book is a string of fine pearls to be hung round the neck

of human intelligence ; a fragrant flower to be borne on the turband of mental wisdom ; a jewel of pure gold, which becomes the brow of all supreme minds ; and a handful of powdered rubies, whose tonic effects will appear palpably upon the mental digestion of every patient. Finally, that by aid of the lessons inculcated in the following pages, man will pass happily through this world into the state of absorption, where fables will be no longer required.
He then teaches us how Vikramaditya the Brave became King of Ujjayani.
Some nineteen centuries ago, the renowned city of Ujjayani witnessed the birth of a prince to whom was given the gigantic name Vikramaditya. Even the Sanskrit- speaking people, who are not usually pressed for time, shortened it to " Vikram," and a little further West it would infallibly have been docked down to " Vik."
Vikram was the second son of an old king Gan-
2 Vikram and the Vampire.
dharba-Sena, concerning whom little favourable has reached posterity, except that he became an ass, married four queens, and had by them six sons, each of whom was more learned and powerful than the other. It so hap- pened that in course of time the father died. Thereupon his eldest heir, who was known as Shank, succeeded to the carpet of Rajaship, and was instantly murdered by Vikram, his " scorpion," the hero of the following pages.1
By this act of vigour and manly decision, whch all younger-brother princes should devoutly imitate, Vikram having obtained the title of Bir, or the Brave, made himself Raja. He began to rule well, and the gods so favoured him that day by day his dominions increased. At length he became lord of all India, and having firmly established his government, he instituted an era — an uncommon feat for a mere monarch, especially when hereditary.
The steps,2 says the historian, which he took to arrive at that pinnacle of grandeur, were these :
The old King calling his two grandsons Bhartari-hari and Vikramaditya, gave them good counsel respecting their future learning. They were told to master every-
1 History tells us another tale. The god Indra and the King of Dhara gave the kingdom to Bhartari-hari, another son of Gandhar- ba-Sena, by a handmaiden. For some time, the brothers lived together ; but presently they quarrelled. Vikram being dismissed from court, wandered from place to place in abject poverty, and at one time hired himself as a servant to a merchant living in Guzerat. At length, Bhartari-hari, disgusted with the world on account of the infidelity of his wife, to whom he was ardently attached, became a religious devotee, and left the kingdom to its fate. In the course of his travels, Vikram came to Ujjayani, and finding it without a head, assumed the sovereignty. He reigned with great splendour, conquer- ing by his arms Utkala, Vanga, Kuch-bahar, Guzerat, Somnat, Delhi, and other places ; until, in his turn, he was conquered, and slain by Shalivahan.
2 The words are found, says Mr. Ward, in the Hindu History compiled by Mrityungaya.
2 — I
Introduction. 3
thing, a certain way not to succeed in anything. They were diligently to learn grammar, the Scriptures, and all the religious sciences. They were to become familiar with military tactics, international law, and music, the riding of horses and elephants — especially the latter — the driving of chariots, and the use of the broadsword, the bow, and the mogdars or Indian clubs. They were ordered to be skilful in all kinds of games, in leaping and running, in besieging forts, in forming and breaking bodies of troops ; they were to endeavour to excel in every princely quality, to be cunning in ascertaining the power of an enemy, how to make war, to perform journeys, to sit in the presence of the nobles, to separate the different sides of a question, to form alliances, to distinguish between the innocent and the guilty, to assign proper punishments to the wicked, to exercise authority with perfect justice, and to be liberal. The boys were then sent to school, and were placed under the care of excellent teachers, where they became truly famous. Whilst under pupilage, the eldest was allowed all the power necessary to obtain a know- ledge of royal affairs, and he was not invested with the regal office till in these preparatory steps he had given full satisfaction to his subjects, who expressed high approval of his conduct.
The two brothers often conversed on the duties of kings, when the great Vikramaditya gave the great Bhartari-hari the following valuable advice l :
" As Indra, during the four rainy months, fills the earth with water, so a king should replenish his treasury with money. As Surya the sun, in warming the earth
i These duties of kings are thus laid down in the Rajtarangini. It is evident, as Professor H. H. Wilson says, that the royal status was by no means a sinecure. But the rules are evidently the closet work of some pedantic, dogmatic Brahman, teaching kingcraft to kings. He directs his instructions, not to subordinate judges, but to the Raja as the chief magistrate, and through him to all appointed for the administration of his justice.
4 Vikram and the Vampire.
eight months, does not scorch it, so a king, in drawing revenues from his people, ought not to oppress them. As Vayu, the wind, surrounds and fills everything, so the king by his officers and spies should become acquainted with the affairs and circumstances of his whole people. As Yama judges men without partiality or prejudice, and punishes the guilty, so should a king chastise, without favour, all offenders. As Varuna, the regent of water, binds with his pasha or divine noose his enemies, so let a king bind every malefactor safely in prison. As Chandra,1 the moon, by his cheering light gives pleasure to all, thus should a king, by gifts and generosity, make his people happy. And as Prithwi, the earth, sustains all alike, so should a king feel an equal affection and forbearance towards every one."
Become a monarch, Vikram meditated deeply upon what is said of monarchs : — " A king is fire and air ; he is both sun and moon ; he is the god of criminal justice ; he is the genius of wealth ; he is the regent of water ; he is the lord of the firmament ; he is a powerful divinity who appears in human shape." He reflected with some satisfaction that the scriptures had made him absolute, had left the lives and properties of all his subjects to his arbitrary will, had pronounced him to be an incarnate deity, and had threatened to punish with death even ideas derogatory to his honour.
He punctually observed all the ordinances laid down by the author of the Niti, or institutes of government. His night and day were divided into sixteen pahars or portions, each one hour and a half, and they were disposed of as follows : —
Before dawn Vikram was awakened by a servant appointed to this special duty. He swallowed — a thing allowed only to a khshatriya or warrior — a Mithridatic
i Lunus, not Luna.
Introduction. 5
every morning on the saliva,1 and he made the cooks taste every dish before he ate of it. As soon as he had risen, the pages in waiting repeated his splendid qualities, and as he left his sleeping-room in full dress, several Brahmans rehearsed the praises of the gods. Presently he bathed, worshipped his guardian deity, again heard hymns, drank a little water, and saw alms distributed to the poor. He ended this watch by auditing his accounts.
Next entering his court, he placed himself amidst the assembly. He was always armed when he received strangers, and he caused even women to be searched for concealed weapons. He was surrounded by so many spies and so artful, that of a thousand, no two ever told the same tale. At the levee, on his right sat his relations, the Brahmans, and men of distinguished birth. The other castes were on the left, and close to him stood the ministers and those whom he delighted to consult. Afar in front gathered the bards chanting the praises of the gods and of the king ; also the charioteers, elephanteers, horsemen, and soldiers of valour. Amongst the learned men in those assemblies there were ever some who were well instructed in all the scriptures, and others who had studied in one particular school of philosophy, and were acquainted only with the works on divine wisdom, or with those on justice, civil and criminal, on the arts, mineralogy or the practice of physic ; also persons cun- ning in all kinds of customs ; riding-masters, dancing- masters, teachers of good behaviour, examiners, tasters, mimics, mountebanks, and others, who all attended the court and awaited the king's commands. He here pro- nounced judgment in suits of appeal. His poets wrote about him :
The lord of lone splendour an instant suspends His course at mid-noon, ere he westward descends ;
i That is to say, " upon an empty stomach."
6 Vikram and the Vampire.
And brief are the moments our young monarch knows, Devoted to pleasure or paid to repose !
Before the second sandhya,1 or noon, about the beginning of the third watch, he recited the names of the gods, bathed, and broke his fast in his private room ; then rising from food, he was amused by singers and dancing girls. The labours of the day now became lighter. After eating he retired, repeating the name of his guardian deity, visited the temples, saluted the gods, conversed with the priests, and proceeded to receive and to distribute presents. Fifthly, he discussed political questions with his ministers and councillors.
On the announcement of the herald that it was the sixth watch — about 2 or 3 P.M. — Vikram allowed himself to follow his own inclinations, to regulate his family, and to transact business of a private and personal nature.
After gaining strength by rest, he proceeded to review his troops, examining the men, saluting the officers, and holding military councils. At sunset he bathed a third time and performed the five sacraments of listening to a prelection of the Veda ; making oblations to the manes ; sacrificing to Fire in honour of the deities ; giving rice to dumb creatures ; and receiving guests with due cere- monies. He spent the evening amidst a select company of wise, learned, and pious men, conversing on different subjects, and reviewing the business of the day.
The night was distributed with equal care. During the first portion Vikram received the reports which his spies and envoys, dressed in every disguise, brought to him about his enemies. Against the latter he ceased not to use the five arts, namely — dividing the kingdom, bribes, mischief-making, negotiations, and brute-force — especially preferring the first two and the last. His forethought and prudence taught him to regard all his
i There are three sandhyas amongst the Hindus — morning, mid- day, and sunset ; and all three are times for prayer.
Introduction. 7
nearest neighbours and their allies as hostile. The powers beyond those natural enemies he considered friendly because they were the foes of his foes. And all the remoter nations he looked upon as neutrals, in a tran- sitional or provisional state as it were, till they became either his neighbours' neighbours, or his own neighbours, that is to say, his friends or his foes.
This important duty finished he supped, and at the end of the third watch he retired to sleep, which was not allowed to last beyond three hours. In the sixth watch he arose and purified himself. The seventh was devoted to holding private consultations with his ministers, and to furnishing the officers of government with requisite instructions. The eighth or last watch was spent with the Purohita or priest, and with Crahmans, hailing the dawn with its appropriate rites ; he then bathed, made the customary offerings, and prayed in some unfrequented place near pure water.
And throughout these occupations he bore in mind the duty of kings, namely — to pursue every object till it be accomplished ; to succour all dependants, and hospitably to receive guests, however numerous. He was generous to his subjects respecting taxes, and kind of speech ; yet he was inexorable as death in the punishment of offences. He rarely hunted, and he visited his pleasure gardens only on stated days. He acted in his own dominions with justice; he chastised foreign foes with rigour ; he behaved generously to Brahmans, and he avoided favouritism amongst his friends. In war he never slew a suppliant, a spectator, a person asleep or undressed, or anyone that showed fear. Whatever country he conquered, offerings were presented to its gods, and effects and money were given to the reverends. But what benefited him most was his attention to the creature comforts of the nine Gems of Science : those eminent men ate and drank themselves into fits of enthu-
8 Vikram and the Vampire.
siasm, and ended by immortalising their patron's name.
Become Vikram the Great he established his court at a delightful and beautiful location rich in the best of water. The country was difficult of access, and artificially made incapable of supporting a host of invaders, but four great roads met near the city. The capital was sur- rounded with durable ramparts, having gates of defence, and near it was a mountain fortress, under the especial charge of a great captain.
The metropolis was well garrisoned and provisioned, and it surrounded the royal palace, a noble building without as well as within. Grandeur seemed embodied there, and Prosperity had made it her own. The nearer ground, viewed from the terraces and pleasure pavilions, was a lovely mingling of rock and mountain, plain and valley, field and fallow, crystal lake and glittering stream. The banks of the winding Lavana were fringed with meads whose herbage, pearly with morning dew, afforded choicest grazing for the sacred cow, and were dotted with perfumed clumps of Bo-trees, tamarinds, and hoi) figs: in one place Vikram planted 100,000 in a single orc.ic.id and gave them to his spiritual advisers. The river valky separated the stream from a belt of forest growth which extended to a hill range, dark with impervious jungle, and cleared here and there for the cultivator's village. Behind it, rose another sub-range, wooded with a lower bush and already blue with air, whilst in the background towered range upon range, here rising abruptly into points and peaks, there ramp-shaped or wall-formed, with sheer descents, and all of light azure hue adorned with glories of silver and gold.
After reigning for some years, Vikram the Brave found himself at the age of thirty, a staid and sober middle-aged man. He had several sons — daughters are naught in India — by his several wives, and he had some paternal affection for nearly all — except of course, for his
Introduction. 9
eldest son, a youth who seemed to conduct himself as though he had a claim to the succession. In fact, the king seemed to have taken up his abode for life at Ujjayani, when suddenly he bethought himself, " I must visit those countries of whose names I am ever hearing." The fact is, he had determined to spy out in disguise the lands of all his foes, and to find the best means of bringing against them his formidable army.
* # * # # # *
We now learn how Bhartari Raja becomes Regent of Ujjayani.
Having thus resolved, Vikram the Brave gave the government into the charge of a younger brother, Bhartari Raja, and in the garb of a religious mendi- cant, accompanied by Dharma Dhwaj, his second son, a youth bordering on the age of puberty, he began to travel from city to city, and from forest to forest.
The Regent was of a settled melancholic turn of mind, having lost in early youth a very peculiar wife. One day, whilst out hunting, he happened to pass a funeral pyre, upon which a Brahman's widow had just become Sati (a holy woman) with the greatest fortitude. On his return home he related the adventure to Sita Rani, his spouse, and she at once made reply that virtuous women die with their husbands, killed by the fire of grief, not by the flames of the pile. To prove her truth the prince, after an affectionate farewell, rode forth to the chase, and presently sent back the suite with his robes torn and stained, to report his accidental death. Sita perished upon the spot, and the widower remained in- consolable— for a time.
He led the dullest of lives, and took to himself sundry spouses, all equally distinguished for birth, beauty, and modesty. Like his brother, he performed all the proper devoirs of a Raja, rising before the day to finish his ablutions, to worship the gods, and to do due obeisance to*
io V ikr am and the Vampire.
the Brahmans. He then ascended the throne, to judge his people according to the Shastra, carefully keeping in subjection lust, anger, avarice, folly, drunkenness, and pride ; preserving himself from being seduced by the love of gaming and of the chase ; restraining his desire for dancing, singing, and playing on musical instruments, and refraining from sleep during daytime, from wine, from molesting men of worth, from dice, from putting human beings to death by artful means, from useless travelling, and from holding any one guilty without the commission of a crime. His levees were in a hall decently splendid, and he was distinguished only by an umbrella of peacock's feathers; he received* all complainants, petitioners, and presenters of offences with kind looks and soft words. He united to himself the seven or eight wise councillors, and the sober and virtuous secretary that formed the high cabinet of his royal brother, and they met in some secret lonely spot, as a mountain, a terrace, a bower or a forest, whence women, parrots, and other talkative birds were carefully excluded.
And at the end of this useful and somewhat laborious day, he retired to his private apartments, and, after listening to spiritual songs and to soft music, he fell asleep. Sometimes he would summon his brother's " Nine Gems of Science," and give ear to their learned discourses. But it was observed that the viceroy re- served this exercise for nights when he was troubled with insomnia — the words of wisdom being to him an infallible remedy for that disorder.
Thus passed onwards his youth, doing nothing that it could desire, forbidden all pleasures because they were unprincely, and working in the palace harder than in the pauper's hut. Having, however, fortunately for himself, few predilections and no imagination, he began to pride himself upon being a philosopher. Much business from an early age had dulled his wits, which were never of the
Introduction.
ii
most brilliant ; and in the steadily increasing torpidity of his spirit, he traced the germs of that quietude which forms the highest happiness of man in this storm of matter called the world. He therefore allowed himself but one friend of his soul. He retained, I have said, his brother's seven or eight ministers ; he was constant in attendance upon the Brahman priests who officiated at the palace, and who kept the impious from touching sacred property ; and he was courteous to the commander- in-chief who directed his warriors, to the officers of justice who inflicted punishment upon offenders, and to the lords of towns, varying in number from one to a thousand. But he placed an intimate of his own in the high position of confidential councillor, the ambas- sador to regulate war and peace.
Mahi-pala was a person of noble birth, endowed with shining abilities, popular, dexterous in business, acquainted with foreign parts, famed for eloquence and intrepidity, and as Menu the Lawgiver advises, remark- ably handsome.
Bhartari Raja, as I have said, became a quietist and a philosopher. But Kama,1 the bright god who exerts his sway over the three worlds, heaven and earth and grewsome Hades,2 had marked out the prince once more as the victim of his blossom-tipped shafts and his flowery bow. How, indeed, could he hope to escape the doom which has fallen equally upon Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and dreadful Shiva the Three-eyed Destroyer3 ?
By reason of her exceeding beauty, her face was a full moon shining in the clearest sky ; her hair was the purple cloud of autumn when, gravid with rain, it hangs low over earth ; and her complexion mocked the pale
1 The Hindu Cupid.
2 Patali, the regions beneath the earth.
3 The Hindu Triad.
12 Vikram and the Vampire.
waxen hue of the large-flowered jasmine. Her eyes were those of the timid antelope ; her lips were as red as those of the pomegranate's bud, and when they opened, from them distilled a fountain of ambrosia. Her neck was like a pigeon's ; her hand the pink lining of the conch-shell ; her waist a leopard's ; her feet the softest lotuses. In a word, a model of grace and loveliness was Dangalah Rani, Raja Bhartari's last and youngest wife.
The warrior laid down his arms before her ; the poli- tician spoke out every secret in her presence. The religious prince would have slaughtered a cow — that sole unforgivable sin — to save one of her eyelashes : the absolute king would not drink a cup of water without her permis- sion ; the staid philosopher, the sober quietist, to win from her the shadow of a smile, would have danced before her like a singing-girl. So desperately enamoured became Bhartari Raja.
It is written, however, that love, alas ! breeds not love; and so it happened to the Regent. The warmth of his affection, instead of animating his wife, annoyed her ; his protestations wearied her ; his vows gave her the headache ; and his caresses were a colic that made her blood run cold. Of course, the prince perceived nothing, being lost in wonder and admiration of the beauty's coyness and coquetry. And as women must give away their hearts, whether asked or not, so the lovely Dangalah Rani lost no time in lavishing all the passion of her idle soul upon Mahi-pala, the handsome ambassador of peace and war. By this means the three were happy and were contented ; their felicity, however, being built on a rotten foundation, could not long endure. It soon ended in the following extraordinary way.
In the city of Ujjayani,1 within sight of the palace,
i Or Avanti, also called Padmavati. It is the first meridian of the Hindus, who found their longitude by observation of lunar eclipses, calculated for it and Lanka, or Ceylon. The clepsydra was used for taking ime.
Introduction. 13
dwelt a Brahman and his wife, who, being old and poor, and having nothing else to do, had applied them- selves to the practice of austere devotion.1 They fasted and refrained from drink, they stood on their heads and held their arms for weeks in the air; they prayed till their knees were like pads ; they disciplined them- selves with scourges of wire ; and they walked about unclad in the cold season, and in summer they sat within a circle of flaming wood, till they became the envy and admiration of all the plebeian gods that inhabit the lower heavens. In fine, as a reward for their exceeding piety, the venerable pair received at the hands of a celestial messenger an apple of the tree Kalpavriksha — a fruit which has the virtue of conferring eternal life upon him that tastes it.
Scarcely had the god disappeared, when the Brah- man, opening his toothless mouth, prepared to eat the fruit of immortality. Then his wife addressed him in these words, shedding copious tears the while :
" To die, O man, is a passing pain ; to be poor is an interminable anguish. Surely our present lot is the penalty of some great crime committed by us in a past state of being.2 Callest thou this state life ? Better we die at once, and so escape the woes of the world!"
Hearing these words, the Brahman sat undecided, with open jaws and eyes fixed upon the apple. Presently he found tongue : "I have accepted the fruit, and have brought it here ; but having heard thy speech, my intel- lect hath wasted away ; now I will do whatever thou pointest out."
The wife resumed her discourse, which had been in-
i In the original only the husband "practised austere devotion." For the benefit of those amongst whom the "pious wife" is an in- stitution, I have extended the privilege.
-2 A Moslem would say, "This is our fate." A Hindu refers at once to metempsychosis, as naturally as a modern Swedenborgian to 9 spiritism.
14 V iky am and the Vampire.
terrupted by a more than usually copious flow of tears. " Moreover, O husband, we are old, and what are the enjoyments of the stricken in years ? Truly quoth the poet —
Die loved in youth, not hated in age.
If that fruit could have restored thy dimmed eyes, and deaf ears, and blunted taste, and warmth of love, I had not spoken to thee thus."
After which the Brahman threw away the apple, to the great joy of his wife, who felt a natural indignation at the prospect of seeing her goodman become immortal, whilst she still remained subject to the laws of death ; but she concealed this motive in the depths of her thought, enlarging, as women are apt to do, upon everything but the truth. And she spoke with such success, that the priest was about to toss in his rage the heavenly fruit into the fire, reproaching the gods as if by sending it they had done him an injury. Then the wife snatched it out of his hand, and telling him it was too precious to be wasted, bade him arise and gird his loins and wend him to the Regent's palace, and offer him the fruit — as King Vikram was absent — with a right reverend brahmanical benediction. She concluded with impressing upon her unworldly husband the necessity of requiring a large sum of money as a return for his inestimable gift. ** By this means," she said, " thou mayst promote thy present and future welfare.1"
Then the Brahman went forth, and standing in the presence of the Raja, told him all things touching the fruit, concluding with " O, mighty prince ! vouchsafe to accept this tribute, and bestow wealth upon me. I shall be happy in your living long ! "
Bhartari Raja led the supplicant into an inner strong-
i In Europe, money buys this world, and delivers you from the pains of purgatory ; amongst the Hindus, it furthermore opens the gate of heaven.
Introduction. 15
room, where stood heaps of the finest gold-dust, and bade him carry away all that he could ; this the priest did, not forgetting to fill even his eloquent and toothless mouth with the precious metal. Having dismissed the devotee groaning under the burden, the Regent entered the apart- ments of his wives, and having summoned the beautiful Queen Dangalah Rani, gave her the fruit, and said, "Eat this, light of my eyes! This fruit — joy of my heart! — will make thee everlastingly young and beautiful."
The pretty queen, placing both hands upon her hus- band's bosom, kissed his eyes and lips, and sweetly smiling on his face — for great is the guile of women- whispered, " Eat it thyself, dear one, or at least share it with me ; for what is life and what is youth without the presence of those we love ?" But the Raja, whose heart was melted by these unusual words, put her away ten- derly, and, having explained that the fruit would serve for only one person, departed.
Whereupon the pretty queen, sweetly smiling as be- fore, slipped the precious present into her pocket. When the Regent was transacting business in the hall of audience she sent for the ambassador who regulated war and peace, and presented him with the apple in a manner at least as tender as that with which it had been offered to her.
Then the ambassador, after slipping the fruit into his pocket also, retired from the presence of the pretty queen, and meeting Lakha, one of the maids of honour, explained to her its wonderful power, and gave it to her as a token of his love. But the maid of honour, being an ambitious girl, determined that the fruit was a fit present to set before the Regent in the absence of the King. Bhartari Raja accepted it, bestowed on her great wealth, and dismissed her with many thanks.
He then took up the apple and looked at it with eyes brimful of tears, for he knew the whole extent of his mis-
1 6 Vikram and the Vampire.
fortune. His heart ached, he felt a loathing for the world, and he said with sighs and groans1:
" Of what value are these delusions of wealth and affection, whose sweetness endures for a moment and be- comes eternal bitterness ? Love is like the drunkard's cup : delicious is the first drink, palling are the draughts that succeed it, and most distasteful are the dregs. What is life but a restless vision of imaginary pleasures and of real pains, from which the only waking is the ter- rible day of death ? The affection of this world is of no use, since, in consequence of it, we fall at last into hell. For which reason it is best to practise the austerities of religion, that the Deity may bestow upon us hereafter that happiness which he refuses to us here ! "
Thus did Bhartari Raja determine to abandon the world. But before setting out for the forest, he could not refrain from seeing the queen once more, so hot was the flame which Kama had kindled in his heart. He therefore went to the apartments of his women, and hav- ing caused Dangalah Rani to be summoned, he asked her what had become of the fruit which he had given to her. She answered that, according to his command, she had eaten it. Upon which the Regent showed her the apple, and she beholding it stood aghast, unable to make any reply. The Raja gave careful orders for her beheading; he then went out, and having had the fruit washed, ate it. He quitted the throne to be a jogi, or religious mendi- cant, and without communicating with any one departed into the jungle. There he became such a devotee that death had no power over him, and he is wandering stilL But some say that he was duly absorbed into the essence of the Deity.
i This part of the introduction will remind the reader of the two royal brothers and their false wives in the introduction to the Arabian- Nights. The fate of Bhartari Raja, however, is historical.
Introduction. 17
We are next told how the valiant Vikram returned to his own country.
Thus Vikram's throne remained empty. When the news reached King Indra, Regent of the Lower Firma- ment and Protector of Earthly Monarchs, he sent Prithwi Pala, a fierce giant,1 to defend the city of Ujjayani till such time as its lawful master might reappear, and the guardian used to keep watch and ward night and day over his trust.
In less than a year the valorous Raja Vikram be- came thoroughly tired of wandering about the woods half dressed : now suffering from famine, then exposed to the attacks of wild beasts, and at all times very ill at ease. He reflected also that he was not doing his duty to his wives and children ; that the heir-apparent would prob- ably make the worst use of the parental absence ; and finally, that his subjects, deprived of his fatherly care, had been left in the hands of a man who, for ought he could say, was not worthy of the high trust. He had also spied out all the weak points of friend and foe. Whilst these and other equally weighty considerations were hang- ing about the Raja's mind, he heard a rumour of the state of things spread abroad ; that Bhartari, the regent, hav- ing abdicated his throne, had gone away into the forest. Then quoth Vikram to his son, " We have ended our wayfarings, now let us turn our steps homewards ! "
i In the original, "Div" — a supernatural being, god, or demon. This part of the plot is variously told. According to some, Raja Vikram was surprised, when entering the city, to see a grand proces- sion at the house of a potter, and a boy being carried off on an elephant, to the violent grief of his parents. The King inquired the reason of their sorrow, and was told that the wicked Div that guarded the city was in the habit of eating a citizen per diem. Whereupon the valorous Raja caused the boy to dismount ; took his place; entered the palace; and, when presented as food for the demon, displayed his pugilistic powers in a way' to excite the monster's admiration.
2
1 8 Vikvam and the Vampire.
The gong was striking the mysterious hour of mid- night as the king and the young prince approached the principal gate. And they were pushing through it when a monstrous figure rose up before them and called out with a fearful voice, " Who are ye, and where are ye going ? Stand and deliver your names ! "
" I am Raja Vikram," rejoined the king, half choked with rage, " and I am come to mine own city. Who art thou that darest to stop or stay me ? "
" That question is easily answered," cried Prithwi Pala the giant, in his roaring voice ; " the gods have sent me to protect Ujjayani. If thou be really Raja Vikram, prove thyself a man : first fight with me, and then return to thine own."
The warrior king cried " Sadhu ! " wanting nothing better. He girt his girdle tight round his loins, sum- moned his opponent into the empty space beyond the gate, told him to stand on guard, and presently began to devise some means of closing with or running in upon him. The giant's fists were large as water melons, and his knotted arms whistled through the air like falling trees, threatening fatal blows. Besides which the Raja's head scarcely reached the giant's stomach, and the latter, each time he struck out, whooped so abominably loud, that no human nerves could remain unshaken.
At last Vikram's good luck prevailed. The giant's left foot slipped, and the hero, seizing his antagonist's other leg, began to trip him up. At the same moment the young prince, hastening to his parent's assistance, jumped viciously upon the enemy's naked toes. By their united exertions they brought him to the ground, when the son sat down upon his stomach, making himself as weighty as he well could, whilst the father, climbing up to the monsters throat, placed himself astride upon it, and pressing both thumbs upon his eyes, threatened to, blind him if he would not yield.
2 2
Introduction. 19
Then the giant, modifying the bellow of his voice, cried out —
".O Raja, thou hast overthrown me, and I grant thee thy life."
" Surely thou art mad, monster," replied the king, in jeering tone, half laughing, half angry. " To whom grantest thou life ? If I desire it I can kill thee ; how, then, dost thou talk about granting me my life?"
" Vikram of Ujjayani," said the giant, " be not too proud ! I will save thee from a nearly impending death. Only hearken to the tale which I have to tell thee, and use thy judgment, and act upon it. So shalt thou rule the world free from care, and live without danger, and die happily."
" Proceed," quoth the Raja, after a moment's thought, dismounting from the giant's throat, and be- ginning to listen with all his ears.
The giant raised himself from the ground, and when in a sitting posture, began in solemn tones to speak as follows :
" In short, the history of the matter is, that three men were born in this same city of Ujjayani, in the same lunar mansion, in the same division of the great circle described upon the ecliptic, and in the same period of time. You, the first, were born in the house of a king. The second was an oilman's son, who was slain by the third, a jogi, or anchorite, who kills all he can, wafting the sweet scent of human sacrifice to the nostrils of Durga, goddess of destruction. Moreover, the holy man, after compassing the death of the oilman's son, has sus- pended him head downwards from a mimosa tree in a cemetery. He is now anxiously plotting thy destruction. He hath murdered his own child —
" And how came an anchorite to have a child ? " asked Raja Vikram, incredulously.
