so that he enjoyed not a moment's peace. 
 He felt he had gone too far to retreat, for, under 
 existing circumstances, kindness towards the subjects 
 of Veramarken would only beget suspicion of some 
 sinister intention, and thus he would be the less 
 respected in proportion as he became less severe. He 
 had, therefore, no just motive for changing the tactics 
 of his government, his tyrannies were consequently 
 continued without abatement. But retribution had 
 already overtaken him. How did he deplore the act 
 which had endowed him with the power of sove- 
 reignty! Gladly would he at this moment return to 
 his former condition of humble innocence, blessed 
 with the love of one, who was as good as she was 
 beautiful, and without a care to disturb the equable 
 current of his existence. This was impossible, 
 as with his own hand he had deprived his body 
 of life, so that his soul could not now return to it. 
 There remained no alternative but death as a release 
 from the miseries which he had accumulated upon 
 himself. His life was every hour becoming less 
 G 3 
 
126 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE. 
 
 and less endurable. In every shadow he saw an 
 assassin. No one dared to smile in his presence, but 
 he suspected it to be the silent triumph of antici- 
 pation — a proof of desire for his destruction. Gravity 
 of demeanor was no less painful to him, as it sug- 
 gested the suspicion of sinister forethought. He lost 
 both his appetite and his flesh. The body of Vera- 
 marken soon returned to the same angular, attenuated 
 outline which it exhibited ere possessed by the spirit 
 of Youghal. Ulcers broke out in his glands, drain- 
 ing him of his strength, and nothing seemed to 
 nourish him. His shadow, as he paced in the sun- 
 light the verandah of his master's palace, showed him 
 that he exhibited the gaunt anatomy so approved by 
 sainted Suniassis, and was no longer of a form to 
 captivate women, or elicit the admiration of men. 
 
 Mariataly's appearance near the garden gate, 
 which had so disturbed the conscience of Youghal, 
 may here be accounted for. Observing that he had 
 been so overcome with terror at seeing her on the 
 bank of the river, under the conviction that she was 
 dead, and knowing that in almost every instance 
 those men, whose lives have been devoted to penance, 
 are the slaves of superstition, she determined to 
 strengthen the impression which the unexpected 
 sight of her had already produced upon her late 
 inexorable judge. Putting on, therefore, the clothes 
 she wore when he condemned her to be buried 
 alive, and having rubbed her face with a white 
 powder, she placed herself near the entrance of the 
 garden about the time he was expected to return 
 from a public audience of the court functionaries ; and 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 127 
 
 perceiving that his terror was again excited by the un- 
 expected presence of a form which he had once pro- 
 fessed to adore, while his attendants were engaged 
 about their terrified master, she passed suddenly 
 round a small building that stood near, and darting 
 down a long, narrow street, secured her retreat 
 without any suspicion being raised in the mind of 
 Youghal of her actual proximity. Having ascer- 
 tained, by the gossips of the royal household, that 
 the counterfeit monarch was fully convinced he had 
 seen her apparition, she retired to her humble retreat 
 near the river. 
 
 G 4 
 
128 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Meanwhile things did not improve at the palace. 
 In proportion as Youghal grew imperious, Maldavee 
 became cold. This so irritated the impatient tyrant, 
 that one day, in the vehemence of his anger, he 
 struck her rudely on the cheek. She reddened with 
 indignation, but said calmly, 
 
 " If this is the issue of such long periods as you 
 have professedly passed in sacred penance, I tell you 
 freely, that I believe you have imposed upon me, 
 and upon your subjects ; for no one who had once 
 really received the approbation of celestial Powers 
 could be guilty of an act, not only so unbecoming 
 a saint, but which would degrade the lowest ruffian 
 in your wicked majesty's dominions." 
 
 This reproof only the more incensed the fictitious 
 potentate, and he repeated his violence with increased 
 severity. The lory, which happened to be at that 
 moment perched upon the top of its cage, for it was 
 frequently released from confinement during the day, 
 seeing the assault, could no longer restrain itself, 
 but flying frcm its perch, seized the nose of the 
 uncourtly ruffian in its beak, and tore ofi^ the whole 
 cartilage ; then, fluttering for an instant, darted, with 
 a scream of triumph, through a window that happened 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 129 
 
 to be open, and alighted on the top of a tall cedar- 
 tree in the garden, where it was beyond the immediate 
 reach of Youghal's wrath. The latter, smarting under 
 the laceration, seized a matchlock, inlaid with gold, 
 which hung loaded in an ante-room, and discharged 
 it at the offender, but the ball was turned aside by 
 the benignant Bhavani. The beautiful bird quit- 
 ting its place of retreat, flew to the palace roof, 
 and perched upon the cupola, where it was further 
 removed from danger. It was some consolation to 
 the unquiet soul of Veramarken, to think that a signal 
 mark of his vengeance had been inflicted upon the 
 cowardly tyrant, which he would carry with him to 
 his grave. 
 
 " Suppose," thought the feathered penitent, " I 
 should be restored to that sainted body which my 
 spirit so unfortunately quitted, shall I not deplore 
 the loss of my nose ? The queen would surely never 
 tolerate a husband without a nose : thus, in punish- 
 ing the brutality of my slave, I have been imposing 
 a grievous penalty upon myself. What will my sub- 
 jects say to a sovereign without a nose .'' What will 
 my domestics say to a master without a nose } But 
 I am not a mere animal, of comely parts, designed for 
 men and maidens to gaze at; mine is an existence 
 devoted to bodily privation, and, therefore, what is 
 the use of so insignificant a member .'' Away, then, 
 with such vain regrets. But how am I ever to regain 
 possession of my earthly tenement } There is not 
 the slightest chance of this, for the wretch who has 
 taken up his spiritual habitation in the once uncon- 
 taminated frame of the devoutest of Suniassis, knows 
 G 5 
 
130 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 too well the advantages of his transmutation, to 
 relinquish them." 
 
 The miserable lory ruflSed its plumes, drooped its 
 head upon its bright crimson breast, closed its eyes, 
 and raised one leg preparatory to taking a short 
 repose, in order to forget its misfortunes. All would 
 not do ; sleep that comes to all, hung not upon its 
 weary eyelids, and the unhappy sufferer was forced to 
 think upon what it had lost by neglecting a young 
 and lovely consort for the society of celestial asso- 
 ciates, in regions beyond the firmament. Whilst 
 occupied by these melancholy reflections, a noise 
 caught its ear, which sounded like vehement expres- 
 sions of anger. Hopping from the apex of the cu- 
 pola to the coping of the parapet, upon which it 
 perched, and looking down into the spacious court 
 below, it perceived the incensed Youghal issue from 
 the palace with a large yellow plaster of turmeric 
 upon the spot where the nasal organ lately projected, 
 giving his orders in a tone of frantic excitement, that 
 his tormentor should be instantly pursued and its 
 neck wrung. 
 
 The lory, in the midst of its distress, was re- 
 joiced to hear that its treacherous enemy was suffer- 
 ing a retribution, however inadequate to his deserts ; 
 but not content with having disfigured the angry 
 traitor, it seized a loose piece of stone from the 
 parapet wall, hovered over Youghal's head, and, as 
 the smarting tyrant raised his eyes, dropped the hard 
 fragment with so true an aim, that it fell directly 
 upon the turmeric plaster, which had been spread 
 upon the chasm lately covered by a tolerably well 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 131 
 
 shaped feature. The shock was so great, that the 
 counterfeit monarch fell writhing- with agony, but, 
 quickly recovering, he rose in a paroxysm of fury, 
 and cried with a voice that terrified the trembling 
 domestics, — 
 
 " If I have not the head of that treacherous bird 
 ere the sun rises from behind yonder forest, every 
 face that has a living tongue in it within these walls, 
 shall grin upon spikes for the benefit of the vultures 
 before the next dawn." 
 
 " Cree, cree, cree !" screamed the lory. 
 
 *' Thou black agent of Yama," exclaimed Youghal, 
 fiercely, ]jlacing his finger upon the turmeric plaster, 
 which covered a large portion of his face, at the 
 same time reminding him of his loss, " if I had thy 
 neck betwixt my fingers, I would squeeze the life 
 through thy nostrils, and still thy music for ever. 
 Dogs," he roared, elevating his voice to its ex- 
 tremest extension, " bring me yonder demon under a 
 bird's feathers," pointing at his tormentor, " before 
 sunrise, or you may look for your next night's lodg- 
 ing on the dunghill ; and you ought to know by this 
 time that I don't often forget to keep my word." 
 
 " Cree, cree, cree !" shrieked the lory, and, darting 
 upwards, was in a few moments above the clouds. 
 The king grew more frantic than ever ; a sudden pang 
 painfully calling his attention to the absence of his 
 nose, rendered him almost beside himself, for he was 
 sadly mortified at appearing so mutilated before the 
 fastidious Maldavee, who evidently would not think 
 him improved, by having a hideous gap in his coun- 
 G 6 
 
132 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 tenance, instead of the protuberance which nature had 
 placed there, both as an ornament and as a vehicle 
 of sense. He roared and skipped about as if he had 
 been bitten by a tarantula, swore and thumped his 
 attendants with his embroidered slippers, because 
 nothing better happened to be at hand ; but this 
 producing no sensible impression, he seized between 
 his teeth the right ear of one of his confidential 
 domestics, and bit it with such hearty goodwill, that 
 the poor fellow drppped upon his knees in an agony 
 of reverential alarm, imploring hastily for a remis- 
 sion of the penalty to which his exasperated master 
 was subjecting him. 
 
 There was evidently no catching the winged fugi- 
 tive, which had effectually made its escape. This 
 obvious fact did not abate the determination of the 
 counterfeit Veramarken to have the author of his 
 disfigurement captured before the ensuing dawn ; 
 he consequently repeated his threats of execution, 
 should his commands not be performed by the time 
 specified. 
 
 When Youghal re-entered the palace, the domes- 
 tics looked at each other with dismay, knowing the 
 utter impossibility of performing his bidding ; and 
 having death before their eyes, not one of them was 
 able to eat his dinner, a meal in which all generally 
 used to show such an aptitude of manducation as 
 would have astonished a German dragoon, or a 
 French homme de cuisine. They knew not how to 
 proceed, and after much reasoning, one and all 
 determined to quit the palace before sunrise, should 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 133 
 
 their master continue in the same mind. Having 
 come to this prudent resolution, by supper- time 
 every one had recovered his appetite. 
 
 The spoiling of his countenance, instead of awaken- 
 ing the regal tyrant to a proper sense of duty, only 
 rendered him the more violent and headstrong. He 
 treated the unhappy Maldavee, at length, with such 
 ruffian severity, because she adhered firmly to her re- 
 solution of remaining, as she had continued from the 
 first, a virgin queen, that she avoided his presence 
 altogether. This so incensed him beyond all bounds, 
 that he ordered her to be confined to her chamber, 
 and treated like a criminal. Here, though refused the 
 consolation of intercourse with her confidential at- 
 tendants, she was nevertheless free from the intrusion 
 of an unholy and licentious man, who, by his recent 
 profligacy, had altogether belied his title to the 
 claims of sanctification. She had leisure to think 
 more upon the vanity of all earthly pleasures than 
 the pomps of royalty had hitherto permitted ; and 
 her pure mind, naturally inclined to love virtue for 
 its own sake, and really free from the grosser ele- 
 ments of vice, soon subsided into that calm of religious 
 resignation, which is the characteristic only of amiable 
 and uncontaminated hearts. Whatever might be the 
 issue of her determination, with reference to the 
 supposed Veramarken, she resolved to adhere to it, 
 even should he condemn her to death ; for not only 
 had he now become so odious to her as to be person- 
 ally oficnsive, but when she entered into marriage 
 bonds, it was only as an exercise of his forbearance, 
 and a protection to her chastity, until death should 
 
134 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 waft him to the world of immortals, and leave her 
 to a new choice, — an issue which would bring the 
 most powerful princes at her feet, as the greatest of 
 monarchs would glory in the pre-eminent privilege 
 of bestowing his name and fortune upon the beau- 
 tiful widow of a royal Suniassi. 
 
 To this anticipated futurity, the captive Maldavee 
 now looked forward with more eager longing than 
 ever, and her expectations had some ground for en- 
 couragement, from the dissipation in which the pre- 
 sumed monarch indulged, and more especially since 
 his wound, the lacerated parts having inflamed to 
 such a degree, that the royal surgeon entertained 
 serious apprehensions of a mortification. 
 
 When this was announced to the imprisoned queen 
 she did not utter a word, but thought, notwithstand- 
 ing, that it would be a serious mortification to her, 
 should the fears of the medical attendant not prove 
 prophetical. The hoped-for issue, to her extreme dis- 
 appointment, did not come to pass. The skill of the 
 renowned Jemadivishtha, aided by the infallible ca- 
 taplasm of turmeric, kept off the dreaded enemy, 
 and a few strong doses of abstergent compound 
 proved in the end so perfect a therapeutic that the 
 noseless sovereign was once more enabled to swallow 
 raw arrack without the apprehension of immediate 
 dissolution. Still the stump of his nose afl!brded no 
 indication of ever again projecting into a comely fea- 
 ture. Youghal gave a general entertainment to the 
 court to signalise his cure, at which, having re- 
 warded the surgeon with an opium-case of gold 
 inlaid with pearls, he drank himself stone-blind, and 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 135 
 
 was carried to bed by four sturdy hamauls', who 
 would fain have dropped their burden over the 
 stairs, and thus have ridded the state of a royal 
 nuisance. 
 
 ' Palankeen-bearers. 
 
136 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Meanwhile the lory, having flown above the pla- 
 nets, uttered the Mandiram. The soul of Veramarken 
 instantly quitted it, and ascended to the celestial 
 Bhavani, who received her favoured votary with 
 that divine courtesy for which she has ever been 
 remarkable among the three millions and thirty 
 divinities worshipped by all pious Hindoos. No 
 sooner had Veramarken's spirit abandoned the lory's 
 feathers, than the lifeless bird dropped into the 
 court of the palace, where it was picked up by that 
 unfortunate domestic whose ear had been bitten by 
 his master. The overjoyed menial took the bird to 
 the royal sufferer, who seized it with a grin of savage 
 triumph, and ordering it to be stuffed with pep- 
 per, had it hun^ up in the chamber where Maldavee 
 was now a prisoner, as a memorial of accomplished 
 revenge ; but bow inadequate did he feel such a 
 completion of vengeance to be to the offence which 
 had so marred the harmony of his countenance. 
 Though the wound eventually healed favourably, as 
 we have already shown, still the cicatrice, which re- 
 mained in spite of the greatest chirurgical skill, pre- 
 sented a frightful chasm betwixt the eyes and upper 
 lip, where the olfactory member formerly rested, and 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 137 
 
 which he could not persuade to grow again. So 
 great was his disfigurement, that women generally 
 ran from him as they would from a wild beast ; this 
 so outraged his vanity that he ordered his face to be 
 scarified, and poultices of emollient herbs applied, in 
 order to induce the lost ornament to extend itself as 
 formerly. Nothing would do : the rent nostrils 
 gaped horribly, and the mortified tyrant shrank from 
 the reflection of his own face whenever he stood 
 before a mirror, or took his bath in the marble sarco- 
 phagus within the palace-garden. 
 
 Although Veramarken's spirit was at this mo- 
 ment in the paradise of the incomparable Bhavani — 
 incomparable even among divinities — in community 
 with the loveliest of her celestial ministrants, it 
 was still more miserable than if it had been under- 
 going the most dreadful inflictions in that abode of 
 Yama, where sinful souls are tortured so variously 
 as to do infinite credit to the ingenuity of that deity's 
 ministers, who have the supervision of twenty-one 
 separate hells, in which they exercise their everlast- 
 ing and omnipotent vengeance. He wandered about 
 the celestial groves as moodily as if he were in a 
 wilderness upon earth, instead of being in a mansion 
 of bliss above the skies, and took no more notice of 
 the exquisite forms of beatified women, by which he 
 was surrounded, than if they had been so many 
 painted butterflies or floating lotuses ^ Bhavani, 
 having summoned him to her presence, thus ad- 
 dressed the ejected soul of her pious adorer. 
 
 ' The lotus is held sacred among the Hindoos. 
 
138 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 " Spirit of Veramarken, the holiest Suniassi that 
 ever paid homage at my shrine upon earth, or ob- 
 tained admission to my presence in the skies ; — who, 
 when in the body, thy absence from which thou now 
 so grievously mournest, hast lain six hours upon a 
 bed of iron spikes without wincing, and drunk more 
 putrid water from the sacred Ganges than any peniten- 
 tiary since the first coming of Menu ^ — do not let me 
 see thee thus despond. Thou mayest still regain thy 
 former position upon earth, if thou art not too im- 
 patient under thy present bereavement, which is 
 nothing more than a further trial of thy perfect con- 
 summation of Suniassiism. Listen to what I coun- 
 sel thee, and remember that the infallible wisdom of 
 divinities renders their counsel worth attending to ; 
 remember likewise that to despise it is to provoke 
 certain and irremediable calamity. He who was once 
 thy slave is already a miserable man. The trappings 
 of royalty hang upon him with the weight of an ele- 
 phant's hide, and he is nearly crushed beneath the 
 burden. In spite of all his struggles he cannot re- 
 lease himself from the fatal incumbrance which he 
 has cast upon his own shoulders. He has not only 
 rendered himself odious to his subjects, but despised 
 by thy nephew and detested by thy queen. Descend 
 then upon earth, and hover near him in thy invisibility, 
 for it is not unlikely that he, disgusted with his pre- 
 sent condition, and maddened by the intolerable tor- 
 ment to which thou hast it in thy power to subject him, 
 may eject his own spirit, in order to visit the Swerga, 
 
 » The Noah of the Hindoos, and their great lawgiver. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 139 
 
 when thou mayest immediately take possession of 
 thy untenanted body, and be as happy as the state 
 of a Suniassi can render thee." 
 
 Veramarken took this advice of the goddess, and 
 immediately quitted her immortal abode. When he 
 came in sight of earth, he perceived an assemblage 
 of persons approaching the banks of the river which 
 flowed in the neighbourhood of his capital. His 
 curiosity being attracted by so unusual a sight, he 
 rested upon a small hill, near the spot, in the form 
 of a silvery mist. From so near a vicinity he could 
 readily distinguish all that passed, and soon disco- 
 vered that his nephew Vitravinga had just completed 
 his marriage. He shortly ascertained the name of 
 the bride to be Rheti, (for Mariataly had assumed 
 this name since her unexpected release from the 
 grave,) and that she was a Brahminee of great 
 beauty and wisdom. It was some consolation to the 
 uncle's disconsolate soul to know that his relative, 
 whom he sincerely loved for his numerous good 
 qualities, was likely to increase his stock of happi- 
 ness. Rising from the hill, and being reduced again 
 to an invisible essence, the disembodied spirit floated 
 over the capital, and entering the palace, hovered 
 round the head of Youghal, who felt in consequence 
 such a perpetual whizzing in his ears that he was in 
 a state of unceasing torment. First the doctors, 
 then the conjurors were consulted, but neither could 
 aflfbrd him relief. He drank arrack, and swore like a 
 Foliar S but neither was of any avail. Day after day 
 
 * The Poliars are a most brutalised tribe of Pariahs. 
 
140 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 he was tormented with this new visitation, until 
 his life was a positive burden. From constant vex- 
 ation he grew rickety, as if second childhood had 
 suddenly come upon him. His body became flaccid, 
 his limbs stiff, his appetite capricious, and his voice 
 hollow\ His nights were sleepless, and his days 
 without a beam of joy to gladden them. His 
 withered cheeks were stained with the tears of un- 
 uttered grief, and his breast laboured with perpetual 
 sighs. His legs tottered under him, so that they 
 would scarcely bear his shrunken and enfeebled 
 frame. A terrible retribution had fallen upon him. 
 He was forced to take a review of the past, in spite 
 of his desire to expel its recurrence from his thoughts. 
 There was no evading the retrospect. Crimes com- 
 mitted, and never to be revoked, started up like so 
 many hideous spectres before his imagination, and 
 tortured him with perpetual visions of terror. He 
 saw every thing as if through an unillumined atmo- 
 sphere, in v^^hich no objects were distinguishable save 
 those that especially referred to him, in some shape 
 or other, presenting an appalling phantasmagoria. 
 His melancholy was morbid and soul-subduing. He 
 bowed in craven fear before the gods of his idolatry, 
 but they heard not his invocations, and the true God 
 allowed riot such prayers as his to rise to the throne 
 of mercy as a propitiation for sins repented of only 
 under the awful visitation of terror, but from no 
 principle of piety or of devout affiance. He felt that 
 his supplications were disregarded, and, therefore, 
 resorted to the delusions of superstition to heal those 
 sores of a festered conscience not to be medicated by 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 141 
 
 the breath of hypocrisy, nor closed by the amulets 
 or charms of sycophantic priests, who offered their 
 implorations for his recovery, not only to an un- 
 known, but to an untrue God. 
 
 The miserable man was indeed an object of com- 
 passion. His life was so insupportable that he at 
 length came to the resolution to avail himself of the 
 power he possessed of disembodying his harassed 
 spirit, now associated with so much misery, and 
 seek, for a while, the heaven of Indra, supposing 
 that by this time Veramarken had ceased to enter- 
 tain any further thoughts of returning to earth. As 
 his thoughts were uttered aloud, the Suniassi's spirit 
 buzzed with more than usual energy about the ears of 
 his irritated slave, in order that the latter might not 
 relinquish a resolution, the accomphshment of which 
 was exceedingly desirable to the injured monarch, 
 whose form and lineaments his confidant had so trea- 
 cherously assumed. The thought of being denied 
 admission into the Swerga alone caused Youghal to 
 hesitate. His numerous malversations crowded 
 painfully upon his memory. Fear fell on his heart, 
 and chilled it as he reflected upon his probable 
 chance of a happy immortality ; but while he was thus 
 anxiously deliberating, the buzzing increased to such 
 an insupportable degree, that in a moment of ago- 
 nizing excitement he uttered the potent Mandiram. 
 Instantly his soul was disengaged from the frame of 
 the Suniassi, which that of Veramarken immediately 
 entered. The latter's disappointment, however, was 
 extreme on finding that he continued an object 
 of revolting deformity. He had ventured to hope 
 
142 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 that upon regaining possession of his fleshly tene- 
 ment, it would be restored precisely to what it had 
 been ere he quitted it; but this expectation was 
 grievously defeated. The noblest feature of his 
 countenance had disappeared, and nothing but a 
 miracle could restore it. His sighings did not cause 
 the unsightly scar to disappear, nor the vehicle of 
 a most agreeable sense to elongate into exact pro- 
 portion and beauty. His tears did not remove de- 
 crepitude from his limbs, impart firmness to his dis- 
 organised muscles, nor texture to his relaxed fibres. 
 Without a nose, covered with disease from head to 
 foot, palsied and enfeebled to the last degree, de- 
 tested by his queen, and despised by his subjects, 
 how small was his prospect of happiness ! He re- 
 paired to the apartment of Maldavee, who had lately 
 been released from confinement by order of the 
 penitential Youghal, but she shrank from the true 
 saint with the same undisguised disgust as she had 
 exhibited towards the counterfeit ; and when he at*- 
 tempted to explain that his soul had been sepa- 
 rated from her for a long interval, and his body 
 possessed by that of his slave, she turned from him 
 with a look of scornful incredulity, which at once 
 convinced him she was not to be persuaded to re- 
 ceive, as truth, a fact so entirely out of the ordinary 
 course of nature. 
 
 The spirit of Youghal, being released from that 
 wretched incumbrance of flesh which had lately 
 imprisoned it, ascended above the earth towards 
 Indra's paradise, but during its flight thither was 
 considerably embarrassed by apprehensions of its re- 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 143 
 
 ception by the presiding deity of that celestial abode. 
 It felt by no means certain of admission, charged as 
 it was with the contamination of numberless crimes 
 which had never been even repented of, and being, 
 therefore, utterly unfit to associate with beings spi- 
 ritualised to the highest degree of purity. In propor- 
 tion as it neared the goal, alike of its fears and of its 
 hopes, its flight became more tardy and hesitating. 
 It at length reached the entrance of the Swerga, 
 guarded by the eight-headed horse and the mighty 
 Vajrapani, armed with a thunderbolt which he was 
 ready to launch against profane intruders. The 
 moment the soul of Youghal presented itself at the 
 heavenly portal, the thunderbolt was hurled. This, 
 being tempered by divine hands above the material 
 elements, was of such subtly permeating power that it 
 was capable of "perforating a sound ^" and of 
 dividing every several vibration. The soul of the 
 unrighteous slave fell before the shock of that celestial 
 missile, and shot like a falling star to the earth, being 
 sensible of the keenest spiritual torment. Its worst 
 fears were realised. It was a doomed thing, from 
 which hope was withdrawn for ever, abandoned to 
 a fearful, but merited, retribution. 
 
