{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_2400/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_2400","id":"gutenberg_2400","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2400","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Adventure","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Hindus -- Folklore","India","Tales -- India","Vampires -- India -- Folklore"],"text":"Produced by Sara Vazirian\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVIKRAM AND THE VAMPIRE\n\nBy Sir Richard F. Burton\n\nClassic Hindu Tales of Adventure, Magic, and Romance\n\nEdited by his Wife Isabel Burton\n\n  \u201cLes fables, loin de grandir les hommes, la Nature et Dieu,\n  rapetssent tout.\u201d\n   Lamartine (Milton)\n\n  \u201cOne who had eyes saw it; the blind will not understand it.\n  A poet, who is a boy, he has perceived it; he who understands it\n                    will be\n    his sire\u2019s sire.\u201d--Rig-Veda (I.164.16).\n\n\n\nPreface\n\nPreface to the First (1870) Edition\n\nIntroduction\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S FIRST STORY. In which a Man deceives a Woman\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S SECOND STORY. Of the Relative Villany of Men and Woman\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S THIRD STORY. Of a High-minded Family\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S FOURTH STORY. Of a Woman who told the Truth\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S FIFTH STORY. Of the Thief who Laughed and Wept\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S SIXTH STORY. In which Three Men dispute about a Woman\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S SEVENTH STORY. Showing the exceeding Folly of many wise\nFools\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S EIGHTH STORY. Of the Use and Misuse of Magic Pills\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S NINTH STORY. Showing that a Man\u2019s Wife belongs not to his\nbody but to his Head\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S TENTH STORY. Of the Marvellous Delicacy of Three Queens\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S ELEVENTH STORY. Which puzzles Raja Vikram\n\nConclusion\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nThe Baital-Pachisi, or Twenty-five Tales of a Baital is the history of\na huge Bat, Vampire, or Evil Spirit which inhabited and animated dead\nbodies. It is an old, and thoroughly Hindu, Legend composed in Sanskrit,\nand is the germ which culminated in the Arabian Nights, and which\ninspired the \u201cGolden Ass\u201d of Apuleius, Boccacio\u2019s \u201cDecamerone,\u201d the\n\u201cPentamerone,\u201d and all that class of facetious fictitious literature.\n\nThe story turns chiefly on a great king named Vikram, the King Arthur of\nthe East, who in pursuance of his promise to a Jogi or Magician, brings\nto him the Baital (Vampire), who is hanging on a tree. The difficulties\nKing Vikram and his son have in bringing the Vampire into the presence\nof the Jogi are truly laughable; and on this thread is strung a series\nof Hindu fairy stories, which contain much interesting information on\nIndian customs and manners. It also alludes to that state, which induces\nHindu devotees to allow themselves to be buried alive, and to appear\ndead for weeks or months, and then to return to life again; a curious\nstate of mesmeric catalepsy, into which they work themselves by\nconcentrating the mind and abstaining from food--a specimen of which I\nhave given a practical illustration in the Life of Sir Richard Burton.\n\nThe following translation is rendered peculiarly; valuable and\ninteresting by Sir Richard Burton\u2019s intimate knowledge of the language.\nTo all who understand the ways of the East, it is as witty, and as full\nof what is popularly called \u201cchaff\u201d as it is possible to be. There is\nnot a dull page in it, and it will especially please those who delight\nin the weird and supernatural, the grotesque, and the wild life.\n\nMy husband only gives eleven of the best tales, as it was thought the\ntranslation would prove more interesting in its abbreviated form.\n\nISABEL BURTON.\n\nAugust 18th, 1893.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE TO THE FIRST (1870) EDITION.\n\n\u201cTHE genius of Eastern nations,\u201d says an established and respectable\nauthority, \u201cwas, from the earliest times, much turned towards invention\nand the love of fiction. The Indians, the Persians, and the Arabians,\nwere all famous for their fables. Amongst the ancient Greeks we hear\nof the Ionian and Milesian tales, but they have now perished, and,\nfrom every account we hear of them, appear to have been loose and\nindelicate.\u201d Similarly, the classical dictionaries define \u201cMilesiae\nfabulae\u201d to be \u201clicentious themes,\u201d \u201cstories of an amatory or mirthful\nnature,\u201d or \u201cludicrous and indecent plays.\u201d M. Deriege seems indeed\nto confound them with the \u201cMoeurs du Temps\u201d illustrated with artistic\ngouaches, when he says, \u201cune de ces fables milesiennes, rehaussees de\npeintures, que la corruption romaine recherchait alors avec une folle\nardeur.\u201d\n\nMy friend, Mr. Richard Charnock, F.A.S.L., more correctly defines\nMilesian fables to have been originally \u201ccertain tales or novels,\ncomposed by Aristides of Miletus \u201c; gay in matter and graceful in\nmanner. \u201cThey were translated into Latin by the historian Sisenna, the\nfriend of Atticus, and they had a great success at Rome. Plutarch, in\nhis life of Crassus, tells us that after the defeat of Carhes (Carrhae?)\nsome Milesiacs were found in the baggage of the Roman prisoners. The\nGreek text; and the Latin translation have long been lost. The only\nsurviving fable is the tale of Cupid and Psyche,[1] which Apuleius calls\n\u2018Milesius sermo,\u2019 and it makes us deeply regret the disappearance of the\nothers.\u201d Besides this there are the remains of Apollodorus and\nConon, and a few traces to be found in Pausanias, Athenaeus, and the\nscholiasts.\n\nI do not, therefore, agree with Blair, with the dictionaries, or with M.\nDeriege. Miletus, the great maritime city of Asiatic Ionia, was of old\nthe meeting-place of the East and the West. Here the Phoenician trader\nfrom the Baltic would meet the Hindu wandering to Intra, from Extra,\nGangem; and the Hyperborean would step on shore side by side with the\nNubian and the Aethiop. Here was produced and published for the use of\nthe then civilized world, the genuine Oriental apologue, myth and tale\ncombined, which, by amusing narrative and romantic adventure, insinuates\na lesson in morals or in humanity, of which we often in our days must\nfail to perceive the drift. The book of Apuleius, before quoted, is\nsubject to as many discoveries of recondite meaning as is Rabelais.\nAs regards the licentiousness of the Milesian fables, this sign of\nsemi-civilization is still inherent in most Eastern books of the\ndescription which we call \u201clight literature,\u201d and the ancestral\ntale-teller never collects a larger purse of coppers than when he\nrelates the worst of his \u201caurei.\u201d But this looseness, resulting from\nthe separation of the sexes, is accidental, not necessary. The following\ncollection will show that it can be dispensed with, and that there is\nsuch a thing as comparative purity in Hindu literature. The author,\nindeed, almost always takes the trouble to marry his hero and his\nheroine, and if he cannot find a priest, he generally adopts\nan exceedingly left-hand and Caledonian but legal rite called\n\u201cgandharbavivaha.[2]\u201d\n\nThe work of Apuleius, as ample internal evidence shows, is borrowed from\nthe East. The groundwork of the tale is the metamorphosis of Lucius\nof Corinth into an ass, and the strange accidents which precede his\nrecovering the human form.\n\nAnother old Hindu story-book relates, in the popular fairy-book\nstyle, the wondrous adventures of the hero and demigod, the great\nGandharba-Sena. That son of Indra, who was also the father of\nVikramajit, the subject of this and another collection, offended the\nruler of the firmament by his fondness for a certain nymph, and was\ndoomed to wander over earth under the form of a donkey. Through the\ninterposition of the gods, however, he was permitted to become a man\nduring the hours of darkness, thus comparing with the English legend--\n\n          Amundeville is lord by day,\n          But the monk is lord by night.\n\nWhilst labouring under this curse, Gandharba-Sena persuaded the King\nof Dhara to give him a daughter in marriage, but it unfortunately so\nhappened that at the wedding hour he was unable to show himself in any\nbut asinine shape. After bathing, however, he proceeded to the assembly,\nand, hearing songs and music, he resolved to give them a specimen of his\nvoice.\n\nThe guests were filled with sorrow that so beautiful a virgin should be\nmarried to a donkey. They were afraid to express their feelings to the\nking, but they could not refrain from smiling, covering their mouths\nwith their garments. At length some one interrupted the general silence\nand said:\n\n\u201cO king, is this the son of Indra? You have found a fine bridegroom; you\nare indeed happy; don\u2019t delay the marriage; delay is improper in doing\ngood; we never saw so glorious a wedding! It is true that we once heard\nof a camel being married to a jenny-ass; when the ass, looking up to the\ncamel, said, \u2018Bless me, what a bridegroom!\u2019 and the camel, hearing the\nvoice of the ass, exclaimed, \u2018Bless me, what a musical voice!\u2019 In that\nwedding, however, the bride and the bridegroom were equal; but in this\nmarriage, that such a bride should have such a bridegroom is truly\nwonderful.\u201d\n\nOther Brahmans then present said:\n\n\u201cO king, at the marriage hour, in sign of joy the sacred shell is blown,\nbut thou hast no need of that\u201d (alluding to the donkey\u2019s braying).\n\nThe women all cried out:\n\n\u201cO my mother![3] what is this? at the time of marriage to have an ass!\nWhat a miserable thing! What! will he give that angelic girl in wedlock\nto a donkey?\u201d\n\nAt length Gandharba-Sena, addressing the king in Sanskrit, urged him to\nperform his promise. He reminded his future father-in-law that there is\nno act more meritorious than speaking truth; that the mortal frame is\na mere dress, and that wise men never estimate the value of a person by\nhis clothes. He added that he was in that shape from the curse of his\nsire, and that during the night he had the body of a man. Of his being\nthe son of Indra there could be no doubt.\n\nHearing the donkey thus speak Sanskrit, for it was never known that an\nass could discourse in that classical tongue, the minds of the people\nwere changed, and they confessed that, although he had an asinine form\nhe was unquestionably the son of Indra. The king, therefore, gave him\nhis daughter in marriage.[4] The metamorphosis brings with it many\nmisfortunes and strange occurrences, and it lasts till Fate in the\nauthor\u2019s hand restores the hero to his former shape and honours.\n\nGandharba-Sena is a quasi-historical personage, who lived in the century\npreceding the Christian era. The story had, therefore, ample time to\nreach the ears of the learned African Apuleius, who was born A.D. 130.\n\nThe Baital-Pachisi, or Twenty-five (tales of a) Baital[5]--a Vampire or\nevil spirit which animates dead bodies--is an old and thoroughly Hindu\nrepertory. It is the rude beginning of that fictitious history which\nripened to the Arabian Nights\u2019 Entertainments, and which, fostered by\nthe genius of Boccaccio, produced the romance of the chivalrous days,\nand its last development, the novel--that prose-epic of modern Europe.\n\nComposed in Sanskrit, \u201cthe language of the gods,\u201d alias the Latin of\nIndia, it has been translated into all the Prakrit or vernacular and\nmodern dialects of the great peninsula. The reason why it has not found\nfavour with the Moslems is doubtless the highly polytheistic spirit\nwhich pervades it; moreover, the Faithful had already a specimen of that\nstyle of composition. This was the Hitopadesa, or Advice of a Friend,\nwhich, as a line in its introduction informs us, was borrowed from an\nolder book, the Panchatantra, or Five Chapters. It is a collection of\napologues recited by a learned Brahman, Vishnu Sharma by name, for the\nedification of his pupils, the sons of an Indian Raja. They have been\nadapted to or translated into a number of languages, notably into Pehlvi\nand Persian, Syriac and Turkish, Greek and Latin, Hebrew and Arabic. And\nas the Fables of Pilpay,[6] are generally known, by name at least, to\nEuropean litterateurs.. Voltaire remarks,[7] \u201cQuand on fait reflexion\nque presque toute la terre a ete infatuee de pareils comes, et qu\u2019ils\nont fait l\u2019education du genre humain, on trouve les fables de Pilpay,\nLokman, d\u2019Esope bien raisonnables.\u201d These tales, detached, but strung\ntogether by artificial means--pearls with a thread drawn through\nthem--are manifest precursors of the Decamerone, or Ten Days. A modern\nItalian critic describes the now classical fiction as a collection of\none hundred of those novels which Boccaccio is believed to have read out\nat the court of Queen Joanna of Naples, and which later in life were by\nhim assorted together by a most simple and ingenious contrivance. But\nthe great Florentine invented neither his stories nor his \u201cplot,\u201d if\nwe may so call it. He wrote in the middle of the fourteenth century\n(1344-8) when the West had borrowed many things from the East, rhymes[8]\nand romance, lutes and drums, alchemy and knight-errantry. Many of the\n\u201cNovelle\u201d are, as Orientalists well know, to this day sung and recited\nalmost textually by the wandering tale-tellers, bards, and rhapsodists\nof Persia and Central Asia.\n\nThe great kshatriya,(soldier) king Vikramaditya,[9] or Vikramarka,\nmeaning the \u201cSun of Heroism,\u201d plays in India the part of King Arthur,\nand of Harun al-Rashid further West. He is a semi-historical personage.\nThe son of Gandharba-Sena the donkey and the daughter of the King of\nDhara, he was promised by his father the strength of a thousand male\nelephants. When his sire died, his grandfather, the deity Indra,\nresolved that the babe should not be born, upon which his mother stabbed\nherself. But the tragic event duly happening during the ninth month,\nVikram came into the world by himself, and was carried to Indra, who\npitied and adopted him, and gave him a good education.\n\nThe circumstances of his accession to the throne, as will presently\nappear, are differently told. Once, however, made King of Malaya, the\nmodern Malwa, a province of Western Upper India, he so distinguished\nhimself that the Hindu fabulists, with their usual brave kind of\nspeaking, have made him \u201cbring the whole earth under the shadow of one\numbrella.\u201d\n\nThe last ruler of the race of Mayura, which reigned 318 years, was\nRaja-pal. He reigned 25 years, but giving himself up to effeminacy, his\ncountry was invaded by Shakaditya, a king from the highlands of Kumaon.\nVikramaditya, in the fourteenth year of his reign, pretended to espouse\nthe cause of Raja-pal, attacked and destroyed Shakaditya, and ascended\nthe throne of Delhi. His capital was Avanti, or Ujjayani, the modern\nUjjain. It was 13 kos (26 miles) long by 18 miles wide, an area of 468\nsquare miles, but a trifle in Indian History. He obtained the title of\nShakari, \u201cfoe of the Shakas,\u201d the Sacae or Scythians, by his victories\nover that redoubtable race. In the Kali Yug, or Iron Age, he stands\nhighest amongst the Hindu kings as the patron of learning. Nine persons\nunder his patronage, popularly known as the \u201cNine Gems of Science,\u201d hold\nin India the honourable position of the Seven Wise Men of Greece.\n\nThese learned persons wrote works in the eighteen original dialects\nfrom which, say the Hindus, all the languages of the earth have been\nderived.[10] Dhanwantari enlightened the world upon the subjects of\nmedicine and of incantations. Kshapanaka treated the primary elements.\nAmara-Singha compiled a Sanskrit dictionary and a philosophical\ntreatise. Shankubetalabhatta composed comments, and Ghatakarpara a\npoetical work of no great merit. The books of Mihira are not mentioned.\nVaraha produced two works on astrology and one on arithmetic. And\nBararuchi introduced certain improvements in grammar, commented upon the\nincantations, and wrote a poem in praise of King Madhava.\n\nBut the most celebrated of all the patronized ones was Kalidasa. His two\ndramas, Sakuntala,[11] and Vikram and Urvasi,[12] have descended to\nour day; besides which he produced a poem on the seasons, a work on\nastronomy, a poetical history of the gods, and many other books.[13]\n\nVikramaditya established the Sambat era, dating from A.C. 56. After\na long, happy, and glorious reign, he lost his life in a war with\nShalivahana, King of Pratisthana. That monarch also left behind him an\nera called the \u201cShaka,\u201d beginning with A.D. 78. It is employed, even\nnow, by the Hindus in recording their births, marriages, and similar\noccasions.\n\nKing Vikramaditya was succeeded by his infant son Vikrama-Sena, and\nfather and son reigned over a period of 93 years. At last the latter was\nsupplanted by a devotee named Samudra-pala, who entered into his body\nby miraculous means. The usurper reigned 24 years and 2 months, and the\nthrone of Delhi continued in the hands of his sixteen successors, who\nreigned 641 years and 3 months. Vikrama-pala, the last, was slain in\nbattle by Tilaka-chandra, King of Vaharannah[14].\n\nIt is not pretended that the words of these Hindu tales are preserved\nto the letter. The question about the metamorphosis of cats into tigers,\nfor instance, proceeded from a Gem of Learning in a university much\nnearer home than Gaur. Similarly the learned and still living Mgr. Gaume\n(Traite du Saint-Esprit, p.. 81) joins Camerarius in the belief that\nserpents bite women rather than men. And he quotes (p.. 192) Cornelius a\nLapide, who informs us that the leopard is the produce of a lioness with\na hyena or a bard..\n\nThe merit of the old stories lies in their suggestiveness and in their\ngeneral applicability. I have ventured to remedy the conciseness of\ntheir language, and to clothe the skeleton with flesh and blood.\n\n                To My Uncle,\n\n       ROBERT BAGSHAW, OF DOVERCOURT,\n\n                These Tales,\n    That Will Remind Him Of A Land Which\n             He Knows So Well,\n       Are Affectionately Inscribed.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nThe sage Bhavabhuti--Eastern teller of these tales--after making his\ninitiatory and propitiatory conge to Ganesha, Lord of Incepts, informs\nthe reader that this book is a string of fine pearls to be hung round\nthe neck of human intelligence; a fragrant flower to be borne on the\nturband of mental wisdom; a jewel of pure gold, which becomes the brow\nof all supreme minds; and a handful of powdered rubies, whose tonic\neffects will appear palpably upon the mental digestion of every patient.\nFinally, that by aid of the lessons inculcated in the following pages,\nman will pass happily through this world into the state of absorption,\nwhere fables will be no longer required.\n\nHe then teaches us how Vikramaditya the Brave became King of Ujjayani.\n\nSome nineteen centuries ago, the renowned city of Ujjayani witnessed the\nbirth of a prince to whom was given the gigantic name Vikramaditya.\nEven the Sanskrit-speaking people, who are not usually pressed for time,\nshortened it to \u201cVikram\u201d, and a little further West it would infallibly\nhave been docked down to \u201cVik\u201d.\n\nVikram was the second son of an old king Gandharba-Sena, concerning whom\nlittle favourable has reached posterity, except that he became an ass,\nmarried four queens, and had by them six sons, each of whom was more\nlearned and powerful than the other. It so happened that in course of\ntime the father died. Thereupon his eldest heir, who was known as Shank,\nsucceeded to the carpet of Rajaship, and was instantly murdered by\nVikram, his \u201cscorpion\u201d, the hero of the following pages.[15]\n\nBy this act of vigour and manly decision, which all younger-brother\nprinces should devoutly imitate, Vikram having obtained the title of\nBir, or the Brave, made himself Raja. He began to rule well, and the\ngods so favoured him that day by day his dominions increased. At\nlength he became lord of all India, and having firmly established his\ngovernment, he instituted an era--an uncommon feat for a mere monarch,\nespecially when hereditary.\n\nThe steps,[16] says the historian, which he took to arrive at that\npinnacle of grandeur, were these:\n\nThe old King calling his two grandsons Bhartari-hari and Vikramaditya,\ngave them good counsel respecting their future learning. They were told\nto master everything, a certain way not to succeed in anything. They\nwere diligently to learn grammar, the Scriptures, and all the\nreligious sciences. They were to become familiar with military\ntactics, international law, and music, the riding of horses and\nelephants--especially the latter--the driving of chariots, and the use\nof the broadsword, the bow, and the mogdars or Indian clubs. They were\nordered to be skilful in all kinds of games, in leaping and running, in\nbesieging forts, in forming and breaking bodies of troops; they were\nto endeavour to excel in every princely quality, to be cunning in\nascertaining the power of an enemy, how to make war, to perform\njourneys, to sit in the presence of the nobles, to separate the\ndifferent sides of a question, to form alliances, to distinguish between\nthe innocent and the guilty, to assign proper punishments to the wicked,\nto exercise authority with perfect justice, and to be liberal. The boys\nwere then sent to school, and were placed under the care of excellent\nteachers, where they became truly famous. Whilst under pupilage, the\neldest was allowed all the power necessary to obtain a knowledge of\nroyal affairs, and he was not invested with the regal office till in\nthese preparatory steps he had given full satisfaction to his subjects,\nwho expressed high approval of his conduct.\n\nThe two brothers often conversed on the duties of kings, when the\ngreat Vikramaditya gave the great Bhartari-hari the following valuable\nadvice[17]:\n\n\u201cAs Indra, during the four rainy months, fills the earth with water, so\na king should replenish his treasury with money. As Surya the sun,\nin warming the earth eight months, does not scorch it, so a king, in\ndrawing revenues from his people, ought not to oppress them. As Vayu,\nthe wind, surrounds and fills everything, so the king by his officers\nand spies should become acquainted with the affairs and circumstances\nof his whole people. As Yama judges men without partiality or prejudice,\nand punishes the guilty, so should a king chastise, without favour,\nall offenders. As Varuna, the regent of water, binds with his pasha or\ndivine noose his enemies, so let a king bind every malefactor safely in\nprison. As Chandra,[18] the moon, by his cheering light gives pleasure\nto all, thus should a king, by gifts and generosity, make his people\nhappy. And as Prithwi, the earth, sustains all alike, so should a king\nfeel an equal affection and forbearance towards every one.\u201d\n\nBecome a monarch, Vikram meditated deeply upon what is said of\nmonarchs:--\u201cA king is fire and air; he is both sun and moon; he is the\ngod of criminal justice; he is the genius of wealth; he is the regent\nof water; he is the lord of the firmament; he is a powerful divinity who\nappears in human shape.\u201d He reflected with some satisfaction that the\nscriptures had made him absolute, had left the lives and properties\nof all his subjects to his arbitrary will, had pronounced him to be\nan incarnate deity, and had threatened to punish with death even ideas\nderogatory to his honour.\n\nHe punctually observed all the ordinances laid down by the author of the\nNiti, or institutes of government. His night and day were divided into\nsixteen pahars or portions, each one hour and a half, and they were\ndisposed of as follows:--\n\nBefore dawn Vikram was awakened by a servant appointed to this\nspecial duty. He swallowed--a thing allowed only to a khshatriya or\nwarrior--Mithridatic every morning on the saliva[19], and he made the\ncooks taste every dish before he ate of it. As soon as he had risen,\nthe pages in waiting repeated his splendid qualities, and as he left his\nsleeping-room in full dress, several Brahmans rehearsed the praises\nof the gods. Presently he bathed, worshipped his guardian deity, again\nheard hymns, drank a little water, and saw alms distributed to the poor.\nHe ended this watch by auditing his accounts.\n\nNext entering his court, he placed himself amidst the assembly. He was\nalways armed when he received strangers, and he caused even women to be\nsearched for concealed weapons. He was surrounded by so many spies and\nso artful, that of a thousand, no two ever told the same tale. At\nthe levee, on his right sat his relations, the Brahmans, and men of\ndistinguished birth. The other castes were on the left, and close to\nhim stood the ministers and those whom he delighted to consult. Afar\nin front gathered the bards chanting the praises of the gods and of\nthe king; also the charioteers, elephanteers, horsemen, and soldiers of\nvalour. Amongst the learned men in those assemblies there were ever\nsome who were well instructed in all the scriptures, and others who had\nstudied in one particular school of philosophy, and were acquainted only\nwith the works on divine wisdom, or with those on justice, civil and\ncriminal, on the arts, mineralogy or the practice of physic;\nalso persons cunning in all kinds of customs; riding-masters,\ndancing-masters, teachers of good behaviour, examiners, tasters, mimics,\nmountebanks, and others, who all attended the court and awaited the\nking\u2019s commands. He here pronounced judgment in suits of appeal. His\npoets wrote about him:\n\n               The lord of lone splendour an instant suspends\n               His course at mid-noon, ere he westward descends;\n               And brief are the moments our young monarch knows,\n               Devoted to pleasure or paid to repose!\n\nBefore the second sandhya,[20] or noon, about the beginning of the third\nwatch, he recited the names of the gods, bathed, and broke his fast in\nhis private room; then rising from food, he was amused by singers and\ndancing girls. The labours of the day now became lighter. After eating\nhe retired, repeating the name of his guardian deity, visited the\ntemples, saluted the gods conversed with the priests, and proceeded\nto receive and to distribute presents. Fifthly, he discussed political\nquestions with his ministers and councillors.\n\nOn the announcement of the herald that it was the sixth watch--about\n2 or 3 P.M.--Vikram allowed himself to follow his own inclinations, to\nregulate his family, and to transact business of a private and personal\nnature.\n\nAfter gaining strength by rest, he proceeded to review his troops,\nexamining the men, saluting the officers, and holding military councils.\nAt sunset he bathed a third time and performed the five sacraments of\nlistening to a prelection of the Veda; making oblations to the manes;\nsacrificing to Fire in honour of the deities; giving rice to dumb\ncreatures; and receiving guests with due ceremonies. He spent the\nevening amidst a select company of wise, learned, and pious men,\nconversing on different subjects, and reviewing the business of the day.\n\nThe night was distributed with equal care. During the first portion\nVikram received the reports which his spies and envoys, dressed in every\ndisguise, brought to him about his enemies. Against the latter he\nceased not to use the five arts, namely--dividing the kingdom, bribes,\nmischief-making, negotiations, and brute-force--especially preferring\nthe first two and the last. His forethought and prudence taught him\nto regard all his nearest neighbours and their allies as hostile. The\npowers beyond those natural enemies he considered friendly because they\nwere the foes of his foes. And all the remoter nations he looked upon as\nneutrals, in a transitional or provisional state as it were, till they\nbecame either his neighbours\u2019 neighbours, or his own neighbours, that is\nto say, his friends or his foes.\n\nThis important duty finished he supped, and at the end of the third\nwatch he retired to sleep, which was not allowed to last beyond three\nhours. In the sixth watch he arose and purified himself. The seventh\nwas devoted to holding private consultations with his ministers, and to\nfurnishing the officers of government with requisite instructions. The\neighth or last watch was spent with the Purohita or priest, and with\nBrahmans, hailing the dawn with its appropriate rites; he then bathed,\nmade the customary offerings, and prayed in some unfrequented place near\npure water.\n\nAnd throughout these occupations he bore in mind the duty of kings,\nnamely--to pursue every object till it be accomplished; to succour all\ndependents, and hospitably to receive guests, however numerous. He was\ngenerous to his subjects respecting taxes, and kind of speech; yet he\nwas inexorable as death in the punishment of offenses. He rarely hunted,\nand he visited his pleasure gardens only on stated days. He acted in his\nown dominions with justice; he chastised foreign foes with rigour; he\nbehaved generously to Brahmans, and he avoided favouritism amongst his\nfriends. In war he never slew a suppliant, a spectator, a person asleep\nor undressed, or anyone that showed fear. Whatever country he conquered,\nofferings were presented to its gods, and effects and money were given\nto the reverends. But what benefited him most was his attention to the\ncreature comforts of the nine Gems of Science: those eminent men ate\nand drank themselves into fits of enthusiasm, and ended by immortalizing\ntheir patron\u2019s name.\n\nBecome Vikram the Great he established his court at a delightful and\nbeautiful location rich in the best of water. The country was difficult\nof access, and artificially made incapable of supporting a host of\ninvaders, but four great roads met near the city. The capital was\nsurrounded with durable ramparts, having gates of defence, and near it\nwas a mountain fortress, under the especial charge of a great captain.\n\nThe metropolis was well garrisoned and provisioned, and it surrounded\nthe royal palace, a noble building without as well as within. Grandeur\nseemed embodied there, and Prosperity had made it her own. The nearer\nground, viewed from the terraces and pleasure pavilions, was a lovely\nmingling of rock and mountain, plain and valley, field and fallow,\ncrystal lake and glittering stream. The banks of the winding Lavana\nwere fringed with meads whose herbage, pearly with morning dew, afforded\nchoicest grazing for the sacred cow, and were dotted with perfumed\nclumps of Bo-trees, tamarinds, and holy figs: in one place Vikram\nplanted 100,000 in a single orchard and gave them to his spiritual\nadvisers. The river valley separated the stream from a belt of forest\ngrowth which extended to a hill range, dark with impervious jungle, and\ncleared here and there for the cultivator\u2019s village. Behind it, rose\nanother sub-range, wooded with a lower bush and already blue with air,\nwhilst in the background towered range upon range, here rising abruptly\ninto points and peaks, there ramp-shaped or wall-formed, with sheer\ndescents, and all of light azure hue adorned with glories of silver and\ngold.\n\nAfter reigning for some years, Vikram the Brave found himself at the\nage of thirty, a staid and sober middle-aged man, He had several\nsons--daughters are naught in India--by his several wives, and he had\nsome paternal affection for nearly all--except of course, for his eldest\nson, a youth who seemed to conduct himself as though he had a claim to\nthe succession. In fact, the king seemed to have taken up his abode\nfor life at Ujjayani, when suddenly he bethought himself, \u201cI must visit\nthose countries of whose names I am ever hearing.\u201d The fact is, he had\ndetermined to spy out in disguise the lands of all his foes, and to find\nthe best means of bringing against them his formidable army.\n\n      *     *     *     *     *     *\n\nWe now learn how Bhartari Raja becomes Regent of Ujjayani.\n\nHaving thus resolved, Vikram the Brave gave the government into the\ncharge of a younger brother, Bhartari Raja, and in the garb of a\nreligious mendicant, accompanied by Dharma Dhwaj, his second son, a\nyouth bordering on the age of puberty, he began to travel from city to\ncity, and from forest to forest.\n\nThe Regent was of a settled melancholic turn of mind, having lost\nin early youth a very peculiar wife. One day, whilst out hunting, he\nhappened to pass a funeral pyre, upon which a Brahman\u2019s widow had just\nbecome Sati (a holy woman) with the greatest fortitude. On his return\nhome he related the adventure to Sita Rani, his spouse, and she at once\nmade reply that virtuous women die with their husbands, killed by the\nfire of grief, not by the flames of the pile. To prove her truth the\nprince, after an affectionate farewell, rode forth to the chase, and\npresently sent back the suite with his robes torn and stained, to report\nhis accidental death. Sita perished upon the spot, and the widower\nremained inconsolable--for a time.\n\nHe led the dullest of lives, and took to himself sundry spouses, all\nequally distinguished for birth, beauty, and modesty. Like his brother,\nhe performed all the proper devoirs of a Raja, rising before the day to\nfinish his ablutions, to worship the gods, and to do due obeisance to\nthe Brahmans. He then ascended the throne, to judge his people according\nto the Shastra, carefully keeping in subjection lust, anger, avarice,\nfolly, drunkenness, and pride; preserving himself from being seduced by\nthe love of gaming and of the chase; restraining his desire for dancing,\nsinging, and playing on musical instruments, and refraining from sleep\nduring daytime, from wine, from molesting men of worth, from dice, from\nputting human beings to death by artful means, from useless travelling,\nand from holding any one guilty without the commission of a crime. His\nlevees were in a hall decently splendid, and he was distinguished only\nby an umbrella of peacock\u2019s feathers; he received all complainants,\npetitioners, and presenters of offenses with kind looks and soft words.\nHe united to himself the seven or eight wise councillors, and the\nsober and virtuous secretary that formed the high cabinet of his royal\nbrother, and they met in some secret lonely spot, as a mountain, a\nterrace, a bower or a forest, whence women, parrots, and other talkative\nbirds were carefully excluded.\n\nAnd at the end of this useful and somewhat laborious day, he retired to\nhis private apartments, and, after listening to spiritual songs and\nto soft music, he fell asleep. Sometimes he would summon his brother\u2019s\n\u201cNine Gems of Science,\u201d and give ear to their learned discourses. But it\nwas observed that the viceroy reserved this exercise for nights when\nhe was troubled with insomnia--the words of wisdom being to him an\ninfallible remedy for that disorder.\n\nThus passed onwards his youth, doing nothing that it could desire,\nforbidden all pleasures because they were unprincely, and working in the\npalace harder than in the pauper\u2019s hut. Having, however, fortunately for\nhimself, few predilections and no imagination, he began to pride himself\nupon being a philosopher. Much business from an early age had dulled\nhis wits, which were never of the most brilliant; and in the steadily\nincreasing torpidity of his spirit, he traced the germs of that quietude\nwhich forms the highest happiness of man in this storm of matter called\nthe world. He therefore allowed himself but one friend of his soul. He\nretained, I have said, his brother\u2019s seven or eight ministers; he was\nconstant in attendance upon the Brahman priests who officiated at the\npalace, and who kept the impious from touching sacred property; and he\nwas courteous to the commander-in-chief who directed his warriors, to\nthe officers of justice who inflicted punishment upon offenders, and\nto the lords of towns, varying in number from one to a thousand. But\nhe placed an intimate of his own in the high position of confidential\ncouncillor, the ambassador to regulate war and peace.\n\nMahi-pala was a person of noble birth, endowed with shining abilities,\npopular, dexterous in business, acquainted with foreign parts, famed for\neloquence and intrepidity, and as Menu the Lawgiver advises, remarkably\nhandsome.\n\nBhartari Raja, as I have said, became a quietist and a philosopher.\nBut Kama,[21] the bright god who exerts his sway over the three worlds,\nheaven and earth and grewsome Hades,[22] had marked out the prince once\nmore as the victim of his blossom-tipped shafts and his flowery bow.\nHow, indeed, could he hope to escape the doom which has fallen equally\nupon Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and dreadful Shiva the\nThree-eyed Destroyer[23]?\n\nBy reason of her exceeding beauty, her face was a full moon shining in\nthe clearest sky; her hair was the purple cloud of autumn when, gravid\nwith rain, it hangs low over earth; and her complexion mocked the pale\nwaxen hue of the large-flowered jasmine. Her eyes were those of the\ntimid antelope; her lips were as red as those of the pomegranate\u2019s bud,\nand when they opened, from them distilled a fountain of ambrosia. Her\nneck was like a pigeon\u2019s; her hand the pink lining of the conch-shell;\nher waist a leopard\u2019s; her feet the softest lotuses. In a word, a model\nof grace and loveliness was Dangalah Rani, Raja Bhartari\u2019s last and\nyoungest wife.\n\nThe warrior laid down his arms before her; the politician spoke\nout every secret in her presence. The religious prince would have\nslaughtered a cow--that sole unforgivable sin--to save one of her\neyelashes: the absolute king would not drink a cup of water without her\npermission; the staid philosopher, the sober quietist, to win from her\nthe shadow of a smile, would have danced before her like a singing-girl.\nSo desperately enamoured became Bhartari Raja.\n\nIt is written, however, that love, alas! breeds not love; and so\nit happened to the Regent. The warmth of his affection, instead of\nanimating his wife, annoyed her; his protestations wearied her; his vows\ngave her the headache; and his caresses were a colic that made her blood\nrun cold. Of course, the prince perceived nothing, being lost in wonder\nand admiration of the beauty\u2019s coyness and coquetry. And as women must\ngive away their hearts, whether asked or not, so the lovely Dangalah\nRani lost no time in lavishing all the passion of her idle soul upon\nMahi-pala, the handsome ambassador of peace and war. By this means the\nthree were happy and were contented; their felicity, however, being\nbuilt on a rotten foundation, could not long endure. It soon ended in\nthe following extraordinary way.\n\nIn the city of Ujjayani,[24] within sight of the palace, dwelt a Brahman\nand his wife, who, being old and poor, and having nothing else to do,\nhad applied themselves to the practice of austere devotion.[25] They\nfasted and refrained from drink, they stood on their heads and held\ntheir arms for weeks in the air; they prayed till their knees were like\npads; they disciplined themselves with scourges of wire; and they walked\nabout unclad in the cold season, and in summer they sat within a circle\nof flaming wood, till they became the envy and admiration of all the\nplebeian gods that inhabit the lower heavens. In fine, as a reward for\ntheir exceeding piety, the venerable pair received at the hands of a\ncelestial messenger an apple of the tree Kalpavriksha--a fruit which has\nthe virtue of conferring eternal life upon him that tastes it.\n\nScarcely had the god disappeared, when the Brahman, opening his\ntoothless mouth, prepared to eat the fruit of immortality. Then his wife\naddressed him in these words, shedding copious tears the while:\n\n\u201cTo die, O man, is a passing pain; to be poor is an interminable\nanguish. Surely our present lot is the penalty of some great crime\ncommitted by us in a past state of being.[26] Callest thou this state\nlife? Better we die at once, and so escape the woes of the world!\u201d\n\nHearing these words, the Brahman sat undecided, with open jaws and eyes\nfixed upon the apple. Presently he found tongue: \u201cI have accepted\nthe fruit, and have brought it here; but having heard thy speech, my\nintellect hath wasted away; now I will do whatever thou pointest out.\u201d\n\nThe wife resumed her discourse, which had been interrupted by a more\nthan usually copious flow of tears. \u201cMoreover, O husband, we are old,\nand what are the enjoyments of the stricken in years? Truly quoth the\npoet--\n\n               Die loved in youth, not hated in age.\n\nIf that fruit could have restored thy dimmed eyes, and deaf ears, and\nblunted taste, and warmth of love, I had not spoken to thee thus.\u201d\n\nAfter which the Brahman threw away the apple, to the great joy of his\nwife, who felt a natural indignation at the prospect of seeing her\ngoodman become immortal, whilst she still remained subject to the laws\nof death; but she concealed this motive in the depths of her thought,\nenlarging, as women are apt to do, upon everything but the truth. And\nshe spoke with such success, that the priest was about to toss in his\nrage the heavenly fruit into the fire, reproaching the gods as if by\nsending it they had done him an injury. Then the wife snatched it out\nof his hand, and telling him it was too precious to be wasted, bade him\narise and gird his loins and wend him to the Regent\u2019s palace, and\noffer him the fruit--as King Vikram was absent--with a right reverend\nbrahmanical benediction. She concluded with impressing upon her\nunworldly husband the necessity of requiring a large sum of money as a\nreturn for his inestimable gift. \u201cBy this means,\u201d she said, \u201cthou mayst\npromote thy present and future welfare.[27]\u201d\n\nThen the Brahman went forth, and standing in the presence of the Raja,\ntold him all things touching the fruit, concluding with \u201cO, mighty\nprince! vouchsafe to accept this tribute, and bestow wealth upon me. I\nshall be happy in your living long!\u201d\n\nBhartari Raja led the supplicant into an inner strongroom, where stood\nheaps of the finest gold-dust, and bade him carry away all that he\ncould; this the priest did, not forgetting to fill even his eloquent and\ntoothless mouth with the precious metal. Having dismissed the devotee\ngroaning under the burden, the Regent entered the apartments of his\nwives, and having summoned the beautiful Queen Dangalah Rani, gave her\nthe fruit, and said, \u201cEat this, light of my eyes! This fruit--joy of my\nheart!--will make thee everlastingly young and beautiful.\u201d\n\nThe pretty queen, placing both hands upon her husband\u2019s bosom, kissed\nhis eyes and lips, and sweetly smiling on his face--for great is the\nguile of women--whispered, \u201cEat it thyself, dear one, or at least share\nit with me; for what is life and what is youth without the presence of\nthose we love?\u201d But the Raja, whose heart was melted by these unusual\nwords, put her away tenderly, and, having explained that the fruit would\nserve for only one person, departed.\n\nWhereupon the pretty queen, sweetly smiling as before, slipped the\nprecious present into her pocket. When the Regent was transacting\nbusiness in the hall of audience she sent for the ambassador who\nregulated war and peace, and presented him with the apple in a manner at\nleast as tender as that with which it had been offered to her.\n\nThen the ambassador, after slipping the fruit into his pocket also,\nretired from the presence of the pretty queen, and meeting Lakha, one of\nthe maids of honour, explained to her its wonderful power, and gave\nit to her as a token of his love. But the maid of honour, being an\nambitious girl, determined that the fruit was a fit present to set\nbefore the Regent in the absence of the King. Bhartari Raja accepted it,\nbestowed on her great wealth, and dismissed her with many thanks.\n\nHe then took up the apple and looked at it with eyes brimful of tears,\nfor he knew the whole extent of his misfortune. His heart ached, he felt\na loathing for the world, and he said with sighs and groans[28]:\n\n\u201cOf what value are these delusions of wealth and affection, whose\nsweetness endures for a moment and becomes eternal bitterness? Love is\nlike the drunkard\u2019s cup: delicious is the first drink, palling are the\ndraughts that succeed it, and most distasteful are the dregs. What is\nlife but a restless vision of imaginary pleasures and of real pains,\nfrom which the only waking is the terrible day of death? The affection\nof this world is of no use, since, in consequence of it, we fall at last\ninto hell. For which reason it is best to practice the austerities of\nreligion, that the Deity may bestow upon us hereafter that happiness\nwhich he refuses to us here!