" That is what I am about to tell thee," replied the giant. " In the good days of thy generous father, Gand-
2O Vikvam and the Vampire.
harba-Sena, as the court was taking its pleasure in the forest, they saw a devotee, or rather a devotee's head, pro- truding from a hole in the ground. The white ants had surrounded his body with a case of earth, and had made their home upon his skin. All kinds of insects and small animals crawled up and down the face, yet not a muscle moved. Wasps had hung their nests to its temples, and scorpions wandered in and out of the matted and clotted hair ; yet the hermit felt them not. He spoke to no one ; he received no gifts ; and had it not been for the opening of his nostrils, as he continually inhaled the pungent smoke of a thorn fire, man would have deemed him dead. Such were his religious austerities.
" Thy father marvelled much at the sight, and rode home in profound thought. That evening, as he sat in the hall of audience, he could speak of nothing but the devotee ; and his curiosity soon rose to such a pitch, that he proclaimed about the city a reward of one hundred gold pieces to any one that could bring to court this anchorite of his own free will.
" Shortly afterwards, Vasantasena, a singing and dancing girl more celebrated for wit and beauty than for sagesse or discretion, appeared before thy sire, and offered for the petty inducement of a gold bangle to bring the anchorite into the palace, carrying a baby on his shoulder.
" The king hearing her speak was astonished, gave her a betel leaf in token that he held her to her promise, and permitted her to depart, which she did with a laugh of triumph.
" Vasantasena went directly to the jungle, where she found the pious man faint with thirst, shrivelled with hunger, and half dead with heat and cold. She cautiously put out the fire. Then, having prepared a confection, she approached from behind and rubbed upon his lips a little of the sweetmeat, which he licked up with ereat
Introduction. 2 1
relish. Thereupon she made more and gave it to him After two days of this generous diet he gained some strength, and on the third, as he felt a finger upon hi« mouth, he opened his eyes and said, * Why hast thou come here ? '
" The girl, who had her story in readiness, replied : * I am the daughter of a deity, and have practised re- ligious observances in the heavenly regions. I have now come into this forest ! ' And the devotee, who began to think how much more pleasant is such society than soli- tude, asked her where her hut was, and requested to be led there.
" Then Vasantasena, having unearthed the holy man and compelled him to purify himself, led him to the abode which she had caused to be built for herself in the wood. She explained its luxuries by the nature of her vow, which bound her to indulge in costly apparel, in food with six flavours, and in every kind of indulgence.1 In course of time the hermit learned to follow her example ; he gave up inhaling smoke, and he began to eat and drink as a daily occupation.
" At length Kama began to trouble him. Briefly the saint and saintess were made man and wife, by the simple form of matrimony called the Gandharba-vivaha,2
1 In India, there is still a monastic order the pleasant duty of •whose members is to enjoy themselves as much as possible. It has been much the same in Europe. " Representez-vous le convent de 1'Escurial ou du Mont Cassin, ou les cenobites ont toutes sortes de commodites, necessaires, utiles, delectables, superflues, surabondantes, puisqu'ils ont les cent cinquante mille, les quatre cent mille, les cinq cent mille ecus de rente ; et jugez si monsieur 1'abbe a de quoi laisser dormir la meridienne a ceux qui voudront." — Saint Augustin, de I'Ouvrage des Moines, by Le Camus, Bishop of Belley, quoted by Voltaire, Diet. phil., sub v. "Apocalypse."
2 This form of matrimony was recognized by the ancient Hindus, and is frequent in books. It is a kind of Scotch wedding — ultra- Caledonian — taking place by mutual consent, without any form or
22 Vikram and the Vampire.
and about ten months afterwards a son was born to them. Thus the anchorite came to have a child.
" Remained Vasantasena's last feat. Some months passed : then she said to the devotee her husband, ' Oh saint ! let us now, having finished our devotions, perform a pilgrimage to some sacred place, that all the sins of our bodies may be washed away, after which we will die and depart into everlasting happiness.' Cajoled by these speeches, the hermit mounted his child upon his shoulder and followed her where she went — directly into Raja Gandharba-Sena's palace.
" When the king and the ministers and the officers and the courtiers saw Vasantasena, and her spouse carry- ing the baby, they recognised her from afar. The Raja exclaimed, 'Lo! this is the very singing girl who' went forth to bring back the devotee.' And all replied : ' O great monarch ! thou speakest truly ; this is the very same woman. And be pleased to observe that whatever things she, having asked leave to undertake, went forth to do, all these she hath done ! ' Then gathering around her they asked her all manner of questions, as if the whole matter had been the lightest and the most laugh- able thing in the world.
" But the anchorite, having heard the speeches of the king and his courtiers, thought to himself, * They have done this for the purpose of taking away the fruits of my penance.' Cursing them all with terrible curses, and taking up his child, he left the hall. Thence he went to the forest, slaughtered the innocent, and began to practise austerities with a view to revenge that hour, and, having slain his child, he will attempt thy life. His prayers have been heard. In the first place they deprived thee of thy father. Secondly, they cast enmity between thee and thy brother, thus dooming him to an untimely end.
ceremony. The Gandharbas are heavenly minstrels of Indra's court, who are supposed to be witnesses.
Introduction. 23
Thirdly, they are now working thy ruin. The anchor- ite's design is to offer up a king and a king's son to his patroness Durga, and by virtue of such devotional act he will obtain the sovereignty of the whole world !
" But I have promised, O Vikram, to save thee, if such be the will of Fortune, from impending destruction. Therefore hearken well unto my words. Distrust them that dwell amongst the dead, and remember that it is lawful and right to strike off his head that would slay thee. So shalt thou rule the universal earth, and leave behind thee an immortal name !"
Suddenly Prithwi Pala, the giant, ceased speaking, and disappeared. Vikram and his son then passed through the city gates, feeling their limbs to be certain that no bones were broken, and thinking over the scene that had occurred.
* * * * * *
We now are informed how the valiant King Vikram met with the Vampire.
It was the spring season when the Raja returned, and the Holi festival1 caused dancing and singing in every house. Ujjayani was extraordinarily happy and joyful at the return of her ruler, who joined in her gladness with all his kingly heart. The faces and dresses of the public were red and yellow with gulal and abir, — perfumed pow- ders,2— which were sprinkled upon one another in token of merriment. Musicians deafened the citizens' ears, danc- ing girls performed till ready to faint with fatigue, the manufacturers of comfits made their fortunes, and the Nine Gems of Science celebrated the auspicious day with the most long-winded odes. The royal hero, decked in regal attire, and attended by many thousands of state
1 The Hindu Saturnalia.
2 The powders are of wheaten flour, mixed with wild ginger-root, sappan-wood, and other ingredients. Sometimes the stuff is thrown in syringes. *
24 Vikram and the Vampire.
palanquins glittering with their various ornaments, and escorted by a suite of a hundred kingly personages, with their martial array of the four hosts, of cavalry, ele- phants, chariots, and infantry, and accompanied by Amazon girls, lovely as the suite of the gods, himself a personification of majesty, bearing the white parasol of dominion, with a golden staff and tassels, began once more to reign.
After the first pleasures of return, the king applied himself unremittingly to good government and to eradi- cating the abuses which had crept into the administra- tion during the period of his wanderings.
Mindful of the wise saying, " if the Raja did not punish the guilty, the stronger would roast the weaker like a fish on the spit," he began the work of reform with an iron hand. He confiscated the property of a coun- cillor who had the reputation of taking bribes ; he branded the forehead of a sudra or servile man whose breath smelt of ardent spirits, and a goldsmith having been detected in fraud he ordered him to be cut in shreds with razors as the law in its mercy directs. In the. case of a notorious evil-speaker he opened the back of his head and had his tongue drawn through the wound. A few murderers he burned alive on iron beds, praying the while that Vishnu might have mercy upon their souls. His spies were ordered, as the shastra called " The Prince" advises, to mix with robbers and thieves with a view of leading them into situations where they might most easily be en- trapped, and once or twice when the fellows were too wary, he seized them and their relations and impaled them all, thereby conclusively proving, without any mis- take, that he was king of earth.
With the sex feminine he was equally severe. A woman convicted of having poisoned an elderly husband in order to marry a younger man was thrown to the dogs, which speedily devoured her. He punished simple infi-
Introduction. 25
delity by cutting off the offender's nose — an admirable practice, which is not only a severe penalty to the cul- prit, but also a standing warning to others, and an efficient preventative to any recurrence of the fault. Faithlessness combined with bad example or brazen- facedness was further treated by being led in solemn pro- cession through the bazar mounted on a diminutive and crop-eared donkey, with the face turned towards the crupper. After a few such examples the women of Ujjayani became almost modest ; it is the fault of man when they are not tolerably well behaved in one point at least.
Every day as Vikram sat upon the judgment-seat, try- ing causes and punishing offences, he narrowly observed the speech, the gestures, and the countenances of the various criminals and litigants and their witnesses. Ever suspecting women, as I have said, and holding them to be the root of all evil, he never failed when some sin or crime more horrible than usual came before him, to ask the accused, "Who is she?" and the suddenness of the question often elicited the truth by accident. For there can be nothing thoroughly and entirely bad unless a woman is at the bottom of it ; and, knowing this, Raja Vikram made certain notable hits under the most improb- able circumstances, which had almost given him a reputation for omniscience. But this is easily explained : a man intent upon squaring the circle will see squares in circles wherever he looks, and sometimes he will find them.
In disputed cases of money claims, the king adhered strictly to established practice, and consulted persons learned in the law. He seldom decided a cause on his own judgment, and he showed great temper and patience in bearing with rough language from irritated plaintiffs and defendants, from the infirm, and from old men beyond eighty. That humble petitioners might not be baulked
26 Vikram and the Vampire.
in having accsss to the "fountain of justice," he caused an iron box to be suspended by a chain from the windows of his sleeping apartment. Every morning he ordered the box to be opened before him, and listened to all the placets at full length. Even in this simple process he displayed abundant cautiousness. For, having forgotten what little of the humanities he had mastered in his youth, he would hand the paper to a secretary whose business it was to read it out before him ; after which operation the man of letters was sent into an inner room, and the peti- tion was placed in the hands of a second scribe. Once it so happened by the bungling of the deceitful kayasths (clerks) that an important difference was found to occur in the same sheet. So upon strict inquiry one secretary lost his ears and the other his right hand. After this petitions were rarely if ever falsified.
The Raja Vikram also lost no time in attacking the cities and towns and villages of his enemies, but the people rose to a man against him, and hewing his army to pieces with their weapons, vanquished him. This took place so often that he despaired of bringing all the earth under the shadow of his umbrella.
At length on one occasion when near a village he listened to a conversation of the inhabitants. A woman having baked some cakes was giving them to her child, who leaving the edges would eat only the middle. On his asking for another cake, she cried, "This boy's way is like Vikram's in his attempt to conquer the world !" On his inquiring " Mother, why, what am I doing ; and what has Vikram done? " "Thou, my boy, "she replied, "throwing away the outside of the cake eatest the middle only. Vikram also in his ambition, without subduing the frontiers before attacking the towns, invades the heart of the country and lays it waste. On that account, both the townspeople and others rising, close upon him from
Introduction. 27
the frontiers to the centre, and destroy his army. That is his folly."
Vikram took notice of the woman's words. He strengthened his army and resumed his attack on the provinces and cities, beginning with the frontiers, re- ducing the outer towns and stationing troops in the inter- vals. Thus he proceeded regularly with his invasions. After a respite, adopting the same system and marshalling huge armies, he reduced in regular course each kingdom and province till he became monarch of the whole world.
It so happened that one day as Vikram the Brave sat upon the judgment-seat, a young merchant, by name Mai Deo, who had lately arrived at Ujjayani with loaded camels and elephants, and with the reputation of immense wealth, entered the palace court. Having been received with extreme condescension, he gave into the king's hand a fruit which he had brought in his own, and then spread- ing a prayer carpet on the floor he sat down. Presently, after a quarter of an hour, he arose and went away; When he had gone the king reflected in his mind : " Under this disguise, perhaps, is the very man of whom the giant spoke." Suspecting this, he did not eat the fruit, but calling the master of the household he gave the present to him, ordering him to keep it in a very careful manner. The young merchant, however, continued every day to court the honour of an interview, each time pre- senting a similar gift.
By chance one morning Raja Vikram went, attended by his ministers, to see his stables. At this time the young merchant also arrived there, and in the usual manner placed a fruit in the royal hand. As the king was thoughtfully tossing it in the air, it accidentally fell from his fingers to the ground. Then the monkey, who was tethered amongst the horses to draw calamities from their heads,1 snatched it up and tore it to pieces. Where-
i The Persian proverb is — " Bala e tavilah bar sar i maimun":
28 Vikram and the Vampire.
upon a ruby of such size and water came forth that the king and his ministers, beholding its brilliancy, gave vent to expressions of wonder.
Quoth Vikram to the young merchant severely — for his suspicions were now thoroughly roused — "Why hast thou given to us all this wealth ? "
"O great king," replied Mai Deo, demurely, "it is written in the scriptures (shastra) 'Of Ceremony' that 'we must not go empty-handed into the presence of the following persons, namely, Rajas, spiritual teachers, judges, young maidens, and old women whose daughters we would marry.' But why, O Vikram, dost thou speak of one ruby only, since in each of the fruits which I have laid at thy feet there is a similar jewel ? "
Having heard this speech, the king said to the master of his household, "Bring all the fruits which I have entrusted to thee." The treasurer, on receiving the royal command, immediately brought them, and having split them, there was found in each one a ruby, one and all equally perfect in size and water. Raja Vikram beholding such treasures was excessively pleased. Having sent for a lapidary, he ordered him to examine the rubies, saying, " We cannot take anything with us out of this world. Virtue is a noble quality to possess here below — so tell justly what is the value of each of these gems.1 "
To so moral a speech the lapidary replied, "Maha-
"The woes of the stable be on the monkey's head!" In some Moslem countries a hog acts prophylactic. Hence probably Mungo Park's troublesome pig at Ludamar.
i So the moribund father of the "babes in the wood" lectures his wicked brother, their guardian :
"To God and you I recommend My children deare this day : But little while, be sure, we have
Within this world to stay." But, to appeal to the moral sense of a goldsmith !
Introduction. 29
raja1! thou hast said truly; whoever possesses virtue, possesses everything; virtue indeed accompanies us always, and is of advantage in both worlds. Hear, O great king ! each gem is perfect in colour, quality and beauty. If I were to say that the value of each was ten million millions of suvarnas (gold pieces), even then thou couldst not understand its real worth. In fact, each ruby would buy one of the seven regions into which the earth is divided."
The king on hearing this was delighted, although his suspicions were not satisfied ; and, having bestowed a robe of honour upon the lapidary, dismissed him. There- on, taking the young merchant's hand, he led him into the palace, seated him upon his own carpet in presence of the court, and began to say, " My entire kingdom is not worth one of these rubies : tell me how it is that thou who buyest and sellest hast given me such and so many pearls?"
Mai Deo replied : " O great king, the speaking of matters like the following in public is not right ; these things — prayers, spells, drugs, good qualities, household affairs, the eating of forbidden food, and the evil we may have heard of our. neighbour — should not be discussed in full assembly. Privately I will disclose to thee my wishes. This is the way of the world ; when an affair comes to six ears, it does not remain secret ; if a matter is confided to four ears it may escape further hearing; and if to two ears even Brahma the Creator does not know it; how then can any rumour of it come to man? "
Having heard this speech, Raja Vikram took Mai Deo aside, and began to ask him, saying, " O generous man ! you have given me so many rubies, and even for a single day you have not eaten food with me ; I am ex- ceedingly ashamed, tell me what you desire."
i Maha (great) raja (king) : common address even to those who are not royal.
30 Vikram and the Vampire.
"Raja," said the young merchant, "I am not Mai Deo, but Shanta-Shil,1 a devotee. I am about to perform spells, incantations and magical rites on the banks of the river Godavari, in a large smashana, a cemetery where bodies are burned. By this means the Eight Powers of Nature will all become mine. . This thing I ask of you as alms, that you and the young prince Dharma Dhwaj will pass one night with me, doing my bidding. By you re- maining near me my incantations will be successful."
The valiant Vikram nearly started from his seat at the word cemetery, but, like a ruler of men, he restrained his face from expressing his feelings, and he presently replied, "Good, we will come, tell us on what day ! "
" You are to come to me," said the devotee, "armed, but without followers, on the Monday evening the I4th of the dark half of the month Bhadra.2" The Raja said : " Do you go your ways, we will certainly come." In this manner, having received a promise from the king, and having taken leave, the devotee returned to his house : thence he repaired to the temple, and having made pre- parations, and taken all the necessary things, he went back into the cemetery and sat down to his ceremonies. * , The valiant Vikram, on the other hand, retired into an inner apartment, to consult his own judgment about an adventure with which, for fear of ridicule, he was un- willing to acquaint even the most trustworthy of his ministers.
In due time came the evening moon's day, the i4th of the dark half of the month Bhadra. As the short twilight fell gloomily on earth, the warrior king accom- panied by his son, with turband-ends tied under their chins, and with trusty blades tucked under their arms ready for foes, human, bestial, or devilish, slipped out
1 The name means, "Quietistic Disposition."
2 August. In the solar-lunar year of the Hindu the months are divided into fortnights — light and dark.
Introduction. 3 1
unseen through the palace wicket, and took the road leading to the cemetery on the river bank.
Dark and drear was the night. Urged by the furious blast of the lingering winter-rains, masses of bistre- coloured cloud, like the forms of unwieldy beasts, rolled heavily over the firmament plain. Whenever the crescent of the young moon, rising from an horizon sable as the sad Tamala's hue,1 glanced upon the wayfarers, it was no brighter than the fine tip of an elephant's tusk protruding from the muddy wave. A heavy storm was impending ; big drops fell in showers from the forest trees as they groaned under the blast, and beneath the gloomy avenue the clayey ground gleamed ghastly white. As the Raja and his son advanced, a faint ray of light, like the line of pure gold streaking the dark surface of the touchstone, caught their eyes, and directed their footsteps towards the cemetery.
When Vikram came upon the open space on the river bank where corpses were burned, he hesitated for a moment to tread its impure ground. But seeing his son undismayed, he advanced boldly, trampling upon rem- nants of bones, and only covering his mouth with his turband-end.
Presently, at the further extremity of the smashana, or burning ground, appeared a group. By the lurid flames that flared and flickered round the half-extinguished funeral pyres, with remnants of their dreadful loads, Raja Vikram and Dharma Dhwaj could note the several features of the ill-omened spot. There was an outer circle of hideous bestial forms ; tigers were roaring, and elephants were trumpeting ; wolves, whose foul hairy coats blazed with sparks of bluish phosphoric light, were devouring the remnants of human bodies; foxes, jackals, and hyenas were disputing over their prey ; whilst bears were chewing the livers of children. The space within
i A flower, whose name frequently occurs in Sanskrit poetry.
32 Vikram and the Vampire.
was peopled by a multitude of fiends. There were the subtle bodies of men that had escaped their grosser frames prowling about the charnel ground, where their corpses had been reduced to ashes, or hovering in the air, waiting till the new bodies which they were to animate were made ready for their reception. The spirits of those that had been foully slain wandered about with gashed limbs; and skeletons, whose mouldy bones were held together by bits of blackened sinew, followed them as the murderer does his victim. Malignant witches with shrivelled skins, horrid eyes and distorted forms, crawled and crouched over the earth ; whilst spectres and goblins now stood motionless, and tall as lofty palm trees ; then, as if in fits, leaped, danced, and tumbled before their evocator. The air was filled with shrill and strident cries, with the fitful moaning of the storm-wind, with the hooting of the owl, with the jackal's long wild cry, and with the hoarse gurgling of the swollen river, from whose banks the earth-slip thundered in its fall.
In the midst of all, close to the fire which lit up his evil countenance, sat Shanta-Shil, the jogi, with the banner that denoted his calling and his magic staff planted in the ground behind him. He was clad in the ochre- coloured loin-wrap of his class ; from his head streamed long tangled locks of hair like horsehair ; his black body was striped with lines of chalk, and a girdle of thigh bones encircled his waist. His face was smeared with ashes from a funeral pyre, and his eyes, fixed as those of a statue, gleamed from this mask with an infernal light of hate. His cheeks were shaven, and he had not forgotten to draw the horizontal sectarian mark. But this was of blood ; and Vikram, as he drew near saw that he was playing upon a human skull with two shank bones, making music for the horrid revelry.
Now Raja Vikram, as has been shown by his en- counter with Indra's watchman, was a bold prince, and
Introduction.
33
he was cautious as he was brave. The sight of a human being in the midst of these terrors raised his mettle ; he determined to prove himself a hero, and feeling that the critical moment was now come, he hoped to rid himself and his house for ever of the family curse that hovered over them.
For a moment he thought of the giant's words, "And remember that ii is lawful and right to strike off his head
He was playing upon a human skull with two shank bones.
that would slay thee." A stroke with his good sword might at once and effectually put an end to the danger. But then he remembered that he had passed his royal word to do the devotee's bidding that night. Besides, he felt assured that the hour for action had not yet sounded. These reflections having passed through his mind with the rapid course of a star that has lost its honours,1
i The stars being men's souls raised to the sky for a time pro- » portioned to their virtuous deeds on earth.
3
34 Vikram and the Vampire.
Vikram courteously saluted Shanta-Shil. The jogi briefly replied, "Come sit down, both of ye." The father and son took their places, by no means surprised or frightened by the devil dances before and around them. Presently the valiant Raja reminded the devotee that he was come to perform his promise, and lastly asked, "What com- mands are there for us?"
The jogi replied, " O king, since you have come, just perform one piece of business. About two kos1 hence, in a southerly direction, there is another place where dead bodies are burned ; and in that place is a mimosa tree, on which a body is hanging. Bring it to me immediately."
Raja Vikram took his son's hand, unwilling to leave him in such company; and, catching up a fire-brand, went rapidly away in the proper direction. He was now certain that Shanta-Shil was the anchorite who, enraged by his father, had resolved his destruction ; and his uppermost thought was a firm resolve "to breakfast upon his enemy, ere his enemy could dine upon him." He muttered this old saying as hs went, whilst the tom-tom- ing of the anchorite upon the skull resounded in his ears, and the devil-crowd, which had held its peace during his meeting with Shanta-Shil, broke out again in an infernal din of whoops and screams, yells and laughter.
The darkness of the night was frightful, the gloom deepened till it was hardly possible to walk. The clouds opened their fountains, raining so that you would say they could never rain again. Lightning blazed forth with more than the light of day, and the roar of the thunder caused the earth to shake. Baleful gleams tipped the black cones of the trees and fitfully scampered like fire- flies over the waste. Unclean goblins dogged the travellers and threw themselves upon the ground in their path and obstructed them in a thousand different ways.
i A measure of length, each two miles.
Introduction. 35
Huge snakes, whose mouths distilled blood and black venom, kept clinging around their legs in the roughest part of the road, till they were persuaded to loose their hold either by the sword or by reciting a spell. In fact, there were so many horrors and such a tumult and noise that even a brave man would have faltered, yet the king kept on his way.
At length having passed over, somehow or other, a very difficult road, the Raja arrived at the smashana, or burning place pointed out by the jogi. Suddenly he sighted the tree where from root to top every branch and leaf was in a blaze of crimson flame. And when he, still dauntless, advanced towards it, a clamour continued to be raised, and voices kept crying, "Kill them! kill them! seize them ! seize them ! take care that they do not get away! let them scorch themselves to cinders! let them suffer the pains of Patala.1"
Far from being terrified by this state of things the valiant Raja increased in boldness, seeing a prospect of an end to his adventure. Approaching the tree he felt that the fire did not burn him, and so he sat there for a while to observe the body, \vhich hung, head downwards, from a branch a little above him.
Its eyes, which were wide open, were of a greenish- brown, and never twinkled ; its hair also was brown,2 and brown was its face— three several shades which, notwith- standing, approached one another in an unpleasant way, as in an over-dried cocoa-nut. Its body was thin and ribbed like a skeleton or a bamboo framework, and as it held on to a bough, like a flying fox,3 by the toe-tips, its
1 The warm region below.
2 Hindus admire only glossy black hair; the "bonny brown hair" loved by our ballads is assigned by them to low-caste men, witches, and fiends.
3 A large kind of bat ; a popular and silly Anglo-Indian name. It almost justified the irate Scotchman in calling " prodigious
36 Vikram and the Vampire.
drawn muscles stood out as if they were ropes of coir. Blood it appeared to have none, or there would have been a decided determination of that curious juice to the head; and as the Raja handled its skin, it felt icy cold and clammy as might a snake. The only sign of life was the whisking of a ragged little tail much resembling a goat's.
Judging from these signs the brave king at once determined the creature to be a Baital — a Vampire. For a short time he was puzzled to reconcile the appearance with the words of the giant, who informed him that the anchorite had hung the oilman's son to a tree. But soon he explained to himself the difficulty, remembering the exceeding cunning of jogis and other reverend men, and determining that his enemy, the better to deceive him, had doubtless altered the shape and form of the young oilman's body.
With this idea, Vikram was pleased, saying, "My trouble has been productive of fruit." Remained the task of carrying the Vampire to Shanta-Shil the devotee. Having taken his sword, the Raja fearlessly climbed the tree, and ordering his son to stand away from below, clutched the Vampire's hair with one hand, and with the other struck such a blow of the sword, that the bough was cut and the thing fell heavily upon the ground. Immediately on falling it gnashed its teeth and began to utter a loud wailing cry like the screams of an infant in pain. Vikram having heard the sound of its lamentations, was pleased, and began to say to himself, "This devil must be alive." Then nimbly sliding down the trunk, he made a captive of the body, and asked " Who art thou?'T
Scarcely, however, had 4he words passed the royal lips, when the Vampire slipped through the fingers like a worm, and uttering a loud shout of laughter, rose in the air with its legs uppermost, and as before suspended
leears" those who told him in India that foxes flew and trees were tapped for toddy ^
Introduction.
37
itself by its toes to another bough. And there it swung to and fro, moved by the violence of its cachinnation.
." Decidedly this is the young oilman !" exclaimed the Raja, after he had stood for a minute or two with mouth open, gazing upwards and wondering what he should do next. Presently he directed Dharma Dhwaj not to lose an instant in laying hands upon the thing when it next
He once more seized the Baital's hair.
might touch the ground, and then he again swarmed up the tree. Having reached his former position, he once more seized the Baital's liair, and with all the force of his arms — for he was beginning to feel really angry — he tore it from its hold and dashed it to the ground, saying, "O wretch, tell me who thou art ? "
Then, as before, the Raja slid deftly down the trunk,
38 Vikram and the Vampire.
and hurried to the aid of his son, who in obedience to orders, had fixed his grasp upon the Vampire's neck. Then, too, as before, the Vampire, laughing aloud, slipped through their fingers and returned to its dangling-place.
To fail twice was too much for Raja Vikram's tem- per, which was right kingly and somewhat hot. This time he bade his son strike the Baital's head with his sword. Then, more like a wounded bear of Himalaya than a prince who had established an era, he hurried up the tree, and directed a furious blow with his sabre at the Vampire's lean and calfless legs. The violence of the stroke made its toes loose their hold of the bough, and when it touched the ground, Dharma Dhwaj's blade fell heavily upon its matted brown hair. But the blows appeared to have lighted on iron-wood — to judge at least from the behaviour of the Baital, who no sooner heard the question, "O wretch, whoartthou?" than it returned in loud glee and merriment to its old position.
Five mortal times did Raja Vikram repeat this pro- fitless labour. But so far from losing heart, he quite entered into the spirit of the adventure. Indeed he would have continued climbing up that tree and taking that corpse under his arm — he found his SAVord useless — and bringing it down, and asking it who it was, and seeing it slip through his fingers, six times sixty times, or till the end of the fourth and present age,1 had such extreme resolution been required.
However, it was not necessary. On the seventh time of falling, the Baital, instead of eluding its cap- turer's grasp, allowed itself to be seized, merely remarking that "even the gods cannot resist a thoroughly obstinate
i The Hindus, like the European classics and other ancient peoples, reckon four ages : — The Satya Yug, or Golden Age, num- bered 1,728,000 years; the second, or Treta Yug, comprised 1,296,000; the Dwapar Yug had 864,000 : and the present, the Kali Yug, has shrunk to 832,000 years.
Introduction. 39
man.1 " And seeing that the stranger, for the better pro- tection of his prize, had stripped off his waistcloth and was making it into a bag, the Vampire thought proper to seek the most favourable conditions for himself, and asked his conqueror who he was, and what he was about to do?