 ' The Hindoo poets assert that the arrows of their canonised 
 hero, Rama, are capable of '* perforating a sound." 
 
144 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Although Veramarken had regained possession of 
 his empire, and of his queen, he was nevertheless 
 more miserable than during the term of his exanima- 
 tion, when doomed, in the form of a lory, to witness 
 the daily abominations of his slave. Sick at heart 
 under the combined sufferings of mental and bodily 
 infirmity, he summoned all the celebrated physicians 
 in his dominions to restore him to health and to his 
 nose, or rather his nose to him; but they could 
 neither give him back that which had been so 
 wantonly dissipated, nor furnish him with a new 
 feature. The sagest of the Hindoo faculty admitted 
 with one accord that his loss was utterly irreparable. 
 The wretched Suniassi now found, that, by resuming 
 his original form, instead of regaining his former hap- 
 piness he had only secured additional misery ; and the 
 melancholy which constantly preyed upon his mind 
 aggravated the infirmity of his frame. He grew hourly 
 worse, and at length began to apprehend that he had 
 resumed his body only to yield it up a prey to the great 
 conqueror death. This was a grievous affliction, for 
 he had a young wife on whom he doated ; and having 
 not yet numbered more than five-and-forty years, his 
 
A HINDOO L£0£ND. 145 
 
 meridian of existence being consequently but just 
 past, he had promised himself a still long interval 
 of enjoyment, having, immediately before his last 
 separation of soul and body, determined to relinquish 
 the severe life of a devotee for the more befitting 
 dignities of a sovereign. 
 
 The merciful Bhavani, compassionating his suffer- 
 ings, condescended to visit him in his palace, invisi- 
 ble to all eyes but his own. 
 
 " Veramarken," she cried, with a bland smile, 
 " thou hast sufficiently suffered, and wilt shortly ob- 
 tain the reward of thy commendable resignation. Obey 
 my injunctions, and thou shalt yet be happy ere 
 thou takest possession of that everlasting inheritance 
 allotted to so worthy a Suniassi in the abode of the 
 beatified. So soon as the sun peeps from yonder 
 plain, flooding it with its golden rays, repair to the 
 chamber of thy queen, and stand boldly before her 
 in all thy present bodily deformity. She will taunt 
 thee with thy infirmities. Remembering the tyranny 
 exercised by thy late slave under thy semblance, she 
 will perhaps defy thee with lofty contempt and viru- 
 lent bitterness of reproach ; but whilst thy ears 
 receive the taunts of her insulting scorn, should she 
 assail thee with them, invoke my name, and in- 
 stantly the glow of youth shall sufiiise thy cheeks, 
 which shall swell to the nicest undulations of beauty. 
 Thy nose shall be restored to such perfection of 
 shape and expression as to baffle the limner's art. 
 Thy limbs shall assume the roundness and propor- 
 tions of the most admirable symmetry; thy breath 
 shall exhale the perfume wafted from the spicy 
 
146 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 groves of Arabia the happy : — in sum, thou shalt be 
 the envy of man, the admiration of woman, and the 
 idol of thy now detesting queen." 
 
 The delighted monarch was revived by these as- 
 surances, and as the benign divinity vanished from 
 his sight, he offered up a thanksgiving accompanied 
 by a mantra, to which none but a Suniassi could give 
 utterance. The thought of appearing before the 
 lovely Maldavee under such a favourable aspect of 
 renovated youth as should retrieve her affections, so 
 animated his frame, that he moved with more energy 
 than he had exhibited since his restoration to mor- 
 tality ; and from so auspicious a prelude to the issue 
 promised by the immortal Bhavani, he did not 
 entertain the slightest doubt of becoming a much 
 better looking prince than he had been even in the 
 hey-day of life, when his mortifications had only just 
 been sufficiently severe to keep his body in a state 
 of pure health and thus of juvenile comeliness. 
 The confidence of an immediate completion of the 
 divine prophecy imparted such lustre to his eyes, 
 that they looked as if they had been appropriating 
 a ray from the bright sunbeams which dance^ like 
 a host of immortal intelligences on the clear stream 
 that watered the palace garden. 
 
 According to the injunction of his celestial moni- 
 tress, Veramarken appeared at the time specified 
 before his royal consort, and besought her to look 
 upon him with an eye of pity at least, if not with 
 affection. 
 
 " I am, indeed," he exclaimed, tenderly, " a piti- 
 able object. I know myself to be unworthy of thy 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 147 
 
 love, as I have lately appeared to thy deluded sight ; 
 but deign to confide in my professions, and you shall 
 soon receive proof that I am not undeserving of that 
 confidence which I value far more than existence." 
 
 Maldavee listened to his eager importunity; she 
 was moved by the earnest humility of his appeal, 
 and, bending her beautiful eyes upon him, said, in a 
 tone of unwonted gentleness, — 
 
 " If I have lately looked upon you with unusual 
 coldness, you must admit your harshness has pro- 
 voked it, for it is not in my nature to be cruel to 
 those who have never been unkind. Had you not 
 played the tyrant, I never should have played the 
 scomer. As, however, you appear sensible that 
 your conduct has been unjustifiable, assure yourself 
 of my unqualified forgiveness, though the deformity, 
 both moral and physical, which your unhallowed 
 indulgences have brought upon you, positively repel 
 my love." 
 
 '*Nay, Maldavee, you are still under a delusion; 
 I have allowed myself no unhallowed indulgences. 
 A menial's soul has been in possession of my body, 
 and degraded it by the most abominable pollutions." 
 
 '* This attempt at deception," replied the gentle 
 queen, her indignation gradually rising to a chmax, 
 " will only whet my hatred to a keener edge ; you 
 had better, therefore, not attempt to confirm the 
 unfavourable opinion which I have been but too well 
 justified in forming." 
 
 Whilst she was yet speaking, Veramarken loudly 
 invoked the goddess who had so eminently be- 
 friended him. As he enunciated her potential name 
 h2 
 
148 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 the apartment was irradiated with unearthly light. 
 Maldavee, attracted by the muttering of her de- 
 graded lord, turned, and, looking earnestly upon him, 
 to her astonishment beheld a miracle which no less 
 amazed than delighted her. The shrunken and 
 diseased form of Veramarken suddenly rounded ; his 
 flesh assumed the tension of vigorous health ; the 
 skin tightened, the muscles protruded, the eyes grew 
 bright, the nose was gradually developed ; the whole 
 body quickly exhibited the exactest symmetry, and 
 the Suniassi stood before her in the perfection of 
 youthful beauty. Notwithstanding the change, his 
 identity was not to be mistaken. The marks of 
 his long and holy penances were still upon his back 
 and limbs. The queen was amazed, but delight 
 soon overmastering her astonishment, she sprang 
 towards her royal consort, and threw herself pas- 
 sionately into his arms. Their happiness was now 
 complete, and the piety of the regal ascetic re- 
 warded. 
 
 It has been already said that the spirit of Youghal 
 was expelled from the Swerga, as unfit for its 
 purity, by the thunderbolt of Vajrapani. The 
 doomed soul, after its rapid descent to earth, upon 
 entering the palace, was overwhelmed with con- 
 sternation at finding the Suniassi had once more 
 occupied his own body, in which he was restored 
 to the confidence both of his queen and of his 
 subjects. The spirit of the menial, after floating 
 about the capital of Veramarken like pestilential 
 miasma, was compelled to enter the trunk of a lean 
 ox, which was daily driven to a well in the suburbs 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 149 
 
 of the city, where it was attached to a rope and 
 obliged to draw water from morning till night, being 
 sparingly fed and unsparingly belaboured. 
 
 This well, of which there is now one exactly 
 similar at Lucknow, was covered by a lofty tower, 
 four stories high, composed of beautiful and compact 
 stonework. From the second and third stories? 
 branched, on either side, two broad conduits, which 
 conveyed water through the most populous districts 
 of the city ; from these the less populous quarters 
 were supplied. Those conduits were raised on arches, 
 forming a narrow area of great length, at the end of 
 which there was a descent by steps to the mouth of 
 the well, where hundreds of women filled their water- 
 vessels morning and evening, the water supplying the 
 conduits being raised by bullock labour. Here Youghal 
 daily toiled ; the groans of his incarcerated soul were 
 neither pitied nor heeded, and when death released 
 it from one body, it occupied another still lower in 
 the scale of animal existence, and will thus continue 
 until it shall have completed its cycle of transmigra- 
 tion, when it will take its everlasting abode in the 
 infernal Lohangaraka, over which the implacable 
 Yama presides. 
 
 Vitravinga was perfectly happy with his beautiful 
 Rheti, whom he loved no less for her virtues than for 
 her beauty. She communicated to him the events of 
 her past life with ingenuousness and without dis- 
 guise. The idea of her having been a Pariah was 
 at first a little oppugnant to the high brahminical 
 prejudices of the young Rajah ; but when he con- 
 sidered that she had been visited by the omnipotent 
 H 3 
 
150 THE ROYAL DEVOTEE, 
 
 Vishnoo, who pronounced her to have obtained the 
 state of Brahmachari, or, in other words, to have 
 become a member of the sacred caste of Brahmins, 
 those prejudices at once subsided, never again to be 
 revived. He had no reason to regret his alliance 
 with this interesting and lovely girl. Their mutual 
 affection strengthened daily. There existed the 
 most perfect confidence between them, and not a 
 month passed over his head in which Vitravinga did 
 not feel what good reason he had for blessing the dis- 
 pensations of the merciful Vishnoo, who had linked 
 his destiny with one so lovely and virtuous as the 
 once degraded Mariataly. A year after their mar- 
 riage, she blessed him with a son. Veramarken asso- 
 ciated his nephew in the government, invested him 
 with kingly honours, and declared him his successor 
 in case Maldavee should fail of issue. Nothing 
 could exceed the harmony in which the two famihes 
 dwelt together. The fame of Veramarken's and Vi- 
 travinga's government spread throughout Hindostan. 
 The state soon recovered from the confusion into 
 which it had fallen during the tyrannical adminis- 
 tration of Youghal. The laws were administered, 
 justice was dispensed, crime was punished, pros- 
 perity once more smiled in the cities, and prolific 
 harvests waved in the fields. The traveller might 
 now pass from one end of the Suniassi's dominions 
 to the other without molestation. Universal satis- 
 faction again prevailed. The wife of Vitravinga 
 bore him many children ; the queen of his uncle 
 continued unfruitful, nevertheless nothing could ex- 
 ceed their mutual affection. 
 
A HINDOO LEGEND. 151 
 
 The devotee had, from the moment of his resto- 
 ration to comeliness and health, relinquished his 
 penances, so that he enjoyed for years, with scarcely 
 any perceptible diminution, the boon which had 
 been so unexpectedly bestowed upon him. Malda- 
 vee retained her beauty until the meridian of life 
 had been long passed. The love of Vitravinga and 
 Rheti did not abate with the advance of time ; they 
 were proud of each other, and their beautiful family 
 was as much the pride of the uncle and aunt, as of 
 the father and mother. The nation looked forward 
 in them to a long and prosperous succession. The 
 virtues of this happy family, contrasted with the late 
 vices of Youghal, afforded occasion for a pertinent 
 Hindoo proverb : — " The lustre of a virtuous cha- 
 racter cannot be defaced, nor the vices of the vicious 
 ever become lucid. A jewel preserves its lustre 
 though trodden in the dirt, but a brass pot, though 
 placed on the head, remains brass still." 
 
 From this time forward, until they were visited 
 by the angel of death, the lives of Veramarken and 
 Maldavee, Vitravinga and Rheti, were uniformly 
 happy. 
 
 h4 
 
OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The wind howled fiercely through the forests of 
 Chandahar. The trees bowed their lofty heads to 
 the earth, and many were upheaved by the terrible 
 assaults of the blast, casting their huge bodies upon 
 the drenched earth, and crushing the tenderer growth 
 of the forest under the pressure of their proud and 
 ponderous crests, beneath which the wild elephant 
 and scarcely less gigantic rhinoceros had for ages 
 found shelter from the terrors of the eastern hurri- 
 cane. The lightning " ran along the ground," as it 
 has been so emphatically expressed by the Hebrew 
 historian, and the awful crashings of the thunder, 
 which succeeded this manifestation of fierce elemental 
 conflict, broke upon the ear like sounds proceeding 
 from the dislocation and abruption of a dissolving 
 
THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR. 153 
 
 universe. It is impossible to convey more than a 
 faint impression of those appalling convulsions of 
 nature so frequently witnessed in the eastern world. 
 Nothing of a similar kind, that may fairly challenge 
 comparison, is seen in the more temperate climes of 
 the west. There, indeed, the variations of tempera- 
 ture are infinitely greater, but those affrighting con- 
 cussions which seem to shake the earth to its centre 
 are never witnessed, except in a few localities of great 
 elevation, as the Alps and Apennines, where the giant 
 of the hurricane is occasionally seen to put forth his 
 most terrific strength. 
 
 Upon the present occasion the tempest raged with 
 a violence unusual even in these regions, where the 
 frightful effects of the tornado present an almost 
 familiar scene of devastation. The rain fell in con- 
 fluent streams, hissing through the unresisting air 
 with an impetuosity that seemed to threaten a 
 universal inundation. Every animal crept into the 
 thickest covert, while the most noxious reptiles 
 crawled from their subterranean abodes, and exposed 
 themselves to the pelting fury of the rain, as if they 
 felt an instinctive enjoyment in the destruction threat- 
 ened by the clash and distracting dissonance of the 
 agitated elements. Many of the more ferocious beasts 
 of prey, scared by the falling of trees, beneath which 
 they had sought a temporary shelter, raised their 
 heads to the blackened heavens, and howled their 
 terrors with the tone of dumb nature's deep but un- 
 utterable agony. They were cowed by the exhibi- 
 tion of a power to which their own, great and mighty 
 H 5 
 
154 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 as it often is in its manifestation of individual prowess, 
 was but as that of a pigmy compared with the might 
 of omnipotence. They fell prostrate and helpless be- 
 fore the terrors of that arm which puts into activity the 
 prodigious resources of nature, and awes the whole 
 living world by the mere transient ebullition of those 
 mysterious combinations of matter which, in their 
 occasional appulse, carry fear to the hearts and 
 destruction to the hearths of thousands. 
 
 There were occasional pauses in the paroxysms of 
 the tempest, when the very silence that succeeded 
 was only the more terrifying from its immediate and 
 complete contrast with the uproar which had just 
 preceded it, and during which the heavens continued 
 to open their fiery magazines, whence the lightning 
 poured in streams of pale and portentous light, now 
 flickering in mazy lines round the darkened horizon, 
 and now gushing with the velocity of a whirlwind 
 from the womb in which it had been matured, to per- 
 form its mission of destruction, and flooding the de- 
 luged earth with a trail of intensely vivid but mo- 
 mentary flame. The intervals between these outpour- 
 ings from the vast storehouse of this fearful agent of 
 devastation, were only just sufficiently brief to render 
 the silence that intervened painful, and even appal- 
 ling, by the suddenness of transition from astounding 
 uproar to almost perfect obmutescence. In many 
 places trees were shivered to the roots, the charred 
 limbs being torn from their trunks as if struck 
 down with the force and precision of machinery; 
 while the huge and blackened bodies of elephants and 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 155 
 
 other beasts of prey lay upon the ground, exhibit- 
 ing, with terrifying reality, the direful effects of the 
 storm. 
 
 In the very heart of the forest, whither the tra- 
 veller, and even the adventurous hunter, seldom pe- 
 netrated, a lofty teak-tree reared its gigantic bulk 
 above a huge rock, at the base of which a small recess 
 had been hollowed by the patient industry of an aged 
 female, just of a size to enable her to sit upright, and 
 of depth sufficient, when her legs were crossed under 
 her, (the mode of sitting common among the natives 
 of India,) to shelter her from the severity of those 
 tropic storms which, especially at certain seasons of 
 the year, prevail to a dreadful extent nearly through- 
 out the whole continent of Asia. She was 
 
 " A withered hag, with age grown double. 
 
 Her eyes with scalding rheum were gall'd and red ; 
 Cold palsy shook her head ; her hands seem'd wither'd ; 
 And ou her crooked shoulders had she wrapp'd 
 The tatter'd remnants of an old striped hanging, 
 Which served to keep her carcass from the cold ; 
 So there was nothing of a piece about her. 
 Her lower weeds were all o'er coarsely patch'd 
 With different-colour'd rags — black, red, white, yellow, 
 And seem'd to speak variety of wretchedness." 
 
 The tree grew just beyond the rock, which it 
 canopied with its mighty arms, casting a constant 
 shadow over it, and sheltering it at the same time from 
 the ardent rays of the sun and from the impetuosity 
 of those tropical rains which fall in such abundance 
 and with such extreme violence while the monsoons 
 prevail. During the tempest just described, the aged 
 H 6 
 
156 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 inhabitant of the cavern had crawled into her nar- 
 row tenement, in order to escape the fury of the 
 hurricane. Here she remained a sullen spectator of 
 the sublime scene, mumbling her prayers to Indra, 
 god of the elements, according to the code of 
 Hindoo superstition, and crossing her arms in an 
 attitude of holy aspiration. Whilst she was thus 
 absorbed, a flash of lightning struck the teak-tree, in 
 a moment shivering it from the summit to the root, 
 and scattering its gigantic fragments on every side. 
 
 The hag was roused from her stupor by the unex- 
 pected shock, and, throwing herself from the recess, 
 gazed around her with an expression of terrified sur- 
 prise. At the moment of her sudden ejection from 
 her gloomy habitation, the stream of fire which had 
 shivered the tree split the rock to its foundation, 
 opening a wide and gaping fissure into the dark 
 retreat of the aged stranger. A second flash followed, 
 scattering the stony mass in a thousand fragments, 
 and in a few seconds destroying every trace of the 
 retreat of one who had but too sadly known the ex- 
 tremity of want, and all the bitterest agonies of be- 
 reavement. The sibyl was of that class of old women 
 who profess to have communion with evil spirits, 
 and go about the country deluding the superstitious 
 into the belief that they can prevail on the Devatas, 
 or good spirits, to be propitious to them, or call up 
 the Asuras, or evil influences, to harass them with 
 various plagues, according as their dupes happen to 
 be generous or the reverse, — that is, superstitious or 
 incredulous. 
 
 The woman, though not so far advanced in years 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 157 
 
 as would make complete shipwreck of European beauty, 
 being scarcely more than five-and-forty, nevertheless 
 appeared to have entered her grand climacteric. 
 She looked a positive incarnation of old age, and, 
 being squalid to the last degree, from neglect and 
 physical suffering, was an object positively offensive 
 to behold. The filth of years had engrained her 
 skin, and was lodged in the thick grizzled covering 
 which fell in tangled masses from her palsied head, 
 mantling her spare angular shoulders, and hiding the 
 harsh anatomical development of her fleshless form, 
 which exhibited a true but revolting personifica- 
 tion of the image of death. Amid the dark and so- 
 litary recesses of the jungle she dwelt alone, in the 
 cleft which had just been closed up by the unsparing 
 lightning, this being her nightly tenement, in which 
 she could scarcely find room for her spare and macer- 
 ated body in a sitting posture. Her chief food were 
 berries and fruits supplied by the jungle, and carrion 
 occasionally left by the tigers, jackals, and more 
 voracious vultures. For days she sometimes scarcely 
 ate sufficient to sustain nature, especially during the 
 monsoons, when the intense violence of the tempests 
 prevented her from quitting her miserable dwelling 
 in search of nourishment. Such was her predica- 
 ment on the present occasion. For the last twenty- 
 four hours she had been without the means of ap- 
 peasing the cravings of hunger. 
 
 As the storm subsided, which it did shortly after 
 noon, the venerable stranger advanced into the forest 
 in search of food. The sun now flooded the land- 
 
158 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 scape, its rays reflected in ten thousand scintillations 
 from the drops that hung upon the broad leaves of 
 the palms, imparting a singular animation to the scene, 
 the striking effect, however, of which produced no 
 emotion in a bosom which the stern trials of poverty 
 had rendered callous to all impressions of enjoyment 
 save those only produced by appeasing the lowest 
 animal wants. She proceeded leisurely onward; but 
 at times the growth was so thick that she was obHged 
 to force her way, with extreme exertion, through the 
 knotted entanglements of briars and other thoniy 
 shrubs, which, intermixed with tough creepers, some- 
 thing of the same character as the stem of the honey- 
 suckle, formed an impediment to her progress by no 
 means easy to overcome. Around her were frequently 
 strewed the branches and shivered trunks of trees, 
 the effects of the recent hurricane, presenting a 
 scene of awful devastation. This, nevertheless, did not 
 move the imperturbable gravity of her haggard but 
 harsh features, upon which not even the pangs of 
 appetite, now increasing almost to the intensity of 
 positive torture, produced the slightest variation of 
 expression. 
 
 After pursuing her patient journey for some hours, 
 she emerged from the jungle into the open country, 
 in which the deer bounded before her with the velocity 
 of timid apprehension, directing their flight towards a 
 thicket that gradually rose to a considerable elevation 
 above the plain. She followed the herd, in hopes of 
 discovering the remains of a carcass left by the beasts 
 of prey to the ants, who generally follow the vultures in 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 159 
 
 their forest carnival, and blanch the bones of those 
 creatures whom their stronger foes have overcome, 
 for the sake of banqueting upon their flesh. 
 
 The hungry crone hobbled after the active and 
 beautiful game, v^hich seemed to mock her in their 
 precipitate flight, and were soon hidden among the 
 scanty growth of the thicket. On reaching the sum- 
 mit of the hill, a vista opened before her, down which 
 she proceeded with deliberate but persevering pa- 
 tience. It terminated in an abrupt hollow; over 
 this hung a precipice of eighty or a hundred feet, 
 presenting so steep a descent, that nothing above the 
 size of a mouse could find a secure footing. Upon 
 the brink of this precipice two stags were struggling 
 in deadly encounter ; and so intent was each upon 
 victory, that neither perceived the approach of human 
 foot, which, under ordinary circumstances, would 
 have inspired such terror as to cause a precipitate 
 retreat. The stags fought desperately, goring and 
 butting with a fury that caused every stroke to be 
 heard a considerable way ofi^. Several of the herd 
 stood gazing at a short distance from the spot where 
 this fierce contest was taking place, but fled with 
 tremulous precipitation as the stranger advanced: 
 she had nearly reached the precipice, when both 
 combatants, having unconsciously approached its 
 verge, making simultaneously a furious rush at each 
 other, their heads met in stunning collision, and 
 they were carried, by the force of the shock, into the 
 abyss below. 
 
 The woman gazed with a glance of momentary 
 satisfaction, as she saw the mangled bodies of the 
 12 
 
160 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 two stags lying in the hollow beneath. Her heart 
 panted with that natural triumph which the thought 
 of appeasing long suppressed hunger may be con- 
 ceived to engender. The ravine was steep and diffi- 
 cult, but the cravings of nature soon suggested a 
 sufficiently secure mode of descent to induce the 
 sufferer, notwithstanding her many physical infirmi- 
 ties, to hazard her neck for the sake of a certain and 
 immediate repast. Advancing to one side of the pre- 
 cipice, where it was less abrupt, by means of some 
 tough-rooted shrubs which grew from the face of the 
 hill, fixing their fibres in the interstices of the stony 
 stratum, and twisting them round the yielding stones, 
 after a good deal of difficulty and much danger, she 
 reached the valley in which the bodies of the two 
 stags lay, still quivering with the last motions of ex- 
 piring life. She hurried to the spot, and, tearing a 
 long sharp thorn from a prickly shrub which grew 
 near, thrust it into the still warm throats of the dying 
 deer. A copious efiE^usion of blood followed the punc- 
 ture; applying her mouth to this, she inhaled the 
 elements of life from bodies in which they were 
 gradually subsiding, and thus recruited the fading 
 energies of her own. 
 
 Having refreshed herself by this unnatural, but, in 
 her case, necessary draught, applying the nails, which 
 covered her fingers like talons, to the hides of her 
 now dead prey, she denuded the flesh of its skin, and, 
 gathering a few dried leaves and sticks from a hollow 
 under the hill, where they had escaped being wetted 
 by the rain, piled them in a heap at the root of a tree, 
 and began to prepare for the enjoyment of such a 
 
A MOHAMMKDAN ROMANCE. 161 
 
 meal as she had not partaken of for many a miserable 
 month previously. Taking a small lens from the 
 folds of her dress, where all her earthly valuables 
 were deposited, — and these consisted almost entirely 
 of a few small copper images and certain mysterious 
 forms in horn, which indicated her profession to be 
 that of a looker into the events of futurity, — she ap- 
 phed the glass to the heap of combustibles, and, con- 
 densing the sun's rays into a focal point, upon mate- 
 rials so readily inflammable, they almost instantly 
 kindled into a blaze. 
 