\u201d\n\nThus did Bhartari Raja determine to abandon the world. But before\nsetting out for the forest, he could not refrain from seeing the queen\nonce more, so hot was the flame which Kama had kindled in his heart.\nHe therefore went to the apartments of his women, and having caused\nDangalah Rani to be summoned, he asked her what had become of the fruit\nwhich he had given to her. She answered that, according to his command,\nshe had eaten it. Upon which the Regent showed her the apple, and she\nbeholding it stood aghast, unable to make any reply. The Raja gave\ncareful orders for her beheading; he then went out, and having had the\nfruit washed, ate it. He quitted the throne to be a jogi, or religious\nmendicant, and without communicating with any one departed into the\njungle. There he became such a devotee that death had no power over him,\nand he is wandering still. But some say that he was duly absorbed into\nthe essence of the Deity.\n\n      *     *     *     *     *     *\n\nWe are next told how the valiant Vikram returned to his own country.\n\nThus Vikram\u2019s throne remained empty. When the news reached King Indra,\nRegent of the Lower Firmament and Protector of Earthly Monarchs, he sent\nPrithwi Pala, a fierce giant,[29] to defend the city of Ujjayani till\nsuch time as its lawful master might reappear, and the guardian used to\nkeep watch and ward night and day over his trust.\n\nIn less than a year the valorous Raja Vikram became thoroughly tired of\nwandering about the woods half dressed: now suffering from famine, then\nexposed to the attacks of wild beasts, and at all times very ill at\nease. He reflected also that he was not doing his duty to his wives and\nchildren; that the heir-apparent would probably make the worst use of\nthe parental absence; and finally, that his subjects, deprived of his\nfatherly care, had been left in the hands of a man who, for ought he\ncould say, was not worthy of the high trust. He had also spied out\nall the weak points of friend and foe. Whilst these and other equally\nweighty considerations were hanging about the Raja\u2019s mind, he heard a\nrumour of the state of things spread abroad; that Bhartari, the regent,\nhaving abdicated his throne, had gone away into the forest. Then quoth\nVikram to his son, \u201cWe have ended our wayfarings, now let us turn our\nsteps homewards!\u201d\n\nThe gong was striking the mysterious hour of midnight as the king and\nthe young prince approached the principal gate. And they were pushing\nthrough it when a monstrous figure rose up before them and called out\nwith a fearful voice, \u201cWho are ye, and where are ye going? Stand and\ndeliver your names!\u201d\n\n\u201cI am Raja Vikram,\u201d rejoined the king, half choked with rage, \u201cand I am\ncome to mine own city. Who art thou that darest to stop or stay me?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat question is easily answered,\u201d cried Prithwi Pala the giant, in his\nroaring voice; \u201cthe gods have sent me to protect Ujjayani. If thou be\nreally Raja Vikram, prove thyself a man: first fight with me, and then\nreturn to thine own.\u201d\n\nThe warrior king cried \u201cSadhu!\u201d wanting nothing better. He girt his\ngirdle tight round his loins, summoned his opponent into the empty space\nbeyond the gate, told him to stand on guard, and presently began to\ndevise some means of closing with or running in upon him. The giant\u2019s\nfists were large as watermelons, and his knotted arms whistled through\nthe air like falling trees, threatening fatal blows. Besides which the\nRaja\u2019s head scarcely reached the giant\u2019s stomach, and the latter, each\ntime he struck out, whooped so abominably loud, that no human nerves\ncould remain unshaken.\n\nAt last Vikram\u2019s good luck prevailed. The giant\u2019s left foot slipped, and\nthe hero, seizing his antagonist\u2019s other leg, began to trip him up. At\nthe same moment the young prince, hastening to his parent\u2019s assistance,\njumped viciously upon the enemy\u2019s naked toes. By their united exertions\nthey brought him to the ground, when the son sat down upon his stomach,\nmaking himself as weighty as he well could, whilst the father, climbing\nup to the monster\u2019s throat, placed himself astride upon it, and pressing\nboth thumbs upon his eyes, threatened to blind him if he would not\nyield.\n\nThen the giant, modifying the bellow of his voice, cried out--\n\n\u201cO Raja, thou hast overthrown me, and I grant thee thy life.\u201d\n\n\u201cSurely thou art mad, monster,\u201d replied the king, in jeering tone, half\nlaughing, half angry. \u201cTo whom grantest thou life? If I desire it I can\nkill thee; how, then, cost thou talk about granting me my life?\u201d\n\n\u201cVikram of Ujjayani,\u201d said the giant, \u201cbe not too proud! I will save\nthee from a nearly impending death. Only hearken to the tale which I\nhave to tell thee, and use thy judgment, and act upon it. So shalt\nthou rule the world free from care, and live without danger, and die\nhappily.\u201d\n\n\u201cProceed,\u201d quoth the Raja, after a moment\u2019s thought, dismounting from\nthe giant\u2019s throat, and beginning to listen with all his ears.\n\nThe giant raised himself from the ground, and when in a sitting posture,\nbegan in solemn tones to speak as follows:\n\n\u201cIn short, the history of the matter is, that three men were born in\nthis same city of Ujjayani, in the same lunar mansion, in the same\ndivision of the great circle described upon the ecliptic, and in the\nsame period of time. You, the first, were born in the house of a king.\nThe second was an oilman\u2019s son, who was slain by the third, a jogi,\nor anchorite, who kills all he can, wafting the sweet scent of human\nsacrifice to the nostrils of Durga, goddess of destruction. Moreover,\nthe holy man, after compassing the death of the oilman\u2019s son, has\nsuspended him head downwards from a mimosa tree in a cemetery. He is now\nanxiously plotting thy destruction. He hath murdered his own child--\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd how came an anchorite to have a child?\u201d asked Raja Vikram,\nincredulously.\n\n\u201cThat is what I am about to tell thee,\u201d replied the giant. \u201cIn the good\ndays of thy generous father, Gandharba-Sena, as the court was taking its\npleasure in the forest, they saw a devotee, or rather a devotee\u2019s head,\nprotruding from a hole in the ground. The white ants had surrounded his\nbody with a case of earth, and had made their home upon his skin. All\nkinds of insects and small animals crawled up and down the face, yet not\na muscle moved. Wasps had hung their nests to its temples, and scorpions\nwandered in and out of the matted and clotted hair; yet the hermit felt\nthem not. He spoke to no one; he received no gifts; and had it not been\nfor the opening of his nostrils, as he continually inhaled the pungent\nsmoke of a thorn fire, man would have deemed him dead. Such were his\nreligious austerities.\n\n\u201cThy father marvelled much at the sight, and rode home in profound\nthought. That evening, as he sat in the hall of audience, he could speak\nof nothing but the devotee; and his curiosity soon rose to such a pitch,\nthat he proclaimed about the city a reward of one hundred gold pieces to\nany one that could bring to court this anchorite of his own free will.\n\n\u201cShortly afterwards, Vasantasena, a singing and dancing girl more\ncelebrated for wit and beauty than for sagesse or discretion, appeared\nbefore thy sire, and offered for the petty inducement of a gold bangle\nto bring the anchorite into the palace, carrying a baby on his shoulder.\n\n\u201cThe king hearing her speak was astonished, gave her a betel leaf in\ntoken that he held her to her promise, and permitted her to depart,\nwhich she did with a laugh of triumph.\n\n\u201cVasantasena went directly to the jungle, where she found the pious man\nfaint with thirst, shriveled with hunger, and half dead with heat\nand cold. She cautiously put out the fire. Then, having prepared a\nconfection, she approached from behind and rubbed upon his lips a little\nof the sweetmeat, which he licked up with great relish. Thereupon she\nmade more and gave it to him. After two days of this generous diet he\ngained some strength, and on the third, as he felt a finger upon his\nmouth, he opened his eyes and said, \u2018Why hast thou come here?\u2019\n\n\u201cThe girl, who had her story in readiness, replied: \u201cI am the daughter\nof a deity, and have practiced religious observances in the heavenly\nregions. I have now come into this forest!\u201d And the devotee, who began\nto think how much more pleasant is such society than solitude, asked her\nwhere her hut was, and requested to be led there.\n\n\u201cThen Vasantasena, having unearthed the holy man and compelled him to\npurify himself, led him to the abode which she had caused to be built\nfor herself in the wood. She explained its luxuries by the nature of\nher vow, which bound her to indulge in costly apparel, in food with six\nflavours, and in every kind of indulgence.[30] In course of time the\nhermit learned to follow her example; he gave up inhaling smoke, and he\nbegan to eat and drink as a daily occupation.\n\n\u201cAt length Kama began to trouble him. Briefly the saint and saintess\nwere made man and wife, by the simple form of matrimony called the\nGandharba-vivaha,[31] and about ten months afterwards a son was born to\nthem. Thus the anchorite came to have a child.\n\n\u201cRemained Vasantasena\u2019s last feat. Some months passed: then she said\nto the devotee her husband, \u2018Oh saint! let us now, having finished our\ndevotions, perform a pilgrimage to some sacred place, that all the sins\nof our bodies may be washed away, after which we will die and depart\ninto everlasting happiness.\u2019 Cajoled by these speeches, the hermit\nmounted his child upon his shoulder and followed her where she\nwent--directly into Raja Gandharba-Sena\u2019s palace.\n\n\u201cWhen the king and the ministers and the officers and the courtiers saw\nVasantasena, and her spouse carrying the baby, they recognized her from\nafar. The Raja exclaimed, \u2018Lo! this is the very singing girl who went\nforth to bring back the devotee. \u2018And all replied: \u2018O great monarch!\nthou speakest truly; this is the very same woman. And be pleased to\nobserve that whatever things she, having asked leave to undertake, went\nforth to do, all these she hath done!\u2019 Then gathering around her they\nasked her all manner of questions, as if the whole matter had been the\nlightest and the most laughable thing in the world.\n\n\u201cBut the anchorite, having heard the speeches of the king and his\ncourtiers, thought to himself, \u2018They have done this for the purpose of\ntaking away the fruits of my penance.\u2019 Cursing them all with terrible\ncurses, and taking up his child, he left the hall. Thence he went to the\nforest, slaughtered the innocent, and began to practice austerities with\na view to revenge that hour, and having slain his child, he will attempt\nthy life. His prayers have been heard. In the first place they deprived\nthee of thy father. Secondly, they cast enmity between thee and thy\nbrother, thus dooming him to an untimely end. Thirdly, they are now\nworking thy ruin. The anchorite\u2019s design is to offer up a king and a\nking\u2019s son to his patroness Durga, and by virtue of such devotional act\nhe will obtain the sovereignty of the whole world!\n\n\u201cBut I have promised, O Vikram, to save thee, if such be the will of\nFortune, from impending destruction. Therefore hearken well unto my\nwords. Distrust them that dwell amongst the dead, and remember that\nit is lawful and right to strike off his head that would slay thee. So\nshalt thou rule the universal earth, and leave behind thee an immortal\nname!\u201d\n\nSuddenly Prithwi Pala, the giant, ceased speaking, and disappeared.\nVikram and his son then passed through the city gates, feeling their\nlimbs to be certain that no bones were broken, and thinking over the\nscene that had occurred.\n\n      *     *     *     *     *     *\n\nWe now are informed how the valiant King Vikram met with the Vampire.\n\nIt was the spring season when the Raja returned, and the Holi\nfestival[32] caused dancing and singing in every house. Ujjayani was\nextraordinarily happy and joyful at the return of her ruler, who joined\nin her gladness with all his kingly heart. The faces and dresses of\nthe public were red and yellow with gulal and abir,--perfumed\npowders,[33]--which were sprinkled upon one another in token of\nmerriment. Musicians deafened the citizens\u2019 ears, dancing girls\nperformed till ready to faint with fatigue, the manufacturers of\ncomfits made their fortunes, and the Nine Gems of Science celebrated the\nauspicious day with the most long-winded odes. The royal hero, decked\nin regal attire, and attended by many thousands of state palanquins\nglittering with their various ornaments, and escorted by a suite of a\nhundred kingly personages, with their martial array of the four hosts,\nof cavalry, elephants, chariots, and infantry, and accompanied by Amazon\ngirls, lovely as the suite of the gods, himself a personification of\nmajesty, bearing the white parasol of dominion, with a golden staff and\ntassels, began once more to reign.\n\nAfter the first pleasures of return, the king applied himself\nunremittingly to good government and to eradicating the abuses which had\ncrept into the administration during the period of his wanderings.\n\nMindful of the wise saying, \u201cif the Rajadid not punish the guilty, the\nstronger would roast the weaker like a fish on the spit,\u201d he began\nthe work of reform with an iron hand. He confiscated the property of\na councillor who had the reputation of taking bribes; he branded the\nforehead of a sudra or servile man whose breath smelt of ardent spirits,\nand a goldsmith having been detected in fraud he ordered him to be cut\nin shreds with razors as the law in its mercy directs. In the case of a\nnotorious evil-speaker he opened the back of his head and had his tongue\ndrawn through the wound. A few murderers he burned alive on iron beds,\npraying the while that Vishnu might have mercy upon their souls. His\nspies were ordered, as the shastra called \u201cThe Prince\u201d advises, to mix\nwith robbers and thieves with a view of leading them into situations\nwhere they might most easily be entrapped, and once or twice when the\nfellows were too wary, he seized them and their relations and impaled\nthem all, thereby conclusively proving, without any mistake, that he was\nking of earth.\n\nWith the sex feminine he was equally severe. A woman convicted of having\npoisoned an elderly husband in order to marry a younger man was thrown\nto the dogs, which speedily devoured her. He punished simple infidelity\nby cutting off the offender\u2019s nose--an admirable practice, which is not\nonly a severe penalty to the culprit, but also a standing warning to\nothers, and an efficient preventative to any recurrence of the fault.\nFaithlessness combined with bad example or brazen-facedness was further\ntreated by being led in solemn procession through the bazar mounted on\na diminutive and crop-eared donkey, with the face turned towards the\ncrupper. After a few such examples the women of Ujjayani became almost\nmodest; it is the fault of man when they are not tolerably well behaved\nin one point at least.\n\nEvery day as Vikram sat upon the judgment-seat, trying causes and\npunishing offenses, he narrowly observed the speech, the gestures,\nand the countenances of the various criminals and litigants and their\nwitnesses. Ever suspecting women, as I have said, and holding them to\nbe the root of all evil, he never failed when some sin or crime more\nhorrible than usual came before him, to ask the accused, \u201cWho is she?\u201d\n and the suddenness of the question often elicited the truth by accident.\nFor there can be nothing thoroughly and entirely bad unless a woman is\nat the bottom of it; and, knowing this, Raja Vikram made certain notable\nhits under the most improbable circumstances, which had almost given him\na reputation for omniscience. But this is easily explained: a man intent\nupon squaring the circle will see squares in circles wherever he looks,\nand sometimes he will find them.\n\nIn disputed cases of money claims, the king adhered strictly to\nestablished practice, and consulted persons learned in the law. He\nseldom decided a cause on his own judgment, and he showed great temper\nand patience in bearing with rough language from irritated plaintiffs\nand defendants, from the infirm, and from old men beyond eighty.\nThat humble petitioners might not be baulked in having access to the\n\u201cfountain of justice,\u201d he caused an iron box to be suspended by a chain\nfrom the windows of his sleeping apartment. Every morning he ordered\nthe box to be opened before him, and listened to all the placets at full\nlength. Even in this simple process he displayed abundant cautiousness.\nFor, having forgotten what little of the humanities he had mastered in\nhis youth, he would hand the paper to a secretary whose business it was\nto read it out before him; after which operation the man of letters was\nsent into an inner room, and the petition was placed in the hands of\na second scribe. Once it so happened by the bungling of the deceitful\nkayasths(clerks) that an important difference was found to occur in the\nsame sheet. So upon strict inquiry one secretary lost his ears and\nthe other his right hand. After this petitions were rarely if ever\nfalsified.\n\nThe Raja Vikram also lost no time in attacking the cities and towns and\nvillages of his enemies, but the people rose to a man against him, and\nhewing his army to pieces with their weapons, vanquished him. This took\nplace so often that he despaired of bringing all the earth under the\nshadow of his umbrella.\n\nAt length on one occasion when near a village he listened to a\nconversation of the inhabitants. A woman having baked some cakes was\ngiving them to her child, who leaving the edges would eat only the\nmiddle. On his asking for another cake, she cried, \u201cThis boy\u2019s way is\nlike Vikram\u2019s in his attempt to conquer the world!\u201d On his inquiring\n\u201cMother, why, what am I doing; and what has Vikram done?\u201d\n\n\u201cThou, my boy,\u201d she replied, \u201cthrowing away the outside of the cake\neatest the middle only. Vikram also in his ambition, without subduing\nthe frontiers before attacking the towns, invades the heart of the\ncountry and lays it waste. On that account, both the townspeople and\nothers rising, close upon him from the frontiers to the centre, and\ndestroy his army. That is his folly.\u201d\n\nVikram took notice of the woman\u2019s words. He strengthened his army and\nresumed his attack on the provinces and cities, beginning with the\nfrontiers, reducing the outer towns and stationing troops in the\nintervals. Thus he proceeded regularly with his invasions. After a\nrespite, adopting the same system and marshalling huge armies, he\nreduced in regular course each kingdom and province till he became\nmonarch of the whole world.\n\nIt so happened that one day as Vikram the Brave sat upon the\njudgment-seat, a young merchant, by name Mal Deo, who had lately arrived\nat Ujjayani with loaded camels and elephants, and with the reputation\nof immense wealth, entered the palace court. Having been received with\nextreme condescension, he gave into the king\u2019s hand a fruit which he had\nbrought in his own, and then spreading a prayer carpet on the floor he\nsat down. Presently, after a quarter of an hour, he arose and went away.\nWhen he had gone the king reflected in his mind: \u201cUnder this disguise,\nperhaps, is the very man of whom the giant spoke.\u201d Suspecting this, he\ndid not eat the fruit, but calling the master of the household he gave\nthe present to him, ordering him to keep it in a very careful manner.\nThe young merchant, however, continued every day to court the honour of\nan interview, each time presenting a similar gift.\n\nBy chance one morning Raja Vikram went, attended by his ministers, to\nsee his stables. At this time the young merchant also arrived there, and\nin the usual manner placed a fruit in the royal hand. As the king\nwas thoughtfully tossing it in the air, it accidentally fell from his\nfingers to the ground. Then the monkey, who was tethered amongst the\nhorses to draw calamities from their heads,[34] snatched it up and tore\nit to pieces. Whereupon a ruby of such size and water came forth that\nthe king and his ministers, beholding its brilliancy, gave vent to\nexpressions of wonder.\n\nQuoth Vikram to the young merchant severely--for his suspicions were now\nthoroughly roused--\u201cWhy hast thou given to us all this wealth?\u201d\n\n\u201cO great king,\u201d replied Mal Deo, demurely, \u201cit is written in the\nscriptures (shastra) \u2018Of Ceremony\u2019 that \u2018we must not go empty-handed\ninto the presence of the following persons, namely, Rajas, spiritual\nteachers, judges, young maidens, and old women whose daughters we would\nmarry.\u2019 But why, O Vikram, cost thou speak of one ruby only, since in\neach of the fruits which I have laid at thy feet there is a similar\njewel?\u201d Having heard this speech, the king said to the master of his\nhousehold, \u201cBring all the fruits which I have entrusted to thee.\u201d The\ntreasurer, on receiving the royal command, immediately brought them,\nand having split them, there was found in each one a ruby, one and all\nequally perfect in size and water. Raja Vikram beholding such treasures\nwas excessively pleased. Having sent for a lapidary, he ordered him to\nexamine the rubies, saying, \u201cWe cannot take anything with us out of this\nworld. Virtue is a noble quality to possess here below--so tell justly\nwhat is the value of each of these gems.[35]\u201d\n\nTo so moral a speech the lapidary replied, \u201cMaha-Raja[36]! thou hast\nsaid truly; whoever possesses virtue, possesses everything; virtue\nindeed accompanies us always, and is of advantage in both worlds. Hear,\nO great king! each gem is perfect in colour, quality and beauty. If I\nwere to say that the value of each was ten million millions of suvarnas\n(gold pieces), even then thou couldst not understand its real worth. In\nfact, each ruby would buy one of the seven regions into which the earth\nis divided.\u201d\n\nThe king on hearing this was delighted, although his suspicions were\nnot satisfied; and, having bestowed a robe of honour upon the lapidary,\ndismissed him. Thereon, taking the young merchant\u2019s hand, he led him\ninto the palace, seated him upon his own carpet in presence of the\ncourt, and began to say, \u201cMy entire kingdom is not worth one of these\nrubies: tell me how it is that thou who buyest and sellest hast given me\nsuch and so many pearls?\u201d\n\nMal Deo replied: \u201cO great king, the speaking of matters like the\nfollowing in public is not right; these things--prayers, spells, drugs,\ngood qualities, household affairs, the eating of forbidden food, and the\nevil we may have heard of our neighbour--should not be discussed in full\nassembly. Privately I will disclose to thee my wishes. This is the\nway of the world; when an affair comes to six ears, it does not remain\nsecret; if a matter is confided to four ears it may escape further\nhearing; and if to two ears even Brahma the Creator does not know it;\nhow then can any rumour of it come to man?\u201d\n\nHaving heard this speech, Raja Vikram took Mal Deo aside, and began to\nask him, saying, \u201cO generous man! you have given me so many rubies, and\neven for a single day you have not eaten food with me; I am exceedingly\nashamed, tell me what you desire.\u201d\n\n\u201cRaja,\u201d said the young merchant, \u201cI am not Mal Deo, but Shanta-Shil,[37]\na devotee. I am about to perform spells, incantations and magical rites\non the banks of the river Godavari, in a large smashana, a cemetery\nwhere bodies are burned. By this means the Eight Powers of Nature will\nall become mine. This thing I ask of you as alms, that you and the young\nprince Dharma Dhwaj will pass one night with me, doing my bidding. By\nyou remaining near me my incantations will be successful.\u201d\n\nThe valiant Vikram nearly started from his seat at the word cemetery,\nbut, like a ruler of men, he restrained his face from expressing his\nfeelings, and he presently replied, \u201cGood, we will come, tell us on what\nday!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are to come to me,\u201d said the devotee, \u201carmed, but without\nfollowers, on the Monday evening the 14th of the dark half of the month\nBhadra.[38]\u201d The Raja said: \u201cDo you go your ways, we will certainly\ncome.\u201d In this manner, having received a promise from the king, and\nhaving taken leave, the devotee returned to his house: thence he\nrepaired to the temple, and having made preparations, and taken all the\nnecessary things, he went back into the cemetery and sat down to his\nceremonies.\n\nThe valiant Vikram, on the other hand, retired into an inner apartment,\nto consult his own judgment about an adventure with which, for fear of\nridicule, he was unwilling to acquaint even the most trustworthy of his\nministers.\n\nIn due time came the evening moon\u2019s day, the 14th of the dark half of\nthe month Bhadra. As the short twilight fell gloomily on earth, the\nwarrior king accompanied by his son, with turband-ends tied under their\nchins, and with trusty blades tucked under their arms ready for foes,\nhuman, bestial, or devilish, slipped out unseen through the palace\nwicket, and took the road leading to the cemetery on the river bank.\n\nDark and drear was the night. Urged by the furious blast of the\nlingering winter-rains, masses of bistre-coloured cloud, like the forms\nof unwieldy beasts, rolled heavily over the firmament plain. Whenever\nthe crescent of the young moon, rising from an horizon sable as the sad\nTamala\u2019s hue,[39] glanced upon the wayfarers, it was no brighter than\nthe fine tip of an elephant\u2019s tusk protruding from the muddy wave. A\nheavy storm was impending; big drops fell in showers from the forest\ntrees as they groaned under the blast, and beneath the gloomy avenue the\nclayey ground gleamed ghastly white. As the Raja and his son advanced,\na faint ray of light, like the line of pure gold streaking the dark\nsurface of the touchstone, caught their eyes, and directed their\nfootsteps towards the cemetery.\n\nWhen Vikram came upon the open space on the riverbank where corpses were\nburned, he hesitated for a moment to tread its impure ground. But seeing\nhis son undismayed, he advanced boldly, trampling upon remnants of\nbones, and only covering his mouth with his turband-end.\n\nPresently, at the further extremity of the smashana, or burning ground,\nappeared a group. By the lurid flames that flared and flickered round\nthe half-extinguished funeral pyres, with remnants of their dreadful\nloads, Raja Vikram and Dharma Dhwaj could note the several features of\nthe ill-omened spot. There was an outer circle of hideous bestial forms;\ntigers were roaring, and elephants were trumpeting; wolves, whose\nfoul hairy coats blazed with sparks of bluish phosphoric light, were\ndevouring the remnants of human bodies; foxes, jackals, and hyenas\nwere disputing over their prey; whilst bears were chewing the livers of\nchildren. The space within was peopled by a multitude of fiends. There\nwere the subtle bodies of men that had escaped their grosser frames\nprowling about the charnel ground, where their corpses had been reduced\nto ashes, or hovering in the air, waiting till the new bodies which\nthey were to animate were made ready for their reception. The spirits of\nthose that had been foully slain wandered about with gashed limbs; and\nskeletons, whose mouldy bones were held together by bits of blackened\nsinew, followed them as the murderer does his victim. Malignant witches\nwith shriveled skins, horrid eyes and distorted forms, crawled\nand crouched over the earth; whilst spectres and goblins now stood\nmotionless, and tall as lofty palm trees; then, as if in fits, leaped,\ndanced, and tumbled before their evocator. The air was filled with\nshrill and strident cries, with the fitful moaning of the storm-wind,\nwith the hooting of the owl, with the jackal\u2019s long wild cry, and\nwith the hoarse gurgling of the swollen river, from whose banks the\nearth-slip thundered in its fall.\n\nIn the midst of all, close to the fire which lit up his evil\ncountenance, sat Shanta-Shil, the jogi, with the banner that denoted\nhis calling and his magic staff planted in the ground behind him. He\nwas clad in the ochre-coloured loin-wrap of his class; from his head\nstreamed long tangled locks of hair like horsehair; his black body was\nstriped with lines of chalk, and a girdle of thighbones encircled his\nwaist. His face was smeared with ashes from a funeral pyre, and his\neyes, fixed as those of a statue, gleamed from this mask with an\ninfernal light of hate. His cheeks were shaven, and he had not forgotten\nto draw the horizontal sectarian mark. But this was of blood; and\nVikram, as he drew near saw that he was playing upon a human skull with\ntwo shank bones, making music for the horrid revelry.\n\nNow Raja Vikram, as has been shown by his encounter with Indra\u2019s\nwatchman, was a bold prince, and he was cautious as he was brave. The\nsight of a human being in the midst of these terrors raised his mettle;\nhe determined to prove himself a hero, and feeling that the critical\nmoment was now come, he hoped to rid himself and his house forever of\nthe family curse that hovered over them.\n\nFor a moment he thought of the giant\u2019s words, \u201cAnd remember that it is\nlawful and right to strike off his head that would slay thee.\u201d A stroke\nwith his good sword might at once and effectually put an end to the\ndanger. But then he remembered that he had passed his royal word to do\nthe devotee\u2019s bidding that night. Besides, he felt assured that the hour\nfor action had not yet sounded.\n\nThese reflections having passed through his mind with the rapid course\nof a star that has lost its honours,[40] Vikram courteously saluted\nShanta-Shil. The jogi briefly replied, \u201cCome sit down, both of ye.\u201d The\nfather and son took their places, by no means surprised or frightened\nby the devil dances before and around them. Presently the valiant Raja\nreminded the devotee that he was come to perform his promise, and lastly\nasked, \u201cWhat commands are there for us?\u201d\n\nThe jogi replied, \u201cO king, since you have come, just perform one piece\nof business. About two kos[41] hence, in a southerly direction, there\nis another place where dead bodies are burned; and in that place is a\nmimosa tree, on which a body is hanging. Bring it to me immediately.\u201d\n\nRaja Vikram took his son\u2019s hand, unwilling to leave him in such\ncompany; and, catching up a fire-brand, went rapidly away in the proper\ndirection. He was now certain that Shanta-Shil was the anchorite who,\nenraged by his father, had resolved his destruction; and his uppermost\nthought was a firm resolve \u201cto breakfast upon his enemy, ere his enemy\ncould dine upon him.\u201d He muttered this old saying as he went, whilst the\ntom-toming of the anchorite upon the skull resounded in his ears,\nand the devil-crowd, which had held its peace during his meeting with\nShanta-Shil, broke out again in an infernal din of whoops and screams,\nyells and laughter.\n\nThe darkness of the night was frightful, the gloom deepened till it was\nhardly possible to walk. The clouds opened their fountains, raining so\nthat you would say they could never rain again. Lightning blazed forth\nwith more than the light of day, and the roar of the thunder caused the\nearth to shake. Baleful gleams tipped the black cones of the trees and\nfitfully scampered like fireflies over the waste. Unclean goblins dogged\nthe travellers and threw themselves upon the ground in their path and\nobstructed them in a thousand different ways. Huge snakes, whose mouths\ndistilled blood and black venom, kept clinging around their legs in the\nroughest part of the road, till they were persuaded to loose their hold\neither by the sword or by reciting a spell. In fact, there were so many\nhorrors and such a tumult and noise that even a brave man would have\nfaltered, yet the king kept on his way.\n\nAt length having passed over, somehow or other, a very difficult road,\nthe Raja arrived at the smashana, or burning place pointed out by the\njogi. Suddenly he sighted the tree where from root to top every branch\nand leaf was in a blaze of crimson flame. And when he, still dauntless,\nadvanced towards it, a clamour continued to be raised, and voices kept\ncrying, \u201cKill them! kill them! seize them! seize them! take care that\nthey do not get away! let them scorch themselves to cinders! let them\nsuffer the pains of Patala.[42]\u201d\n\nFar from being terrified by this state of things the valiant Raja\nincreased in boldness, seeing a prospect of an end to his adventure.\nApproaching the tree he felt that the fire did not burn him, and so he\nsat there for a while to observe the body, which hung, head downwards,\nfrom a branch a little above him.\n\nIts eyes, which were wide open, were of a greenish-brown, and never\ntwinkled; its hair also was brown,[43] and brown was its face--three\nseveral shades which, notwithstanding, approached one another in an\nunpleasant way, as in an over-dried cocoa-nut. Its body was thin and\nribbed like a skeleton or a bamboo framework, and as it held on to a\nbough, like a flying fox,[44] by the toe-tips, its drawn muscles stood\nout as if they were ropes of coin. Blood it appeared to have none, or\nthere would have been a decided determination of that curious juice to\nthe head; and as the Raja handled its skin it felt icy cold and clammy\nas might a snake. The only sign of life was the whisking of a ragged\nlittle tail much resembling a goat\u2019s.\n\nJudging from these signs the brave king at once determined the creature\nto be a Baital--a Vampire. For a short time he was puzzled to reconcile\nthe appearance with the words of the giant, who informed him that the\nanchorite had hung the oilman\u2019s son to a tree. But soon he explained to\nhimself the difficulty, remembering the exceeding cunning of jogis\nand other reverend men, and determining that his enemy, the better\nto deceive him, had doubtless altered the shape and form of the young\noilman\u2019s body.\n\nWith this idea, Vikram was pleased, saying, \u201cMy trouble has been\nproductive of fruit.\u201d Remained the task of carrying the Vampire to\nShanta-Shil the devotee. Having taken his sword, the Raja fearlessly\nclimbed the tree, and ordering his son to stand away from below,\nclutched the Vampire\u2019s hair with one hand, and with the other struck\nsuch a blow of the sword, that the bough was cut and the thing fell\nheavily upon the ground. Immediately on falling it gnashed its teeth and\nbegan to utter a loud wailing cry like the screams of an infant in pain.\nVikram having heard the sound of its lamentations, was pleased, and\nbegan to say to himself, \u201cThis devil must be alive.\u201d Then nimbly sliding\ndown the trunk, he made a captive of the body, and asked \u201cWho art thou?\u201d\n\nScarcely, however, had the words passed the royal lips, when the Vampire\nslipped through the fingers like a worm, and uttering a loud shout\nof laughter, rose in the air with its legs uppermost, and as before\nsuspended itself by its toes to another bough. And there it swung to and\nfro, moved by the violence of its cachinnation.\n\n\u201cDecidedly this is the young oilman!\u201d exclaimed the Raja, after he had\nstood for a minute or two with mouth open, gazing upwards and wondering\nwhat he should do next. Presently he directed Dharma Dhwaj not to lose\nan instant in laying hands upon the thing when it next might touch the\nground, and then he again swarmed up the tree. Having reached his former\nposition, he once more seized the Baital\u2019s hair, and with all the force\nof his arms--for he was beginning to feel really angry--he tore it from\nits hold and dashed it to the ground, saying, \u201cO wretch, tell me who\nthou art?\u201d\n\nThen, as before, the Raja slid deftly down the trunk, and hurried to the\naid of his son, who in obedience to orders, had fixed his grasp upon\nthe Vampire\u2019s neck. Then, too, as before, the Vampire, laughing aloud,\nslipped through their fingers and returned to its dangling-place.\n\nTo fail twice was too much for Raja Vikram\u2019s temper, which was right\nkingly and somewhat hot. This time he bade his son strike the Baital\u2019s\nhead with his sword. Then, more like a wounded bear of Himalaya than a\nprince who had established an era, he hurried up the tree, and directed\na furious blow with his sabre at the Vampire\u2019s lean and calfless legs.\nThe violence of the stroke made its toes loose their hold of the bough,\nand when it touched the ground, Dharma Dhwaj\u2019s blade fell heavily\nupon its matted brown hair. But the blows appeared to have lighted on\niron-wood--to judge at least from the behaviour of the Baital, who no\nsooner heard the question, \u201cO wretch, who art thou?\u201d than it returned in\nloud glee and merriment to its old position.\n\nFive mortal times did Raja Vikram repeat this profitless labour. But\nso far from losing heart, he quite entered into the spirit of the\nadventure. Indeed he would have continued climbing up that tree and\ntaking that corpse under his arm--he found his sword useless--and\nbringing it down, and asking it who it was, and seeing it slip through\nhis fingers, six times sixty times, or till the end of the fourth and\npresent age,[45] had such extreme resolution been required.\n\nHowever, it was not necessary. On the seventh time of falling, the\nBaital, instead of eluding its capturer\u2019s grasp, allowed itself to be\nseized, merely remarking that \u201ceven the gods cannot resist a thoroughly\nobstinate man.\u201d[46] And seeing that the stranger, for the better\nprotection of his prize, had stripped off his waistcloth and was making\nit into a bag, the Vampire thought proper to seek the most favourable\nconditions for himself, and asked his conqueror who he was, and what he\nwas about to do?\n\n\u201cVile wretch,\u201d replied the breathless hero, \u201cknow me to be Vikram the\nGreat, Raja of Ujjayani, and I bear thee to a man who is amusing himself\nby drumming to devils on a skull.\u201d\n\n\u201cRemember the old saying, mighty Vikram!\u201d said the Baital, with a\nsneer, \u201cthat many a tongue has cut many a throat. I have yielded to thy\nresolution and I am about to accompany thee, bound to thy back like a\nbeggar\u2019s wallet. But hearken to my words, ere we set out upon the way.\nI am of a loquacious disposition, and it is well nigh an hour\u2019s walk\nbetween this tree and the place where thy friend sits, favouring his\nfriends with the peculiar music which they love. Therefore, I shall\ntry to distract my thoughts, which otherwise might not be of the most\npleasing nature, by means of sprightly tales and profitable reflections.\nSages and men of sense spend their days in the delights of light and\nheavy literature, whereas dolts and fools waste time in sleep and\nidleness. And I purpose to ask thee a number of questions, concerning\nwhich we will, if it seems fit to thee, make this covenant:\n\n\u201cWhenever thou answerest me, either compelled by Fate or entrapped by my\ncunning into so doing, or thereby gratifying thy vanity and conceit,\nI leave thee and return to my favourite place and position in the\nsiras-tree, but when thou shalt remain silent, confused, and at a loss\nto reply, either through humility or thereby confessing thine ignorance,\nand impotence, and want of comprehension, then will I allow thee, of\nmine own free will, to place me before thine employer. Perhaps I should\nnot say so; it may sound like bribing thee, but--take my counsel, and\nmortify thy pride, and assumption, and arrogance, and haughtiness, as\nsoon as possible. So shalt thou derive from me a benefit which none but\nmyself can bestow.\u201d\n\nRaja Vikram hearing these rough words, so strange to his royal ear,\nwinced; then he rejoiced that his heir apparent was not near; then\nhe looked round at his son Dharma Dhwaj, to see if he was impertinent\nenough to be amused by the Baital. But the first glance showed him the\nyoung prince busily employed in pinching and screwing the monster\u2019s\nlegs, so as to make it fit better into the cloth. Vikram then seized\nthe ends of the waistcloth, twisted them into a convenient form for\nhandling, stooped, raised the bundle with a jerk, tossed it over his\nshoulder, and bidding his son not to lag behind, set off at a round pace\ntowards the western end of the cemetery.\n\nThe shower had ceased, and, as they gained ground, the weather greatly\nimproved.\n\nThe Vampire asked a few indifferent questions about the wind and\nthe rain and the mud. When he received no answer, he began to feel\nuncomfortable, and he broke out with these words: \u201cO King Vikram, listen\nto the true story which I am about to tell thee.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nVIKRAM AND THE VAMPIRE\n\n\n\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S FIRST STORY -- In which a man deceives a woman.\n\nIn Benares once reigned a mighty prince, by name Pratapamukut, to whose\neighth son Vajramukut happened the strangest adventure.\n\nOne morning, the young man, accompanied by the son of his father\u2019s\npradhan or prime minister, rode out hunting, and went far into the\njungle. At last the twain unexpectedly came upon a beautiful \u201ctank [47]\u201d\n of a prodigious size. It was surrounded by short thick walls of fine\nbaked brick; and flights and ramps of cut-stone steps, half the length\nof each face, and adorned with turrets, pendants, and finials, led down\nto the water. The substantial plaster work and the masonry had fallen\ninto disrepair, and from the crevices sprang huge trees, under whose\nthick shade the breeze blew freshly, and on whose balmy branches the\nbirds sang sweetly; the grey squirrels [48] chirruped joyously as they\ncoursed one another up the gnarled trunks, and from the pendent llianas\nthe longtailed monkeys were swinging sportively. The bountiful hand of\nSravana [49] had spread the earthen rampart with a carpet of the softest\ngrass and many-hued wild flowers, in which were buzzing swarms of bees\nand myriads of bright winged insects; and flocks of water fowl, wild\ngeese, Brahmini ducks, bitterns, herons, and cranes, male and female,\nwere feeding on the narrow strip of brilliant green that belted the long\ndeep pool, amongst the broad-leaved lotuses with the lovely blossoms,\nsplashing through the pellucid waves, and basking happily in the genial\nsun.\n\nThe prince and his friend wondered when they saw the beautiful tank in\nthe midst of a wild forest, and made many vain conjectures about it.\nThey dismounted, tethered their horses, and threw their weapons upon the\nground; then, having washed their hands and faces, they entered a shrine\ndedicated to Mahadeva, and there began to worship the presiding deity.\n\nWhilst they were making their offerings, a bevy of maidens, accompanied\nby a crowd of female slaves, descended the opposite flight of steps.\nThey stood there for a time, talking and laughing and looking about them\nto see if any alligators infested the waters. When convinced that the\ntank was safe, they disrobed themselves in order to bathe. It was truly\na splendid spectacle.\n\n\u201cConcerning which the less said the better,\u201d interrupted Raja Vikram in\nan offended tone.[50]\n\n--but did not last long. The Raja\u2019s daughter--for the principal maiden\nwas a princess--soon left her companions, who were scooping up water\nwith their palms and dashing it over one another\u2019s heads, and proceeded\nto perform the rites of purification, meditation, and worship. Then she\nbegan strolling with a friend under the shade of a small mango grove.\n\nThe prince also left his companion sitting in prayer, and walked forth\ninto the forest. Suddenly the eyes of the Raja\u2019s son and the Raja\u2019s\ndaughter met. She started back with a little scream. He was fascinated\nby her beauty, and began to say to himself, \u201cO thou vile Karma,[51] why\nworriest thou me?\u201d\n\nHearing this, the maiden smiled encouragement, but the poor youth,\nbetween palpitation of the heart and hesitation about what to say, was\nso confused that his tongue crave to his teeth. She raised her eyebrows\na little. There is nothing which women despise in a man more than\nmodesty, [52] for mo-des-ty--\n\nA violent shaking of the bag which hung behind Vikram\u2019s royal back broke\noff the end of this offensive sentence. And the warrior king did not\ncease that discipline till the Baital promised him to preserve more\ndecorum in his observations.