"Vile wretch," replied the breathless hero, "know me to be Vikram the Great, Raja of Ujjayani, and I bear thee to a man who is amusing himself by drumming to devils on a skull."
"Remember the old saying, mighty Vikram!" said the Baital, with a sneer, "that many a tongue has cut many a throat. I have yielded to thy resolution and I am about to accompany thee, bound to thy back like a beg- gar's wallet. But hearken to my words, ere we set out upon the way. I am of a loquacious disposition, and it is well nigh an hour's walk between this tree and the place where thy friend sits, favouring his friends with the peculiar music which they love. Therefore, I shall try to distract my thoughts, which otherwise might not be of the most pleasing nature, by means of sprightly tales and profitable reflections. Sages and men of sense spend their days in the delights of light and heavy literature, whereas dolts and fools waste time in sleep and idleness. And I purpose to ask thee a number of questions, con-
i Especially alluding to prayer. On this point, Southey justly remarks (Preface to Curse of Kehama) : "In the religion of the Hindoos there is one remarkable peculiarity. Prayers, penances, and sacrifices are supposed to possess an inherent and actual value, in one degree depending upon the disposition or motive of the person who performs them. They are drafts upon heaven for which the gods cannot refuse payment. The worst men, bent upon the worst designs, have in this manner obtained power which has made them formidable to the supreme deities themselves." Moreover, the Hindu gods hear the prayers of those who desire the evil of others. Hence when a rich man becomes poor, his friends say, " See how sharp are men's teeth!" and, " He is ruined because others could not bear to see his happiness ! "
40 Vikram and the Vampire.
cerning which we will, if it seems fit to thee, make this covenant :
"Whenever thou answerest me, either compelled by Fate or entrapped by my cunning into so doing, or thereby gratifying thy vanity and conceit, I leave thee and return to my favourite place and position in the siras-tree, but when thou shalt remain silent, confused, and at a loss to reply, either through humility or thereby confess- ing thine ignorance, and impotence, and want of compre- hension, then will I allow thee, of mine own free will, to place me before thine employer. Perhaps I should not say so; it may sound like bribing thee, but — take my counsel, and mortify thy pride, and assumption, and arro- gance, and haughtiness, as soon as possible. So shalt thou derive from me a benefit. which none but myself can bestow."
Raja Vikram hearing these rough words, so strange to his royal ear, winced; then he rejoiced that his heir- apparent was not near; then he looked round at his son Dharma Dhwaj, to see if he was impertinent enough to be amused by the Baital. But the first glance showed him the young prince busily employed in pinching and screwing the monster's legs, so as to make it fit better into the cloth. Vikram then seized the ends of the waist- cloth, twisted them into a convenient form for handling, stooped, raised the bundle with a jerk, tossed it over his shoulder, and bidding his son not to lag behind, set off at a round pace towards the western end of the cemetery.
The shower had ceased, and, as they gained ground, the weather greatly improved.
The Vampire asked a few indifferent questions about the wind and the rain and the mud. When he received no answer, he began to feel uncomfortable, and he broke out with these words : " O King Vikram, listen to the true story which I am about to tell thee."
41
THE VAMPIRE'S FIRST STORY.
IN WHICH A MAN DECEIVES A WOMAN.
IN Benares once reigned a mighty prince, by name Pratapamukut, to whose eighth son Vajramukut happened the strangest adventure.
One morning, the young man, accompanied by the son of his father's pradhan or prime minister, rode out hunting, and went far into the jungle. At last the twain unexpectedly came upon a beautiful " tank1" of a prodig- ious size. It was surrounded by short thick walls of fine baked brick ; and flights and ramps of cut-stone steps, half the length of each face, and adorned with turrets, pendants, and finials, led down to the water. The sub- stantial plaster work and the masonry had fallen into disrepair, and from the crevices sprang huge trees, under whose thick shade the breeze blew freshly, and on whose balmy branches the birds sang sweetly; the grey squirrels2 chirruped joyously as they coursed one another up the gnarled trunks, and from the pendent llianas the long- tailed monkeys were swinging sportively. The bountiful hand of Sravana3 had spread the earthen rampart with a carpet of the softest grass and many-hued wild flowers, in
1 A pond, natural or artificial ; in the latter case often covering an extent of ten to twelve acres.
2 The Hindustani " gilahri," or little grey squirrel, whose twittering cry is often mistaken for a bird's.
3 The autumn or rather the rainy season personified — a hackneyed Hindu prosopopoeia.
42 Vikram and the Vampire.
which were buzzing swarms of bees and myriads of bright- winged insects ; and flocks of water fowl, wild geese, Brahmini ducks, bitterns, herons, and cranes, male and female, were feeding on the narrow strip of brilliant green that belted the long deep pool, amongst the broad-leaved lotuses with the lovely blossoms, splashing through the pellucid waves, and basking happily in the genial sun.
The prince and his friend wondered when they saw the beautiful tank in the midst of a wild forest, and made many vain conjectures about it. They dismounted, tethered their horses, and threw their weapons upon the ground ; then, having washed their hands and faces, they entered a shrine dedicated to Mahadeva, and there began to worship the presiding deity.
Whilst they were making their offerings, a bevy of maidens, accompanied by a crowd of female slaves, de- scended the opposite flight of steps. They stood there for a time, talking and laughing and looking about them to see if any alligators infested the waters. When con- vinced that the tank was safe, they disrobed themselves in order to bathe. It was truly a splendid spectacle
"Concerning which the less said the better," inter- rupted Raja Vikram in an offended tone.1 .
but did not last long. The Raja's daughter —
for the principal maiden was a princess — soon left her companions, who were scooping up water with their palms and dashing it over one another's heads, and proceeded to perform the rites of purification, meditation, and worship. Then she began strolling with a friend under the shade of a small mango grove.
The prince also left his companion sitting in prayer, and walked forth into the forest. Suddenly the eyes of the Raja's son and the Raja's daughter met. She started back with a little scream. He was fascinated by her
i Light conversation upon the subject of women is a personal offence to serious-nJnded Hindus.
The Vampire's First Story. 43
beauty, and began to say to himself, " O thou vile Kama,1 why worriest thou me ? "
Hearing this, the maiden smiled encouragement, but the poor youth, between palpitation of the heart and hesi- tation about what to say, was so confused that his tongue clave to his teeth. She raised her eyebrows a little. There is nothing which women despise in a man more than modesty,2 for mo-des-ty —
A violent shaking of the bag which hung behind Vikram's royal back broke off the end of this offensive sentence. And the warrior king did not cease that dis- cipline till the Baital promised him to preserve more decorum in his observations.
Still the prince stood before her with downcast eyes and suffused cheeks : even the spur of contempt failed to arouse his energies. Then the maiden called to her friend, who was picking jasmine flowers so as not to witness the scene, and angrily asked why that strange man was allowed to stand and stare at her ? The friend, in hot wrath, threatened to call the slave, and throw Vajramukut into the pond unless he instantly went away with his im- pudence. But as the prince was rooted to the spot, and really had not heard a word of what had been said to him, the two women were obliged to make the first move.
As they almost reached the tank, the beautiful maiden turned her head to see what the poor modest youth was doing.
Vajramukut was formed in every way to catch a woman's eye. The Raja's daughter therefore half for- gave him his offence of mod . Again she sweetly
smiled, disclosing two rows of little opals. Then descend- ing to the water's edge, she stooped down and plucked a lotus. This she worshipped ; next she placed it in her
1 Cupid in his two forms, Eros and Anteros.
2 This is true to life ; in the East, women make the first ad- vances, and men do the begueules.
44 Vikram and the Vampire.
hair, then she put it in her ear, then she bit it with her teeth, then she trod upon it with her foot, then she raised it up again, and lastly she stuck it in her bosom. After which she mounted her conveyance and went home to her friends ; whilst the prince, having become thoroughly desponding and drowned in grief at separation from her, returned to the minister's son.
"Females!" ejaculated the minister's son, speaking to himself in a careless tone, when, his prayer finished, he left the temple, and sat down upon the tank steps to enjoy the breeze. He presently drew a roll of paper from under his waist-belt, and in a short time was engrossed with his study. The women seeing this conduct, exerted themselves in every possible way of wile to attract his attention and to distract his soul. They succeeded only so far as to make him roll his head with a smile, and to remember that such is always the custom of man's bane ; after which he turned over a fresh page of manuscript. And although he presently began to wonder what had become of the prince his master, he did not look up even once from his study.
He was a philosopher, that young man. But after all, Raja Vikram, what is mortal philosophy ? Nothing but another name for indifference ! Who was ever philosophi- cal about a thing truly loved or really hated ? — no one ! Philosophy, says Shankharacharya, is either a gift of nature or the reward of study. But I, the Baital, the devil, ask you, what is a born philosopher, save a man of cold desires ? And what is a bred philosopher but a man who has survived his desires ? A young philosopher ? — a cold-blooded youth ! An elderly philosopher ? — a leuco- phlegmatic old man ! Much nonsense, of a verity, ye hear in praise of nothing from your Rajaship's Nine Gems of Science, and from sundry other such wise fools.
Then the prince began to relate the state of his case, saying, " O friend, I have seen a damsel, but whether she
During the three hours of return hardly a word passed between the pair (to face p. 45).
The Vampire's First Story. 45
be a musician from Indra's heaven, a maiden of the sea, a daughter of the serpent kings, or the child of an earthly Raja, I cannot say."
" Describe her," said the statesman in embryo.
" Her face," quoth the prince, " was that of the full moon, her hair like a swarm of bees hanging from the blossoms of the acacia, the corners of her eyes touched her ears, her lips were sweet with lunar ambrosia, her waist was that of a lion, and her walk the walk of a king- goose.1 As a garment, she was wrhite ; as a season, the spring ; as a flower, the jasmine ; as a speaker, the kokila bird ;- as a perfume, musk ; as a beauty, Kamadeva ; and as a being, Love. And if she does not come into my possession I will not live ; this I have certainly determined upon."
The young minister, who had heard his prince say the same thing more than once before, did not attach great importance to these awful words. He merely remarked that, unless they mounted at once, night would surprise them in the forest. Then the two young men returned to their horses, untethered them, drew on their bridles, saddled them, and catching up their weapons, rode slowly towards the Raja's palace. During the three hours of return hardly a word passed between the pair. Vajramukut not only avoided speaking ; he never once replied till addressed thrice in the loudest voice.
The young minister put no more questions, "for," quoth he to himself, " when the prince wants my counsel, he will apply for it." In this point he had borrowed wisdom from his father, who held in peculiar horror the giving of unasked-for advice. So, when he saw that conversation was irksome to his master, he held his peace and meditated upon what he called his " day-thought." It was his practice to choose every morning some tough
i Raja-hans, a large grey goose, the Hindu equivalent for our
46 Vikram and the Vampivs.
food for reflection, and to chew the cud of it in his mind at times when, without such employment, his wits would have gone wool-gathering. You may imagine, Raja Vikram, that with a few years of this head work, the minister's son became a very crafty young person.
After the second day the Prince Vajramukut, being restless from grief at separation, fretted himself into a fever. Having given up writing, reading, drinking, sleep- ing, the affairs entrusted to him by his father, and every- thing else, he sat down, as he said, to die. He used constantly to paint the portrait of the beautiful lotus gatherer, and to lie gazing upon it with tearful eyes ; then he would start up and tear it to pieces and beat his fore- head, and begin another picture of a yet more beautiful face.
At last, as the pradhan's son had foreseen, he was summoned by the young Raja, whom he found upon his bed, looking yellow and complaining bitterly of headache. Frequent discussions upon the subject of the tender passion had passed between the two youths, and one of them had ever spoken of it so very disrespectfully that the other felt ashamed to introduce it. But when his friend, with a view to provoke communicativeness, advised a course of boiled and bitter herbs and great attention to diet, quoting the hemistich attributed to the learned physician Charndatta —
A fever starve, but feed a cold,
the unhappy Vajramukut's fortitude abandoned him; he burst into tears, and exclaimed, "Whosoever enters upon the path of love cannot survive it ; and if (by chance) he should live, what is life to him but a prolongation of his misery ? "
"Yea," replied the minister's son, "the sage hath said —
The road of love is that which hath no beginning nor end ; Take thou heed of thyself, man ! ere thou place foot upon it.
Thf Vampires First Story. 47
And the wise, knowing that there are three things whose effect upon himself no man can foretell — namely, desire of woman, the dice-box, and the drinking of ardent spirits — find total abstinence from them the best of rules. Yet, after all, if there is no cow, we must milk the bull."
The advice was, of course, excellent, but the hapless lover could not help thinking that on this occasion it came a little too late. However, after a pause he returned to the subject and said, " I have ventured to tread that dan- gerous way, be its end pain or pleasure, happiness or destruction." He then hung down his head and sighed from the bottom of his heart.
"She is the person who appeared to us at the tank?" asked the pradhan's son, moved to compassion by the state of his master.
The prince assented.
"O great king," resumed the minister's son, "at the time of going away had she said anything to you ? or had you said anything to her?"
"Nothing!" replied the other laconically, when he found his friend beginning to take an interest in the affair.
"Then" said the minister's son, "it will be exceed- ingly difficult to get possession of her."
"Then" repeated the Raja's son, "I am doomed to death; to an early and melancholy death!"
"Humph!" ejaculated the young statesman rather impatiently, "did she make any sign, or give any hint? Let me know all that happened : half confidences are worse than none."
Upon which the prince related everything that took place by the side of the tank, bewailing the false shame which had made him dumb, and concluding with her pantomime.
The pradhan's son took thought for a while. He thereupon seized the opportunity of representing to his master all the evil effects of bashfulness when women are
48 Vikram and the Vampire.
concerned, and advised him, as he would be a happy lover, to brazen his countenance for the next interview.
Which the young Raja faithfully promised to do.
"And, now," said the other, "be comforted, O my master! I know her name and her dwelling-place. When she suddenly plucked the lotus flower and wor- shipped it, she thanked the gods for having blessed her with a sight of your beauty."
Vajramukut smiled, the first time for the last month.
"When she applied it to her ear, it was as if she would have explained to thee, ' I am a daughter of the Carnatic;1' and when she bit it with her teeth, she meant to say that 'My father is Raja Dantawat,2' who, by-the- bye, has been, is, and ever will be, a mortal foe to thy father."
Vajramukut shuddered.
"When she put it under her foot it meant, 'My name is Padmavati.3'"
Vajramukut uttered a cry of joy.
"And when she placed it in her bosom, 'You are truly dwelling in my heart ' was meant to be understood."
At these words the young Raja started up full of new life, and after praising with enthusiasm the wondrous sagacity of his dear friend, begged him by some con- trivance to obtain the permission of his parents, and to conduct him to her city. The minister's son easily got leave for Vajramukut to travel, under pretext that his body required change of water, and his mind change of scene. They both dressed and armed themselves for the journey, and having taken some jewels, mounted their horses and followed the road in that direction in which the princess had gone.
Arrived after some days at the capital of the Carnatic,
1 Properly Karnatak ; karna in Sanskrit means an ear.
2 Danta in Sanskrit is a tooth.
3 Padma means a foot.
Weat up to her with polite salutations (to face p. 49).
The Vampire's First Story. 49
the minister's son having disguised his master and him- self in the garb of travelling traders, alighted and pitched his little tent upon a clear bit of ground in one of the suburbs. He then proceeded to inquire for a wise woman, wanting, he said, to have his fortune told. When the prince asked him what this meant, he replied that elderly dames who professionally predict the future are never above ministering to the present, and therefore that, in such circumstances, they are the properest persons to be consulted.
"Is this a treatise upon the subject of immorality, devil?" demanded the King Vikram ferociously. The Baital declared that it was not, but that he must tell his story.
The person addressed pointed to an old woman who, seated before the door of her hut, was spinning at her wheel. Then the young men went up to her with polite salutations and said, " Mother, we are travelling traders, and our stock is coming after us; we have come on in advance for the purpose of finding a place to live in. If you will give us a house, we will remain there and pay you highly."
The old woman, who was a physiognomist as well as a fortune-teller, looked at the faces of the young men and liked them, because their brows were wide, and their mouths denoted generosity. Having listened to their words, she took pity upon them and said kindly, " This hovel is yours, my masters, remain here as long as you please." Then she led them into an inner room, again welcomed them, lamented the poorness of her abode, and begged them to lie down and rest themselves.
After some interval of time the old woman came to them once more, and sitting down began to gossip. The minister's son upon this asked her, " How is it with thy family, thy relatives, and connections ; and what are thy means of subsistence?" She replied, "My son is a*
50 Vikram and the Vampire.
favourite servant in the household of our great king Dantawat, and your slave is the wet-nurse of the Princess Padmavati, his eldest child. From the coming on of old age," she added, "I dwell in this house, but the king pro- vides for my eating and drinking. I go once a day to see the girl, who is a miracle of beauty and goodness, wit and accomplishments, and returning thence, I bear my own griefs at home.1/'
In a few days the young Vajramukut had, by his liberality, soft speech, and good looks, made such progress in nurse Lakshmi's affections that, by the advice of his companion, he ventured to broach the subject ever nearest his heart. He begged his hostess, when she went on the morrow to visit the charming Padmavati, that she would be kind enough to slip a bit of paper into the princess's hand.
" Son," she replied, delighted with the proposal — and what old woman would not be? — "there is no need for putting off so urgent an affair till the morrow. Get your paper ready, and I will immediately give it."
Trembling with pleasure, the prince ran to find his friend, who was seated in the garden reading, as usual, and told him what the old nurse had engaged to do. He then began to debate about how he should write his letter, to cull sentences and to weigh phrases ; whether "light of my eyes" was not too trite, and "blood of my liver" rather too forcible. At this the minister's son smiled, and bade the prince not trouble his head with composition. He then drew his inkstand from his waist- shawl, nibbed a reed pen, and choosing a piece of pink and flowered paper, he wrote upon it a few lines. He then folded it, gummed it, sketched a lotus flower upon the outside, and handing it to the young prince, told him to give it to their hostess, and that all would be well.
i A common Hindu phrase equivalent to our "I manage to get on." 4—2
The Vampire's First Story. 51
The old woman took her staff in her hand and hobbled straight to the palace. Arrived there, she found the Raja's daughter sitting alone in her apartment. The maiden, seeing her nurse, immediately arose, and making a respectful bow, led her to a seat and began the most affectionate inquiries. After giving her blessing and sitting for some time and chatting about indifferent matters, the nurse said, "O daughter! in infancy I reared and nourished thee, now the Bhagwan (Deity) has rewarded me by giving thee stature, beauty, health, and goodness. My heart only longs to see the happiness of thy womanhood,1 after which I shall depart in peace. I implore thee read this paper, given to me by the hand- somest and the properest young man that my eyes have ever seen."
The princess, glancing at the lotus on the outside of the note, slowly unfolded it and perused its contents, which were as follows :
i. She was to me the pearl that clings
To sands all hid from mortal sight, Yet fit for diadems of kings, The pure and lovely light.
2.
She was to me the gleam of sun
That breaks the gloom of wintry day;
One moment shone my soul upon, Then pass6d — how soon ! — away.
3- She was to me the dreams of bliss
That float the dying eyes before, For one short hour shed happiness,
And fly to bless no more.
4-
O light, again upon me shine ; O pearl, again delight my eyes;
i Meaning marriage, maternity, and so forth.
52 Vikram and the Vampire.
O dreams of bliss, again be mine I—- No ! earth may not be Paradise.
I must not forget to remark, parenthetically, that the minister's son, in order to make these lines generally useful, had provided them with a last stanza in triplicate. " For lovers," he said sagely, "are either in the optative mood, the desperative, or the exultative." This time he had used the optative. For the desperative he would substitute :
4 The joys of life lie dead, lie dead,
The light of day is quenched in gloom ; The spark of hope my heart hath fled — What now witholds me from the tomb ?
And this was the termination exultative, as he called it :
4 O joy 1 the pearl is mine again,
Once more the day is bright and clear, And now 'tis real, then 'twas vain,
My dream of bliss — O heaven is here 1
The Princess Padmavati having perused this dog- grel with a contemptuous look, tore off the first word of the last line, and said to the nurse, angrily, " Get thee gone, O mother of Yama,1 O unfortunate creature, and take back this answer" — giving her the scrap of paper — "to the fool who writes such bad verses. I wonder where he studied the humanities. Begone, and never do such an action again ! "
The old nurse, distressed at being so treated, rose up and returned home. Vajramukut was too agitated to await her arrival, so he went to meet her on the way. Imagine his disappointment when she gave him the fatal word and repeated to him exactly what happened, not forgetting to describe a single look ! He felt tempted to
i Yama is Pluto ; ' mother of Yama ' is generally applied to an old scold.
The Vampire's First Story. 53
plunge his sword into his bosom ; but Fortune interfered, and sent him to consult his confidant.
" Be not so hasty and desperate, my prince," said the pradhan's son, seeing his wild grief ; "you have not under- stood her meaning. Later in life you will be aware of the fact that, in nine cases out of ten, a woman's « no ' is a distinct 'yes.' This morning's work has been good; the maiden asked where you learnt the humanities, which being interpreted signifies ' Who are you?"
On the next day the prince disclosed his rank to old Lakshmi, who naturally declared that she had always known it. The trust they reposed in her made her ready to address Padmavati once more on the forbidden subject. So she again went to the palace, and having lovingly greeted her nursling, said to her, "The Raja's son, whose heart thou didst fascinate on the brim of the tank, on the fifth day of the moon, in the light half of the month Yeth, has come to my house, and sends this message to thee: "Perform what you promised; we have now come"; and I also tell thee that this prince is worthy of thee: just as thou art beautiful, so is he endowed with all good quali- ties of mind and body."
When Padmavati heard this speech she showed great anger, and, rubbing sandal on her beautiful hands, she slapped the old woman's cheeks, and cried, "Wretch, Daina (witch) ! get out of my house; did I not forbid thee to talk such folly in my presence?"
The lover and the nurse were equally distressed at having taken the advice of the young minister, till he explained what the crafty damsel meant. "When she smeared the sandal on her ten fingers," he explained, "and struck the old woman on the face, she signified that when the remaining ten moonlight nights shall have passed away she will meet you in the dark." At the same time he warned his master that to all appearances the lady Padmavati was far too clever to make a comfortable
54 Vikram and the Vampire.
wife. The minister's son especially hated talented, intellectual, and strong-minded women ; he had been heard to describe the torments of Naglok1 as the compul- sory companionship of a polemical divine and a learned authoress, well stricken in years and of forbidding aspect, as such persons mostly are. Amongst womankind he admired — theoretically, as became a philosopher — the small, plump, laughing, chattering, unintellectual, and material-minded. And therefore— excuse the digression, Raja Vikram — he married an old maid, tall, thin, yellow, strictly proper, cold-mannered, a conversationist, and who prided herself upon spirituality. But more wonderful still, after he did marry her, he actually loved her — what an incomprehensible being is man in these matters !
To return, however. The pradhan's son, who detected certain symptoms of strong-mindedness in the Princess Padmavati, advised his lord to be wise whilst wisdom availed him. This sage counsel was, as might be guessed, most ungraciously rejected by him for whose benefit it was intended. Then the sensible young statesman rated himself soundly for having broken his father's rule touch- ing advice, and atoned for it by blindly forwarding the views of his master.
After the ten nights of moonlight had passed, the old nurse was again sent to the palace with the usual message. This time Padmavati put saffron on three of her fingers, and again left their marks on the nurse's cheek. The minister's son explained that this was to crave delay for three days, and that on the fourth the lover would have access to her.
When the time had passed the old woman again went and inquired after her health and well-being. The prin- cess was as usual very wroth, and having personally taken her nurse to the western gate, she called her
i Snake-land ; the infernal region.
The Vampire's First Story. 55
" Mother of the elephant's trunk,1" and drove her out with threats of the bastinado if she ever came back. This was reported to the young statesman, who, after a few minutes' consideration, said, " The explanation of this matter is, that she has invited you to-morrow, at night- time, to meet her at this very gate."
When brown shadows fell upon the face of earth, and here and there a star spangled the pale heavens, the minister's son called Vajramukut, who had been engaged in adorning himself at least half that day. He had care- fully shaved his cheeks and chin : his mustachio was trimmed and curled ; he had arched his eyebrows by plucking out with tweezers the fine hairs around them ; he had trained his curly musk-coloured love-locks to hang gracefully down his face ; he had drawn broad lines of antimony along his eyelids, a mcst brilliant sectarian mark was affixed to his forehead, the colour of his lips had been heightened by chewing betel-nut —
" One would imagine that you are talking of a silly girl, not of a prince, fiend ! " interrupted Vikram, who did not wish his son to hear what he called these fopperies and frivolities.
and whitened his neck by having it shaved (con- tinued the Baital, speaking quickly, as if determined not to be interrupted), and reddened the tips of his ears by squeezing them, and made his teeth shine by rubbing copper powder into the roots, and set off the delicacy of his fingers by staining the tips with henna. He had not been less careful with his dress : he wore a well-arranged turband, which had taken him at least two hours to bind, and a rich suit of brown stuff chosen for the adventure he was about to attempt, and he hung about his person a number of various weapons^ so as to appear a hero — which young damsels admire.
i A form of abuse given to Durga, who was the mother of Gane- sha (Janus) ; the latter had an elephant's head.
56 Vikram and the V ampin.
Vajramukut asked his friend how he looked, and smiled happily when the other replied " Admirable ! " His happiness was so great that he feared it might not last, and he asked the minister's son how best to conduct himself ?
" As a conqueror, my prince ! " answered that astute young man, " if it so be that you would be one. When you wish to win a woman, always impose upon her. Tell her that you are her master, and she will forthwith believe herself to be your servant. Inform her that she loves you, and forthwith she will adore you. Show her that you care nothing for her, and she will think of nothing but you. Prove to her by your demeanour that you con- sider her a slave, and she will become your pariah. But above all things — excuse me if I repeat myself too often — beware of the fatal virtue which men call modesty and women sheepishness. Recollect the trouble it has given us, and the danger which we have incurred: all this might have been managed at a tank within fifteen miles of your royal father's palace. And allow me to say that you may still thank your stars : in love a lost opportunity is seldom if ever recovered. The time to woo a woman is the moment you meet her, before she has had time to think; allow her the use of reflection and she may escape the net. And after avoiding the rock of Modesty, fall not, I conjure you, into the gulf of Security. I fear the lady Padmavati, she is too clever and too prudent. When damsels of her age draw the sword of Love, they throw away the scabbard of Precaution. But you yawn — I weary you — it is time for us to move."
Two watches of the night had passed, and there was profound stillness on earth. The young men then walked quietly through the shadows, till they reached the western gate of the palace, and found the wicket ajar. The min- ister's son peeped in and saw the porter dozing, stately as a Brahman deep in the Vedas, and behind him stood a
The Vampire's First Story. 57
veiled woman seemingly waiting for somebody. He then returned on tiptoe to the place where he had left his master, and with a parting caution against modesty and security, bade him fearlessly glide through the wicket. Then having stayed a short time at the gate listening with anxious ear, he went back to the old woman's house.
Vajramukut penetrating to the staircase, felt his hand grasped by the veiled figure, who motioning him to tread lightly, led him quickly forwards. They passed under several arches, through dim passages and dark doorways, till at last running up a flight of stone steps they reached the apartments of the princess.
Vajramukut was nearly fainting as the flood of splendour broke upon him. Recovering himself he gazed around the rooms, and presently a tumult of delight invaded his soul, and his body bristled with joy.1 The scene was that of fairyland. Golden censers exhaled the most costly perfumes, and gemmed vases bore the most beautiful flowers; silver lamps containing fragrant oil illuminated doors whose panels were wonderfully decor- ated, and walls adorned with pictures in which such figures were formed that on seeing them the beholder was enchanted. On one side of the room stood a bed of flowers and a couch covered with brocade of gold, and strewed with freshly- culled jasmine flowers. On the other side, arranged in proper order, were attar holders, betel-boxes, rose-water bottles, trays, and silver cases with four par- titions for essences compounded of rose-leaves, sugar, and spices, prepared sandal wood, saffron, and pods of musk. Scattered about a stuccoed floor white as crystal, were coloured caddies of exquisite confections, and in others sweetmeats of various kinds.2 Female attendants clothed
1 Unexpected pleasir , according to the Hindus, gives a bristly elevation to the down of the body.
2 The Hindus banish " flasks," et hoc genus omne, from these scenes, and perhaps they are right.
58 Vikram and the Vampire.
in dresses of various colours were standing each according to her rank, with hands respectfully joined. Some were reading plays and beautiful poems, others danced and others performed with glittering fingers and flashing arms on various instruments — the ivory lute, the ebony pipe, and the silver kettledrum. In short, all the means and appliances of pleasure and enjoyment were there ; and any description of the appearance of the apartments, which were the wonder of the age, is impossible.