 Having roasted a portion of the flesh, which she 
 cut from the haunches of one of the stags, the hungry 
 crone formed it into kabobs', and made so hearty a 
 repast that she almost immediately fell asleep, and 
 enjoyed her refreshing repose until the broad sun 
 appeared high above the horizon on the following 
 day. On rising, to her great mortification she found 
 that the jackals had, during the night, entirely 
 consumed the rest of her delicious game, without 
 dressing. 
 
 ^ Meat cut up into small pieces, put upon a thin skewer, and 
 then turned over the fire. 
 
162 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Near a village on the borders of the jungle, Abdal- 
 lah Mirza, governor of Chandahar, a young Moghul 
 noble, extremely attached to the sports of the field, 
 had built an elegant mansion, to which he occasion- 
 ally retired when disposed to enjoy the pleasures of 
 the chace, especially hunting the tiger and the rhi- 
 noceros, — both dangerous gratifications, and there- 
 fore the more acceptable to the tastes of eastern 
 princes. The building was entered through a lofty 
 portal, which led into a spacious vestibule, where the 
 rites of religion were daily performed by a Moham- 
 medan priest, a regular member of the governor's 
 domestic establishment. This entrance was a fine 
 specimen of the lighter Saracenic architecture of the 
 East, and considered as a proud memorial of the 
 taste of the governor of Chandahar. 
 
 Abdallah Mirza was a young man, scarcely more 
 than twenty, with a remarkably fine person, but, as 
 is too frequently the case with men of rank, when 
 their depraved predilections are aided and abetted 
 by the graces of person, grossly addicted to the 
 most debasing pleasures, holding it unworthy the 
 dignity of a Moghul noble to cast a rein upon 
 those appetites, the excessive indulgence of which 
 
A MOHAMMBDAN ROMANCE. 163 
 
 is no less forbidden in the moral code of Mahomet, 
 than in the divine canons of Christianity. He 
 was extremely ur popular among the Hindoo chief- 
 tains who resided in the province under his ju- 
 risdiction, not only in consequence of the severe 
 exactions to which he subjected them, but likewise 
 from the tyranny which he exercised over their social 
 enjoyments, — frequently tearing daughters from the 
 arms of their parents, and adding them to the num- 
 ber of his degraded favourites. StiU he was beloved 
 by the young nobles who composed his court, from 
 the circumstance of his permitting in them the same 
 license of sensual enjoyment in which he himself so 
 unrestrainedly indulged. 
 
 The governor's habitation on the borders of the 
 jungle, when he repaired thither to enjoy his fa- 
 vourite diversion, was usually filled with dissipated 
 young men of his own age, whom he delighted to 
 encourage in those violations of the sanctity of do- 
 mestic intercourse which it was his own cruel boast 
 to disregard. And yet, though addicted to many of 
 the worst vices that can degrade humanity, Abdal- 
 lah possessed some popular qualifications, which tended 
 to neutrahze them in the estimation of men who placed 
 their own interests in the van of all temporal objects, 
 and who therefore saw in the profuse but selfish 
 generosity of the young governor, a development of 
 what they looked upon to be first among the car- 
 dinal virtues, — not considering that profusion is 
 more frequently allied to the grossest vices, than a 
 diagnostic of any high moral qualification. 
 
 While Abdallah found, that by lavishly distributing 
 
164 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 the public money to unworthy favourites, and by be- 
 stowing upon them the confiscated lands of uncom- 
 pliant Hindoos, who were often robbed of their pro- 
 perty under the colour of legal adjudication, or upon 
 the plea of apprehended rebellion, he could secure 
 the approbation of many influential, though unprin- 
 cipled men, he did not hesitate to sacrifice integrity 
 at the polluted shrine of self-interest, and to secure 
 the support of licentious, rather than the confidence 
 of virtuous adherents. 
 
 The Mirza was one morning smoking his hookah in 
 the front verandah of his house, when he was informed 
 by an attendant, that an old woman desired admit- 
 tance to his presence. Understanding that she had 
 been driven from the door in consequence of her 
 squalid aspect, he ordered that she should be instantly 
 brought before him. Though a man of considerable 
 quickness of parts, and though possessing no very 
 high respect for the obligations of religion, the 
 governor of Chandahar was nevertheless extremely 
 superstitious. Conscious of this infirmity, he was at 
 the same time by no means willing to acknowledge a 
 weakness which reproved his contempt of the Koran, 
 and the severe requisitions of morality. 
 
 The woman was ushered into the presence of the 
 princely Moghul, who continued for some moments 
 to discharge the fragrant smoke from a chillam', 
 formed of the finest spices from Arabian gardens, 
 and emitting a vapour so subtle that it scarcely tinted 
 the bright atmosphere with which it was mingled, 
 
 ^ The chillam is a composition of spices and tobacco, smoked 
 through the hookah. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 165 
 
 as it passed with the breath of the luxurious dig- 
 nitary to the freedom of the buoyant but impregnated 
 air. 
 
 " Woman," said he at length, in a tone betwixt 
 severity and indifference, " what is the occasion of 
 thy importunity ?" 
 
 " Want." 
 
 •' What do you require ?" 
 
 " Food and raiment." 
 
 "Go to the jungle for the one, and let nature 
 supply the other." 
 
 •' Dost thou jeer the heart- stricken and the hun- 
 gry? Thou mayest tremble yet on thy rug of 
 embroidery ; thou mayest one day lie rotting under 
 a palamporeS though it be woven in the looms of 
 Cashmere." 
 
 Abdallah smiled — "Woman," said he sternly, 
 though the quivering curl of his lip showed that he 
 was moved rather to diversion than to anger, " dost 
 thou know to whom thou art speaking V 
 
 " Ay ; to a thing that the worms shall feed upon 
 though he be governor of Chandahar." 
 
 "How knowest thou that the worms shall feed 
 upon the dead flesh of Abdallah the Moghul ?" 
 
 " Because, though the bodily eye is dim, I can 
 look, with an unfailing perception, beyond the 
 boundaries of the present, into the dark abyss of 
 the future, and see what is to happen in time though 
 the event is not yet." 
 
 "Well!" 
 
 " It may not be well for those who despise the 
 ' A counterpane. 
 
166 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 poor and aged. I lack food and covering. My 
 appetite is keen, though my body is withered, and 
 both require thy ministrations; wilt thou accord 
 them?" 
 
 " Suppose I do not }" 
 
 " That is no answer." 
 
 " Repair to thy feast in the jungle — gloat on 
 the carrion which the vultures are perched upon — 
 scare them from their banquet, and glut thy un- 
 earthly carcass with the food that best beseems the 
 companion of disembodied spirits. I will neither 
 supply thee with food nor clothing." 
 
 "Then hear the curse of one who never delivered 
 an oracle that did not find its accomplishment : — Ere 
 the moon shall have performed twelve revolutions, 
 thou shalt be among those who never sleep for the 
 tortures that will cling to them everlastingly. Abide 
 the reckoning, for it will be called for before thy 
 hair shall whiten." 
 
 A sardonic smile passed over the Mirza's features, 
 though such an unexpected prediction was by no 
 means agreeable to him. The blood mounted to his 
 cheek, and looking upon the sibyl with evident but 
 suppressed fear, which she at once perceived, he 
 somewhat subdued the levity of his tone, and desired 
 she would instantly quit his presence ; still, though too 
 proud to retract his expressed determination not to 
 relieve her, he, nevertheless, ordered that she should 
 be removed with gentle violence from the doors of 
 a Moghul Omrah upon whom she had presumed to 
 pronounce a doom which he considered by no means 
 one befitting the governor of Chandahar. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 167 
 
 *' I shall not stir," screamed the decrepit stranger, 
 '• until I am fed. Withered he the hand that 
 touches me. I have defied the wind and the tem- 
 pest ; both have passed over me, but I remain 
 unharmed. Time is my only vanquisher ; and shall 
 I be scared by the lordly presence of a man who 
 worships only one God, and is debarred from the 
 privileges of absorption into the omnipresent and 
 eternal Bhrim? Remember the curse of the hag 
 of the jungle!" 
 
 Saying this, she tottered from the presence of 
 the cowed governor with a shriek of malignant 
 triumph. 
 
 " She's mad," he said, affecting an unperturbed 
 demeanour, but, at the same time, the strong flush 
 upon his cheek, and the deep contraction of his 
 brow, showed that he had been otherwise moved 
 than he desired should become apparent. The in- 
 dignant stranger quitted his door amid the laughter 
 and coarse gibes of the servants, muttering curses 
 as she went, unanswered but by the slow pulsations 
 of her own untractable heart. 
 
 The fatuitous credulity produced by the prognos- 
 tics of old women in India is scarcely exceeded by 
 the superstitious infirmities of any country in the 
 world. These terrible prophetesses excite awe even 
 in the breasts of princes ; and the terror which they 
 inspire is their security against molestation — nay, 
 even the dispensers of the laws are frequently afraid 
 to summon them before their tribunals. They are 
 considered to possess such influence with the powers 
 of other worlds, as to render it perilous to interfere 
 
168 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 with them; though it often happens that persons, 
 whose minds are too strong to be shackled by the 
 slavish suggestions of superstition, not only despise 
 them, but defy the impotence of their machinations. 
 
 Abdallah assumed to be one of that class of incre- 
 dulous heroes, who are inaccessible to the pitiful 
 influence exercised by female pretenders, on whom 
 old age has heaped its worst deformities. Never- 
 theless, in spite of his pretensions, he was evidently 
 a slave to such terrors as oppress the hearts of 
 persons maintaining implicit belief in the super- 
 natural power of decrepit empirics laying claim to 
 the dangerous gift of prophecy. 
 
 After the departure of his unwelcome visiter, the 
 governor of Chandahar was observed for several 
 days to be unusually meditative. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 169 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 In order to dissipate the gloom of obtruding 
 thoughts, Abdallah determined to command a gene- 
 ral hunt in the neighbouring forest of vast extent, 
 covering, with the exception of here and there a 
 cleared space, which contained a village or a few- 
 scattered huts, an area of more than a hundred 
 square miles, and abounding with game of all kinds, 
 from the stately elk to the timid hare. On the 
 morning previously to that fixed upon for the chase 
 the governor strolled out at sunrise in order to 
 enjoy the freshness of the morning air. Nothing 
 could exceed the entrancing beauty of the scene. 
 The dew-drops, as they hung upon the broad leaves 
 of the plaintain and mango-trees, of which there 
 was a large grove just beyond the village, reflected 
 the young sunbeams, and threw ten thousand scin- 
 tillations in every direction to which the eye turned, 
 seeking its enjoyment in the fresh and radiant 
 glories of an eastern morning. The mists spreading 
 from the distant hills cast a faint bloom upon the 
 landscape, and when they intervened betwixt the 
 eye and the sunlight a thousand prismatic tints were 
 flung over forest and plain, variegating the rich 
 green of the former and enlivening the brown adust 
 
170 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 hue of the latter with a colouring that imparted an 
 animated effect to the picture. 
 
 The ryot, or peasant, of Hindostan was seen plod- 
 ding to his morning labour, gazing with an eye of 
 vacant indifference upon the beauties of the scene 
 before him, his whole thoughts absorbed in his own 
 miseries, the days of his dreary pilgrimage being one 
 protracted interval of privation and sorrow. He re- 
 paired with the dawn of every morrow to the severe 
 toil of husbandry, with a blighted heart, bowed 
 down by the load of domestic cares, his sombre des- 
 tiny never relieved by a ray of hope to enliven the 
 dreary prospect that extended betwixt him and the 
 grave. For him the beauties of nature have no 
 charm. He sees in the sunshine but "the smile and 
 mockery of woe." To his bosom the ripening har- 
 vest brings no joy, as he gathers it in merely to 
 swell the stores of an opulent zemindar *, who pays 
 him the scanty pittance apportioned to his labour, 
 leaving him often to pine in the most abject poverty 
 as the guerdon of his unwilling, indeed, but severe 
 industry. 
 
 Let the husbandmen of European countries, who 
 complain of the niggard reward of their toils, go to 
 the wretched hovel of the peasant of Hindostan, 
 and then say whose is the better condition. No in- 
 dustry, no talents, no virtues can raise the unhappy 
 ryot from the miserable destitution to which poverty 
 subjects him. He must always live despised and 
 poor, because he is entirely cut off from the means of 
 
 1 A Hindoo squire or land-proprietor. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 171 
 
 acquiring wealth, but in those lands more favoured 
 of Heaven, where industry may elevate a man almost 
 to the level of kings, the poorest peasant has the 
 power of rising from the trammels of a severe con- 
 dition to the brightest honours, or, at all events, to 
 the highest privileges which wealth confers upon 
 those who are fortunate enough to render themselves 
 masters of its mighty resources. 
 
 The governor of Chandahar pursued his solitary 
 ramble in order to shake off the stupifying effects of 
 the previous night's debauch, as scarcely an evening 
 passed in which he did not render himself insensible, 
 not only to the precepts of the Koran, but to all 
 other laws either human or divine ; for the wines of 
 Shiraz, when liberally taken, have a tendency, not 
 merely to rob a man of his discretion, but likewise 
 so to offuscate his intellectual faculties, as to render 
 the luxurious Sybarite, who indulges in such luscious 
 potations, utterly unconscious of what Mahomet has 
 laid down as laws of life, or the wisest philosophers 
 have taught as maxims of wisdom. 
 
 As Abdallah approached the village before spoken 
 of, situated on the bank of a deep stream that issued 
 from the distant hills, he saw a group of women 
 repairing to the well for their daily supply of water, 
 which, throughout India, is always procured the first 
 thing in the morning, before the refreshing element 
 is heated by the ardent rays of a tropical sun. The 
 well which he now approached was of great depth, 
 being cased with polished stone, and sunk at least two 
 hundred feet below the surface. After an ascent of two 
 wide steps, there was a low parapet raised round the 
 1 2 
 
172 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 opening which was cut in a large slab of granite, united 
 with extreme neatness to masses of the same material, 
 squared with great exactness, and cemented by a 
 strong bituminous matter, over which time appears 
 to possess no influence. The water was obtained by 
 means of a common pulley, the rope, which passed 
 over the grooved wheel, being worked by a pair of 
 native oxen. At the end of the rope was a capacious 
 vessel, holding many gallons, common to the public. 
 Trom this, those who resorted to the well for water 
 filled their respective jars. This was the place of 
 morning and evening concourse, in which all the 
 gossip of the village was exchanged from mouth to 
 mouth, and a vast deal of scandal thus perpetually 
 disseminated ; for in this feminine tendency the 
 women of the east, in all periods of their history, 
 have been no less adepts than their European 
 sisters. 
 
 The governor of Chandahar approached the well. 
 This created some confusion among the bright- eyed 
 damsels who had sought this place of matutinal 
 communion, the intruder being a Mohammedan, and 
 they all worshippers of many millions of gods, 
 among whom Brahma, Vishnoo, and Siva were pre- 
 eminent, forming the Trimourty, or Indian Triad. 
 These interesting idolaters quickly dispersed at the 
 sight of one whose contact, although governor of 
 the province whither they had retired to seek an 
 asylum under the protection of those laws which he 
 at once dispensed and supervised, would have been 
 to any one of them a personal contamination. Their 
 retreat, however, was not so precipitate but the 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 173 
 
 Moghul was enabled to take a hasty survey of the 
 numerous young maidens present with their water- 
 vessels. Among the groups assembled, but which the 
 unexpected presence of the governor had so quickly 
 dispersed, were two girls, each with a small cudjree 
 pot, the one carrying it in her right hand, the other in 
 her left. They were sisters in the full bloom of youthful 
 womanhood, and both extremely beautiful. Their soft 
 black eyes were fixed upon two companions seated on 
 the ground, who were retailing with lively gestures 
 the usual village news, to which the sisters listened 
 with anxious attention. The elegant simplicity of 
 the drapery that enveloped their finely-moulded 
 forms, imparted to them a grace greatly enhanced 
 by the animated interest with which they evidently 
 heard the communications of their young com- 
 panions, who seemed to become more eloquent in 
 proportion as they riveted the attention of their 
 lovely auditors. Apart from this interesting group 
 lay two oxen, beside which was their owner bask- 
 ing under the shade of a temporary tent, composed 
 of an old umbrella and a rug, beneath which 
 the luxurious herdsman shaded his head from the 
 ardent rays of the sun, now advanced sufficiently 
 high above the horizon to render such a cover- 
 ing a luxury, at least, if not a necessity. On the 
 other side a camel approached the well, with its 
 head raised and its nostrils distended, inhaling the 
 delightful freshness of the water, the presence of 
 which, it is said, these animals are conscious of at a 
 considerable distance. When journeying in the de- 
 sert they are directed towards it by the wonderful 
 
174 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 acuteness of their scent, for however inodorous to us, 
 it certainly is not so to them. 
 
 The Hindoos having deserted the well, Abdallah 
 mused with a most exciting interest upon the two 
 lovely houris, after whom he earnestly gazed until 
 the walls of the house, into which they hastily retired, 
 excluded them from his view. Although no stranger 
 to the surpassing beauty of Hindoo women, he had 
 never yet beheld two who at first sight produced so 
 strong a sensation in his bosom. She who appeared 
 the elder of the sisters, had especially roused his pas- 
 sions to their topmost bent, and he was determined, 
 by whatever means, to add her to the degraded 
 members of his harem. He had no difficulty in dis- 
 covering that they were maidens of high caste and 
 blood, being the daughters of an independent Rajpoot, 
 who boasted of his descent from the royal line of his 
 race, and though greatly reduced in circumstances, 
 was far more haughty than poor. Like the high- 
 blooded members of his tribe, he was proud of that 
 distinction which belonged to the name of Rajpoot, 
 and would have considered a matrimonial alliance even 
 with a Moghul sovereign as the deepest degrada- 
 tion. The prejudices of such a man were not easy 
 to be overcome. His personal appearance was no 
 less imposing than his moral organisation. He was 
 tall and muscular, remarkably erect, and so capable 
 of enduring the extremes of fatigue, privation, and 
 physical agony, that his body seemed perfectly forti- 
 fied against the encroachments of temporal evil. 
 Nothing could bend the inflexible stubbornness of 
 his pride. He considered a murmur at the visita- 
 
k MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 175 
 
 tions of humanity, however severe, as inconsist- 
 ent with the natural dignity of man. He was a 
 noble specimen of the high-minded and independent 
 Rajpoot. For years he had been deprived of sight. 
 An arrow, discharged by him at a deer during the 
 chase, in his youthful manhood, had glanced from a 
 tree and entered his eye. Inflammation superv^ening, 
 was communicated to the other eye, and total loss of 
 sight was the eventual consequence. Notwithstand- 
 ing so severe an aflliction, and so great an impedi- 
 ment to his practice of archery, in which he had 
 always exhibited prodigious skill, he did not forego 
 the exercise of his favourite recreation, and such was 
 his acquired dexterity, in the course of years, that 
 he could hit a pigeon on the wing at the distance of 
 twenty yards, being directed to the object by the 
 sound of the bird's pinions. Long and persevering 
 practice had given him this extraordinary precision 
 of hand, and it became so great a marvel among his 
 neighbours, that many did not hesitate to believe he 
 had subjected himself to the controul of those super- 
 natural agents whom no good man would desire to 
 avow intercourse with, though it is certain that he 
 was as free from such evil communion as the unborn 
 babe. 
 
 The Rajpoot's dexterity in the use of his bow was 
 a matter altogether unknown to the governor of 
 Chandahar at the time of his visit to the well just 
 described, though he was aware of the existence of 
 the person so eminently accomplished in one of the 
 most difficult exercises of arms. 
 
 Knowing the acuteness of old women when young 
 i4 
 
176 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 ones are to be seduced, Abdallah determined to 
 send for the crone of the forest, and by a liberal 
 reward induce her to become the instrument by 
 which he might obtain possession of the beautiful 
 Hindoos. He would thus too make his peace with 
 one whose indignation he had provoked, and who 
 evidently had the power of causing him serious dis- 
 quietude. He returned home, to take his morning's 
 refreshment and enjoy his hookah. Amidst his 
 fragrant expirations he thought only of the lovely 
 objects which had so lately tantalised his very ex- 
 citable emotions, and filled his heart with violent 
 but delightful agitations. He was desirous of ob- 
 taining every possible information respecting the 
 beautiful sisters, with one of whom he felt already 
 so deeply enamoured, that his whole heart was ab- 
 sorbed in her image. A domestic was immediately 
 despatched in pursuit of the old woman so lately 
 dismissed from his door with reproaches ; she was 
 easily found, and, before the sun had begun its de- 
 scent down the far west, was once more in the pre- 
 sence of the governor of Chandahar. 
 
 " Well," said the dignitary, taking the gold 
 mouth-piece, studded with costly jewels, from his 
 lips, and, at the same time, lazily emitting a volume 
 of thin perfumed vapour, so ethereal, that it floated 
 off like some spiritual existence, leaving no mark of 
 its materiality upon the clear elastic air — " Well ! is 
 there any thing that money would not win thee 
 to do ?" 
 
 *' Aye, son of Mahomet." 
 
 -What.?" 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 177 
 
 " Bend the knee to thy prophet." 
 
 "Woman — do not suffer thy tongue to scandalize 
 the object of a pious mussulman's worship." A smile 
 passed over his bronzed cheeks, as he uttered this 
 conscious untruth. 
 
 " I must speak my will even before kings. Thou 
 hast already refused me that which thou now askest 
 me if I crave with an unholy longing. Shall I forget 
 that thou didst send me forth to starve from thy 
 proud portals, within which the bloated form of 
 luxury riots amidst the grossest profusion ?" 
 
 " You speak well, woman." 
 
 " I was bred to speak well. I have tasted from 
 the golden cup : these shrivelled fingers have been 
 jewelled with the brightest gems from the treasure 
 caves of Golconda. I have been hurled from the 
 proud height of my prosperity, and am now^ worse 
 than a beggar — the despised thing you call a hag." 
 
 " What were thy parents ?" 
 
 " Wealthy — let that suffice thee. Their ashes have 
 long been mingled with the elements; but, before 
 the funereal fire embraced their perishing bodies, the 
 gripe of poverty had clutched them. I have been 
 left alone in the world, the blue heavens my roof, the 
 hard rock my bed, carrion my nourishment, rags my 
 covering." 
 
 " Art thou content to receive money upon con- 
 ditions ?" 
 
 " Name them." 
 
 " There are two sisters living in the village." 
 
 " Aye, there are many sisters living there." 
 
 "But two under one roof." 
 I 5 
 
178 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 " Is the kite preparing to swoop upon the un- 
 conscious dove ? Well, it is not for the deformed 
 fox-bat to cover her with its wings ?" 
 " What dost thou know of those girls ?" 
 " They are the children of one father, who would 
 not spare the hyena that crept into his fold." 
 " He is brave then." 
 
 "Though blind, he would grapple with the lion 
 that crossed his path to mar his domestic peace." 
 " I would possess those girls." 
 " Try thy luck, but blame thy own rashness, if the 
 cold blight of a father's curse wither thee." 
 " Dost thou refuse to aid me .?" 
 " I refuse nothing worth my accepting." 
 ** Wilt thou bring those maidens before me ?" 
 " Thou hast yet named no condition by which I 
 might be tempted to perform thy bidding." 
 " There are a hundred golden dinars'." 
 The old woman eagerly held out her hand. 
 " Wilt thou do my behest ?" 
 
 She nodded assent, and having griped the gold 
 with an energy that left the impression of it upon 
 her withered palm, with a sinister grin she hobbled 
 from the presence of her interested benefactor, took 
 up a handful of dust, as she reached the outside of 
 his portal, and scattering it into the tranquil air, 
 mumbled an unintelligible but bitter anathema, and 
 was shortly hidden amid the thickets of the jungle. 
 
 * The dinar is in value about nine shillings. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 179 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 On the morning after Abdallah Mirza's interview 
 with the old woman of the forest, he assembled his 
 friends and followers for the chace. A number of 
 horsemen, and several inferior Omrahs, who had been 
 invited from their neighbouring estates, to join the 
 cortege, came mounted on their elephants. Abdallah 
 sat in a howdah, gorgeously decorated, and was con- 
 spicuous above the rest, no less from the superior size 
 of the animal he rode, than from the magnificence of 
 its caparison. The party quitted the governor's abode 
 shortly after dawn, and pursued their way leisurely, 
 until they reached the borders of the jungle. A 
 great number of poor naked Chandallahs attended, for 
 the purpose of entering the thickets, by their shouts 
 scaring the game, which was the more abundant, be- 
 cause it was not frequently disturbed. Within a few 
 hours, several tigers and leopards were killed. About 
 noon a tent was pitched, on a spot which had been 
 cleared to supply fuel for a small hamlet in the 
 neighbourhood, occupied by a few miserable outcasts, 
 who, surrounded by beasts of prey, had taken up 
 their abode in this dangerous locality, to escape the 
 contempt of their fellow creatures, being, in more 
 I 6 
 
180 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 populous districts, denied the common and natural 
 rights of humanity. 
 