\n\nStill the prince stood before her with downcast eyes and suffused\ncheeks: even the spur of contempt failed to arouse his energies. Then\nthe maiden called to her friend, who was picking jasmine flowers so as\nnot to witness the scene, and angrily asked why that strange man was\nallowed to stand and stare at her? The friend, in hot wrath, threatened\nto call the slave, and throw Vajramukut into the pond unless he\ninstantly went away with his impudence. But as the prince was rooted to\nthe spot, and really had not heard a word of what had been said to him,\nthe two women were obliged to make the first move.\n\nAs they almost reached the tank, the beautiful maiden turned her head to\nsee what the poor modest youth was doing.\n\nVajramukut was formed in every way to catch a woman\u2019s eye. The Raja\u2019s\ndaughter therefore half forgave him his offence of mod----. Again she\nsweetly smiled, disclosing two rows of little opals. Then descending\nto the water\u2019s edge, she stooped down and plucked a lotus. This she\nworshipped; next she placed it in her hair, then she put it in her ear,\nthen she bit it with her teeth, then she trod upon it with her foot,\nthen she raised it up again, and lastly she stuck it in her bosom. After\nwhich she mounted her conveyance and went home to her friends; whilst\nthe prince, having become thoroughly desponding and drowned in grief at\nseparation from her, returned to the minister\u2019s son.\n\n\u201cFemales!\u201d ejaculated the minister\u2019s son, speaking to himself in a\ncareless tone, when, his prayer finished, he left the temple, and sat\ndown upon the tank steps to enjoy the breeze. He presently drew a roll\nof paper from under his waist-belt, and in a short time was engrossed\nwith his study. The women seeing this conduct, exerted themselves in\nevery possible way of wile to attract his attention and to distract his\nsoul. They succeeded only so far as to make him roll his head with a\nsmile, and to remember that such is always the custom of man\u2019s bane;\nafter which he turned over a fresh page of manuscript. And although he\npresently began to wonder what had become of the prince his master, he\ndid not look up even once from his study.\n\nHe was a philosopher, that young man. But after all, Raja Vikram, what\nis mortal philosophy? Nothing but another name for indifference! Who was\never philosophical about a thing truly loved or really hated?--no one!\nPhilosophy, says Shankharacharya, is either a gift of nature or the\nreward of study. But I, the Baital, the devil, ask you, what is a born\nphilosopher, save a man of cold desires? And what is a bred philosopher\nbut a man who has survived his desires? A young philosopher?--a\ncold-blooded youth! An elderly philosopher?--a leuco-phlegmatic old\nman! Much nonsense, of a verity, ye hear in praise of nothing from your\nRajaship\u2019s Nine Gems of Science, and from sundry other such wise fools.\n\nThen the prince began to relate the state of his case, saying, \u201cO\nfriend, I have seen a damsel, but whether she be a musician from Indra\u2019s\nheaven, a maiden of the sea, a daughter of the serpent kings, or the\nchild of an earthly Raja, I cannot say.\u201d\n\n\u201cDescribe her,\u201d said the statesman in embryo.\n\n\u201cHer face,\u201d quoth the prince, \u201cwas that of the full moon, her hair like\na swarm of bees hanging from the blossoms of the acacia, the corners of\nher eyes touched her ears, her lips were sweet with lunar ambrosia, her\nwaist was that of a lion, and her walk the walk of a king goose. [53]\nAs a garment, she was white; as a season, the spring; as a flower, the\njasmine; as a speaker, the kokila bird; as a perfume, musk; as a\nbeauty, Kamadeva; and as a being, Love. And if she does not come into my\npossession I will not live; this I have certainly determined upon.\u201d\n\nThe young minister, who had heard his prince say the same thing more\nthan once before, did not attach great importance to these awful words.\nHe merely remarked that, unless they mounted at once, night would\nsurprise them in the forest. Then the two young men returned to their\nhorses, untethered them, drew on their bridles, saddled them, and\ncatching up their weapons, rode slowly towards the Raja\u2019s palace.\nDuring the three hours of return hardly a word passed between the\npair. Vajramukut not only avoided speaking; he never once replied till\naddressed thrice in the loudest voice.\n\nThe young minister put no more questions, \u201cfor,\u201d quoth he to himself,\n\u201cwhen the prince wants my counsel, he will apply for it.\u201d In this point\nhe had borrowed wisdom from his father, who held in peculiar horror the\ngiving of unasked-for advice. So, when he saw that conversation was\nirksome to his master, he held his peace and meditated upon what he\ncalled his \u201cday-thought.\u201d It was his practice to choose every morning\nsome tough food for reflection, and to chew the cud of it in his mind\nat times when, without such employment, his wits would have gone\nwool-gathering. You may imagine, Raja Vikram, that with a few years of\nthis head work, the minister\u2019s son became a very crafty young person.\n\nAfter the second day the Prince Vajramukut, being restless from grief\nat separation, fretted himself into a fever. Having given up writing,\nreading, drinking, sleeping, the affairs entrusted to him by his father,\nand everything else, he sat down, as he said, to die. He used constantly\nto paint the portrait of the beautiful lotus gatherer, and to lie gazing\nupon it with tearful eyes; then he would start up and tear it to pieces\nand beat his forehead, and begin another picture of a yet more beautiful\nface.\n\nAt last, as the pradhan\u2019s son had foreseen, he was summoned by the\nyoung Raja, whom he found upon his bed, looking yellow and complaining\nbitterly of headache. Frequent discussions upon the subject of the\ntender passion had passed between the two youths, and one of them had\never spoken of it so very disrespectfully that the other felt ashamed\nto introduce it. But when his friend, with a view to provoke\ncommunicativeness, advised a course of boiled and bitter herbs and\ngreat attention to diet, quoting the hemistich attributed to the learned\nphysician Charndatta,\n\n      A fever starve, but feed a cold,\n\nthe unhappy Vajramukut\u2019s fortitude abandoned him; he burst into tears,\nand exclaimed, \u201cWhosoever enters upon the path of love cannot survive\nit; and if (by chance) he should live, what is life to him but a\nprolongation of his misery?\u201d\n\n\u201cYea,\u201d replied the minister\u2019s son, \u201cthe sage hath said--\n\n\u201cThe road of love is that which hath no beginning nor end; Take thou heed\nof thyself, man I ere thou place foot upon it.\n\n\u201cAnd the wise, knowing that there are three things whose effect upon\nhimself no man can foretell--namely, desire of woman, the dice-box, and\nthe drinking of ardent spirits--find total abstinence from them the best\nof rules. Yet, after all, if there is no cow, we must milk the bull.\u201d\n\nThe advice was, of course, excellent, but the hapless lover could not\nhelp thinking that on this occasion it came a little too late. However,\nafter a pause he returned to the subject and said, \u201cI have ventured\nto tread that dangerous way, be its end pain or pleasure, happiness or\ndestruction.\u201d He then hung down his head and sighed from the bottom of\nhis heart.\n\n\u201cShe is the person who appeared to us at the tank?\u201d asked the pradhan\u2019s\nson, moved to compassion by the state of his master.\n\nThe prince assented.\n\n\u201cO great king,\u201d resumed the minister\u2019s son, \u201cat the time of going away\nhad she said anything to you? or had you said anything to her?\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing!\u201d replied the other laconically, when he found his friend\nbeginning to take an interest in the affair.\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said the minister\u2019s son, \u201cit will be exceedingly difficult to\nget possession of her.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d repeated the Raja\u2019s son, \u201cI am doomed to death; to an early and\nmelancholy death!\u201d\n\n\u201cHumph!\u201d ejaculated the young statesman rather impatiently, \u201cdid she\nmake any sign, or give any hint? Let me know all that happened: half\nconfidences are worse than none.\u201d\n\nUpon which the prince related everything that took place by the side\nof the tank, bewailing the false shame which had made him dumb, and\nconcluding with her pantomime.\n\nThe pradhan\u2019s son took thought for a while. He thereupon seized the\nopportunity of representing to his master all the evil effects of\nbashfulness when women are concerned, and advised him, as he would be a\nhappy lover, to brazen his countenance for the next interview.\n\nWhich the young Raja faithfully promised to do.\n\n\u201cAnd, now,\u201d said the other, \u201cbe comforted, O my master! I know her name\nand her dwelling-place. When she suddenly plucked the lotus flower and\nworshipped it, she thanked the gods for having blessed her with a sight\nof your beauty.\u201d\n\nVajramukut smiled, the first time for the last month.\n\n\u201cWhen she applied it to her ear, it was as if she would have explained\nto thee, \u2018I am a daughter of the Carnatic: [54] and when she bit it with\nher teeth, she meant to say that \u2018My father is Raja Dantawat, [55]\u2019 who,\nby-the-bye, has been, is, and ever will be, a mortal foe to thy father.\u201d\n\nVajramukut shuddered.\n\n\u201cWhen she put it under her foot it meant, \u2018My name is Padmavati. [56]\u2019\u201d\n\nVajramukut uttered a cry of joy.\n\n\u201cAnd when she placed it in her bosom, \u2018You are truly dwelling in my\nheart\u2019 was meant to be understood.\u201d\n\nAt these words the young Raja started up full of new life, and after\npraising with enthusiasm the wondrous sagacity of his dear friend,\nbegged him by some contrivance to obtain the permission of his parents,\nand to conduct him to her city. The minister\u2019s son easily got leave for\nVajramukut to travel, under pretext that his body required change\nof water, and his mind change of scene. They both dressed and armed\nthemselves for the journey, and having taken some jewels, mounted their\nhorses and followed the road in that direction in which the princess had\ngone.\n\nArrived after some days at the capital of the Carnatic, the minister\u2019s\nson having disguised his master and himself in the garb of travelling\ntraders, alighted and pitched his little tent upon a clear bit of ground\nin one of the suburbs. He then proceeded to inquire for a wise woman,\nwanting, he said, to have his fortune told. When the prince asked\nhim what this meant, he replied that elderly dames who professionally\npredict the future are never above ministering to the present, and\ntherefore that, in such circumstances, they are the properest persons to\nbe consulted.\n\n\u201cIs this a treatise upon the subject of immorality, devil?\u201d demanded the\nKing Vikram ferociously. The Baital declared that it was not, but that\nhe must tell his story.\n\nThe person addressed pointed to an old woman who, seated before the door\nof her hut, was spinning at her wheel. Then the young men went up to her\nwith polite salutations and said, \u201cMother, we are travelling traders,\nand our stock is coming after us; we have come on in advance for the\npurpose of finding a place to live in. If you will give us a house, we\nwill remain there and pay you highly.\u201d\n\nThe old woman, who was a physiognomist as well as a fortune-teller,\nlooked at the faces of the young men and liked them, because their brows\nwere wide, and their mouths denoted generosity. Having listened to their\nwords, she took pity upon them and said kindly, \u201cThis hovel is yours, my\nmasters, remain here as long as you please.\u201d Then she led them into an\ninner room, again welcomed them, lamented the poorness of her abode, and\nbegged them to lie down and rest themselves.\n\nAfter some interval of time the old woman came to them once more, and\nsitting down began to gossip. The minister\u2019s son upon this asked her,\n\u201cHow is it with thy family, thy relatives, and connections; and what are\nthy means of subsistence?\u201d She replied, \u201cMy son is a favourite servant\nin the household of our great king Dantawat, and your slave is the\nwet-nurse of the Princess Padmavati, his eldest child. From the coming\non of old age,\u201d she added, \u201cI dwell in this house, but the king provides\nfor my eating and drinking. I go once a day to see the girl, who is a\nmiracle of beauty and goodness, wit and accomplishments, and returning\nthence, I bear my own griefs at home. [57]\u201d\n\nIn a few days the young Vajramukut had, by his liberality, soft speech,\nand good looks, made such progress in nurse Lakshmi\u2019s affections that,\nby the advice of his companion, he ventured to broach the subject ever\nnearest his heart. He begged his hostess, when she went on the morrow\nto visit the charming Padmavati, that she would be kind enough to slip a\nbit of paper into the princess\u2019s hand.\n\n\u201cSon,\u201d she replied, delighted with the proposal--and what old woman\nwould not be?--\u201cthere is no need for putting off so urgent an affair\ntill the morrow. Get your paper ready, and I will immediately give it.\u201d\n\nTrembling with pleasure, the prince ran to find his friend, who was\nseated in the garden reading, as usual, and told him what the old nurse\nhad engaged to do. He then began to debate about how he should write\nhis letter, to cull sentences and to weigh phrases; whether \u201clight of my\neyes\u201d was not too trite, and \u201cblood of my liver\u201d rather too forcible. At\nthis the minister\u2019s son smiled, and bade the prince not trouble his head\nwith composition. He then drew his inkstand from his waist shawl, nibbed\na reed pen, and choosing a piece of pink and flowered paper, he wrote\nupon it a few lines. He then folded it, gummed it, sketched a lotus\nflower upon the outside, and handing it to the young prince, told him to\ngive it to their hostess, and that all would be well.\n\nThe old woman took her staff in her hand and hobbled straight to the\npalace. Arrived there, she found the Raja\u2019s daughter sitting alone in\nher apartment. The maiden, seeing her nurse, immediately arose,\nand making a respectful bow, led her to a seat and began the most\naffectionate inquiries. After giving her blessing and sitting for\nsome time and chatting about indifferent matters, the nurse said,\n\u201cO daughter! in infancy I reared and nourished thee, now the Bhagwan\n(Deity) has rewarded me by giving thee stature, beauty, health, and\ngoodness. My heart only longs to see the happiness of thy womanhood,\n[58] after which I shall depart in peace. I implore thee read this\npaper, given to me by the handsomest and the properest young man that my\neyes have ever seen.\u201d\n\nThe princess, glancing at the lotus on the outside of the note, slowly\nunfolded it and perused its contents, which were as follows:\n\n                     1.\n\n                 She was to me the pearl that clings\n                      To sands all hid from mortal sight\n                 Yet fit for diadems of kings,\n                      The pure and lovely light.\n\n                     2.\n\n                 She was to me the gleam of sun\n                      That breaks the gloom of wintry day\n                 One moment shone my soul upon,\n                      Then passed--how soon!--away.\n\n                     3.\n\n                 She was to me the dreams of bliss\n                      That float the dying eyes before,\n                 For one short hour shed happiness,\n                      And fly to bless no more.\n\n                     4.\n\n                 O light, again upon me shine;\n                      O pearl, again delight my eyes;\n                 O dreams of bliss, again be mine!--\n                      No! earth may not be Paradise.\n\nI must not forget to remark, parenthetically, that the minister\u2019s son,\nin order to make these lines generally useful, had provided them with a\nlast stanza in triplicate. \u201cFor lovers,\u201d he said sagely, \u201care either in\nthe optative mood, the desperative, or the exultative.\u201d This time he had\nused the optative. For the desperative he would substitute:\n\n                     4.\n\n                 The joys of life lie dead, lie dead,\n                      The light of day is quenched in gloom\n                 The spark of hope my heart hath fled\n                      What now witholds me from the tomb\n\n\nAnd this was the termination exultative, as he called it:\n\n                     4.\n\n                 O joy I the pearl is mine again,\n                      Once more the day is bright and clear\n                 And now \u2018tis real, then \u2018twas vain,\n                      My dream of bliss--O heaven is here!\n\n\nThe Princess Padmavati having perused this doggrel with a contemptuous\nlook, tore off the first word of the last line, and said to the nurse,\nangrily, \u201cGet thee gone, O mother of Yama, [59] O unfortunate creature,\nand take back this answer\u201d--giving her the scrap of paper--\u201cto the fool\nwho writes such bad verses. I wonder where he studied the humanities.\nBegone, and never do such an action again!\u201d\n\nThe old nurse, distressed at being so treated, rose up and returned\nhome. Vajramukut was too agitated to await her arrival, so he went to\nmeet her on the way. Imagine his disappointment when she gave him the\nfatal word and repeated to him exactly what happened, not forgetting\nto describe a single look! He felt tempted to plunge his sword into his\nbosom; but Fortune interfered, and sent him to consult his confidant.\n\n\u201cBe not so hasty and desperate, my prince,\u201d said the pradhan\u2019s son,\nseeing his wild grief; \u201cyou have not understood her meaning. Later in\nlife you will be aware of the fact that, in nine cases out of ten, a\nwoman\u2019s \u2018no\u2019 is a distinct \u2018yes.\u2019 This morning\u2019s work has been good; the\nmaiden asked where you learnt the humanities, which being interpreted\nsignifies \u2018Who are you?\u201d\u2019\n\nOn the next day the prince disclosed his rank to old Lakshmi, who\nnaturally declared that she had always known it. The trust they reposed\nin her made her ready to address Padmavati once more on the forbidden\nsubject. So she again went to the palace, and having lovingly greeted\nher nursling, said to her, \u201cThe Raja\u2019s son, whose heart thou didst\nfascinate on the brim of the tank, on the fifth day of the moon, in\nthe light half of the month Yeth, has come to my house, and sends this\nmessage to thee: \u2018Perform what you promised;\u2019 we have now come; and\nI also tell thee that this prince is worthy of thee: just as thou art\nbeautiful, so is he endowed with all good qualities of mind and body.\u201d\n\nWhen Padmavati heard this speech she showed great anger, and, rubbing\nsandal on her beautiful hands, she slapped the old woman\u2019s cheeks, and\ncried, \u201cWretch, Daina (witch)! get out of my house; did I not forbid\nthee to talk such folly in my presence?\u201d\n\nThe lover and the nurse were equally distressed at having taken the\nadvice of the young minister, till he explained what the crafty damsel\nmeant. \u201cWhen she smeared the sandal on her ten fingers,\u201d he explained,\n\u201cand struck the old woman on the face, she signified that when the\nremaining ten moonlight nights shall have passed away she will meet\nyou in the dark.\u201d At the same time he warned his master that to all\nappearances the lady Padmavati was far too clever to make a comfortable\nwife. The minister\u2019s son especially hated talented, intellectual, and\nstrong-minded women; he had been heard to describe the torments of\nNaglok [60] as the compulsory companionship of a polemical divine and a\nlearned authoress, well stricken in years and of forbidding aspect, as\nsuch persons mostly are. Amongst womankind he admired--theoretically,\nas became a philosopher--the small, plump, laughing, chattering,\nunintellectual, and material-minded. And therefore--excuse the\ndigression, Raja Vikram--he married an old maid, tall, thin, yellow,\nstrictly proper, cold-mannered, a conversationist, and who prided\nherself upon spirituality. But more wonderful still, after he did marry\nher, he actually loved her--what an incomprehensible being is man in\nthese matters!\n\nTo return, however. The pradhan\u2019s son, who detected certain symptoms of\nstrong-mindedness in the Princess Padmavati, advised his lord to be wise\nwhilst wisdom availed him. This sage counsel was, as might be guessed,\nmost ungraciously rejected by him for whose benefit it was intended.\nThen the sensible young statesman rated himself soundly for having\nbroken his father\u2019s rule touching advice, and atoned for it by blindly\nforwarding the views of his master.\n\nAfter the ten nights of moonlight had passed, the old nurse was again\nsent to the palace with the usual message. This time Padmavati put\nsaffron on three of her fingers, and again left their marks on the\nnurse\u2019s cheek. The minister\u2019s son explained that this was to crave delay\nfor three days, and that on the fourth the lover would have access to\nher.\n\nWhen the time had passed the old woman again went and inquired after her\nhealth and well-being. The princess was as usual very wroth, and having\npersonally taken her nurse to the western gate, she called her \u201cMother\nof the elephant\u2019s trunk, [61]\u201d and drove her out with threats of\nthe bastinado if she ever came back. This was reported to the young\nstatesman, who, after a few minutes\u2019 consideration, said, \u201cThe\nexplanation of this matter is, that she has invited you to-morrow, at\nnighttime, to meet her at this very gate.\n\n\u201cWhen brown shadows fell upon the face of earth, and here and there a\nstar spangled the pale heavens, the minister\u2019s son called Vajramukut,\nwho had been engaged in adorning himself at least half that day. He\nhad carefully shaved his cheeks and chin; his mustachio was trimmed and\ncurled; he had arched his eyebrows by plucking out with tweezers\nthe fine hairs around them; he had trained his curly musk-coloured\nlove-locks to hang gracefully down his face; he had drawn broad lines of\nantimony along his eyelids, a most brilliant sectarian mark was affixed\nto his forehead, the colour of his lips had been heightened by chewing\nbetel-nut--\n\n\u201cOne would imagine that you are talking of a silly girl, not of a\nprince, fiend!\u201d interrupted Vikram, who did not wish his son to hear\nwhat he called these fopperies and frivolities.\n\n--and whitened his neck by having it shaved (continued the Baital,\nspeaking quickly, as if determined not to be interrupted), and reddened\nthe tips of his ears by squeezing them, and made his teeth shine by\nrubbing copper powder into the roots, and set off the delicacy of his\nfingers by staining the tips with henna. He had not been less careful\nwith his dress: he wore a well-arranged turband, which had taken him at\nleast two hours to bind, and a rich suit of brown stuff chosen for the\nadventure he was about to attempt, and he hung about his person a number\nof various weapons, so as to appear a hero--which young damsels admire.\n\nVajramukut asked his friend how he looked, and smiled happily when the\nother replied \u201cAdmirable!\u201d His happiness was so great that he feared\nit might not last, and he asked the minister\u2019s son how best to conduct\nhimself?\n\n\u201cAs a conqueror, my prince!\u201d answered that astute young man, \u201cif it so\nbe that you would be one. When you wish to win a woman, always impose\nupon her. Tell her that you are her master, and she will forthwith\nbelieve herself to be your servant. Inform her that she loves you, and\nforthwith she will adore you. Show her that you care nothing for her,\nand she will think of nothing but you. Prove to her by your demeanour\nthat you consider her a slave, and she will become your pariah. But\nabove all things--excuse me if I repeat myself too often--beware of the\nfatal virtue which men call modesty and women sheepishness. Recollect\nthe trouble it has given us, and the danger which we have incurred:\nall this might have been managed at a tank within fifteen miles of your\nroyal father\u2019s palace. And allow me to say that you may still thank your\nstars: in love a lost opportunity is seldom if ever recovered. The time\nto woo a woman is the moment you meet her, before she has had time to\nthink; allow her the use of reflection and she may escape the net. And\nafter avoiding the rock of Modesty, fall not, I conjure you, into the\ngulf of Security. I fear the lady Padmavati, she is too clever and too\nprudent. When damsels of her age draw the sword of Love, they throw away\nthe scabbard of Precaution. But you yawn--I weary you--it is time for us\nto move.\u201d\n\nTwo watches of the night had passed, and there was profound stillness on\nearth. The young men then walked quietly through the shadows, till they\nreached the western gate of the palace, and found the wicket ajar. The\nminister\u2019s son peeped in and saw the porter dozing, stately as a Brahman\ndeep in the Vedas, and behind him stood a veiled woman seemingly waiting\nfor somebody. He then returned on tiptoe to the place where he had left\nhis master, and with a parting caution against modesty and security,\nbade him fearlessly glide through the wicket. Then having stayed a short\ntime at the gate listening with anxious ear, he went back to the old\nwoman\u2019s house.\n\nVajramukut penetrating to the staircase, felt his hand grasped by the\nveiled figure, who motioning him to tread lightly, led him quickly\nforwards. They passed under several arches, through dim passages and\ndark doorways, till at last running up a flight of stone steps they\nreached the apartments of the princess.\n\nVajramukut was nearly fainting as the flood of splendour broke upon him.\nRecovering himself he gazed around the rooms, and presently a tumult of\ndelight invaded his soul, and his body bristled with joy. [62] The scene\nwas that of fairyland. Golden censers exhaled the most costly perfumes,\nand gemmed vases bore the most beautiful flowers; silver lamps\ncontaining fragrant oil illuminated doors whose panels were wonderfully\ndecorated, and walls adorned with pictures in which such figures were\nformed that on seeing them the beholder was enchanted. On one side of\nthe room stood a bed of flowers and a couch covered with brocade of\ngold, and strewed with freshly-culled jasmine flowers. On the other\nside, arranged in proper order, were attar holders, betel-boxes,\nrose-water bottles, trays, and silver cases with four partitions for\nessences compounded of rose leaves, sugar, and spices, prepared sandal\nwood, saffron, and pods of musk. Scattered about a stuccoed floor white\nas crystal, were coloured caddies of exquisite confections, and in\nothers sweetmeats of various kinds.[63] Female attendants clothed in\ndresses of various colours were standing each according to her rank,\nwith hands respectfully joined. Some were reading plays and beautiful\npoems, others danced and others performed with glittering fingers and\nflashing arms on various instruments--the ivory lute, the ebony pipe\nand the silver kettledrum. In short, all the means and appliances of\npleasure and enjoyment were there; and any description of the appearance\nof the apartments, which were the wonder of the age, is impossible.\n\nThen another veiled figure, the beautiful Princess Padmavati, came up\nand disclosed herself, and dazzled the eyes of her delighted Vajramukut.\nShe led him into an alcove, made him sit down, rubbed sandal powder upon\nhis body, hung a garland of jasmine flowers round his neck, sprinkled\nrose-water over his dress, and began to wave over his head a fan of\npeacock feathers with a golden handle.\n\nSaid the prince, who despite all efforts could not entirely shake off\nhis unhappy habit of being modest, \u201cThose very delicate hands of yours\nare not fit to ply the pankha.[64] Why do you take so much trouble? I\nam cool and refreshed by the sight of you. Do give the fan to me and sit\ndown.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, great king!\u201d replied Padmavati, with the most fascinating of\nsmiles, \u201cyou have taken so much trouble for my sake in coming here, it\nis right that I perform service for you.\u201d\n\nUpon which her favourite slave, taking the pankha from the hand of the\nprincess, exclaimed, \u201cThis is my duty. I will perform the service; do\nyou two enjoy yourselves!\u201d\n\nThe lovers then began to chew betel, which, by the bye, they disposed of\nin little agate boxes which they drew from their pockets, and they were\nsoon engaged in the tenderest conversation.\n\nHere the Baital paused for a while, probably to take breath. Then he\nresumed his tale as follows:\n\nIn the meantime, it became dawn; the princess concealed him; and when\nnight returned they again engaged in the same innocent pleasures.\nThus day after day sped rapidly by. Imagine, if you can, the youth\u2019s\nfelicity; he was of an ardent temperament, deeply enamoured, barely\na score of years old, and he had been strictly brought up by serious\nparents. He therefore resigned himself entirely to the siren for whom he\nwillingly forgot the world, and he wondered at his good fortune, which\nhad thrown in his way a conquest richer than all the mines of Meru.[65]\nHe could not sufficiently admire his Padmavati\u2019s grace, beauty, bright\nwit, and numberless accomplishments. Every morning, for vanity\u2019s sake,\nhe learned from her a little useless knowledge in verse as well as\nprose, for instance, the saying of the poet--\n\n     Enjoy the present hour, \u2018tis thine; be this, O man, thy law;\n     Who e\u2019er resew the yester? Who the morrow e\u2019er foresaw?\n\nAnd this highly philosophical axiom--\n\n     Eat, drink, and love--the rest\u2019s not worth a fillip.\n\n\u201cBy means of which he hoped, Raja Vikram!\u201d said the demon, not heeding\nhis royal carrier\u2019s \u201cughs\u201d and \u201cpoohs,\u201d \u201cto become in course of time\nalmost as clever as his mistress.\u201d\n\nPadmavati, being, as you have seen, a maiden of superior mind, was\nnaturally more smitten by her lover\u2019s dulness than by any other of his\nqualities; she adored it, it was such a contrast to herself.[66] At\nfirst she did what many clever women do--she invested him with the\nbrightness of her own imagination. Still water, she pondered, runs deep;\ncertainly under this disguise must lurk a brilliant fancy, a penetrating\nbut a mature and ready judgment--are they not written by nature\u2019s hand\non that broad high brow? With such lovely mustachios can he be aught but\ngenerous, noble-minded, magnanimous? Can such eyes belong to any but a\nhero? And she fed the delusion. She would smile upon him with intense\nfondness, when, after wasting hours over a few lines of poetry, he\nwould misplace all the adjectives and barbarously entreat the metre.\nShe laughed with gratification, when, excited by the bright sayings that\nfell from her lips, the youth put forth some platitude, dim as the lamp\nin the expiring fire-fly. When he slipped in grammar she saw malice\nunder it, when he retailed a borrowed jest she called it a good one, and\nwhen he used--as princes sometimes will--bad language, she discovered in\nit a charming simplicity.\n\nAt first she suspected that the stratagems which had won her heart were\nthe results of a deep-laid plot proceeding from her lover. But clever\nwomen are apt to be rarely sharp-sighted in every matter which concerns\nthemselves. She frequently determined that a third was in the secret.\nShe therefore made no allusion to it. Before long the enamoured\nVajramukut had told her everything, beginning with the diatribe against\nlove pronounced by the minister\u2019s son, and ending with the solemn\nwarning that she, the pretty princess, would some day or other play her\nhusband a foul trick.\n\n\u201cIf I do not revenge myself upon him,\u201d thought the beautiful Padmavati,\nsmiling like an angel as she listened to the youth\u2019s confidence, \u201cmay I\nbecome a gardener\u2019s ass in the next birth!\u201d\n\nHaving thus registered a vow, she broke silence, and praised to the\nskies the young pradhan\u2019s wisdom and sagacity; professed herself ready\nfrom gratitude to become his slave, and only hoped that one day or\nother she might meet that true friend by whose skill her soul had been\ngratified in its dearest desire. \u201cOnly,\u201d she concluded, \u201cI am convinced\nthat now my Vajramukut knows every corner of his little Padmavati\u2019s\nheart, he will never expect her to do anything but love, admire, adore\nand kiss him!\u201d Then suiting the action to the word, she convinced him\nthat the young minister had for once been too crabbed and cynic in his\nphilosophy.\n\nBut after the lapse of a month Vajramukut, who had eaten and drunk and\nslept a great deal too much, and who had not once hunted, became bilious\nin body and in mind melancholic. His face turned yellow, and so did\nthe whites of his eyes; he yawned, as liver patients generally do,\ncomplained occasionally of sick headaches, and lost his appetite:\nhe became restless and anxious, and once when alone at night he thus\nthought aloud: \u201cI have given up country, throne, home, and everything\nelse, but the friend by means of whom this happiness was obtained I\nhave not seen for the long length of thirty days. What will he say to\nhimself, and how can I know what has happened to him?\u201d\n\nIn this state of things he was sitting, and in the meantime the\nbeautiful princess arrived. She saw through the matter, and lost not a\nmoment in entering upon it. She began by expressing her astonishment at\nher lover\u2019s fickleness and fondness for change, and when he was ready\nto wax wroth, and quoted the words of the sage, \u201cA barren wife may be\nsuperseded by another in the eighth year; she whose children all die, in\nthe tenth; she who brings forth only daughters, in the eleventh; she\nwho scolds, without delay,\u201d thinking that she alluded to his love, she\nsmoothed his temper by explaining that she referred to his forgetting\nhis friend. \u201cHow is it possible, O my soul,\u201d she asked with the softest\nof voices, that thou canst happiness here whilst thy heart is wandering\nthere? Why didst thou conceal this from me, O astute one? Was it for\nfear of distressing me? Think better of thy wife than to suppose that\nshe would ever separate thee from one to whom we both owe so much!\n\nAfter this Padmavati advised, nay ordered, her lover to go forth that\nnight, and not to return till his mind was quite at ease, and she begged\nhim to take a few sweetmeats and other trifles as a little token of her\nadmiration and regard for the clever young man of whom she had heard so\nmuch.\n\nVajramukut embraced her with a transport of gratitude, which so inflamed\nher anger, that fearing lest the cloak of concealment might fall from\nher countenance, she went away hurriedly to find the greatest delicacies\nwhich her comfit boxes contained. Presently she returned, carrying a bag\nof sweetmeats of every kind for her lover, and as he rose up to depart,\nshe put into his hand a little parcel of sugar-plums especially intended\nfor the friend; they were made up with her own delicate fingers, and\nthey would please, she flattered herself, even his discriminating\npalate.\n\nThe young prince, after enduring a number of farewell embraces and\nhopings for a speedy return, and last words ever beginning again,\npassed safely through the palace gate, and with a relieved aspect walked\nbriskly to the house of the old nurse. Although it was midnight his\nfriend was still sitting on his mat.\n\nThe two young men fell upon one another\u2019s bosoms and embraced\naffectionately. They then began to talk of matters nearest their hearts.\nThe Raja\u2019s son wondered at seeing the jaded and haggard looks of his\ncompanion, who did not disguise that they were caused by his anxiety as\nto what might have happened to his friend at the hand of so talented and\nso superior a princess. Upon which Vajramukut, who now thought Padmavati\nan angel, and his late abode a heaven, remarked with formality--and two\nblunders to one quotation--that abilities properly directed win for a\nman the happiness of both worlds.\n\nThe pradhan\u2019s son rolled his head.\n\n\u201cAgain on your hobby-horse, nagging at talent whenever you find it in\nothers!\u201d cried the young prince with a pun, which would have delighted\nPadmavati. \u201cSurely you are jealous of her!\u201d he resumed, anything but\npleased with the dead silence that had received his joke; \u201cjealous of\nher cleverness, and of her love for me. She is the very best creature\nin the world. Even you, woman-hater as you are, would own it if you only\nknew all the kind messages she sent, and the little pleasant surprise\nthat she has prepared for you. There! take and eat; they are made by her\nown dear hands!\u201d cried the young Raja, producing the sweetmeats. \u201cAs she\nherself taught me to say--\n\n         Thank God I am a man,\n     Not a philosopher!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe kind messages she sent me! The pleasant surprise she has prepared\nfor me!\u201d repeated the minister\u2019s son in a hard, dry tone. \u201cMy lord will\nbe pleased to tell me how she heard of my name?\u201d\n\n\u201cI was sitting one night,\u201d replied the prince, \u201cin anxious thought about\nyou, when at that moment the princess coming in and seeing my condition,\nasked, \u2018Why are you thus sad? Explain the cause to me.\u2019 I then gave\nher an account of your cleverness, and when she heard it she gave me\npermission to go and see you, and sent these sweetmeats for you: eat\nthem and I shall be pleased.\u201d\n\n\u201cGreat king!\u201d rejoined the young statesman, \u201cone thing vouchsafe to\nhear from me. You have not done well in that you have told my name.\nYou should never let a woman think that your left hand knows the secret\nwhich she confided to your right, much less that you have shared it to\na third person. Secondly, you did evil in allowing her to see the\naffection with which you honour your unworthy servant--a woman ever\nhates her lover\u2019s or husband\u2019s friend.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat could I do?\u201d rejoined the young Raja, in a querulous tone of\nvoice. \u201cWhen I love a woman I like to tell her everything--to have no\nsecrets from her--to consider her another self----\u201d\n\n\u201cWhich habit,\u201d interrupted the pradhan\u2019s son, \u201cyou will lose when you\nare a little older, when you recognize the fact that love is nothing but\na bout, a game of skill between two individuals of opposite sexes: the\none seeking to gain as much, and the other striving to lose as little as\npossible; and that the sharper of the twain thus met on the chessboard\nmust, in the long run, win. And reticence is but a habit. Practise it\nfor a year, and you will find it harder to betray than to conceal your\nthoughts. It hath its joy also. Is there no pleasure, think you, when\nsuppressing an outbreak of tender but fatal confidence in saying to\nyourself, \u2018O, if she only knew this?\u2019 \u2018O, if she did but suspect that?\u2019\nReturning, however, to the sugar-plums, my life to a pariah\u2019s that they\nare poisoned!\u201d\n\n\u201cImpossible!\u201d exclaimed the prince, horror-struck at the thought;\n\u201cwhat you say, surely no one ever could do. If a mortal fears not his\nfellow-mortal, at least he dreads the Deity.\u201d\n\n\u201cI never yet knew,\u201d rejoined the other, \u201cwhat a woman in love does fear.\nHowever, prince, the trial is easy. Come here, Muti!\u201d cried he to the\nold woman\u2019s dog, \u201cand off with thee to that three-headed kinsman of\nthine, that attends upon his amiable-looking master.[67]\u201d\n\nHaving said this, he threw one of the sweetmeats to the dog; the animal\nate it, and presently writhing and falling down, died.\n\n\u201cThe wretch! O the wretch!\u201d cried Vajramukut, transported with wonder\nand anger. \u201cAnd I loved her! But now it is all over. I dare not\nassociate with such a calamity!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat has happened, my lord, has happened!\u201d quoth the minister\u2019s son\ncalmly. \u201cI was prepared for something of this kind from so talented a\nprincess. None commit such mistakes, such blunders, such follies as your\nclever women; they cannot even turn out a crime decently executed. O\ngive me dulness with one idea, one aim, one desire. O thrice blessed\ndulness that combines with happiness, power.\u201d\n\nThis time Vajramukut did not defend talent.\n\n\u201cAnd your slave did his best to warn you against perfidy. But now my\nheart is at rest. I have tried her strength. She has attempted and\nfailed; the defeat will prevent her attempting again--just yet. But let\nme ask you to put to yourself one question. Can you be happy without\nher?\u201d\n\n\u201cBrother!\u201d replied the prince, after a pause, \u201cI cannot\u201d; and he blushed\nas he made the avowal.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d replied the other, \u201cbetter confess then conceal that fact;\nwe must now meet her on the battle-field, and beat her at her own\nweapons--cunning. I do not willingly begin treachery with women,\nbecause, in the first place, I don\u2019t like it; and secondly, I know that\nthey will certainly commence practicing it upon me, after which I hold\nmyself justified in deceiving them. And probably this will be a good\nwife; remember that she intended to poison me, not you. During the last\nmonth my fear has been lest my prince had run into the tiger\u2019s brake.\nTell me, my lord, when does the princess expect you to return to her?\u201d\n\n\u201cShe bade me,\u201d said the young Raja, \u201cnot to return till my mind was\nquite at ease upon the subject of my talented friend.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis means that she expects you back to-morrow night, as you cannot\nenter the palace before. And now I will retire to my cot, as it is there\nthat I am wont to ponder over my plans. Before dawn my thought shall\nmature one which must place the beautiful Padmavati in your power.\u201d\n\n\u201cA word before parting,\u201d exclaimed the prince \u201cyou know my father has\nalready chosen a spouse for me; what will he say if I bring home a\nsecond?\u201d\n\n\u201cIn my humble opinion,\u201d said the minister\u2019s son rising to retire, \u201cwoman\nis a monogamous, man a polygamous, creature, a fact scarcely established\nin physiological theory, but very observable in every-day practice. For\nwhat said the poet?--\n\n          Divorce, friend! Re-wed thee! The spring draweth near,[68]\n          And a wife\u2019s but an almanac--good for the year.\n\nIf your royal father say anything to you, refer him to what he himself\ndoes.\u201d\n\nReassured by these words, Vajramukut bade his friend a cordial\ngood-night and sought his cot, where he slept soundly, despite the\nemotions of the last few hours. The next day passed somewhat slowly. In\nthe evening, when accompanying his master to the palace, the minister\u2019s\nson gave him the following directions.\n\n\u201cOur object, dear my lord, is how to obtain possession of the princess.\nTake, then, this trident, and hide it carefully when you see her show\nthe greatest love and affection. Conceal what has happened, and when\nshe, wondering at your calmness, asks about me, tell her that last night\nI was weary and out of health, that illness prevented my eating her\nsweetmeats, but that I shall eat them for supper to-night. When she goes\nto sleep, then, taking off her jewels and striking her left leg with the\ntrident, instantly come away to me. But should she lie awake, rub upon\nyour thumb a little of this--do not fear, it is only a powder of\ngrubs fed on verdigris--and apply it to her nostrils. It would make an\nelephant senseless, so be careful how you approach it to your own face.\u201d\n\nVajramukut embraced his friend, and passed safely through the palace\ngate. He found Padmavati awaiting him; she fell upon his bosom and\nlooked into his eyes, and deceived herself, as clever women will do.\nOverpowered by her joy and satisfaction, she now felt certain that\nher lover was hers eternally, and that her treachery had not been\ndiscovered; so the beautiful princess fell into a deep sleep.\n\nThen Vajramukut lost no time in doing as the minister\u2019s son had advised,\nand slipped out of the room, carrying off Padmavati\u2019s jewels and\nornaments. His counsellor having inspected them, took up a sack and made\nsigns to his master to follow him. Leaving the horses and baggage at\nthe nurse\u2019s house, they walked to a burning-place outside the city. The\nminister\u2019s son there buried his dress, together with that of the prince,\nand drew from the sack the costume of a religious ascetic: he assumed\nthis himself, and gave to his companion that of a disciple. Then quoth\nthe guru (spiritual preceptor) to his chela (pupil), \u201cGo, youth, to the\nbazar, and sell these jewels, remembering to let half the jewellers in\nthe place see the things, and if any one lay hold of thee, bring him to\nme.