Then another veiled figure, the beautiful Princess Padmavati, came up and disclosed herself, and dazzled the eyes of her delighted Vajramukut. She led him into an alcove, made him sit down, rubbed sandal powder upon his body, hung a garland of jasmine flowers round his neck, sprinkled rose-water over his dress, and began to wave over his head a fan of peacock feathers with a golden handle.
Said the prince, who despite all efforts could not entirely shake off his unhappy habit of being modest, "Those very delicate hands of yours are not fit to ply the pankha.1 Why do you take so much trouble? I am cool and refreshed by the sight of you. Do give the fan to me and sit down."
"Nay, great king!" replied Padmavati, with the most fascinating of smiles, "you have taken so much trouble for my sake in coming here, it is right that I per- form service for you."
Upon which her favourite slave, taking the pankha from the hand of the princess, exclaimed, "This is my duty. I will perform the service ; do you two enjoy your- selves ! "
The lovers then began to chew betel, which, by the
i The Pankha, or large common fan, is a leaf of the Corypha umbraculifera, with the petiole cut to the length of about five feet, pared round the edges and painted to look pretty. It is waved by the servant standing behind a chair.
The Vampire's First Story. 59
bye, they disposed of in little agate boxes which they drew from their pockets, and they were soon engaged in the tenderest conversation.
Here the Baital paused for a while, probably to take breath. Then he resumed his tale as follows :
In the meantime, it became dawn ; the princess con- cealed him ; and when night returned they again engaged in the same innocent pleasures. Thus day after day sped rapidly by. Imagine, if you can, the youth's felicity ; he was of an ardent temperament, deeply enamoured, barely a score of years old, and he had been strictly brought up by serious parents. He therefore resigned himself entirely to the siren for whom he willingly forgot the world, and he wondered at his good fortune, which had thrown in his way a conquest richer than all the mines of Meru.1 He could not sufficiently admire his Padmavati's grace, beauty, bright wit, and numberless accomplishments. Every morning, for vanity's sake, he learned from her a little useless knowledge in verse as well as prose, for instance, the saying of the poet —
Enjoy the present hour, 'tis thine; be this, O man, thy law; Who e'er resaw the yester ? Who the morrow e'er foresaw ? And this highly philosophical axiom —
Eat, drink, and love — the rest's not worth a fillip.
" By means of which he hoped, Raja Vikram ! " said the demon, not heeding his royal carrier's "ughs" and "poohs," "to become in course of time almost as clever as his mistress."
Padmavati, being, as you have seen, a maiden of superior mind, was naturally more smitten by her lover's dulness than by any other of his qualities ; she adored it, it was such a contrast to herself.2 At first she did what
1 The fabulous mass of precious stones forming the sacred mountain of Hindu mythology.
2 "I love my love with an ' S,' because he is stupid and not psychological."
60 Vikvam and the Vampire.
many clever women do— she invested him with the bright- ness of her own imagination. Still water, she pondered, runs deep; certainly under this disguise must lurk a brilliant fancy, a penetrating but a mature and ready judgment — are they not written by nature's hand on that broad high brow ? With such lovely mustachios can he be aught but generous, noble-minded, magnanimous? Can such eyes belong to any but a hero ? And she fed the delusion. She would smile upon him with intense fondness, when, after wasting hours over a few lines of poetry, he would misplace all the adjectives and barbar- ously entreat the metre. She laughed with gratification, when, excited by the bright sayings that fell from her lips, the youth put forth some platitude, dim as the lamp in the expiring fire-fly. When he slipped in grammar she saw malice under it, when he retailed a borrowed jest she called it a good one, and when he used — as princes some- times will — bad language, she discovered in it a charming simplicity.
At first she suspected that the stratagems which had won her heart were the results of a deep-laid plot pro- ceeding from her lover. But clever women are apt to be rarely sharp-sighted in every matter which concerns themselves. She frequently determined that a third was in the secret. She therefore made no allusion to it. Before long the enamoured Vajramukut had told her everything, beginning with the diatribe against love pro- nounced by the minister's son, and ending with the solemn warning that she, the pretty princess, would some day or other play her husband a foul trick.
" If I do not revenge myself upon him" thought the beautiful Padmavati, smiling like an angel as she listened to the youth's confidence, " may I become a gardener's ass in the next birth ! "
Having thus registered a vow, she broke silence, and praised to the* skies the young pradhan's wisdom and
The Vampire's First Story. 61
sagacity ; professed herself ready from gratitude to become his slave, and only hoped that one day or other she might meet that true friend by whose skill her soul had been gratified in its dearest desire. " Only," she concluded, " I am convinced that now my Vajramukut knows every corner of his little Padmavati's heart, he will never expect her to do anything but love, admire, adore and kiss him !" Then suiting the action to the word, she convinced him that the young minister had for once been too crabbed and cynic in his philosophy.
But after the lapse of a month Vajramukut, who had eaten and drunk and slept a great deal too much, and who had not once hunted, became bilious in body and in mind melancholic. His face turned yellow, and so did the whites of his eyes ; he yawned, as liver patients generally do, complained occasionally of sick headaches, and lost his appetite: he became restless and anxious, and once when alone at night he thus thought aloud : "I have given up country, throne, home, and everything else, but the friend by means of whom this happiness was obtained I have not seen for the long length of thirty days. What will he say to himself, and how can I know what has happened to him?"
In this state of things he was sitting, and in the meantime the beautiful princess arrived. She saw through the matter, and lost not a moment in entering upon it. She began by expressing her astonishment at her lover's fickleness and fondness for change, and when he was ready to wax wroth, and quoted the words of the sage, " A barren wife may be superseded by another in the eighth year ; she whose children all die, in the tenth ; she who brings forth only daughters, in the eleventh ; she who scolds, without delay," thinking that she alluded to his love, she smoothed his temper by explaining that she referred to his forgetting his friend. " How is it possible, O my soul," she asked with the softest of voices,
62 Vikram and the Vampire.
that thou canst enjoy happiness here whilst thy heart is wandering there ? Why didst thou conceal this from me, O astute one ? Was it for fear of distressing me ? Think better of thy wife than to suppose that she would ever separate thee from one to whom we both owe so much ! "
After this Padmavati advised, nay ordered, her lover to go forth that night, and not to return till his mind was quite at ease, and she begged him to take a few sweet- meats and other trifles as a little token of her admiration and regard for the clever young man of whom she had heard so much.
Vajramukut embraced her with a transport of grati- tude, which so inflamed her anger, that fearing lest the cloak of concealment might fall from her countenance, she went away hurriedly to find the greatest delicacies which her comfit boxes contained. Presently she returned, carrying a bag of sweetmeats of every kind for her lover, and as he rose up to depart, she put into his hand a little parcel of sugar-plums especially intended for the friend ; they were made up with her own delicate fingers, and they would please, she flattered herself, even his discriminating palate.
The young prince, after enduring a number of fare- well embraces and hopings for a speedy return, and last words ever beginning again, passed safely through the palace gate, and with a relieved aspect walked briskly to the house of the old nurse. Although it was midnight his friend was still sitting on his mat.
The two young men fell upon one another's bosoms and embraced affectionately. They then began to talk of matters nearest their hearts. The Raja's son wondered at seeing the jaded and haggard looks of his companion, who did not disguise that they were caused by his anxiety as to what might have happened to his friend at the hand of so talented and 'so superior a princess. Upon
The Vampire's First Story. 63
which Vajramukut, who now thought Padmavati an angel, and his late abode a heaven, remarked with formality — and two blunders to one quotation — that abilities properly directed win for a man the happiness of both worlds.
The pradhan's son rolled his head.
" Again on your hobby-horse, nagging at talent when- ever you find it in others ! " cried the young prince with a pun, which would have delighted Padmavati. " Surely you are jealous of her ! " he resumed, anything but pleased with the dead silence that had received his joke ; " jealous of her cleverness, and of her love for me. She is the very best creature in the world. Even you, woman-hater as you are, would own it if you only knew all the kind messages she sent, and the little pleasant surprise that she has prepared for you. There ! take and eat ; they are made by her own dear hands ! " cried the young Raja, producing the sweetmeats. " As she herself taught me to say —
Thank God I am a man, Not a philosopher 1 "
" The kind messages she sent me ! The pleasant sur- prise she has prepared for me! "repeated the minister's son in a hard, dry tone. " My lord will be pleased to tell me how she heard of my name ? "
" I was sitting one night," replied the prince, " in anxious thought about you, when at that moment the princess coming in and seeing my condition, asked, ' Why are you thus sad ? Explain the cause to me.' I then gave her an account of your cleverness, and when she heard it she gave me permission to go and see you, and sent these sweetmeats for you : eat them and I shall be pleased."
" Great king !" rejoined the young statesman, "one thing vouchsafe to hear from me. You have not done well in that you have told my name. You should never let a woman think that your left hand knows the secret which
64 Vikram and the Vampire.
she confided to your right, much less that you have shared it to a third person. Secondly, you did evil in allowing her to see the affection with which you honour your un- worthy servant — a woman ever hates her lover's or husband's friend."
" What could I do?" rejoined the young Raja, in a querulous tone of voice. " When I love a woman I like to tell her everything — to have no secrets from her — to consider her another self "
" Which habit," interrupted the pradhan's son, " you will lose when you are a little older, when you recognize the fact that love is nothing but a bout, a game of skill between two individuals of opposite sexes : the one seek- ing to gain as much, and the other striving to lose as little as possible ; and that the sharper of the twain thus met on the chess-board must, in the long run, win. And reticence is but a habit. Practise it for a year, and you will find it harder to betray than to conceal your thoughts. It hath its joy also. Is there no pleasure, think you, when suppressing an outbreak of tender but fatal confidence in saying to yourself, ' O, if she only knew this ? ' ' O, if she did but suspect that ? ' Returning, however, to the sugar-plums, my life to a pariah's that they are poisoned ! "
"Impossible!" exclaimed the prince, horror-struck at the thought ; " what you say, surely no one ever could do. If a mortal fears not his fellow-mortal, at least he dreads the Deity."
" I never yet knew," rejoined the other, " what a woman in love does fear. However, prince, the trial is easy. Come here, Muti ! " cried he to the old woman's dog, " and off with thee to that three-headed kinsman of thine, that attends upon his amiable-looking master.1"
Having said this, he threw one of the sweetmeats to
i Hindu mythology has also its Cerberus, Trisisa, the " three- headed " hound that attends dreadful Yama (Pluto).
Having said this, he threw one of the sweetmeats to the dog (to face p. 64).
The Vampire's First Story. 65
the dog; the animal ate it, and presently writhing and falling down, died.
"The wretch! O the wretch!" cried Vajramukut, transported with wonder and anger. "And I loved her! But now it is all over. I dare not associate with such a calamity!"
"What has happened, my lord, has happened!" quoth the minister's son calmly. "I was prepared for something of this kind from so talented a princess. None commit such mistakes, such blunders, such follies as your clever women ; they cannot even turn out a crime decently executed. O give me dulness with one idea, one aim, one desire. O thrice blessed dulness that com- bines with happiness, power."
This time Vajramukut did not defend talent.
"And your slave did his best to warn you against perfidy. But now my heart is at rest. I have tried her strength. She has attempted and failed; the defeat will prevent her attempting again — just yet. But let me ask you to put to yourself one question. Can you be happy without her?"
"Brother!" replied the prince, after a pause, "I cannot"; and he blushed as he made the avowal.
"Well," replied the other, " better confess then con- ceal that fact ; we must now meet her on the battle-field, and beat her at her own weapons — cunning. I do not willingly begin treachery with women, because, in the" first place, I don't like it ; and secondly, I know that they will certainly commence practising it upon me, after which I hold myself justified in deceiving them. And probably this will be a good wife ; remember that she in- tended to poison me, not you. During the last month my fear has been lest my prince had run into the tiger's brake. Tell me, my lord, when does the princess expect you to return to her ? "
"She bade me," said the young Raja, "not to return
5
66 Vikram and the Vampire.
till my mind was quite at ease upon the subject of my talented friend."
"This means that she expects you back to-morrow night, as you cannot enter the palace before. And now I will retire to my cot, as it is there that I am wont to ponder over my plans. Before dawn my thought shall mature one which must place the beautiful Padmavati in your power."
"A word before parting," exclaimed the prince: "you know my father has already chosen a spouse for me; what will he say if I bring home a second?"
" In my humble opinion," said the minister's son, rising to retire, "woman is a monogamous, man a poly- gamous, creature, a fact scarcely established in physio- logical theory, but very observable in every-day practice. For what said the poet ? —
Divorce, friend ! Re-wed thee ! The spring draweth near,1 And a wife's but an almanac — good for the year. If your royal father say anything to you, refer him to what he himself does."
Reassured by these words, Vajramukut bade his friend a cordial good-night and sought his cot, where he slept soundly, despite the emotions of the last few hours. The next day passed somewhat slowly. In the evening, when accompanying his master to the palace, the minister's son gave him the following directions.
"Our object, dear my lord, is how to obtain posses- sion of the princess. Take, then, this trident, and hide it carefully when you see her show the greatest love and affection. Conceal what has happened, and when she, wondering at your calmness, asks about me, tell her that last night I was weary and out of health, that illness pre- vented my eating her sweetmeats, but that I shall eat them for supper to-night. When she goes to sleep, then, taking off her jewels and striking her left leg with the
I i?arceque c'est la saison des amours.
5—2
The Vampire's First Story. 67
trident, instantly come away to me. But should she lie awake, rub upon your thumb a little of this — do not fear, it is only a powder of grubs fed on verdigris — and apply it to her nostrils. It would make an elephant senseless, so be careful how you approach it to your own face."
Vajramukut embraced his friend, and passed safely through the palace gate. He found Padmavati awaiting him ; she fell upon his bosom and looked into his eyes, and deceived herself, as clever women will do. Over- powered by her joy and satisfaction, she now felt certain that her lover was hers eternally, and that her treachery had not been discovered ; so the beautiful princess fell into a deep sleep.
Then Vajramukut lost no time in doing as the minister's son had advised, and slipped out of the Toom, carrying off Padmavati's jewels and ornaments. His counsellor having inspected them, took up a sack and made signs to his master to follow him. Leaving the horses and baggage at the nurse's house, they walked to a burning-place outside the city. The minister's son there buried his dress, together with that of the prince, and drew from the sack the costume of a religious ascetic : he assumed this himself, and gave to his companion that of a disciple. Then quoth the guru (spiritual preceptor) to his chela (pupil), "Go, youth, to the bazar, and sell these jewels, remembering to let half the jewellers in the place see the things, and if any one lay hold of thee, bring him to me."
Upon which, as day had dawned, Vajramukut carried the princess's ornaments to the market, and enter- ing the nearest goldsmith's shop, offered to sell them, and asked what they were worth. As your majesty well knows, gardeners, tailors, and goldsmiths are proverbially dis- honest, and this man was no exception to the rule. He looked at the pupil's face and wondered, because he had* brought articles whose value he did not appear to know.
68 Vikram and the Vampire.
A thought struck him that he might make a bargain which would fill his coffers, so he offered about a thousandth part of the price. This the pupil rejected, because he wished the affair to go further. Then the goldsmith, see- ing him about to depart, sprang up and stood in the door- way, threatening to call the officers of justice if the young man refused to give up the valuables which he said had lately been stolen from his shop. As the pupil only laughed at this, the goldsmith thought seriously of execut- ing his threat, hesitating only because he knew that the officers of justice would gain more than he could by that proceeding. As he was still in doubt a shadow darkened his shop, and in entered the chief jeweller of the city. The moment the ornaments were shown to him he recognized them, and said, "These jewels belong to Raja Dantawat's daughter; I know them well, as I set them only a few months ago ! " Then he turned to the disciple, who still held the valuables in his hand, and cried, "Tell me truly whence you received them? "
While they were thus talking, a crowd of ten or twenty persons had collected, and at length the report reached the superintendent of the archers. He sent a soldier to bring before him the pupil, the goldsmith, and the chief jeweller, together with the ornaments. And when all were in the hall of justice, he looked at the jewels and said to the young man, "Tell me truly, whence have you obtained these ? "
" My spiritual preceptor," said Vajramukut, pretend- ing great fear, "who is now worshipping in the cemetery outside the town, gave me these white stones, with an order to sell them. How know I whence he obtained them ? Dismiss me, my lord, for I am an innocent man."
" Let the ascetic be sent for," commanded the kot- wal.1 Then, having taken both of them, along with the
i The pc'ice magistrafe, the Catual of Camoens.
The Vampire's First Story. 69
jewels, into the presence of King Dantawat, he related the whole circumstances.
" Master," said the king on hearing the statement, "whence have you obtained these jewels? "
The spiritual preceptor, before deigning an answer, pulled from under his arm the hide of a black antelope, which he spread out and smoothed deliberately before using it as an asan.1 He then began to finger a rosary of beads each as large as an egg, and after spending nearly an hour in mutterings and in rollings of the head, he looked fixedly at the Raja, and replied :
" By Shiva ! great king, they are mine own ! On the fourteenth of the dark half of the moon at night, I had gone into a place where dead bodies are burned, for the purpose of accomplishing a witch's incantation. After long and toilsome labour she appeared, but her demeanour was so unruly that I was forced to chastise her. I struck her with this, my trident, on the left leg, if memory serves me. As she continued to be refractory, in order to punish her I took off all her jewels and clothes, and told her to go where she pleased. Even this had little effect upon her — never have I looked upon so perverse a witch. In this way the jewels came into my possession."
Raja Dantawat was stunned by these words. He begged the ascetic not to leave the palace for a while, and forthwith walked into the private apartments of the women. Happening first to meet the queen dowager, he said to her, "Go, without losing a minute, O my mother, and look at Padmavati's left leg, and see if there is a mark or not, and what sort of a mark!" Presently she returned, and coming to the king said, "Son, I find thy daughter lying upon her bed, and complaining that she has met with an accident ; and indeed Padmavati must be in great pain. I found that some sharp instrument
i The seat of a Hindu ascetic.
70 Vikram and the Vampire.
with three points had wounded her. The girl says that a nail hurt her, but I never yet heard of a nail making three holes. However, we must all hasten, or there will be erysipelas, tumefaction, gangrene, mortification, ampu- tation, and perhaps death in the house," concluded the old queen, hurrying away in the pleasing anticipation of these ghastly consequences.
For a moment King Dantawat's heart was ready to break. But he was accustomed to master his feelings ; he speedily applied the reins of reflection to the wild steed of passion. He thought to himself, "the aFairs of one's household, the intentions of one's heart, and whatever one's losses may be, should not be disclosed to any one. Since Padmavati is a witch, she is no longer my daughter. I will verily go forth and consult the spiritual preceptor."
With these words the king went outside, where the guru was still sitting upon his black hide, making marks with his trident on the floor. Having requested that the pupil might be sent away, and having cleared the room, he said to the jogi, "O holy man! what punishment for the heinous crime of witchcraft is awarded to a woman in the Dharma-Shastra1 ?"
"Great king! " replied the devotee, "in the Dharma- Shastra it is thus written: 'If a Brahman, a cow, a woman, a child, or any other person whatsoever who may be dependent on us, should be guilty of a perfidious act, their punishment is that they be banished the country.' However much they may deserve death, we must not spill their blood, as Lakshmi2 flies in horror from the deed."
Hearing these words the Raja dismissed the guru with many thanks and large presents. He waited till nightfall and. then ordered a band of trusty men to seize Padmavati without alarming the household, and to carry
I The Hind, scriptures. 2 The Goddess of Prosperity.
The Vampire1 s First Story. 71
her into a distant jungle full of fiends, tigers, and bears, and there to abandon her.
In the meantime, the ascetic and his pupil hurrying to the cemetery resumed their proper dresses ; they then went to the old nurse's house, rewarded her hospitality till she wept bitterly, girt on their weapons, and mounting their horses, followed the party which issued from the gate of King Dantawat's palace. And it may easily be believed that they found little difficulty in persuading the poor girl to exchange her chance in the wild jungle for the prospect of becoming Vajramukut's wife — lawfully wedded — at Benares. She did not even ask if she was to have a
Mounting their horses, followed the party.
rival in the house, — a question which women, you know, never neglect to put under usual circumstances. After some days the two pilgrims of one love arrived at the house of their fathers, and to all, both great and small, excess in joy came.
"Now, Raja Vikram ! " said the Baital, "you have not spoken much; doubtless you are engrossed by the interest of a story wherein a man beats a woman at hef own weapon — deceit. But I warn you that you will
72 Vikram and the Vampire.
assuredly fall into Narak (the infernal regions) if you do not make up your mind upon and explain this matter. Who was the most to blame amongst these four ? the lover1 the lover's friend, the girl, or the father ?"
"For my part I think Padmavati was the worst, she being at the bottom of all their troubles," cried Dharma Dhwaj. The king said something- about young people and the two senses of seeing and hearing, but his son's senti- ment was so sympathetic that he at once pardoned the interruption. At length, determined to do justice despite himself, Vikram said, " Raja Dantawat is the person most at fault."
" In what way was he at fault ? " asked the Baital curiously.
King Vikram gave him this reply: "The Prince Vajramukut being tempted of the love-god was insane, and therefore not responsible for his actions. The minister's son performed his master's business obediently, without considering causes or asking questions — a very excellent quality in a dependant who is merely required to do as he is bid. With respect to the young woman, I have only to say that r,he was a young woman, and thereby of necessity a possible murderess. But the Raja, a prince, a man of a certain age and experience, a father of eight ! He ought never to have been deceived by so shallow a trick, nor should he, without reflection, have banished his daughter from the country."
" Gramercy to you!" cried the Vampire, bursting into a discordant shout of laughter, " I now return to my tree. By my tail ! I never yet heard a Raja so readily con- demn a Raja."
With these words he slipped out of the cloth, leaving it to hang empty over the great king's shoulder.
i In the original the lover is not blamed; this would be the Hindu view of the matter ; we might be tempted to think of the old injunction not to seethe a kid in the mother's milk.
The Vampire's First Story. 73
Vikram stood for a moment, fixed to the spot with blank dismay. Presently, recovering himself, he retraced his steps, followed by his son, ascended the siras-tree, tore down the Baital, packed him up as before, and again set out upon his way.
Soon afterwards a voice sounded behind the warrior king's back, and began to tell another true story.
74
THE VAMPIRE'S SECOND STORY.
OF THE RELATIVE VILLANY OF MEN AND WOMEN.
IN the great city of Bhogavati dwelt, once upon a time, a young prince, concerning whom I may say that he strikingly resembled this amiable son of your majesty.
Raja Vikram was silent, nor did he acknowledge the Baital's indirect compliment. He hated flattery, but he liked, when flattered, to be flattered in his own person ; a feature in their royal patron's character which the Nine Gems of Science had turned to their own account.
Now the young prince Raja Ram (continued the tale teller) had an old father, concerning whom I may say that he was exceedingly unlike your Rajaship, both as a man and as a parent. He was fond of hunting, dicing, sleeping by day, drinking at night, and eating perpetual tonics, while he delighted in the idleness of watching nautch girls, and the vanity of falling in love. But he was adored by his children because he took the trouble to win their hearts. He did not lay it down as a law of heaven that his offspring would assuredly go to Patala if they neglected the duty of bestowing upon him without cause all their affections, as your moral, virtuous, and
highly respectable fathers are only too apt . Ai'e !
Ale !
These sounds issued from the Vampire's lips as the warrior king, speechless with wrath, passed his hand behind his back, and viciously twisted up a piece of the
The Vampire's Second Story. 75
speaker's skin. This caused the Vampire to cry aloud, more however, it would appear, in derision than in real suffering, for he presently proceeded with the same subject.
Fathers, great king, may be divided into three kinds; and be it said aside, that mothers are the same. Firstly, we have the parent of many ideas, amusing, pleasant, of course poor, and the idol of his children. Secondly, there is the parent with one idea and a half. This sort of man would, in your place, say to himself, " That demon fellow speaks a manner of truth. I am not above learning from him, despite his position in life. I will carry out his theory, just to see how far it goes"; and so saying, he wends his way home, and treats his young ones with prodigious kindness for a time, but it is not lasting. Thirdly, there is the real one-idea'd type of parent — your- self, O warrior king Vikram, an admirable example. You learn in youth what you are taught : for instance, the blessed precept that the green stick is of the trees of Paradise ; and in age you practise what you have learned. You cannot teach yourselves anything before your beards sprout, and when they grow stiff you cannot be taught by others. If any one attempt to change your opinions you cry,
What is new is not true,
What is true is not new.
and you rudely pull his hand from the subject. Yet have you your uses like other things of earth. In life you are good working camels for the mill-track, and when you die your ashes are not worse compost than those of the wise.
Your Rajaship will observe (continued the Vampire, as Vikram began to show symptoms of ungovernable anger) that I have been concise in treating this digression. Had I not been so, it would have led me iar indeed from my tale. Now to return.
When the old king became air mixed with air, the
76 Vikram and the Vampire.
young king, though he found hardly ten pieces of silver in the paternal treasury and legacies for thousands of golden ounces, yet mourned his loss with the deepest grief. He easily explained to himself the reckless emptiness of the royal coffers as a proof of his dear kind parent's goodness, because he loved him.
But the old man had left behind him, as he could not carry it off with him, a treasure more valuable than gold and silver : one Churaman, a parrot, who knew the world, and who besides discoursed in the most correct Sanscrit. By sage counsel and wise guidance this admirable bird soon repaired his young master's shattered fortunes.
One day the prince said, " Parrot, thou knowest everything : tell me where there is a mate fit for me. The shastras inform us, respecting the choice of a wife, * She who is not descended from his paternal or maternal ancestors within the sixth degree is eligible by a high caste man for nuptials. In taking a wife let him studiously avoid the following families, be they ever so great, or ever so rich in kine, goats, sheep, gold, or grain : the family which has omitted prescribed acts of devotion ; that which has produced no male children ; that in which the Veda (scripture) has not been read ; that which has thick hair on the body ; and that in which members have been subject to hereditary disease. Let a person choose for his wife a girl whose person has no defect ; who has an agreeable name ; who walks gracefully, like a young elephant ; whose hair and teeth are moderate in quantity and in size ; and whose body is of exquisite softness.' "
" Great king," responded the parrot Churaman, " there is in the country of Magadh a Raja, Magadhesh- war by name, and he has a daughter called Chandravati. You will marry her ; she is very learned, and, what is better far, very fair. She is of yellow colour, with a nose like the flower of the sesamum ; her legs are taper, like the plantain-tree ; her eyes are large, like the principal
The Vampire's Second Story. 77
leaf of the lotus ; her eye-brows stretch towards her ears ; her lips are red, like the young leaves of the mango-tree ; her face is like the full moon ; her voice is like the sound of the cuckoo ; her arms reach to her knees ; her throat is like the pigeon's ; her flanks are thin, like those of the lion ; her hair hangs in curls only down to her waist ; her teeth are like the seeds of the pomegranate; and her gait is that of the drunken elephant or the goose."
On hearing the parrot's speech, the king sent for an astrologer, and asked him, " Whom shall I marry ? " The wise man, having consulted his art, replied, "Chand- ravati is the name of the maiden, and your marriage with her will certainly take place." Thereupon the young Raja, though he had never seen his future queen, became incontinently enamoured of her. He summoned a Brah- man, and sent him to King Magadheshwar, saying, " If you arrange satisfactorily this affair of our marriage we will reward you amply" — a promise which lent wings to the priest.
Now it so happened that this talented and beautiful princess had a jay,1 whose name was Madan-manjari or Love-garland. She also possessed encyclopaedic know- ledge after her degree, and, like the parrot, she spoke excellent Sanscrit.
Be it briefly said, O warrior king — for you think that I am talking fables — that in the days of old, men had the art of making birds discourse in human language. The invention is attributed to a great philosopher, who split their tongues, and after many generations produced a selected race born with those members split. He altered the shapes of their skulls by fixing ligatures behind the occiput, which caused the sinciput to protrude, their eyes to become prominent, and their brains to master the art of expressing thoughts in words.
But this wonderful discovery, like those of great i In the original a " maina " — the Gracula religiosa.
78 Vikram and the Vampire.
philosophers generally, had in it a terrible practical flaw. The birds beginning to speak, spoke wisely and so well, they told the truth so persistently, they rebuked their brethren of the featherless skins so openly, they flattered them so little and they counselled them so much, that mankind presently grew tired of hearing them discourse. Thus the art gradually fell into desuetude, and now it is numbered with the things that were.
One day the charming Princess Chandravati was sitting in confidential conversation with her jay. The dialogue was not remarkable, for maidens in all ages seldom consult their confidantes or speculate upon the secrets of futurity, or ask to have dreams interpreted, except upon one subject. At last the princess said, for perhaps the hundredth time that month, "Where, O jay, is there a husband worthy of me?"