 After a brief repast, Abdallah strolled into the 
 forest on foot, armed with his matchlock, in order 
 to exercise his dexterity in the use of that engine of 
 destruction, in which he was held to be without a 
 rival. Emerging into a broken part of the jungle, 
 which had likewise been cleared for the purpose of 
 obtaining fuel, and which abutted upon a wide 
 stream that yielded the tribute of its waters to fer- 
 tilize the neighbouring plains, he saw a leopard and 
 a large black bear engaged in desperate conflict. 
 The former had seized its adversary by the shoulders, 
 which, protected by the coarse shaggy hide, almost 
 defied injury, while the latter held one of the leopard's 
 hind legs betwixt his powerful jaws, lacerating the 
 sinews in such a manner as completely to disable 
 the limb. 
 
 Abdallah Mirza concealed from view, silently 
 watched the combat ; it soon terminated in the utter 
 defeat of the leopard, which was at length destroyed 
 by its more powerful and better protected antagonist. 
 The bear of India is never very large, but exceedingly 
 strong and fierce, being seldom vanquished even by 
 the tiger, until after a desperate resistance, and 
 sometimes repelling that more powerful foe, though 
 generally falling its prey. 
 
 About an hour after noon the governor remounted 
 his elephant, to continue the exciting sport. The thick- 
 ets were again entered by the Chandallahs, who scared 
 the game into the toils of the hunters, where it became 
 an easy prey. Eager in the pursuit of a pleasure 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 181 
 
 to which he was passionately attached, the Mirza 
 headed his guests into a thicket which had not 
 been yet tried by the beaters. The tall jungle-grass 
 reached to the elephants* flanks, and the horses' heads 
 were occasionally only just visible above it. On 
 reaching the centre of the thicket, a cry was heard 
 from one of the horsemen, and immediately after- 
 wards a huge rhinoceros was seen making its way 
 towards a vista in the forest, which formed an 
 avenue of considerable width, and was upwards of 
 half a mile in length. This dangerous animal was 
 followed by at least twenty elephants, and five 
 times as many horsemen, but he dashed fiercely 
 through the tall wiry grass with great speed, until 
 he reached the open space ; there, placing his huge 
 body between two trees upon finding himself so 
 rapidly pursued, he prepared to resist aggression, 
 and presenting a formidable front to the advancing 
 hunters, kept his head bent towards the ground, 
 turning his small bright eyes to the right and left, 
 being protected behind by a thick tuft of bamboo, 
 and on either side by the two trees. His horn 
 which, when the creature was not excited, vibrated 
 in the socket with every movement of his body, 
 stood now erect and immoveable. He occasionally 
 stamped with one of his fore feet, to evince his de- 
 termination to repel any attempt to dislodge him by 
 force from his position. 
 
 Abdallah being nearest to this formidable opponent, 
 had fixed a large matchlock to the edge of hishowdah 
 upon a pivot. This dreadful engine of death carried a 
 
182 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 three-ounce iron ball, and was now charged for the pur- 
 pose of shooting the rhinoceros, should he place any of 
 the party in immediate jeopardy. None of the ele- 
 phants could be tempted to advance, either by coaxing 
 or goading, but backed from the scene of conflict, and 
 some of them absolutely took flight in the greatest 
 terror, the elephant having universally a great dread 
 of this dangerous enemy. For some time all the 
 sportsmen were kept at bay, neither the elephants 
 nor horsemen daring to approach the ferocious foe, 
 no less determined than powerful. The huge crea- 
 ture seemed aware of the terror he inspired, for he 
 continued at intervals to stamp with his fore feet and 
 champ fiercely, but did not quit the situation which 
 he had so judiciously chosen, and seemed not disposed 
 to abandon. 
 
 Tired of thus inactively gazing upon a strong but 
 not invincible foe, Abdallah Mirza ordered the ma- 
 hout who conducted his elephant, to urge the animal 
 forward, in spite of its manifest reluctance to advance. 
 His command was obeyed, but the refractory beast 
 instead of answering to the goad, as was expected, 
 raised its trunk, uttered a shrill cry, and began to 
 manifest symptoms of anger. Observing the gover- 
 nor's purpose, several of the hunters simultaneously 
 urged their elephants and horses towards the defying 
 enemy, who watched every motion of the hostile 
 array with a keen and wary scrutiny, without stir- 
 ing an inch from his well fortified position. He was, 
 however, soon neared by an irresistible force. Five 
 or six elephants, and at least twenty horses, ap- 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 183 
 
 proached within a few feet of him, still he did not 
 move, but continued to eye them with ferocious 
 determination. 
 
 At length, a horseman urging his steed forward, 
 struck the mailed brute in the head with a spear. 
 The weapon glanced from the bone, as if turned oiF by 
 a piece of polished marble, but the enraged creature 
 springing suddenly from his fence, struck the horse in 
 the flank with such force, as instantly to overthrow 
 the rider, then raising the wounded beast upon its 
 armed snout, threw it into the air, as a bull would 
 a small dog. The horse fell in the thicket behind, 
 so dreadfully gored that it almost instantly died. 
 The rider happily escaped with a contused head and 
 a dislocated collar-bone. 
 
 No sooner did the rhinoceros quit his position 
 of security, than three of the elephants advanced 
 and attacked him in the rear : he directly turned 
 and overthrew one of them, plunging his horn 
 into the animal's flank, and plowing so deep a 
 trench that the bowels dropped through the hideous 
 opening, and with a terrible roar his vanquished foe 
 fell to the earth, from which it never rose again. 
 Meanwhile, its two companions declining their heads 
 at the same moment, lifted their huge adversary, 
 and bearing him forward several feet, dropped 
 him upon the ground, but, before he had time to 
 recover himself, a ball from the ponderous match- 
 lock of the governor, who had now brought his 
 refractory elephant close to the scene of action, 
 struck the rhinoceros betwixt his shoulders, wound- 
 ing him in the spine, and thus prevented him from 
 
184 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 rising. Being now prostrated and helpless, he was 
 soon despatched, and having been carefully skinned, 
 the hide was borne to the Mirza's home as a signal 
 trophy of the day's sport. 
 
 On the party's return, a tiger suddenly bounded 
 from the covert of jungle grass, whence they had 
 unkennelled the rhinoceros, and leaping upon the 
 elephant which Abdallah rode, the affrighted ani- 
 mal immediately plunged into the jungle at the 
 imminent risk of dashing its rider's brains out 
 against the obtruding branches of trees, growing so 
 thickly in every part of the forest as scarcely to 
 leave a practicable path. A small elephant which 
 had been accustomed to occupy the same stable, 
 eagerly followed, and both were soon out of sight. 
 Nothing could stop these terrified creatures. On- 
 ward they rushed with the headlong impetuosity of 
 a torrent. The undergrowth of the jungle crashed 
 under them as they urged their precipitate career. 
 After a gallop of several coss, the elephants stopped, 
 and the smaller fell from exhaustion. The Mirza 
 alighting from his howdah, seated himself on the 
 grass under a tree until the alarmed beasts should 
 regain their composure. By dint of coaxing the ma- 
 houts at length quieted them, and giving each a few 
 mouthfuls of gram ^, with a small quantity of fresh 
 grass, they soon recovered from their fatigue, and 
 appeared to have forgotten their alarm. 
 
 The Omrah with two Hindoo attendants, who occu- 
 pied the howdah of the elephant which had followed 
 
 ' A kind of small bean. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 185 
 
 his from the scene of encounter with the rhinoceros, 
 had now reached the borders of the forest. Imme- 
 diately before them was a hill of considerable altitude, 
 on which stood, near the summit, a heathen temple. 
 It was a dilapidated structure of great antiquity, now 
 the habitation of an old decrepit brahmin, who 
 occupied a dismal sort of den without the walls, 
 hollowed in the mountain's side. His sanctity was 
 the theme of universal praise, and Hindoo travellers 
 who passed that remote spot, always repaired to him 
 for his benediction, never bestowed without a liberal 
 fee. Abdallah had a curiosity to see this venerable 
 man, and the temple over which he presided, as many 
 stories were circulated far beyond its immediate 
 vicinity, of the miracles occasionally wrought at the 
 shrine of its presiding divinity. 
 
 As the elephants were still fatigued, and the ascent 
 was by no means easy, it was necessary to proceed up 
 the mountain with more than ordinary caution. 
 About midway the acclivity became much steeper, 
 and even dangerous for the elephants, which, though 
 extremely sure footed, have a natural antipathy to 
 climbing mountains, and especially where the passes 
 are steep or uncertain. The ground being slippery 
 the larger elephant made indentations across the 
 path with his fore feet, and then stripping small 
 branches from the trees which grew in the path 
 laid them carefully in the hollows, thus forming a 
 kind of rude stair. Having reached the top of the 
 defile, he stood upon a firm ledge, and extending his 
 trunk to his companion, which was a female, assisted 
 her ascent with the greatest gallantry and tenderness. 
 
186 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 Wherever the ground was at all suspicious, these 
 sagacious creatures first tried it by pressing it with 
 their fore feet, and bringing the whole weight of 
 their bodies upon it by degrees. The least yielding 
 so alarmed them, that they could not be induced to 
 proceed until a firmer footing was obtained, and by 
 this cunning instinct they at length accomplished a 
 safe ascent to the pagoda. 
 
 This sacred edifice was situated in a gloomy 
 hollow, a short distance from the summit of the 
 hill, and was in a state of unsightly dilapidation ; 
 near the temple was a spacious cavern, excavated 
 from an extensive stratum of rock on the eastern face 
 of the mountain. The Mirza had scarcely reached 
 the pagoda when one of those sudden storms, so com- 
 mon in mountainous districts, having come on, he, his 
 two attendants, and the mahouts, were obliged to 
 take shelter in the cavern. It continued so long as 
 to preclude all hope of passing elsewhere the night, 
 now rapidly approaching, for the sun had already 
 some time set. The gloomy excavation was conse- 
 quently cleared, a heap of dried leaves being collected, 
 and a fire kindled near the entrance, through which 
 the smoke escaped without incommoding the hunters. 
 The heat of the fire having disturbed the bats and 
 various reptiles, which for years had here taken up 
 their abode unmolested, the larger number of them 
 were unceremoniously expelled, and the usurpers of 
 their habitation left in undisputed possession. 
 
 The idea of passing the night in a damp excava- 
 tion on the side of a bleak hill, was none of the 
 most agreeable to Abdallah Mirza, a man to whom 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 187 
 
 luxury was the great object of existence, and whose 
 whole life had been hitherto one rapid interval of 
 unalloyed pleasure. He was, however, a high-met- 
 tled Moghul, full of animal spirits, and looking upon 
 the event of his somewhat singular captivity as one of 
 those agreeable accidents which break the tame 
 monotony of a life passed in uninterrupted enjoy- 
 ment, he determined to think himself the happiest 
 of the faithful, in having obtained the opportunity 
 of relating an adventure that would afford topics for 
 court conversation, for at least the half of a month 
 to come. 
 
 The Omrah ordered some refreshment to be laid 
 before him. One of the mahouts rapidly prepared 
 a curry of game which Abdallah had shot during the 
 earlier part of the day, and which, instead of trusting 
 to the sumpter elephant, he had capriciously con- 
 signed to the care of the Hindoo, who directed that 
 upon which his master rode. The governor soon 
 finished a hearty meal of the curry and some other 
 viands, of which the Hindoos declined to partake, and 
 washed it down with Shiraz wine, forbidden by 
 the laws of the Koran, but freely swallowed by 
 numerous devout Mohammedans, when they are 
 beyond the prying scrutiny of muftis or their surro- 
 gates. His companions contented themselves with 
 a plain meal of boiled rice, but had nevertheless no 
 objection to moisten it with a moderate draught 
 of pure arrack, in order, as they said, with commend- 
 able prudence, to prevent the damp of the place in 
 which they were doomed to pass the night, from 
 
188 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 inflicting upon them the common penalty of rheuma- 
 tism. When the meal was concluded, and the 
 remnants thrown to the mahouts, who ate them 
 greedily in a remote corner of the cavern, one of 
 the Hindoos told the following story for the enter- 
 tainment of the governor of Chandahar. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 189 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 In a district in the south of India proclamation was 
 made that the festival of Samaradanam ^ was to be 
 held at a certain time and place. It happened that 
 four Brahmins meeting on their way to this sacred 
 feast, agreed to proceed together. As they were 
 conversing merrily about the Samaradanam they 
 were met by a trooper, who, as he approached, gave 
 them the ordinary salute, by touching hands, and 
 pronouncing the customary dandam'arya, which 
 signifies, health to my lord. The four Brahmins 
 courteously returned the salutation, and continued 
 their journey until they reached a tank, by_the_side- 
 of wh ich, after having quenched their thirst, they 
 threw themselves down under the shade of a tama- 
 rind tree. In the course of conversation one of 
 the travellers, alluding to the civil greeting of the 
 trooper who had met them on the road, said, 
 with an air of great self-satisfaction, " I must do 
 that noble soldier the justice to say, that he behaved 
 with most commendable courtesy. Did you not ob- 
 serve with what profound respect he saluted me }" 
 "Nay," said one of his companions, "you mis- 
 
 ' A festival kept only by Brahmins. 
 
190 THE OMRAH OP CHANDAHAR. 
 
 take, he addressed himself particularly to me. When 
 he made his salaam, the border of his turban nearly 
 came in contact with mine. Rely upon it his..§^aluta> 
 tignwas not intended for yoii^_^ut^^a:jii£," 
 
 " Yoirare~Toth^n error," exclaimed the third 
 Brahmin with a smile of amusing importance, " for 
 I was the person to whom the man of war intended 
 to show his respect ; his eyes were fixed upon me, 
 and me only, during the whole time of his pre- 
 sence." 
 
 ** Allow me to say," said the fourth Brahmin, 
 '* that you all three deceive yourselves. If you had 
 used your senses with common discretion, you must 
 have perceived that he only saluted me i/else do you 
 imagine that I should have bestowed upon him the 
 holy asirvadam * }7 
 
 Each, howevef*, maintained his right to the dis- 
 tinction severally claimed by all, and this with such 
 vehemence that they at length tore the turbans 
 from each other's heads, and would have gone to 
 greater extremities had not the first speaker pro- 
 posed a cessation of hostilities. 
 
 ** Why should we thus contend, like so many Pa- 
 riahs over a piece of carrion, about a fact which can 
 be easily settled by an appeal to him who has been 
 the cause of our unbecoming dissension. He cannot 
 be far off ; let us quicken our pace, so that we may 
 overtake him, and he will at once terminate the dis- 
 pute between us." 
 
 Panting and perspiring to excess, they overtook 
 
 * A form of benediction used by tbe Brahmins.', 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 191 
 
 the soldier after a severe run of more than two coss, 
 and having gravely put to him the question which 
 had caused them to fight, he at once perceiving their 
 stupidity, as gravely replied, that he had saluted the 
 greatest fool among them. 
 
 Perplexed at this answer, they knew not how to 
 decide ; still neither would relinquish his pretensions 
 to the honour of having been especially distinguished 
 by the soldier. Each continued to maintain that he 
 was the person for w^hom the salutation, about which 
 they had been disputing, was intended, and to so 
 great a length did they carry their controversy, that 
 each claimed to be greatest fool of the four, the 
 trooper having decided that to him his salutation 
 was given. The contest for supremacy in fatuity 
 soon became as vehement as before, and might have 
 ended seriously had not the Brahmin, who had first 
 spoken, made a second proposal, which was that 
 they should lay their several claims before a conclave 
 of Brahnains, to be held at a neighbouring hamlet, 
 where the dispute would be finally settled by an 
 equitable decision. 
 
 This proposal was agreed to, and, on reaching the 
 village, the four disputants repaired to a choultry, in 
 which a number of Brahmins assembled to hear their 
 cause, and pronounce judgment. When the appellants 
 appeared before their jurists, the president, upon hear- 
 ing the cause of their dispute, declared, that as it 
 was not a matter to be settled upon positive testi- 
 mony, he and his co-functionaries must judge of it 
 circumstantially, or rather by inference ; he, there- 
 fore, pronounced that each of the four Brahmins 
 12 
 
192 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 should relate some event of his life by which his 
 folly might be inferred, and that upon such pre- 
 sumptive testimony judgment should be given. This 
 being agreed to, the first speaker proceeded to offer 
 his proof of stolidity. 
 
 " You will observe," he said, " that my clothing 
 is none of the rarest, and rags have been my portion 
 for many years. Being poor from my earliest days, 
 a wealthy and charitable brother of our caste once 
 presented me with two pieces of cloth, such as had 
 never been before seen in Agragrama, my native town. 
 1 was congratulated by all my friends, who declared 
 that I must have done some especial good in a pre- 
 ceding generation to be so distinguished in this. 
 Having carefully washed the cloth, in order to get 
 rid of the impurities which the fuller had left in it, I 
 hung both the pieces up to dry, fastening the ends 
 to branches of trees. A pariah dog passed under 
 them. Fearing the unclean animal might have pol- 
 luted them, in order to ascertain if it had touched 
 the cloth, I placed myself upon my hands and knees, 
 and being then about the height of the dog, I 
 crawled under the suspended pieces, and rejoiced to 
 find that I did not stir them. It delighted me to 
 think that my present was not polluted ; but my joy 
 was soon interrupted by the recollection that the dog 
 had a tail, which curled up over his back like that of 
 a squirrel. In order to ascertain whether the conta- 
 minating creature's natural excrescence had touched 
 my woollen, I fixed a leaf to the end of my own 
 spine. It had been warped by the sun, and, there- 
 fore, curled upwards just like the pariah dog's tail. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 193 
 
 Creeping now like a beast, under the pieces of 
 cloth upon my hands and knees the leaf was scraped 
 from my back. This at once proved that the dog's 
 tail had polluted my cloth. I instantly tore it down, 
 and rent both pieces to shreds. 
 
 " In consequence of this folly I became the laughing- 
 stock of my neighbours, who wisely observed, that 
 washing would have removed the pollution, after 
 which I might have sold the good Brahmin's gift, 
 and put a handful of pagodas into my pocket. I have 
 remained a beggar ever since, having scarcely a rag 
 to cover me, as my folly was made so notorious that 
 no one would confer another boon upon me ; rags, 
 therefore, and too often an empty stomach, have been 
 my bitter portion." 
 
 "Well," observed the president, " you seem to have 
 established a fair claim to the distinction of being 
 the greatest fool of the company. One can see that 
 you have been accustomed to go upon all-fours like 
 a cur." 
 
 " Precisely so," said the ragged suppliant, smiling, 
 " as you shall see :" saying this, he dropped upon 
 his hands and knees, and trotted off amid the shouts 
 of the spectators. 
 
 The second appellant now stepped forward to sub- 
 stantiate his claim, by proving himself a greater fool 
 than he who had just addressed the bench of sacred 
 justiciaries. 
 
 " Once," said he, " at the sacred festival of Sa- 
 maradanam, I got myself shaved, desiring to appear 
 decent upon so solemn an occasion, and commanded 
 
 K 
 
194 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 my wife to give the barber a pice ^ for his trouble. 
 She, however, like an indiscreet woman, gave the 
 shaver two pice. I demanded that he should return 
 one ; he declined, but offered, as an equivalent for 
 the double fee, to shave my wife also. To this I 
 assented, determined, as I could not get back my 
 money, to have my money's worth, My wife, hear- 
 ing the bargain thus concluded without her concur- 
 rence, rushed from the house ; but I pursued, and 
 brought her back. During the operation of shaving 
 she cried bitterly at the thought of losing her hair, 
 which was long and very beautiful, covering her 
 shoulders, when unconfined, like a mantle. So soon 
 as her crown was denuded, with a scalp as bare as 
 the palm of my hand she retired to a place of con- 
 cealment, uttering the bitterest maledictions against 
 me. 
 
 " The barber proclaimed throughout the whole 
 neighbourhood, that he had shaved a Brahmin's 
 wife, colouring the story by the most malicious exag- 
 gerations. Supposing that she had been guilty of 
 some heinous sin, and that I was about to visit her 
 with a terrible punishment, all my neighbours assem- 
 bled before the door of my house. My father-in-law 
 and mother-in-law, who lived at a distance of fifteen 
 coss'^, hearing the rumour of their daughter's delin- 
 quency, mounted a swift bullock of the purest Brah- 
 minee breed, and came to inquire into the truth of 
 so grave a charge. Upon hearing the simple story 
 
 ' About the third of an English penny. 
 ' Thirty miles. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 195 
 
 from their daughter's lips, they abused me like a 
 couple of Chandallas ^ and, taking their child home 
 with them, kept her from me four years. 
 
 " At the next festival of Samaradanam I attended 
 as usual, but was immediately seized, and the con- 
 clave of Brahmins insisted that I should give up the 
 accomplice of my wife, who had been accused of 
 having violated the marriage pledge. I vehemently 
 protested that the whole story was a fabrication of 
 the barber's, and related the simple fact of the 
 shaving, when a burst of indignant surprise passed 
 through the whole assembly, which, with one con- 
 sent, agreed that I had been guilty of an atrocious 
 offence, in having thus degraded an innocent matron. 
 I was, very disagreeably, distinguished with every 
 mark of reprobation. * Either this man must be the 
 greatest liar, or the greatest fool upon earth,' they 
 exclaimed with one voice. And I have no doubt," 
 concluded the simpleton, addressing the bench of 
 Brahmins, who were seated in adjudication upon 
 this intricate question, " you will concur in the 
 opinion of that venerable body, and surely ' the 
 greatest fool upon earth' must be the man whom the 
 trooper saluted." 
 
 The president at once admitted the force of this 
 observation, which was worthy of a wiser man, but 
 declined deciding for the present. The third claimant 
 now presented himself. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said he, looking round the court with 
 an air of conscious simplicity, " to my family name of 
 
 ' A race of outcasts of extremely low and licentious habits. 
 k2 
 
19(3 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 Amyiita has been appended the additional appellation 
 of Betel. I am now universally called Betel Amvnta. 
 You shall hear the cause of this strange additament. 
 I was married to a young- and beautiful maiden, 
 who, like most of her sex, whether young or old, 
 had so perpetual a tendency to wag her tongue, that, 
 in truth, it was never still. One day, when she had 
 exercised this feminine faculty with more than usual 
 vehemence, I happened to say, under the excitement 
 of vexation, that all women were tattlers. She im- 
 mediately replied, that men were much greater 
 talkers than women. Perceiving that this insolent 
 assertion was directed against me, who scarcely ever 
 said any thing but my prayers, an altercation ensued 
 between us, when, by way of putting both our as- 
 sertions to the proof, we agreed to see who would 
 maintain the longest silence. The forfeit of the first 
 speaker was, by mutual covenant, solemnly made, 
 with protestations and oaths, to be a betel- leaf. 
 
 " At night we went to bed without interchanging a 
 benediction. We were as mute as the lizards which 
 crawled above our heads, as if to provoke us to a 
 breach of oath. In the morning we were called 
 by one attendant after another, but, receiving no 
 answer, they imagined that we were dead. The 
 door was forced, and, to their great surprise, they 
 found us wide awake. All then naturally concluded 
 that we had been struck suddenly dumb. My father 
 swore, my mother raved, my brothers stormed, my 
 sisters wept, but to no purpose, we remained as 
 silent as scorpions. It was generally surmised that 
 we were under the influence of an evil spirit; a 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 197 
 
 magician was, consequently, sent for to release us 
 from so dreadful a thraldom. He came, imme- 
 diately commenced the exercises of his craft, and 
 finished by declaring that my wife and I were un- 
 doubtedly possessed by two demons, but that, if any 
 one interested in our delivery would place four pa- 
 godas upon his palm, he would instantly lay the 
 devils, and restore us to the use of our speech. 
 
 " To this proposal my father and mother at once 
 agreed, but a Brahmin who happened to be present, 
 and was more than a match for the magician in cun- 
 ning, declared that our dumbness was the mere effect 
 of some ordinary cause, and agreed to cure us both 
 without incurring the expense of a single cowry ^ 
 He accordingly made a small rod of iron red-hot, and 
 taking it in a pair of pincers applied it to the soles of 
 my feet. Finding I did not speak, he put it upon 
 the crown of my head ; but I did not stir my tongue, 
 being determined to die, rather than afford my wife 
 so signal a cause of triumph, as by her sly smiles she 
 evidently expected from this process. 
 
 " Seeing that the searing produced not the ex- 
 pected effect upon me, • Let us try the wife,' said the 
 wise Brahmin. The heated iron no sooner touched 
 the skin of her tiny foot, than she screamed out 
 ' Appa^ ', and confessed that I had conquered. This 
 was not all, for she candidly admitted, that, of the 
 two, women were greater talkers than men. Our 
 conversation causing some surprise among the by- 
 
 ' A shell, the lowest cuiTent coin of Hindostan, one heing about 
 the fiftieth part of a farthing. 
 2 Enough. 
 
 K 3 
 
198 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 standers, I related to them the transaction and wager 
 of the preceding day. 
 