\u201d\n\nUpon which, as day had dawned, Vajramukut carried the princess\u2019s\nornaments to the market, and entering the nearest goldsmith\u2019s shop,\noffered to sell them, and asked what they were worth. As your majesty\nwell knows, gardeners, tailors, and goldsmiths are proverbially\ndishonest, and this man was no exception to the rule. He looked at the\npupil\u2019s face and wondered, because he had brought articles whose value\nhe did not appear to know. A thought struck him that he might make a\nbargain which would fill his coffers, so he offered about a thousandth\npart of the price. This the pupil rejected, because he wished the affair\nto go further. Then the goldsmith, seeing him about to depart, sprang up\nand stood in the door way, threatening to call the officers of justice\nif the young man refused to give up the valuables which he said had\nlately been stolen from his shop. As the pupil only laughed at this,\nthe goldsmith thought seriously of executing his threat, hesitating only\nbecause he knew that the officers of justice would gain more than he\ncould by that proceeding. As he was still in doubt a shadow darkened\nhis shop, and in entered the chief jeweller of the city. The moment the\nornaments were shown to him he recognized them, and said, \u201cThese jewels\nbelong to Raja Dantawat\u2019s daughter; I know them well, as I set them only\na few months ago!\u201d Then he turned to the disciple, who still held the\nvaluables in his hand, and cried, \u201cTell me truly whence you received\nthem?\u201d\n\nWhile they were thus talking, a crowd of ten or twenty persons had\ncollected, and at length the report reached the superintendent of the\narchers. He sent a soldier to bring before him the pupil, the goldsmith,\nand the chief jeweller, together with the ornaments. And when all were\nin the hall of justice, he looked at the jewels and said to the young\nman, \u201cTell me truly, whence have you obtained these?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy spiritual preceptor,\u201d said Vajramukut, pretending great fear, \u201cwho\nis now worshipping in the cemetery outside the town, gave me these white\nstones, with an order to sell them. How know I whence he obtained them?\nDismiss me, my lord, for I am an innocent man.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet the ascetic be sent for,\u201d commanded the kotwal.[69] Then, having\ntaken both of them, along with the jewels, into the presence of King\nDantawat, he related the whole circumstances.\n\n\u201cMaster,\u201d said the king on hearing the statement, \u201cwhence have you\nobtained these jewels?\u201d\n\nThe spiritual preceptor, before deigning an answer, pulled from under\nhis arm the hide of a black antelope, which he spread out and smoothed\ndeliberately before using it as an asan.[70] He then began to finger a\nrosary of beads each as large as an egg, and after spending nearly an\nhour in mutterings and in rollings of the head, he looked fixedly at the\nRaja, and repined:\n\n\u201cBy Shiva! great king, they are mine own. On the fourteenth of the dark\nhalf of the moon at night, I had gone into a place where dead bodies are\nburned, for the purpose of accomplishing a witch\u2019s incantation. After\nlong and toilsome labour she appeared, but her demeanour was so unruly\nthat I was forced to chastise her. I struck her with this, my trident,\non the left leg, if memory serves me. As she continued to be refractory,\nin order to punish her I took off all her jewels and clothes, and told\nher to go where she pleased. Even this had little effect upon her--never\nhave I looked upon so perverse a witch. In this way the jewels came into\nmy possession.\u201d\n\nRaja Dantawat was stunned by these words. He begged the ascetic not\nto leave the palace for a while, and forthwith walked into the private\napartments of the women. Happening first to meet the queen dowager,\nhe said to her, \u201cGo, without losing a minute, O my mother, and look at\nPadmavati\u2019s left leg, and see if there is a mark or not, and what sort\nof a mark!\u201d Presently she returned, and coming to the king said, \u201cSon,\nI find thy daughter lying upon her bed, and complaining that she has met\nwith an accident; and indeed Padmavati must be in great pain. I found\nthat some sharp instrument with three points had wounded her. The girl\nsays that a nail hurt her, but I never yet heard of a nail making\nthree holes. However, we must all hasten, or there will be erysipelas,\ntumefaction, gangrene, mortification, amputation, and perhaps death\nin the house,\u201d concluded the old queen, hurrying away in the pleasing\nanticipation of these ghastly consequences.\n\nFor a moment King Dantawat\u2019s heart was ready to break. But he was\naccustomed to master his feelings; he speedily applied the reins of\nreflection to the wild steed of passion. He thought to himself, \u201cthe\naffairs of one\u2019s household, the intentions of one\u2019s heart, and whatever\none\u2019s losses may be, should not be disclosed to any one. Since Padmavati\nis a witch, she is no longer my daughter. I will verily go forth and\nconsult the spiritual preceptor.\u201d\n\nWith these words the king went outside, where the guru was still sitting\nupon his black hide, making marks with his trident on the floor. Having\nrequested that the pupil might be sent away, and having cleared the\nroom, he said to the jogi, \u201cO holy man! what punishment for the heinous\ncrime of witchcraft is awarded to a woman in the Dharma-Shastra [71]?\u201d\n\n\u201cGreat king!\u201d replied the devotee, \u201cin the Dharma Shastra it is thus\nwritten: \u2018If a Brahman, a cow, a woman, a child, or any other person\nwhatsoever who may be dependent on us, should be guilty of a perfidious\nact, their punishment is that they be banished the country.\u2019 However\nmuch they may deserve death, we must not spill their blood, as\nLakshmi[72] flies in horror from the deed.\u201d\n\nHearing these words the Raja dismissed the guru with many thanks and\nlarge presents. He waited till nightfall and then ordered a band of\ntrusty men to seize Padmavati without alarming the household, and to\ncarry her into a distant jungle full of fiends, tigers, and bears, and\nthere to abandon her.\n\nIn the meantime, the ascetic and his pupil hurrying to the cemetery\nresumed their proper dresses; they then went to the old nurse\u2019s house,\nrewarded her hospitality till she wept bitterly, girt on their weapons,\nand mounting their horses, followed the party which issued from the gate\nof King Dantawat\u2019s palace. And it may easily be believed that they found\nlittle difficulty in persuading the poor girl to exchange her chance in\nthe wild jungle for the prospect of becoming Vajramukut\u2019s wife--lawfully\nwedded at Benares. She did not even ask if she was to have a rival in\nthe house,--a question which women, you know, never neglect to put\nunder usual circumstances. After some days the two pilgrims of one love\narrived at the house of their fathers, and to all, both great and small,\nexcess in joy came.\n\n\u201cNow, Raja Vikram!\u201d said the Baital, \u201cyou have not spoken much;\ndoubtless you are engrossed by the interest of a story wherein a man\nbeats a woman at her own weapon--deceit. But I warn you that you will\nassuredly fall into Narak (the infernal regions) if you do not make\nup your mind upon and explain this matter. Who was the most to blame\namongst these four? the lover[73] the lover\u2019s friend, the girl, or the\nfather?\u201d\n\n\u201cFor my part I think Padmavati was the worst, she being at the bottom of\nall their troubles,\u201d cried Dharma Dhwaj. The king said something about\nyoung people and the two senses of seeing and hearing, but his son\u2019s\nsentiment was so sympathetic that he at once pardoned the interruption.\nAt length, determined to do justice despite himself, Vikram said, \u201cRaja\nDantawat is the person most at fault.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn what way was he at fault?\u201d asked the Baital curiously.\n\nKing Vikram gave him this reply: \u201cThe Prince Vajramukut being tempted of\nthe love-god was insane, and therefore not responsible for his actions.\nThe minister\u2019s son performed his master\u2019s business obediently, without\nconsidering causes or asking questions--a very excellent quality in a\ndependent who is merely required to do as he is bid. With respect to the\nyoung woman, I have only to say that she was a young woman, and thereby\nof necessity a possible murderess. But the Raja, a prince, a man of a\ncertain age and experience, a father of eight! He ought never to have\nbeen deceived by so shallow a trick, nor should he, without reflection,\nhave banished his daughter from the country.\u201d\n\n\u201cGramercy to you!\u201d cried the Vampire, bursting into a discordant shout\nof laughter, \u201cI now return to my tree. By my tail! I never yet heard a\nRaja so readily condemn a Raja.\u201d With these words he slipped out of the\ncloth, leaving it to hang empty over the great king\u2019s shoulder.\n\nVikram stood for a moment, fixed to the spot with blank dismay.\nPresently, recovering himself, he retraced his steps, followed by his\nson, ascended the sires-tree, tore down the Baital, packed him up as\nbefore, and again set out upon his way.\n\nSoon afterwards a voice sounded behind the warrior king\u2019s back, and\nbegan to tell another true story.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S SECOND STORY -- Of the Relative Villany of Men and Women.\n\nIn the great city of Bhogavati dwelt, once upon a time, a young prince,\nconcerning whom I may say that he strikingly resembled this amiable son\nof your majesty.\n\nRaja Vikram was silent, nor did he acknowledge the Baital\u2019s indirect\ncompliment. He hated flattery, but he liked, when flattered, to be\nflattered in his own person; a feature in their royal patron\u2019s character\nwhich the Nine Gems of Science had turned to their own account.\n\nNow the young prince Raja Ram (continued the tale teller) had an old\nfather, concerning whom I may say that he was exceedingly unlike your\nRajaship, both as a man and as a parent. He was fond of hunting, dicing,\nsleeping by day, drinking at night, and eating perpetual tonics, while\nhe delighted in the idleness of watching nautch girls, and the vanity of\nfalling in love. But he was adored by his children because he took the\ntrouble to win their hearts. He did not lay it down as a law of heaven\nthat his offspring would assuredly go to Patala if they neglected the\nduty of bestowing upon him without cause all their affections, as your\nmoral, virtuous, and highly respectable fathers are only too apt----.\nAie! Aie!\n\nThese sounds issued from the Vampire\u2019s lips as the warrior king,\nspeechless with wrath, passed his hand behind his back, and viciously\ntwisted up a piece of the speaker\u2019s skin. This caused the Vampire to\ncry aloud, more however, it would appear, in derision than in real\nsuffering, for he presently proceeded with the same subject.\n\nFathers, great king, may be divided into three kinds; and be it said\naside, that mothers are the same. Firstly, we have the parent of many\nideas, amusing, pleasant, of course poor, and the idol of his children.\nSecondly, there is the parent with one idea and a half. This sort of man\nwould, in your place, say to himself, \u201cThat demon fellow speaks a manner\nof truth. I am not above learning from him, despite his position in\nlife. I will carry out his theory, just to see how far it goes\u201d; and so\nsaying, he wends his way home, and treats his young ones with prodigious\nkindness for a time, but it is not lasting. Thirdly, there is the real\none-idea\u2019d type of parent-yourself, O warrior king Vikram, an admirable\nexample. You learn in youth what you are taught: for instance, the\nblessed precept that the green stick is of the trees of Paradise; and\nin age you practice what you have learned. You cannot teach yourselves\nanything before your beards sprout, and when they grow stiff you cannot\nbe taught by others. If any one attempt to change your opinions you cry,\n\n          What is new is not true,\n          What is true is not new.\n\nand you rudely pull his hand from the subject. Yet have you your uses\nlike other things of earth. In life you are good working camels for the\nmill-track, and when you die your ashes are not worse compost than those\nof the wise.\n\nYour Rajaship will observe (continued the Vampire, as Vikram began\nto show symptoms of ungovernable anger) that I have been concise in\ntreating this digression. Had I not been so, it would have led me far\nindeed from my tale. Now to return.\n\nWhen the old king became air mixed with air, the young king, though he\nfound hardly ten pieces of silver in the paternal treasury and legacies\nfor thousands of golden ounces, yet mourned his loss with the deepest\ngrief. He easily explained to himself the reckless emptiness of the\nroyal coffers as a proof of his dear kind parent\u2019s goodness, because he\nloved him.\n\nBut the old man had left behind him, as he could not carry it off with\nhim, a treasure more valuable than gold and silver: one Churaman, a\nparrot, who knew the world, and who besides discoursed in the most\ncorrect Sanscrit. By sage counsel and wise guidance this admirable bird\nsoon repaired his young master\u2019s shattered fortunes.\n\nOne day the prince said, \u201cParrot, thou knowest everything: tell me\nwhere there is a mate fit for me. The shastras inform us, respecting\nthe choice of a wife, \u2018She who is not descended from his paternal or\nmaternal ancestors within the sixth degree is eligible by a high\ncaste man for nuptials. In taking a wife let him studiously avoid the\nfollowing families, be they ever so great, or ever so rich in kine,\ngoats, sheep, gold, or grain: the family which has omitted prescribed\nacts of devotion; that which has produced no male children; that in\nwhich the Veda (scripture) has not been read; that which has thick hair\non the body; and that in which members have been subject to hereditary\ndisease. Let a person choose for his wife a girl whose person has no\ndefect; who has an agreeable name; who walks gracefully, like a young\nelephant; whose hair and teeth are moderate in quantity and in size; and\nwhose body is of exquisite softness.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cGreat king,\u201d responded the parrot Churaman, \u201cthere is in the country\nof Magadh a Raja, Magadheshwar by name, and he has a daughter called\nChandravati. You will marry her; she is very learned, and, what is\nbetter far, very fait. She is of yellow colour, with a nose like the\nflower of the sesamum; her legs are taper, like the plantain-tree; her\neyes are large, like the principal leaf of the lotus; her eye-brows\nstretch towards her ears; her lips are red, like the young leaves of the\nmango-tree; her face is like the full moon; her voice is like the sound\nof the cuckoo; her arms reach to her knees; her throat is like the\npigeon\u2019s; her flanks are thin, like those of the lion; her hair hangs\nin curls only down to her waist; her teeth are like the seeds of the\npomegranate; and her gait is that of the drunken elephant or the goose.\u201d\n\nOn hearing the parrot\u2019s speech, the king sent for an astrologer, and\nasked him, \u201cWhom shall I marry?\u201d The wise man, having consulted his art,\nreplied, \u201cChandravati is the name of the maiden, and your marriage with\nher will certainly take place.\u201d Thereupon the young Raja, though he had\nnever seen his future queen, became incontinently enamoured of her. He\nsummoned a Brahman, and sent him to King Magadheshwar, saying, \u201cIf you\narrange satisfactorily this affair of our marriage we will reward you\namply\u201d--a promise which lent wings to the priest.\n\nNow it so happened that this talented and beautiful princess had\na jay,[74] whose name was Madan-manjari or Love-garland. She also\npossessed encyclopaedic knowledge after her degree, and, like the\nparrot, she spoke excellent Sanscrit.\n\nBe it briefly said, O warrior king-for you think that I am talking\nfables--that in the days of old, men had the art of making birds\ndiscourse in human language. The invention is attributed to a great\nphilosopher, who split their tongues, and after many generations\nproduced a selected race born with those members split. He altered the\nshapes of their skulls by fixing ligatures behind the occiput, which\ncaused the sinciput to protrude, their eyes to become prominent, and\ntheir brains to master the art of expressing thoughts in words.\n\nBut this wonderful discovery, like those of great philosophers\ngenerally, had in it a terrible practical flaw The birds beginning to\nspeak, spoke wisely and so well, they told the truth so persistently,\nthey rebuked their brethren of the featherless skins so openly, they\nflattered them so little and they counselled them so much, that mankind\npresently grew tired of hearing them discourse. Thus the art gradually\nfell into desuetude, and now it is numbered with the things that were.\n\nOne day the charming Princess Chandravati was sitting in confidential\nconversation with her jay. The dialogue was not remarkable, for maidens\nin all ages seldom consult their confidantes or speculate upon the\nsecrets of futurity, or ask to have dreams interpreted, except upon one\nsubject. At last the princess said, for perhaps the hundredth time that\nmonth, \u201cWhere, O jay, is there a husband worthy of me?\u201d\n\n\u201cPrincess,\u201d replied Madan-manjari, \u201cI am happy at length to be able\nas willing to satisfy your just curiosity. For just it is, though the\ndelicacy of our sex--\u201d\n\n\u201cNow, no preaching!\u201d said the maiden; \u201cor thou shalt have salt instead\nof sugar for supper.\u201d\n\nJays, your Rajaship, are fond of sugar. So the confidante retained a\nquantity of good advice which she was about to produce, and replied,\n\n\u201cI now see clearly the ways of Fortune. Raja Ram, king of Bhogavati, is\nto be thy husband. He shall be happy in thee and thou in him, for he is\nyoung and handsome, rich and generous, good-tempered, not too clever,\nand without a chance of being an invalid.\u201d\n\nThereupon the princess, although she had never seen her future husband,\nat once began to love him. In fact, though neither had set eyes upon the\nother, both were mutually in love.\n\n\u201cHow can that be, sire?\u201d asked the young Dharma Dhwaj of his father. \u201cI\nalways thought that--\u201d\n\nThe great Vikram interrupted his son, and bade him not to ask silly\nquestions. Thus he expected to neutralize the evil effects of the\nBaital\u2019s doctrine touching the amiability of parents unlike himself.\n\nNow, as both these young people (resumed the Baital) were of princely\nfamily and well to do in the world, the course of their love was\nunusually smooth. When the Brahman sent by Raja Ram had reached Magadh,\nand had delivered his King\u2019s homage to the Raja Magadheshwar, the latter\nreceived him with distinction, and agreed to his proposal. The beautiful\nprincess\u2019s father sent for a Brahman of his own, and charging him with\nnuptial gifts and the customary presents, sent him back to Bhogavati in\ncompany with the other envoy, and gave him this order, \u201cGreet Raja Ram,\non my behalf, and after placing the tilak or mark upon his forehead,\nreturn here with all speed. When you come back I will get all things\nready for the marriage.\u201d\n\nRaja Ram, on receiving the deputation, was greatly pleased, and\nafter generously rewarding the Brahmans and making all the necessary\npreparations, he set out in state for the land of Magadha, to claim his\nbetrothed.\n\nIn due season the ceremony took place with feasting and bands of\nmusic, fireworks and illuminations, rehearsals of scripture, songs,\nentertainments, processions, and abundant noise. And hardly had the\nturmeric disappeared from the beautiful hands and feet of the bride,\nwhen the bridegroom took an affectionate leave of his new parents--he\nhad not lived long in the house--and receiving the dowry and the bridal\ngifts, set out for his own country.\n\nChandravati was dejected by leaving her mother, and therefore she\nwas allowed to carry with her the jay, Madanmanian. She soon told her\nhusband the wonderful way in which she had first heard his name, and\nhe related to her the advantage which he had derived from confabulation\nwith Churaman, his parrot.\n\n\u201cThen why do we not put these precious creatures into one cage,\nafter marrying them according to the rites of the angelic marriage\n(Gandharva-lagana)?\u201d said the charming queen. Like most brides, she was\nhighly pleased to find an opportunity of making a match.\n\n\u201cAy! why not, love? Surely they cannot live happy in what the world\ncalls single blessedness,\u201d replied the young king. As bridegrooms\nsometimes are for a short time, he was very warm upon the subject of\nmatrimony.\n\nThereupon, without consulting the parties chiefly concerned in their\nscheme, the master and mistress, after being comfortably settled at the\nend of their journey, caused a large cage to be brought, and put into it\nboth their favourites.\n\nUpon which Churaman the parrot leaned his head on one side and directed\na peculiar look at the jay. But Madan-manjari raised her beak high in\nthe air, puffed through it once or twice, and turned away her face in\nextreme disdain.\n\n\u201cPerhaps,\u201d quoth the parrot, at length breaking silence, \u201cyou will tell\nme that you have no desire to be married?\u201d\n\n\u201cProbably,\u201d replied the jay.\n\n\u201cAnd why?\u201d asked the male bird.\n\n\u201cBecause I don\u2019t choose,\u201d replied the female.\n\n\u201cTruly a feminine form of resolution this,\u201d ejaculated the parrot. \u201cI\nwill borrow my master\u2019s words and call it a woman\u2019s reason, that is to\nsay, no reason at all. Have you any objection to be more explicit?\u201d\n\n\u201cNone whatever,\u201d retorted the jay, provoked by the rude innuendo into\ntelling more plainly than politely exactly what she thought; \u201cnone\nwhatever, sir parrot. You he-things are all of you sinful, treacherous,\ndeceitful, selfish, devoid of conscience, and accustomed to sacrifice\nus, the weaker sex, to your smallest desire or convenience.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf a truth, fair lady,\u201d quoth the young Raja Ram to his bride, \u201cthis\npet of thine is sufficiently impudent.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet her words be as wind in thine ear, master,\u201d interrupted the parrot.\n\u201cAnd pray, Mistress Jay, what are you she-things but treacherous, false,\nignorant, and avaricious beings, whose only wish in this world is to\nprevent life being as pleasant as it might be?\u201d\n\n\u201cVerily, my love,\u201d said the beautiful Chandravati to her bridegroom,\n\u201cthis thy bird has a habit of expressing his opinions in a very free and\neasy way.\u201d\n\n\u201cI can prove what I assert,\u201d whispered the jay in the ear of the\nprincess.\n\n\u201cWe can confound their feminine minds by an anecdote,\u201d whispered the\nparrot in the ear of the prince.\n\nBriefly, King Vikram, it was settled between the twain that each should\nestablish the truth of what it had advanced by an illustration in the\nform of a story.\n\nChandravati claimed, and soon obtained, precedence for the jay. Then the\nwonderful bird, Madan-manjari, began to speak as follows:--\n\nI have often told thee, O queen, that before coming to thy feet, my\nmistress was Ratnawati, the daughter of a rich trader, the dearest, the\nsweetest, the----\n\nHere the jay burst into tears, and the mistress was sympathetically\naffected. Presently the speaker resumed----\n\nHowever, I anticipate. In the city of Ilapur there was a wealthy\nmerchant, who was without offspring; on this account he was continually\nfasting and going on pilgrimage, and when at home he was ever engaged in\nreading the Puranas and in giving alms to the Brahmans.\n\nAt length, by favour of the Deity, a son was born to this merchant, who\ncelebrated his birth with great pomp and rejoicing, and gave large gifts\nto Brahmans and to bards, and distributed largely to the hungry, the\nthirsty, and the poor. When the boy was five years old he had him taught\nto read, and when older he was sent to a guru, who had formerly himself\nbeen a student, and who was celebrated as teacher and lecturer.\n\nIn the course of time the merchant\u2019s son grew up. Praise be to Brahma!\nwhat a wonderful youth it was, with a face like a monkey\u2019s, legs like a\nstork\u2019s, and a back like a camel\u2019s. You know the old proverb:--\n\n          Expect thirty-two villanies from the limping, and eighty\nfrom the one-eyed man,\n          But when the hunchback comes, say \u201cLord defend us!\u201d\n\nInstead of going to study, he went to gamble with other ne\u2019er-do-weels,\nto whom he talked loosely, and whom he taught to be bad-hearted as\nhimself. He made love to every woman, and despite his ugliness, he was\nnot unsuccessful. For they are equally fortunate who are very handsome\nor very ugly, in so far as they are both remarkable and remarked. But\nthe latter bear away the palm. Beautiful men begin well with women, who\ndo all they can to attract them, love them as the apples of their eyes,\ndiscover them to be fools, hold them to be their equals, deceive them,\nand speedily despise them. It is otherwise with the ugly man, who, in\nconsequence of his homeliness, must work his wits and take pains with\nhimself, and become as pleasing as he is capable of being, till women\nforget his ape\u2019s face, bird\u2019s legs, and bunchy back.\n\nThe hunchback, moreover, became a Tantri, so as to complete his\nvillanies. He was duly initiated by an apostate Brahman, made a\ndeclaration that he renounced all the ceremonies of his old religion,\nand was delivered from their yoke, and proceeded to perform in token\nof joy an abominable rite. In company with eight men and eight women-a\nBrahman female, a dancing girl, a weaver\u2019s daughter, a woman of ill\nfame, a washerwoman, a barber\u2019s wife, a milkmaid, and the daughter of a\nland-owner--choosing the darkest time of night and the most secret part\nof the house, he drank with them, was sprinkled and anointed, and went\nthrough many ignoble ceremonies, such as sitting nude upon a dead body.\nThe teacher informed him that he was not to indulge shame, or aversion\nto anything, nor to prefer one thing to another, nor to regard caste,\nceremonial cleanness or uncleanness, but freely to enjoy all the\npleasures of sense-that is, of course, wine and us, since we are the\nrepresentatives of the wife of Cupid, and wine prevents the senses from\ngoing astray. And whereas holy men, holding that the subjugation or\nannihilation of the passions is essential to final beatitude, accomplish\nthis object by bodily austerities, and by avoiding temptation, he\nproceeded to blunt the edge of the passions with excessive indulgence.\nAnd he jeered at the pious, reminding them that their ascetics are safe\nonly in forests, and while keeping a perpetual fast; but that he could\nsubdue his passions in the very presence of what they most desired.\n\nPresently this excellent youth\u2019s father died, leaving him immense\nwealth. He blunted his passions so piously and so vigorously, that in\nvery few years his fortune was dissipated. Then he turned towards\nhis neighbour\u2019s goods and prospered for a time, till being discovered\nrobbing, he narrowly escaped the stake. At length he exclaimed, \u201cLet the\ngods perish! the rascals send me nothing but ill luck!\u201d and so saying he\narose and fled from his own country.\n\nChance led that villain hunchback to the city of Chandrapur, where,\nhearing the name of my master Hemgupt, he recollected that one of his\nfather\u2019s wealthiest correspondents was so called. Thereupon, with\nhis usual audacity, he presented himself at the house, walked in,\nand although he was clothed in tatters, introduced himself, told his\nfather\u2019s name and circumstances, and wept bitterly.\n\nThe good man was much astonished, and not less grieved, to see the son\nof his old friend in such woful plight. He rose up, however, embraced\nthe youth, and asked the reason of his coming.\n\n\u201cI freighted a vessel,\u201d said the false hunchback, \u201cfor the purpose\nof trading to a certain land. Having gone there, I disposed of my\nmerchandise, and, taking another cargo, I was on my voyage home.\nSuddenly a great storm arose, and the vessel was wrecked, and I escaped\non a plank, and after a time arrived here. But I am ashamed, since I\nhave lost all my wealth, and I cannot show my face in this plight in my\nown city. My excellent father would have consoled me with his pity. But\nnow that I have carried him and my mother to Ganges,[75] every one will\nturn against me; they will rejoice in my misfortunes, they will accuse\nme of folly and recklessness--alas! alas! I am truly miserable.\u201d\n\nMy dear master was deceived by the cunning of the wretch. He offered him\nhospitality, which was readily enough accepted, and he entertained him\nfor some time as a guest. Then, having reason to be satisfied with his\nconduct, Hemgupt admitted him to his secrets, and finally made him a\npartner in his business. Briefly, the villain played his cards so well,\nthat at last the merchant said to himself:\n\n\u201cI have had for years an anxiety and a calamity in my house. My\nneighbours whisper things to my disadvantage, and those who are bolder\nspeak out with astonishment amongst themselves, saying, \u2018At seven or\neight, people marry their daughters, and this indeed is the appointment\nof the law: that period is long since gone; she is now thirteen or\nfourteen years old, and she is very tall and lusty, resembling a married\nwoman of thirty. How can her father eat his rice with comfort and sleep\nwith satisfaction, whilst such a disreputable thing exists in his\nhouse? At present he is exposed to shame, and his deceased friends are\nsuffering through his retaining a girl from marriage beyond the period\nwhich nature has prescribed.\u2019 And now, while I am sitting quietly at\nhome, the Bhagwan (Deity) removes all my uneasiness: by his favour such\nan opportunity occurs. It is not right to delay. It is best that I shall\ngive my daughter in marriage to him. Whatever can be done to-day is\nbest; who knows what may happen to-morrow?\u201d\n\nThus thinking, the old man went to his wife and said to her, \u201cBirth,\nmarriage, and death are all under the direction of the gods; can anyone\nsay when they will be ours? We want for our daughter a young man who is\nof good birth, rich and handsome, clever and honourable. But we do not\nfind him. If the bridegroom be faulty, thou sayest, all will go wrong.\nI cannot put a string round the neck of our daughter and throw her into\nthe ditch. If, however, thou think well of the merchant\u2019s son, now my\npartner, we will celebrate Ratnawati\u2019s marriage with him.\u201d\n\nThe wife, who had been won over by the hunchback\u2019s hypocrisy, was also\npleased, and replied, \u201cMy lord! when the Deity so plainly indicates his\nwish, we should do it; since, though we have sat quietly at home, the\ndesire of our hearts is accomplished. It is best that no delay be made:\nand, having quickly summoned the family priest, and having fixed upon a\npropitious planetary conjunction, that the marriage be celebrated.\u201d\n\nThen they called their daughter--ah, me! what a beautiful being she was,\nand worthy the love of a Gandharva (demigod). Her long hair, purple with\nthe light of youth, was glossy as the bramra\u2019s[76] wing; her brow was\npure and clear as the agate; the ocean-coral looked pale beside her\nlips, and her teeth were as two chaplets of pearls. Everything in her\nwas formed to be loved. Who could look into her eyes without wishing\nto do it again? Who could hear her voice without hoping that such music\nwould sound once more? And she was good as she was fair. Her father\nadored her; her mother, though a middle-aged woman, was not envious or\njealous of her; her relatives doted on her, and her friends could\nfind no fault with her. I should never end were I to tell her precious\nqualities. Alas, alas! my poor Ratnawati!\n\nSo saying, the jay wept abundant tears; then she resumed:\n\nWhen her parents informed my mistress of their resolution, she replied,\n\u201cSadhu-it is well!\u201d She was not like most young women, who hate nothing\nso much as a man whom their seniors order them to love. She bowed\nher head and promised obedience, although, as she afterwards told\nher mother, she could hardly look at her intended, on account of his\nprodigious ugliness. But presently the hunchback\u2019s wit surmounted her\ndisgust. She was grateful to him for his attention to her father and\nmother; she esteemed him for his moral and religious conduct; she pitied\nhim for his misfortunes, and she finished with forgetting his face,\nlegs, and back in her admiration of what she supposed to be his mind.\n\nShe had vowed before marriage faithfully to perform all the duties of a\nwife, however distasteful to her they might be; but after the nuptials,\nwhich were not long deferred, she was not surprised to find that she\nloved her husband. Not only did she omit to think of his features\nand figure; I verily believe that she loved him the more for his\nrepulsiveness. Ugly, very ugly men prevail over women for two reasons.\nFirstly, we begin with repugnance, which in the course of nature turns\nto affection; and we all like the most that which, when unaccustomed to\nit, we most disliked. Hence the poet says, with as much truth as is in\nthe male:\n\n          Never despair, O man! when woman\u2019s spite\n          Detests thy name and sickens at thy sight:\n          Sometime her heart shall learn to love thee more\n          For the wild hatred which it felt before, &c.\n\nSecondly, the very ugly man appears, deceitfully enough, to think little\nof his appearance, and he will give himself the trouble to pursue\na heart because he knows that the heart will not follow after him.\nMoreover, we women (said the jay) are by nature pitiful, and this our\nenemies term a \u201cstrange perversity.\u201d A widow is generally disconsolate\nif she loses a little, wizen-faced, shrunken shanked, ugly, spiteful,\ndistempered thing that scolded her and quarrelled with her, and beat her\nand made her hours bitter; whereas she will follow her husband to Ganges\nwith exemplary fortitude if he was brave, handsome, generous----\n\n\u201cEither hold your tongue or go on with your story,\u201d cried the warrior\nking, in whose mind these remarks awakened disagreeable family\nreflections.\n\n\u201cHi! hi! hi!\u201d laughed the demon; \u201cI will obey your majesty, and make\nMadan-manjari, the misanthropical jay, proceed.\u201d\n\nYes, she loved the hunchback; and how wonderful is our love! quoth the\njay. A light from heaven which rains happiness on this dull, dark earth!\nA spell falling upon the spirit, which reminds us of a higher existence!\nA memory of bliss! A present delight! An earnest of future felicity!\nIt makes hideousness beautiful and stupidity clever, old age young and\nwickedness good, moroseness amiable, and low-mindedness magnanimous,\nperversity pretty and vulgarity piquant. Truly it is sovereign alchemy\nand excellent flux for blending contradictions is our love, exclaimed\nthe jay.\n\nAnd so saying, she cast a triumphant look at the parrot, who only\nremarked that he could have desired a little more originality in her\nremarks.\n\nFor some months (resumed Madan-manjari), the bride and the bridegroom\nlived happily together in Hemgupt\u2019s house. But it is said:\n\n          Never yet did the tiger become a lamb;\n\nand the hunchback felt that the edge of his passions again wanted\nblunting. He reflected, \u201cWisdom is exemption from attachment, and\naffection for children, wife, and home.\u201d Then he thus addressed my poor\nyoung mistress:\n\n\u201cI have been now in thy country some years, and I have heard no tidings\nof my own family, hence my mind is sad, I have told thee everything\nabout myself; thou must now ask thy mother leave for me to go to my own\ncity, and, if thou wishest, thou mayest go with me.\u201d\n\nRatnawati lost no time in saying to her mother, \u201cMy husband wishes to\nvisit his own country; will you so arrange that he may not be pained\nabout this matter?\u201d\n\nThe mother went to her husband, and said, \u201cYour son-in-law desires leave\nto go to his own country.\u201d\n\nHemgupt replied, \u201cVery well; we will grant him leave. One has no power\nover another man\u2019s son. We will do what he wishes.\u201d\n\nThe parents then called their daughter, and asked her to tell them her\nreal desire-whether she would go to her father-in-law\u2019s house, or would\nremain in her mother\u2019s home. She was abashed at this question, and could\nnot answer; but she went back to her husband, and said, \u201cAs my father\nand mother have declared that you should do as you like, do not leave me\nbehind.\u201d\n\nPresently the merchant summoned his son-in-law, and having bestowed\ngreat wealth upon him, allowed him to depart. He also bade his daughter\nfarewell, after giving her a palanquin and a female slave. And the\nparents took leave of them with wailing and bitter tears; their hearts\nwere like to break. And so was mine.\n\nFor some days the hunchback travelled quietly along with his wife, in\ndeep thought. He could not take her to his city, where she would find\nout his evil life, and the fraud which he had passed upon her father.\nBesides which, although he wanted her money, he by no means wanted her\ncompany for life. After turning on many projects in his evil-begotten\nmind, he hit upon the following:\n\nHe dismissed the palanquin-bearers when halting at a little shed in the\nthick jungle through which they were travelling, and said to his wife,\n\u201cThis is a place of danger; give me thy jewels, and I will hide them in\nmy waist-shawl. When thou reachest the city thou canst wear them again.\u201d\n She then gave up to him all her ornaments, which were of great value.\nThereupon he inveigled the slave girl into the depths of the forest,\nwhere he murdered her, and left her body to be devoured by wild beasts.\nLastly, returning to my poor mistress, he induced her to leave the hut\nwith him, and pushed her by force into a dry well, after which exploit\nhe set out alone with his ill-gotten wealth, walking towards his own\ncity.\n\nIn the meantime, a wayfaring man, who was passing through that jungle,\nhearing the sound of weeping, stood still, and began to say to himself,\n\u201cHow came to my ears the voice of a mortal\u2019s grief in this wild wood?\u201d\n then followed the direction of the noise, which led him a pit, and\npeeping over the side, he saw a woman crying at the bottom. The\ntraveller at once loosened his gird cloth, knotted it to his turband,\nand letting down the line pulled out the poor bride. He asked her who\nshe was and how she came to fall into that well. She replied, \u201cI am the\ndaughter of Hemgupt, the wealthiest merchant in the city of Chandrapur;\nand I was journeying with my husband to his own country, when robbers\nset upon us and surrounded us. They slew my slave girl, the threw me\ninto a well, and having bound my husband they took him away, together\nwith my jewels. I have no tidings of him, nor he of me.\u201d And so saying,\nshe burst into tears and lamentations.\n\nThe wayfaring man believed her tale, and conducted her to her home,\nwhere she gave the same account of the accident which had befallen her,\nending with, \u201cbeyond this, I know not if they have killed my husband, or\nhave let him go.\u201d The father thus soothed her grief \u201cDaughter! have no\nanxiety; thy husband is alive, and by the will of the Deity he will come\nto thee in a few days. Thieves take men\u2019s money, not their lives.\u201d Then\nthe parents presented her with ornaments more precious than those which\nshe had lost; and summoning their relations and friends, they comforted\nher to the best of their power.\n\nAnd so did I. The wicked hunchback had, meanwhile, returned to his own\ncity, where he was excellently well received, because he brought much\nwealth with him. His old associates flocked around him rejoicing; and he\nfell into the same courses which had beggared him before. Gambling and\ndebauchery soon blunted his passions, and emptied his purse. Again his\nboon companions, finding him without a broken cowrie, drove him from\ntheir doors, he stole and was flogged for theft; and lastly, half\nfamished, he fled the city. Then he said to himself, \u201cI must go to my\nfather-in-law, and make the excuse that a grandson has been born to him,\nand that I have come to offer him congratulations on the event.\u201d\n\nImagine, however, his fears and astonishment, when, as he entered the\nhouse, his wife stood before him. At first he thought it was a ghost,\nand turned to run away, but she went out to him and said, \u201cHusband,\nbe not troubled! I have told my father that thieves came upon us, and\nkilled the slave girl and robbed me and threw me into a well, and bound\nthee and carried thee off. Tell the same story, and put away all anxious\nfeelings. Come up and change thy tattered garments-alas! some misfortune\nhath befallen thee. But console thyself; all is now well, since thou\nart returned to me, and fear not, for the house is thine, and I am thy\nslave.\u201d\n\nThe wretch, with all his hardness of heart, could scarcely refrain from\ntears. He followed his wife to her room, where she washed his feet,\ncaused him to bathe, dressed him in new clothes, and placed food before\nhim. When her parents returned, she presented him to their embrace,\nsaying in a glad way, \u201cRejoice with me, O my father and mother! the\nrobbers have at length allowed him to come back to us.\u201d Of course the\nparents were deceived, they are mostly a purblind race; and Hemgupt,\nshowing great favour to his worthless son-in-law, exclaimed, \u201cRemain\nwith us, my son, and be happy!\u201d\n\nFor two or three months the hunchback lived quietly with his wife,\ntreating her kindly and even affectionately. But this did not last long.\nHe made acquaintance with a band of thieves, and arranged his plans with\nthem.\n\nAfter a time, his wife one night came to sleep by his side, having put\non all her jewels. At midnight, when he saw that she was fast asleep,\nhe struck her with a knife so that she died. Then he admitted his\naccomplices, who savagely murdered Hemgupt and his wife; and with their\nassistance he carried off any valuable article upon which he could lay\nhis hands. The ferocious wretch! As he passed my cage he looked at it,\nand thought whether he had time to wring my neck. The barking of a dog\nsaved my life; but my mistress, my poor Ratnawati-ah, me! ah, me!--\n\n\u201cQueen,\u201d said the jay, in deepest grief, \u201call this have I seen with mine\nown eyes, and have heard with mine own ears. It affected me in early\nlife, and gave me a dislike for the society of the other sex. With due\nrespect to you, I have resolved to remain an old maid. Let your majesty\nreflect, what crime had my poor mistress committed? A male is of the\nsame disposition as a highway robber; and she who forms friendship with\nsuch an one, cradles upon her bosom a black and venomous snake.\u201d\n\n\u201cSir Parrot,\u201d said the jay, turning to her wooer, \u201cI have spoken. I\nhave nothing more to say, but that you he-things are all a treacherous,\nselfish, wicked race, created for the express purpose of working our\nworldly woe, and--\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen a female, O my king, asserts that she has nothing more to say,\nbut,\u201d broke in Churaman, the parrot with a loud dogmatical voice, \u201cI\nknow that what she has said merely whets her tongue for what she is\nabout to say. This person has surely spoken long enough and drearily\nenough.\u201d\n\n\u201cTell me, then, O parrot,\u201d said the king, \u201cwhat faults there may be in\nthe other sex.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will relate,\u201d quoth Churaman, \u201can occurrence which in my early youth\ndetermined me to live and to die an old bachelor.\u201d\n\nWhen quite a young bird, and before my schooling began, I was caught\nin the land of Malaya, and was sold to a very rich merchant called\nSagardati, a widower with one daughter, the lady Jayashri. As her father\nspent all his days and half his nights in his counting-house, conning\nhis ledgers and scolding his writers, that young woman had more liberty\nthan is generally allowed to those of her age, and a mighty bad use she\nmade of it.\n\nO king! men commit two capital mistakes in rearing the \u201cdomestic\ncalamity,\u201d and these are over-vigilance and under-vigilance. Some\nparents never lose sight of their daughters, suspect them of all evil\nintentions, and are silly enough to show their suspicions, which is an\nincentive to evil-doing. For the weak-minded things do naturally say,\n\u201cI will be wicked at once. What do I now but suffer all the pains and\npenalties of badness, without enjoying its pleasures?\u201d And so they are\nguilty of many evil actions; for, however vigilant fathers and mothers\nmay be, the daughter can always blind their eyes.