"Princess," replied Madan-manjari, "I am happy at length to be able as willing to satisfy your just curiosity. For just it is, though the delicacy of our sex —
"Now, no preaching!" said the maiden; "or thou shalt have salt instead of sugar for supper."
Jays, your Rajaship, are fond of sugar. So the con- fidante retained a quantity of good advice which she was about to produce, and replied,
"I now see clearly the ways of Fortune. Raja Ram, king of Bhogavati, is to be thy husband. He shall be happy in thee and thou in him, for he is young and hand- some, rich and generous, good-tempered, not too clever, and without a chance of being an invalid."
Thereupon the princess, although she had never seen her future husband, at once began to love him. In fact, though neither had set eyes upon the other, both were mutually in love.
" How can that be, sire?" asked the young Dharma Dhwaj of his father. " I always thought that —
The great Vikram interrupted his son, and bade him
The Vampire's Second Story. 79
not to ask silly questions. Thus he expected to neutralize the evil effects of the Baital's doctrine touching the amiability of parents unlike himself.
Now, as both these young people (resumed the Baital) were of princely family and well to do in the world, the course of their love was unusually smooth. When the Brahman sent by Raja Ram had reached Magadh, and had delivered his King's homage to the Raja Magadhesh- war, the latter received him with distinction, and agreed to his proposal. The beautiful princess's father sent for a Brahman of his own, and charging him with nuptial gifts and the customary presents, sent him back to Bhogavati in company with the other envoy, and gave him this order, "Greet Raja Ram, on my behalf, and after placing the tilak or mark upon his forehead, return here with all speed. When you come back I will get all things ready for the marriage."
Raja Ram, on receiving the deputation, was greatly pleased, and after generously rewarding the Brahmans and making all the necessary preparations, he set out in state for the land of Magadha, to claim his betrothed.
In due season the ceremony took place with feasting and bands of music, fireworks and illuminations, rehearsals of scripture, songs, entertainments, processions, and abun- dant noise. And hardly had the turmeric disappeared from the beautiful hands and feet of the bride, when the bridegroom took an affectionate leave of his new parents — he had not lived long in the house — and receiving the dowry and the bridal gifts, set out for his own country.
Chandravati was dejected by leaving her mother, and therefore she was allowed to carry with her the jay, Madan- manjari. She soon told her husband the wonderful way in which she had first heard his name, and he related to her the advantage which he had derived from confabula- tion with Churaman, his parrot.
"Then why do we not put these precious creatures
80 Vikram and the Vampire.
into one cage, after marrying them according to the rites of the angelic marriage (Gandharva-lagana) ? " said the charming queen. Like most brides, she was highly pleased to find an opportunity of making a match.
"Ay! why not, love? Surely they cannot live happy in what the world calls single blessedness," replied the young king. As bridegrooms sometimes are for a short time, he was very warm upon the subject of matrimony.
Thereupon, without consulting the parties chiefly concerned in their scheme, the master and mistress, after being comfortably settled at the end of their journey, caused a large cage to be brought, and put into it both their favourites.
Upon which Churaman the parrot leaned his head on one side and directed a peculiar look at the jay. But Madan-manjari raised her beak high in the air, puffed through it once or twice, and turned away her face in extreme disdain.
" Perhaps," quoth the parrot, at length breaking silence, "you will tell me that you have no desire to be married?"
"Probably," replied the jay.
"And why ?" asked the male bird.
"Because I don't choose," replied the female.
"Truly a feminine form of resolution this," ejaculated the parrot. "I will borrow my master's words and call it a woman's reason, that is to say, no reason at all. Have you any objection to be more explicit?"
"None whatever," retorted the jay, provoked by the rude innuendo into telling more plainly than politely exactly what she thought; "none whatever, sir parrot. You he-things are all of you sinful, treacherous, deceitful, selfish, devoid of conscience, and accustomed to sacrifice us, the weaker sex, to your smallest desire or convenience."
"Of a truth, fair lady," quoth the young Raja Ram to his bride, "^his pet of thine is sufficiently impudent."
The Vampire's Second Story. 81
"Let her words be as wind in thine ear, master,' interrupted the parrot. "And pray, Mistress Jay, what are you she-things but treacherous, false, ignorant, and avaricious beings, whose only wish in this world is to prevent life being as pleasant as it might be?"
"Verily, my love," said the beautiful Chandravati to her bridegroom, "this thy bird has a habit of expressing his opinions in a very free and easy way."
"I can prove what I assert," whispered the jay in the ear of the princess.
"We can confound their feminine minds by an anec- dote," whispered the parrot in the ear of the prince.
Briefly, King Vikram, it was settled between the twain that each should establish the truth of what it had advanced by an illustration in the form of a story.
Chandravati claimed, and soon obtained, precedence for the jay. Then the wonderful bird, Madan-manjari, began to speak as follows: —
I have often told thee, O queen, that before coming to thy feet, my mistress was Ratnawati, the daughter of a rich trader, the dearest, the sweetest, the
Here the jay burst into tears, and the mistress was sympathetically affected. Presently the speaker resumed —
However, I anticipate. In the city of Ilapur there was a wealthy merchant, who was without offspring; on this account he was continually fasting and going on pilgrimage, and when at home he was ever engaged in reading the Puranas and in giving alms to the Brahmans.
At length, by favour of the Deity, a son was born to this merchant, who celebrated his birth with great pomp and rejoicing, and gave large gifts to Brahmans and to bards, and distributed largely to the hungry, the thirsty, and the poor. When the boy was five years old he had him taught to read, and when older he was sent to a guru, who had formerly himself been a student, and who was celebrated as teacher and lecturer.
6
82 Vikram and the Vampire.
In the course of time the merchant's son grew up. Praise be to Brahma! what a wonderful youth it was, with a face like a monkey's, legs like a stork's, and a back like a camel's. You know the old proverb : —
Expect thirty-two villanies from the limping, and eighty
from the one-eyed man, But when the hunchback comes, say " Lord defend us ! "
Instead of going to study, he went to gamble with other ne'er-do-weels, to whom he talked loosely, and whom he taught to be bad-hearted as himself. He made love to every woman, and despite his ugliness, he was not un- successful. For they are equally fortunate who are very handsome or very ugly, in so far as they are both re- markable and remarked. But the latter bear away the palm. Beautiful men begin well with women, who do all they can to attract them, love them as the apples of their eyes, discover them to be fools, hold them to be their equals, deceive them, and speedily despise them. It is otherwise with the ugly man, who, in consequence of his homeliness, must work his wits and take pains with him- self, and become as pleasing as he is capable of being, till women forget his ape's face, bird's legs, and bunchy back.
The hunchback, moreover, became a Tantri, so as to complete his villanies. He was duly initiated by an apostate Brahman, made a declaration that he renounced all the ceremonies of his old religion, and was delivered from their yoke, and proceeded to perform in token of joy an abominable rite. In company with eight men and eight women — a Brahman female, a dancing girl, a weaver's daughter, a woman of ill fame, a washerwoman, a barber's wife, a milkmaid, and the daughter of a land- owner— choosing the darkest time of night and the most secret part of the house, he. drank with them, was sprinkled and anointed, and went through many ignoble ceremonies, such as sitting nude upon a dead body. The 6—2
The Vampire's Second Stovy. 83
teacher informed him that he was not to indulge shame, or aversion to anything, nor to prefer one thing to another, nor to regard caste, ceremonial cleanness or uncleanness, but freely to enjoy all the pleasures of sense — that is, of course, wine and us, since we are the representatives of the wife of Cupid, and wine prevents the senses from going astray. And whereas holy men, holding that the subjugation or annihilation of the passions is essential to final beatitude, accomplish this object by bodily austeri- ties, and by avoiding temptation, he proceeded to blunt the edge of the passions with excessive indulgence. And he jeered at the pious, reminding them that their ascetics are safe only in forests, and while keeping a perpetual fast ; but that he could subdue his passions in the very presence of what they most desired.
Presently this excellent youth's father died, leaving him immense wealth. He blunted his passions so piously and so vigorously, that in very few years his fortune was dissipated. Then he turned towards his neighbour's goods and prospered for a time, till being discovered rob- bing, he narrowly escaped the stake. At length he ex- claimed, " Let the gods perish ! the rascals send me nothing but ill luck ! " and so saying he arose and fled from his own country.
Chance led that villain hunchback to the city of Chan- drapur, where, hearing the name of my master Hemgupt, he recollected that one of his father's wealthiest corres- pondents was so called. Thereupon, with his usual audacity, he presented himself at the house, walked in, and although he was clothed in tatters, introduced him- self, told his father's name and circumstances, and wept bitterly.
The good man was much astonished, and not less grieved, to see the son of his old friend in such woful plight. He rose up, however, embraced the youth, and asked the reason of his coming.
84 Vikram and the Vampire.
" I freighted a vessel," said the false hunchback, " for the purpose of trading to a certain land. Having gone there, I disposed of my merchandise, and, taking another cargo, I was on my voyage home. Suddenly a great storm arose, and the vessel was wrecked, and I escaped on a plank, and after a time arrived here. But I am ashamed, since I have lost all my wealth, and I can- not show my face in this plight in my own city. My excel- lent father would have consoled me with his pity. But now that I have carried him and my mother to Ganges,1 every one will turn against me ; they will rejoice in my misfortunes, they will accuse me of folly and recklessness — alas ! alas ! I am truly miserable."
My dear master was deceived by the cunning of the wretch. He offered him hospitality, which was readily enough accepted, and he entertained him for some time as a guest. Then, having reason to be satisfied with his conduct, Hemgupt admitted him to his secrets, and finally made him a partner in his business. Briefly, the villain played his cards so well, that at last the merchant said to himself :
" I have had for years an anxiety and a calamity in my house. My neighbours whisper things to my dis- advantage, and those who are bolder speak out with astonishment amongst themselves, saying, « At seven or eight, people marry their daughters, and this indeed is the appointment of the law : that period is long since gone ; she is now thirteen or fourteen years old, and she is very tall and lusty, resembling a married woman of thirty. How can her father eat his rice with comfort and sleep with satisfaction, whilst such a disreputable thing exists in his house ? At present he is exposed to shame, and his deceased friends are suffering through his retaining a girl from marriage beyond the period which nature has prescribed.' And now, while I am sitting quietly at
i As we should say, buried them.
The Vampire's Second Story. 85
home, the Bhagwan (Deity) removes all my uneasiness : by his favour such an opportunity occurs. It is not right to delay. It is best that I shall give my daughter in marriage to him. Whatever can be done to-day is best ; who knows what may happen to-morrow ? "
Thus thinking, the old man went to his wife and said to her, " Birth, marriage, and death are all under the direction of the gods ; can anyone say when they will be ours ? We want for our daughter a young man who is of good birth, rich and handsome, clever and honourable. But we do not find him. If the bridegroom be faulty, thou sayest, all will go wrong. I cannot put a string round the neck of our daughter and throw her into the ditch. If, however, thou think well of the merchant's son, now my partner, we will celebrate Ratnawati's mar- riage with him."
The wife, who had been won over by the hunch- back's hypocrisy, was also pleased, and replied, " My lord ! when the Deity so plainly indicates his wish, we should do it ; since, though we have sat quietly at home, the desire of our hearts is accomplished. It is best that no delay be made : and, having quickly summoned the family priest, and having fixed upon a propitious planetary conjunction, that the marriage be celebrated."
Then they called their daughter — ah, me! what a beautiful being she was, and worthy the love of a Gand- harva (demigod). Her long hair, purple with the light of youth, was glossy as the bramra's1 wing ; her brow was pure and clear as the agate ; the ocean-coral looked pale beside her lips, and her teeth were as two chaplets of pearls. Everything in her was formed to be loved. Who could look into her eyes without wishing to do it again ? Who could hear her voice without hoping that such music would sound once more ? And she was good as she was fair. Her father adored her ; her mother,
i A large kind of black bee, common in India.
86 Vikram and the Vampire.
though a middle-aged woman, was not envious or jealous of her ; her relatives doted on her, and her friends could find no fault with her. I should never end were I to tell her precious qualities. Alas, alas ! my poor Ratnawati !
So saying, the jay wept abundant tears ; then she resumed :
When her parents informed my mistress of their resolution, she replied, " Sadhu — it is well ! " She was not like most young women, who hate nothing so much as a man whom their seniors order them to love. She bowed her head and promised obedience, although, as she afterwards told her mother, she could hardly look at her intended, on account of his prodigious ugliness. But presently the hunchback's wit surmounted her disgust. She was grateful to him for his attention to her father and mother ; she esteemed him for his moral and religious conduct ; she pitied him for his misfortunes, and she fin- ished with forgetting his face, legs, and back in her admir- ation of what she supposed to be his mind.
She had vowed before marriage faithfully to per- form all the duties of a wife, however distasteful to her they might be ; but after the nuptials, which were not long deferred, she was not surprised to find that she loved her husband. Not only did she omit to think of his features and figure ; I verily believe that she loved him the more for his repulsiveness. Ugly, very ugly men prevail over women for two reasons. Firstly, we begin with repugnance, which in the course of nature turns to affection ; and we all like the most that which, when un- accustomed to it, we most disliked. Hence the poet says, with as much truth as is in the male :
Never despair, O man ! when woman's spite Detests thy name and sickens at thy sight : Sometime her heart shall learn to love thee more For the wild hatred which it felt before, &c.
Secondly, the very ugly man appears, deceitfully enough,
The Vampire's Second Story. 87
to think little of his appearance, and he will give himself the trouble to pursue a heart because he knows that the heart will not follow after him. Moreover, we women (said the jay) are by nature pitiful, and this our enemies term a " strange perversity." A widow is generally dis- consolate if she loses a little, wizen-faced, shrunken- shanked, ugly, spiteful, distempered thing that scolded her and quarrelled with her, and beat her and made her hours bitter ; whereas she will follow her husband to Ganges with exemplary fortitude if he was brave, hand- some, generous
" Either hold your tongue or go on with your story," cried the warrior king, in whose mind these remarks awakened disagreeable family reflections.
" Hi ! hi! hi ! " laughed the demon ; " I will obey your majesty, and make Madan-manjari, the misanthrop- ical jay, proceed."
Yes, she loved the hunchback ; and how wonderful is our love ! quoth the jay. A light from heaven which rains happiness on this dull, dark earth ! A spell falling upon the spirit, which reminds us of a higher existence ! A memory of bliss ! A present delight ! An earnest of future felicity ! It makes hideousness beautiful and stupidity clever, old age young and wickedness good, moroseness amiable, and low-mindedness magnanimous, perversity pretty and vulgarity piquant. Truly it is sovereign alchemy and excellent flux for blending contra- dictions is our love, exclaimed the jay.
And so saying, she cast a triumphant look at the parrot, who only remarked that he could have desired a little more originality in her remarks.
For some months (resumed Madan-manjari), the bride and the bridegroom lived happily together in Hem- gupt's house. But it is said :
Never yet did the tiger become a lamb ; and the hunchback felt that the edge of his passions again
88 Vikram and the Vampire.
wanted blunting. He reflected, " Wisdom is exemption from attachment, and affection for children, wife, and home." Then he thus addressed my poor young mis- tress :
" I have been now in thy country some years, and I have heard no tidings of my own family, hence my mind is sad. I have told thee everything about myself ; thou must now ask thy mother leave for me to go to my own city, and, if thou wishest, thou mayest go with me."
Ratnawati lost no time in saying to her mother, " My husband wishes to visit his own country ; will you so arrange that he may not be pained about this matter?"
The mother went to her husband, and said, " Your son-in-law desires leave to go to his own country."
Hemgupt replied, "Very well; we will grant him leave. One has no power over another man's son. We will do what he wishes."
The parents then called their daughter, and asked her to tell them her real desire — whether she would go to her father-in-law's house, or would remain in her mother's home. She was abashed at this question, and could not answer ; but she went back to her husband, and said, " As my father and mother have declared that you should do as you like, do not leave me behind."
Presently the merchant summoned his son-in-law, and having bestowed great wealth upon him, allowed him to depart. He also bade his daughter farewell, after giving her a palanquin and a female slave. And the parents took leave of them with wailing and bitter tears ; their hearts were like to break. And so was mine.
For some days the hunchback travelled quietly along with his wife, in deep thought. He could not take her to his city, where she would find out his evil life, and the fraud which he had passed upon her father. Besides which, although he wanted her money, he by no means wanted her company for life. After turning on many
He set out alone with his ill-gotten wealth (to face p. 89).
The Vampire's Second Story, 89
projects in his evil-begotten mind, he hit upon the following :
He dismissed the palanquin-bearers when halting at a little shed in the thick jungle through which they were travelling, and said to his wife, "This is a place of danger ; give me thy jewels, and I will hide them in my waist-shawl. When thou reachest the city thou canst wear them again." She then gave up to him all her orna- ments, which were of great value. Thereupon he in-
He dismissed the palanquin-bearers.
veigled the slave girl into the depths of the forest, where he murdered her, and left her body to be devoured by wild beasts. Lastly, returning to my poor mistress, he induced her to leave the hut with him, and pushed her by force into a dry well, after which exploit he set out alone with his ill-gotten wealth, walking towards his own city.
In the meantime, a wayfaring man, who was passing through that jungle, hearing the sound of weeping, stood still, and began to say to himself, " How came to my ears^
go Vikram and the Vampire.
the voice of a mortal's grief in this wild wood ? " He then followed the direction of the noise, which led him to a pit, and peeping over the side, he saw a woman crying at the bottom. The traveller at once loosened his girdle cloth, knotted it to his turband, and letting down the line pulled out the poor bride. He asked her who she was, and how she came to fall into that well. She replied, " I am the daughter of Hemgupt, the wealthiest merchant in the city of Chandrapur ; and I was journeying with my husband to his own country, when robbers set upon us and surrounded us. They slew my slave girl, they threw me into a well, and having bound my husband they took him away, together with my jewels. I have no tidings of him, nor he of me." And so saying, she burst into tears and lamentations.
The wayfaring man believed her tale, and conducted her to her home, where she gave the same account of the accident which had befallen her, ending with, " Beyond this, I know not if they have killed my husband, or have let him go." The father thus soothed her grief: " Daughter ! have no anxiety ; thy husband is alive, and by the will of the Deity he will come to thee in a few days. Thieves take men's money, not their lives." Then the parents presented her with ornaments more precious than those which she had lost ; and summoning their relations and friends, they comforted her to the best of their power. And so did I.
The wicked hunchback had, meanwhile, returned to his own city, where he was excellently well received, because he brought much wealth with him. His old as- sociates flocked around him rejoicing ; and he fell into the same courses which had beggared him before. Gambling and debauchery soon blunted his passions, and emptied his purse. Again his boon companions, finding him without a broken cowrie, drove him from their doors ; he stole and was flogged for theft ; and lastly, half famished,
The Vampire's Second Story. 91
he fled the city. Then he said to himself, " I must go to my father-in-law, and make the excuse that a grand- son has been born to him, and that I have come to offer him congratulations on the event."
Imagine, however, his fears and astonishment, when, as he entered the house, his wife stood before him. At first he thought it was a ghost, and turned to run away, but she went out to him and said, " Husband, be not troubled ! I have told my father that thieves came upon us, and killed the slave girl and robbed me and threw me into a well, and bound thee and carried thee off. Tell the same story, and put away all anxious feelings. Come up and change thy tattered garments — alas ! some misfor- tune hath befallen thee. But console thyself ; all is now well, since thou art returned to me, and fear not, for the house is thine, and I am thy slave."
The wretch, with all his hardness of heart, could scarcely refrain from tears. He followed his wife to her room, where she washed his feet, caused him to bathe, dressed him in new clothes, and placed food before him. When her parents returned, she presented him to their embrace, saying in a glad way, " Rejoice with me, O my father and mother ! the robbers have at length allowed him to come back to us." Of course the parents were deceived ; they are mostly a purblind race ; and Hemgupt, showing great favour to his worthless son-in-law, ex- claimed, " Remain with us, my son, and be happy !"
For two or three months the hunchback lived quietly with his wife, treating her kindly and even affectionately. But this did not last long. He made acquaintance with a band of thieves, and arranged his plans with them.
After a time, his wife one night came to sleep by his side, having put on all her jewels. At midnight, when he saw that she was fast asleep, he struck her with a knife so that she died. Then he admitted his accomplices, who savagely murdered Hemgupt and his wife ; and with thei^
92 Vikram and the Vampire.
assistance he carried off any valuable article upon which he could lay his hands. The ferocious wretch ! As he passed my cage he looked at it, and thought whether he had time to wring my neck. The barking of a dog saved my life ; but my mistress, my poor Ratnawati — ah, me ! ah, me !—
" Queen," said the jay, in deepest grief, " all this have I seen with mine own eyes, and have heard with mine own ears. It affected me in early life, and gave me a dislike for the society of the other sex. With due respect to you, I have resolved to remain an old maid. Let your majesty reflect, what crime had my poor mistress committed ? A male is of the same disposition as a highway robber ; and she who forms friendship with such an one, cradles upon her bosom a black and venomous snake."
" Sir Parrot," said the jay, turning to her wooer, " I have spoken. I have nothing m&re to say, but that you he-things are all a treacherous, selfish, wicked race, created for the express purpose of working our worldly
woe, and "
" When a female, O my king, asserts that she has nothing more to say, but," broke in Churaman, the parrot, with a loud dogmatical voice, " I know that what she has said merely whets her tongue for what she is about to say. This person has surely spoken long enough and drearily enough."
"Tell me, then, O parrot," said the king, "what faults there may be in the other sex."
" I will relate," quoth Churaman, " an occurrence which in my early youth determined me to live and to die an old bachelor."
When quite a young bird, and before my schooling began, I was caught in the land of Malaya, and was sold to a very rich merchant called Sagardati, a widower with one daughter, the lady Jayashri. As her father spent all
The Vampire's Second Story, 93
his days and half his nights in his counting-house, conning his ledgers and scolding his writers, that young woman had more liberty than is generally allowed to those of her age, and a mighty bad use she made of it.
O king ! men commit two capital mistakes in rearing the " domestic calamity," and these are over-vigilance and under-vigilance. Some parents never lose sight of their daughters, suspect them of all evil intentions, and are silly enough to show their suspicions, which is an incentive to evil-doing. For the weak-minded things do naturally say, " I will be wicked at once. What do I now but suffer all the pains and penalties of badness, without enjoying its pleasures ?" And so they are guilty of many evil actions ; for, however vigilant fathers and mothers may be, the daughter can always blind their eyes.
On the other hand, many parents take no trouble whatever with their charges : they allow them to sit in idleness, the origin of badness ; they permit them to com- municate with the wicked, and they give them liberty which breeds opportunity. Thus they also, falling into the snares of the unrighteous, who are ever a more pains- taking race than the righteous, are guilty of many evil actions.
What, then, must wise parents do ? The wise will study the characters of their children, and modify their treatment accordingly. If a daughter be naturally good, she will be treated with a prudent confidence. If she be vicious, an apparent trust will be reposed in her ; but her father and mother will secretly ever be upon their guard. The one-idea'd
" All this parrot-prate, I suppose, is only intended to vex me," cried the warrior king, who always considered himself, and very naturally, a person of such consequence as ever to be uppermost in the thoughts and minds of others. " If thou must tell a tale, then tell one, Vam-
0
94 V ilw am and the Vampire.
pire ! or else be silent, as I am sick to the death of thy psychics."
"It is well, O warrior king," resumed the Baital.
After that Churaman the parrot had given the young Raja Ram a golden mine full of good advice about the man- agement of daughters, he proceeded to describe Jayashri.
She was tall, stout, and well made, of lymphatic temperament, and yet strong passions. Her fine large eyes had heavy and rather full eyelids, which are to be avoided. Her hands were symmetrical without being small, and the palms were ever warm and damp. Though her lips were good, her mouth was somewhat underhung ; and her voice was so deep, that at times it sounded like that of a man. Her hair was smooth as the kokila's plume, and her complexion was that of the young jasmine; and these were the points at which most persons looked. Altogether, she was neither handsome nor ugly, which is an excellent thing in woman. Sita the goddess1 was lovely to excess ; therefore she was carried away by a demon. Raja Bali was exceedingly generous, and he emptied his treasury. In this way, exaggeration, even of good, is exceedingly bad.
Yet must I confess, continued the parrot, that, as a rule, the beautiful woman is more virtuous than the ugly. The former is often tempted, but her vanity and conceit enable her to resist, by the self-promise that she shall be tempted again and again. On the other hand, the ugly woman must tempt instead of being tempted, and she must yield, because her vanity and conceit are gratified by yielding, not by resisting.
" Ho, there ! " broke in the jay contemptuously. " What woman cannot win the hearts of the silly things called men ? Is it not said that a pig-faced female who dwells in Landanpur has a lover ? "
I was about to remark, my king ! said the parrot,
I The beautiful wife of the demigod Rama Chandra.
The Vampire's Second Story. 95
somewhat nettled, if the aged virgin had not interrupted me, that as ugly women are more vicious than handsome women, so they are most successful. " We love the pretty, we adore the plain," is a true saying amongst the worldly wise. And why do we adore the plain ? Because they seem to think less of themselves than of us — a vital condition of adoration.
Jayashri made some conquests by the portion of good looks which she possessed, more by her impudence, and most by her father's reputation for riches. She was truly shameless, and never allowed herself fewer than half a dozen admirers at the time. Her chief amusement was to appoint interviews with them successively, at intervals so short that she was obliged to hurry away one in order to make room for another. And when a lover happened to be jealous, or ventured in any way to criticize her arrangements, she replied at once by showing him the door. Answer unanswerable !
When Jayashri had reached the ripe age of thir- teen, the son of a merchant, who was her father's gossip and neighbour, returned home after a long sojourn in far lands, whither he had travelled in the search of wealth. The poor wretch, whose name, by-the-bye, was Shridat (Gift of Fortune), had loved her in her childhood; and he came back, as men are apt to do after absence from familiar scenes, painfully full of affection for house and home and all belonging to it. From his cross, stingy old uncle to the snarling superannuated beast of a watch- dog, he viewed all with eyes of love and melting heart. He could not see that his idol was greatly changed, and nowise for the better ; that her nose was broader and more club-like, her eyelids fatter and thicker, her under lip more prominent, her voice harsher, and her manner coarser. He did not notice that she was an adept in judging of men's dress, and that she looked with admir- ation upon all swordsmen, especially upon those who
96 Vikram and the Vampire.
fought upon horses and elephants. The charm of memory, the curious faculty of making past time present, caused all he viewed to be enchanting to him.
Having obtained her father's permission, Shridat ap- plied for betrothal to Jayashri, who with peculiar boldness, had resolved that no suitor should come to her through her parent. And she, after leading him on by all the coquetries of which she was a mistress, refused to marry him, saying that she liked him as a friend, but would hate him as a husband.
You see, my king ! there are three several states of feeling with which women regard their masters, and these are love, hate, and indifference. Of all, love is the weak- est and the most transient, because the essentially unstable creatures naturally fall out of it as readily as they fall into it. Hate being a sister excitement will easily become, if a man has wit enough to effect the change, love ; and hate-love may perhaps last a little longer than love-love. Also, man has the occupation, the excitement, and the pleasure of bringing about the change. As regards the neutral state, that poet was not happy in his ideas who sang —
Whene'er indifference appears, or scorn, Then, man, despair! then, hapless lover, mourn! For a man versed in the Lila Shastra1 can soon turn a woman's indifference into hate, which I have shown is as easily permuted to love. In which predicament it is the old thing over again, and it ends in the pure Asat2 or nonentity.
" Which of these two birds, the jay or the parrot, had dipped deeper into human nature, mighty King Vikram ? " asked the demon in a wheedling tone of voice.
The trap was this time set too openly, even for the
1 The Hindu Ars Amoris.
2 The old philosophers, believing in a " Sat " (T& ov), postulated an Asat (rb ^ ov) and made the latter the root of the former.
The Vampire's Second Story. 97
royal personage, to fall into it. He hurried on, calling to his son, and not answering a word. The Vampire there- fore resumed the thread of his story at the place where he had broken it off.
Shridat was in despair when he heard the resolve of his idol. He thought of drowning himself, of throwing himself down from the summit of Mount Girnar,1 of be- coming a religious beggar ; in short, of a multitude of follies. But he refrained from all such heroic remedies for despair, having rightly judged, when he became somewhat calmer, that they would not be likely to further his suit. He discovered that patience is a virtue, and he resolved impatiently enough to practise it. And by perseverance he succeeded. The worse for him ! How vain are men to wish ! How wise is the Deity, who is deaf to their wishes !