 " * What/ said the good man, who had so hu- 
 manely blistered the soles of my feet and the crown 
 of my head, * have you suffered the excoriation of 
 your nether extremities, and the roasting of your 
 brains, for a betel-leaf? You are the greatest fool 
 that ever trod in a sandal!' and I am sure, gen- 
 tlemen," concluded the claimant for a fool's honour, 
 turning to his judges, "you will readily concur in 
 that decision. From that time to this I have borne 
 the nickname of Betel Amynta, and not, I think, 
 without richly deserving it." 
 
 The whole bench of jurats admitted the fatuity 
 of this simple husband, when the fourth competitor 
 for the honour of stupidity advanced, and thus ad- 
 dressed the court : 
 
 " The maiden to whom I was betrothed remained 
 several years at the house of her parents, on account 
 of her extreme youth. In due time I was apprised 
 that the period for completing our marriage having 
 arrived, I was at liberty to claim my bride. On my 
 departure for this purpose, my mother said to me, 
 ' See now that thou dost not behave like a fool when 
 thou appearest before the maiden's parents. I know 
 thee to be a simpleton, but I should not wish them to 
 find it out. Be on thy best behaviour, and cause not 
 thy wife to despise thee.' 
 
 " I promised faithfully to do as my good mother 
 desired, and proceeded to the home of my bride. I 
 was well received by her family, and the marriage 
 being regularly concluded according to the formulary. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 199 
 
 a feast was prepared to which all the Brahmins of the 
 neighbourhood were invited, and I passed three days 
 in the most joyous festivity. On the fourth day I 
 quitted, with my wife, her paternal abode, amid the 
 blessings of her parents and the benedictions of her 
 friends, who wished us happy days and a numerous 
 issue. 
 
 " The day of our departure being excessively hot, 
 and our way lying across a sandy desert, our feet 
 were dreadfully scorched. My young wife, who 
 had been tenderly brought up, suffered so extremely, 
 that she threw herself upon the sand, and, bursting 
 into tears, declared vehemently she could proceed 
 no further. 
 
 "I was, as you may suppose, reduced to a pain- 
 ful dilemma, not knowing what to do with my 
 unhappy and suffering companion. At this critical 
 juncture, a merchant happened to reach the spot 
 with fifty bullocks carrying his merchandise. He was 
 travelling in a contrary direction. I advanced to 
 meet him, the tears streaming down my cheeks, told 
 him the deplorable state of my unhappy bride and 
 myself, and besought him to give me his advice under 
 circumstances so pitiable. 
 
 " * Why,' he replied, ' yours is truly a distressing 
 case, but you must make the best of it. You know 
 as well as I do, that if your wife remains where she 
 is, she must be devoured by wild beasts, and as to 
 proceeding across the desert exposed to the rays of so 
 scorching a sun, that is altogether out of the ques- 
 tion ; she must perish under the certain sufferings of 
 such a journey. Now, if she dies, you will be sus- 
 k4 
 
200 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 pected of having murdered her ; therefore, instead of 
 running the risk of incurring so fearful an imputation, 
 as being the perpetrator of one of the five crimes 
 held most heinous by all true Brahmins, I would 
 advise you to consign your wife to my charge, and 
 make the best of your own way home. I will 
 put her upon a quiet bullock, one that has too 
 just a knowledge of good manners to kick under a 
 woman, and take very good care of her. By acting 
 thus, you will obtain the merit of having saved her 
 life instead of having deprived her of it, while I 
 shall encumber myself with a charge which will de- 
 mand both money and circumspection ; I will, how- 
 ever, undertake it for charity's sake. Her apparel and 
 ornaments may be perhaps worth fifteen pagodas ; 
 here are twenty, and, assure yourself, that you have 
 made a capital bargain.' 
 
 " I considered this an extremely equitable proposal, 
 under circumstances, more especially, as if T did not 
 embrace it, my wife must die, and I be nothing 
 the better; so I took the twenty pagodas, folded 
 them up in my cummerbund, and helped the mer- 
 chant to lift the lovely Mahabavahdi, to whom I had 
 been so lately united, upon one of his strongest 
 oxen. This being done, he proceeded on his journey, 
 and I pursued mine. I reached my mother's house 
 several hours after sunset, faint with hunger, ex- 
 hausted with fatigue, and the soles of my feet as 
 raw as if they had just been excoriated with the 
 bastinado. 
 
 " Surprised at seeing me alone, my anxious pa- 
 rent having first caressed me in order to give me 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 201 
 
 confidence, exclaimed with a pallid countenance and 
 quivering lips, ' What is become of your bride ?' I 
 immediately gave her a detailed account of every 
 thing that had happened since I quitted home — how- 
 kindly I had been received by my father and mother- 
 in-law — the feast made upon the joyful occasion of 
 my arrival — my departure, and their numerous bene- 
 dictions — the bride's sufferings from the heat of the 
 sun and of the sand — my opportune meeting with the 
 merchant, and the bargain entered into and con- 
 cluded between us. As a proof of the verity of my 
 narrative, I produced the twenty pagodas, clinking 
 them in my hand with a grin of inexpressible satis- 
 faction. At the sight of this confirmation of my 
 folly, my venerable mother fell into such a rage that 
 I thought she would have annihilated me upon the 
 spot. She screamed with fury, boxed my ears so 
 energetically, that they tingled for a whole week 
 after, and showered curses upon me in such rapid 
 succession, that I could not intrude a single thought 
 between the maledictions. ' Villain,' she cried, 
 ' what hast thou done } given up thy young and 
 beautiful bride — a Brahminee — to the arms of a 
 degraded dog of a merchant. What will her parents 
 say when they find that thou hast cast this dishonour 
 upon their child ? Get out of my sight, idiot I thou 
 art the greatest fool ever brought into the world by 
 a miserable mother.' 
 
 " When the parents of my wife heard what had be- 
 fallen their daughter, they became absolutely frantic. 
 They set out together for my mother's house ; but I, 
 being warned of their approach, took care to make a 
 K 5 
 
202 THE OMRAH OP CHANDAHAR, 
 
 timely escape, or, without doubt, they would have 
 taken my innocent life, and transfused my peaceable 
 spirit into the body of a lizard or some such innocu- 
 ous quadruped. Finding that I had removed beyond 
 the reach of their vengeance, they laid the whole 
 matter before the president of the Brahminical Col- 
 lege. AssembHng a council of the caste, the case 
 was formally adjudicated before them, and a fine 
 imposed upon me of two hundred pagodas, to be 
 paid to the parents of my injured wife, as a compen- 
 sation for the loss and degradation of their daughter. 
 It was further decreed, that I should never again be 
 allowed to enter into the delectable state of matri- 
 mony, as I was too great a fool to deserve so rich a 
 boon as a partner of the softer sex. In fact, I should 
 have been visited with that most awful of inflictions, 
 the loss of caste, but for the high respect in which 
 the memory of my late excellent father was held ; for 
 he had been esteemed an oracle among the Brahmins 
 when living, and was venerated by them as a saint 
 when dead. 
 
 " Now, worthy sirs, that you have heard my story, 
 I think you can scarcely fail to concur in the declara- 
 tion of my poor venerated parent, that I am * the 
 greatest fool ever brought into the world by a miser- 
 able mother.' " 
 
 The stories of the four Brahmins had been a source 
 of extreme merriment to their judges, who, after a 
 short consultation, pronounced the following judg- 
 ment : — " That the appellants had each established 
 his claim to the title of fool, in its very broadest 
 acceptation; that their folly being so different in 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 203 
 
 kind, though not in degree, each was the biggest 
 fool in his own pecuhar way ; that each was there- 
 fore at Uberty to claim to himself the salutation of 
 the soldier, and to assume the singular but unenviable 
 celebrity for which all so eagerly contended." 
 
 The four Brahmins, transported with this equitable 
 decision, rushed out of the choultry, uttering extra- 
 vagant yells of triumph, every one declaring that he 
 was the greatest fool upon earth. 
 
 Thus ended the Hindoo's story, of which Abdallah 
 being heartily tired, he laid himself down upon the 
 housings of his elephant, and in a few minutes was 
 lapped in profound repose. 
 
 k6 
 
204 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 On the following morning the summit of the hill was 
 irradiated with the burning glories of an unclouded 
 sun. Not a speck of vapour floated beneath the broad 
 heavens. The elephants were caparisoned and ready 
 to descend into the plain, when the Mirza declared 
 his intention of visiting the pagoda, though this was 
 a resolution by no means agreeable to his Hindoo 
 attendants, who did not desire that so sacred a place 
 should be profaned by the intrusion of any person pro- 
 fessing a different creed, especially by a Mohamme- 
 dan, whose faith they abhorred above every other. 
 They nevertheless followed their master within the 
 portals of the sacred edifice, in which there was no- 
 thing to solicit admiration, but much to excite disgust. 
 The filth and stench were alike intolerable. Scarcely 
 had the Omrah proceeded beyond the vestibule, when 
 his eyes were attracted to a small door in the further 
 end of the building, through which three female 
 figures slowly glided, and laid their offerings before 
 the idol, a huge painted stone, placed in a niche at 
 the extremity of the area, immediately opposite the 
 main entrance through which the Mohammedan and 
 his companions had just passed. 
 
 On reaching the centre of the area, AbdaUah could 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 
 
 •2t»5 
 
 distinctly discern the faces of the three female d e- 
 votees. To his astonishment he recognised the U /o 
 sisters, who had lately attracted his attention at t' he 
 well, and in their companion, to his still greal er 
 amazement, the hag of the jungle, whose services he 
 had hired at a liberal recompense. After a few n lO- 
 ments' reflection, it struck him that the old wonl an 
 was probably working out her hire ; he consequen tly 
 paused, in expectation that he should receive sc me 
 sign from her, confirming his agreeable antj ici- 
 pations. After a short interval, the sisters, hav ing 
 made their prostrations before the idol, retired. "! Che 
 old woman approached the consecrated stone, rub bed 
 off some of the paint with which it was daubed, s nd, 
 having smeared her withered fingers, turned ra und 
 towards the governor of Chandahar, and, dired ing 
 her sunken and almost rayless eyes upon him, her 
 whole frame hideous with deformity and filth, she 
 broke into a sepulchral laugh, and, retreating t<3 the 
 portal, with her eyes still fixed upon the wond« ring 
 Mirza, disappeared through the entrance. That hol- 
 low laugh was reverberated through the vai ilted 
 building in multiplied echoes. Scorpions, centip( ;des, 
 and snakes, crawled from the fissures of the wall s, as 
 if evoked by an unearthly summons, and left ; their 
 poisonous slime upon the floor of the sanctu ary. 
 Abdallah retired with precipitation, glad to est ;ape 
 from so many insidious foes, armed with minute but 
 sure instruments of destruction. 
 
 On reaching the outside of the pagoda, he searcl led 
 every where for the two worshippers who had , so 
 deeply interested him, and their mysterious coeq - 
 
2C >6 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 pa uion, the latter of whom he was eager to question 
 up on her chance of success in an object that concerned 
 hii n so nearly. His search was fruitless ; and, not 
 be: ing able to discover either the young girls or the 
 olc 1 woman, he mounted his elephant, and began to 
 des jcend the hill, more than ever confirmed in his de- 
 ter mination to obtain possession of the most beauti- 
 ful of the Hindoo sisters. The descent was slow and 
 diflicult; it was, however, at length accomplished 
 wit hout accident, through the extreme caution and 
 nat ural sagacity of the elephants, which descended 
 the steepest declivities with a skill that might have 
 sha; med the superior faculties of man. 
 
 C )n reaching the plains, as the mahoots were unac- 
 qua: inted with the road, it was some time before the 
 regi liar path which led towards the village in the 
 vich lity of Abdallah's habitation was gained. In 
 pass ing through the jungle, the Moghul noble amused 
 himj self about noon, while the attendants were pre- 
 parii ig him a curry under a teak- tree, with shooting 
 pea-i -owl, with which the woods abounded. He had 
 strol led about half a coss from his companions, when, 
 turnj ng into a thickly-wooded dell, he saw the vene- 
 rable ■ prophetess of the forest seated upon the stump 
 of a tree, attempting to frighten the vultures from 
 the c larcass of an elk, which had been destroyed by a 
 tiger during the night. On his approaching her, she 
 rose and said — 
 
 " Thou art here, child of an unholy prophet. 
 Dofit thou come to claim the prize for which thou 
 dif ist give me gold ?" 
 
 " Thou hast made a goodly guess, beldam," replied 
 1 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 207 
 
 Abdallah; " I have sought thee unavaihngly until 
 now. What has been thy success ?" 
 
 ** That thou shalt know hereafter : the time is not 
 yet come." 
 
 " What means this trifling ? You know my power, 
 you have received your wages, and, if that is not 
 performed which you have stipulated to accomplish, 
 beware the bastinado !" 
 
 " I despise it and thee. Take heed how thou pro- 
 vokest the malice of one who can bring upon thee 
 the plagues of the doomed. Think not that a de- 
 crepit member of that sex whose weakness man 
 affects to despise, but who is able to scare the vul- 
 ture from his prey, is impotent to realize the curses 
 which she imprecates. Provoke not my malediction, 
 Omrah." 
 
 " Hag!" vociferated the enraged Mirza; "do what 
 thou hast stipulated for, or, by the beard of the most 
 holy prophet, I will send thee to the lowest of thy 
 regions of torment." 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha !" cried the mysterious stranger, 
 retreating towards the angle of the rock near which 
 she was standing ; " a curse on thee, thou circum- 
 cised dog !" 
 
 Abdallah raised his matchlock; in a moment she 
 darted behind the stony barrier ; he fired, and, as the 
 echoes of the explosion subsided, he heard the wild 
 laugh of the hag, as she passed unseen through the 
 thick growth of the jungle. The Moghul feared to 
 follow her, lest he should lose his way, and she was 
 soon lost amidst the deep recesses of the forest. 
 
208 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 known only to herself and the various beasts of prey 
 which shared with her its gloomy shelter. 
 
 The disappointed governor now rejoined his at- 
 tendants, who had by this time prepared his curry, 
 which he left untouched, to the surprise of those 
 about him, who knew from experience that his 
 appetite rarely failed him. His late vexation had 
 taken too strong an effect upon his naturally prompt 
 stomach, to allow him to enjoy the luxury of a meal 
 in the forest, composed of a single dish, — one, how- 
 ever, relished above every other by all natives of the 
 East. 
 
 About an hour after noon the Omrah again mounted 
 his elephant, and proceeded leisurely towards his 
 home. On his way he passed the spot where the 
 battle betwixt the leopard and the bear had taken 
 place on the preceding day. About a hundred 
 yards onward, at the edge of a thicket, lay the 
 mangled body of the leopard, partly devoured by 
 vultures, and, a few yards beyond, the bear still 
 living, but at the point of death. A ball from the 
 governor's matchlock relieved it from its agony; 
 and one of the mahoots having skinned it, the hide 
 was thrown across the neck of his elephant, to be 
 exhibited among the various trophies of the previous 
 day's sport. 
 
 As he neared his home, Abdallah became more 
 abstracted and silent. He could not guess the cause 
 of the old crone's hostility, not conceiving that his 
 uncourtly reception of her, at her first appearance 
 before him, could have roused her rancour to such a 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 209 
 
 degree, especially as he had so liberally rewarded 
 her on a mere promise of obtaining for him the wish 
 at present nearest his heart. There was, moreover, 
 something about her so mysterious, that although he 
 affected to believe her a mere pretender to superna- 
 tural communications, he could not altogether dispos- 
 sess himself of the idea that she had the power of 
 evoking those evil powers delighting in mischief, 
 which sometimes bring upon unworthy men the se- 
 verest calamities, and thus a deserved retribution. 
 He now plainly saw that he could no farther calcu- 
 late upon her assistance in placing the Hindoo sisters 
 into his power ; yet such was the fervour of his pas- 
 sion, that he resolved, in defiance of all consequences, 
 to obtain possession of its object before he returned to 
 the capital of his government, which he had arranged 
 to do in the course of a few days. Reaching home 
 about sunset, he retired to his apartment, leaving his 
 attendants to recount the events of the previous 
 evening, in answer to the anxious inquiries of those 
 who had attended him in his excursion of pleasure 
 the preceding day; nor did he appear among his 
 guests until a night's rest had somewhat calmed the 
 perturbed flow of his thoughts. 
 
210 
 
 THE QMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BuiiwuNT Singh possessed a small patrimony near, 
 and a large comfortable house in the village by the 
 well, where the governor of Chandahar had lately 
 seeisi the lovely Pelvahi and her scarcely less lovely 
 sistfer Jemadiva. He was a middle-aged Rajpoot, of 
 princely descent, possessing that lofty pride of birth, 
 that sternness of conscious courage and social supe- 
 riority over his neighbours, so characteristic of all 
 the Rajpoot races. He was a man of known in- 
 tegrity, of unflinching fortitude, of unreproached 
 hoiiour, and of desperate valour — which latter qua- 
 litj^ he had exhibited in many a stubborn encounter 
 wii:h the foe. Being alike respected and feared by 
 those among whom he dwelt, he might be said to 
 govern the district in which he resided, not by the 
 law of right or of investiture, but by the inferior 
 imiuence of moral domination. Though possess- 
 ing many of the highest qualities which adorn man- 
 kind, he had few of what, among Rajpoots, are 
 esteemed the infirmities of human nature. His heart 
 was unassailable by those tender emotions which 
 raelt others into sympathy, and mould them for the 
 e^'ercise of the more kindly virtues of benevolence 
 and brotherly love. He loved nothing for its own 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 211 
 
 sake. Those stern qualities, which emanate rather 
 from the strict decisions of principle than from the 
 blander dictates of the heart, he loved to cultivate 
 and to practise ; his integrity was, consequently, 
 trusted, whilst his severity was dreaded even by his 
 children. He was at this time of the age of forty- 
 four years, with a hardy and vigorous constitution, 
 but stone-blind. The arrow that had entered his eye, 
 the iris of which it had completely divided, he kept 
 as a memorial of the infliction which had rendered 
 him incapable of sharing with his countrymen the 
 honours of a well-fought field. During the periods 
 of daily devotion, this arrow was regularly placed by 
 his side as a memorial of lost advantages, and to 
 suggest a lesson of resignation. 
 
 Bulwunt Singh's two daughters were the fruit of 
 one birth, which cost their mother her life. At 
 their entrance into the world, their inflexible parent 
 would have practised against them the cruel policy of 
 Rajpoot fathers, who frequently destroy their female 
 children in consequence of the difficulty of connect- 
 ing them in marriage with men of rank and fortune ; 
 for no chief of that race ever permits a daughter 
 to ally herself with an inferior in blood, though 
 no such restriction is imposed upon the male oflf- 
 spring. He was, however, prevented from consign- 
 ing his two innocent girls to destruction, in con- 
 sequence of the interference of a prophetess, who 
 foretold that one of them should share the throne 
 of the mightiest potentate of the east; but as the 
 revealer of mysteries did not indicate which, both 
 
212 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 were preserved, in order that no impediment might 
 exist to the fulfilment of the prophecy. 
 
 Bulwunt Singh, notwithstanding his high mental 
 qualifications, was, like all the eastern races, a slave 
 to superstition. This weakness proved the salvation 
 of his children, who grew up to be as amiable as 
 they were intelligent and beautiful. Pelvahi, the 
 elder, was the admiration of the neighbourhood ; the 
 envy of the women, the perpetual theme of praise 
 among the men. She looked full a year older than her 
 sister, though she had only preceded her into the world 
 by about two hours. It happened one day, when she 
 was in her twelfth year^ while passing through a 
 thicket in the rear of her father's house, that a chee- 
 tah sprang upon her, struck her to the earth, and was 
 about to seize her by the head, when a ball from 
 the matchlock of a person unseen laid the ferocious 
 creature dead upon the spot. The affrighted girl rose 
 uninjured, and was accosted with delicate courtesy 
 by the saviour of her life, who offered to conduct 
 her home. The youth was handsome, strongly but 
 finely formed, and the tender moustache upon his 
 upper lip showed that he had yet scarcely entered 
 the stage of perfect manhood. Trembling with agi- 
 tation, the maiden thanked her preserver, but de- 
 clined his proffered civility, knowing that her father 
 would deeply resent the presence of a stranger. 
 
 " Beautiful maiden," said the youth, his cheek 
 flushed with disappointment, and his eyes sparkling 
 
 ' It must be borne in mind, that girls of this age in the East are 
 as advanced as girls of sixteen in Europe. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 213 
 
 with that briUiancy arising from the sweet con- 
 sciousness of having saved a human life, " I am 
 not of contaminated blood : I am of the same race 
 with thyself. My father dwells at a village on the 
 other side of the forest. Accident has brought me 
 hither, or rather the pursuit of game has led me far 
 from my home. My presence, therefore, would not 
 pollute thy father's threshold." 
 
 " If," replied the maiden timidly, " you will risk 
 my parent's displeasure, I cannot deny you the right 
 of accompanying me to his dwelling, and of seeking 
 the hospitality of my home, after having so gallantly 
 rescued me from a frightful peril." 
 
 With this consent the young man accompanied 
 her to the house, and was introduced by the grate- 
 ful girl to her father as the saviour of her life. 
 Bulwunt Singh listened attentively, but with an unre- 
 laxed countenance, to her artless narrative, and, when 
 his daughter had concluded, replied : 
 
 " The youth has saved thy life — he has only done 
 a man's duty ; nay, a dog would have done as much 
 — ay, and have sacrificed its life too, for dogs are 
 the most faithful as well as the bravest of brutes. 
 What obligation then can you owe to him who has 
 achieved for thee less than a dog would have done 
 under similar circumstances? I exercise no hos- 
 pitality to strangers. He must go his way. He 
 has my thanks; let him better deserve my grati- 
 tude." 
 
 The youth reddened, but did not utter a word, 
 and, making a respectful salaam to Pelvahi, imme- 
 diately retired. 
 
214 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 " Girl," said the father, with a deep solemn 
 intonation of utterance, heaved up from the chest 
 as if it came from the profoundest depths of his 
 bosom, " didst thou ever behold that youth until 
 this day ?" 
 
 " Never." 
 
 " 'Tis well ; see him not again, or you shall know 
 what it is to slight the behest of a father. Go and 
 remember your duty." 
 
 Both the sisters quitted their parent's presence 
 abashed, to talk over the events of the morning, 
 and both agreed it was a very sad case that a girl 
 so much inclined to be grateful should be with- 
 held by parental tyranny from telling her deliverer 
 how extremely obliged she felt to him for snatching 
 her from the claws of a leopard. 
 
 Though Pelvahi respected the paternal prohibi- 
 tion, the promptings of gratitude in her bosom 
 overbore the colder suggestions of filial duty, and 
 she determined, if ever the opportunity should occur, 
 to tell the young Rajpoot how differently she felt 
 from her father the force of her obligation towards 
 him. She was deeply sensible of the indignity which 
 had been offered to her preserver, and was now more 
 than ever anxious to see him, that she might close 
 up the wound caused by the unwarrantable harsh- 
 ness of her parent. Bulwunt Singh's blindness 
 favoured the girl's determination, and knowing the 
 awe in which his children held him, he did not 
 entertain a suspicion that either of them would dare 
 to disobey any injunction of his, especially one so 
 imperatively given. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 215 
 
 Pelvahi, emboldened by the confidence of her 
 father, and the remote chance of discovery in con- 
 sequence of his blindness, determined to consult 
 the old woman of the jungle, famous throughout 
 the neighbourhood for her insight into the events of 
 futurity, and be guided implicitly by her direction. 
 Taking two pieces of gold, she sought her retreat, 
 which, after some little difficulty, she discovered, 
 and laid the whole matter before her. 
 
 " Thou shalt see him," said the prophetess, " but 
 let not thy heart be trapped, girl ; for thou art des- 
 tined for a brighter destiny than to be linked to a 
 poor man, though a good. I have said it — thou 
 shalt be a great one yet !" 
 
 The maiden's heart bounded. The idea of being 
 associated with greatness gave a new impulse to her 
 thoughts ; and her desire to see the stranger, when 
 she discovered that he was poor, had already sensi- 
 bly abated. Still he had saved her life ; her parent 
 had treated him harshly; she therefore felt herself 
 bound to express her own gratitude for a benefit 
 conferred, and at the same time to ofier some apo- 
 logy for that parent's rudeness. *' TeU me something 
 of the future, venerable Aviarany — thou hast excited 
 my curiosity ; thou knowest what will be, and thou 
 canst not communicate it to a more anxious hearer." 
 
 " Truly, maiden, the knowledge of the future is a 
 dangerous possession, save to those who understand 
 how to employ it wisely. If thou wert to attempt to 
 ride the sun, thy flesh would be scorched. Seek not 
 then to hold the reins of foreknowledge, lest thou 
 
216 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 drive thyself over the precipice, and fall into an 
 abyss too profound for the arm of Siva to reach thee. 
 Be content to know, that the star of thy destiny 
 is one of the brightest in the horizon, it is likewise 
 of the first magnitude. Go — thou shalt see thy 
 deliverer." 
 