\n\nOn the other hand, many parents take no trouble whatever with their\ncharges: they allow them to sit in idleness, the origin of badness; they\npermit them to communicate with the wicked, and they give them liberty\nwhich breeds opportunity. Thus they also, falling into the snares of the\nunrighteous, who are ever a more painstaking race than the righteous,\nare guilty of many evil actions.\n\nWhat, then, must wise parents do? The wise will study the characters of\ntheir children, and modify their treatment accordingly. If a daughter be\nnaturally good, she will be treated with a prudent confidence. If she\nbe vicious, an apparent trust will be reposed in her; but her father and\nmother will secretly ever be upon their guard. The one-idea\u2019d--\n\n\u201cAll this parrot-prate, I suppose, is only intended to vex me,\u201d cried\nthe warrior king, who always considered himself, and very naturally, a\nperson of such consequence as ever to be uppermost in the thoughts and\nminds of others. \u201cIf thou must tell a tale, then tell one, Vampire! or\nelse be silent, as I am sick to the death of thy psychics.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is well, O warrior king,\u201d resumed the Baital.\n\nAfter that Churaman the parrot had given the young Raja Ram a golden\nmine full of good advice about the management of daughters, he proceeded\nto describe Jayashri.\n\nShe was tall, stout, and well made, of lymphatic temperament, and yet\nstrong passions. Her fine large eyes had heavy and rather full eyelids,\nwhich are to be avoided. Her hands were symmetrical without being small,\nand the palms were ever warm and damp. Though her lips were good, her\nmouth was somewhat underhung; and her voice was so deep, that at times\nit sounded like that of a man. Her hair was smooth as the kokila\u2019s\nplume, and her complexion was that of the young jasmine; and these were\nthe points at which most persons looked. Altogether, she was neither\nhandsome nor ugly, which is an excellent thing in woman. Sita the\ngoddess[77] was lovely to excess; therefore she was carried away by a\ndemon. Raja Bali was exceedingly generous, and he emptied his treasury.\nIn this way, exaggeration, even of good, is exceedingly bad.\n\nYet must I confess, continued the parrot, that, as a rule, the beautiful\nwoman is more virtuous than the ugly. The former is often tempted, but\nher vanity and conceit enable her to resist, by the self-promise that\nshe shall be tempted again and again. On the other hand, the ugly woman\nmust tempt instead of being tempted, and she must yield, because her\nvanity and conceit are gratified by yielding, not by resisting.\n\n\u201cHo, there!\u201d broke in the jay contemptuously. \u201cWhat woman cannot win the\nhearts of the silly things called men? Is it not said that a pig-faced\nfemale who dwells in Landanpur has a lover?\u201d\n\nI was about to remark, my king! said the parrot, somewhat nettled, if\nthe aged virgin had not interrupted me, that as ugly women are more\nvicious than handsome women, so they are most successful. \u201cWe love the\npretty, we adore the plain,\u201d is a true saying amongst the worldly\nwise. And why do we adore the plain? Because they seem to think less of\nthemselves than of us-a vital condition of adoration.\n\nJayashri made some conquests by the portion of good looks which she\npossessed, more by her impudence, and most by her father\u2019s reputation\nfor riches. She was truly shameless, and never allowed herself fewer\nthan half a dozen admirers at the time. Her chief amusement was to\nappoint interviews with them successively, at intervals so short that\nshe was obliged to hurry away one in order to make room for another. And\nwhen a lover happened to be jealous, or ventured in any way to criticize\nher arrangements, she replied at once by showing him the door. Answer\nunanswerable!\n\nWhen Jayashri had reached the ripe age of thirteen, the son of a\nmerchant, who was her father\u2019s gossip and neighbour, returned home after\na long sojourn in far lands, whither he had travelled in the search of\nwealth. The poor wretch, whose name, by-the-bye, was Shridat (Gift of\nFortune), had loved her in her childhood; and he came back, as men\nare apt to do after absence from familiar scenes, painfully full of\naffection for house and home and all belonging to it. From his cross,\nstingy old uncle to the snarling superannuated beast of a watchdog, he\nviewed all with eyes of love and melting heart. He could not see that\nhis idol was greatly changed, and nowise for the better; that her nose\nwas broader and more club-like, her eyelids fatter and thicker, her\nunder lip more prominent, her voice harsher, and her manner coarser. He\ndid not notice that she was an adept in judging of men\u2019s dress, and that\nshe looked with admiration upon all swordsmen, especially upon those\nwho fought upon horses and elephants. The charm of memory, the\ncurious faculty of making past time present caused all he viewed to be\nenchanting to him.\n\nHaving obtained her father\u2019s permission, Shridat applied for betrothal\nto Jayashri, who with peculiar boldness, had resolved that no suitor\nshould come to her through her parent. And she, after leading him on by\nall the coquetries of which she was a mistress, refused to marry him,\nsaying that she liked him as a friend, but would hate him as a husband.\n\nYou see, my king! there are three several states of feeling with which\nwomen regard their masters, and these are love, hate, and indifference.\nOf all, love is the weakest and the most transient, because the\nessentially unstable creatures naturally fall out of it as readily as\nthey fall into it. Hate being a sister excitement will easily become,\nif a man has wit enough to effect the change, love; and hate-love\nmay perhaps last a little longer than love-love. Also, man has the\noccupation, the excitement, and the pleasure of bringing about the\nchange. As regards the neutral state, that poet was not happy in his\nideas who sang--\n\n               Whene\u2019er indifference appears, or scorn,\n               Then, man, despair! then, hapless lover, mourn!\n\nFor a man versed in the Lila Shastra[78] can soon turn a woman\u2019s\nindifference into hate, which I have shown is as easily permuted to\nlove. In which predicament it is the old thing over again, and it ends\nin the pure Asat[79] or nonentity.\n\n\u201cWhich of these two birds, the jay or the parrot, had dipped deeper into\nhuman nature, mighty King Vikram?\u201d asked the demon in a wheedling tone\nof voice.\n\nThe trap was this time set too openly, even for the royal personage,\nto fall into it. He hurried on, calling to his son, and not answering a\nword. The Vampire therefore resumed the thread of his story at the place\nwhere he had broken it off.\n\nShridat was in despair when he heard the resolve of his idol. He thought\nof drowning himself, of throwing himself down from the summit of Mount\nGirnar,[80] of becoming a religious beggar; in short, of a multitude\nof follies. But he refrained from all such heroic remedies for despair,\nhaving rightly judged, when he became somewhat calmer, that they would\nnot be likely to further his suit. He discovered that patience is\na virtue, and he resolved impatiently enough to practice it. And by\nperseverance he succeeded. The worse for him! How vain are men to wish!\nHow wise is the Deity, who is deaf to their wishes!\n\nJayashri, for potent reasons best known to herself, was married to\nShridat six months after his return home. He was in raptures. He called\nhimself the happiest man in existence. He thanked and sacrificed to the\nBhagwan for listening to his prayers. He recalled to mind with thrilling\nheart the long years which he had spent in hopeless exile from all that\nwas dear to him, his sadness and anxiety, his hopes and joys, his toils\nand troubles his loyal love and his vows to Heaven for the happiness of\nhis idol, and for the furtherance of his fondest desires.\n\nFor truly he loved her, continued the parrot, and there is something\nholy in such love. It becomes not only a faith, but the best of\nfaiths-an abnegation of self which emancipates the spirit from its\nstraightest and earthliest bondage, the \u201cI\u201d; the first step in the\nregions of heaven; a homage rendered through the creature to the\nCreator; a devotion solid, practical, ardent, not as worship mostly is,\na cold and lifeless abstraction; a merging of human nature into one far\nnobler and higher the spiritual existence of the supernal world. For\nperfect love is perfect happiness, and the only perfection of man; and\nwhat is a demon but a being without love? And what makes man\u2019s love\ntruly divine, is the fact that it is bestowed upon such a thing as\nwoman.\n\n\u201cAnd now, Raja Vikram,\u201d said the Vampire, speaking in his proper person,\n\u201cI have given you Madanmanjari the jay\u2019s and Churaman the parrot\u2019s\ndefinitions of the tender passion, or rather their descriptions of its\neffects. Kindly observe that I am far from accepting either one or the\nother. Love is, according to me, somewhat akin to mania, a temporary\ncondition of selfishness, a transient confusion of identity. It enables\nman to predicate of others who are his other selves, that which he is\nashamed to say about his real self. I will suppose the beloved object to\nbe ugly, stupid, vicious, perverse, selfish, low minded, or the reverse;\nman finds it charming by the same rule that makes his faults and foibles\ndearer to him than all the virtues and good qualities of his neighbours.\nYe call love a spell, an alchemy, a deity. Why? Because it deifies self\nby gratifying all man\u2019s pride, man\u2019s vanity, and man\u2019s conceit, under\nthe mask of complete unegotism. Who is not in heaven when he is talking\nof himself? and, prithee, of what else consists all the talk of lovers?\u201d\n\nIt is astonishing that the warrior king allowed this speech to last\nas long as it did. He hated nothing so fiercely, now that he was in\nmiddle-age, as any long mention of the \u201chandsome god.[81]\u201d Having vainly\nendeavoured to stop by angry mutterings the course of the Baital\u2019s\neloquence, he stepped out so vigorously and so rudely shook that\ninveterate talker, that the latter once or twice nearly bit off the tip\nof his tongue. Then the Vampire became silent, and Vikram relapsed into\na walk which allowed the tale to be resumed.\n\nJayashri immediately conceived a strong dislike for her husband, and\nsimultaneously a fierce affection for a reprobate who before had been\nindifferent to her. The more lovingly Shridat behaved to her, the more\nvexed end annoyed she was. When her friends talked to her, she turned up\nher nose, raising her eyebrows (in token of displeasure), and remained\nsilent. When her husband spoke words of affection to her, she found them\ndisagreeable, and turning away her face, reclined on the bed. Then he\nbrought dresses and ornaments of various kinds and presented them to\nher, saying, \u201cWear these.\u201d Whereupon she would become more angry,\nknit her brows, turn her face away, and in an audible whisper call him\n\u201cfool.\u201d All day she stayed out of the house, saying to her companions,\n\u201cSisters, my youth is passing away, and I have not, up to the present\ntime, tasted any of this world\u2019s pleasures.\u201d Then she would ascend to\nthe balcony, peep through the lattice, and seeing the reprobate going\nalong, she would cry to her friend, \u201cBring that person to me.\u201d All night\nshe tossed and turned from side to side, reflecting in her heart, \u201cI\nam puzzled in my mind what I shall say, and whither I shall go. I have\nforgotten sleep, hunger, and thirst; neither heat nor cold is refreshing\nto me.\u201d\n\nAt last, unable any longer to support the separation from her reprobate\nparamour, whom she adored, she resolved to fly with him. On one\noccasion, when she thought that her husband was fast asleep, she rose up\nquietly, and leaving him, made her way fearlessly in the dark night\nto her lover\u2019s abode. A footpad, who saw her on the way, thought to\nhimself, \u201cWhere can this woman, clothed in jewels, be going alone at\nmidnight?\u201d And thus he followed her unseen, and watched her.\n\nWhen Jayashri reached the intended place, she went into the house, and\nfound her lover lying at the door. He was dead, having been stabbed by\nthe footpad; but she, thinking that he had, according to custom, drunk\nintoxicating hemp, sat upon the floor, and raising his head, placed it\ntenderly in her lap. Then, burning with the fire of separation from\nhim, she began to kiss his cheeks, and to fondle and caress him with the\nutmost freedom and affection.\n\nBy chance a Pisach (evil spirit) was seated in a large fig-tree[82]\nopposite the house, and it occurred to him, when beholding this scene,\nthat he might amuse himself in a characteristic way. He therefore hopped\ndown from his branch, vivified the body, and began to return the woman\u2019s\ncaresses. But as Jayashri bent down to kiss his lips, he caught the end\nof her nose in his teeth, and bit it clean off. He then issued from the\ncorpse, and returned to the branch where he had been sitting.\n\nJayashri was in despair. She did not, however, lose her presence of\nmind, but sat down and proceeded to take thought; and when she had\nmatured her plan she arose, dripping with blood, and walked straight\nhome to her husband\u2019s house. On entering his room she clapped her hand\nto her nose, and began to gnash her teeth, and to shriek so violently,\nthat all the members of the family were alarmed. The neighbours also\ncollected in numbers at the door, and, as it was bolted inside, they\nbroke it open and rushed in, carrying lights. There they saw the\nwife sitting upon the ground with her face mutilated, and the husband\nstanding over her, apparently trying to appease her.\n\n\u201cO ignorant, criminal, shameless, pitiless wretch!\u201d cried the people,\nespecially the women; \u201cwhy hast thou cut off her nose, she not having\noffended in any way?\u201d\n\nPoor Shridat, seeing at once the trick which had been played upon him,\nthought to himself: \u201cOne should put no confidence in a changeful mind, a\nblack serpent, or an armed enemy, and one should dread a woman\u2019s doings.\nWhat cannot a poet describe? What is there that a saint (jogi) does not\nknow? What nonsense will not a drunken man talk? What limit is there to\na woman\u2019s guile? True it is that the gods know nothing of the defects of\na horse, of the thundering of clouds, of a woman\u2019s deeds, or of a man\u2019s\nfuture fortunes. How then can we know?\u201d He could do nothing but weep,\nand swear by the herb basil, by his cattle, by his grain, by a piece of\ngold, and by all that is holy, that he had not committed the crime.\n\nIn the meanwhile, the old merchant, Jayashri\u2019s father, ran off, and laid\na complaint before the kotwal, and the footmen of the police magistrate\nwere immediately sent to apprehend the husband, and to carry him bound\nbefore the judge. The latter, after due examination, laid the affair\nbefore the king. An example happening to be necessary at the time, the\nking resolved to punish the offence with severity, and he summoned the\nhusband and wife to the court.\n\nWhen the merchant\u2019s daughter was asked to give an account of what had\nhappened, she pointed out the state of her nose, and said, \u201cMaharaj! why\ninquire of me concerning what is so manifest?\u201d The king then turned to\nthe husband, and bade him state his defence. He said, \u201cI know nothing of\nit,\u201d and in the face of the strongest evidence he persisted in denying\nhis guilt.\n\nThereupon the king, who had vainly threatened to cut off Shridat\u2019s\nright hand, infuriated by his refusing to confess and to beg for\nmercy, exclaimed, \u201cHow must I punish such a wretch as thou art?\u201d The\nunfortunate man answered, \u201cWhatever your majesty may consider just, that\nbe pleased to do.\u201d Thereupon the king cried, \u201cAway with him, and impale\nhim\u201d; and the people, hearing the command, prepared to obey it.\n\nBefore Shridat had left the court, the footpad, who had been looking\non, and who saw that an innocent man was about to be unjustly punished,\nraised a cry for justice and, pushing through the crowd, resolved to\nmake himself heard. He thus addressed the throne: \u201cGreat king, the\ncherishing of the good, and the punishment of the bad, is the invariable\nduty of kings.\u201d The ruler having caused him to approach, asked him who\nhe was, and he replied boldly, \u201cMaharaj! I am a thief, and this man is\ninnocent and his blood is about to be shed unjustly. Your majesty has\nnot done what is right in this affair.\u201d Thereupon the king charged\nhim to tell the truth according to his religion; and the thief related\nexplicitly the whole circumstances, omitting of course, the murder.\n\n\u201cGo ye,\u201d said the king to his messengers, \u201cand look in the mouth of the\nwoman\u2019s lover who has fallen dead. If the nose be there found, then has\nthis thief-witness told the truth, and the husband is a guiltless man.\u201d\n\nThe nose was presently produced in court, and Shridat escaped the stake.\nThe king caused the wicked Jayashri\u2019s face to be smeared with oily soot,\nand her head and eyebrows to be shaved; thus blackened and disfigured,\nshe was mounted upon a little ragged-limbed ass and was led around the\nmarket and the streets, after which she was banished for ever from the\ncity. The husband and the thief were then dismissed with betel and other\ngifts, together with much sage advice which neither of them wanted.\n\n\u201cMy king,\u201d resumed the misogyne parrot, \u201cof such excellencies as these\nare women composed. It is said that \u2018wet cloth will extinguish fire and\nbad food will destroy strength; a degenerate son ruins a family,\nand when a friend is in wrath he takes away life. But a woman is an\ninflicter of grief in love and in hate, whatever she does turns out to\nbe for our ill. Truly the Deity has created woman a strange being in\nthis world.\u2019 And again, \u2018The beauty of the nightingale is its song,\nscience is the beauty of an ugly man, forgiveness is the beauty of a\ndevotee, and the beauty of a woman is virtue-but where shall we find\nit?\u2019 And again, \u2018Among the sages, Narudu; among the beasts, the jackal;\namong the birds, the crow; among men, the barber; and in this world\nwoman-is the most crafty.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhat I have told thee, my king, I have seen with mine own eyes, and I\nhave heard with mine own ears. At the time I was young, but the event\nso affected me that I have ever since held female kind to be a walking\npest, a two-legged plague, whose mission on earth, like flies and other\nvermin, is only to prevent our being too happy. O, why do not children\nand young parrots sprout in crops from the ground-from budding trees or\nvinestocks?\u201d\n\n\u201cI was thinking, sire,\u201d said the young Dharma Dhwaj to the warrior king\nhis father, \u201cwhat women would say of us if they could compose Sanskrit\nverses!\u201d\n\n\u201cThen keep your thoughts to yourself,\u201d replied the Raja, nettled at his\nson daring to say a word in favour of the sex. \u201cYou always take the part\nof wickedness and depravity---\u201d\n\n\u201cPermit me, your majesty,\u201d interrupted the Baital, \u201cto conclude my\ntale.\u201d\n\nWhen Madan-manjari, the jay, and Churaman, the parrot, had given these\nillustrations of their belief, they began to wrangle, and words ran\nhigh. The former insisted that females are the salt of the earth,\nspeaking, I presume, figuratively. The latter went so far as to assert\nthat the opposite sex have no souls, and that their brains are in a\nrudimental and inchoate state of development. Thereupon he was tartly\ntaken to task by his master\u2019s bride, the beautiful Chandravati, who told\nhim that those only have a bad opinion of women who have associated with\nnone but the vicious and the low, and that he should be ashamed to abuse\nfeminine parrots, because his mother had been one.\n\nThis was truly logical.\n\nOn the other hand, the jay was sternly reproved for her mutinous and\ntreasonable assertions by the husband of her mistress, Raja Ram, who,\nalthough still a bridegroom, had not forgotten the gallant rule of his\nsyntax--\n\n               The masculine is more worthy than the feminine;\n\ntill Madan-manjari burst into tears and declared that her life was not\nworth having. And Raja Ram looked at her as if he could have wrung her\nneck.\n\nIn short, Raja Vikram, all the four lost their tempers, and with them\nwhat little wits they had. Two of them were but birds, and the others\nseem not to have been much better, being young, ignorant, inexperienced,\nand lately married. How then could they decide so difficult a question\nas that of the relative wickedness and villany of men and women? Had\nyour majesty been there, the knot of uncertainty would soon have been\nundone by the trenchant edge of your wit and wisdom, your knowledge and\nexperience. You have, of course, long since made up your mind upon the\nsubject?\n\nDharma Dhwaj would have prevented his father\u2019s reply. But the youth had\nbeen twice reprehended in the course of this tale, and he thought it\nwisest to let things take their own way.\n\n\u201cWomen,\u201d quoth the Raja, oracularly, \u201care worse than we are; a man,\nhowever depraved he may be, ever retains some notion of right and wrong,\nbut a woman does not. She has no such regard whatever.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe beautiful Bangalah Rani for instance?\u201d said the Baital, with a\ndemonaic sneer.\n\nAt the mention of a word, the uttering of which was punishable by\nextirpation of the tongue, Raja Vikram\u2019s brain whirled with rage. He\nstaggered in the violence of his passion, and putting forth both hands\nto break his fall, he dropped the bundle from his back. Then the Baital,\ndisentangling himself and laughing lustily, ran off towards the tree as\nfast as his thin brown legs would carry him. But his activity availed\nhim little.\n\nThe king, puffing with fury, followed him at the top of his speed, and\ncaught him by his tail before he reached the siras-tree, hurled him\nbackwards with force, put foot upon his chest, and after shaking out the\ncloth, rolled him up in it with extreme violence, bumped his back half\na dozen times against the stony ground, and finally, with a jerk, threw\nhim on his shoulder, as he had done before.\n\nThe young prince, afraid to accompany his father whilst he was pursuing\nthe fiend, followed slowly in the rear, and did not join him for some\nminutes.\n\nBut when matters were in their normal state, the Vampire, who had\nendured with exemplary patience the penalty of his impudence, began in\nhoneyed accents,\n\n\u201cListen, O warrior king, whilst thy servant recounts unto thee another\ntrue tale.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S THIRD STORY -- Of a High-minded Family.\n\nIn the venerable city of Bardwan, O warrior king! (quoth the Vampire)\nduring the reign of the mighty Rupsen, flourished one Rajeshwar, a\nRajput warrior of distinguished fame. By his valour and conduct he had\nrisen from the lowest ranks of the army to command it as its captain.\nAnd arrived at that dignity, he did not put a stop to all improvements,\nlike other chiefs, who rejoice to rest and return thanks. On the\ncontrary, he became such a reformer that, to some extent, he remodelled\nthe art of war.\n\nInstead of attending to rules and regulations, drawn up in their studies\nby pandits and Brahmans, he consulted chiefly his own experience and\njudgment. He threw aside the systematic plans of campaigns laid down in\nthe Shastras or books of the ancients, and he acted upon the spur of\nthe moment. He displayed a skill in the choice of ground, in the use of\nlight troops, and in securing his own supplies whilst he cut off those\nof the enemy, which Kartikaya himself, God of War, might have envied.\nFinding that the bows of his troops were clumsy and slow to use, he had\nthem all changed before compelled so to do by defeat; he also gave his\nattention to the sword handles, which cramped the men\u2019s grasp but which\nhaving been used for eighteen hundred years were considered perfect\nweapons. And having organized a special corps of warriors using fire\narrows, he soon brought it to such perfection that, by using it against\nthe elephants of his enemies, he gained many a campaign.\n\nOne instance of his superior judgment I am about to quote to thee, O\nVikram, after which I return to my tale; for thou art truly a warrior\nking, very likely to imitate the innovations of the great general\nRajeshwar.\n\n(A grunt from the monarch was the result of the Vampire\u2019s sneer.)\n\nHe found his master\u2019s armies recruited from Northern Hindustan, and\nofficered by Kshatriya warriors, who grew great only because they grew\nold and--fat. Thus the energy and talent of the younger men were wasted\nin troubles and disorders; whilst the seniors were often so ancient\nthat they could not mount their chargers unaided, nor, when they were\nmounted, could they see anything a dozen yards before them. But they\nhad served in a certain obsolete campaign, and until Rajeshwar gave them\npensions and dismissals, they claimed a right to take first part in all\ncampaigns present and future. The commander-in-chief refused to use any\ncaptain who could not stand steady on his legs, or endure the sun for a\nwhole day. When a soldier distinguished himself in action, he raised him\nto the powers and privileges of the warrior caste. And whereas it had\nbeen the habit to lavish circles and bars of silver and other metals\nupon all those who had joined in the war, whether they had sat behind\na heap of sand or had been foremost to attack the foe, he broke through\nthe pernicious custom, and he rendered the honour valuable by conferring\nit only upon the deserving. I need hardly say that, in an inordinately\nshort space of time, his army beat every king and general that opposed\nit.\n\nOne day the great commander-in-chief was seated in a certain room near\nthe threshold of his gate, when the voices of a number of people outside\nwere heard. Rajeshwar asked, \u201cWho is at the door, and what is the\nmeaning of the noise I hear?\u201d The porter replied, \u201cIt is a fine thing\nyour honour has asked. Many persons come sitting at the door of the rich\nfor the purpose of obtaining a livelihood and wealth. When they meet\ntogether they talk of various things: it is these very people who are\nnow making this noise.\u201d\n\nRajeshwar, on hearing this, remained silent.\n\nIn the meantime a traveller, a Rajput, Birbal by name, hoping to obtain\nemployment, came from the southern quarter to the palace of the chief.\nThe porter having listened to his story, made the circumstance known to\nhis master, saying, \u201cO chief! an armed man has arrived here, hoping to\nobtain employment, and is standing at the door. If I receive a command\nhe shall be brought into your honour\u2019s presence.\u201d\n\n\u201cBring him in,\u201d cried the commander-in-chief.\n\nThe porter brought him in, and Rajeshwar inquired, \u201cO Rajput, who and\nwhat art thou?\u201d\n\nBirbal submitted that he was a person of distinguished fame for the use\nof weapons, and that his name for fidelity and valour had gone forth to\nthe utmost ends of Bharat-Kandha.[83]\n\nThe chief was well accustomed to this style of self introduction, and\nits only effect upon his mind was a wish to shame the man by showing him\nthat he had not the least knowledge of weapons. He therefore bade him\nbare his blade and perform some feat.\n\nBirbal at once drew his good sword. Guessing the thoughts which were\nhovering about the chief\u2019s mind, he put forth his left hand, extending\nthe forefinger upwards, waved his blade like the arm of a demon round\nhis head, and, with a dexterous stroke, so shaved off a bit of nail\nthat it fell to the ground, and not a drop of blood appeared upon the\nfinger-tip.\n\n\u201cLive for ever!\u201d exclaimed Rajeshwar in admiration. He then addressed\nto the recruit a few questions concerning the art of war, or rather\nconcerning his peculiar views of it. To all of which Birbal answered\nwith a spirit and a judgment which convinced the hearer that he was no\ncommon sworder.\n\nWhereupon Rajeshwar bore off the new man at arms to the palace of the\nking Rupsen, and recommended that he should be engaged without delay.\n\nThe king, being a man of few words and many ideas, after hearing his\ncommander-in-chief, asked, \u201cO Rajput, what shall I give thee for thy\ndaily expenditure?\u201d\n\n\u201cGive me a thousand ounces of gold daily,\u201d said Birbal, \u201cand then I\nshall have wherewithal to live on.\u201d\n\n\u201cHast thou an army with thee?\u201d exclaimed the king in the greatest\nastonishment.\n\n\u201cI have not,\u201d responded the Rajput somewhat stiffly. \u201cI have first,\na wife; second, a son; third, a daughter; fourth, myself; there is no\nfifth person with me.\u201d\n\nAll the people of the court on hearing this turned aside their heads to\nlaugh, and even the women, who were peeping at the scene, covered their\nmouths with their veils. The Rajput was then dismissed the presence.\n\nIt is, however, noticeable amongst you humans, that the world often\ntakes you at your own valuation. Set a high price upon yourselves,\nand each man shall say to his neighbour, \u201cIn this man there must be\nsomething.\u201d Tell everyone that you are brave, clever, generous, or even\nhandsome, and after a time they will begin to believe you. And when thus\nyou have attained success, it will be harder to unconvince them than it\nwas to convince them. Thus---\n\n\u201cListen not to him, sirrah,\u201d cried Raja Vikram to Dharma Dhwaj, the\nyoung prince, who had fallen a little way behind, and was giving ear\nattentively to the Vampire\u2019s ethics. \u201cListen to him not. And tell me,\nvillain, with these ignoble principles of thine, what will become of\nmodesty, humility, self-sacrifice, and a host of other Guna or good\nqualities which--which are good qualities?\u201d\n\n\u201cI know not,\u201d rejoined the Baital, \u201cneither do I care. But my habitually\ninspiriting a succession of human bodies has taught me one fact. The\nwise man knows himself, and is, therefore, neither unduly humble nor\nelated, because he had no more to do with making himself than with the\ncut of his cloak, or with the fitness of his loin-cloth. But the fool\neither loses his head by comparing himself with still greater fools, or\nis prostrated when he finds himself inferior to other and lesser fools.\nThis shyness he calls modesty, humility, and so forth. Now, whenever\nentering a corpse, whether it be of man, woman, or child, I feel\npeculiarly modest; I know that my tenement lately belonged to some\nconceited ass. And--\u201d\n\n\u201cWouldst thou have me bump thy back against the ground?\u201d asked Raja\nVikram angrily.\n\n(The Baital muttered some reply scarcely intelligible about his having\nthis time stumbled upon a metaphysical thread of ideas, and then\ncontinued his story.)\n\nNow Rupsen, the king, began by inquiring of himself why the Rajput had\nrated his services so highly. Then he reflected that if this recruit\nhad asked so much money, it must have been for some reason which would\nafterwards become apparent. Next, he hoped that if he gave him so much,\nhis generosity might some day turn out to his own advantage. Finally,\nwith this idea in his mind, he summoned Birbal and the steward of his\nhousehold, and said to the latter, \u201cGive this Rajput a thousand ounces\nof gold daily from our treasury.\u201d\n\nIt is related that Birbal made the best possible use of his wealth.\nHe used every morning to divide it into two portions, one of which was\ndistributed to Brahmans and Parohitas.[84] Of the remaining moiety,\nhaving made two parts, he gave one as alms to pilgrims, to Bairagis\nor Vishnu\u2019s mendicants, and to Sanyasis or worshippers of Shiva, whose\nbodies, smeared with ashes, were hardly covered with a narrow cotton\ncloth and a rope about their loins, and whose heads of artificial hair,\nclotted like a rope, besieged his gate. With the remaining fourth,\nhaving caused food to be prepared, he regaled the poor, while he himself\nand his family ate what was left. Every evening, arming himself with\nsword and buckler, he took up his position as guard at the royal\nbedside, and walked round it all night sword in hand. If the king\nchanced to wake and asked who was present, Birbal immediately gave reply\nthat \u201cBirbal is here; whatever command you give, that he will obey.\u201d And\noftentimes Rupsen gave him unusual commands, for it is said, \u201cTo try thy\nservant, bid him do things in season and out of season: if he obey thee\nwillingly, know him to be useful; if he reply, dismiss him at once. Thus\nis a servant tried, even as a wife by the poverty of her husband, and\nbrethren and friends by asking their aid.\u201d\n\nIn such manner, through desire of money, Birbal remained on guard\nall night; and whether eating, drinking, sleeping, sitting, going or\nwandering about, during the twenty-four hours, he held his master in\nwatchful remembrance. This, indeed, is the custom; if a man sell another\nthe latter is sold, but a servant by doing service sells himself, and\nwhen a man has become dependent, how can he be happy? Certain it is that\nhowever intelligent, clever, or learned a man may be, yet, while he is\nin his master\u2019s presence, he remains silent as a dumb man, and struck\nwith dread. Only while he is away from his lord can he be at ease.\nHence, learned men say that to do service aright is harder than any\nreligious study.\n\nOn one occasion it is related that there happened to be heard at\nnight-time the wailing of a woman in a neighbouring cemetery. The king\non hearing it called out, \u201cWho is in waiting?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am here,\u201d replied Birbal; \u201cwhat command is there?\u201d\n\n\u201cGo,\u201d spoke the king, \u201cto the place whence proceeds this sound of\nwoman\u2019s wail, and having inquired the cause of her grief, return\nquickly.\u201d\n\nOn receiving this order the Rajput went to obey it; and the king,\nunseen by him, and attired in a black dress, followed for the purpose of\nobserving his courage.\n\nPresently Birbal arrived at the cemetery. And what sees he there? A\nbeautiful woman of a light yellow colour, loaded with jewels from head\nto foot, holding a horn in her right and a necklace in her left hand.\nSometimes she danced, sometimes she jumped, and sometimes she ran\nabout. There was not a tear in her eye, but beating her head and making\nlamentable cries, she kept dashing herself on the ground.\n\nSeeing her condition, and not recognizing the goddess born of sea foam,\nand whom all the host of heaven loved,[85] Birbal inquired, \u201cWhy art\nthou thus beating thyself and crying out? Who art thou? And what grief\nis upon thee?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am the Royal-Luck,\u201d she replied.\n\n\u201cFor what reason,\u201d asked Birbal, \u201cart thou weeping?\u201d\n\nThe goddess then began to relate her position to the Rajput. She said,\nwith tears, \u201cIn the king\u2019s palace Shudra (or low caste acts) are done,\nand hence misfortune will certainly fall upon it, and I shall forsake\nit. After a month has passed, the king, having endured excessive\naffliction, will die. In grief for this, I weep. I have brought much\nhappiness to the king\u2019s house, and hence I am full of regret that this\nmy prediction cannot in any way prove untrue.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs there,\u201d asked Birbal, \u201cany remedy for this trouble, so that the king\nmay be preserved and live a hundred years?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the goddess, \u201cthere is. About eight miles to the east thou\nwilt find a temple dedicated to my terrible sister Devi. Offer to her\nthy son\u2019s head, cut off with thine own hand, and the reign of thy king\nshall endure for an age.\u201d So saying Raj-Lakshmi disappeared.\n\nBirbal answered not a word, but with hurried steps he turned towards\nhis home. The king, still in black so as not to be seen, followed him\nclosely, and observed and listened to everything he did.\n\nThe Rajput went straight to his wife, awakened her, and related to her\neverything that had happened. The wise have said, \u201cshe alone deserves\nthe name of wife who always receives her husband with affectionate and\nsubmissive words.\u201d When she heard the circumstances, she at once aroused\nher son, and her daughter also awoke. Then Birbal told them all that\nthey must follow him to the temple of Devi in the wood.\n\nOn the way the Rajput said to his wife, \u201cIf thou wilt give up thy\nson willingly, I will sacrifice him for our master\u2019s sake to Devi the\nDestroyer.\u201d\n\nShe replied, \u201cFather and mother, son and daughter, brother and relative,\nhave I now none. You are everything to me. It is written in the\nscripture that a wife is not made pure by gifts to priests, nor by\nperforming religious rites; her virtue consists in waiting upon her\nhusband, in obeying him and in loving him--yea! though he be lame,\nmaimed in the hands, dumb, deaf, blind, one eyed, leprous, or\nhumpbacked. It is a true saying that \u2018a son under one\u2019s authority, a\nbody free from sickness, a desire to acquire knowledge, an intelligent\nfriend, and an obedient wife; whoever holds these five will find them\nbestowers of happiness and dispellers of affliction. An unwilling\nservant, a parsimonious king, an insincere friend, and a wife not under\ncontrol; such things are disturbers of ease and givers of trouble.\u2019\u201d\n\nThen the good wife turned to her son and said \u201cChild by the gift of thy\nhead, the king\u2019s life may be spared, and the kingdom remain unshaken.\u201d\n\n\u201cMother,\u201d replied that excellent youth, \u201cin my opinion we should hasten\nthis matter. Firstly, I must obey your command; secondly, I must promote\nthe interests of my master; thirdly, if this body be of any use to a\ngoddess, nothing better can be done with it in this world.\u201d\n\n(\u201cExcuse me, Raja Vikram,\u201d said the Baital, interrupting himself, \u201cif I\nrepeat these fair discourses at full length; it is interesting to hear a\nyoung person, whose throat is about to be cut, talk so like a doctor of\nlaws.\u201d)\n\nThen the youth thus addressed his sire: \u201cFather, whoever can be of use\nto his master, the life of that man in this world has been lived to good\npurpose, and by reason of his usefulness he will be rewarded in other\nworlds.\u201d\n\nHis sister, however, exclaimed, \u201cIf a mother should give poison to\nher daughter, and a father sell his son, and a king seize the entire\nproperty of his subjects, where then could one look for protection?\u201d But\nthey heeded her not, and continued talking as they journeyed towards the\ntemple of Devi--the king all the while secretly following them.\n\nPresently they reached the temple, a single room, surrounded by a\nspacious paved area; in front was an immense building capable of seating\nhundreds of people. Before the image there were pools of blood, where\nvictims had lately been slaughtered. In the sanctum was Devi, a large\nblack figure with ten arms. With a spear in one of her right hands she\npierced the giant Mahisha; and with one of her left hands she held the\ntail of a serpent, and the hair of the giant, whose breast the serpent\nwas biting. Her other arms were all raised above her head, and were\nfilled with different instruments of war; against her right leg leaned a\nlion.\n\nThen Birbal joined his hands in prayer, and with Hindu mildness thus\naddressed the awful goddess: \u201cO mother, let the king\u2019s life be prolonged\nfor a thousand years by the sacrifice of my son. O Devi, mother!\ndestroy, destroy his enemies! Kill! kill! Reduce them to ashes! Drive\nthem away! Devour them! devour them! Cut them in two! Drink! drink\ntheir blood! Destroy them root and branch! With thy thunderbolt, spear,\nscymitar, discus, or rope, annihilate them! Spheng! Spheng!\u201d\n\nThe Rajput, having caused his son to kneel before the goddess, struck\nhim so violent a blow that his head rolled upon the ground. He then\nthrew the sword down, when his daughter, frantic with grief, snatched it\nup and struck her neck with such force that her head, separated from her\nbody, fell. In her turn the mother, unable to survive the loss of her\nchildren, seized the weapon and succeeded in decapitating herself.\nBirbal, beholding all this slaughter, thus reflected: \u201cMy children\nare dead why, now, should I remain in servitude, and upon whom shall I\nbestow the gold I receive from the king?\u201d He then gave himself so deep a\nwound in the neck, that his head also separated from his body.\n\nRupsen, the king, seeing these four heads on the ground, said in his\nheart, \u201cFor my sake has the family of Birbal been destroyed. Kingly\npower, for the purpose of upholding which the destruction of a whole\nhousehold is necessary, is a mere curse, and to carry on government in\nthis manner is not just.\u201d He then took up the sword and was about to\nslay himself, when the Destroying Goddess, probably satisfied with\nbloodshed, stayed his hand, bidding him at the same time ask any boon he\npleased.\n\nThe generous monarch begged, thereupon, that his faithful servant might\nbe restored to life, together with all his high-minded family; and the\ngoddess Devi in the twinkling of an eye fetched from Patala, the regions\nbelow the earth, a vase full of Amrita, the water of immortality,\nsprinkled it upon the dead, and raised them all as before. After which\nthe whole party walked leisurely home, and in due time the king divided\nhis throne with his friend Birbal.\n\nHaving stopped for a moment, the Baital proceeded to remark, in a\nsententious tone, \u201cHappy the servant who grudges not his own life to\nsave that of his master! And happy, thrice happy the master who can\nannihilate all greedy longing for existence and worldly prosperity.\nRaja, I have to ask thee one searching question--Of these five, who was\nthe greatest fool?\u201d\n\n\u201cDemon!\u201d exclaimed the great Vikram, all whose cherished feelings about\nfidelity and family affection, obedience, and high-mindedness, were\noutraged by this Vampire view of the question; \u201cif thou meanest by the\ngreatest fool the noblest mind, I reply without hesitating Rupsen, the\nking.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, prithee?\u201d asked the Baital.\n\n\u201cBecause, dull demon,\u201d said the king, \u201cBirbal was bound to offer up\nhis life for a master who treated him so generously; the son could not\ndisobey his father, and the women naturally and instinctively killed\nthemselves, because the example was set to them. But Rupsen the king\ngave up his throne for the sake of his retainer, and valued not a straw\nhis life and his high inducements to live. For this reason I think him\nthe most meritorious.\u201d\n\n\u201cSurely, mighty Vikram,\u201d laughed the Vampire, \u201cyou will be tired of\never clambering up yon tall tree, even had you the legs and arms of\nHanuman[86] himself.\u201d\n\nAnd so saying he disappeared from the cloth, although it had been placed\nupon the ground.\n\nBut the poor Baital had little reason to congratulate himself on the\nsuccess of his escape. In a short time he was again bundled into the\ncloth with the usual want of ceremony, and he revenged himself by\ntelling another true story.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S FOURTH STORY -- Of A Woman Who Told The Truth.\n\n\n\u201cListen, great king!\u201d again began the Baital.\n\nAn unimportant Baniya[87] (trader), Hiranyadatt, had a daughter, whose\nname was Madansena Sundari, the beautiful army of Cupid. Her face\nwas like the moon; her hair like the clouds; her eyes like those of a\nmuskrat; her eyebrows like a bent bow; her nose like a parrot\u2019s bill;\nher neck like that of a dove; her teeth like pomegranate grains; the\nred colour of her lips like that of a gourd; her waist lithe and bending\nlike the pards: her hands and feet like softest blossoms; her complexion\nlike the jasmine-in fact, day by day the splendour of her youth\nincreased.\n\nWhen she had arrived at maturity, her father and mother began often to\nresolve in their minds the subject of her marriage. And the people of\nall that country side ruled by Birbar king of Madanpur bruited it abroad\nthat in the house of Hiranyadatt had been born a daughter by whose\nbeauty gods, men, and munis (sages) were fascinated.\n\nThereupon many, causing their portraits to be painted, sent them\nby messengers to Hiranyadatt the Baniya, who showed them all to his\ndaughter. But she was capricious, as beauties sometimes are, and when\nher father said, \u201cMake choice of a husband thyself,\u201d she told him that\nnone pleased her, and moreover she begged of him to find her a husband\nwho possessed good looks, good qualities, and good sense.