Jayashri, for potent reasons best known to herself, was married to Shridat six months after his return home. He was in raptures. He called himself the happiest man in existence. He thanked and sacrificed to the Bhagwan for listening to his prayers. He recalled to mind with thrilling heart the long years which he had spent in hope- less exile from all that was dear to him, his sadness and anxiety, his hopes and joys, his toils and troubles his loyal love and his vows to Heaven for the happiness of his idol, and for the furtherance of his fondest desires.
For truly he loved her, continued the parrot, and there is something holy in such love. It becomes not only a faith, but the best of faiths — an abnegation of self which emancipates the spirit from its straightest and earthliest bondage, the "I"; the first step in the regions of heaven; a homage rendered through the creature to the Creator; a devotion solid, practical, ardent, not as worship mostly is, a cold and lifeless abstraction ; a
i In Western India, a place celebrated for suicides.
98 Vikram and the Vampirt.
merging of human nature into one far nobler and higher, the spiritual existence of the supernal world. For perfect love is perfect happiness, and the only perfection of man ; and what is a demon but a being without love ? And what makes man's love truly divine, is the fact that it is bestowed upon such a thing as woman.
"And now, Raja Vikram," said the Vampire, speak- ing in his proper person, " I have given you Madanman- jari the jay's and Churaman the parrot's definitions of the tender passion, or rather their descriptions of its effects. Kindly observe that I am far from accepting either one or the other. Love is, according to me, somewhat akin to mania, a temporary condition of selfishness, a transient confusion of identity. It enables man to predicate of others who are his other selves, that which he is ashamed to say about his real self. I will suppose the beloved object to be ugly, stupid, vicious, perverse, selfish, low- minded, or the reverse; man finds it charming by the same rule that makes his faults and foibles dearer to him than all the virtues and good qualities of his neighbours. Ye call love a spell, an alchemy, a deity. Why? Be- cause it deifies self by gratifying all man's pride, man's vanity, and man's conceit, under the mask of complete unegotism. Who is not in heaven when he is talking of himself? and, prithee, of what else consists all the talk of lovers?"
It is astonishing that the warrior king allowed this speech to last as long as it did. He hated nothing so fiercely, now that he was in middle-age, as any long mention of the "handsome god.1" Having vainly en- deavoured to stop by angry mutterings the course of the Baital's eloquence, he stepped out so vigorously and so rudely shook that inveterate talker, that the latter once or twice nearly bit off the tip of his tongue. Then the
i Kama Deva. " Out on thee, foul fiend, talk'st thou of nothing but ladies ? " 7—2
The Vampire's Second Story. 99
Vampire became silent, and Vikram relapsed into a walk which allowed the tale to be resumed.
Jayashri immediately conceived a strong dislike for her husband, and simultaneously a fierce affection for a reprobate who before had been indifferent to her. The more lovingly Shridat behaved to her, the more vexed and annoyed she was. When her friends talked to her, she turned up her nose, raising her eyebrows (in token of displeasure), and remained silent. When her husband spoke words of affection to her, she found them dis- agreeable, and turning away her face, reclined on the bed. Then he brought dresses and ornaments of various kinds and presented them to her, saying, "Wear these." Whereupon she would become more angry, knit her brows, turn her face away, and in an audible whisper call him "fool." All day she stayed out of the house, saying to her companions, "Sisters, my youth is passing away, and I have not, up to the present time, tasted any of this world's pleasures." Then she would ascend to the balcony, peep through the lattice, and seeing the repro- bate going along, she would cry to her friend, " Bring that person to me." All night she tossed and turned from side to side, reflecting in her heart, "I am puzzled in my mind what I shall say, and whither I shall go. I have forgotten sleep, hunger, and thirst; neither heat nor cold is refreshing to me."
At last, unable any longer to support the separation from her reprobate paramour, whom she adored, she resolved to fly with him. On one occasion, when she thought that her husband was fast asleep, she rose up quietly, and leaving him, made her way fearlessly in the dark night to her lover's abode. A footpad, who saw her on the way, thought to himself, "Where can this woman, clothed in jewels, be going alone at midnight ? " And thus he followed her unseen, and watched her.
When Jayashri reached the intended place, she*
ioo Vikram and the Vampire.
went into the house, and found her lover lying at the door. He was dead, having been stabbed by the foot- pad; but she, thinking that he had, according to custom, drunk intoxicating hemp, sat upon the floor, and raising his head, placed it tenderly in her lap. Then, burning with the fire of separation from him, she began to kiss his cheeks, and to fondle and caress him with the utmost freedom and affection.
By chance a Pisach (evil spirit) was seated in a large fig-tree1 opposite the house, and it occurred to him, when beholding this scene, that he might amuse himself in a characteristic way. He therefore hopped down from his branch, vivified the body, and began to return the woman's caresses. But as Jayashri bent down to kiss his lips, he caught the end of her nose in his teeth, and bit it clean off. He then issued from the corpse, and returned to the branch where he had been sitting.
Jayashri was in despair. She did not, however, lose her presence of mind, but sat down and proceeded to take thought ; and when she had matured her plan she arose, dripping with blood, and walked straight home to her husband's house. On entering his room she clapped her hand to her nose, and began to gnash her teeth, and to shriek so violently, that all the members of the family were alarmed. The neighbours also collected in numbers at the door, and, as it was bolted inside, they broke it open and rushed in, carrying lights. There they saw the wife sitting upon the ground with her face mutilated, and the husband standing over her, apparently trying to appease her.
"O ignorant, criminal, shameless, pitiless wretch!'* cried the people, especially the women ; "why hast thou cut off her nose, she not having offended in any way ? "
Poor Shridat, seeing at once the trick which had been played upon him, thought to himself : " One should
i The pipal or Ficus religiosa, a favourite roosting-place for fiends.
The Vampires Second Story. 101
put no confidence in a changeful mind, a black serpent, or an armed enemy, and one should dread a woman's doings. What cannot a poet describe ? What is there that a saint (jogi) does not know? What nonsense will not a drunken man talk? What limit is there to a woman's guile ? True it is that the gods know nothing of the defects of a horse, of the thundering of clouds, of a woman's deeds, or of a man's future fortunes. How then can we know?" He could do nothing but weep, and swear by the herb basil, by his cattle, by his grain, by a piece of gold, and by all that is holy, that he had not committed the crime.
In the meanwhile, the old merchant, Jayashri's father, ran off, and laid a complaint before the kotwal, and the footmen of the police magistrate were immediately sent to apprehend the husband, and to carry him bound before the judge. The latter, after due examination, laid the affair before the king. An example happening to be necessary at the time, the king resolved to punish the offence with severity, and he summoned the husband and wife to the court.
When the merchant's daughter was asked to give an account of what had happened, she pointed out the state of her nose, and said, " Maharaj ! why inquire of me con- cerning what is so manifest?" The king then turned to the husband, and bade him state his defence. He said, " I know nothing of it," and in the face of the strongest evidence he persisted in denying his guilt.
Thereupon the king, who had vainly threatened to cut off Shridat's right hand, infuriated by his refusing to confess and to beg for mercy, exclaimed, " How must I punish such a wretch as thou art?" The unfortunate man answered, " Whatever your majesty may consider just, that be pleased to do." Thereupon the king cried, "Away with him, and impale him"; and the people, hearing the command, prepared to obey it. *
IO2 Vikram and the Vampire.
Before Shridat had left the court, the footpad, who had been looking on, and who saw that an innocent man was about to be unjustly punished, raised a cry for justice, and, pushing through the crowd, resolved to make himself heard. He thus addressed the throne: "Great king, the cherishing of the good, and the punishment of the bad, is the invariable duty of kings." The ruler having caused him to approach, asked him who he was, and he replied boldly, " Maharaj ! I am a thief, and this man is innocent, and his blood is about to be shed unjustly. Your majesty has not done what is right in this affair." Thereupon the king charged him to tell the truth according to his religion ; and the thief related explicitly the whole circum- stances, omitting of course, the murder.
"Go ye," said the king to his messengers, "and look in the mouth of the woman's lover who has fallen dead. If the nose be there found, then has this thief- witness told the truth, and the husband is a guiltless man."
The nose was presently produced in court, and Shri- dat escaped the stake. The king caused the wicked Jayashri's face to be smeared with oily soot, and her head and eyebrows to be shaved ; thus blackened and dis- figured, she was mounted upon a little ragged-limbed ass, and was led around the market and the streets, after which she was banished for ever from the city. The hus- band and the thief were then dismissed with betel and other gifts, together with much sage advice which neither of them wanted.
" My king," resumed the misogyne parrot, " of such excellencies as these are women composed. It is said that 'wet cloth will extinguish fire and bad food will destroy strength; a degenerate son ruins a family, and when a friend is in wrath he takes away life. But a woman is an inflicter of grief in love and in hate ; what- ever she does turns out to be for our ill. Truly the Deity has created woman a strange being in this world.' And
The Vampire's Second Story. id3
again, 'The beauty of the nightingale is its song, science is the beauty of an ugly man, forgiveness is the beauty of a devotee, and the beauty of a woman is virtue — but where shall we find it?' And again, 'Among the sages, Narudu; among the beasts, the jackal; among the birds, the crow; among men, the barber; and in this world woman — is the most crafty.'
" What I have told thee, my king, I have seen with mine own eyes, and I have heard with mine own ears. At the time I was young, but the event so affected me that I have ever since held female kind to be a walking pest, a two-legged plague, whose mission on earth, like flies and other vermin, is only to prevent our being too happy. O, why do not children and young parrots sprout in crops from the ground — from budding trees or vine- stocks ? "
"I was thinking, sire," said the young Dharma Dhwaj to the warrior king his father, " what women would say of us if they could compose Sanskrit verses ! "
"Then keep your thoughts to yourself," replied the Raja, nettled at his son daring to say a word in favour of the sex. "You always take the part of wickedness and depravity "
"Permit me, your majesty," interrupted the Baital, "to conclude my tale."
When Madan-manjari, the jay, and Churaman, the parrot, had given these illustrations of their belief, they began to wrangle, and words ran high. The former insisted that females are the salt of the earth, speaking, I presume, figuratively. The latter went so far as to assert that the opposite sex have no souls, and that their brains are in a rudimental and inchoate state of development. Thereupon he was tartly taken to task by his master's bridge, the beautiful Chandravati, who told him that those only have a bad opinion of women who have associated with none but the vicious and the low,
104 Vikram and the Vampire.
and that he should be ashamed to abuse feminine parrots, because his mother had been one.
This was truly logical.
On the other hand, the jay was sternly reproved for her mutinous and treasonable assertions by the husband of her mistress, Raja Ram, who, although still a bride- groom, had not forgotten the gallant rule of his syntax —
The masculine is more worthy than the feminine ; till Madan-manjari burst into tears and declared that her life was not worth having. And Raja Ram looked at her as if he could have wrung her neck.
In short, Raja Vikram, all the four lost their tem- pers, and with them what little wits they had. Two of them were but birds, and the others seem not to have been much better, being young, ignorant, inexperienced, and lately married. How then could they decide so diffi- cult a question as that of the relative wickedness and villany of men and women ? Had your majesty been there, the knot of uncertainty would soon have been un- done by the trenchant edge of your wit and wisdom, your knowledge and experience. You have, of course, long since made up your mind upon the subject ?
Dharma Dhwaj would have prevented his father's reply. But the youth had been twice reprehended in the course of this tale, and he thought it wisest to let things take their own way.
"Women," quoth the Raja, oracularly, "are worse than we are ; a man, however depraved he may be, ever retains some notion of right and wrong, but a woman does not. She has no such regard whatever."
"The beautiful Bangalah Rani for instance?" said the Baital, with a demonaic sneer.
At the mention of a word, the uttering of which was punishable by extirpation of the tongue, Raja Vikram's brain whirled with rage. He staggered in the violence of his passion, and putting forth both hands to break
The King, puffing wiu. fury, followed him at the top of his speed, and caught him by his tail (to face p. 105).
The Vampire's Second Story, 105
his fall, he dropped the bundle from his back. Then the Baital, disentangling himself and laughing lustily, ran off towards the tree as fast as his thin brown legs would carry him. But his activity availed him little.
The king, puffing with fury, followed him at the top of his speed, and caught him by his tail before he reached the siras-tree, hurled him backwards with force, put foot upon his chest, and after shaking out the cloth, rolled him up in it with extreme violence, bumped his back half a dozen times against the stony ground, and finally, with a jerk, threw him on his shoulder, as he had done before.
The youug prince, afraid to accompany his father whilst he was pursuing the fiend, followed slowly in the rear, and did not join him for some minutes.
But when matters were in their normal state, the Vampire, who had endured with exemplary patience the penalty of his impudence, began in honeyed accents,
" Listen, O warrior king, whilst thy servant recounts unto thee another true tale,"
io6
THE VAMPIRE'S THIRD STORY.
OF A HIGH-MINDED FAMILY.
IN the venerable city of Bardwan, O warrior king ! (quoth the Vampire) during the reign of the mighty Rupsen, flourished one Rajeshwar, a Rajput warrior of distinguished fame. By his valour and conduct he had risen from the lowest ranks of the army to command it as its captain. And arrived at that dignity, he did not put a stop to all improvements, like other chiefs, who rejoice to rest and return thanks. On the contrary, he became such a reformer that, to some extent, he remodelled the art of war.
Instead of attending to rules and regulations, drawn up in their studies by pandits and Brahmans, he con- sulted chiefly his own experience and judgment. He threw aside the systematic plans of campaigns laid down in the Shastras or books of the ancients, and he acted upon the spur of the moment. He displayed a skill in the choice of ground, in the use of light troops, and in securing his own supplies whilst he cut off those of the enemy, which Kartikaya himself, God of War, might have envied. Finding that the bows of his troops were clumsy and slow to use, he had them all changed before compelled so to do by defeat ; he also gave his attention to the sword handles, which cramped the men's grasp, but which having been used for eighteen hundred years, were consider ed perfect weapons. And having organized
The Vampire's Third Story. 107
a special corps of warriors using fire arrows, he soon brought it to such perfection that, by using it against the elephants of his enemies, he gained many a campaign.
One instance of his superior judgment I am about to quote to thee, O Vikram, after which I return to my tale; for thou art truly a warrior king, very likely to imitate the innovations of the great general Rajeshwar.
(A grunt from the monarch was the result of the Vampire's sneer.)
He found his master's armies recruited from North- ern Hindustan, and officered by Kshatriya warriors, who grew great only because they grew old and — fat. Thus the energy and talent of the younger men were wasted in troubles and disorders ; whilst the seniors were often so ancient that they could not mount their chargers unaided, nor, when they were mounted, could they see anything a dozen yards before them. But they had served in a certain obsolete campaign, and until Rajesh- war gave them pensions and dismissals, they claimed a right to take first part in all campaigns present and future. The commander-in-chief refused to use any captain who could not stand steady on his legs, or endure the sun for a whole day. When a soldier distinguished himself in action, he raised him to the powers and privileges of the warrior caste. And whereas it had been the habit to lavish circles and bars of silver and other metals upon all those who had joined in the war, whether they had sat behind a heap of sand or had been foremost to attack the foe, he broke through the per- nicious custom, and he rendered the honour valuable by conferring it only upon the deserving. I need hardly say that, in an inordinately short space of time, his army beat every king and general that opposed it.
One day the great commander-in-chief was seated in a certain room near the threshold of his gate, when the voices of a number of people outside were heard. Rajesh-
io8
Vikram and the Vampire.
war asked, "Who is at the door, and what is the mean- ing of the noise I hear?" The porter replied, " It is a fine thing your honour has asked. Many persons come sitting at the door of the rich for the purpose of obtain- ing a livelihood and wealth. When they meet together they talk of various things : it is these very people who are now making this noise."
Rajeshwar, on hearing this, remained silent.
In the meantime a traveller, a Rajput, Birbal by name, hoping to obtain employment, came from the
In the meantime a traveller, a Rajput, by name Birbal.
southern quarter to the palace of the chief. The porter having listened to his story, made the circumstance known to his master, saying, "O chief! an armed man has arrived here, hoping to obtain employment, and is standing at the door. If I receive a command he shall be brought into your honour's presence."
"Bring him in," cried the commander-in-chief.
The porter brought him in, and Rajeshwar inquired, " O Rajput who and what art thou ? "
The Vampire's Third Story. 109
Birbal submitted that he was a person of distin- guished fame for the use of weapons, and that his name for fidelity and valour had gone forth to the utmost ends of Bharat-Kandha.1
The chief was well accustomed to this style of self- introduction, and its only effect upon his mind was a wish to shame the man by showing him that he had not the least knowledge of weapons. He therefore bade him bare his blade and perform some feat.
Birbal at once drew his good sword. Guessing the thoughts which were hovering about the chiefs mind, he put forth his left hand, extending the forefinger upwards, waved his blade like the arm of a demon round his head, and, with a dexterous stroke, so shaved off a bit of nail that it fell to the ground, and not a drop of blood appeared upon the finger-tip.
" Live for ever !" exclaimed Rajeshwar in admira- tion. He then addressed to the recruit a few questions concerning the art of war, or rather concerning his peculiar views of it. To all of which Birbal answered with a spirit and a judgment which convinced the hearer that he was no common sworder.
Whereupon Rajeshwar bore off the new man at arms to the palace of the king Rupsen, and recommended that he should be engaged without delay.
The king, being a man of few words and many ideas, after hearing his commander-in-chief, asked, "O Rajput, what shall I give thee for thy daily expenditure?"
"Give me a thousand ounces of gold daily," said Birbal, "and then I shall have wherewithal to live on."
"Hast thou an army with thee?" exclaimed the king in the greatest astonishment.
" I have not," responded the Rajput somewhat stiffly. "I have first, a wife; second, a son; third, a
i India.
no Vikram and the Vampire.
daughter ; fourth, myself ; there is no fifth person with me."
All the people of the court on hearing this turned aside their heads to laugh, and even the women, who were peeping at the scene, covered their mouths with their veils. The Rajput was then dismissed the presence.
It is, however, noticeable amongst you humans, that the world often takes you at your own valuation. Set a high price upon yourselves, and each man shall say to his neighbour, " In this man there must be something." Tell everyone that you are brave, clever, generous, or even handsome, and after a time they will begin to believe you. And when thus you have attained success, it will be harder to unconvince them than it was to convince them. Thus
" Listen not to him, sirrah," cried Raja Vikram to Dharma Dhwaj, the young prince, who had fallen a little way behind, and was giving ear attentively to the Vam- pire's ethics. " Listen to him not. And tell me, villain, with these ignoble principles of thine, what will become of modesty, humility, self-sacrifice, and a host of other Guna or good qualities which — which are good qualities ?"
" I know not," rejoined the Baital, " neither do I care. But my habitually inspiriting a succession of human bodies has taught me one fact. The wise man knows himself, and is, therefore, neither unduly humble nor elated, because he had no more to do with making him- self than with the cut of his cloak, or with the fitness of his loin-cloth. But the fool either loses his head by com- paring himself with still greater fools, or is prostrated when he finds himself inferior to other and lesser fools. This shyness he calls modesty, humility, and so forth. Now, whenever entering a corpse, whether it be of man, woman, or child, I feel peculiarly modest ; I know that my tenement lately belonged to some conceited ass. And "
The Vampire's Third Story. in
" Wouldst thou have me bump thy back against the ground ? " asked Raja Vikram angrily.
(The Baital muttered some reply scarcely intelligible about his having this time stumbled upon a metaphysical thread of ideas, and then continued his story.)
Now Rupsen, the king, began by inquiring of himself why the Rajput had rated his services so highly. Then he reflected that if this recruit had asked so much money, it must have been for some reason which would afterwards become apparent. Next, he hoped that if he gave him so much, his generosity might some- day turn out to his own advantage. Finally, with this idea in his mind, he sum- moned Birbal and the steward of his household, and said to the latter, " Give this Rajput a thousand ounces of gold daily from our treasury."
It is related that Birbal made the best possible use of his wealth. He used every morning to divide it into two portions, one of which was distributed to Brahmans and Parohitas.1 Of the remaining moiety, having made two parts, he gave one as alms to pilgrims, to Bairagis or Vishnu's mendicants, and to Sanyasis or worshippers of Shiva, whose bodies, smeared with ashes, were hardly covered with a narrow cotton cloth and a rope about their loins, and whose heads of artificial hair, clotted like a rope, besieged his gate. With the remaining fourth, having caused food to be prepared, he regaled the poor, while he himself and his family ate what was left. Every evening, arming himself with sword and buckler, he took up his position as guard at the royal bedside, and walked round it all night sword in hand. If the king chanced to wake and asked who was present, Birbal immediately gave reply that " Birbal is here ; whatever command you give, that
i The ancient name of a priest by profession, meaning " praepo- situs " or praeses. He was the friend and counsellor of a chief, the minister of a king, and his companion in peace and war. (M. Miiller's Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 485).
112 Vikram and the Vampire.
he will obey." And oftentimes Rupsen gave him unusual commands, for it is said, " To try thy servant, bid him do things in season and out of season : if he obey thee willingly, know him to be useful ; if he reply, dismiss him at once. Thus is a servant tried, even as a wife by the poverty of her husband, and brethren and friends by ask- ing their aid."
In such manner, through desire of money, Birbal remained on guard all night ; and whether eating, drink- ing, sleeping, sitting, going or wandering about, during the twenty-four hours, he held his master in watchful remembrance. This, indeed, is the custom ; if a man sell another the latter is sold, but a servant by doing service sells himself, and when a man has become dependent, how can he be happy ? Certain it is that however intelli- gent, clever, or learned a man may be, yet, while he is in his master's presence, he remains silent as a dumb man, and struck with dread. Only while he is away from his lord can he be at ease. Hence, learned men say that to do service aright is harder than any religious study.
On one occasion it is related that there happened to be heard at night-time the wailing of a woman in a neigh- bouring cemetery. The king on hearing it called out, " Who is in waiting ? "
" I am here," replied Birbal ; " what command is there?"
" Go," spoke the king, "to the place whence pro- ceeds this sound of woman's wail, and having inquired the cause of her grief, return quickly."
On receiving this order the Rajput went to obey it ; and the king, unseen by him, and attired in a black dress, followed for the purpose of observing his courage.
Presently Birbal arrived at the cemetery. And what sees he there ? A beautiful woman of a light yellow colour, loaded with jewels from head to foot, holding a horn in her right and a necklace in her left hand. Some-
The Vampire's Third Story. 113
times she danced, sometimes she jumped, and sometimes she ran about. There was not a tear in her eye, but beat- ing her head and making lamentable cries, she kept dash- ing herself on the ground.
Seeing her condition, and not recognizing the goddess born of sea foam, and whom all the host of heaven loved,1 Birbal inquired, " Why art thou thus beating thyself and crying out ? Who art thou ? And what grief is upon thee?"
" I am the Royal-Luck," she replied.
" For what reason," asked Birbal, " art thou weep- ing?"
The goddess then began to relate her position to the Rajput. She said, with tears, " In the king's palace Shudra (or low caste acts) are done, and hence misfortune will certainly fall upon it, and I shall forsake it. After a month has passed, the king, having endured excessive affliction, will die. In grief for this, I weep. I have brought much happiness to the king's house, and hence I am full of regret that this my prediction cannot in any way prove untrue."
" Is there," asked Birbal, " any remedy for this trouble, so that the king may be preserved and live a hun- dred years ?"
"Yes," said the goddess, "there is. About eight miles to the east thou wilt find a temple dedicated to my terrible sister Devi. Offer to her thy son's head, cut off with thine own hand, and the reign of thy king shall endure for an age." So saying Raj-Lakshmi disappeared.
Birbal answered not a word, but with hurried steps he turned towards his home. The king, still in black so
i Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity. Raj-Lakshmi would mean the King's Fortune, which we should call tutelary genius. Lakshi- chara is our " luckless," forming, as Mr. Ward says, an extraordi- nary coincidence of sound and meaning in languages so different. But the derivations are very distinct.
8
H4 Vikram and the Vampire.
as not to be seen, followed him closely, and observed and listened to everything he did.
The Rajput went straight to his wife, awakened her, and related to her everything that had happened. The wise have said, " she alone deserves the name of wife who always receives her husband with affectionate and submissive words." When she heard the circumstances, she at once aroused her son, and her daughter also awoke. Then Birbal told them all that they must follow him to the temple of Devi in the wood.
On the way the Rajput said to his wife, " If thou wilt give up thy son willingly, I will sacrifice him for our master's sake to Devi the Destroyer."
She replied, " Father and mother, son and daughter, brother and relative, have 1 now none. You are every- thing to me. It is written in the scripture that a wife is not made pure by gifts to priests, nor by performing religious rites ; her virtue consists in waiting upon her husband, in obeying him and in loving him — yea ! though he be lame, maimed in the hands, dumb, deaf, blind, one- eyed, leprous, or humpbacked. It is a true saying that * a son under one's authority, a body free from sickness, a desire to acquire knowledge, an intelligent friend, and an obedient wife ; whoever holds these five will find them bestowers of happiness and dispellers of affliction. An unwilling servant, a parsimonious king, an insincere friend, and a wife not under control ; such things are dis- turbers of ease and givers of trouble.' "
Then the good wife turned to her son and said, " Child by the gift of thy head, the king's life may be spared, and the kingdom remain unshaken."
"Mother," replied that excellent youth, "in my opinion we should hasten this matter. Firstly, I must obey your command ; secondly, I must promote the interests of my master ; thirdly, if this body be of any use
8—2
The Vampire's Third Story. 115
to a goddess, nothing better can be done with it in this world."
(" Excuse me, Raja Vikram," said the Baital, inter- rupting himself, " if I repeat these fair discourses at full length ; it is interesting to hear a young person, whose throat is about to be cut, talk so like a doctor of laws.")
Then the youth thus addressed his sire : " Father, whoever can be of use to his master, the life of that man in this world has been lived to good purpose, and by reason of his usefulness he will be rewarded in other worlds."
His sister, however, exclaimed, " If a mother should give poison to her daughter, and a father sell his son, and a king seize the entire property of his subjects, where then could one look for protection ? " But they heeded her not, and continued talking as they journeyed towards the temple of Devi — the king all the while secretly following them.
Presently they reached the temple, a single room, surrounded by a spacious paved area ; in front was an immense building capable of seating hundreds of people. Before the image there were pools of blood, where victims had lately been slaughtered. In the sanctum was Devi, a large black figure with ten arms. With a spear in one of her right hands she pierced the giant Mahisha ; and with one of her left hands she held the tail of a serpent, and the hair of the giant, whose breast the serpent was biting. Her other arms were all raised above her head, and were filled with different instruments of war ; against her right leg leaned a lion.
Then Birbal joined his hands in prayer, and with Hindu mildness thus addressed the awful goddess : " O mother, let the king's life be prolonged for a thousand years by the sacrifice of my son. O Devi, mother ! destroy, destroy his enemies ! Kill ! kill ! Reduce them to ashes ! Drive them away ! Devour them ! devour them ! CuA
Ii6 Vikram and the Vampire.
them in two ! Drink ! drink their blood ! Destroy them root and branch ! With thy thunderbolt, spear, scymitar, discus, or rope, annihilate them ! Spheng ! Spheng ! "
The Rajput, having caused his son to kneel before the goddess, struck him so violent a blow that his head rolled upon the ground. He then threw the sword down, wh i his daughter, frantic with grief, snatched it up and Jtrtxk her neck with such force that her head, separated irom her body, fell. In her turn the mother, unable to survive the loss of her children, seized the weapon and succeeded in decapitating herself. Birbal, beholding all this slaughter, thus reflected : " My children are dead ; why, now, should I remain in servitude, and upon whom shall I bestow the gold I receive from the king ?" He then gave himself so deep a wound in the neck, that his head also separated from his body.
Rupsen, the king, seeing these four heads on the ground, said in his heart, " For my sake has the family of Birbal been destroyed. Kingly power, for the purpose of upholding which the destruction of a whole household is necessary, is a mere curse, and to carry on government in this manner is not just." He then took up the sword and was about to slay himself, when the Destroying Goddess, probably satisfied with bloodshed, stayed his hand, bidding him at the same time ask any boon he pleased.
The generous monarch begged, thereupon, that his faithful servant might be, restored to life, together with all his high-minded family ; and the goddess Devi in the twinkling of an eye fetched from Patala, the regions below the earth, a vase full of Amrita, the water of immortality, sprinkled it upon the dead, and raised them all as before. After which the whole party walked leisurely home, and in due time the king divided his throne with his friend Birbal.
Having stopped for a moment, the Baital proceeded to remark, in a sententious tone, " Happy the servant
The Vampires Third Story. nj
who grudges not his own life to save that of his master ! And happy, thrice happy the master who can annihilate all greedy longing for existence and worldly prosperity. Raja, I have to ask thee one searching question — Of these five, who was the greatest fool ? "
" Demon ! " exclaimed the great Vikram, all whose cherished feelings about fidelity and family affection, obedience, and high-mindedness, were outraged by this Vampire view of the question ; " if thou meanest by the greatest fool the noblest mind, I reply without hesitating Rupsen, the king."