 Pelvahi reluctantly quitting her mysterious ad- 
 viser, who was not disposed to be more communi- 
 cative, resolved to wait patiently the opportunity of 
 explaining to him who saved her from becoming a 
 leopard's banquet, that she and her father enter- 
 tained very different sentiments upon the obligation 
 of requiting good conferred with gratitude. 
 
 One morning, as she was returning from the well, 
 the Rajpoot's daughter perceived her deliverer coming 
 towards her. He saluted her frankly, and she re- 
 turned the salutation with an air of maiden embar- 
 rassment, which somewhat disconcerted the youth 
 and arrested his advance. 
 
 " Bibi," he said, as the lovely Rajpootni ap- 
 proached, •' I have heard that thou hast a desire 
 to communicate with me. Is it so ?" 
 
 " It is true ; I have felt anxious to assure you that 
 I do not participate in my parent's harshness towards 
 you, and now embrace the opportunity of relieving 
 myself of that anxiety." 
 
 " I am more than repaid for what I have suffered 
 in consequence of the unprovoked indignity offered to 
 me by one from whom I merited a better greeting, in 
 the hope which this meeting gives me, sought by her 
 though unhoped for by me, that the daughter of an 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 217 
 
 uncourteous father will not hold me presumptuous 
 when I declare to her that I have left my heart 
 entirely in her keeping." 
 
 ** Indeed, I would fain relinquish the trust ; it is 
 too sacred for the custody of one so inexperienced 
 as I am in the guardianship of such treasures." 
 
 " Dear girl," cried the enraptured Rajpoot, em- 
 boldened by the sweet playfulness of her manner, 
 " I would not desire a more experienced depository. 
 Will you take charge of it ? " 
 
 *' Not yet ; I am unprepared for the reception 
 of so sacred a pledge : I did not expect such a pro- 
 posal — farewell ! I must think of this." 
 
 " Think kindly, then, and remember that though 
 I have only seen thee once before the present hour, 
 I am no stranger to the fame both of thy beauty 
 and of thy virtues, which latter transcend even thy 
 beauty, though of the rarest order." 
 
 Finding the conversation was becoming somewhat 
 more ardent than she had contemplated, for the 
 animated stranger had already seized her hand, 
 Pelvahi hurriedly withdrew it, and retreated with 
 precipitate steps towards her home. She communi- 
 cated what had happened to her sister, who agreed 
 with her at once that it would not be pruden/t 
 further to encourage the young stranger, especially 
 as the prophetess had given her a clear intimation 
 that she would live to be far greater than a poor 
 Rajpoot could possibly render her. This advice was 
 no doubt reasonable. Pelvahi fully concurred with 
 her affectionate monitress in thinking she was still 
 young enough to wait for the good fortune hereafter 
 
 L 
 
218 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 to befall her, and that it would be unwise to baulk 
 so promising a chance, by an alliance which would 
 not elevate her one jot above her neighbours. 
 
 From this time, the young Rajpoot frequently 
 watched his favourite's return from the well, and 
 renewed his vows of eternal attachment; but the 
 maiden, though she received them graciously, and 
 did not positively discourage them, for it is no easy 
 matter to discourage an ardent and confiding lover, 
 by no means confirmed his expectation that he had 
 obtained a triumph over her heart. She had not 
 the courage to reject altogether one to whom she 
 was indebted for so signal a service as the preser- 
 vation of her life, and therefore permitted him to 
 hope, in tender mercy, lest, as she said, he should 
 give way to the agonies of despair and do himself a 
 mischief. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 219 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The events recorded in the last chapter took place 
 just three years before Abdallah Mirza first saw the 
 two Rajpootni sisters at the well. During that period 
 the youthful stranger who had saved the life of the 
 elder, did not cease to pursue her with his urgent 
 addresses. In spite of the flattering prediction of 
 old Aviarani, she could not turn a deaf ear to pro- 
 testations of attachment which gave her so much 
 pleasure ; and finding that there was great worth, as 
 well as great manly beauty, in her admirer, her 
 heart was finally subdued. She at length consented 
 to merge the anticipations of future greatness in the 
 nearer prospect of happiness with a brave and gene- 
 rous youth, who loved her for herself, and, so far 
 as she could see, was the best calculated in the world 
 to make her happy. 
 
 The reputed father of Pelvahi's admirer was a 
 Rajpoot warrior, who had distinguished himself in 
 many a well- contested field. His reputation as a 
 soldier was of the highest order. Knowing the 
 severe character of the blind chieftain, to whose 
 daughter he was devotedly attached, the ardent lover 
 contrived that their meetings should be so secret as 
 not to rouse the slightest suspicion of a clandestine 
 L 2 
 
220 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 intercourse, as this would have been not only fatal 
 to his hopes, but probably to his life. The betrothed 
 were therefore in the habit of meeting occasionally 
 during the evening return from the well, the younger 
 sister bearing the customary supply of water, and 
 performing those duties which were usually divided 
 between her and the eldest born. As their meetings 
 were seldom, in proportion to their danger, the lovers 
 had, happily for them, contrived to escape suspicion 
 for upwards of three years, when Pelvahi pledged 
 herself to become the wife of him who had not only 
 rescued her from death at the hazard of his own life, 
 but had during a long interval of patient trial ex- 
 hibited a warm and unabated attachment. 
 
 The younger sister did not much relish the idea of 
 her elder abandoning the prospect of greatness inti- 
 mated by the prophetess, for one who, although of 
 good lineage, was nevertheless not likely to elevate 
 her above her present condition ; nevertheless, as she 
 fondly loved her, and perceived that the gentle girl's 
 affections were fixed upon a deserving though not a 
 wealthy man, she not only determined not to traverse, 
 by opposition, the happiness of a being so dear to 
 her heart, but connived at her sister's secret meet- 
 ings, made her excuses, and in fact became the main 
 instrument of her security from discovery. The 
 lovers had at length come to the resolution of being 
 united, and the period was settled for their final 
 union. It was determined, after many places had 
 been proposed and rejected, that, for the sake 
 of more certain safety, the marriage ceremony should 
 be concluded at a distance, whither Pelvahi was to 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 221 
 
 repair under pretence of visiting a near relative, 
 with whom the sisters were occasionally in the 
 habit of spending a few days at certain times of the 
 year. So soon as the marriage rites should be so- 
 lemnized, it was settled that the bride and bride- 
 groom were to quit the neighbourhood, leaving a 
 communication to the father of the former, stating 
 their destination, and soliciting his forgiveness for 
 their disobedience of his tyrannical injunctions. These 
 interesting maidens had visited the pagoda on the 
 hill, where they were seen by Abdallah, in order to 
 present their offerings at the shrine of the presiding 
 divinity, and to invoke him to crown the approaching 
 marriage of Pelvahi with prosperity and joy. 
 
 A few days after their return from this pious visit 
 to that venerated sanctuary, as they were bending 
 their steps homeward from the well soon after sun- 
 rise, according to their custom, three horsemen sud- 
 denly appeared in a narrow curve of the path which 
 led to the village, through a grove of trees in its 
 vicinity. The two Rajpootnis happened to be un- 
 accompanied, though followed at some distance by an 
 attendant, who was at this moment in view. The 
 horsemen advanced at a rapid pace, and, halting 
 as they reached the sisters, one of them sprang 
 from his steed, took the astonished Pelvahi in his 
 arms, placed her before one of his companions, 
 who, immediately galloping off with his lovely bur- 
 then, was out of sight in a few seconds. He next 
 seized the afirighted and unresisting Jemadiva, and, 
 placing her before the other horseman, the latter set 
 off at full speed after the first rider. The third then 
 L 3 
 
222 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 vaulted into his saddle, and followed on the gallop. 
 The unhappy maidens were so paralysed with terror 
 as to be deprived of all presence of mind. They did 
 not utter a cry, and were beyond the reach of aid 
 ere they had recovered from the severe shock of 
 surprise. Both were amazed at so sudden a capture. 
 Neither could account for it ; they knew of no one 
 whom they could really look upon as their enemy, 
 having good reason to suppose that they were objects 
 of universal regard. 
 
 The speed with which the terrified girls were 
 carried prevented them from asking any questions, 
 and the fright under which they laboured, from 
 attempting to challenge a rescue. On flew the 
 horses as if they were winged or borne onward by 
 the wind, nor did they stop until their riders consi- 
 dered themselves fairly beyond the reach of pursuit. 
 They at length halted at a small hut a few hundred 
 yards out of the road, where they alighted ; the cap- 
 tives were then put each into a palanquin, and carried 
 rapidly forward. They were no longer followed by 
 the horsemen, but a guard of Moghul soldiers marched 
 before and behind the palanquins. They travelled the 
 whole day, only stopping about noon under a tope 
 of tamarind trees, where some refreshment was placed 
 before the unhappy maidens, which both declined. 
 After a halt of little more than a quarter of an hour, 
 they proceeded, with a change of bearers, at the same 
 rapid pace which they had hitherto maintained. Not 
 a creature was permitted to speak to the lovely cap- 
 tives, who heard nothing but the dull tramp of the 
 hamauls, as they laboured under their burthen, and 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 223 
 
 chanted the singularly monotonous chime to which 
 they invariably move when bearing their palanquins. 
 
 About half an hour before sunset, the travellers 
 reached the gate of a magnificent serai. It was a 
 structure of great beauty, the architecture of the en- 
 trance being one of the finest specimens of Moham- 
 medan taste in the country. Here it had been pre- 
 viously settled that they should rest for the night; 
 accordingly, after having partaken of a slight repast, 
 the palanquins were placed within two deep recesses 
 about nine feet square ; into them the sisters crept, 
 and, covering themselves with ; a mat of smooth 
 rushes, slept until dawn. 
 
 On the following day they proceeded early on their 
 journey, and reached the capital of Chandahar before 
 sunset. The sisters were then placed in an apart- 
 ment together, the door of which was guarded by 
 two soldiers. It was some consolation, under exist- 
 ing circumstances, to find they were not separated. 
 It may readily be supposed that they were neither of 
 them happy. Though their father was stern, he had 
 still ever treated them with paternal consideration ; 
 and they were distressed to think how great must 
 have been his rage on hearing of their abduction. 
 They well knew that his violence would know no 
 bounds, and trembled as they reflected what might 
 be the issue of it. Both were fatigued with their 
 rapid journey, and harassed with mental anxiety. 
 Pelvahi was extremely sad. The thought of her 
 lover's disappointment at finding her torn from his 
 arms, just when he was about to unite his destiny 
 l4 
 
224 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 Avith hers, almost distracted her. There could be no 
 longer any doubt of the author of the violence to 
 which they had been subjected, as they were at 
 that moment in an apartment of the palace of the 
 governor of Chandahar, who was notorious for his 
 disregard of all ties, whether civil, social, or kindred, 
 whenever they offered any impediment to the gratifi- 
 cation of his base desires. That Bulwunt Singh, 
 although blind, would attempt their rescue, they 
 knew him too well to doubt ; and what the issue of a 
 collision might be betwixt him and Abdallah Mirza, 
 they trembled to imagine, knowing the violence of 
 the one, and the active, reckless courage of the other. 
 The poor girls retired to their repose, fatigued in 
 body and harassed in spirit, dreading the morrow's 
 approach, which would probably reveal some appal- 
 ling truth. 
 
 Next morning, ere they had completed their first 
 meal, Abdallah Mirza appeared before them, and, 
 after courteously inquiring how they had passed the 
 night, and whether the fatigue of their recent journey 
 had left them, declared, without further preface, that 
 he had ordered apartments to be prepared in his 
 harem for their reception ; that he should apply to 
 their father for his consent to his daughters becom- 
 ing members of the female community, who lived 
 but to administer to the pleasures of a Moghul dig- 
 nitary, and that, if this were denied, he should fulfil 
 his determination without. " For one month," he 
 said in conclusion, ** you may remain together in 
 this apartment ; after that time you will take pos- 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 225 
 
 session of a different abode, among a community 
 whose pride is to consult my wishes, and who live 
 but to do my will." 
 
 He retired, making them a respectful salaam, and 
 leaving with them a new subject upon which to 
 exercise their reflections. Several days passed, and 
 the Rajpootnis saw no more of their tyrant. They 
 had no communication with a human creature, none 
 but Mohammedan domestics being permitted to wait 
 upon them, and with these they did not interchange 
 a word ; they were consequently unacquainted with 
 any thing that took place beyond the walls of their 
 prison. Their suspense increased day by day, until 
 it amounted to positive torture. 
 
 Abdallah now triumphed in the success of his bold 
 enterprise ; and though he knew that to rouse the 
 anger of Bulwunt Singh was to excite the fury of an 
 unchained madman, he nevertheless resolved to brave 
 the result of a deed which provoked and merited the 
 most signal retribution. 
 
 A few days after his return to the capital, he was 
 one evening seated in the vestibule of the palace, 
 sipping his sherbet, when suddenly the old woman of 
 the jungle unceremoniously appeared before him. 
 He was for an instant so staggered at her bold and 
 insolent intrusion, that his tongue refused to perform 
 its wonted office. She fixed her dim dark eyes sternly 
 upon him, and said — 
 
 " Robber I thou hast stolen its cubs from the lion : 
 dost thou not fear the fury of that terror of the 
 jungle ? Mind me, tyrant, thou shalt rue this out- 
 rage — it will entail disaster upon thee." 
 l5 
 
226 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 *' Hag !" cried the Omrah, recovering from the 
 sudden surprise of her entrance, " quit my sight, or, 
 by the prophet's beard, the most sacred of adjura- 
 tions, I will give thee over to the executioners, to be 
 so scourged that the stripes shall never wear out of 
 thy skin. Beware." 
 
 " Son of an outcast mother, do thy worst. I am 
 old, and above the care of this world and its miseries. 
 You may lacerate my flesh — you may torture my 
 body — but you cannot subdue my spirit : that defies 
 thy power — it mocks thy tyranny — it is impassable 
 to thy tortures. I have suffered misery — I have en- 
 dured agony too long to wince under any thing which 
 can now be inflicted by a mortal hand. Hear me, 
 worshipper of Mohammed — that doomed counterfeit 
 — restore those maidens whom thou hast rudely torn 
 from the home of their parent, or the end of thy 
 crime will be, that thou shalt die the death of a 
 dog." 
 
 Saying this, W'ith fierce gesticulations, she hobbled 
 from Abdallah's presence. He was so much awed 
 by her manner, that, for the moment, his usual pre- 
 sence of mind deserted him. He permitted her to 
 depart unmolested ; and so terrified were the servants 
 by her commanding bearing, and truculent severity of 
 aspect, that they allowed her to pass without molest- 
 ation from the presence of their master into the 
 street, where she quickly disappeared. 
 
 The Mirza was a good deal shaken by this inter- 
 view : brave though he was, and in no common de- 
 gree, the fierce denunciations of that mysterious 
 visiter had so disconcerted him, that he almost made 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 227 
 
 up his mind to release his two Rajpootni captives ; 
 but, recovering from the stupefaction of awakened 
 superstition, his pride came in support of his first 
 resolution, and he determined to retain them in 
 spite either of the machinations of witchcraft or 
 the more potent operations of sorcery. Throughout 
 the day, however, he was absent and thoughtful. He 
 dreaded tbe fearful Aviarani more than an armed 
 cohort; and though he tried to rouse his energies, in 
 order to dispel the gloom which she had cast upon 
 his quailing spirit, he nevertheless could not banish 
 from his thoughts the parting words of that inex- 
 plicable woman. 
 
 In order to divert his mind, Abdallah repaired to 
 the palace garden, accompanied by two of his fa- 
 vourite women, who, while he smoked his chillam, 
 composed of the rarest spices, amused him by telling 
 stories, an accomplishment in which they were both 
 eminently proficient; nevertheless, the fictions of 
 these amusing story-tellers failed to dissipate those 
 gloomy presentiments by which he was now so pain- 
 fully harassed. 
 
 l6 
 
228 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 CHAPTER TX. 
 
 Within a few minutes after the two Rajpootnis had 
 been borne off by the horsemen, the circumstance was 
 communicated to their father by the attendant who 
 had been following them. Bulwunt Singh was for the 
 moment stunned at so unexpected an announcement, 
 but quickly recovering himself, with that settled calm- 
 ness of demeanour which generally precedes some 
 desperate resolution in men who have a ready com- 
 mand of their passions, he desired his informant to 
 quit his presence. His resolution was instantly taken. 
 He dispatched persons in pursuit, resolved to leave 
 nothing untried that might precipitate the accom- 
 plishment of an injured parent's revenge. In his 
 mind no act of expiation, however humble, could 
 atone for an outrage so aggravated, and, in the 
 opinion of a Rajpoot, never to be forgiven. At first 
 he suspected the young gallant who had rescued his 
 daughter from the leopard three years before, but it 
 was soon ascertained that he was at his father's 
 house, almost beside himself at what had so unex- 
 pectedly befallen. 
 
 Though the anxious lover had for so long a period 
 contrived to keep up a secret intercourse with the 
 lovely Pelvahi, this had never roused the slightest 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 229 
 
 suspicion in the breast of her father, who, being not 
 only bhnd but stubbornly incredulous, trusting to 
 the terror inspired by his interdiction, did not for 
 an instant imagine, that any one placed immediately 
 under his control would dare to violate a prohibition 
 which he had imposed. 
 
 The next day, before the return of his messengers, 
 the bereaved father was unexpectedly favoured with 
 a visit from the venerable Aviarani, who was at once 
 admitted to his presence. 
 
 "Well, good mother! what hast thou to commu- 
 nicate ? Is it good or ill ? Too much of the latter has 
 lately fallen upon me to bear any further accumula- 
 tion — relieve my anxiety, then, by proving thyself an 
 auspicious messenger." 
 
 " I cannot rule the destinies of men, I am only the 
 agent of a mightier one, who has thought fit to visit 
 thee with affliction because thou hast been a domestic 
 tyrant." 
 
 " Hah !" 
 
 " Nay, thou knowest I am not to be intimidated by 
 words, though from the tongue of a bold warrior. I 
 am invulnerable by such missiles, and the bhnd re- 
 quire a conductor. Thou hast acted without one 
 long enough, and hast grievously stumbled ; for how 
 should he on whom the light shineth not do other- 
 wise. Let me then be thy guide now, for thou wilt 
 require one in the dark way thou hast to tread." 
 
 " Art thou come to taunt me with my infirmity ? 
 Need I tell thee, that blind though I am, I could pass 
 a shaft through thy brain, were I thus minded, with 
 as sure an aim as if I had two eyes to direct it to its 
 
230 THE OMRAH OP CHANDAHAR, 
 
 destination ? I lack neither the skill nor the will 
 to avenge insult, and thy sex alone protects thee." 
 
 "Send thy arrow into the impassive air; it will 
 do as signal execution as when directed against a 
 charmed life. T laugh at the impotency of mortal 
 threatenings. Thus shouldst learn not to confound 
 friends with foes. I am here to announce to thee the 
 name of thy daughters' ravisher. They are now in 
 the power of Abdallah Mirza, who has no doubt 
 borne them to his capital, and will consign them to 
 the pollution of his harem. Think of this, and know 
 that she who has threaded the forest to tell it thee, 
 deserves more courtesy than the threat of being the 
 mark for the exercise of a blind archer's skill." 
 
 " Thou hast thy reward, woman, in a good deed," 
 said the Rajpoot, suddenly rising and seizing his 
 bow and quiver, which lay on a table before him. 
 " Thanks are the meed bestowed by beggars who 
 cannot pay in a more substantial mintage. Go to 
 thy thicket, bearing with thee the reflection that 
 thou hast done good, and that to a father." 
 
 " I quit thee, man of a rude courtesy, but shall 
 still be by thee in the hour of peril. Speed on thine 
 errand of vengeance, and remember that thou hast 
 two daughters to recover, and an inexpiable insult to 
 avenge." 
 
 Casting round her a glance of lofty resolution, 
 she quitted the presence of Bulwunt Singh, who, sum- 
 moning his attendants, directed them to make im- 
 mediate preparation for his journey to Chandahar. 
 He was obhged to await the return of those agents 
 whom he had dispatched in quest of the violator of 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 231 
 
 his domestic peace. In the course of the next day 
 they came back without having obtained any clue to 
 a discovery of the enemy, who had so wantonly set 
 at defiance the restraints of social order, in bereaving 
 a widowed father of his children. 
 
 Three days after the disappearing of Pelvahi and 
 Jemadiva, their undaunted parent quitted his home 
 on a camel, and proceeded with a small train of 
 attendants to the city, under the government of 
 Abdallah Mirza. During the journey he proclaimed 
 in every town and village through which he passed 
 the indignity to which he had been subjected by the 
 Mohammedan tyrant. On passing the Omrah's 
 house, in the vicinity of his own native village, he 
 halted, but found it deserted, except by a few in- 
 ferior domestics, who were either utterly ignorant, 
 or pretended to be so, of the movements of their 
 master. In order to mark his feeling of the disgrace 
 cast upon him by the follower of a creed which he 
 held in abhorrence, the Rajpoot tore down the hang- 
 ings that adorned the apartments, defaced the furni- 
 ture, broke the mirrors, and unceremoniously took 
 possession of all the smaller valuables which were 
 readily portable. The house had been elegantly 
 fitted up according to the Mohammedan taste at a 
 considerable expense. It resembled those buildings 
 of Patan structure seen upon the plains of Delhi, of 
 which the engraving exhibits a beautiful specimen. 
 Having thus signalized the feelings entertained by 
 him towards the man who had so cruelly robbed him 
 of his daughters, Bulwunt Singh proceeded on his 
 journey, his heart fraught with vengeance, and his 
 
232 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 mind wound up to the fiercest determination of in- 
 flicting it at whatever cost. 
 
 On reaching Chandahar, the injured father took 
 up his abode in a remote suburb of the city, and dis- 
 patched a message to the governor, demanding his 
 daughters. Abdallah denied having removed them 
 from their home; but, at length, finding that neither 
 subterfuge nor denial availed to disguise the stub- 
 born fact, he boldly confessed they were prisoners 
 in his palace, where he intended they should remain 
 for the present, but solemnly protested that they 
 should sufi*er no wrong. 
 
 The indignant parent was not to be moved by this 
 shallow artifice. He knew too well the character 
 of Abdallah Mirza, to suppose that having been at 
 the pains to steal two handsome Hindoo girls, he 
 would be at the expense and trouble of keeping them 
 merely to exhibit a sublime forbearance. He was 
 too much of a Mussulman not to taste the fruit when 
 he had plucked it. Bulwunt Singh was fully satisfied 
 of this ; he therefore resolved to have his daughtiers 
 returned to their home without further delay, or perish 
 in the attempt to rescue them from the pollution to 
 which, in his eyes, they were now exposed. 
 
 The breast of the excited Rajpoot was labouring 
 with purposes too desperate either to suspend or 
 control. His children were in the dwelling of a 
 Mohammedan, and had consequently received such 
 defilement, according to the canons of his religious 
 creed, as no human defecation could remove. It was 
 impossible he could ever again live under the same 
 roof with beings rendered henceforth for ever ob- 
 
 12 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 233 
 
 noxious to his^ hatred, having been violently torn 
 from his love, and placed beyond the limits of those 
 cognate obligations which attach man to his kindred, 
 by an act that demanded a signal and immediate 
 exercise of his vengeance. 
 
 The death of his children had become the one 
 great intent of his soul, and to snatch them from 
 their ravisher was the first aim of his dark resolve, 
 in order, at the same time, to punish the violator of 
 his domestic peace, and remove the once dear objects 
 of his aficction beyond the reach of further con- 
 tamination. 
 
 It is a known trait of the Rajpoot character, that 
 one of this haughty race never relinquishes through 
 life a purpose deliberately formed, but pursues it 
 steadily until the opportunity arrives for its com- 
 pletion. The father of Pelvahi and Jemadiva pos- 
 sessed this quality of unsubduable determination to a 
 degree not surpassed by any of his tribe. Having 
 received several evasive answers from Abdallah 
 Mirza, he dispatched a messenger for the last time, 
 insisting upon the immediate restitution of his chil- 
 dren, and, in case of refusal, threatening the impla- 
 cable hatred of an insulted Rajpoot. Abdallah, think- 
 ing it better to feign compliance, sent to Bulwunt 
 Singh, without further delay, his younger daughter, 
 whom he had no great desire to retain, at the same 
 time promising that the elder should shortly be 
 restored. 
 