\n\nAt length, when some days had passed, four suitors came from four\ndifferent countries. The father told them that he must have from each\nsome indication that he possessed the required qualities; that he was\npleased with their looks, but that they must satisfy him about their\nknowledge.\n\n\u201cI have,\u201d the first said, \u201ca perfect acquaintance with the Shastras (or\nScriptures); in science there is none to rival me. As for my handsome\nmien, it may plainly be seen by you.\u201d\n\nThe second exclaimed, \u201cMy attainments are unique in the knowledge of\narchery. I am acquainted with the art of discharging arrows and killing\nanything which though not seen is heard, and my fine proportions are\nplainly visible to you.\u201d\n\nThe third continued, \u201cI understand the language of land and water\nanimals, of birds and of beasts, and I have no equal in strength. Of my\ncomeliness you yourself may judge.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have the knowledge,\u201d quoth the fourth, \u201chow to make a certain cloth\nwhich can be sold for five rubies: having sold it I give the proceeds\nof one ruby to a Brahman, of the second I make an offering to a deity, a\nthird I wear on my own person, a fourth I keep for my wife; and, having\nsold the fifth, I spend it in giving feasts. This is my knowledge, and\nnone other is acquainted with it. My good looks are apparent.\u201d\n\nThe father hearing these speeches began to reflect, \u201cIt is said that\nexcess in anything is not good. Sita[88] was very lovely, but the demon\nRavana carried her away; and Bali king of Mahabahpur gave much alms,\nbut at length he became poor.[89] My daughter is too fair to remain a\nmaiden; to which of these shall I give her?\u201d\n\nSo saying, Hiranyadatt went to his daughter, explained the qualities of\nthe four suitors, and asked, \u201cTo which shall I give thee?\u201d On hearing\nthese words she was abashed; and, hanging down her head, knew not what\nto reply.\n\nThen the Baniya, having reflected, said to himself, \u201cHe who is\nacquainted with the Shastras is a Brahman, he who could shoot an arrow\nat the sound was a Kshatriya or warrior, and he who made the cloth was\na Shudra or servile. But the youth who understands the language of\nbirds is of our own caste. To him, therefore, will I marry her.\u201d And\naccordingly he proceeded with the betrothal of his daughter.\n\nMeanwhile Madansena went one day, during the spring season into the\ngarden for a stroll. It happened, just before she came out, that\nSomdatt, the son of the merchant Dharmdatt, had gone for pleasure into\nthe forest, and was returning through the same garden to his home.\n\nHe was fascinated at the sight of the maiden, and said to his friend,\n\u201cBrother, if I can obtain her my life will be prosperous, and if I do\nnot obtain her my living in the world will be in vain.\u201d\n\nHaving thus spoken, and becoming restless from the fear of separation,\nhe involuntarily drew near to her, and seizing her hand, said--\u201cIf thou\nwilt not form an affection for me, I will throw away my life on thy\naccount.\u201d\n\n\u201cBe pleased not to do this,\u201d she replied; \u201cit will be sinful, and it\nwill involve me in the guilt and punishment of shedding blood; hence I\nshall be miserable in this world and in that to be.\u201d\n\n\u201cThy blandishments,\u201d he replied, \u201chave pierced my heart, and the\nconsuming thought of parting from thee has burnt up my body, and memory\nand understanding have been destroyed by this pain; and from excess\nof love I have no sense of right or wrong. But if thou wilt make me a\npromise, I will live again.\u201d\n\nShe replied, \u201cTruly the Kali Yug (iron age) has commenced, since which\ntime falsehood has increased in the world and truth has diminished;\npeople talk smoothly with their tongues, but nourish deceit in their\nhearts; religion is destroyed, crime has increased, and the earth\nhas begun to give little fruit. Kings levy fines, Brahmans have waxed\ncovetous, the son obeys not his sire\u2019s commands, brother distrusts\nbrother; friendship has departed from amongst friends; sincerity\nhas left masters; servants have given up service; man has abandoned\nmanliness; and woman has abandoned modesty. Five days hence, my marriage\nis to be; but if thou slay not thyself, I will visit thee first, and\nafter that I will remain with my husband.\u201d\n\nHaving given this promise, and having sworn by the Ganges, she returned\nhome. The merchant\u2019s son also went his way.\n\nPresently the marriage ceremonies came on, and Hiranyadatt the Baniya\nexpended a lakh of rupees in feasts and presents to the bridegroom. The\nbodies of the twain were anointed with turmeric, the bride was made to\nhold in her hand the iron box for eye paint, and the youth a pair of\nbetel scissors. During the night before the wedding there was loud and\nshrill music, the heads and limbs of the young couple were rubbed with\nan ointment of oil, and the bridegroom\u2019s head was duly shaved. The\nwedding procession was very grand. The streets were a blaze of flambeaux\nand torches carried in the hand, fireworks by the ton were discharged\nas the people passed; elephants, camels, and horses richly caparisoned,\nwere placed in convenient situations; and before the procession had\nreached the house of the bride half a dozen wicked boys and bad young\nmen were killed or wounded.[90] After the marriage formulas were\nrepeated, the Baniya gave a feast or supper, and the food was so\nexcellent that all sat down quietly, no one uttered a complaint, or\nbrought dishonour on the bride\u2019s family, or cut with scissors the\ngarments of his neighbour.\n\nThe ceremony thus happily concluded, the husband brought Madansena home\nto his own house. After some days the wife of her husband\u2019s youngest\nbrother, and also the wife of his eldest brother, led her at night\nby force to her bridegroom, and seated her on a bed ornamented with\nflowers.\n\nAs her husband proceeded to take her hand, she jerked it away, and at\nonce openly told him all that she had promised to Somdatt on condition\nof his not killing himself.\n\n\u201cAll things,\u201d rejoined the bridegroom, hearing her words, \u201chave their\nsense ascertained by speech; in speech they have their basis, and\nfrom speech they proceed; consequently a falsifier of speech falsifies\neverything. If truly you are desirous of going to him, go!\n\n\u201cReceiving her husband\u2019s permission, she arose and went off to the young\nmerchant\u2019s house in full dress. Upon the road a thief saw her, and in\nhigh good humour came up and asked--\n\n\u201cWhither goest thou at midnight in such darkness, having put on all\nthese fine clothes and ornaments?\u201d\n\nShe replied that she was going to the house of her beloved.\n\n\u201cAnd who here,\u201d said the thief, \u201cis thy protector?\u201d\n\n\u201cKama Deva,\u201d she replied, \u201cthe beautiful youth who by his fiery arrows\nwounds with love the hearts of the inhabitants of the three worlds,\nRatipati, the husband of Rati,[91] accompanied by the kokila bird,[92]\nthe humming bee and gentle breezes.\u201d She then told to the thief the\nwhole story, adding--\n\n\u201cDestroy not my jewels: I give thee a promise before I go, that on my\nreturn thou shalt have all these ornaments.\u201d\n\nHearing this the thief thought to himself that it would be useless\nnow to destroy her jewels, when she had promised to give them to him\npresently of her own good will. He therefore let her go, and sat down\nand thus soliloquized:\n\n\u201cTo me it is astonishing that he who sustained me in my mother\u2019s womb\nshould take no care of me now that I have been born and am able to enjoy\nthe good things of this world. I know not whether he is asleep or dead.\nAnd I would rather swallow poison than ask man for money or favour. For\nthese six things tend to lower a man:--friendship with the perfidious;\ncauseless laughter; altercation with women; serving an unworthy master;\nriding an ass, and speaking any language but Sanskrit. And these five\nthings the deity writes on our fate at the hour of birth:--first, age;\nsecondly, action; thirdly, wealth; fourthly, science; fifthly, fame.\nI have now done a good deed, and as long as a man\u2019s virtue is in the\nascendant, all people becoming his servants obey him. But when virtuous\ndeeds diminish, even his friends become inimical to him.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile Madansena had reached the place where Somdatt the young trader\nhad fallen asleep.\n\nShe awoke him suddenly, and he springing up in alarm quickly asked her,\n\u201cArt thou the daughter of a deity? or of a saint? or of a serpent? Tell\nme truly, who art thou? And whence hast thou come?\u201d\n\nShe replied, \u201cI am human--Madansena, the daughter of the Baniya\nHiranyadatt. Dost thou not remember taking my hand in that grove, and\ndeclaring that thou wouldst slay thyself if I did not swear to visit\nthee first and after that remain with my husband?\u201d\n\n\u201cHast thou,\u201d he inquired, \u201ctold all this to thy husband or not?\u201d\n\nShe replied, \u201cI have told him everything; and he, thoroughly\nunderstanding the whole affair, gave me permission.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis matter,\u201d exclaimed Somdatt in a melancholy voice, \u201cis like pearls\nwithout a suitable dress, or food without clarified butter,[93] or\nsinging without melody; they are all alike unnatural. In the same way,\nunclean clothes will mar beauty, bad food will undermine strength, a\nwicked wife will worry her husband to death, a disreputable son will\nruin his family, an enraged demon will kill, and a woman, whether she\nlove or hate, will be a source of pain. For there are few things which a\nwoman will not do. She never brings to her tongue what is in her heart,\nshe never speaks out what is on her tongue, and she never tells what she\nis doing. Truly the Deity has created woman a strange creature in this\nworld.\u201d He concluded with these words: \u201cReturn thou home with another\nman\u2019s wife I have no concern.\u201d\n\nMadansena rose and departed. On her way she met the thief, who, hearing\nher tale, gave her great praise, and let her go unplundered.[94]\n\nShe then went to her husband, and related the whole matter to him. But\nhe had ceased to love her, and he said, \u201cNeither a king nor a minister,\nnor a wife, nor a person\u2019s hair nor his nails, look well out of their\nplaces. And the beauty of the kokila is its note, of an ugly man\nknowledge, of a devotee forgiveness, and of a woman her chastity.\u201d\n\nThe Vampire having narrated thus far, suddenly asked the king, \u201cOf these\nthree, whose virtue was the greatest?\u201d\n\nVikram, who had been greatly edified by the tale, forgot himself, and\nejaculated, \u201cThe Thief\u2019s.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd pray why?\u201d asked the Baital.\n\n\u201cBecause,\u201d the hero explained, \u201cwhen her husband saw that she loved\nanother man, however purely, he ceased to feel affection for her.\nSomdatt let her go unharmed, for fear of being punished by the king. But\nthere was no reason why the thief should fear the law and dismiss her;\ntherefore he was the best.\u201d\n\n\u201cHi! hi! hi!\u201d laughed the demon, spitefully. \u201cHere, then, ends my\nstory.\u201d\n\nUpon which, escaping as before from the cloth in which he was slung\nbehind the Raja\u2019s back, the Baital disappeared through the darkness of\nthe night, leaving father and son looking at each other in dismay.\n\n\u201cSon Dharma Dhwaj,\u201d quoth the great Vikram, \u201cthe next time when that\nvillain Vampire asks me a question, I allow thee to take the liberty of\npinching my arm even before I have had time to answer his questions. In\nthis way we shall never, of a truth, end our task.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour words be upon my head, sire,\u201d replied the young prince. But he\nexpected no good from his father\u2019s new plan, as, arrived under the\nsires-tree, he heard the Baital laughing with all his might.\n\n\u201cSurely he is laughing at our beards, sire,\u201d said the beardless prince,\nwho hated to be laughed at like a young person.\n\n\u201cLet them laugh that win,\u201d fiercely cried Raja Vikram, who hated to be\nlaughed at like an elderly person.\n\n   *     *     *     *     *     *     *\n\nThe Vampire lost no time in opening a fresh story.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S FIFTH STORY -- Of the Thief Who Laughed and Wept.\n\nYour majesty (quoth the demon, with unusual politeness), there is a\ncountry called Malaya, on the western coast of the land of Bharat--you\nsee that I am particular in specifying the place--and in it was a city\nknown as Chandrodaya, whose king was named Randhir.\n\nThis Raja, like most others of his semi-deified order, had been in youth\nwhat is called a Sarva-rasi[95]; that is, he ate and drank and listened\nto music, and looked at dancers and made love much more than he studied,\nreflected, prayed, or conversed with the wise. After the age of thirty\nhe began to reform, and he brought such zeal to the good cause, that in\nan incredibly short space of time he came to be accounted and quoted\nas the paragon of correct Rajas. This was very praiseworthy. Many of\nBrahma\u2019s viceregents on earth, be it observed, have loved food and\ndrink, and music and dancing, and the worship of Kama, to the end of\ntheir days.\n\nAmongst his officers was Gunshankar, a magistrate of police, who,\ncurious to say, was as honest as he was just. He administered equity\nwith as much care before as after dinner; he took no bribes even in the\nmatter of advancing his family; he was rather merciful than otherwise\nto the poor, and he never punished the rich ostentatiously, in order to\ndisplay his and his law\u2019s disrespect for persons. Besides which, when\nsitting on the carpet of justice, he did not, as some Kotwals do, use\nrough or angry language to those who cannot reply; nor did he take\noffence when none was intended.\n\nAll the people of the city Chandrodaya, in the province of Malaya,\non the western coast of Bharatland, loved and esteemed this excellent\nmagistrate; which did not, however, prevent thefts being committed so\nfrequently and so regularly, that no one felt his property secure. At\nlast the merchants who had suffered most from these depredations went in\na body before Gunshankar, and said to him:\n\n\u201cO flower of the law! robbers have exercised great tyranny upon us, so\ngreat indeed that we can no longer stay in this city.\u201d\n\nThen the magistrate replied, \u201cWhat has happened, has happened. But in\nfuture you shall be free from annoyance. I will make due preparation for\nthese thieves.\u201d\n\nThus saying Gunshankar called together his various delegates, and\ndirected them to increase the number of their people. He pointed out to\nthem how they should keep watch by night; besides which he ordered them\nto open registers of all arrivals and departures, to make themselves\nacquainted by means of spies with the movements of every suspected\nperson in the city, and to raise a body of paggis (trackers), who could\nfollow the footprints of thieves even when they wore thieving shoes,[96]\ntill they came up with and arrested them. And lastly, he gave the\npatrols full power, whenever they might catch a robber in the act, to\nslay him without asking questions.\n\nPeople in numbers began to mount guard throughout the city every night,\nbut, notwithstanding this, robberies continued to be committed. After\na time all the merchants having again met together went before the\nmagistrate, and said, \u201cO incarnation of justice! you have changed your\nofficers, you have hired watchmen, and you have established patrols:\nnevertheless the thieves have not diminished, and plundering is ever\ntaking place.\u201d\n\nThereupon Gunshankar carried them to the palace, and made them lay their\npetition at the feet of the king Randhir. That Raja, having consoled\nthem, sent them home, saying, \u201cBe ye of good cheer. I will to-night\nadopt a new plan, which, with the blessing of the Bhagwan, shall free ye\nfrom further anxiety.\u201d\n\nObserve, O Vikram, that Randhir was one of those concerning whom the\npoet sang--\n\n              The unwise run from one end to the other.\n\nNot content with becoming highly respectable, correct, and even\nunimpeachable in point of character, he reformed even his reformation,\nand he did much more than he was required to do.\n\nWhen Canopus began to sparkle gaily in the southern skies, the king\narose and prepared for a night\u2019s work. He disguised his face by smearing\nit with a certain paint, by twirling his moustachios up to his eyes, by\nparting his beard upon his chin, and conducting the two ends towards his\nears, and by tightly tying a hair from a horse\u2019s tail over his nose, so\nas quite to change its shape. He then wrapped himself in a coarse outer\ngarment, girt his loins, buckled on his sword, drew his shield upon his\narm, and without saying a word to those within the palace, he went out\ninto the streets alone, and on foot.\n\nIt was dark, and Raja Randhir walked through the silent city for nearly\nan hour without meeting anyone. As, however, he passed through a back\nstreet in the merchants\u2019 quarter, he saw what appeared to be a homeless\ndog, lying at the foot of a house-wall. He approached it, and up leaped\na human figure, whilst a loud voice cried, \u201cWho art thou?\u201d\n\nRandhir replied, \u201cI am a thief; who art thou?\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I also am a thief,\u201d rejoined the other, much pleased at hearing\nthis; \u201ccome, then, and let us make together. But what art thou, a\nhigh-loper or a lully-prigger[97]?\u201d\n\n\u201cA little more ceremony between coves in the lorst,[98]\u201d whispered the\nking, speaking as a flash man, \u201cwere not out of place. But, look sharp,\nmind old Oliver,[99] or the lamb-skin man[100] will have the pull of\nus, and as sure as eggs is eggs we shall be scragged as soon as\nlagged.[101]\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, keep your red rag[102] quiet,\u201d grumbled the other, \u201cand let us be\nworking.\u201d\n\nThen the pair, king and thief, began work in right earnest. The gang\nseemed to swarm in the street. They were drinking spirits, slaying\nvictims, rubbing their bodies with oil, daubing their eyes with\nlamp-black, and repeating incantations to enable them to see in the\ndarkness; others were practicing the lessons of the god with the golden\nspear,[103] and carrying out the four modes of breaching a house: 1.\nPicking out burnt bricks. 2. Cutting through unbaked ones when old,\nwhen softened by recent damp, by exposure to the sun, or by saline\nexudations. 3. Throwing water on a mud wall; and 4. Boring through one\nof wood. The sons of Skanda were making breaches in the shape of lotus\nblossoms, the sun, the new moon, the lake, and the water jar, and they\nseemed to be anointed with magic unguents, so that no eye could behold,\nno weapon harm them.\n\nAt length having filled his bag with costly plunder, the thief said to\nthe king, \u201cNow, my rummy cove, we\u2019ll be off to the flash ken, where the\nlads and the morts are waiting to wet their whistles.\u201d\n\nRandhir, who as a king was perfectly familiar with \u201cthieves\u2019 Latin,\u201d\n took heart, and resolved to hunt out the secrets of the den. On the way,\nhis companion, perfectly satisfied with the importance which the new\ncove had attached to a rat-hole,[104] and convinced that he was a true\nrobber, taught him the whistle, the word, and the sign peculiar to the\ngang, and promised him that he should smack the lit[105] that night\nbefore \u201cturning in.\u201d\n\nSo saying the thief rapped twice at the city gate, which was at once\nopened to him, and preceding his accomplice led the way to a rock about\ntwo kos (four miles) distant from the walls. Before entering the dark\nforest at the foot of the eminence, the robber stood still for a moment\nand whistled twice through his fingers with a shrill scream that rang\nthrough the silent glades. After a few minutes the signal was answered\nby the hooting of an owl, which the robber acknowledged by shrieking\nlike a jackal. Thereupon half a dozen armed men arose from their\ncrouching places in the grass, and one advanced towards the new comers\nto receive the sign. It was given, and they both passed on, whilst the\nguard sank, as it were, into the bowels of the earth. All these things\nRandhir carefully remarked: besides which he neglected not to take note\nof all the distinguishable objects that lay on the road, and, when\nhe entered the wood, he scratched with his dagger all the tree trunks\nwithin reach.\n\nAfter a sharp walk the pair reached a high perpendicular sheet of rock,\nrising abruptly from a clear space in the jungle, and profusely printed\nover with vermilion hands. The thief, having walked up to it, and made\nhis obeisance, stooped to the ground, and removed a bunch of grass. The\ntwo then raised by their united efforts a heavy trap door, through which\npoured a stream of light, whilst a confused hubbub of voices was heard\nbelow.\n\n\u201cThis is the ken,\u201d said the robber, preparing to descend a thin ladder\nof bamboo, \u201cfollow me!\u201d And he disappeared with his bag of valuables.\n\nThe king did as he was bid, and the pair entered together a large hall,\nor rather a cave, which presented a singular spectacle. It was lighted\nup by links fixed to the sombre walls, which threw a smoky glare over\nthe place, and the contrast after the deep darkness reminded Randhir of\nhis mother\u2019s descriptions of Patal-puri, the infernal city. Carpets of\nevery kind, from the choicest tapestry to the coarsest rug, were spread\nupon the ground, and were strewed with bags, wallets, weapons, heaps of\nbooty, drinking cups, and all the materials of debauchery.\n\nPassing through this cave the thief led Randhir into another, which was\nfull of thieves, preparing for the pleasures of the night. Some were\nchanging garments, ragged and dirtied by creeping through gaps in the\nhouses: others were washing the blood from their hands and feet; these\ncombed out their long dishevelled, dusty hair: those anointed their\nskins with perfumed cocoa-nut oil. There were all manner of murderers\npresent, a villanous collection of Kartikeya\u2019s and Bhawani\u2019s[106] crew.\nThere were stabbers with their poniards hung to lanyards lashed round\ntheir naked waists, Dhaturiya-poisoners[107] distinguished by the\nlittle bag slung under the left arm, and Phansigars[108] wearing their\nfatal kerchiefs round their necks. And Randhir had reason to thank\nthe good deed in the last life that had sent him there in such strict\ndisguise, for amongst the robbers he found, as might be expected, a\nnumber of his own people, spies and watchmen, guards and patrols.\n\nThe thief, whose importance of manner now showed him to be the chief of\nthe gang, was greeted with applause as he entered the robing room,\nand he bade all make salam to the new companion. A number of questions\nconcerning the success of the night\u2019s work was quickly put and answered:\nthen the company, having got ready for the revel, flocked into the first\ncave. There they sat down each in his own place, and began to eat and\ndrink and make merry.\n\nAfter some hours the flaring torches began to burn out, and drowsiness\nto overpower the strongest heads. Most of the robbers rolled themselves\nup in the rugs, and covering their heads, went to sleep. A few still sat\nwith their backs to the wall, nodding drowsily or leaning on one side,\nand too stupefied with opium and hemp to make any exertion.\n\nAt that moment a servant woman, whom the king saw for the first time,\ncame into the cave, and looking at him exclaimed, \u201cO Raja! how came you\nwith these wicked men? Do you run away as fast as you can, or they will\nsurely kill you when they awake.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not know the way; in which direction am I to go?\u201d asked Randhir.\n\nThe woman then showed him the road. He threaded the confused mass of\nsnorers, treading with the foot of a tiger-cat, found the ladder, raised\nthe trap-door by exerting all his strength, and breathed once more the\nopen air of heaven. And before plunging into the depths of the wood he\nagain marked the place where the entrance lay and carefully replaced the\nbunch of grass.\n\nHardly had Raja Randhir returned to the palace, and removed the traces\nof his night\u2019s occupation, when he received a second deputation of the\nmerchants, complaining bitterly and with the longest faces about their\nfresh misfortunes.\n\n\u201cO pearl of equity!\u201d said the men of money, \u201cbut yesterday you consoled\nus with the promise of some contrivance by the blessing of which our\nhouses and coffers would be safe from theft; whereas our goods have\nnever yet suffered so severely as during the last twelve hours.\u201d\n\nAgain Randhir dismissed them, swearing that this time he would either\ndie or destroy the wretches who had been guilty of such violence.\n\nThen having mentally prepared his measures, the Raja warned a company of\narchers to hold themselves in readiness for secret service, and as each\none of his own people returned from the robbers\u2019 cave he had him privily\narrested and put to death--because the deceased, it is said, do not,\nlike Baitals, tell tales. About nightfall, when he thought that the\nthieves, having finished their work of plunder, would meet together as\nusual for wassail and debauchery, he armed himself, marched out his men,\nand led them to the rock in the jungle.\n\nBut the robbers, aroused by the disappearance of the new companion, had\nmade enquiries and had gained intelligence of the impending danger. They\nfeared to flee during the daytime, lest being tracked they should be\ndiscovered and destroyed in detail. When night came they hesitated to\ndisperse, from the certainty that they would be captured in the morning.\nThen their captain, who throughout had been of one opinion, proposed to\nthem that they should resist, and promised them success if they would\nhear his words. The gang respected him, for he was known to be brave:\nthey all listened to his advice, and they promised to be obedient.\n\nAs young night began to cast transparent shade upon the jungle ground,\nthe chief of the thieves mustered his men, inspected their bows and\narrows, gave them encouraging words, and led them forth from the cave.\nHaving placed them in ambush he climbed the rock to espy the movements\nof the enemy, whilst others applied their noses and ears to the level\nground. Presently the moon shone full upon Randhir and his band of\narchers, who were advancing quickly and carelessly, for they expected\nto catch the robbers in their cave. The captain allowed them to march\nnearly through the line of ambush. Then he gave the signal, and at that\nmoment the thieves, rising suddenly from the bush fell upon the royal\ntroops and drove them back in confusion.\n\nThe king also fled, when the chief of the robbers shouted out, \u201cHola!\nthou a Rajput and running away from combat?\u201d Randhir hearing this\nhalted, and the two, confronting each other, bared their blades and\nbegan to do battle with prodigious fury.\n\nThe king was cunning of fence, and so was the thief. They opened the\nduel, as skilful swordsmen should, by bending almost double, skipping in\na circle, each keeping his eye well fixed upon the other, with frowning\nbrows and contemptuous lips; at the same time executing divers gambados\nand measured leaps, springing forward like frogs and backward like\nmonkeys, and beating time with their sabres upon their shields, which\nrattled like drums.\n\nThen Randhir suddenly facing his antagonist, cut at his legs with a loud\ncry, but the thief sprang in the air, and the blade whistled harmlessly\nunder him. Next moment the robber chief\u2019s sword, thrice whirled round\nhis head, descended like lightning in a slanting direction towards the\nking\u2019s left shoulder: the latter, however, received it upon his target\nand escaped all hurt, though he staggered with the violence of the blow.\n\nAnd thus they continued attacking each other, parrying and replying,\ntill their breath failed them and their hands and wrists were numbed and\ncramped with fatigue. They were so well matched in courage, strength,\nand address, that neither obtained the least advantage, till the\nrobber\u2019s right foot catching a stone slid from under him, and thus he\nfell to the ground at the mercy of his enemy. The thieves fled, and the\nRaja, himself on his prize, tied his hands behind him, and brought him\nback to the city at the point of his good sword.\n\nThe next morning Randhir visited his prisoner, whom he caused to be\nbathed, and washed, and covered with fine clothes. He then had him\nmounted on a camel and sent him on a circuit of the city, accompanied\nby a crier proclaiming aloud: \u201cWho hears! who hears! who hears! the king\ncommands! This is the thief who has robbed and plundered the city of\nChandrodaya. Let all men therefore assemble themselves together this\nevening in the open space outside the gate leading towards the sea. And\nlet them behold the penalty of evil deeds, and learn to be wise.\u201d\n\nRandhir had condemned the thief to be crucified,[109] nailed and tied\nwith his hands and feet stretched out at full length, in an erect\nposture until death; everything he wished to eat was ordered to him\nin order to prolong life and misery. And when death should draw near,\nmelted gold was to be poured down his throat till it should burst from\nhis neck and other parts of his body.\n\nIn the evening the thief was led out for execution, and by chance the\nprocession passed close to the house of a wealthy landowner. He had a\nfavourite daughter named Shobhani, who was in the flower of her youth\nand very lovely; every day she improved, and every moment added to\nher grace and beauty. The girl had been carefully kept out of sight\nof mankind, never being allowed outside the high walls of the garden,\nbecause her nurse, a wise woman much trusted in the neighbourhood,\nhad at the hour of death given a solemn warning to her parents. The\nprediction was that the maiden should be the admiration of the city,\nand should die a Sati-widow[110] before becoming a wife. From that hour\nShobhani was kept as a pearl in its casket by her father, who had vowed\nnever to survive her, and had even fixed upon the place and style of his\nsuicide.\n\nBut the shaft of Fate[111] strikes down the vulture sailing above the\nclouds, and follows the worm into the bowels of the earth, and pierces\nthe fish at the bottom of the ocean--how then can mortal man expect to\nescape it? As the robber chief, mounted upon the camel, was passing to\nthe cross under the old householder\u2019s windows, a fire breaking out in\nthe women\u2019s apartments, drove the inmates into the rooms looking upon\nthe street.\n\nThe hum of many voices arose from the solid pavement of heads: \u201cThis is\nthe thief who has been robbing the whole city; let him tremble now, for\nRandhir will surely crucify him!\u201d\n\nIn beauty and bravery of bearing, as in strength and courage, no man\nin Chandrodaya surpassed the robber, who, being magnificently dressed,\nlooked, despite his disgraceful cavalcade, like the son of a king. He\nsat with an unmoved countenance, hardly hearing in his pride the scoffs\nof the mob; calm and steady when the whole city was frenzied with\nanxiety because of him. But as he heard the word \u201ctremble\u201d his lips\nquivered, his eyes flashed fire, and deep lines gathered between his\neyebrows.\n\nShobhani started with a scream from the casement behind which she\nhad hid herself, gazing with an intense womanly curiosity into the\nthoroughfare. The robber\u2019s face was upon a level with, and not half a\ndozen feet from, her pale cheeks. She marked his handsome features,\nand his look of wrath made her quiver as if it had been a flash of\nlightning. Then she broke away from the fascination of his youth and\nbeauty, and ran breathless to her father, saying:\n\n\u201cGo this moment and get that thief released!\u201d\n\nThe old housekeeper replied: \u201cThat thief has been pilfering and\nplundering the whole city, and by his means the king\u2019s archers were\ndefeated; why, then, at my request, should our most gracious Raja\nRandhir release him?\u201d\n\nShobhani, almost beside herself, exclaimed: \u201cIf by giving up your whole\nproperty, you can induce the Raja to release him, then instantly so do;\nif he does not come to me, I must give up my life!\u201d\n\nThe maiden then covered her head with her veil, and sat down in the\ndeepest despair, whilst her father, hearing her words, burst into a cry\nof grief, and hastened to present himself before the Raja. He cried out:\n\n\u201cO great king, be pleased to receive four lakhs of rupees, and to\nrelease this thief.\u201d\n\nBut the king replied: \u201cHe has been robbing the whole city, and by reason\nof him my guards have been destroyed. I cannot by any means release\nhim.\u201d\n\nThen the old householder finding, as he had expected the Raja\ninexorable, and not to be moved, either by tears or bribes, or by\nthe cruel fate of the girl, returned home with fire in his heart, and\naddressed her:\n\n \u201cDaughter, I have said and done all that is possible but it avails\nme nought with the king. Now, then, we die.\u201d\n\nIn the mean time, the guards having led the thief all round the city,\ntook him outside the gates, and made him stand near the cross. Then the\nmessengers of death arrived from the palace, and the executioners began\nto nail his limbs. He bore the agony with the fortitude of the brave;\nbut when he heard what had been done by the old householder\u2019s daughter,\nhe raised his voice and wept bitterly, as though his heart had been\nbursting, and almost with the same breath he laughed heartily as at a\nfeast. All were startled by his merriment; coming as it did at a time\nwhen the iron was piercing his flesh, no man could see any reason for\nit.\n\nWhen he died, Shobhani, who was married to him in the spirit, recited to\nherself these sayings:\n\n\u201cThere are thirty-five millions of hairs on the human body. The woman\nwho ascends the pile with her husband will remain so many years in\nheaven. As the snake-catcher draws the serpent from his hole, so she,\nrescuing her husband from hell, rejoices with him; aye, though he may\nhave sunk to a region of torment, be restrained in dreadful bonds, have\nreached the place of anguish, be exhausted of strength, and afflicted\nand tortured for his crimes. No other effectual duty is known for\nvirtuous women at any time after the death of their lords, except\ncasting themselves into the same fire. As long as a woman in her\nsuccessive transmigrations, shall decline burning herself, like a\nfaithful wife, in the same fire with her deceased lord, so long shall\nshe not be exempted from springing again to life in the body of some\nfemale animal.\u201d\n\nTherefore the beautiful Shobhani, virgin and wife, resolved to burn\nherself, and to make the next life of the thief certain. She showed\nher courage by thrusting her finger into a torch flame till it became a\ncinder, and she solemnly bathed in the nearest stream.\n\nA hole was dug in the ground, and upon a bed of green tree-trunks were\nheaped hemp, pitch, faggots, and clarified butter, to form the funeral\npyre. The dead body, anointed, bathed, and dressed in new clothes, was\nthen laid upon the heap, which was some two feet high. Shobhani prayed\nthat as long as fourteen Indras reign, or as many years as there are\nhairs in her head, she might abide in heaven with her husband, and be\nwaited upon by the heavenly dancers. She then presented her ornaments\nand little gifts of corn to her friends, tied some cotton round both\nwrists, put two new combs in her hair, painted her forehead, and tied up\nin the end of her body-cloth clean parched rice[112] and cowrie-shells.\nThese she gave to the bystanders, as she walked seven times round the\nfuneral pyre, upon which lay the body. She then ascended the heap of\nwood, sat down upon it, and taking the thief\u2019s head in her lap, without\ncords or levers or upper layer or faggots, she ordered the pile to be\nlighted. The crowd standing around set fire to it in several places,\ndrummed their drums, blew their conchs, and raised a loud cry of \u201cHari\nbol! Hari bol! [113]\u201d Straw was thrown on, and pitch and clarified\nbutter were freely poured out. But Shobhani\u2019s was a Sahamaran, a blessed\neasy death: no part of her body was seen to move after the pyre was\nlighted--in fact, she seemed to die before the flame touched her.\n\nBy the blessing of his daughter\u2019s decease, the old householder beheaded\nhimself.[114] He caused an instrument to be made in the shape of a\nhalf-moon with an edge like a razor, and fitting the back of his neck.\nAt both ends of it, as at the beam of a balance, chains were fastened.\nHe sat down with eyes closed; he was rubbed with the purifying clay of\nthe holy river, Vaiturani[115]; and he repeated the proper incantations.\nThen placing his feet upon the extremities of the chains, he suddenly\njerked up his neck, and his severed head rolled from his body upon the\nground. What a happy death was this!\n\nThe Baital was silent, as if meditating on the fortunate transmigration\nwhich the old householder had thus secured.\n\n\u201cBut what could the thief have been laughing at, sire?\u201d asked the young\nprince Dharma Dhwaj of his father.\n\n\u201cAt the prodigious folly of the girl, my son,\u201d replied the warrior king,\nthoughtlessly.\n\n\u201cI am indebted once more to your majesty,\u201d burst out the Baital, \u201cfor\nreleasing me from this unpleasant position, but the Raja\u2019s penetration\nis again at fault. Not to leave your royal son and heir labouring under\na false impression, before going I will explain why the brave thief\nburst into tears, and why he laughed at such a moment.\u201d\n\nHe wept when he reflected that he could not requite her kindness in\nbeing willing to give up everything she had in the world to save his\nlife; and this thought deeply grieved him.\n\nThen it struck him as being passing strange that she had begun to love\nhim when the last sand of his life was well nigh run out; that wondrous\nare the ways of the revolving heavens which bestow wealth upon the\nniggard that cannot use it, wisdom upon the bad man who will misuse it,\na beautiful wife upon the fool who cannot protect her, and fertilizing\nshowers upon the stony hills. And thinking over these things, the\ngallant and beautiful thief laughed aloud.\n\n\u201cBefore returning to my sires-tree,\u201d continued the Vampire, \u201cas I am\nabout to do in virtue of your majesty\u2019s unintelligent reply, I\nmay remark that men may laugh and cry, or may cry and laugh, about\neverything in this world, from their neighbours\u2019 deaths, which, as a\ngeneral rule, in no wise concern them, to their own latter ends, which\ndo concern them exceedingly. For my part, I am in the habit of laughing\nat everything, because it animates the brain, stimulates the lungs,\nbeautifies the countenance, and--for the moment, good-bye, Raja Vikram!\u201d\n\nThe warrior king, being forewarned this time, shifted the bundle\ncontaining the Baital from his back to under his arm, where he pressed\nit with all his might.\n\nThis proceeding, however, did not prevent the Vampire from slipping back\nto his tree, and leaving an empty cloth with the Raja.\n\nPresently the demon was trussed up as usual; a voice sounded behind\nVikram, and the loquacious thing again began to talk.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S SIXTH STORY -- In Which Three Men Dispute about a Woman.\n\n\nOn the lovely banks of Jumna\u2019s stream there was a city known as\nDharmasthal--the Place of Duty; and therein dwelt a certain Brahman\ncalled Keshav. He was a very pious man, in the constant habit of\nperforming penance and worship upon the river Sidi. He modelled his own\nclay images instead of buying them from others; he painted holy stones\nred at the top, and made to them offerings of flowers, fruit, water,\nsweetmeats, and fried peas. He had become a learned man somewhat late\nin life, having, until twenty years old, neglected his reading, and\naddicted himself to worshipping the beautiful youth Kama-Deva[116] and\nRati his wife, accompanied by the cuckoo, the humming-bee, and sweet\nbreezes.\n\nOne day his parents having rebuked him sharply for his ungovernable\nconduct, Keshav wandered to a neighbouring hamlet, and hid himself in\nthe tall fig-tree which shadowed a celebrated image of Panchanan.[117]\nPresently an evil thought arose in his head: he defiled the god, and\nthrew him into the nearest tank.\n\nThe next morning, when the person arrived whose livelihood depended on\nthe image, he discovered that his god was gone. He returned into the\nvillage distracted, and all was soon in an uproar about the lost deity.\n\nIn the midst of this confusion the parents of Keshav arrived, seeking\nfor their son; and a man in the crowd declared that he had seen a young\nman sitting in Panchanan\u2019s tree, but what had become of the god he knew\nnot.\n\nThe runaway at length appeared, and the suspicions of the villagers fell\nupon him as the stealer of Panchanan. He confessed the fact, pointed out\nthe place where he had thrown the stone, and added that he had polluted\nthe god. All hands and eyes were raised in amazement at this atrocious\ncrime, and every one present declared that Panchanan would certainly\npunish the daring insult by immediate death. Keshav was dreadfully\nfrightened; he began to obey his parents from that very hour, and\napplied to his studies so sedulously that he soon became the most\nlearned man of his country.\n\nNow Keshav the Brahman had a daughter whose name was the Madhumalati or\nSweet Jasmine. She was very beautiful. Whence did the gods procure the\nmaterials to form so exquisite a face? They took a portion of the most\nexcellent part of the moon to form that beautiful face? Does any one\nseek a proof of this? Let him look at the empty places left in the moon.\nHer eyes resembled the full-blown blue nymphaea; her arms the charming\nstalk of the lotus; her flowing tresses the thick darkness of night.\n\nWhen this lovely person arrived at a marriageable age, her mother,\nfather, and brother, all three became very anxious about her. For the\nwise have said, \u201cA daughter nubile but without a husband is ever a\ncalamity hanging over a house.\u201d And, \u201cKings, women, and climbing plants\nlove those who are near them.\u201d Also, \u201cWho is there that has not suffered\nfrom the sex? for a woman cannot be kept in due subjection, either by\ngifts or kindness, or correct conduct, or the greatest services, or\nthe laws of morality, or by the terror of punishment, for she cannot\ndiscriminate between good and evil.\u201d\n\nIt so happened that one day Keshav the Brahman went to the marriage of\na certain customer of his,[118] and his son repaired to the house of a\nspiritual preceptor in order to read. During their absence, a young man\ncame to the house, when the Sweet Jasmine\u2019s mother, inferring his good\nqualities from his good looks, said to him, \u201cI will give to thee my\ndaughter in marriage.\u201d The father also had promised his daughter to\na Brahman youth whom he had met at the house of his employer; and the\nbrother likewise had betrothed his sister to a fellow student at the\nplace where he had gone to read.\n\nAfter some days father and son came home, accompanied by these two\nsuitors, and in the house a third was already seated. The name of the\nfirst was Tribikram, of the second Baman, and of the third Madhusadan.\nThe three were equal in mind and body, in knowledge, and in age.\n\nThen the father, looking upon them, said to himself, \u201cHo! there is one\nbride and three bridegrooms; to whom shall I give, and to whom shall\nI not give? We three have pledged our word to these three. A strange\ncircumstance has occurred; what must we do?\u201d\n\nHe then proposed to them a trial of wisdom, and made them agree that he\nwho should quote the most excellent saying of the wise should become his\ndaughter\u2019s husband.\n\nQuoth Tribikram: \u201cCourage is tried in war; integrity in the payment of\ndebt and interest; friendship in distress; and the faithfulness of a\nwife in the day of poverty.\u201d\n\nBaman proceeded: \u201cThat woman is destitute of virtue who in her father\u2019s\nhouse is not in subjection, who wanders to feasts and amusements, who\nthrows off her veil in the presence of men, who remains as a guest\nin the houses of strangers, who is much devoted to sleep, who drinks\ninebriating beverages, and who delights in distance from her husband.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet none,\u201d pursued Madhusadan, \u201cconfide in the sea, nor in whatever has\nclaws or horns, or who carries deadly weapons; neither in a woman, nor\nin a king.\u201d\n\nWhilst the Brahman was doubting which to prefer, and rather inclining\nto the latter sentiment, a serpent bit the beautiful girl, and in a few\nhours she died.