"Why, prithee?" asked the Baital.
" Because, dull demon," said the king, " Birbal was bound to offer up his life for a master who treated him so generously ; the son could not disobey his father, and th 3 women naturally and instinctively killed themselves, because the example was set to them. But Rupsen the king gave up his throne for the sake of his retainer, and valued not a straw his life and his high inducements to live. For this reason I think him the most meritorious."
" Surely, mighty Vikram," laughed the Vampire, "you will be tired of ever clambering up yon tall tree, even had you the legs and arms of Hanuman1 himself."
And so saying he disappeared from the cloth, al- though it had been placed upon the ground.
But the poor Baital had little reason to congratulate himself on the success of his escape. In a short time he was again bundled into the cloth with the usual want of ceremony, and he revenged himself by telling another true story.
I The Monkey God,
u8
THE VAMPIRE'S FOURTH STORY.
OF A WOMAN WHO TOLD THE TRUTH.
" LISTEN, great king! " again began the Baital.
An unimportant Baniya1 (trader), Hiranyadatt, had a daughter, whose name was Madansena Sundari, the beautiful army of Cupid. Her face was like the moon ; her hair like the clouds ; her eyes like those of a musk- rat; her eyebrows like a bent bow; her nose like a par- rot's bill ; her neck like that of a dove ; her teeth like pomegranate grains ; the red colour of her lips like that of a gourd ; her waist lithe and bending like the pards : her hands and feet like softest blossoms ; her complexion like the jasmine — in fact, day by day the splendour of her youth increased.
When she had arrived at maturity, her father and mother began often to resolve in their minds the subject of her marriage. And the people of all that country side ruled by Birbar king of Madanpur bruited it abroad that in the house of Hiranyadatt had been born a daughter by whose beauty gods, men, and munis (sages) were fascinated.
Thereupon many, causing their portraits to be paint- ed, sent them by messengers to Hiranyadatt the Baniya, who showed them all to his daughter. But she was cap- ricious, as beauties sometimes are, and when her father said, " Make choice of a husband thyself," she told him
I Generally written " Banyan."
The Vampire's Fourth Story. 119
that none pleased her, and moreover she begged of him to find her a husband who possessed good looks, good qualities, and good sense.
. At length, when some days had passed, four suitors came from four different countries. The father told them that he must have from each some indication that he pos- sessed the required qualities ; that he was pleased with their looks, but that they must satisfy him about their knowledge.
" I have," the first said, " a perfect acquaintance with the Shastras (or Scriptures) ; in science there is none to rival me. As for my handsome mien, it may plainly be seen by you."
The second exclaimed, " My attainments are unique in the knowledge of archery. I am acquainted with the art of discharging arrows and killing anything which though not seen is heard, and my fine proportions are plainly visible to you."
The third continued, " I understand the language of land and water animals, of birds and of beasts, and I have no equal in strength. Of my comeliness you yourself may judge."
" I have the knowledge," quoth the fourth, " how to make a certain cloth which can be sold for five rubies : having sold it I give the proceeds of one ruby to a Brah- man, of the second I make an offering to a deity, a third I wear on my own person, a fourth I keep for my wife ; and, having sold the fifth, I spend it in giving feasts. This is my knowledge, and none other is acquainted with it. My good looks are apparent."
The father hearing these speeches began to reflect, "It is said that excess in anything is not good. Sita1
i The daughter of Raja Janaka, married to Ramachandra. The latter placed his wife under the charge of his brother Lakshmana, and went into the forest to worship, when the demon Ravana dis- guised himself a ; a beggar, and carried off the prize.
120 Vikram and the Vampire.
was very lovely, but the demon Ravana carried her away; and Bali king of Mahabahpur gave much alms, but at length he became poor.1 My daughter is too fair to re- main a maiden ; to which of these shall I give her ? "
So saying, Hiranyadatt went to his daughter, ex- plained the qualities of the four suitors, and asked, " To which shall I give thee ? " On hearing these words she was abashed; and, hanging down her head, knew not what to reply.
Then the Baniya, having reflected, said to himself, " He who is acquainted with the Shastras is a Brahman, he who could shoot an arrow at the sound was a Kshat- riya or warrior, and he who made the cloth was a Shudra or servile. But the youth who understands the language of birds is of our own caste. To him, therefore, will I marry her." And accordingly he proceeded with the be- trothal of his daughter.
Meanwhile Madansena went one day, during the spring season into the garden for a stroll. It happened, just before she came out, that Somdatt, the son of the merchant Dharmdatt, had gone for pleasure into the forest, and was returning through the same garden to his home.
He was fascinated at the sight of the maiden, and said to his friend, " Brother, if I can obtain her my life will be prosperous, and if I do not obtain her my living in the world will be in vain."
Having thus spoken, and becoming restless from the fear of separation, he involuntarily drew near to her, and seizing her hand, said —
" If thou wilt not form an affection for me, I will throw away my life on thy account."
" Be pleased not to do this," she replied; " it will be
i This great king was tricked by the god Vishnu out of the sway of heaven and earth, but from his exceeding piety he was appointed to reign in Patala, or Hades.
The Vampire's Fourth Story. 121
sinful, and it will involve me in the guilt and punishment of shedding blood; hence I shall be miserable in this world and in that to be."
. " Thy blandishments," he replied, "have pierced my heart, and the consuming thought of parting from thee has burnt up my body, and memory and understanding have been destroyed by this pain ; and from excess of love I have no sense of right or wrong. But if thou wilt make me a promise, I will live again.''
She replied, " Truly the Kali Yug (iron age) has commenced, since which time falsehood has increased in the world and truth has diminished ; people talk smoothly with their tongues, but nourish deceit in their hearts; re- ligion is destroyed, crime has increased, and the earth has begun to give little fruit. Kings levy fines, Brah- mans have waxed covetous, the son obeys not his sire's commands, brother distrusts brother ; friendship has de- parted from amongst friends; sincerity has left masters; servants have given up service; man has abandoned manliness; and woman has abandoned modesty. Five days hence, my marriage is to be ; but if thou slay not thyself, I will visit thee first, and after that I will remain with my husband."
Having given this promise, and having sworn by the Ganges, she returned home. The merchant's son also went his way.
Presently the marriage ceremonies came on, and Hiranyadatt the Baniya expended a lakh of rupees in feasts and presents to the bridegroom. The bodies of the twain were anointed with turmeric, the bride was made to hold in her hand the iron box for eye paint, and the youth a pair of betel scissors. During the night before the wedding there was loud and shrill music, the heads and limbs of the young couple were rubbed with an ointment of oil, and the bridegroom's head was duly shaved. The wedding procession was very grand. The streets were a
122 Vikram and the Vampire. •
blaze of flambeaux and torches carried in the hand, fire- works by the ton were discharged as the people passed ; elephants, camels, and horses richly caparisoned, were placed in convenient situations ; and before the procession had reached the house of the bride half a dozen wicked boys and bad young men were killed or wounded.1 After the marriage formulas were repeated, the Baniya gave a feast or supper, and the food was so excellent that all sat down quietly, no one uttered a complaint, or brought dis- honour on the bride's family, or cut with scissors the garments of his neighbour.
The ceremony thus happily concluded, the husband brought Madansena home to his own house. After some days the wife of her husband's youngest brother, and also the wife of his eldest brother, led her at night by force to her bridegroom, and seated her on a bed ornamented with flowers.
As her husband proceeded to take her hand, she jerked it away, and at once openly told him all that she had promised to Somdatt on condition of his not killing himself.
"All things," rejoined the bridegroom, hearing her words, " have their sense ascertained by speech ; in speech they have their basis, and from speech they proceed ; con- sequently a falsifier of speech falsifies everything. If truly you are desirous of going to him, go!"
Receiving her husband's permission, she arose and went off to the young merchant's house in full dress. Upon the road a thief saw her, and in high good humour came up and asked —
"Whither goest thou at midnight in such darkness, having put on all these fine clothes and ornaments ? "
i The procession is fair game, and is often attacked in the dark with sticks and stones, causing serious disputes. At the supper the guests confer the obligation by their presence, and are exceedingly exacting.
The Vampire's Fourth Story. 123
She replied that she was going to the house of her beloved.
"And who here/' said the thief, "is thy protector?"
"Kama Deva," she replied, "the beautiful youth who by his fiery arrows wounds with love the hearts of the inhabitants of the three worlds, Ratipati, the hus- band of Rati,1 accompanied by the kokila bird,2 the humming bee and gentle breezes." She then told to the thief the whole story, adding —
" Destroy not my jewels : I give thee a promise before I go, that on my return thou shalt have all these orna- ments."
Hearing this the thief thought to himself that it would be useless now to destroy her jewels, when she had promised to give them to him presently of her own good will. He therefore let her go, and sat down and thus soliloquised :
" To me it is astonishing that he who sustained me in my mother's womb should take no care of me now that I have been born and am able to enjoy the good things of this world. I know not whether he is asleep or dead. And I would rather swallow poison than ask man for money or favour. For these six things tend to lower a man: — friendship with the perfidious; causeless laughter; altercation with women; serving an unworthy master; riding an ass, and speaking any language but Sanskrit. And these five things the deity writes on our fate at the hour of birth: — first, age; secondly, action; thirdly, wealth ; fourthly, science ; fifthly, fame. I have now done a good deed, and as long as a man's virtue is in the ascendant, all people becoming his servants obey
1 Rati is the wife of Kama, the God of Desire ; and we explain the word by " Spring personified."
2 The Indian Cuckoo (Cuculus Indices). It is supposed to lay its eggs in the nest of the crow.
124 Vikram and the Vampire.
him. But when virtuous deeds dimmish, even his friends become inimical to him."
Meanwhile Madansena had reached the place where Somdatt the young trader had fallen asleep.
She awoke him suddenly, and he springing up in alarm quickly asked her, "Art thou the daughter of a deity ? or of a saint ? or of a serpent ? Tell me truly, who art thou ? And whence hast thou come ? "
She replied, " I am human — Madansena, the daughter of the Baniya Hiranyadatt. Dost thou not remember taking my hand in that grove, and declaring that thou wouldst slay thyself if I did not swear to visit thee first and after that remain with my husband ? "
"Hast thou," he inquired, "told all this to thy hus- band or not ? "
She replied, "I have told him everything; and he, thoroughly understanding the whole affair, gave me per- mission."
"This matter," exclaimed Somdatt in a melancholy voice, "is like pearls without a suitable dress, or food without clarified butter,1 or singing without melody; they are all alike unnatural. In the same way, unclean clothes will mar beauty, bad food will undermine strength, a wicked wife will worry her husband to death, a dis- reputable son will ruin his family, an enraged demon will kill, and a woman, whether she love or hate, will be a source of pain. For there are few things which a woman will not do. She never brings to her tongue what is in her heart, she never speaks out what is on her tongue, and she never tells what she is doing. Truly the Deity has created woman a strange creature in this world." He concluded with these words: "Return thou home; with another man's wife I have no concern."
Madansena rose and departed. On her way she met
i This is the well-known Ghi or Ghee, the one sauce of India, which is as badly off in that matter as England.
The Vampire's Foiirth Story. 125
the thief, who, hearing her tale, gave her great praise, and let her go unplundered.1
She then went to her husband, and related the whole matter to him. But he had ceased to love her, and he said, "Neither a king nor a minister, nor a wife, nor a person's hair nor his nails, look well out of their places. And the beauty of the kokila is its note, of an ugly man knowledge, of a devotee forgiveness, and of a woman her chastity."
The Vampire having narrated thus far, suddenly asked the king, "Of these three, whose virtue was the greatest?"
Vikram, who had been greatly edified by the tale, forgot himself, and ejaculated, "The Thief's."
"And pray why ?" asked the Baital.
"Because," the hero explained, " when her husband saw that she loved another man, however purely, he ceased to feel affection for her. Somdatt let her go un- harmed, for fear of being punished by the king. But there was no reason why the thief should fear the law and dismiss her ; therefore he was the best."
" Hi ! hi ! hi ! " laughed the demon, spitefully. " Here, then, ends my story."
Upon which, escaping as before from the cloth in which he was slung behind the Raja's back, the Baital disappeared through the darkness of the night, leaving father and son looking at each other in dismay.
"Son Dharma Dhwaj," quoth the great Vikram, "the next time when that villain Vampire asks me a question, I allow thee to take the liberty of pinching my arm even before I have had time to answer his questions. In this way we shall never, of a truth, end our task."
"Your words be upon my head, sire," replied the
2 The European reader will observe that it is her purity which carries the heroine through all these perils. Moreover, that her virtue is its own reward, as it loses to her the world. 9
126 Vikram and the V ampin
young prince. But he expected no good from his father's new plan, as, arrived under the siras-tree, he heard the Baital laughing with all his might.
"Surely he is laughing at our beards, sire," said the beardless prince, who hated to be laughed at like a young person.
"Let them laugh that win," fiercely cried Raja Vikram, who hated to be laughed at like an elderly per- son.
*******
The Vampire lost no time in opening a fresh story.
I27
THE VAMPIRE'S FIFTH STORY.
OF THE THIEF WHO LAUGHED AND WEPT.
YOUR majesty (quoth the demon, with unusual polite- ness), there is a country called Malaya, on the western coast of the land of Bharat — you see that I am particular in specifying the place — and in it was a city known as Chandrodaya, whose king was named Randhir.
This Raja, like most others of his semi-deified order, had been in youth what is called a Sarva-rasi1; that is, he ate and drank and listened to music, and looked at dancers and made love much more than he studied, re- flected, prayed, or conversed with the wise. After the age of thirty he began to reform, and he brought such zeal to the good cause, that in an incredibly short space of time he came to be accounted and quoted as the para- gon of correct Rajas. This was very praiseworthy. Many of Brahma's vicegerents on earth, be it observed, have loved food and drink, and music and dancing, and the worship of Kama, to the end of their days.
Amongst his officers was Gunshankar, a magistrate of police, who, curious to say, was as honest as he was just. He administered equity with as much care before as after dinner ; he took no bribes even in the matter of advancing his family ; he was rather merciful than other- wise to the poor, and he never punished the rich osten-
i Literally, " one of all tastes " — a wild or gay man, we should say 0
128 Vikram and the Vampire.
tatiously, in order to display his and his law's disrespect for persons. Besides which, when sitting on the carpet of justice, he did not, as some Kotwals do, use rough or angry language to those who cannot reply; nor did he take offence when none was intended.
All the people of the city Chandrodaya, in the pro- vince of Malaya, on the western coast of Bharatland, loved and esteemed this excellent magistrate ; which did not, however, prevent thefts being committed so frequently and so regularly, that no one felt his property secure. At last the merchants who had suffered most from these depredations went in a body before Gunshankar, and said to him:
"O flower of the law! robbers have exercised great tyranny upon us, so great indeed that we can no longer stay in this city."
Then the magistrate replied, "What has happened, has happened. But in future you shall be free from annoyance. I will make due preparation for these thieves."
Thus saying Gunshankar called together his various delegates, and directed them to increase the number of their people. He pointed out to them how they should keep watch by night ; besides which he ordered them to open registers of all arrivals and departures, to make themselves acquainted by means of spies with the move- ments of every suspected person in the city, and to raise a body of paggis (trackers), who could follow the foot- prints of thieves even when .they wore thieving shoes,1 till they came up with and arrested them. And lastly, he gave the patrols full power, whenever they might catch a robber in the act, to slay him without asking questions.
People in numbers began to mount guard through- out the city every night, but, notwithstanding this, rob-
i These shoes are generally made of rags and bits of leather ; they have often toes behind the foot, with other similar contrivances, yet they scarcely ever deceive an experienced man.
As, however, he passed through a back street . . . (to face p. 129).
The Vampire's Fifth Story. 129
eries continued to be committed. After a time all the merchants having again met together went before the magistrate, and said, "O incarnation of justice! you have changed your officers, you have hired watchmen, and you have established patrols: nevertheless the thieves have not diminished, and plundering is ever taking place."
Thereupon Gunshankar carried them to the palace, and made them lay their patition at the feet of the king Randhir. That Raja, having consoled them, sent them home, saying, "Be ye of good cheer. I will to-night adopt a new plan, which, with the blessing of the Bhag- wan, shall free ye from further anxiety."
Observe, O Vikram, that Randhir was one of those concerning whom the poet sang —
The unwise run from one end to the other. Not content with becoming highly respectable, correct, and even unimpeachable in point of character, he re- formed even his reformation, and he did much more than lie was required to do.
When Canopus began to sparkle gaily in the southern skies, the king arose and prepared for a night's work. He disguised his face by smearing it with a certain paint, by twirling his moustachios up to his eyes, by parting his beard upon his chin, and conducting the two ends towards his ears, and by tightly tying a hair from a horse's tail over his nose, so as quite to change its shape. He then wrapped himself in a coarse outer garment, girt his loins, buckled on his sword, drew his shield upon his arm, and without saying a word to those within the palace, he went out into the streets alone, and on foot.
It was dark, and Raja Randhir walked through the silent city for nearly an hour without meeting anyone. As, however, he passed through a back street in the mer- chants' quarter, he saw what appeared to be a homeless dog, lying at the foot of a house-wall. He approached
'
130 Vikram and the Vampire.
it, and up leaped a human figure, whilst a loud voice cried, "Who art thou? "
Randhir replied, "I am a thief; who art thou?"
"And I also am a thief," rejoined the other, much pleased at hearing this; "come, then, and let us make together. But what art thou, a high-toper or a lully- prigger1?"
"A little more ceremony between coves in the lorst,2" whispered the king, speaking as a flash man, "were not out of place. But, look sharp, mind old Oliver,3 or the lamb-skin man4 will have the pull of us, and as sure as eggs is eggs we shall be scragged as soon as lagged.5"
" Well, keep your red rag6 quiet," grumbled the other, "and let us be working."
Then the pair, king and thief, began work in right earnest. The gang seemed to swarm in the street. They were drinking spirits, slaying victims, rubbing their bodies with oil, daubing their eyes with lamp-black, and re- peating incantations to enable them to see in the darkness; others were practising the lessons of the god with the golden spear,7 and carrying out the four modes of breach- ing a house: i. Picking out burnt bricks. 2. Cutting through unbaked ones when old, when softened by recent damp, by exposure to the sun, or by saline exudations.
1 The high-toper is a swell-thief, the other is a low dog.
2 Engaged in shoplifting.
3 The moon.
4 The judge.
5 To be lagged is to be taken ; scragging is hanging.
6 The tongue.
7 This is the god Kartikeya, a mixture of Mars and Mercury, who revealed to a certain Yugacharya the scriptures known as " Chauri- ya-Vidya" — Anglice, "Thieves' Manual." The classical robbers of the Hindu drama always perform according to its precepts. There is another work respected by thieves, and called the " Chora-Pancha- shika," because consisting of fifty lines.
9—2
The two then raised, by their united efforts, a heavy trap-door (to face p. 132).
The Vampire's Fifth Story. 131
3. Throwing water on a mud wall ; and 4. Boring through one of wood. The sons of Skanda were making breaches in the shape of lotus blossoms, the sun, the new moon, the lake, and the water jar, and they seemed to be anointed with magic unguents, so that no eye could be- hold, no weapon harm them.
At length having filled his bag with costly plunder, the thief said to the king, " Now, my rummy cove, we'll be off to the flash ken, where the lads and the morts are waiting to wet their whistles."
Randhir, who as a king was perfectly familiar with 41 thieves' Latin," took heart, and resolved to hunt out the secrets of the den. On the way, his companion, per- fectly satisfied with the importance which the new cove had attached to a rat-hole,1 and convinced that he was a true robber, taught him the whistle, the word, and the sign peculiar to the gang, and promised him that he should smack the lit2 that night before "turning in."
So saying the thief rapped twice at the city gate, which was at once opened to him, and preceding his accomplice led the way to a rock about two kos (four miles) distant from the walls. Before entering the dark forest at the foot of the eminence, the robber stood still for a moment and whistled twice through his fingers with a shrill scream that rang through the silent glades. After a few minutes the signal was answered by the hooting of an owl, which the robber acknowledged by shrieking like a jackal. Thereupon half a dozen armed men arose from their crouching places in the grass, and one advanced towards the new comers to receive the sign. It was given, and they both passed on, whilst the guard sank, as it were, into the bowels of the earth. All these things Randhir carefully remarked: besides which he neglected not to take note of all the distinguishable objects that lay on
1 Supposed to be a good omen.
2 Share the booty.
132
Vikram and the Vampire.
the road, and, when he entered the wood, he scratched with his dagger all the tree trunks within reach.
After a sharp walk the pair reached a high perpen- dicular sheet of rock, rising abruptly from a clear space in the jungle, and profusely printed over with vermilion hands. The thief, having walked up to it, and made his obeisance, stooped to the ground, and removed a bunch
After a few minutes the signal was answered.
of grass. The two then raised by their united efforts a heavy trap door, through which poured a stream of light, whilst a confused hubbub of voices was heard below.
"This is the ken," said the robber, preparing to- descend a thin ladder of bamboo, "follow me!" And he disappeared with his bag of valuables.
The king did as he was bid, and the pair entered to-
The Vampire's Fifth Story. 133
gether a large hall, or rather a cave, which presented a singular spectacle. It was lighted up by links fixed to the sombre walls, which threw a smoky glare over the place, and the contrast after the deep darkness reminded Randhir of his mother's descriptions of Patal-puri, the infernal city. Carpets of every kind, from the choicest tapestry to the coarsest rug, were spread upon the ground, and were strewed with bags, wallets, weapons, heaps of booty, drinking cups, and all the materials of debauchery.
Passing through this cave the thief led Randhir into another, which was full of thieves, preparing for the pleasures of the night. Some were changing garments, ragged and dirtied by creeping through gaps in the houses : others were washing the blood from their hands and feet ; these combed out their long dishevelled, dusty hair : those anointed their skins with perfumed cocoa-nut oil. There were all manner of murderers present, a vil- lanous collection of Kartikeya's and Bhawani's1 crew. There were stabbers with their poniards hung to lanyards lashed round their naked waists, Dhaturiya-poisoners2 distinguished by the little bag slung under the left arm, and Phansigars3 wearing their fatal kerchiefs round their necks. And Randhir had reason to thank the good deed in the last life that had sent him there in such strict dis- guise, for amongst the robbers he found, as might be expected, a number of his own people, spies and watch- men, guards and patrols.
The thief, whose importance of manner now showed him to be the chief of the gang, was greeted with applause as he entered the robing room, and he bade all make salam to the new companion. A number of questions
1 Bhawani is one of the many forms of the destroying goddess, the wife of Shiva.
2 Wretches who kill with the narcotic seed of the stramonium.
3 Better known as "Thugs," which in India means simply 41 rascals." *
134 Vikram and the V ampin.
concerning the success of the night's work was quickly put and answered : then the company, having got ready for the revel, flocked into the first cave. There they sat down each in his own place, and began to eat and drink and make merry.
After some hours the flaring torches began to burn out, and drowsiness to overpower the strongest heads. Most of the robbers rolled themselves up in the rugs, and covering their heads, went to sleep. A few still sat with their backs to the wall, nodding drowsily or leaning on one side, and too stupefied with opium and hemp to make any exertion.
At that moment a servant woman, whom the king saw for the first time, came into the cave, and looking at him exclaimed, "O Raja! how came you with these wicked men ? Do you run away as fast as you can, or they will surely kill you when they awake."
" I do not know the way ; in which direction am I to go ? " asked Randhir.
The woman then showed him the road. He threaded the confused mass of snorers, treading with the foot of a tiger-cat, found the ladder, raised the trap-door by exert- ing all his strength, and breathed once more the open air of heaven. And before plunging into the depths of the wood he again marked the place where the entrance lay, and carefully replaced the bunch of grass.
Hardly had Raja Randhir returned to the palace, and removed the traces of his night's occupation, when he received a second deputation of the merchants, complain- ing bitterly and with the longest faces about their fresh misfortunes.
" O pearl of equity ! " said the men of money, " but yesterday you consoled us with the promise of some con- trivance by the blessing of which our houses and cotters would be safe from theft ; whereas our goods have never yet suffered so severely as during the last twelve hours."
The Vampire's Fifth Story. 135
Again Randhir dismissed them, swearing that this time he would either die or destroy the wretches who had been guilty of such violence.
i^, Then having mentally prepared his measures, the Raja warned a company of archers to hold themselves in readiness for secret service, and as each one of his own people returned from the robbers' cave he had him privily arrested and put to death — because the deceased, it is said, do not, like Baitals, tell tales. About nightfall, when he thought that the thieves, having finished their work of
I
Treading with the foot of a tiger cat.
plunder, would meet together as usual for wassail and debauchery, he armed himself, marched out his men, and led them to the rock in the jungle.
{,..: But the robbers, aroused by the disappearance of the new companion, had made enquiries and had gained in- telligence of the impending danger. They feared to flee during the daytime, lest being tracked they should ba discovered and destroyed in detail. When night came they hesitated to disperse, from the certainty that they would be captured in the morning. Then their captain, who throughout had been of one opinion, proposed to
-:
136 Vikram and the Vampire.
them that they should resist, and promised them success if they would hear his words. The gang respected him, for he was known to be brave : they all listened to his advice, and they promised to be obedient.
As young night began to cast transparent shade upon the jungle ground, the chief of the thieves mustered his men, inspected their bows and arrows, gave them en- couraging words, and led them forth from the cave. Having placed them in ambush he climbed the rock to espy the movements of the enemy, whilst others applied their noses and ears to the level ground. Presently the moon shone full upon Randhir and his band of archers, who were advancing quickly and carelessly, for they ex- pected to catch the robbers in their cave. The captain allowed them to march nearly through the line of ambush. Then he gave the signal, and at that moment the thieves, rising suddenly from the bush fell upon the royal troops and drove them back in confusion.
The king also fled, when the chief of the robbers shouted out, " Hola ! thou a Rajput and running away from combat ? " Randhir hearing this halted, and the two, confronting each other, bared their blades and began to do battle with prodigious fury.
The king was cunning of fence, and so was the thief. They opened the duel, as skilful swordsmen should, by bending almost double, skipping in a circle, each keeping his eye well fixed upon the other, with frowning brows and contemptuous lips ; at the same time executing divers gambados and measured leaps, springing forward like frogs and backward like monkeys, and beating time with their sabres upon their shields, which rattled like drums.
Then Randhir suddenly facing his antagonist, cut at his legs with a loud cry, but the thief sprang in the air, and the blade whistled harmlessly under him. Next moment the robber chief's sword, thrice whirled round his head, descended like lightning in a slanting direction
The King was cunning at fence, and so was the thief (to face p. 136).
The Vampire's Fifth Story. 137
towards the king's left shoulder : the latter, however, received it upon his target and escaped all hurt, though he staggered with the violence of the blow.
And thus they continued attacking each other, parry- ing and replying, till their breath failed them and their hands and wrists were numbed and cramped with fatigue. They were so well matched in courage, strength, and address, that neither obtained the least advantage, till the robber's right foot catching a stone slid from under him, and thus he fell to the ground at the mercy of his enemy. The thieves fled, and the Raja, throwing himself on his prize, tied his hands behind him, and brought him back to the city at the point of his good sword.
The next morning Randhir visited his prisoner, whom he caused to be bathed, and washed, and covered with fine clothes. He then had him mounted on a camel and sent him on a circuit of the city, accompanied by a crier proclaiming aloud :
" Who hears ! who hears ! who hears ! the king commands ! This is the thief who has robbed and plundered the city of Chandrodaya. Let all men there- fore assemble themselves together this evening in the open space outside the gate leading towards the sea. And let them behold the penalty of evil deeds, and learn to be wise."
Randhir had condemned the thief to be crucified,1 nailed and tied with his hands and feet stretched put at
i Crucifixion, until late years, was common amongst the Buddhists of the Burmese empire. According to an eye-witness, Mr. F. Carey, the punishment was inflicted in two ways. Sometimes criminals were crucified by their hands and feet being nailed to a scaffold ; others were merely tied up, and fed. In these cases the legs and feet of the patient begin to swell and mortify at the expira- tion of three or four days ; men are said to have lived in this state for a fortnight, and at last they expired from fatigue and mortifica- tion. The sufferings from cramp also must be very severe. In India generally impalement was more common than crucifixion.
138 Vikram and the Vampire.
full length, in an erect posture until death ; everything he wished to eat was ordered to him in order to prolong life and misery. And when death should draw near, melted gold was to be poured down his throat till it should burst from his neck and other parts of his body.