 The hapless Jemadiva entered her father's pre- 
 sence with painful forebodings, which the stem and 
 unrelaxing expression of his features did not tend to 
 
2S4 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 allay. She timidly approached the blind warrior, but 
 when the sound of her footstep caught his ear, he 
 raised his hand as a sign to forbid her advance. She 
 stood trembling before him. Not a muscle of his 
 countenance stirred, but it was easy to perceive that 
 under the marble stillness of his harsh lineaments 
 feelings were working which boded the gloomiest 
 issues. His face had assumed the calm that precedes 
 the hurricane. For a long interval he maintained a 
 portentous silence. Jemadiva watched his features 
 with intense anxiety, but no glow either of sym- 
 pathy or of pity mantled upon them. At length 
 he said, 
 
 '* Girl, I need not tell thee that abiding under 
 the roof of one of another creed has cast a pollution 
 upon thee, which no mortal expiation can expunge. 
 Thou hast forfeited the privileges of thy caste, and 
 nothing but death can release thee from the horrid 
 degradation of becoming an outcast. Thou must die, 
 girl, an abhorred, a degraded thing; and where is 
 the Rajpootni who would endure to live under such 
 a stigma as must attach to thee ?" 
 
 '* Father, I am as pure as when I was an inmate 
 of thy dwelling, and was blessed with thy love. 
 The Omrah has respected the virtue of thy children." 
 
 "But his presence within the same walls with a 
 Hindoo maiden has covered thee with a leprous 
 incrustation — the foul spot of infamy is upon thee. 
 If thou preferrest life with shame, to death with 
 honour, thou must make up thy mind to live in 
 utter abandonment. Thou hast no longer a father. 
 The choice is thine betwixt banishment to the ex- 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 235 
 
 treme south, or death this night from the hands of 
 him to whom thou owest thy being." 
 
 " Let it be death then, for I would rather perish 
 in innocency, than abide in this world disgraced and 
 banished from all who are dear to me upon earth. I 
 am content to accept that alternative most agree- 
 able to a father's heart. He will revere the memory 
 of one who yielded up an unblemished life to save 
 the blood of her race from taint, with which the 
 wickedness of a tyrant had prepared to pollute it." 
 
 " Well resolved, my child ; I will compound this 
 night a potion that shall lull thee to a sleep from 
 which thou wilt never rise again in thy humanity. 
 Thou shalt bear with thee to thy bed a parent's 
 blessing, but receive not his morning benediction." 
 
 ** Give me thy blessing, father," prostrating her- 
 self at his feet. He laid his hand upon her burning 
 forehead, and lifting up those dimmed orbs into which 
 the light had not been received for years, he pro- 
 nounced a solemn form of obtestation, and dismissed 
 his beautiful child to her last slumber. He listened 
 to her receding footstep, but not a word of soothing 
 reached her anxious ear, and in a few moments she 
 was beyond his hearing : — he never heard her more 
 on this side the grave. 
 
236 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Shortly after his return to the capital, Abdallah 
 Mirza gave an entertainment to the Omrahs of his 
 court. As he was a man known not to pay very 
 strict regard to the prohibitions of the Koran, espe- 
 cially with reference either to meats or drinks, most 
 of those who were under him in the government of 
 Chandahar, looking upon him as an eminent example 
 in all civil and social observances, did not hesitate to 
 infringe upon the sumptuary canons of that sacred 
 book. In this they had the less scruple because they 
 found that good living was practically enjoined by 
 the emperor of Delhi, who indulged as much as 
 his vassals ; and it was a maxim among all his sub- 
 jects, tributaries, and stipendiaries, that a Moham- 
 medan emperor can do no wrong. 
 
 The banquet provided upon this occasion was of 
 the most sumptuous kind. The finest fruits of Hin- 
 dostan were obtained, at vast cost, to grace the 
 board. Game from the Himalaya mountains smoked 
 among curries and pilaus prepared by the most dis- 
 tinguished cooks of Lucknow, who had been en- 
 gaged on this occasion. The wines of Shiraz and of 
 Ispahan glowed in decanters from the shores of the 
 Baltic, and vases of the finest porcelain, fabricated 
 by the best craftsmen of China, sent forth the richest 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 237 
 
 perfumes of Araby. The tables were overspread 
 with the finest fabrics from the looms of Bagdad, 
 and the floors with the richest carpets from those of 
 Iran. Silken punkas depended from the ceiling, 
 waving over the heads of the luxurious nobles, and 
 cooling the apartment heated by the blended exha- 
 lations from dishes and guests. 
 
 Abdallah was in his glory. He drank till his eyes 
 sparkled with brighter lustre than the wine that had 
 infused it, and his tongue seemed to pour forth the 
 eloquence of inspiration. From him the animating 
 contagion was caught by his lords, and the hum 
 of conversation was like that of a community of bees 
 over their own honey. Nautch girls, exceeded only 
 in beauty by the maidens of the Mohammedan para- 
 dise, were introduced, and by the singular grace of 
 their evolutions, with which the small golden bells 
 attached to their ankles chimed in exquisite unison, 
 excited the raptures of the whole assembly, who first 
 murmured their applauses, which the elevated Mirza 
 at length heightened into boisterous acclamation. 
 Nothing could exceed the luxury of this banquet. 
 Amid the natural heat of an atmosphere that would 
 have raised the thermometer of the celebrated Fah- 
 renheit to an elevation of a hundred and twenty de- 
 grees, the air was as temperate as upon the surface of a 
 lake in the evening of early summer amid the beautiful 
 scenery of a European landscape. The wine and other 
 liquids were cooled by men so practised in the art, 
 that in a few minutes they could render water almost 
 boiling as cold as if it had just been drawn from a 
 well-spring. 
 
238 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 This is a luxury much enjoyed by Europeans in 
 India, who are not backward in avaiHng themselves of 
 all the choicest gratifications of the east. Young 
 Englishmen, to whom change is at once an excite- 
 ment and a novelty, may often be seen in their bun- 
 galows enjoying their claret and Hodgson's pale ale 
 after tiffin, fanned by chowries ^ from the mountains of 
 Thibet*, while the busy water-cooler prepares for 
 them the refrigerated element, or that more ani- 
 mating beverage which heats their brains while it 
 cools their throats. 
 
 Abdallah Mirza's guests were thus provided with 
 every thing that could tend to exhilarate spirits na- 
 turally mercurial, and long before the lamps of night 
 had been hung out in the azure vault above, they were 
 in a state of most delectable elevation. In the midst 
 of their revelry a handsome japan box was brought 
 into the room by an attendant, who signified to the 
 governor that it had been just left by the conductor of 
 a caravan from the south of India. Upon the lid was 
 written, in letters of bright crimson. Mangoes from 
 Mazagong for the Governor of Chandahar. The 
 mangoes of Mazagong, a small Portuguese village on 
 the island of Bombay, were at this time famed 
 throughout India, and the Mirza's gratification at 
 the idea of being able to produce some before his 
 guests was unbounded. Every eye was fixed upon 
 the box, which Abdallah had ordered to be opened 
 on the spot, so eager was he to behold this rare 
 
 ' A sort of whisk for keeping off musquitoes. 
 
 ^ The best clioAVTies are made from the tails of the Thibet ox. 
 
-.1 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 239 
 
 fruit of the south. The case was so carefully secured, 
 that it was some time before the lid could be released 
 from the fastenings.' It was at length removed, when 
 there appeared a cover of fine white muslin, which con- 
 cealed the contents from every anxious beholder. The 
 governor rose, in order that he might have the grati- 
 fication of exposing to view, with his own hand, the 
 coveted luxury. His eyes glistened. His lip curled. 
 With impatient eagerness he raised the muslin, when, 
 to the astonishment and horror of all present, he 
 exposed to view a human head, in the lineaments of 
 which he instantly recognised those of the hapless 
 Jemadiva ; amid the hair was rolled a small billet 
 containing the following words: — "A father sends 
 thee this." 
 
 The banquet was instantly put an end to, and 
 the guests were dismissed ; but there was a general 
 buzz of inquiry as to the meaning of so frightful an 
 occurrence. Abdallah, though considerably elevated 
 by wine, was, for the moment, stupified ; but soon 
 recovering, he resolved to visit the parricide with 
 immediate and exemplary punishment. He conse- 
 quently dispatched a guard to the Rajpoot's dwell- 
 ing, with orders that he should be committed to 
 safe custody, and then retired for the night, with 
 such reflections for his bed-fellows as completely 
 banished sleep from his pillow. It, however, occurred 
 to him, when daylight dispersed those horrible images 
 with which wine and the sight of the dead head had 
 crowded his brain, that the event of the preceding 
 evening might be rendered the means of bringing 
 the refractory Pelvahi to a more favourable enter- 
 
 11 
 
240 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 tainment of his wishes. She had hitherto uniformly 
 repelled his advances with unflinching resolution, 
 treating his menaces with bold defiance and lofty 
 scorn, declaring she never would allow herself to 
 survive the moment that he attempted force for the 
 completion of his will. " No power on earth, as you 
 should know," she said with haughty resolution, 
 " can prevent a Rajpootni from dying when she has 
 ceased to live with honor." 
 
 The determination of his lovely captive had hi- 
 therto repelled the licentious Omrah, who thought 
 that she might eventually be won by mildness to 
 grant what it would be evidently dangerous to take 
 by violence. He was fully aware of the indomitable 
 resolution of that stock from which she sprang, and 
 therefore calculated, with a shrewd foresight, that 
 she was only to be subdued by addressing himself to 
 her feelings, rather than by opposing her passions. 
 
 On the day which succeeded the banquet, Abdallah 
 proceeded to the apartment in which his unhappy 
 prisoner was confined. She was reclining upon a 
 Persian rug, so deeply absorbed in thought that 
 at first she did not observe the Omrah's entrance. 
 
 " Lovely Hindoo," he said, apprdaching her ten- 
 derly, *'why wilt thou thus give way to unquiet 
 meditations?" 
 
 ** Can the tyrant ask such a question, after he has 
 torn me, first from the society of a father, then from 
 that of a sister? This trifling is a mockery, be- 
 neath thy dignity as a legislator, and thine honesty 
 as a man." 
 
 " If I have removed thee from a home where 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 241 
 
 thou wert under a grievous domestic tyranny, it was 
 to install thee in one where thou wilt reign domi- 
 nant over the heart of an adoring lover, who can 
 live only in the sunshine of thy smiles." 
 
 " Address these gaudy phrases to humbler ears ; 
 their honey will not cover the sting which your base- 
 ness has planted in a heart where its poison will 
 rankle until the life-blood shall cease to circulate. It 
 is useless to encourage the expectation of my ever 
 acquiescing in your desires, the accomplishment of 
 which would only degrade me, while it conferred no 
 honour upon you. Leave me, at least, to the undis- 
 turbed quiet of my captivity, if you have not the 
 generosity to restore me to liberty." 
 
 "But were I, this moment, to send you to your 
 father, do you think he would receive you after 
 having been in the custody of a Mohammedan ? 
 He has not so much tenderness as to forget that you 
 have suffered pollution, according to the stern dogmas 
 of his creed, by being in the house of a true be- 
 liever." 
 
 " Nevertheless, I would rather brave the utmost 
 severity of that father's wrath than be exposed to 
 the presence of a man whom I utterly loathe. By 
 you have I not only been deprived of liberty, but am 
 reduced to that state of moral desuetude, in the esti- 
 mation of him to whom I owe my being, which will, 
 more than probably, separate us for ever." 
 
 " Ay, it is more than a presumption, it is a palpable 
 certainty, that your father will never again recognise 
 any affinity between you. Your sister having returned 
 to him, he has visited her with that sanguinary 
 
 M 
 
242 THE OMRAH OF CHANDA.HAR, 
 
 judgment which Rajpoot fathers assume to them- 
 selves the right of dispensing. She is no longer 
 one of this earth, but among the beauties of Para- 
 dise." 
 
 " Do you think I am to be betrayed into confi- 
 dence by so shallow an artifice ? My parent, with 
 all his rigour, could never be the murderer of his off- 
 spring. A child's deepest curse shall light on thee 
 for this." 
 
 ** You shall have ocular proof before noon, and 
 then it will be wise in you to reflect, whether you 
 would prefer returning to the certain vengeance of 
 a ruthless infanticide, or remaining under the pro- 
 tection of a gentle lover." 
 
 Saying this, Abdallah quitted his captive, who 
 directed towards him, as he retreated, a look of 
 haughty scorn ; but when left to her solitude, she 
 relapsed into that moodiness of thought from which 
 the unsought-for intrusion of the Omrah had di- 
 verted her. 
 
 Not long after the Moghul's departure, a basket 
 was brought into the apartment by a female attend- 
 ant, and laid on the rug beside the wretched maiden. 
 Removing the cloth which covered it, her eye fell 
 upon the ghastly head of her beloved sister. This 
 was a cruel stroke. She gazed intently at it 
 for a few moments, and then fell back insensible, 
 without a groan or a murmur. It was long before 
 animation could be restored ; but the efifect of that 
 dreadful object was far diflierent from what her per- 
 secutor had expected. She could not be prevailed 
 upon to believe that her father had descended from 
 6 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 243 
 
 his high exaltation of moral rectitude to the crime of 
 child- murder ', after his offspring had reached an 
 age when such an act of violence against the dearest 
 claims of nature is no longer recognised by those 
 savage customs familiar to Rajpoots. She felt con- 
 vinced that Abdallah Mirza was the destroyer of 
 her sister, and this conviction armed her feelings 
 with a thousand-fold more bitterness against a man 
 to whom she owed such daily accessions of misery. 
 In her judgment, the tyrant who could tear a 
 daughter from the home of her parent, could be 
 capable of butchering her ; and this impression was 
 so rooted in the unhappy girl's mind, that when her 
 persecutor next presented himself before her, she 
 taxed him with the destruction of Jemadiva. He 
 protested against a suspicion so unprovoked. 
 
 "Unprovoked," cried the miserable girl, " who so 
 likely to have been the perpetrator of such an atro- 
 cious crime as he who could rob a father of his child ?" 
 " If you are not to be appeased by kindness or 
 conciliation, there remains but one method to bring 
 you to subjection. I have tried persuasion; should 
 you continue refractory, force must follow." 
 
 The indignant Rajpootni did not deign to answer 
 this cowardly threat, but, with a look of ineffable de- 
 testation, turned her back upon the incensed Moghul. 
 He quitted her, and she relapsed into melancholy 
 thought, now deepened in intensity by the know- 
 ledge of her unhappy sister's end. She did not 
 
 ' The Rajpoots sanction infanticide, but it is confined to female 
 offspring, and is not permitted after they have passed the first stage 
 of helpless infancy. 
 
 M 2 
 
244 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 utter a word ; but silently worked up her mind to 
 the desperate resolution of resisting to the death any 
 personal violence that might be offered, to force com- 
 pliance with the wishes of a man she now absolutely 
 abhorred. Though yet a mere girl in years, her soul 
 was capable of the sublimest energy of action. She 
 scorned to quail under any human visitation. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 245 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 When the young Rajpoot, to whom Pelvahi was 
 betrothed, heard of her having been forcibly with- 
 drawn from her home by the governor of Chandahar, 
 he was overcome with vexation and rage. His 
 reputed father having considerable influence with 
 those of his caste who dwelt in the neighbourhood, 
 determined to exert it, to assist in recovering the 
 betrothed bride. Within a few days he contrived 
 to assemble a resolute band of three thousand Raj- 
 poots, prepared for any enterprise, however des- 
 perate. The son was much esteemed for his high 
 spirit, which, among this warlike race, is considered 
 the first attribute of man ; they were, therefore, 
 ready, one and all, to aid in revenging the insult 
 offered to him. His engagement to Pelvahi had 
 been kept, hitherto, inviolably secret; nor was it 
 until the violent abduction of the Rajpootni sisters 
 that the young lover communicated, even to his 
 parent, the pledge which he had made to the elder. 
 The idea of such an indignity being offered to a 
 family of their race, was sufficient to stimulate Raj- 
 poots to any act of daring, and they prepared to 
 execute summary retribution upon the author of their 
 disgrace ; for, as they made common cause with every 
 M 3 
 
246 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 member of their caste, the degradation of one be- 
 came the degradation of all. 
 
 The three thousand Rajpoots marched towards 
 Chandahar, which they expected to make the field 
 of an exploit that should signalize their courage, and 
 prove to the haughty Mohammedan, that no member 
 of their community was to be wronged with impu- 
 nity. They had entered into a solemn compact to 
 release Pelvahi, or perish in the attempt, and it was 
 declared that any one who should return to his 
 home and leave her a prisoner, would be accursed 
 in both worlds. As a token of their determination 
 to avenge her wrongs, they assumed the saffron robe, 
 which, among this warlike race, is invariably an inti- 
 mation to the foe that they have resolved to perish 
 to the last man rather than relinquish the object of 
 their enterprise. 
 
 Having reached the capital, the confederates dis- 
 persed, some of them retiring to the neighbouring 
 woods, others to villages in the vicinity ; the several 
 parties, nevertheless, keeping so near each other, 
 that they could be readily summoned at the sound of 
 a brazen trumpet used among them, and heard at 
 the distance of half a league. They so completely 
 avoided all appearance of martial array, that no 
 suspicion was excited in the city, which was left 
 almost without troops, so complete was the governor's 
 security in the awe which his name inspired among 
 the Hindoo inhabitants of the province. When the 
 Rajpoot leader discovered that Bulwunt Singh was in 
 confinement, his indignation knew no bounds, and he 
 determined to deliver him at all hazards. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 247 
 
 Meanwhile the blind father was thrown into the 
 common prison, and placed in a cell whence the 
 light of heaven was utterly excluded, and the at- 
 mosphere, from a want of proper ventilation, loath- 
 some to the last degree. Here he was confined for 
 child-murder, and his execution determined on by 
 his Mohammedan foe. A guard was placed over 
 him, who would not permit him to proceed beyond 
 the boundaries of his dungeon, in which he moment- 
 arily inhaled the noxious seeds of contagion. Here 
 he waited, in proud silence, the doom of his inexor- 
 able judge. He cared not to die, since he had nothing 
 to render existence an object worth the prizing. Not 
 one pang of remorse pierced his bosom, at a moment 
 when he expected hourly to be led forth to death. To 
 his own conscience he pleaded a satisfactory justifica- 
 tion of a deed which the compassionate heart sickens 
 to contemplate. He conceived that his daughter had 
 been steeped in pollution, and that nothing on this 
 side of the grave could cleanse the indelible taint which 
 had depraved her entire physical and spiritual organ- 
 ization. Was it not better, he argued, to release her 
 spirit from its incarceration of polluted flesh, which 
 must have rendered it finally unfit for the communion 
 of those immortal natures which pluck the fruits of 
 bliss above the elements from the everlastingly ger- 
 minating tree, Pariyataka*, than allow it to remain 
 
 ' " I have," says Mr. Moor, " a sketch of a tree yielding, if not 
 
 all sorts, a curious sort of fruit, namely men ; with a man of larger 
 
 mould climhing up its stem : a second with a bow at his back is 
 
 looking on, encouraging him. The picture is marked merely with 
 
 m4 
 
248 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHaR, 
 
 where it must finally have become a prey to the 
 malignant Davanas'. The contemplation, therefore, 
 of Jemadiva's death was a source of triumph, — not 
 of regret ; and it was besides some consolation to 
 know that he had seriously disturbed the tranquillity 
 of Abdallah Mirza. 
 
 During his imprisonment Bulwunt Singh refused 
 the food provided according to the prison regula- 
 tions; for, under existing circumstances, he consi- 
 dered sufi'ering rather a boon than a punishment. 
 His haughty spirit was not to be subdued ; and he 
 looked forward to his execution without regret, as 
 it would give him the opportunity of showing the 
 enemy of his faith how unconcernedly a Rajpoot 
 can die. 
 
 The governor visited the haughty father the day 
 after he had sent him a present of his daughter's 
 head, in hopes that the love of life might induce him 
 to force his child's consent to enter the harem of her 
 persecutor. By the promise of immediate liberation 
 from an oppressive confinement, Abdallah imagined 
 he could win the inflexible Rajpoot to his wishes ; but 
 he knew not the man. The love of life weighed not, 
 in Bulwunt Singh's estimation, a fibre of down in the 
 balance against that honour which he literally prized 
 above the salvation of his soul. 
 
 The second morning of his imprisonment he was 
 
 the name of Bhima, but I have no knowledge of the legend to 
 •which it alludes. Fifteen men are hanging in the boughs like 
 frmt." 
 
 * Evil spirits. 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 249 
 
 conducted into the governor's presence, in a pri- 
 vate chamber of the prison, set apart for especial 
 purposes. Upon his entrance he stood before his 
 judge erect as a column which has outbraved the 
 storms of centuries ; his rayless eyes fixed with an 
 inexpressive stare upon the half- awed Mohammedan. 
 They were left together. 
 
 " Prisoner," said the Omrah, at length, " wouldst 
 thou save thy life ?" The Rajpoot did not reply ; but, 
 twirling the corners of his moustachios on either side 
 of his scornful lip, turned his back upon the speaker. 
 The ire of the Mirza was roused. 
 
 " Man," he exclaimed, elevating his voice, "it is 
 insane policy to inflame the anger of one who, with 
 a word, can consign thee to the executioner." 
 
 " Do thy worst," ^ cried the Rajpoot, turning sud- 
 denly round, " I would not be indebted to thee for 
 even the semblance of a boon. I defy thee, however 
 thou mayest estimate the policy of such defiance." 
 
 " Nay," continued Abdallah, softening, " this is 
 too extravagant for heroism. Hear what I have to 
 propose, and then consider well before you rashly 
 reject it. You know that your daughter is in my 
 power; she refuses to become the favourite of my 
 harem ; I would rather win than force her consent ; 
 do you, therefore, compel her compliance, and you 
 shall immediately be restored to liberty." 
 
 " Dastard ! This to a father ! — to a Rajpoot father ! 
 who would rather behold his daughter writhing under 
 death's hardest agonies than with the blasting brand 
 of infamy upon her. If thou hast the courage of a 
 man, arm thyself and me, and, though old and blind, 
 M 5 
 
250 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 with thy odds of sight and of youth, I will contend 
 with thee to the death. I have yet nerve enough to 
 reach thy coward ' heart, for my wrongs would guide 
 my impatient weapan home." 
 
 " Dost thou think,'* answered Abdallah coolly, 
 '■' that I would put the implements of destruction into 
 the hands of a madman ?" 
 
 " Then I will do the work of vengeance without 
 arms*" Saying this the excited Hindoo sprang 
 towards his unsuspecting enemy, and, seizing him by 
 the shoulders, pulled him from his seat. The terrified 
 Mohammedan felt as if he were in the grasp of a 
 ^iant. • In a moment his throat was clutched by the 
 desperate warrior ; and he would have shortly pa,id 
 the dear forfeit of his tyranny, had not some of his 
 attendants, stationed outside the door, rushed in on 
 hearing his suppressed cries, and rescued him from 
 threatened destruction. Having ordered the Rajpoot 
 to be secured and taken back to his cell, Abdallah 
 Quitted' the apartment. As he was about to enter 
 his palace, still suffering from the gripe of Balwunt 
 Singh, the old woman, whose prediction had never 
 altogether passed from his mind, appeared unexpect- 
 edly before him. He paused on the threshold in mute 
 amazement. The splendour of his palace seemed an 
 object of mockery to the wrinkled prophetess. She 
 pointed towards the magnificent portal, threw up her 
 withered brow to heaven, and muttered an undistin- 
 guishable imprecation upon the owner of the gor- 
 geous edifice, then approaching Abdallah, shrieked, 
 ** Stop and hear me. Remember what I once fore- 
 told. I see thv star now in the broad heavens as 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 251 
 
 dim as the border of thy raiment, which bears upon 
 it the dull crimson stain of an innocent maiden's 
 blood. The one grows paler and paler, as the other 
 grows redder and redder ; the first shall shortly cease 
 to shine, and the last shall deepen into the black 
 shadow of death." 
 
 Abdallah was confused, though he affected to treat 
 the ominous words of the crone with contempt. She 
 perceived her power and continued, — 
 
 " Ay, smile at the thunderbolt : but will thy smile 
 divert it from its course of devastation ? Will the 
 lightning become harmless because Abdallah shows 
 his white teeth in the sunshine ? Take heed to thy- 
 self, son of a false prophet, for it shall blast thee 
 before the circle of the moon flattens. Bend thy 
 knee to the saucy Arab who pretended to read at 
 Mecca the sealed volume of the future, and persuaded 
 knaves to bow their heads before him, and caU him 
 deity, for thou shalt have need of succour in thy 
 coming visitation. If he can give it thee, thou 
 hadst better use all speed to implore it. Mark me, 
 Abdallah Mirza, the wrath of an unconquerable foe 
 is gone forth against thee. Smile on while thy 
 heart is in tears." 
 