\n\nStunned by this awful sudden death, the father and the three suitors\nsat for a time motionless. They then arose, used great exertions,\nand brought all kinds of sorcerers, wise men and women who charm away\npoisons by incantations. These having seen the girl said, \u201cShe cannot\nreturn to life.\u201d The first declared, \u201cA person always dies who has been\nbitten by a snake on the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, and fourteenth\ndays of the lunar month.\u201d The second asserted, \u201cOne who has been bitten\non a Saturday or a Tuesday does not survive.\u201d The third opined, \u201cPoison\ninfused during certain six lunar mansions cannot be got under.\u201d Quoth\nthe fourth, \u201cOne who has been bitten in any organ of sense, the lower\nlip, the cheek, the neck, or the stomach, cannot escape death.\u201d The\nfifth said, \u201cIn this case even Brahma, the Creator, could not restore\nlife--of what account, then, are we? Do you perform the funeral rites;\nwe will depart.\u201d\n\nThus saying, the sorcerers went their way. The mourning father took up\nhis daughter\u2019s corpse and caused it to be burnt, in the place where dead\nbodies are usually burnt, and returned to his house.\n\nAfter that the three young men said to one another, \u201cWe must now seek\nhappiness elsewhere. And what better can we do than obey the words of\nIndra, the God of Air, who spake thus?--\n\n\u201c\u2018For a man who does not travel about there is no felicity, and a good\nman who stays at home is a bad man. Indra is the friend of him who\ntravels. Travel!\n\n\u201c\u2018A traveller\u2019s legs are like blossoming branches, and he himself grows\nand gathers the fruit. All his wrongs vanish, destroyed by his exertion\non the roadside. Travel!\n\n\u201c\u2018The fortune of a man who sits, sits also; it rises when he rises; it\nsleeps when he sleeps; it moves well when he moves. Travel!\n\n\u201c\u2018A man who sleeps is like the Iron Age. A man who awakes is like the\nBronze Age. A man who rises up is like the Silver Age. A man who travels\nis like the Golden Age. Travel!\n\n\u201c\u2018A traveller finds honey; a traveller finds sweet figs. Look at the\nhappiness of the sun, who travailing never tires. Travel!\u201d\u2019\n\nBefore parting they divided the relics of the beloved one, and then they\nwent their way.\n\nTribikram, having separated and tied up the burnt bones, became one of\nthe Vaisheshikas, in those days a powerful sect. He solemnly forswore\nthe eight great crimes, namely: feeding at night; slaying any animal;\neating the fruit of trees that give milk, or pumpkins or young bamboos:\ntasting honey or flesh; plundering the wealth of others; taking by force\na married woman; eating flowers, butter, or cheese; and worshipping the\ngods of other religions. He learned that the highest act of virtue is\nto abstain from doing injury to sentient creatures; that crime does not\njustify the destruction of life; and that kings, as the administrators\nof criminal justice, are the greatest of sinners. He professed the five\nvows of total abstinence from falsehood, eating flesh or fish, theft,\ndrinking spirits, and marriage. He bound himself to possess nothing\nbeyond a white loin-cloth, a towel to wipe the mouth, a beggar\u2019s dish,\nand a brush of woollen threads to sweep the ground for fear of treading\non insects. And he was ordered to fear secular affairs; the miseries of\na future state; the receiving from others more than the food of a day\nat once; all accidents; provisions, if connected with the destruction\nof animal life; death and disgrace; also to please all, and to obtain\ncompassion from all.\n\nHe attempted to banish his love. He said to himself, \u201cSurely it was\nowing only to my pride and selfishness that I ever looked upon a woman\nas capable of affording happiness; and I thought, \u2018Ah! ah! thine eyes\nroll about like the tail of the water-wagtail, thy lips resemble the\nripe fruit, thy bosom is like the lotus bud, thy form is resplendent as\ngold melted in a crucible, the moon wanes through desire to imitate the\nshadow of thy face, thou resemblest the pleasure-house of Cupid; the\nhappiness of all time is concentrated in thee; a touch from thee would\nsurely give life to a dead image; at thy approach a living admirer would\nbe changed by joy into a lifeless stone; obtaining thee I can face all\nthe horrors of war; and were I pierced by showers of arrows, one glance\nof thee would heal all my wounds.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy mind is now averted from the world. Seeing her I say, \u2018Is this the\nform by which men are bewitched? This is a basket covered with skin; it\ncontains bones, flesh, blood, and impurities. The stupid creature who\nis captivated by this--is there a cannibal feeding in Currim a greater\ncannibal than he? These persons call a thing made up of impure matter a\nface, and drink its charms as a drunkard swallows the inebriating liquor\nfrom his cup. The blind, infatuated beings! Why should I be pleased or\ndispleased with this body, composed of flesh and blood? It is my duty to\nseek Him who is the Lord of this body, and to disregard everything which\ngives rise either to pleasure or to pain.\u2019\u201d\n\nBaman, the second suitor, tied up a bundle of his beloved one\u2019s ashes,\nand followed--somewhat prematurely--the precepts of the great lawgiver\nManu. \u201cWhen the father of a family perceives his muscles becoming\nflaccid, and his hair grey, and sees the child of his child, let him\nthen take refuge in a forest. Let him take up his consecrated fire and\nall his domestic implements for making oblations to it, and, departing\nfrom the town to the lonely wood, let him dwell in it with complete\npower over his organs of sense and of action. With many sorts of pure\nfood, such as holy sages used to eat, with green herbs, roots, and\nfruit, let him perform the five great sacraments, introducing them with\ndue ceremonies. Let him wear a black antelope-hide, or a vesture of\nbark; let him bathe evening and morning; let him suffer the hair of\nhis head, his beard and his nails to grow continually. Let him slide\nbackwards and forwards on the ground; or let him stand a whole day on\ntiptoe; or let him continue in motion, rising and sitting alternately;\nbut at sunrise, at noon, and at sunset, let him go to the waters and\nbathe. In the hot season let him sit exposed to five fires, four blazing\naround him, with the sun above; in the rains let him stand uncovered,\nwithout even a mantle, where the clouds pour the heaviest showers;\nin the cold season let him wear damp clothes, and let him increase by\ndegrees the austerity of his devotions. Then, having reposited his holy\nfires, as the law directs, in his mind, let him live without external\nfire, without a mansion, wholly silent, feeding on roots and fruit.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile Madhusadan the third, having taken a wallet and neckband,\nbecame a Jogi, and began to wander far and wide, living on nothing but\nchaff, and practicing his devotions. In order to see Brahma he attended\nto the following duties; 1. Hearing; 2. Meditation; 3. Fixing the\nMind; 4. Absorbing the Mind. He combated the three evils, restlessness,\ninjuriousness, voluptuousness by settling the Deity in his spirit, by\nsubjecting his senses, and by destroying desire. Thus he would do away\nwith the illusion (Maya) which conceals all true knowledge. He repeated\nthe name of the Deity till it appeared to him in the form of a Dry\nLight or glory. Though connected with the affairs of life, that is, with\naffairs belonging to a body containing blood, bones, and impurities; to\norgans which are blind, palsied, and full of weakness and error; to\na mind filled with thirst, hunger, sorrow, infatuation; to confirmed\nhabits, and to the fruits of former births: still he strove not to view\nthese things as realities. He made a companion of a dog, honouring it\nwith his own food, so as the better to think on spirit. He practiced all\nthe five operations connected with the vital air, or air collected in\nthe body. He attended much to Pranayama, or the gradual suppression of\nbreathing, and he secured fixedness of mind as follows. By placing his\nsight and thoughts on the tip of his nose he perceived smell; on the\ntip of his tongue he realized taste, on the root of his tongue he knew\nsound, and so forth. He practiced the eighty-four Asana or postures,\nraising his hand to the wonders of the heavens, till he felt no longer\nthe inconveniences of heat or cold, hunger or thirst. He particularly\npreferred the Padma or lotus-posture, which consists of bringing the\nfeet to the sides, holding the right in the left hand and the left\nin the right. In the work of suppressing his breath he permitted its\nrespiration to reach at furthest twelve fingers\u2019 breadth, and gradually\ndiminished the distance from his nostrils till he could confine it to\nthe length of twelve fingers from his nose, and even after restraining\nit for some time he would draw it from no greater distance than from\nhis heart. As respects time, he began by retaining inspiration for\ntwenty-six seconds, and he enlarged this period gradually till he became\nperfect. He sat cross-legged, closing with his fingers all the avenues\nof inspiration, and he practiced Prityahara, or the power of restraining\nthe members of the body and mind, with meditation and concentration, to\nwhich there are four enemies, viz., a sleepy heart, human passions, a\nconfused mind, and attachment to anything but the one Brahma. He also\ncultivated Yama, that is, inoffensiveness, truth, honesty, the forsaking\nof all evil in the world, and the refusal of gifts except for sacrifice,\nand Nihama, i.e., purity relative to the use of water after defilement,\npleasure in everything whether in prosperity or adversity, renouncing\nfood when hungry, and keeping down the body. Thus delivered from these\nfour enemies of the flesh, he resembled the unruffled flame of the lamp,\nand by Brahmagnana, or meditating on the Deity, placing his mind on the\nsun, moon, fire, or any other luminous body, or within his heart, or at\nthe bottom of his throat, or in the centre of his skull, he was enabled\nto ascend from gross images of omnipotence to the works and the divine\nwisdom of the glorious original.\n\nOne day Madhusadan, the Jogi, went to a certain house for food, and the\nhouseholder having seen him began to say, \u201cBe so good as to take your\nfood here this day!\u201d The visitor sat down, and when the victuals were\nready, the host caused his feet and hands to be washed, and leading him\nto the Chauka, or square place upon which meals are served, seated him\nand sat by him. And he quoted the scripture: \u201cNo guest must be dismissed\nin the evening by a housekeeper: he is sent by the returning sun, and\nwhether he come in fit season or unseasonably, he must not sojourn\nin the house without entertainment: let me not eat any delicate food,\nwithout asking my guest to partake of it: the satisfaction of a guest\nwill assuredly bring the housekeeper wealth, reputation, long life, and\na place in heaven.\u201d\n\nThe householder\u2019s wife then came to serve up the food, rice and split\npeas, oil, and spices, all cooked in a new earthen pot with pure\nfirewood. Part of the meal was served and the rest remained to be\nserved, when the woman\u2019s little child began to cry aloud and to catch\nhold of its mother\u2019s dress. She endeavoured to release herself, but the\nboy would not let go, and the more she coaxed the more he cried, and was\nobstinate. On this the mother became angry, took up the boy and threw\nhim upon the fire, which instantly burnt him to ashes.\n\nMadhusadan, the Jogi, seeing this, rose up without eating. The master\nof the house said to him, \u201cWhy eatest thou not?\u201d He replied, \u201cI am\n\u2018Atithi,\u2019 that is to say, to be entertained at your house, but how\ncan one eat under the roof of a person who has committed such a\nRakshasa-like (devilish) deed? Is it not said, \u2018He who does not govern\nhis passions, lives in vain\u2019? \u2018A foolish king, a person puffed up with\nriches, and a weak child, desire that which cannot be procured\u2019? Also,\n\u2018A king destroys his enemies, even when flying; and the touch of an\nelephant, as well as the breath of a serpent, are fatal; but the wicked\ndestroy even while laughing\u2019?\u201d\n\nHearing this, the householder smiled; presently he arose and went to\nanother part of the tenement, and brought back with him a book, treating\non Sanjivnividya, or the science of restoring the dead to life. This he\nhad taken from its hidden place, two beams almost touching one another\nwith the ends in the opposite wall. The precious volume was in single\nleaves, some six inches broad by treble that length, and the paper was\nstained with yellow orpiment and the juice of tamarind seeds to keep\naway insects.\n\nThe householder opened the cloth containing the book, untied the flat\nboards at the top and bottom, and took out from it a charm. Having\nrepeated this Mantra, with many ceremonies, he at once restored the\nchild to life, saying, \u201cOf all precious things, knowledge is the most\nvaluable; other riches may be stolen, or diminished by expenditure, but\nknowledge is immortal, and the greater the expenditure the greater the\nincrease; it can be shared with none, and it defies the power of the\nthief.\u201d\n\nThe Jogi, seeing this marvel, took thought in his heart, \u201cIf I could\nobtain that book, I would restore my beloved to life, and give up this\ncourse of uncomfortable postures and difficulty of breathing.\u201d With this\nresolution he sat down to his food, and remained in the house.\n\nAt length night came, and after a time, all, having eaten supper, and\ngone to their sleeping-places, lay down. The Jogi also went to rest in\none part of the house, but did not allow sleep to close his eyes. When\nhe thought that a fourth part of the hours of darkness had sped, and\nthat all were deep in slumber, then he got up very quietly, and going\ninto the room of the master of the house, he took down the book from the\nbeam-ends and went his ways.\n\nMadhusadan, the Jogi, went straight to the place where the beautiful\nSweet Jasmine had been burned. There he found his two rivals sitting\ntalking together and comparing experiences. They recognized him at once,\nand cried aloud to him, \u201cBrother! thou also hast been wandering over the\nworld; tell us this--hast thou learned anything which can profit us?\u201d\n He replied, \u201cI have learned the science of restoring the dead to life\u201d;\nupon which they both exclaimed, \u201cIf thou hast really learned such\nknowledge, restore our beloved to life.\u201d\n\nMadhusadan proceeded to make his incantations, despite terrible sights\nin the air, the cries of jackals, owls, crows, cats, asses, vultures,\ndogs, and lizards, and the wrath of innumerable invisible beings, such\nas messengers of Yama (Pluto), ghosts, devils, demons, imps, fiends,\ndevas, succubi, and others. All the three lovers drawing blood from\ntheir own bodies, offered it to the goddess Chandi, repeating the\nfollowing incantation, \u201cHail! supreme delusion! Hail! goddess of the\nuniverse! Hail! thou who fulfillest the desires of all. May I presume to\noffer thee the blood of my body; and wilt thou deign to accept it, and\nbe propitious towards me!\u201d\n\nThey then made a burnt-offering of their flesh, and each one prayed,\n\u201cGrant me, O goddess! to see the maiden alive again, in proportion to\nthe fervency with which I present thee with mine own flesh, invoking\nthee to be propitious to me. Salutation to thee again and again, under\nthe mysterious syllables any! any!\u201d\n\nThen they made a heap of the bones and the ashes, which had been\ncarefully kept by Tribikram and Baman. As the Jogi Madhusadan proceeded\nwith his incantation, a white vapour arose from the ground, and,\ngradually condensing, assumed a perispiritual form--the fluid envelope\nof the soul. The three spectators felt their blood freeze as the bones\nand the ashes were gradually absorbed into the before shadowy shape, and\nthey were restored to themselves only when the maiden Madhuvati begged\nto be taken home to her mother.\n\nThen Kama, God of Love, blinded them, and they began fiercely to quarrel\nabout who should have the beautiful maid. Each wanted to be her sole\nmaster. Tribikram declared the bones to be the great fact of the\nincantation; Baman swore by the ashes; and Madhusadan laughed them both\nto scorn. No one could decide the dispute; the wisest doctors were all\nnonplussed; and as for the Raja--well! we do not go for wit or wisdom to\nkings. I wonder if the great Raja Vikram could decide which person the\nwoman belonged to?\n\n\u201cTo Baman, the man who kept her ashes, fellow!\u201d exclaimed the hero, not\na little offended by the free remarks of the fiend.\n\n\u201cYet,\u201d rejoined the Baital impudently, \u201cif Tribikram had not preserved\nher bones how could she have been restored to life? And if Madhusadan\nhad not learned the science of restoring the dead to life how could\nshe have been revivified? At least, so it seems to me. But perhaps your\nroyal wisdom may explain.\u201d\n\n\u201cDevil!\u201d said the king angrily, \u201cTribikram, who preserved her bones, by\nthat act placed himself in the position of her son; therefore he could\nnot marry her. Madhusadan, who, restoring her to life, gave her life,\nwas evidently a father to her; he could not, then, become her husband.\nTherefore she was the wife of Baman, who had collected her ashes.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am happy to see, O king,\u201d exclaimed the Vampire, \u201cthat in spite of my\npresentiments, we are not to part company just yet. These little trips\nI hold to be, like lovers\u2019 quarrels, the prelude to closer union. With\nyour leave we will still practice a little suspension.\u201d\n\nAnd so saying, the Baital again ascended the tree, and was suspended\nthere.\n\n\u201cWould it not be better,\u201d thought the monarch, after recapturing and\nshouldering the fugitive, \u201cfor me to sit down this time and listen to\nthe fellow\u2019s story? Perhaps the double exercise of walking and thinking\nconfuses me.\u201d\n\nWith this idea Vikram placed his bundle upon the ground, well tied up\nwith turband and waistband; then he seated himself cross-legged before\nit, and bade his son do the same.\n\nThe Vampire strongly objected to this measure, as it was contrary, he\nasserted, to the covenant between him and the Raja. Vikram replied\nby citing the very words of the agreement, proving that there was no\nallusion to walking or sitting.\n\nThen the Baital became sulky, and swore that he would not utter another\nword. But he, too, was bound by the chain of destiny. Presently he\nopened his lips, with the normal prelude that he was about to tell a\ntrue tale.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S SEVENTH STORY -- Showing the Exceeding Folly of Many Wise Fools.\n\n\nThe Baital resumed.\n\nOf all the learned Brahmans in the learnedest university of Gaur\n(Bengal) none was so celebrated as Vishnu Swami. He could write verse as\nwell as prose in dead languages, not very correctly, but still, better\nthan all his fellows--which constituted him a distinguished writer. He\nhad history, theosophy, and the four Vedas of Scriptures at his fingers\u2019\nends, he was skilled in the argute science of Nyasa or Disputation, his\nmind was a mine of Pauranic or cosmogonico-traditional lore, handed down\nfrom the ancient fathers to the modern fathers: and he had written bulky\ncommentaries, exhausting all that tongue of man has to say, upon the\nobscure text of some old philosopher whose works upon ethics, poetry,\nand rhetoric were supposed by the sages of Gaur to contain the germs\nof everything knowable. His fame went over all the country; yea, from\ncountry to country. He was a sea of excellent qualities, the father and\nmother of Brahmans, cows, and women, and the horror of loose persons,\ncut-throats, courtiers, and courtesans. As a benefactor he was equal to\nKarna, most liberal of heroes. In regard to truth he was equal to the\nveracious king Yudhishtira.\n\nTrue, he was sometimes at a loss to spell a common word in his mother\ntongue, and whilst he knew to a fingerbreadth how many palms and paces\nthe sun, the moon, and all the stars are distant from the earth, he\nwould have been puzzled to tell you where the region called Yavana[119]\nlies. Whilst he could enumerate, in strict chronological succession,\nevery important event that happened five or six million years before he\nwas born, he was profoundly ignorant of those that occurred in his own\nday. And once he asked a friend seriously, if a cat let loose in the\njungle would not in time become a tiger.\n\nYet did all the members of alma mater Kasi, Pandits[120] as well\nas students, look with awe upon Vishnu Swami\u2019s livid cheeks, and\nlack-lustre eyes, grimed hands and soiled cottons.\n\nNow it so happened that this wise and pious Brahmanic peer had four\nsons, whom he brought up in the strictest and most serious way. They\nwere taught to repeat their prayers long before they understood a word\nof them, and when they reached the age of four[121] they had read a\nvariety of hymns and spiritual songs. Then they were set to learn by\nheart precepts that inculcate sacred duties, and arguments relating to\ntheology, abstract and concrete.\n\nTheir father, who was also their tutor, sedulously cultivated, as all\nthe best works upon education advise, their implicit obedience, humble\nrespect, warm attachment, and the virtues and sentiments generally. He\npraised them secretly and reprehended them openly, to exercise their\nhumility. He derided their looks, and dressed them coarsely, to preserve\nthem from vanity and conceit. Whenever they anticipated a \u201ctreat,\u201d he\npunctually disappointed them, to teach them self-denial. Often when he\nhad promised them a present, he would revoke, not break his word, in\norder that discipline might have a name and habitat in his household.\nAnd knowing by experience how much stronger than love is fear, he\nfrequently threatened, browbeat, and overawed them with the rod and\nthe tongue, with the terrors of this world, and with the horrors of the\nnext, that they might be kept in the right way by dread of falling into\nthe bottomless pits that bound it on both sides.\n\nAt the age of six they were transferred to the Chatushpati[122] or\nschool. Every morning the teacher and his pupils assembled in the hut\nwhere the different classes were called up by turns. They laboured till\nnoon, and were allowed only two hours, a moiety of the usual time, for\nbathing, eating, sleep, and worship, which took up half the period. At\n3 P.M. they resumed their labours, repeating to the tutor what they had\nlearned by heart, and listening to the meaning of it: this lasted till\ntwilight. They then worshipped, ate and drank for an hour: after which\ncame a return of study, repeating the day\u2019s lessons, till 10 P.M.\n\nIn their rare days of ease--for the learned priest, mindful of the words\nof the wise, did not wish to dull them by everlasting work--they were\nenjoined to disport themselves with the gravity and the decorum that\nbefit young Samditats, not to engage in night frolics, not to use free\njests or light expressions, not to draw pictures on the walls, not\nto eat honey, flesh, and sweet substances turned acid, not to talk to\nlittle girls at the well-side, on no account to wear sandals, carry an\numbrella, or handle a die even for love, and by no means to steal their\nneighbours\u2019 mangoes.\n\nAs they advanced in years their attention during work time was\nunremittingly directed to the Vedas. Wordly studies were almost\nexcluded, or to speak more correctly, whenever wordly studies were\nbrought upon the carpet, they were so evil entreated, that they well\nnigh lost all form and feature. History became \u201cThe Annals of India on\nBrahminical Principles,\u201d opposed to the Buddhistical; geography \u201cThe\nLands of the Vedas,\u201d none other being deemed worthy of notice; and law,\n\u201cThe Institutes of Manu,\u201d then almost obsolete, despite their exceeding\nsanctity.\n\nBut Jatu-harini[123] had evidently changed these children before they\nwere born; and Shani[124] must have been in the ninth mansion when they\ncame to light.\n\nEach youth as he attained the mature age of twelve was formally entered\nat the University of Kasi, where, without loss of time, the first became\na gambler, the second a confirmed libertine, the third a thief, and the\nfourth a high Buddhist, or in other words an utter atheist.\n\nHere King Vikram frowned at his son, a hint that he had better not\nbehave himself as the children of highly moral and religious parents\nusually do. The young prince understood him, and briefly remarking that\nsuch things were common in distinguished Brahman families, asked the\nBaital what he meant by the word \u201cAtheist.\u201d\n\nOf a truth (answered the Vampire) it is most difficult to explain. The\nsages assign to it three or four several meanings: first, one who denies\nthat the gods exist secondly, one who owns that the gods exist but\ndenies that they busy themselves with human affairs; and thirdly, one\nwho believes in the gods and in their providence, but also believes\nthat they are easily to be set aside. Similarly some atheists derive all\nthings from dead and unintelligent matter; others from matter living and\nenergetic but without sense or will: others from matter with forms\nand qualities generable and conceptible; and others from a plastic and\nmethodical nature. Thus the Vishnu Swamis of the world have invested\nthe subject with some confusion. The simple, that is to say, the mass of\nmortality, have confounded that confusion by reproachfully applying the\nword atheist to those whose opinions differ materially from their own.\n\nBut I being at present, perhaps happily for myself, a Vampire, and\nhaving, just now, none of these human or inhuman ideas, meant simply to\nsay that the pious priest\u2019s fourth son being great at second and small\nin the matter of first causes, adopted to their fullest extent the\ndoctrines of the philosophical Buddhas.[125] Nothing according to him\nexists but the five elements, earth, water, fire, air (or wind), and\nvacuum, and from the last proceeded the penultimate, and so forth. With\nthe sage Patanjali, he held the universe to have the power of perpetual\nprogression.[126] He called that Matra (matter), which is an eternal\nand infinite principle, beginningless and endless. Organization,\nintelligence, and design, he opined, are inherent in matter as growth is\nin a tree. He did not believe in soul or spirit, because it could not be\ndetected in the body, and because it was a departure from physiological\nanalogy. The idea \u201cI am,\u201d according to him, was not the identification\nof spirit with matter, but a product of the mutation of matter in this\ncloud-like, error-formed world. He believed in Substance (Sat) and\nscoffed at Unsubstance (Asat). He asserted the subtlety and globularity\nof atoms which are uncreate. He made mind and intellect a mere secretion\nof the brain, or rather words expressing not a thing, but a state of\nthings. Reason was to him developed instinct, and life an element of\nthe atmosphere affecting certain organisms. He held good and evil to be\nmerely geographical and chronological expressions, and he opined that\nwhat is called Evil is mostly an active and transitive form of Good. Law\nwas his great Creator of all things, but he refused a creator of law,\nbecause such a creator would require another creator, and so on in a\nquasi-interminable series up to absurdity. This reduced his law to a\nmanner of haphazard. To those who, arguing against it, asked him their\nfavourite question, How often might a man after he had jumbled a set of\nletters in a bag fling them out upon the ground before they would fall\ninto an exact poem? he replied that the calculation was beyond his\narithmetic, but that the man had only to jumble and fling long enough\ninevitably to arrive at that end. He rejected the necessity as well\nas the existence of revelation, and he did not credit the miracles of\nKrishna, because, according to him, nature never suspends her laws, and,\nmoreover, he had never seen aught supernatural. He ridiculed the idea\nof Mahapralaya, or the great destruction, for as the world had\nno beginning, so it will have no end. He objected to absorption,\nfacetiously observing with the sage Jamadagni, that it was pleasant\nto eat sweetmeats, but that for his part he did not wish to become\nthe sweetmeat itself. He would not believe that Vishnu had formed the\nuniverse out of the wax in his ears. He positively asserted that trees\nare not bodies in which the consequences of merit and demerit are\nreceived. Nor would he conclude that to men were attached rewards\nand punishments from all eternity. He made light of the Sanskara,\nor sacrament. He admitted Satwa, Raja, and Tama,[127] but only as\nproperties of matter. He acknowledged gross matter (Sthulasharir), and\natomic matter (Shukshma-sharir), but not Linga-sharir, or the archetype\nof bodies. To doubt all things was the foundation of his theory, and to\nscoff at all who would not doubt was the corner-stone of his practice.\nIn debate he preferred logical and mathematical grounds, requiring a\ncategorical \u201cbecause\u201d in answer to his \u201cwhy?\u201d He was full of morality\nand natural religion, which some say is no religion at all. He gained\nthe name of atheist by declaring with Gotama that there are innumerable\nworlds, that the earth has nothing beneath it but the circumambient\nair, and that the core of the globe is incandescent. And he was called a\npractical atheist--a worse form apparently--for supporting the following\ndogma: \u201cthat though creation may attest that a creator has been, it\nsupplies no evidence to prove that a creator still exists.\u201d On which\noccasion, Shiromani, a nonplussed theologian, asked him, \u201cBy whom and\nfor what purpose werst thou sent on earth?\u201d The youth scoffed at the\nword \u201csent,\u201d and replied, \u201cNot being thy Supreme Intelligence, or\nInfinite Nihility, I am unable to explain the phenomenon.\u201d Upon which he\nquoted--\n\n               How sunk in darkness Gaur must be\n               Whose guide is blind Shiromani!\n\nAt length it so happened that the four young men, having frequently been\nsurprised in flagrant delict, were summoned to the dread presence of the\nuniversity Gurus,[128] who addressed them as follows:--\n\n\u201cThere are four different characters in the world: he who perfectly\nobeys the commands; he who practices the commands, but follows evil; he\nwho does neither good nor evil; and he who does nothing but evil. The\nthird character, it is observed, is also an offender, for he neglects\nthat which he ought to observe. But ye all belong to the fourth\ncategory.\u201d\n\nThen turning to the elder they said:\n\n\u201cIn works written upon the subject of government it is advised, \u2018Cut off\nthe gambler\u2019s nose and ears, hold up his name to public contempt, and\ndrive him out of the country, that he may thus become an example to\nothers. For they who play must more often lose than win; and losing,\nthey must either pay or not pay. In the latter case they forfeit caste,\nin the former they utterly reduce themselves. And though a gambler\u2019s\nwife and children are in the house, do not consider them to be so, since\nit is not known when they will be lost.[129] Thus he is left in a state\nof perfect not-twoness (solitude), and he will be reborn in hell.\u2019 O\nyoung man! thou hast set a bad example to others, therefore shalt thou\nimmediately exchange this university for a country life.\u201d\n\nThen they spoke to the second offender thus:----\n\n\u201cThe wise shun woman, who can fascinate a man in the twinkling of an\neye; but the foolish, conceiving an affection for her, forfeit in\nthe pursuit of pleasure their truthfulness, reputation, and good\ndisposition, their way of life and mode of thought, their vows and\ntheir religion. And to such the advice of their spiritual teachers comes\namiss, whilst they make others as bad as themselves. For it is said,\n\u2018He who has lost all sense of shame, fears not to disgrace another;\n\u2018and there is the proverb, \u2018A wild cat that devours its own young is not\nlikely to let a rat escape;\u2019 therefore must thou too, O young man! quit\nthis seat of learning with all possible expedition.\u201d\n\nThe young man proceeded to justify himself by quotations from the\nLila-shastra, his text-book, by citing such lines as--\n\n               Fortune favours folly and force,\n\nand by advising the elderly professors to improve their skill in the\npeace and war of love. But they drove him out with execrations.\n\nAs sagely and as solemnly did the Pandits and the Gurus reprove the\nthief and the atheist, but they did not dispense the words of wisdom\nin equal proportions. They warned the former that petty larceny is\npunishable with fine, theft on a larger scale with mutilation of the\nhand, and robbery, when detected in the act, with loss of life[130];\nthat for cutting purses, or for snatching them out of a man\u2019s\nwaistcloth,[131] \u2018the first penalty is chopping off the fingers, the\nsecond is the loss of the hand, and the third is death. Then they call\nhim a dishonour to the college, and they said, \u201cThou art as a woman,\nthe greatest of plunderers; other robbers purloin property which is\nworthless, thou stealest the best; they plunder in the night, thou in\nthe day,\u201d and so forth. They told him that he was a fellow who had read\nhis Chauriya Vidya to more purpose then his ritual.[132] And they drove\nhim from the door as he in his shamelessness began to quote texts about\nthe four approved ways of housebreaking, namely, picking out burnt\nbricks, cutting through unbaked bricks, throwing water on a mud wall,\nand boring one of wood with a centre-bit.\n\nBut they spent six mortal hours in convicting the atheist, whose\nabominations they refuted by every possible argumentation: by inference,\nby comparison, and by sounds, by Sruti and Smriti, i.e., revelational\nand traditional, rational and evidential, physical and metaphysical,\nanalytical and synthetical, philosophical and philological, historical,\nand so forth. But they found all their endeavours vain. \u201cFor,\u201d it is\nsaid, \u201ca man who has lost all shame, who can talk without sense, and who\ntries to cheat his opponent, will never get tired, and will never be put\ndown.\u201d He declared that a non-ad was far more probable than a monad (the\nactive principle), or the duad (the passive principle or matter.) He\ncompared their faith with a bubble in the water, of which we can never\npredicate that it does exist or it does not. It is, he said, unreal, as\nwhen the thirsty mistakes the meadow mist for a pool of water. He proved\nthe eternity of sound.[133] He impudently recounted and justified all\nthe villanies of the Vamachari or left-handed sects. He told them that\nthey had taken up an ass\u2019s load of religion, and had better apply to\nhonest industry. He fell foul of the gods; accused Yama of kicking his\nown mother, Indra of tempting the wife of his spiritual guide, and Shiva\nof associating with low women. Thus, he said, no one can respect them.\nDo not we say when it thunders awfully, \u201cthe rascally gods are dying!\u201d\n And when it is too wet, \u201cthese villain gods are sending too much\nrain\u201d? Briefly, the young Brahman replied to and harangued them all so\nimpertinently, if not pertinently, that they, waxing angry, fell upon\nhim with their staves, and drove him out of assembly.\n\nThen the four thriftless youths returned home to their father, who\nin his just indignation had urged their disgrace upon the Pandits and\nGurus, otherwise these dignitaries would never have resorted to such\nextreme measures with so distinguished a house. He took the opportunity\nof turning them out upon the world, until such time as they might be\nable to show substantial signs of reform. \u201cFor,\u201d he said, \u201cthose who\nhave read science in their boyhood, and who in youth, agitated by evil\npassions, have remained in the insolence of ignorance, feel regret in\ntheir old age, and are consumed by the fire of avarice.\u201d In order\nto supply them with a motive for the task proposed, he stopped their\nmonthly allowance But he added, if they would repair to the neighbouring\nuniversity of Jayasthal, and there show themselves something better\nthan a disgrace to their family, he would direct their maternal uncle to\nsupply them with all the necessaries of food and raiment.\n\nIn vain the youths attempted, with sighs and tears and threats of\nsuicide, to soften the paternal heart. He was inexorable, for two\nreasons. In the first place, after wondering away the wonder with which\nhe regarded his own failure, he felt that a stigma now attached to\nthe name of the pious and learned Vishnu Swami, whose lectures upon\n\u201cManagement during Teens,\u201d and whose \u201cBrahman Young Man\u2019s Own Book,\u201d\n had become standard works. Secondly, from a sense of duty, he determined\nto omit nothing that might tend to reclaim the reprobates. As regards\nthe monthly allowance being stopped, the reverend man had become every\nyear a little fonder of his purse; he had hoped that his sons would have\nqualified themselves to take pupils, and thus achieve for themselves, as\nhe phrased it, \u201cA genteel independence\u201d; whilst they openly derided the\ncareer, calling it \u201can admirable provision for the more indigent members\nof the middle classes.\u201d For which reason he referred them to their\nmaternal uncle, a man of known and remarkable penuriousness.\n\nThe four ne\u2019er-do-weals, foreseeing what awaited them at Jayasthal,\ndeferred it as a last resource; determining first to see a little life,\nand to push their way in the world, before condemning themselves to the\ntribulations of reform.\n\nThey tried to live without a monthly allowance, and notably they failed;\nit was squeezing, as men say, oil from sand. The gambler, having no\ncapital, and, worse still, no credit, lost two or three suvernas[134]\nat play, and could not pay them; in consequence of which he was soundly\nbeaten with iron-shod staves, and was nearly compelled by the keeper\nof the hell to sell himself into slavery. Thus he became disgusted; and\ntelling his brethren that they would find him at Jayasthal, he departed,\nwith the intention of studying wisdom.\n\nA month afterwards came the libertine\u2019s turn to be disappointed. He\ncould no longer afford fine new clothes; even a well-washed coat was\nbeyond his means. He had reckoned upon his handsome face, and he had\nmatured a plan for laying various elderly conquests under contribution.\nJudge, therefore, his disgust when all the women--high and low, rich\nand poor, old and young, ugly and beautiful--seeing the end of his\nwaistcloth thrown empty over his shoulder, passed him in the streets\nwithout even deigning a look. The very shopkeepers\u2019 wives, who once had\nadored his mustachio and had never ceased talking of his \u201celegant\u201d gait,\ndespised him; and the wealthy old person who formerly supplied his small\nfeet with the choicest slippers, left him to starve. Upon which he also\nin a state of repentance, followed his brother to acquire knowledge.\n\n\u201cAm I not,\u201d quoth the thief to himself, \u201ca cat in climbing, a deer\nin running, a snake in twisting, a hawk in pouncing, a dog in\nscenting?--keen as a hare, tenacious as a wolf, strong as a lion?--a\nlamp in the night, a horse on a plain, a mule on a stony path, a boat in\nthe water, a rock on land[135]?\u201d The reply to his own questions was\nof course affirmative. But despite all these fine qualities,\nand notwithstanding his scrupulous strictness in invocating the\nhouse-breaking tool and in devoting a due portion of his gains to the\ngods of plunder,[136] he was caught in a store-room by the proprietor,\nwho inexorably handed him over to justice. As he belonged to the\npriestly caste,[137] the fine imposed upon him was heavy. He could not\npay it, and therefore he was thrown into a dungeon, where he remained\nfor some time. But at last he escaped from jail, when he made his\nparting bow to Kartikeya,[138] stole a blanket from one of the guards,\nand set out for Jayasthal, cursing his old profession.\n\nThe atheist also found himself in a position that deprived him of\nall his pleasures. He delighted in afterdinner controversies, and in\nbringing the light troops of his wit to bear upon the unwieldy masses of\nlore and logic opposed to him by polemical Brahmans who, out of respect\nfor his father, did not lay an action against him for overpowering them\nin theological disputation.[139] In the strange city to which he had\nremoved no one knew the son of Vishnu Swami, and no one cared to invite\nhim to the house. Once he attempted his usual trick upon a knot of\nsages who, sitting round a tank, were recreating themselves with quoting\nmystical Sanskrit shlokas[140] of abominable long-windedness. The result\nwas his being obliged to ply his heels vigorously in flight from the\njustly incensed literati, to whom he had said \u201ctush\u201d and \u201cpish,\u201d at\nleast a dozen times in as many minutes. He therefore also followed the\nexample of his brethren, and started for Jayasthal with all possible\nexpedition.\n\nArrived at the house of their maternal uncle, the young men, as by one\nassent, began to attempt the unloosening of his purse-strings. Signally\nfailing in this and in other notable schemes, they determined to lay in\nthat stock of facts and useful knowledge which might reconcile them with\ntheir father, and restore them to that happy life at Gaur which they\nthen despised, and which now brought tears into their eyes.\n\nThen they debated with one another what they should study\n\n   *     *     *     *     *     *     *\n\nThat branch of the preternatural, popularly called \u201cwhite magic,\u201d found\nwith them favour.\n\n   *     *     *     *     *     *     *\n\nThey chose a Guru or teacher strictly according to the orders of their\nfaith, a wise man of honourable family and affable demeanour, who was\nnot a glutton nor leprous, nor blind of one eye, nor blind of both\neyes, nor very short, nor suffering from whitlows,[141] asthma, or other\ndisease, nor noisy and talkative, nor with any defect about the fingers\nand toes, nor subject to his wife.\n\n   *     *     *     *     *     *     *\n\nA grand discovery had been lately made by a certain\nphysiologico-philosophico-psychologico-materialist, a Jayasthalian. In\ninvestigating the vestiges of creation, the cause of causes, the effect\nof effects, and the original origin of that Matra (matter) which some\nregard as an entity, others as a non-entity, others self-existent,\nothers merely specious and therefore unexistent, he became convinced\nthat the fundamental form of organic being is a globule having another\nglobule within itself After inhabiting a garret and diving into the\ndepths of his self-consciousness for a few score years, he was able to\nproduce such complex globule in triturated and roasted flint by means\nof--I will not say what. Happily for creation in general, the discovery\ndied a natural death some centuries ago. An edifying spectacle, indeed,\nfor the world to see; a cross old man sitting amongst his gallipots and\ncrucibles, creating animalculae, providing the corpses of birds,\nbeasts, and fishes with what is vulgarly called life, and supplying to\nepigenesis all the latest improvements!\n\nIn those days the invention, being a novelty, engrossed the thoughts of\nthe universal learned, who were in a fever of excitement about it. Some\nbelieved in it so implicity that they saw in every experiment a\nhundred things which they did not see. Others were so sceptical and\ncontradictory that they would not preceive what they did see. Those\nblended with each fact their own deductions, whilst these span round\nevery reality the web of their own prejudices. Curious to say, the\nJayasthalians, amongst whom the luminous science arose, hailed it with\ndelight, whilst the Gaurians derided its claim to be considered an\nimportant addition to human knowledge.\n\nLet me try to remember a few of their words.\n\n\u201cUnfortunate human nature,\u201d wrote the wise of Gaur against the wise\nof Jayasthal, \u201cwanted no crowning indignity but this! You had already\nproved that the body is made of the basest element--earth. You had\nargued away the immovability, the ubiquity, the permanency, the\neternity, and the divinity of the soul, for is not your favourite axiom,\n\u2018It is the nature of limbs which thinketh in man\u2019? The immortal mind is,\naccording to you, an ignoble viscus; the god-like gift of reason is the\ninstinct of a dog somewhat highly developed. Still you left us something\nto hope. Still you allowed us one boast. Still life was a thread\nconnecting us with the Giver of Life. But now, with an impious hand,\nin blasphemous rage ye have rent asunder that last frail tie.\u201d And so\nforth.