In the evening the thief was led out for execution, and by chance the procession passed close to the house of a wealthy landowner. He had a favourite daughter named Shobhani, who was in the flower of her youth and very lovely ; every day she improved, and every moment added to her grace and beauty. The girl had been care- fully kept out of sight of mankind, never being allowed outside the high walls of the garden, because her nurse,, a wise woman much trusted in the neighbourhood, had at the hour of death given a solemn warning to her parents, The prediction was that the maiden should be the admira- tion of the city, and should die a Sati-widow1 before be- coming a wife. From that hour Shobhani was kept as a pearl in its casket by her father, who had vowed never to survive her, and had even fixed upon the place and style of his suicide.
But the shaft of Fate2 strikes down the vulture sail- ing above the clouds, and follows the worm into the bowels of the earth, and pierces the fish at the bottom of the ocean — how then can mortal man expect to escape it ? As the robber chief, mounted upon the camel, was passing to the cross under the old householder's windows, a fire breaking out in the women's apartments, drove the in- mates into the rooms looking upon the street.
The hum of many voices arose from the solid pave- ment of heads: " This is the thief who has been robbing the whole city ; let him tremble now, for Randhir will surely crucify him ! "
1 Our Suttee. There is an admirable Hindu proverb, which says, " No one knows the ways of woman ; she kills her husband and becomes a Sati."
2 Fate and Destiny are rather Moslem than Hindu fancies.
The Vampire's Fifth Story. 139
In beauty and bravery of bearing, as in strength arid courage, no man in Chandrodaya surpassed the robber, who, being magnificently dressed, looked, despite his disgraceful cavalcade, like the son of a king. He sat with an unmoved countenance, hardly hearing in his pride the scoffs of the mob ; calm and steady when the whole city was frenzied with anxiety because of him. But as he heard the word "tremble" his lips quivered, his eyes flashed fire, and deep lines gathered between his eyebrows.
Shobhani started with a scream from the casement behind which she had hid herself, gazing with an intense womanly curiosity into the thoroughfare. The robber's face was upon a level with, and not half a dozen feet from, her pale cheeks. She marked his handsome features, and his look of wrath made her quiver as if it had been a flash of lightning. Then she broke away from the fascination of his youth and beauty, and ran breathless to her father, saying :
" Go this moment and get that thief released !"
The old housekeeper replied : "That thief has been pilfering and plundering the whole city, and by his means the king's archers were defeated; why, then, at my request, should our most gracious Raja Randhir release him?"
Shobhani, almost beside herself, exclaimed : " If by giving up your whole property, you can induce the Raja to release him, then instantly so do ; if he does not come to me, I must give up my life ! "
The .maiden then covered her head with her veil, and sat down in the deepest despair, whilst her father, hearing her words, burst into a cry of grief, and hastened to present himself before the Raja. He cried .out : a, r, " O great king, be pleased to receive four lakhs of rupees, and to release this thief." ^ „, But the king replied: "He has been robbing the
140 Vikram and. the Vampire.
whole city, and by reason of him my guards have been destroyed. I cannot by any means release him."
Then the old householder finding, as he had expected, the Raja inexorable, and not to be moved, either by tears or bribes, or by the cruel fate of the girl, returned home with fire in his heart, and addressed her :
11 Daughter, I have said and done all that is possible; but it avails me nought with the king. Now, then, we die."
In the mean time, the guards having, led the thief all round the city, took him outside the gates, and made him stand near the cross. Then the messengers of death arrived from the palace, and the executioners began to nail his limbs. He bore the agony with the fortitude of the brave ; but when he heard what had been done by the old householder's daughter, he raised his voice and wept bitterly, as though his heart had been bursting, and almost with the same breath he laughed heartily as at a feast. All were startled by his merriment ; coming as it did at a time when the iron was piercing his flesh, no man could see any reason for it.
When he died, Shobhani, who was married to him in the spirit, recited to herself these sayings :
" There are thirty-five millions of hairs on the human body. The woman who ascends the pile with her husband will remain so many years in heaven. As the snake- catcher draws the serpent from his hole, so she, rescuing her husband from hell, rejoices with him ; aye, though he may have sunk to a region of torment, be restrained in dreadful bonds, have reached the place of anguish, be ex- hausted of strength, and afflicted and tortured for his crimes. No other effectual duty is known for virtuous women at any time after the death of their lords, except casting themselves into the same fire. As long as a woman in her successive transmigrations, shall decline burning herself, like a faithful wife, in the same fire
The Vampire's Fifth Story. 141
with her deceased lord, so long shall she not be ex- empted from springing again to life in the body of some female animal."
Therefore the beautiful Shobhani, virgin and wife, resolved to burn herself, and to make the next life of the thief certain. She showed her courage by thrusting her finger into a torch flame till it became a cinder, and she solemnly bathed in the nearest stream.
A hole was dug in the ground, and upon a bed of green tree-trunks were heaped hemp, pitch, faggots, and clarified butter, to form the funeral pyre. The dead body, anointed, bathed, and dressed in new clothes, was then laid upon the heap, which was some two feet high. Shobhani prayed that as long as fourteen Indras reign, or as many years as there are hairs in her head, she might abide in heaven with her husband, and be waited upon by the heavenly dancers. She then presented her orna- ments and little gifts of corn to her friends, tied some cotton round both wrists, put two new combs in her hair, painted her forehead, and tied up in the end of her body- cloth clean parched rice1 and cowrie-shells. These she gave to the bystanders, as she walked seven times round the funeral pyre, upon which lay the body. She then ascended the heap of wood, sat down upon it, and taking the thief's head in her lap, without cords or levers or upper layer or faggots, she ordered the pile to be lighted. The crowd standing around set fire to it in several places, drummed their drums, blew their conchs, and raised a loud cry of " Hari bol ! Hari bol ! 2 " Straw was thrown on, and pitch and clarified butter were freely poured out.
i Properly speaking, the husbandman should plough with not fewer than four bullocks ; but few can afford this. If he plough with a cow or a bullock, and not with a bull, the rice produced by his ground is unclean, and may not be used in any religious ceremony.
2. A shout of triumph, like our " Huzza " or " Hurrah !" of late degraded into " Hooray." " Hari bol " is of course religious, mean- ing " Call upon Hari ! " i.e. Krishna, i.e. Vishnu, 0
142 Vikram and the Vampire.
But Shobhani's was a Sahamaran, a blessed easy death : no part of her body was seen to move after the pyre was lighted — in fact, she seemed to die before the flame touched her.
By the blessing of his daughter's decease, the old householder beheaded himself.1 He caused an instrument to be made in the shape of a half-moon with an edge like a razor, and fitting the back of his neck. At both ends of it, as at the beam of a balance, chains were fastened. He sat down with eyes closed ; he was rubbed with the puri- fying clay of the holy river, Vaiturani 2 ; and he repeated the proper incantations. Then placing his feet upon the extremities of the chains, he suddenly jerked up his neck, and his severed head rolled from his body upon the ground. What a happy death was this !
The Baital was silent, as if meditating on the for- tunate transmigration which the old householder had thus secured.
" But what could the thief have been laughing at, sire ? " asked the young prince Dharma Dhwaj of his father.
" At the prodigious folly of the girl, my son," replied the warrior king, thoughtlessly.
" I am indebted once more to your majesty," burst out the Baital, " for releasing me from this unpleasant position, but the Raja's penetration is again at fault. Not to leave your royal son and heir labouring under a false impression, before going I will explain why the brave thief burst into tears, and why he laughed at such a moment.
" He wept when he reflected that he could not re-
1 This form of suicide is one of those recognized in India. So in Europe we read of fanatics who, with a suicidal ingenuity, have suc- ceeded in crucifying themselves.
2 The river of Jaganath in Orissa ; it shares the honours of sanctity with seme twenty-nine others, and in the lower regions it represents the classical Styx.
The Vampire's Fifth Story. 143
quite her kindness in being willing to give up everything she had in the world to save his life ; and this thought deeply grieved him.
Then it struck him as being passing strange that she had begun to love him when the last sand of his life was well nigh run out ; that wondrous are the ways of the re- volving heavens which bestow wealth upon the niggard that cannot use it, wisdom upon the bad man who will misuse it, a beautiful wife upon the fool who cannot pro- tect her, and fertilizing showers upon the stony hills. And thinking over these things, the gallant and beautiful thief laughed aloud.
Presently the Demon was trussed up as usual.
" Before returning to my siras-tree," continued the "Vampire, " as I am about to do in virtue of your majesty's unintelligent reply, I may remark that men may laugh and cry, or may cry and laugh, about everything in this world, from their neighbours' deaths, which, as a general rule, in no wise concern them, to their own latter ends, which do concern them exceedingly. For my part, I am in the habit of laughing at everything, because it animates the brain, stimulates the lungs, beautifies the countenance, and — for the moment, good-bye, Raja Vikram 1
144 Vikram and the Vampire.
The warrior king, being forewarned this time, shifted the bundle containing the Baital from his back to under his arm, where he pressed it with all his might.
This proceeding, however, did not prevent the Vam- pire from slipping back to his tree, and leaving an empty cloth with the Raja.
Presently the demon was trussed up as usual ; a voice sounded behind Vikram, and the loquacious thing again began to talk.
145
THE VAMPIRE'S SIXTH STORY.
IN WHICH THREE MEN DISPUTE ABOUT A WOMAN.
ON the lovely banks of Jumna's stream there was a city known as Dharmasthal — the Place of Duty; and therein dwelt a certain Brahman called Keshav. He was a very pious man, in the constant habit of performing penance and worship upon the river Sidi. He modelled his own clay images instead of buying them from others ; he painted holy stones red at the top, and made to them offerings of flowers, fruit, water, sweetmeats, and fried peas. He had become a learned man somewhat late in life, having, until twenty years old, neglected his reading, and addicted himself to worshipping the beautiful youth Kama-Deva1 and Rati his wife, accompanied by the cuckoo, the humming-bee, and sweet breezes.
One day his parents having rebuked him sharply for his ungovernable conduct, Keshav wandered to a neigh- bouring hamlet, and hid himself in the tall fig-tree which shadowed a celebrated image of Panchanan.2 Presently an evil thought arose in his head : he defiled the god, and threw him into the nearest tank.
i Cupid. His wife Rati is the spring personified. The Hindu poets always unite love and spring, and perhaps physiologically they are correct.
•2. An incarnation of the third person of the Hindu Triad, or Triumvirate, Shiva the God of Destruction, the Indian Bacchus. The image has five faces, and each face has three eyes. In Bengal it is found in many villages, and the women warn their children not to touch it o npain of being killed. 0
10
146 Vikram and the Vampire.
The next morning, when the person arrived whose livelihood depended on the image, he discovered that his god was gone. He returned into the village distracted, and all was soon in an uproar about the lost deity.
In the midst of this confusion the parents of Keshav arrived, seeking for their son ; and a man in the crowd declared that he had seen a young man sitting in Panchanan's tree, but what had become of the god he knew not.
The runaway at length appeared, and the suspicions of the villagers fell upon him as the stealer of Panchanan. He confessed the fact, pointed out the place where he had thrown the stone, and added that he had polluted the god. All hands and eyes were raised in amazement at this atrocious crime, and every one present declared that Panchanan would certainly punish the daring insult by immediate death. Keshav was dreadfully frightened ; he began to obey his parents from that very hour, and applied to his studies so sedulously that he soon became the most learned man of his country.
Now Keshav the Brahman had a daughter whose name was the Madhumalati or Sweet Jasmine. She was very beautiful. Whence did the gods procure the materials to form so exquisite a face ? They took a por- tion of the most excellent part of the moon to form that beautiful face ? Does any one seek a proof of this ? Let him look at the empty places left in the moon. Her eyes t-esembled the full-blown blue nymphaea; her arms the charming stalk of the lotus ; her flowing tresses the thick darkness of night.
When this lovely person arrived at a marriageable age, her mother, father, and brother, all three became very anxious about her. For the wise have said, "A daughter nubile but without a husband is ever a calamity hanging over a house." And, " Kings, women, and climbing plaits love those who are near them." Also, 10—2
The Vampire's Sixth Story. 147
«' Who is there that has not suffered from the sex? for a woman cannot be kept in due subjection, either by gifts or kindness, or correct conduct, or the greatest services, or the laws of morality, or by the terror of punishment, for she cannot discriminate between good and evil."
It so happened that one day Keshav the Brahman went to the marriage of a certain customer of his,1 and his son repaired to the house of a spiritual preceptor in order to read. During their absence, a young man came to the house, when the Sweet Jasmine's mother, inferring his good qualities from his good looks, said to him, " I will give to thee my daughter in marriage." The father also had promised his daughter to a Brahman youth whom he had met at the house of his employer ; and the brother likewise had betrothed his sister to a fellow student at the place where he had gone to read.
After some days father and son came home, accom- panied by these two suitors, and in the house a third was .already seated. The name of the first was Tribikram, of the second Baman, and of the third Madhusadan. The three were equal in mind and body, in knowledge, and in age.
Then the father, looking upon them, said to himself, •" Ho ! there is one bride and three bridegrooms ; to whom shall I give, and to whom shall I not give? We three have pledged our word to these three. A strange circum- stance has occurred; what must we do? "
He then proposed to them a trial of wisdom, and made them agree that he who should quote the most ex- cellent saying of the wise should become his daughter's husband.
Quoth Tribikram: "Courage is tried in war; in- tegrity in the payment of debt and interest ; friendship
i A village Brahman on stated occasions receives fees from all the villagers.
148 , Vikea/m and the Vampire.
in distress ; and the faithfulness of a wife in the day 6f poverty."
Baman proceeded: "That woman is destitute of virtue who in her father's house is not in subjection, who wanders to feasts and amusements, who throws off her veil in the presence of men, who remains as a guest in the houses of strangers, who is much devoted to sleep, who drinks inebriating beverages, and who delights in distance from her husband."
"Let none," pursued Madhusadan, "confide in the sea, nor in whatever has claws or horns, or who carries deadly weapons ; neither in a woman, nor in a king."
Whilst the Brahman was doubting which to prefer, and rather inclining to the latter sentiment, a serpent bit the beautiful girl, and in a few hours she died.
Stunned by this awful sudden death, the father and the three suitors sat for a time motionless. They then arose, used great exertions, and brought all kinds of sorcerers, wise men and women who charm away poisons by incantations. These having seen the girl said, "She cannot return to life." The first declared, "A person always dies who has been bitten by a snake on the fifrh, sixth, eighth, ninth, and fourteenth days of the lunar month." The second asserted, "One who has been bitten on a Saturday or a Tuesday does not survive." The third opined, "Poison infused during certain six lunar mansions cannot be got under." Quoth the fourth, " One who has been bitten in any organ of sense, the lower lip, the cheek, the neck, or the stomach, cannot escape death." The fifth said, " In this case even Brahma, the Creator, could not restore life — of what account, then, are we ? Do you perform the funeral rites ; we will depart."
Thus saying, the sorcerers went their way. The mourning father took up his daughter's corpse and
The Vampire's Sixth Story. 149
caused it to be burnt, in the place where dead bodies are usually burnt, and returned to his house.
After that the three young men said to 'one another, "We must now seek happiness elsewhere. And what better can we do than obey the words of Indra, the God of Air, who spake thus ? —
" 'For a man who does not travel about there is no felicity, and a good man who stays at home is a bad man. Indra is the friend of him who travels. Travel !
"'A traveller's legs are like blossoming branches, and he himself grows and gathers the fruit. All his wrongs vanish, destroyed by his exertion on the roadside. Travel !
" 'The fortune of a man who sits, sits also; it rises when he rises ; it sleeps when he sleeps ; it moves well when he moves. Travel!
" ' A man who sleeps is like the Iron Age. A man who awakes is like the Bronze Age. A man who rises up is like the Silver Age. A man who travels is like the Golden Age. Travel!
" 'A traveller finds honey; a traveller finds sweet figs. Look at the happiness of the sun, who travelling never tires. Travel !'"
Before parting they divided the relics of the beloved one, and then they went their way.
Tribikram, having separated and tied up the burnt bones, became one of the Vaisheshikas, in those days a powerful sect. He solemnly forswore the eight great crimes, namely : feeding at night ; slaying any animal ; eating the fruit of trees that give milk, or pumpkins or young bamboos : tasting honey or flesh ; plundering the wealth of others; taking by force a married woman.; eating flowers, butter, or cheese; and worshipping the gods of other religions. He learned that the highest act of virtue is to abstain from doing injury to sentient creatures; that crime does not justify the destruction o£
150 Vikram and the Vampire.
life; and that kings, as the administrators of criminal justice, are the greatest of sinners. He professed the five vows of total abstinence from falsehood, eating flesh or fish, theft, drinking spirits, and marriage. He bound himself to possess nothing beyond a white loin-cloth, a towel to wipe the mouth, a beggar's dish, and a brush of woollen threads to sweep the ground for fear of treading on insects. And he was ordered to fear secular affairs; the miseries of a future state ; the receiving from others more than the food of a day at once ; all accidents ; pro- visions, if connected with the destruction of animal life; death and disgrace; also to please all, and to obtain compassion from all.
He attempted to banish his love. He said to him- self, "Surely it was owing only to my pride and selfish- ness that I ever looked upon a woman as capable of affording happiness ; and I thought, 'Ah! ah! thine eyes roll about like the tail of the water-wagtail, thy lips resemble the ripe fruit, thy bosom is like the lotus bud, thy form is resplendent as gold melted in a crucible, the moon wanes through desire to imitate the shadow of thy face, thou resemblest the pleasure-house of Cupid; the happiness of all time is concentrated in thee; a touch from thee would surely give life to a dead image ; at thy approach a living admirer would be changed by joy into a lifeless stone ; obtaining thee I can face all the horrors of war ; and were I pierced by showers of arrows, one glance of thee would heal all my wounds.'
" My mind is now averted from the world. Seeing her I say, * Is this the form by which men are bewitched ? This is a basket covered with skin; it contains bones, flesh, blood, and impurities. The stupid creature who is captivated by this — is there a cannibal feeding in Currim a greater cannibal than he ? These persons call a thing made up of impure matter a face, and drink its charms as a drunkard swallows the inebriating liquor from his cup.
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The blind, infatuated beings ! Why should I be pleased or displeased with this body, composed of flesh and blood ? It is my duty to seek Him who is the Lord of this body, and to disregard everything which gives rise either to pleasure or to pain.' "
Baman, the second suitor, tied up a bundle of his beloved one's ashes, and followed— somewhat prematurely — the precepts of the great lawgiver Manu. "When the father of a family perceives his muscles becoming flaccid, and his hair grey, and sees the child of his child, let him then take refuge in a forest. Let him take up his conse-
Baman, the second suitor, tied up a bundle and followed
crated fire and all his domestic implements for making oblations to it, and, departing from the town to the lonely wood, let him dwell in it with complete power over his organs of sense and of action. With many sorts of pure food, such as holy sages used to eat, with green herbs, roots, and fruit, let him perform the five great sacraments, introducing them with due ceremonies. Let him wear a black antelope-hide, or a vesture of bark ; let him bathe evening and morning ; let him suffer the hair of his head, his beard and his nails to grow continually. Let him
152 Vikram and the Vampire.
slide backwards and forwards on the ground ; or let him stand a whole day on tiptoe; or let him continue in mo- tion, rising and sitting alternately; but at sunrise, at noon, and at sunset, let him go to the waters and bathe. In the hot season let him sit exposed to five fires, four blazing around him, with the sun above; in the rains, let him stand uncovered, without even a mantle, where the clouds pour the heaviest showers; in the cold season let him wear damp clothes, and let him increase by degrees the austerity of his devotions. Then, having reposited his holy fires, as the law directs, in his mind, let him live without external fire, without a mansion, wholly silent, feeding on roots and fruit."
Meanwhile Madhusadan the third, having taken a wallet and neckband, became a Jogi, and began to wander far and wide, living on nothing but chaff, and practising his devotions. In order to see Brahma he attended to the following duties ; i. Hearing; 2. Meditation; 3. Fix- ing the Mind; 4. Absorbing the Mind. He combated the three evils, restlessness, injuriousness, voluptuousness, by settling the Deity in his spirit, by subjecting his senses, and by destroying desire. Thus he would do away with the illusion (Maya) which conceals all true knowledge. He repeated the name of the Deity till it appeared to him in the form of a Dry Light or glory. Though connected with the affairs of life, that is, with affairs belonging to a body containing blood, bones, and impurities; to organs which are blind, palsied, and full of weakness and error; to a mind filled with thirst, hunger, sorrow, infatuation ; to confirmed habits, and to the fruits of former births : still he strove not to view these things as realities. He made a companion of a dog, honouring it with his own food, so as the better to think on spirit. He practised all the five operations connected with the vital air, or air collected in the body. He attended much to Pranayama, or the gradual suppression of breathing,
The Vampire's Sixth Story. 153
and he secured fixedness of mind as follows. By placing his sight and thoughts on the tip of his nose he perceived smell ; on the tip of his tongue he realized taste, on the root of his tongue he knew sound, and so forth. He practised the eighty-four Asana or postures, raising his hand to the wonders of the heavens, till he felt no longer the inconveniences of heat or cold, hunger or thirst. He particularly preferred the Padma or lotus-posture, which consists of bringing the feet to the sides, holding the right in the left hand and the left in the right. In the
Meanwhile Madhusadan, the third, became a Jcgi.
work of suppressing his breath he permitted its respira- tion to reach at furthest twelve fingers' breadth, and gradually diminished the distance from his nostrils till he could confine it to the length of twelve fingers from his nose, and even after restraining it for some time he would draw it from no greater distance than from his heart. As respects time, he began by retaining inspiration for twenty-six seconds, and he enlarged this period gradually till he became perfect. He sat cross-legged, closing with his fingers all the avenues of inspiration, and he practised
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Prityahara, or the power of restraining the members of the body and mind, with meditation and concentration, to which there are four enemies, viz., a sleepy heart, human passions, a confused mind, and attachment to anything but the one Brahma. He also cultivated Yama, that is, inoffensiveness, truth, honesty, the forsaking of all evil in the world, and the refusal of gifts except for sacrifice, and Nihama, i.e., purity relative to the use of water after defilement, pleasure in everything whether in prosperity or adversity, renouncing food when hungry, and keeping down the body. Thus delivered from these four enemies of the flesh, he resembled the unruffled flame of the lamp, and by Brahmagnana, or meditating on the Deity, plac- ing his mind on the sun, moon, fire, or any other lumi- nous body, or within his heart, or at the bottom of his throat, or in the centre of his skull, he was enabled to ascend from gross images of omnipotence to the works and the divine wisdom of the glorious original.
One day Madhusadan, the Jogi, went to a certain house for food, and the householder having seen him began to say, "Be so good as to take your food here this day!" The visitor sat down, and when the victuals were ready, the host caused his feet and hands to be washed, and leading him to the Chauka, or square place upon which meals are served, seated him and sat by him. And he quoted the scripture: "No guest must be dis- missed in the evening by a housekeeper : he is sent by the returning sun, and whether he come in fit season or unseasonably, he must not sojourn in the house without entertainment : let me not eat any delicate food, without asking my guest to partake of it: the satisfaction of a guest will assuredly bring the housekeeper wealth, reputa- tion, long life, and a place in heaven."
The householder's wife then came to serve up the food, rice and split peas, oil, and spices, all cooked in a new earthen pot with pure firewood. Part of the
The householder's wife came to serve up the food, rice and split peas (to face p. 154).
The Vampire's Sixth Story. 155
meal was served and the rest remained to be served, when the woman's little child began to cry aloud and to catch hold of its mother's dress. She endeavoured to release herself, but the boy would not let go, and the more she coaxed the more he cried, and was obstinate. On this the mother became angry, took up the boy and threw him upon the fire, which instantly burnt him to ashes.
Madhusadan, the Jogi, seeing this, rose up without eating. The master of the house said to him, "Why eatest thou not ? " He replied, " I am ' Atithi,' that is to say, to be entertained at your house, but how can one eat under the roof of a person who has committed such a Rakshasa-like (devilish) deed? Is it not said, 'He who does not govern his passions, lives in vain' ? 'A foolish king, a person puffed up with riches, and a weak child, desire that which cannot be procured ' ? Also, ' A king destroys his enemies, even when flying; and the touch of an elephant, as well as the breath of a serpent, are fatal; but the wicked destroy even while laughing'?"
Hearing this, the householder smiled; presently he arose and went to another part of the tenement, and brought back with him a book, treating on Sanjivnividya, or the science of restoring the dead to life. This he had taken from its hidden place, two beams almost touching one another with the ends in the opposite wall. The precious volume was in single leaves, some six inches broad by treble that length, and the paper was stained with yellow orpiment and the juice of tamarind seeds to keep away insects.
The householder opened the cloth containing the book, untied the flat boards at the top and bottom, and took out from it a charm. Having repeated this Mantra, with many ceremonies, he at once restored the child to life, saying, "Of all precious things, knowledge is the most valuable ; other riches may be stolen, or diminished*
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by expenditure, but knowledge is immortal, and the greater the expenditure the greater the increase ; it can be shared with none, and it defies the power of the thief."
The Jogi, seeing this marvel, took thought in his heart, " If I could obtain that book, I would restore my beloved to life, and give up this course of uncomfortable postures and difficulty of breathing." With this resolu- tion he sat down to his food, and remained in the house.
At length night came, and after a time, all, having eaten supper, and gone to their sleeping-places, lay down. The Jogi also went to rest in one part of the house, but did not allow sleep to close his eyes. When he thought that a fourth part of the hours of darkness had sped, and that all were deep in slumber, then he got up very quietly, and going into the room of the master of the house, he took down the book from the beam-ends and went his ways.
Madhusadan, the Jogi, went straight to the place where the beautiful Sweet Jasmine had been burned. There he found his two rivals sitting talking together and comparing experiences. They recognized him at once, and cried aloud to him, "Brother! thou also hast been wandering over the world ; tell us this — hast thou learned anything which can profit us ? " He replied, " I have learned the science of restoring the dead to life "; upon which they both exclaimed, "If thou hast really learned such knowledge, restore our beloved to life."
Madhusadan proceeded to make his incantations, despite terrible sights in the air, the cries of jackals, owls, crows, cats, asses, vultures, dogs, and lizards, and the wrath of innumerable invisible beings, such as messengers of Yama (Pluto), ghosts, devils, demons, imps, fiends, devas, succubi, and others. All the three lovers drawing blood from their own bodies, offered it to the goddess Chandi, repeating the following incantation, "Hail! supreme delusion ! Hail ! goddess of the universe ! Hail!
Madhusadan proceeded to make his incantations, despite terrible sights in the air (to face t>. 156).
The Vampire's Sixth Story. 157
thou who fulfillest the desires of all. May I presume to offer thee the blood of my body ; and wilt thou deign to accept it, and be propitious towards me!"
They then made a burnt-offering of their flesh, and each one prayed, "Grant me, O goddess! to see the maiden alive again, in proportion to the fervency with which I present thee with mine own flesh, invoking thee io be propitious to me. Salutation to thee again and again, under the mysterious syllables ang! ang!"
Then they made a heap of the bones and the ashes, which had been carefully kept by Tribikram and Baman. As the Jogi Madhusadan proceeded with his incantation, a white vapour arose from the ground, and, gradually condensing, assumed a perispiritual form — the fluid envelope of the soul. The three spectators felt their blood freeze as the bones and the ashes were gradually absorbed into the before shadowy shape, and they were restored to themselves only when the maiden Madhuvati begged to be taken home to her mother.
Then Kama, God of Love, blinded them, and they began fiercely to quarrel about who should have the beautiful maid. Each wanted to be her sole master. Tribikram declared the bones to be the great fact of the incantation ; Baman swore by the ashes ; and Madhusadan laughed them both to scorn. No one could decide the dispute ; the wisest doctors were all nonplussed ; and as for the Raja — well ! we do not go for wit or wisdom to kings. I wonder if the great Raja Vikram could decide which person the woman belonged to ?
"To Baman, the man who kept her ashes, fellow !" exclaimed the hero, not a little offended by the free remarks of the fiend.
"Yet," rejoined the Baital impudently, "if Tribikram had not preserved her bones how could she have been restored to life? And if Madhusadan had not learned the science of restoring the dead to life how could srie
158 Vikram and the Vampire.
have been revivified ? At least, so it seems to me. But perhaps your royal wisdom may explain."
"Devil!" said the king angrily, "Tribikram, who preserved her bones, by that act placed himself in the position of her son; therefore he could not marry her. Madhusadan, who, restoring her to life, gave her life, was evidently a father to her; he could not, then, become her husband. Therefore she was the wife of Baman, who had collected her ashes."
"I am happy to see, O king," exclaimed the Vam- pire, " that in spite of my presentiments, we are not to