 Before the governor could sufficiently recover from 
 the stupefaction of. terror, the mysterious Aviarani 
 had passed round an angle of the street and dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 M 6 
 
252 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Abdallah was exceedingly depressed by those un- 
 favourable predictions which had been delivered by • 
 the old woman of the jungle ; and though he affected 
 openly to despise them, he nevertheless could not 
 dismiss them from his thoughts. The recollection, 
 however, of the throttling administered by the blind 
 Rajpoot tended in some degree to withdraw his mind 
 from more painful contemplations, and he resolved 
 that the following day should be the period of his 
 captive's life. Having heard that the old warrior, 
 though blind, still retained his skill in archery, to a 
 degree that had rendered it the theme of continual 
 speculation, he declared his intention to make him 
 exhibit it before the nobles of Chandahar. It was 
 reported that his prisoner could hit with an arrow a 
 small bell something less than a mangoe, placed at a 
 distance of thirty-five paces. The bell being sus- 
 pended from a beam, a cord was attached to the 
 shank, which being pulled, the clapper was made to 
 strike ; directed by the sound, the Rajpoot discharged 
 his arrow, and never failed to hit the destined mark. 
 Such was the report. In order that an exhibition of 
 Bulwunt Singh's skill might be made to the Omrahs 
 of the capital, Abdallah Mirza commanded carpets to 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 253 
 
 be spread in one of the courts of his palace, and otto- 
 mans to be placed for the convenience of his guests, 
 which, to the number of a hundred and thirty, were 
 invited to witness the extraordinary dexterity of a 
 blind archer, renowned as the best marksman in the 
 country. Curiosity was excited to behold so extraor- 
 dinary a singularity, as it was generally beUeved that 
 the Rajpoot's reputation had been exaggerated by 
 partial friends or designing knaves. About two 
 hours after sunrise, the state dignitary assembled his 
 nobles under an awning in the court. A messenger 
 was dispatched to summon the prisoner before the 
 governor and his guests. When that noble's plea- 
 sure was communicated to the injured father, he 
 peremptorily refused to quit his prison. 
 
 ** Then," observed the messenger, " you will be 
 strangled on the instant." 
 
 ** What does it matter whether the homicide's will 
 be done in the morning or at night ? If this day is 
 to complete the term of my life, what signifies it 
 whether I die under the brighter beams of the sun, 
 or in the fainter light of the moon ? Tell your master, 
 that I will not stir from this den of shame and corrup- 
 tion into which he has cast an innocent and ill-used 
 man, but one, tell him further, who will not perish 
 unrevenged." 
 
 ** Your compliance may perhaps save your life." 
 
 " I don't desire to save it, and as the boon of one 
 so despicable and abhorred as your master, I would 
 rather part with it, than live to acknowledge his 
 assumed clemency. Go, communicate to him my 
 
254 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 resolution, and fail not to be the bearer of my scorn, 
 not of my courtesy." 
 
 " You had better then at once prepare for death." 
 
 ** I need no preparation : a Rajpoot is always pre- 
 pared." 
 
 The messenger quitted him. 
 
 When the first impulse of passion had subsided, 
 and Bulwunt Singh reflected calmly upon the message 
 of his enemy, a sudden thought flashed across his 
 brain with the painful velocity of a sunbeam. In a 
 moment his resolution changed, and he determined 
 to obey the summons of Abdallah Mirza. The pride 
 of exhibiting his skill kindled within him ; but this 
 was coupled with an ulterior purpose, which impelled 
 the tardy blood upon his heart, and caused his bosom 
 to heave under the sudden excitement of accelerated 
 action. The governor's messenger quickly returned 
 to communicate his master's determination, which 
 was, that the prisoner should be dragged into his 
 presence, and immediately strangled before him and 
 the assembled Omrahs. 
 
 " Give me my bow and quiver ; I am prepared to 
 do the bidding of your haughty despot : not that I 
 fear to die, but would show him that neither has 
 blindness paralysed my arm, nor wrong confused 
 ray brain. I would convince him that the dread of 
 death will not cause my nerves to tremble, but that I 
 can still direct the arrow to its destined mark. I am 
 prepared to follow thee." 
 
 The injured father was led into the presence of 
 Abdallah Mirza and his nobles. He entered with a 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 255 
 
 firm step and unmoved countenance, without bend- 
 ing, or manifesting the shghtest indication of con- 
 sciousness that he was standing before the chief dig- 
 nitary of Chandahar. He was a person of most 
 commanding presence, being upwards of six feet high, 
 and exhibiting a symmetry almost pecuhar to the dis- 
 tinguished race of which it was his greatest pride to 
 be a member. His hmbs were muscular and finely 
 rounded, and the anatomy of his chest, which was 
 completely bare, — for he wore nothing but a short 
 tight trowser, extending half way down the thigh, — 
 was so minutely developed that you could trace the 
 form and determination of every muscle ; yet it was 
 sufiiciently fieshy to prevent the traces of structure 
 from being too prominent, and thus losing the grace, 
 if not the symmetry, of just proportion. His neck 
 tapered upward from the shoulders in a gradual curve, 
 presenting an image of great strength and firmness 
 of texture. His head was set well back upon the 
 strong column which supported it, so that it was ele- 
 vated by natural position, and seemed as if it had 
 never deigned to gaze upon the earth. His arms were 
 singularly long, but the hand was so small, and the 
 fingers so taper, that neither much exceeded in di- 
 mensions those of a moderately-sized woman. Upon 
 the middle finger he wore a large pearl, secured in a 
 plain hoop ring of virgin gold. Two thin bangles of 
 the same metal encircled his wrists. His turban was 
 safiron- colour, which he had assumed that morning as 
 a token that he was doomed to die. It was carefully 
 folded round his forehead, and beneath it the mark of 
 his caste had been traced with more than usual care. 
 
256 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 The nobles, who crowded the area allotted for the 
 exhibition of the Hindoo's skill, looked at him with 
 admiration; an expression of gratified surprise beamed 
 from every eye, which rather disconcerted the Mirza, 
 who had no desire that their sympathies should be 
 enlisted for one whom he had already made up his 
 mind should never feel the warmth of another day's 
 sun. In order, therefore, to divert their attention, 
 he desired that they would all take their seats, as the 
 prisoner was about to commence his essay of dex- 
 terity. Having commanded that his bow and quiver 
 should be put into his hands, Abdallah, addressing 
 the blind archer, said — 
 
 " We shall presently see if fame has misrepre- 
 sented thee ; for this is the common business of her 
 and of all her ministers, who love to multiply or dimi- 
 nish according as human passions actuate to the one 
 or to the other. Are you prepared ?" 
 
 " Quite." 
 
 The bow and quiver were put into the Rajpoot's 
 hand. He strung the former, which was not easily 
 bent, with a facility and promptitude that showed he 
 was no novice in the use of his favourite weapon. 
 When he had strung the bow, he twanged the string 
 twice, and then slung it on his shoulder. Having 
 selected four arrows, he poised them severally, pressed 
 their points against his finger, and then signified 
 that he was ready, by a motion of his hand. Abdal- 
 lali ordered the space to be measured ; a tall Hindoo 
 immediately stepped thirty-five paces. A pole was 
 then erected, with a transverse beam, in the form of 
 a cross, and at either end was suspended a small bell. 
 
(:^>^/r?/^/^^^ /^/^^a/' ^y^/ry^z^/w: 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 257 
 
 about the size of an ordinary wine-glass. One of 
 the bells being struck with a long brass rod, was 
 almost instantly hit with an arrow, which caused it 
 to vibrate for several seconds. A murmur of ap- 
 plause followed; but the brows of the governor 
 lowered as he heard the unwelcome indication of 
 pleasurable surprise. The bell on the reverse end of 
 the beam was likewise struck with the brass rod, as 
 the other had previously been, and it was immediately 
 put into a state of rapid oscillation by an arrow from 
 the bow of Bulwunt Singh. From every quarter of 
 the court were now heard loud expressions of surprise 
 and admiration, which not even the governor's frown 
 could suppress ; he therefore ordered the bells to be 
 removed, and a bird to be put upon a small perch, 
 fixed at the same distance from the archer as the 
 bells. Another bird of the like species being placed 
 near it in a cage, the latter began to chirp, when a 
 shaft from an unerring hand struck it from its perch 
 to the ground. There it lay quivering upon the 
 arrow, and was taken to Abdallah Mirza. Every 
 tongue was now louder than before in eulogizing the 
 amazing dexterity of the archer. 
 
 The governor had not spoken since the commence- 
 ment of the shooting. He sat apart from his guests, 
 on a crimson velvet ottoman, with a short cimeter 
 beside him, the handle of which was studded with 
 gems. In his girdle was stuck a broad-bladed 
 dagger, beautifully inlaid with precious stones of 
 great value. He did not appear at all gratified at 
 the universal manifestations of admiration resulting 
 from the successful trial of Bulwunt Singh's skill ; 
 
258 THE OMRAH OF CHANUAHAR, 
 
 but as it appeared to be the general wish that the 
 trial should proceed further, he signified his assent 
 by a haughty bend of the head, and looked moodily 
 on at the passing scene. The distance was now ex- 
 tended to forty-five paces, and a musk-rat being tied 
 to a pole in such a way that it could not move above 
 two or three inches either way, a cracker was fas- 
 tened to its tail, in order that the explosion might in- 
 dicate the exact locality of the doomed animal. No 
 sooner had the cracker exploded, than the body of 
 the rat was transfixed with an arrow. This exploit 
 elicited still louder applause; but the archer, un- 
 moved by the astonishment which his consummate 
 dexterity had occasioned, exhibited no symptom of 
 gratification. Not a smile passed over his inflexible 
 features. He stood like a lofty rock amid the surge, 
 dark, fixed, and immutable. Not a person present 
 ventured to address him, as it was evident to all 
 that such a proceeding would not have been agree- 
 able to the chief dignitary; his prisoner, therefore, 
 continued mute and scornful, in spite of the applause 
 of every spectator. 
 
 When the trial had proceeded thus far, it was ob- 
 served that a stranger was standing m one corner of 
 the area, enveloped in a long veil. It appeared that 
 she had mixed with the attendants, and consequently 
 was not observed until a sort of master of the cere- 
 monies, or chamberlain, approached her, and inquired 
 by what authority she had dared to intrude among 
 the governor of Chandahar's guests. He received no 
 answer, neither did the stranger attempt to withdraw 
 from the spot where she had stationed herself. Upon 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 259 
 
 his peremptorily threatening to eject her by force, she 
 threw off the veil, which covered her whole person, 
 and exhibited the tall but withered form of the jungle 
 prophetess. 
 
 " Now, dare to raise a hand against one of whom 
 thy master stands in fear, as the deer stands cowed 
 before the ravenous tigress, and the curse of an in- 
 sulted woman shall pursue thee to those depths of 
 woe where thou wilt hereafter be doomed to howl in 
 everlasting tortures. I am here by the right of my 
 vocation, which is to see and know all things ; and 
 shall I be crossed by a hungry functionary, who eats 
 the salt of a base office, making flattery the means of 
 living in splendour and of feeding to satiety ? Thou 
 pamperest thy body at the price of thy soul. Thine 
 is a servitorship that would debase the lean condition 
 of a Pariah dog." 
 
 " None of this railing, woman, but look at the 
 door, and decamp. Thy foul breath blisters the ear 
 of thy betters : remove it^ from this presence, or I 
 will expel it hence, and fling thy carcass after it, 
 like a lump of corrupt offal." 
 
 " Thou shalt swallow thy own tongue for this : it 
 has already pronounced thy doom. The kites are 
 above thee : level thee with the dust, and pray." 
 
 Abdallah Mirza, hearing an unusual noise in the 
 corner of the area, inquired what it was, when the 
 old woman hobbled forward, and, placing herself in 
 front of the governor, uttered, with a quick, shrill 
 tone — 
 
 " I am here again, Omrah, to renew the warnings 
 which I have already given thee. Thou hast shghted 
 
260 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 them ; but, despite thy security, the dove shall escape 
 out of the kite's clutch, and the rank bird be brought 
 down from his lofty perch in the clouds. When we 
 first met, my fingers closed upon thy wicked bribe, 
 but I took the money as my fee for an innocent 
 warning — not as the meed of a base betrayal. Look 
 to it : thou shalt groan yet for the crimes of a short 
 but ill- spent hfe." 
 
 " Remove that noisy hag," cried the Moghul, im- 
 patiently, " or the bastinado shall score the back of 
 every menial among you, whose duty it is to prevent 
 intrusions like this." 
 
 The lips of Abdallah trembled as he spoke ; in an 
 instant a dozen hands had grasped the bony shoulders 
 of the sibyl. 
 
 " Unhand me, ruffians," she shrieked. " Abdallah 
 Mirza, listen to my parting words — they are the 
 last which shall meet thy ears from these lips : the 
 crow shall shortly croak over thy grave, and the fox- 
 bat pillow his head upon thine." 
 
 " Bear her off and strangle her," roared the ex- 
 cited governor. The words were scarcely uttered 
 when a shaft passed through his brain from the bow 
 of Bulwunt Singh. The utmost consternation pre- 
 vailed. Abdallah Mirza had fallen dead upon the 
 ottoman, without uttering a groan. His Omrahs 
 crowded round the corpse. The bold avenger stood 
 mute before them, with an expression of calm 
 scorn upon his rigid features. He was soon con- 
 firmed in his confidence that the fatal shaft had 
 passed to its destination, by the exclamations of the 
 astonished guests. He was not, however, permitted 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 261 
 
 long to triumph. One of the guards, who had been 
 stationed at the door, hearing the confusion within, 
 entered the area, and, upon ascertaining what had 
 happened, thrust his spear through the blind Raj- 
 poot's body. He died with an exclamation of triumph 
 upon his tongue. The corpse was instantly dragged 
 without the palace walls, cast forth to the kites, and 
 frightfully mutilated. 
 
 Meanwhile, the venerable Aviarani had been hur- 
 ried out of the court before the consummation of this 
 dreadful tragedy ; and, being thrust from the door, 
 she hastened towards the city gate, invokingthe venge- 
 ance of Maha Kali^ upon Abdallah Mirza and his 
 insolent chamberlain. Several persons by whom she 
 was met imagined her to be mad, and set up a loud 
 laugh — our greatest infirmities being but too com- 
 monly rather the subjects of mirth than of pity. This 
 only aggravated her passion. She shook her hoary 
 locks, and pursued her way, uttering the bitterest 
 imprecations, which were either derided or unheeded 
 by the passengers generally, though some fiercely 
 retorted upon her. Having gained the city walls, 
 she drew a small horn from underneath the drapery 
 in which she was partially enveloped, and blew a 
 short shrill blast. This she repeated three times, 
 when it was thrice answered. 
 
 " Ay, they are ready," she muttered, " and we 
 shall shortly see the vile Moslems with their faces in 
 the dust. The proud Abdallah shall repent the day 
 he dared to sanction the rudeness of his underling 
 
 ^ The consort of Siva, representing the attribute of destruction. 
 
262 THE OMRAH OF CHA.NDAHAR, 
 
 towards one who can look beyond this world, and 
 behold where the eye of flesh cannot penetrate." 
 
 Ten minutes had scarcely elapsed from the time 
 she had sounded her horn, when she saw approaching, 
 at a quick pace, a body of Rajpoots. She made the 
 best of her way to meet them ; and, having apprized 
 their leader of the different localities with which he 
 desired to be acquainted, the warlike band, arrayed 
 in their safiron scarfs, passed through the suburb 
 gate into the town, accompanied by the old pro- 
 phetess, who acted as their conductor. At this 
 time, such was the general security, that there were 
 no troops in the city, except an ordinary guard, 
 amounting to about eight hundred men. The Raj- 
 poots advanced rapidly and without opposition, until 
 they reached the palace, which they entered tumul- 
 tuously, and put all who opposed them to the sword. 
 The consternation of the surprised Mohammedans is 
 not to be described. They, however, rallied after 
 the first shock of terror had subsided, and offered a 
 resolute resistance. The guards turned out on the 
 first alarm, and flew to the scene of tumult ; but were 
 shortly cut to pieces by the desperate valour of their 
 implacable foes. The latter entered every room in the 
 palace, and, where they met the least opposition, death 
 followed without mercy. No quarter was given. A 
 signal revenge was taken for the death of Bulwunt 
 Singh, whose corpse was brought off in triumph by 
 the exasperated assailants. 
 
 The young Rajpoot, to whom Pelvahi had plighted 
 her virgin vows, was seen among the foremost of the 
 avengers. His sword was reeking with Mohamme- 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 263 
 
 dan gore when he broke into the apartment in which 
 was confined the unhappy maiden, who had long won 
 his heart, and continued to maintain an imdivided 
 empire over it. She was, as usual, reclining on her 
 rug, absorbed in the profoundest melancholy, utterly 
 unconscious of the signal retribution which had over- 
 taken her licentious persecutor. She gently raised 
 her eyes as her lover entered ; in a moment the fire 
 of almost extinguished hope revived in them : her 
 lips parted, she elevated her head, and, ere she could 
 speak, her bosom's idol was at her feet. Her delight 
 was too powerful for utterance : it was evident that he 
 came as her deliverer. The radiant light of gladness 
 which beamed from his countenance spoke with too 
 fervid an expression of truth to lead to a false inter- 
 pretation. Tliere was no mistaking the mute but 
 eloquent communication. For a short interval neither 
 spoke ; the rapture was too intense to be diverted by 
 so impotent a vehicle of profound devotion as words. 
 The silence of the lovers was a trance of the most 
 exquisite gratification — a focal point, as it were, of 
 joy, in which was crowded and concentrated the bliss 
 of years. 
 
 After the silent paroxysm had somewhat subsided, 
 Pelvahi said, while her lip slightly quivered, " Where 
 is my father ?" 
 
 " Dead." 
 
 A cloud passed over her deep brown lineaments : 
 nevertheless she did not blench at the unexpected 
 communication. Those of her race look upon death 
 as the common allotment, and seldom show emotion 
 
264 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 when it overtakes their dearest relatives. They con- 
 sider it a proof of weakness to exhibit sorrow for the 
 departed, who are removed to a better condition of 
 things. A sigh, however, gradually swelled her bo- 
 som, and soon as gradually expired ; but she did not 
 give vent to a complaint. She then asked, with an 
 unmoved countenance, the particulars of her rescue. 
 Upon learning that the author of so much misery to 
 her had paid the penalty of his crimes, and that this 
 penalty had been inflicted by her parent's arm, her 
 features kindled for an instant, then subsided into 
 their former calmness ; she uttered not a single 
 expression of triumph, and immediately passed to 
 another theme. 
 
 Pelvahi listened with earnest interest to the re- 
 cital of her companion, who related all that had oc- 
 curred since the violent removal of herself and sister 
 from the immediate neighbourhood of her home. 
 He dwelt in glowing terms upon her own misery, the 
 calm determination with which her venerable father 
 pursued his deep purpose of revenge, and the signal 
 address with which the old prophetess had contrived 
 to make herself acquainted with all that passed in 
 the governor's palace, which she communicated to 
 those who had assembled to rescue an innocent 
 captive, or perish in the attempt. 
 
 "To that resolute woman are we indebted for our 
 present success. She has never ceased to watch 
 over the destinies of your family with a perseverance 
 and vigilance which has rendered you everlastingly 
 her debtor. She has followed you through diffi- 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 265 
 
 culties and dangers unknown to you or your late 
 parent, and has crowned the obligation by being the 
 main instrument of your rescue." 
 
 " Let me at once see the good Aviarany, that I 
 may assure her from my own mouth, that so long as 
 I have a pagoda she shall share it. She has for 
 years sought her abode in the jungle among beasts 
 of prey, rather than among human communities with 
 whom she did not love to mingle. I would see the 
 kind instrument of my deliverance." 
 
 Aviarany was sought, and soon found — but, alas, 
 it was among the wounded in the sanguinary fray. 
 She had received a sabre stroke on the head, which 
 had penetrated her brain. When found, though she 
 was rapidly dying, she was still capable of arti- 
 culating. Being brought into the chamber where 
 Pelvahi had been imprisoned, and where that lovely 
 girl anxiously awaited her presence, the expiring 
 woman feebly extended her hand, and said : — 
 
 ** Child, I have watched thy infancy and youthful 
 womanhood with an anxiety proportioned to my 
 love for thy mother. She was my sister. An early 
 disappointment in the loss of one upon whom I had 
 bestowed my affections, caused me to renounce the 
 world, and I have passed many bitter years in the 
 woods, often appeasing the craving of a long- stinted 
 appetite upon food which I have shared with jackals 
 and vultures. I have studied the mystical language 
 of the stars for a long term of years, and thus the 
 events of futurity have been often unfolded to me. 
 I go to enter upon a change for the better, and when 
 I shall have finished my transmigrations, I hope to be 
 
^266 THE OMRAH OF CHANDAHAR, 
 
 absorbed into the essence of the sempiternal Brihm. 
 Child of my long-departed and ever-beloved sister, 
 take my dying benediction. May the glory of the 
 eternal Vishnoo signalise thy days ! " 
 
 Her breathing now became impeded from want of 
 strength to discharge the phlegm from her throat, — 
 her eyes closed, and, after a few short, hurried gasp- 
 ings, she expired. 
 
 Pelvahi was immediately removed by her lover 
 from a scene of so much sadness. By this time the 
 entire subjugation of the Mohammedans in and about 
 the palace had been completed, and the victorious 
 Rajpoots retired from the city without molestation. 
 They did not think it wise to excite the despair of 
 the inhabitants, and, consequently, reheved them 
 from the terror of slaughter and pillage, by march- 
 ing in military order through the principal gate of 
 Chandahar. They were not pursued, but suffered 
 to make good their retreat to their native villages. 
 In a few days they were pursuing their several occu- 
 pations of domestic labour, and the late scene of 
 sanguinary conflict seemed but as an event of the 
 long-forgotten past. 
 
 Pelvahi had now no reason for delaying her nup- 
 tials with the man who had so fully established his 
 claim to her affections. They were solemnized, 
 according to the minute and elaborate rites of the 
 Hindoo formularies, in presence of the principal 
 Rajpoots, who had lent their services to rescue the 
 lovely Rajpootni, and to avenge the death of her 
 parent. Unlike what is usual on these occasions 
 throughout Hindostan, the feast was scanty, and the 
 11 
 
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE. 267 
 
 guests few, for neither the bridegroom nor his bride 
 felt any desire to exhaust their Httle means in pro- 
 viding an entertainment that could really add nothing 
 either to their respect or to their peace ^ A few 
 murmurs were heard, but these being disregarded, 
 immediately after their union the happy couple set 
 out for the Deccan, where the young husband had 
 relatives to whom he wished to introduce his wife. 
 They reached the place of their destination after a 
 difficult and protracted journey of many weeks, their 
 progress being slow as they advanced towards the 
 south, in consequence of the intense heat. They, 
 however, at length arrived at the town of Ahmed- 
 naggur. 
 
 Here the king of the Deccan at this time resided, 
 and the young Rajpoot told his wife that on the 
 following day at the royal durbar^ he should intro- 
 duce her to the sovereign. A thing so unusual 
 excited Pelvahi's surprise, as she could not conceive 
 what particular interest the monarch of so extensive 
 an empire could take in the wife of a poor Rajpoot. 
 Without demur, however, she accompanied her hus- 
 band to the hall of audience. The king, a vene- 
 rable man, of exceedingly benign aspect, was seated 
 upon a large square rug of rich silk damask, under 
 a canopy of similar fabric. The young warrior ad- 
 vanced, leading his beautiful consort by the hand, 
 and threw himself at the monarch's feet. The old 
 
 * The entertainments at Hindoo marriages are sometimes so 
 costly as to ruin the parents of both bride and bridegroom, and 
 entail poverty on their posterity. 
 
 "^ An eastern levee. 
 
268 THE OMRAH OF CKANDAHAR. 
 
 man rose, and embracing him, cried, " Welcome be 
 thy return, my son, to the arms of thy king and 
 father." 
 
 In order to account for the heir to the throne of 
 the Deccan being so long in the province of Chan- 
 dahar, it is only necessary to mention that thesove- 
 reign had sent his son thither to be educated under 
 the old Rajpoot, the youth's reputed father, who 
 was renowned throughout the country for his skill 
 in the stern art of war. The son's return had been 
 for some time expected by his royal parent, who 
 welcomed his bride with joy. In a few years the 
 Rajpootni's husband became king of the Deccan on 
 the decease of his father, and he never ceased to 
 remember the happy chance which had rendered him 
 the deliverer of the lovely Pelvahi from the jaws of 
 the leopard. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 frlLBERT AND KIVINGTON, PIUNTERS, 
 ST. JOHN'S SQUARE. 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 \\\fm 12 13' 
 
 u-4 <:t.: 
 
 MAY 4 1944 
 
 JUL 11 J978 
 
 MAY 18 1944 
 
 
 14]un'49SL 
 
 30 78 
 
 NOV 3 Q 2003 
 
 
 ^m 
 
 w^ 
 
 S£P 2 8 Z006 
 
 p 
 
 ^•-v 
 
 UBRARY USE 
 
 MAH i ^Ji? 
 
 •ft 
 
 co'D LO 
 
 MAR 2 5 1951 
 
 E 
 
 Ti'T) 1 D 
 
 4^AP- 
 
 AUG 11 1978 
 
 i 
 
 s) 
 
 ^^fii,iv^ 
 
 LD 21-1 00to-7,';?9( 402 
 
YB 19974 
 
 / 
 
 /