\n\n\u201cWelcome! thrice welcome! this latest and most admirable development of\nhuman wisdom,\u201d wrote the sage Jayasthalians against the sage Gaurians,\n\u201cwhich has assigned to man his proper state and status and station in\nthe magnificent scale of being. We have not created the facts which\nwe have investigated, and which we now proudly publish. We have proved\nmaterialism to be nature\u2019s own system. But our philosophy of matter\ncannot overturn any truth, because, if erroneous, it will necessarily\nsink into oblivion; if real, it will tend only to instruct and to\nenlighten the world. Wise are ye in your generation, O ye sages of Gaur,\nyet withal wondrous illogical.\u201d And much of this kind.\n\nConcerning all which, mighty king! I, as a Vampire, have only to\nremark that those two learned bodies, like your Rajaship\u2019s Nine Gems\nof Science, were in the habit of talking most about what they least\nunderstood.\n\nThe four young men applied the whole force of their talents to mastering\nthe difficulties of the life-giving process; and in due time, their\nindustry obtained its reward.\n\nThen they determined to return home. As with beating hearts they\napproached the old city, their birthplace, and gazed with moistened eyes\nupon its tall spires and grim pagodas, its verdant meads and venerable\ngroves, they saw a Kanjar,[142] who, having tied up in a bundle the skin\nand bones of a tiger which he had found dead, was about to go on his\nway. Then said the thief to the gambler, \u201cTake we these remains with us,\nand by means of them prove the truth of our science before the people\nof Gaur, to the offence of their noses.[143]\u201d Being now possessed of\nknowledge, they resolved to apply it to its proper purpose, namely,\npower over the property of others. Accordingly, the wencher, the\ngambler, and the atheist kept the Kanjar in conversation whilst the\nthief vivified a shank bone; and the bone thereupon stood upright, and\nhopped about in so grotesque and wonderful a way that the man, being\nfrightened, fled as if I had been close behind him.\n\nVishnu Swami had lately written a very learned commentary on the\nmystical words of Lokakshi:\n\n\u201cThe Scriptures are at variance--the tradition is at variance. He who\ngives a meaning of his own, quoting the Vedas, is no philosopher.\n\n\u201cTrue philosophy, through ignorance, is concealed as in the fissures of\na rock.\n\n\u201cBut the way of the Great One--that is to be followed.\u201d\n\nAnd the success of his book had quite effaced from the Brahman mind the\nholy man\u2019s failure in bringing up his children. He followed up this by\nadding to his essay on education a twentieth tome, containing recipes\nfor the \u201cReformation of Prodigals.\u201d\n\nThe learned and reverend father received his sons with open arms. He had\nheard from his brother-in-law that the youths were qualified to\nsupport themselves, and when informed that they wished to make a public\nexperiment of their science, he exerted himself, despite his disbelief\nin it, to forward their views.\n\nThe Pandits and Gurus were long before they would consent to attend what\nthey considered dealings with Yama (the Devil). In consequence, however,\nof Vishnu Swami\u2019s name and importunity, at length, on a certain day,\nall the pious, learned, and reverend tutors, teachers, professors,\nprolocutors, pastors, spiritual fathers, poets, philosophers,\nmathematicians, schoolmasters, pedagogues, bear-leaders, institutors,\ngerund-grinders, preceptors, dominies, brushers, coryphaei, dry-nurses,\ncoaches, mentors, monitors, lecturers, prelectors, fellows, and heads of\nhouses at the university at Gaur, met together in a large garden,\nwhere they usually diverted themselves out of hours with ball-tossing,\npigeon-tumbling, and kite-flying.\n\nPresently the four young men, carrying their bundle of bones and the\nother requisites, stepped forward, walking slowly with eyes downcast,\nlike shrinking cattle: for it is said, the Brahman must not run, even\nwhen it rains.\n\nAfter pronouncing an impromptu speech, composed for them by their\nfather, and so stuffed with erudition that even the writer hardly\nunderstood it, they announced their wish to prove, by ocular\ndemonstration, the truth of a science upon which their short-sighted\nrivals of Jayasthal had cast cold water, but which, they remarked in the\neloquent peroration of their discourse, the sages of Gaur had\nwelcomed with that wise and catholic spirit of inquiry which had ever\ncharacterized their distinguished body.\n\nHuge words, involved sentences, and the high-flown compliment,\nexceedingly undeserved, obscured, I suppose, the bright wits of the\nintellectual convocation, which really began to think that their\nliberality of opinion deserved all praise.\n\nNone objected to what was being prepared, except one of the heads of\nhouses; his appeal was generally scouted, because his Sanskrit style was\nvulgarly intelligible, and he had the bad name of being a practical man.\nThe metaphysician Rashik Lall sneered to Vaiswata the poet, who passed\non the look to the theo-philosopher Vardhaman. Haridatt the antiquarian\nwhispered the metaphysician Vasudeva, who burst into a loud laugh;\nwhilst Narayan, Jagasharma, and Devaswami, all very learned in\nthe Vedas, opened their eyes and stared at him with well-simulated\nastonishment. So he, being offended, said nothing more, but arose and\nwalked home.\n\nA great crowd gathered round the four young men and their father, as\nopening the bundle that contained the tiger\u2019s remains, they prepared for\ntheir task.\n\nOne of the operators spread the bones upon the ground and fixed each one\ninto its proper socket, not forgetting even the teeth and tusks.\n\nThe second connected, by means of a marvellous unguent, the skeleton\nwith the muscles and heart of an elephant, which he had procured for the\npurpose.\n\nThe third drew from his pouch the brain and eyes of a large tom-cat,\nwhich he carefully fitted into the animal\u2019s skull, and then covered the\nbody with the hide of a young rhinoceros.\n\nThen the fourth--the atheist--who had been directing the operation,\nproduced a globule having another globule within itself. And as the\ncrowd pressed on them, craning their necks, breathless with anxiety,\nhe placed the Principle of Organic Life in the tiger\u2019s body with such\neffect that the monster immediately heaved its chest, breathed, agitated\nits limbs, opened its eyes, jumped to its feet, shook itself, glared\naround, and began to gnash its teeth and lick its chops, lashing the\nwhile its ribs with its tail.\n\nThe sages sprang back, and the beast sprang forward. With a roar like\nthunder during Elephanta-time,[144] it flew at the nearest of the\nspectators, flung Vishnu Swami to the ground and clawed his four sons.\nThen, not even stopping to drink their blood, it hurried after the\nflying herd of wise men. Jostling and tumbling, stumbling and catching\nat one another\u2019s long robes, they rushed in hottest haste towards the\ngarden gate. But the beast, having the muscles of an elephant as well as\nthe bones of a tiger, made a few bounds of eighty or ninety feet each,\neasily distanced them, and took away all chance of escape. To be brief:\nas the monster was frightfully hungry after its long fast, and as\nthe imprudent young men had furnished it with admirable implements of\ndestruction, it did not cease its work till one hundred and twenty-one\nlearned and highly distinguished Pandits and Gurus lay upon the ground\nchawed, clawed, sucked dry, and in most cases stone-dead. Amongst them,\nI need hardly say, were the sage Vishnu Swami and his four sons.\n\nHaving told this story the Vampire hung silent for a time. Presently he\nresumed--\n\n\u201cNow, heed my words, Raja Vikram! I am about to ask thee, Which of\nall those learned men was the most finished fool? The answer is easily\nfound, yet it must be distasteful to thee. Therefore mortify thy vanity,\nas soon as possible, or I shall be talking, and thou wilt be walking\nthrough this livelong night, to scanty purpose. Remember! science\nwithout understanding is of little use; indeed, understanding is\nsuperior to science, and those devoid of understanding perish as did the\npersons who revivified the tiger. Before this, I warned thee to beware\nof thyself, and of thine own conceit. Here, then, is an opportunity for\nself-discipline--which of all those learned men was the greatest fool?\u201d\n\nThe warrior king mistook the kind of mortification imposed upon him, and\npondered over the uncomfortable nature of the reply--in the presence of\nhis son.\n\nAgain the Baital taunted him.\n\n\u201cThe greatest fool of all,\u201d at last said Vikram, in slow and by no means\nwilling accents, \u201cwas the father. Is it not said, \u2018There is no fool like\nan old fool\u2019?\u201d\n\n\u201cGramercy!\u201d cried the Vampire, bursting out into a discordant laugh, \u201cI\nnow return to my tree. By this head! I never before heard a father so\nreadily condemn a father.\u201d With these words he disappeared, slipping out\nof the bundle.\n\nThe Raja scolded his son a little for want of obedience, and said that\nhe had always thought more highly of his acuteness--never could have\nbelieved that he would have been taken in by so shallow a trick. Dharma\nDhwaj answered not a word to this, but promised to be wiser another\ntime.\n\nThen they returned to the tree, and did what they had so often done\nbefore.\n\nAnd, as before, the Baital held his tongue for a time. Presently he\nbegan as follows.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S EIGHTH STORY -- Of the Use and Misuse of Magic Pills.\n\n\nThe lady Chandraprabha, daughter of the Raja Subichar, was a\nparticularly beautiful girl, and marriage-able withal. One day as\nVasanta, the Spring, began to assert its reign over the world, animate\nand inanimate, she went accompanied by her young friends and companions\nto stroll about her father\u2019s pleasure-garden.\n\nThe fair troop wandered through sombre groves, where the dark\ntamale-tree entwined its branches with the pale green foliage of the\nnim, and the pippal\u2019s domes of quivering leaves contrasted with the\ncolumnar aisles of the banyan fig. They admired the old monarchs of the\nforest, bearded to the waist with hangings of moss, the flowing creepers\ndelicately climbing from the lower branches to the topmost shoots, and\nthe cordage of llianas stretching from trunk to trunk like bridges for\nthe monkeys to pass over. Then they issued into a clear space dotted\nwith asokas bearing rich crimson flowers, cliterias of azure blue,\nmadhavis exhibiting petals virgin white as the snows on Himalaya, and\njasmines raining showers of perfumed blossoms upon the grateful earth.\nThey could not sufficiently praise the tall and graceful stem of the\narrowy areca, contrasting with the solid pyramid of the cypress, and the\nmore masculine stature of the palm. Now they lingered in the trellised\nwalks closely covered over with vines and creepers; then they stopped to\ngather the golden bloom weighing down the mango boughs, and to smell\nthe highly-scented flowers that hung from the green fretwork of the\nchambela.\n\nIt was spring, I have said. The air was still except when broken by the\nhum of the large black bramra bee, as he plied his task amidst the red\nand orange flowers of the dak, and by the gushings of many waters that\nmade music as they coursed down their stuccoed channels between borders\nof many coloured poppies and beds of various flowers. From time to\ntime the dulcet note of the kokila bird, and the hoarse plaint of\nthe turtle-dove deep hid in her leafy bower, attracted every ear and\nthrilled every heart. The south wind--\u201cbreeze of the south,[145] the\nfriend of love and spring\u201d blew with a voluptuous warmth, for rain\nclouds canopied the earth, and the breath of the narcissus, the rose,\nand the citron, teemed with a languid fragrance.\n\nThe charms of the season affected all the damsels. They amused\nthemselves in their privacy with pelting blossoms at one another,\nrunning races down the smooth broad alleys, mounting the silken swings\nthat hung between the orange trees, embracing one another, and at times\ntrying to push the butt of the party into the fishpond. Perhaps the\nliveliest of all was the lady Chandraprabha, who on account of her rank\ncould pelt and push all the others, without fear of being pelted and\npushed in return.\n\nIt so happened, before the attendants had had time to secure privacy\nfor the princess and her women, that Manaswi, a very handsome youth, a\nBrahman\u2019s son, had wandered without malicious intention into the garden.\nFatigued with walking, and finding a cool shady place beneath a tree, he\nhad lain down there, and had gone to sleep, and had not been observed\nby any of the king\u2019s people. He was still sleeping when the princess and\nher companions were playing together.\n\nPresently Chandraprabha, weary of sport, left her friends, and singing\na lively air, tripped up the stairs leading to the summer-house.\nAroused by the sound of her advancing footsteps, Manaswi sat up; and\nthe princess, seeing a strange man, started. But their eyes had met, and\nboth were subdued by love--love vulgarly called \u201clove at first sight.\u201d\n\n\u201cNonsense!\u201d exclaimed the warrior king, testily, \u201cI can never believe in\nthat freak of Kama Deva.\u201d He spoke feelingly, for the thing had happened\nto himself more than once, and on no occasion had it turned out well.\n\n\u201cBut there is such a thing, O Raja, as love at first sight,\u201d objected\nthe Baital, speaking dogmatically.\n\n\u201cThen perhaps thou canst account for it, dead one,\u201d growled the monarch\nsurlily.\n\n\u201cI have no reason to do so, O Vikram,\u201d retorted the Vampire, \u201cwhen you\nmen have already done it. Listen, then, to the words of the wise. In the\nolden time, one of your great philosophers invented a fluid pervading\nall matter, strongly self-repulsive like the steam of a brass pot, and\nwidely spreading like the breath of scandal. The repulsiveness, however,\naccording to that wise man, is greatly modified by its second property,\nnamely, an energetic attraction or adhesion to all material bodies. Thus\nevery substance contains a part, more or less, of this fluid, pervading\nit throughout, and strongly bound to each component atom. He called\nit \u2018Ambericity,\u2019 for the best of reasons, as it has no connection with\namber, and he described it as an imponderable, which, meaning that it\ncould not be weighed, gives a very accurate and satisfactory idea of its\nnature.\n\n\u201cNow, said that philosopher, whenever two bodies containing that\nunweighable substance in unequal proportions happen to meet, a current\nof imponderable passes from one to the other, producing a kind\nof attraction, and tending to adhere. The operation takes place\ninstantaneously when the force is strong and much condensed. Thus the\nvulgar who call things after their effects and not from their causes,\nterm the action of this imponderable love at first sight; the wise\ndefine it to be a phenomenon of ambericity. As regards my own opinion\nabout the matter, I have long ago told it to you, O Vikram! Silliness--\u201d\n\n\u201cEither hold your tongue, fellow, or go on with your story,\u201d cried the\nRaja, wearied out by so many words that had no manner of sense.\n\nWell! the effect of the first glance was that Manaswi, the Brahman\u2019s\nson, fell back in a swoon and remained senseless upon the ground where\nhe had been sitting; and the Raja\u2019s daughter began to tremble upon\nher feet, and presently dropped unconscious upon the floor of the\nsummer-house. Shortly after this she was found by her companions and\nattendants, who, quickly taking her up in their arms and supporting her\ninto a litter, conveyed her home.\n\nManaswi, the Brahman\u2019s son, was so completely overcome, that he lay\nthere dead to everything. Just then the learned, deeply read, and\npurblind Pandits Muldev and Shashi by name, strayed into the garden, and\nstumbled upon the body.\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d said Muldev, \u201chow came this youth thus to fall senseless on\nthe ground?\u201d\n\n\u201cMan,\u201d replied Shashi, \u201cdoubtless some damsel has shot forth the arrows\nof her glances from the bow of her eyebrows, and thence he has become\ninsensible!\u201d\n\n\u201cWe must lift him up then,\u201d said Muldev the benevolent.\n\n\u201cWhat need is there to raise him?\u201d asked Shashi the misanthrope by way\nof reply.\n\nMuldev, however, would not listen to these words. He ran to the pond\nhard by, soaked the end of his waistcloth in water, sprinkled it over\nthe young Brahman, raised him from the ground, and placed him sitting\nagainst the wall. And perceiving, when he came to himself, that his\nsickness was rather of the soul than of the body, the old men asked him\nhow he came to be in that plight.\n\n\u201cWe should tell our griefs,\u201d answered Manaswi, \u201conly to those who will\nrelieve us! What is the use of communicating them to those who, when\nthey have heard, cannot help us? What is to be gained by the empty pity\nor by the useless condolence of men in general?\u201d\n\nThe Pandits, however, by friendly looks and words, presently persuaded\nhim to break silence, when he said, \u201cA certain princess entered this\nsummer-house, and from the sight of her I have fallen into this state.\nIf I can obtain her, I shall live; if not, I must die.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome with me, young man!\u201d said Muldev the benevolent: \u201cI will use\nevery endeavour to obtain her, and if I do not succeed I will make thee\nwealthy and independent of the world.\u201d\n\nManaswi rejoined: \u201cThe Deity in his beneficence has created many jewels\nin this world, but the pearl, woman, is chiefest of all; and for\nher sake only does man desire wealth. What are riches to one who has\nabandoned his wife? What are they who do not possess beautiful wives?\nthey are but beings inferior to the beasts! wealth is the fruit of\nvirtue; ease, of wealth; a wife, of ease. And where no wife is, how can\nthere be happiness?\u201d And the enamoured youth rambled on in this way,\ncurious to us, Raja Vikram, but perhaps natural enough in a Brahman\u2019s\nson suffering under that endemic malady--determination to marry.\n\n\u201cWhatever thou mayest desire,\u201d said Muldev, \u201cshall by the blessing of\nheaven be given to thee.\u201d\n\nManaswi implored him, saying most pathetically, \u201cO Pandit, bestow then\nthat damsel upon me!\u201d\n\nMuldev promised to do so, and having comforted the youth, led him to his\nown house. Then he welcomed him politely, seated him upon the carpet,\nand left him for a few minutes, promising him to return. When he\nreappeared, he held in his hand two little balls or pills, and showing\nthem to Manaswi, he explained their virtues as follows:\n\n\u201cThere is in our house an hereditary secret, by means of which I try to\npromote the weal of humanity. But in all cases my success depends mainly\nupon the purity and the heartwholeness of those that seek my aid. If\nthou place this in thy mouth, thou shalt be changed into a damsel twelve\nyears old, and when thou withdrawest it again, thou shalt again recover\nthine original form. Beware, however, that thou use the power for none\nbut a good purpose; otherwise some great calamity will befall thee.\nTherefore, take counsel of thyself before undertaking this trial!\u201d\n\nWhat lover, O warrior king Vikram, would have hesitated, under such\ncircumstances, to assure the Pandit that he was the most innocent,\nearnest, and well-intentioned being in the Three Worlds?\n\nThe Brahman\u2019s son, at least, lost no time in so doing. Hence the\nsimple-minded philosopher put one of the pills into the young man\u2019s\nmouth, warning him on no account to swallow it, and took the other into\nhis own mouth. Upon which Manaswi became a sprightly young maid, and\nMuldev was changed to a reverend and decrepid senior, not fewer than\neighty years old.\n\nThus transformed, the twain walked up to the palace of the Raja\nSubichar, and stood for a while to admire the gate. Then passing\nthrough seven courts, beautiful as the Paradise of Indra, they entered,\nunannounced, as became the priestly dignity, a hall where, surrounded by\nhis courtiers, sat the ruler. The latter, seeing the Holy Brahman under\nhis roof, rose up, made the customary humble salutation, and taking\ntheir right hands, led what appeared to be the father and daughter to\nappropriate seats. Upon which Muldev, having recited a verse, bestowed\nupon the Raja a blessing whose beauty has been diffused over all\ncreation.\n\n\u201cMay that Deity[146] who as a mannikin deceived the great king Bali; who\nas a hero, with a monkey-host, bridged the Salt Sea; who as a shepherd\nlifted up the mountain Gobarddhan in the palm of his hand, and by it\nsaved the cowherds and cowherdesses from the thunders of heaven--may\nthat Deity be thy protector!\u201d\n\nHaving heard and marvelled at this display of eloquence, the Raja\ninquired, \u201cWhence hath your holiness come?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy country,\u201d replied Muldev, \u201cis on the northern side of the great\nmother Ganges, and there too my dwelling is. I travelled to a distant\nland, and having found in this maiden a worthy wife for my son, I\nstraightway returned homewards. Meanwhile a famine had laid waste our\nvillage, and my wife and my son have fled I know not where. Encumbered\nwith this damsel, how can I wander about seeking them? Hearing the name\nof a pious and generous ruler, I said to myself, \u2018I will leave her under\nhis charge until my return.\u2019 Be pleased to take great care of her.\u201d\n\nFor a minute the Raja sat thoughtful and silent. He was highly pleased\nwith the Brahman\u2019s perfect compliment. But he could not hide from\nhimself that he was placed between two difficulties: one, the charge\nof a beautiful young girl, with pouting lips, soft speech, and roguish\neyes; the other, a priestly curse upon himself and his kingdom. He\nthought, however, refusal the more dangerous; so he raised his face\nand exclaimed, \u201cO produce of Brahma\u2019s head,[147] I will do what your\nhighness has desired of me.\u201d\n\nUpon which the Brahman, after delivering a benediction of adieu almost\nas beautiful and spirit-stirring as that with which he had presented\nhimself, took the betel[148] and went his ways.\n\nThen the Raja sent for his daughter Chandraprabha and said to her, \u201cThis\nis the affianced bride of a young Brahman, and she has been trusted to\nmy protection for a time by her father-in-law. Take her therefore into\nthe inner rooms, treat her with the utmost regard, and never allow her\nto be separated from thee, day or night, asleep or awake, eating or\ndrinking, at home or abroad.\u201d\n\nChandraprabha took the hand of Sita--as Manaswi had pleased to call\nhimself--and led the way to her own apartment. Once the seat of joy and\npleasure, the rooms now wore a desolate and melancholy look. The windows\nwere darkened, the attendants moved noiselessly over the carpets, as\nif their footsteps would cause headache, and there was a faint scent of\nsome drug much used in cases of deliquium. The apartments were handsome,\nbut the only ornament in the room where they sat was a large bunch\nof withered flowers in an arched recess, and these, though possibly\ninteresting to some one, were not likely to find favour as a decoration\nin the eyes of everybody.\n\nThe Raja\u2019s daughter paid the greatest attention and talked with unusual\nvivacity to the Brahman\u2019s daughter-in-law, either because she had\nroguish eyes, or from some presentiment of what was to occur, whichever\nyou please, Raja Vikram, and it is no matter which. Still Sita could not\nhelp perceiving that there was a shade of sorrow upon the forehead of\nher fair new friend, and so when they retired to rest she asked the\ncause of it.\n\nThen Chandraprabha related to her the sad tale: \u201cOne day in the spring\nseason, as I was strolling in the garden along with my companions,\nI beheld a very handsome Brahman, and our eyes having met, he became\nunconscious, and I also was insensible. My companions seeing my\ncondition, brought me home, and therefore I know neither his name nor\nhis abode. His beautiful form is impressed upon my memory. I have now no\ndesire to eat or to drink, and from this distress my colour has become\npale and my body is thus emaciated.\u201d And the beautiful princess sighed\na sigh that was musical and melancholy, and concluded by predicting for\nherself--as persons similarly placed often do--a sudden and untimely end\nabout the beginning of the next month.\n\n\u201cWhat wilt thou give me,\u201d asked the Brahman\u2019s daughter-in-law demurely,\n\u201cif I show thee thy beloved at this very moment?\u201d\n\nThe Raja\u2019s daughter answered, \u201cI will ever be the lowest of thy slaves,\nstanding before thee with joined hands.\u201d\n\nUpon which Sita removed the pill from her mouth, and instantly having\nbecome Manaswi, put it carefully away in a little bag hung round his\nneck. At this sight Chandraprabha felt abashed, and hung down her head\nin beautiful confusion. To describe--\n\n\u201cI will have no descriptions, Vampire!\u201d cried the great Vikram, jerking\nthe bag up and down as if he were sweating gold in it. \u201cThe fewer of thy\ndescriptions the better for us all.\u201d\n\nBriefly (resumed the demon), Manaswi reflected upon the eight forms of\nmarriage--viz., Bramhalagan, when a girl is given to a Brahman, or man\nof superior caste, without reward; Daiva, when she is presented as\na gift or fee to the officiating priest at the close of a sacrifice;\nArsha, when two cows are received by the girl\u2019s father in exchange for\nthe bride[149]; Prajapatya, when the girl is given at the request of a\nBrahman, and the father says to his daughter and her to betrothed, \u201cGo,\nfulfil the duties of religion\u201d; Asura, when money is received by the\nfather in exchange for the bride; Rakshasha, when she is captured in\nwar, or when her bridegroom overcomes his rival; Paisacha, when the\ngirl is taken away from her father\u2019s house by craft; and eighthly,\nGandharva-lagan, or the marriage that takes place by mutual\nconsent.[150]\n\nManaswi preferred the latter, especially as by her rank and age the\nprincess was entitled to call upon her father for the Lakshmi Swayambara\nwedding, in which she would have chosen her own husband. And thus it is\nthat Rama, Arjuna, Krishna, Nala, and others, were proposed to by the\nprincesses whom they married.\n\nFor five months after these nuptials, Manaswi never stirred out of\nthe palace, but remained there by day a woman, and a man by night. The\nconsequence was that he--I call him \u201che,\u201d for whether Manaswi or Sita,\nhis mind ever remained masculine--presently found himself in a fair way\nto become a father.\n\nNow, one would imagine that a change of sex every twenty-four hours\nwould be variety enough to satisfy even a man. Manaswi, however, was not\ncontented. He began to pine for more liberty, and to find fault with his\nwife for not taking him out into the world. And you might have supposed\nthat a young person who, from love at first sight, had fallen senseless\nupon the steps of a summer-house, and who had devoted herself to a\nsudden and untimely end because she was separated from her lover, would\nhave repressed her yawns and little irritable words even for a year\nafter having converted him into a husband. But no! Chandraprabha soon\nfelt as tired of seeing Manaswi and nothing but Manaswi, as Manaswi was\nweary of seeing Chandraprabha and nothing but Chandraprabha. Often she\nhad been on the point of proposing visits and out-of-door excursions.\nBut when at last the idea was first suggested by her husband, she at\nonce became an injured woman. She hinted how foolish it was for married\npeople to imprison themselves and to quarrel all day. When Manaswi\nremonstrated, saying that he wanted nothing better than to appear before\nthe world with her as his wife, but that he really did not know what\nher father might do to him, she threw out a cutting sarcasm upon his\neffeminate appearance during the hours of light. She then told him of\nan unfortunate young woman in an old nursery tale who had unconsciously\nmarried a fiend that became a fine handsome man at night when no\neye could see him, and utter ugliness by day when good looks show to\nadvantage. And lastly, when inveighing against the changeableness,\nfickleness, and infidelity of mankind, she quoted the words of the\npoet--\n\n               Out upon change! it tires the heart\n                      And weighs the noble spirit down;\n               A vain, vain world indeed thou art\n                      That can such vile condition own\n               The veil hath fallen from my eyes,\n                      I cannot love where I despise....\n\nYou can easily, O King Vikram, continue for yourself and conclude this\nlecture, which I leave unfinished on account of its length.\n\nChandraprabha and Sita, who called each other the Zodiacal Twins and\nLaughter Light,[151] and All-consenters, easily persuaded the old\nRaja that their health would be further improved by air, exercise, and\ndistractions. Subichar, being delighted with the change that had taken\nplace in a daughter whom he loved, and whom he had feared to lose, told\nthem to do as they pleased. They began a new life, in which short trips\nand visits, baths and dances, music parties, drives in bullock chariots,\nand water excursions succeeded one another.\n\nIt so happened that one day the Raja went with his whole family to a\nwedding feast in the house of his grand treasurer, where the latter\u2019s\nson saw Manaswi in the beautiful shape of Sita. This was a third case of\nlove at first sight, for the young man immediately said to a particular\nfriend, \u201cIf I obtain that girl, I shall live; if not, I shall abandon\nlife.\u201d\n\nIn the meantime the king, having enjoyed the feast, came back to his\npalace with his whole family. The condition of the treasurer\u2019s son,\nhowever, became very distressing; and through separation from his\nbeloved, he gave up eating and drinking. The particular friend had kept\nthe secret for some days, though burning to tell it. At length he found\nan excuse for himself in the sad state of his friend, and he immediately\nwent and divulged all that he knew to the treasurer. After this he felt\nrelieved.\n\nThe minister repaired to the court, and laid his case before the king,\nsaying, \u201cGreat Raja! through the love of that Brahman\u2019s daughter-in-law,\nmy son\u2019s state is very bad; he has given up eating and drinking; in fact\nhe is consumed by the fire of separation. If now your majesty could show\ncompassion, and bestow the girl upon him, his life would be saved. If\nnot----\u201d\n\n\u201cFool!\u201d cried the Raja, who, hearing these words, had waxed very wroth;\n\u201cit is not right for kings to do injustice. Listen! when a person puts\nany one in charge of a protector, how can the latter give away his trust\nwithout consulting the person that trusted him? And yet this is what you\nwish me to do.\u201d\n\nThe treasurer knew that the Raja could not govern his realm without\nhim, and he was well acquainted with his master\u2019s character. He said\nto himself, \u201cThis will not last long;\u201d but he remained dumb, simulating\nhopelessness, and hanging down his head, whilst Subichar alternately\nscolded and coaxed, abused and flattered him, in order to open his lips.\nThen, with tears in his eyes, he muttered a request to take leave; and\nas he passed through the palace gates, he said aloud, with a resolute\nair, \u201cIt will cost me but ten days of fasting!\u201d\n\nThe treasurer, having returned home, collected all his attendants, and\nwent straightway to his son\u2019s room. Seeing the youth still stretched\nupon his sleeping-mat, and very yellow for the want of food, he took his\nhand, and said in a whisper, meant to be audible, \u201cAlas! poor son, I can\ndo nothing but perish with thee.\u201d\n\nThe servants, hearing this threat, slipped one by one out of the room,\nand each went to tell his friend that the grand treasurer had resolved\nto live no longer. After which, they went back to the house to see if\ntheir master intended to keep his word, and curious to know, if he did\nintend to die, how, where, and when it was to be. And they were not\ndisappointed: I do not mean that the wished their lord to die, as he was\na good master to them but still there was an excitement in the thing----\n\n(Raja Vikram could not refrain from showing his anger at the insult thus\ncast by the Baital upon human nature; the wretch, however, pretending\nnot to notice it, went on without interrupting himself)\n\n----which somehow or other pleased them.\n\nWhen the treasurer had spent three days without touching bread or water,\nall the cabinet council met and determined to retire from business\nunless the Raja yielded to their solicitations. The treasurer was their\nworking man. \u201cBesides which,\u201d said the cabinet council, \u201cif a certain\nperson gets into the habit of refusing us, what is to be the end of it,\nand what is the use of being cabinet councillors any longer?\u201d\n\nEarly on the next morning, the ministers went in a body before the Raja,\nand humbly represented that \u201cthe treasurer\u2019s son is at the point of\ndeath, the effect of a full heart and an empty stomach. Should he die,\nthe father, who has not eaten or drunk during the last three days\u201d (the\nRaja trembled to hear the intelligence, though he knew it), \u201chis father,\nwe say, cannot be saved. If the father dies the affairs of the kingdom\ncome to ruin,--is he not the grand treasurer? It is already said\nthat half the accounts have been gnawed by white ants, and that some\npernicious substance in the ink has eaten jagged holes through the\npaper, so that the other half of the accounts is illegible. It were\nbest, sire, that you agree to what we represent.\u201d\n\nThe white ants and corrosive ink were too strong for the Raja\u2019s\ndetermination. Still, wishing to save appearances, he replied, with much\nfirmness, that he knew the value of the treasurer and his son, that he\nwould do much to save them, but that he had passed his royal word, and\nhad undertaken a trust. That he would rather die a dozen deaths than\nbreak his promise, or not discharge his duty faithfully. That man\u2019s\ncondition in this world is to depart from it, none remaining in it;\nthat one comes and that one goes, none knowing when or where; but that\neternity is eternity for happiness or misery. And much of the same\nnature, not very novel, and not perhaps quite to the purpose, but\nedifying to those who knew what lay behind the speaker\u2019s words.\n\nThe ministers did not know their lord\u2019s character so well as the grand\ntreasurer, and they were more impressed by his firm demeanour and the\nnumber of his words than he wished them to be. After allowing his speech\nto settle in their minds, he did away with a great part of its effect by\ndeclaring that such were the sentiments and the principles--when a man\ntalks of his principles, O Vikram! ask thyself the reason why--instilled\ninto his youthful mind by the most honourable of fathers and the most\nvirtuous of mothers. At the same time that he was by no means obstinate\nor proof against conviction. In token whereof he graciously permitted\nthe councillors to convince him that it was his royal duty to break his\nword and betray his trust, and to give away another man\u2019s wife.\n\nPray do not lose your temper, O warrior king! Subichar, although a Raja,\nwas a weak man; and you know, or you ought to know, that the wicked may\nbe wise in their generation, but the weak never can.\n\nWell, the ministers hearing their lord\u2019s last words, took courage, and\nproceeded to work upon his mind by the figure of speech popularly called\n\u201crigmarole.\u201d They said: \u201cGreat king! that old Brahman has been gone\nmany days, and has not returned; he is probably dead and burnt. It\nis therefore right that by giving to the grand treasurer\u2019s son his\ndaughter-in-law, who is only affianced, not fairly married, you should\nestablish your government firmly. And even if he should return, bestow\nvillages and wealth upon him; and if he be not then content, provide\nanother and a more beautiful wife for his son, and dismiss him. A person\nshould be sacrificed for the sake of a family, a family for a city, a\ncity for a country, and a country for a king!\u201d\n\nSubichar having heard them, dismissed them with the remark that as so\nmuch was to be said on both sides, he must employ the night in thinking\nover the matter, and that he would on the next day favour them with his\ndecision. The cabinet councillors knew by this that he meant that he\nwould go and consult his wives. They retired contented, convinced that\nevery voice would be in favour of a wedding, and that the young girl,\nwith so good an offer, would not sacrifice the present to the future.\n\nThat evening the treasurer and his son supped together.\n\nThe first words uttered by Raja Subichar, when he entered his daughter\u2019s\napartment, were an order addressed to Sita: \u201cGo thou at once to the\nhouse of my treasurer\u2019s son.\u201d\n\nNow, as Chandraprabha and Manaswi were generally scolding each other,\nChandraprabha and Sita were hardly on speaking terms. When they heard\nthe Raja\u2019s order for their separation they were--\n\n--\u201cDelighted?\u201d cried Dharma Dhwaj, who for some reason took the greatest\ninterest in the narrative.\n\n\u201cOverwhelmed with grief, thou most guileless Yuva Raja (young prince)!\u201d\n ejaculated the Vampire.\n\nRaja Vikram reproved his son for talking about thing of which he knew\nnothing, and the Baital resumed.\n\nThey turned pale and wept, and they wrung their hands, and they begged\nand argued and refused obedience. In fact they did everything to make\nthe king revoke his order.\n\n\u201cThe virtue of a woman,\u201d quoth Sita, \u201cis destroyed through too much\nbeauty; the religion of a Brahman is impaired by serving kings; a cow\nis spoiled by distant pasturage, wealth is lost by committing injustice,\nand prosperity departs from the house where promises are not kept.\u201d\n\nThe Raja highly applauded the sentiment, but was firm as a rock upon the\nsubject of Sita marrying the treasurer\u2019s son.\n\nChandraprabha observed that her royal father, usually so conscientious,\nmust now be acting from interested motives, and that when selfishness\nsways a man, right becomes left and left becomes right, as in the\nreflection of a mirror.\n\nSubichar approved of the comparison; he was not quite so resolved, but\nhe showed no symptoms of changing his mind.\n\nThen the Brahman\u2019s daughter-in-law, with the view of gaining time--a\nfamous stratagem amongst feminines--said to the Raja: \u201cGreat king, if\nyou are determined upon giving me to the grand treasurer\u2019s son, exact\nfrom him the promise that he will do what I bid him. Only on this\ncondition will I ever enter his house!\u201d\n\n\u201cSpeak, then,\u201d asked the king; \u201cwhat will he have to do?\u201d\n\nShe replied, \u201cI am of the Brahman or priestly caste, he is the son of a\nKshatriya or warrior: the law directs that before we twain can wed, he\nshould perform Yatra (pilgrimage) to all the holy places.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou hast spoken Veda-truth, girl,\u201d answered the Raja, not sorry to\nhave found so good a pretext for temporizing, and at the same time to\npreserve his character for firmness, resolution, determination.\n\nThat night Manaswi and Chandraprabha, instead of scolding each other,\ncongratulated themselves upon having escaped an imminent danger--which\nthey did not escape.\n\nIn the morning Subichar sent for his ministers, including his grand\ntreasurer and his love-sick son, and told them how well and wisely the\nBrahman\u2019s daughter-in-law had spoken upon the subject of the marriage.\nAll of them approved of the condition; but the young man ventured to\nsuggest, that while he was a-pilgrimaging the maiden should reside under\nhis father\u2019s roof. As he and his father showed a disposition to continue\ntheir fasts in case of the small favour not being granted, the Raja,\nthough very loath to separate his beloved daughter and her dear friend,\nwas driven to do it. And Sita was carried off, weeping bitterly, to the\ntreasurer\u2019s palace. That dignitary solemnly committed her to the charge\nof his third and youngest wife, the lady Subhagya-Sundari, who was about\nher own age, and said, \u201cYou must both live together, without any kind of\nwrangling or contention, and do not go into other people\u2019s houses.\u201d And\nthe grand treasurer\u2019s son went off to perform his pilgrimages.\n\nIt is no less sad than true, Raja Vikram, that in less than six days the\ndisconsolate Sita waxed weary of being Sita, took the ball out of her\nmouth, and became Manaswi. Alas for the infidelity of mankind! But it\nis gratifying to reflect that he met with the punishment with which the\nPandit Muldev had threatened him. One night the magic pill slipped down\nhis throat. When morning dawned, being unable to change himself into\nSita, Manaswi was obliged to escape through a window from the lady\nSubhagya-Sundari\u2019s room. He sprained his ankle with the leap, and he lay\nfor a time upon the ground--where I leave him whilst convenient to me.\n\nWhen Muldev quitted the presence of Subichar, he resumed his old shape,\nand returning to his brother Pandit Shashi, told him what he had done.\nWhereupon Shashi, the misanthrope, looked black, and used hard words and\ntold his friend that good nature and soft-heartedness had caused him to\ncommit a very bad action--a grievous sin. Incensed at this charge, the\nphilanthropic Muldev became angry, and said, \u201cI have warned the youth\nabout his purity; what harm can come of it?\u201d\n\n\u201cThou hast,\u201d retorted Shashi, with irritating coolness, \u201cplaced a sharp\nweapon in a fool\u2019s hand.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have not,\u201d cried Muldev, indignantly.\n\n\u201cTherefore,\u201d drawled the malevolent, \u201cyou are answerable for all the\nmischief he does with it, and mischief assuredly he will do.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe will not, by Brahma!\u201d exclaimed Muldev.\n\n\u201cHe will, by Vishnu!\u201d said Shashi, with an amiability produced by having\ncompletely upset his friend\u2019s temper; \u201cand if within the coming six\nmonths he does not disgrace himself, thou shalt have the whole of my\nbook-case; but if he does, the philanthropic Muldev will use all his\nskill and ingenuity in procuring the daughter of Raja Subichar as a wife\nfor his faithful friend Shashi.\u201d\n\nHaving made this covenant, they both agreed not to speak of the matter\ntill the autumn.\n\nThe appointed time drawing near, the Pandits began to make inquiries\nabout the effect of the magic pills. Presently they found out that Sita,\nalias Manaswi, had one night mysteriously disappeared from the grand\ntreasurer\u2019s house, and had not been heard of since that time. This,\ntogether with certain other things that transpired presently, convinced\nMuldev, who had cooled down in six months, that his friend had won the\nwager. He prepared to make honourable payment by handing a pill to old\nShashi, who at once became a stout, handsome young Brahman, some twenty\nyears old. Next putting a pill into his own mouth, he resumed the shape\nand form under which he had first appeared before Raja Subichar; and,\nleaning upon his staff, he led the way to the palace.\n\nThe king, in great confusion, at once recognized the old priest, and\nguessed the errand upon which he and the youth were come. However, he\nsaluted them, and offered them seats, and receiving their blessings,\nhe began to make inquiries about their health and welfare. At last he\nmustered courage to ask the old Brahman where he had been living for so\nlong a time.\n\n\u201cGreat king,\u201d replied the priest, \u201cI went to seek after my son, and\nhaving found him, I bring him to your majesty. Give him his wife, and I\nwill take them both home with me.\u201d\n\nRaja Subichar prevaricated not a little; but presently, being hard\npushed, he related everything that had happened.\n\n\u201cWhat is this that you have done?\u201d cried Muldev, simulating excessive\nanger and astonishment. \u201cWhy have you given my son\u2019s wife in marriage to\nanother man? You have done what you wished, and now, therefore, receive\nmy Shrap (curse)!\u201d\n\nThe poor Raja, in great trepidation, said, \u201cO Vivinity! be not thus\nangry! I will do whatever you bid me.\u201d\n\nSaid Muldev, \u201cIf through dread of my excommunication you will freely\ngive whatever I demand of you, then marry your daughter, Chandraprabha,\nto this my son. On this condition I forgive you. To me, now a necklace\nof pearls and a venomous krishna (cobra capella); the most powerful\nenemy and the kindest friend, the most precious gem and a clod of\nearth; the softest bed and the hardest stone; a blade of grass and the\nloveliest woman--are precisely the same. All I desire is that in some\nholy place, repeating the name of God, I may soon end my days.\u201d\n\nSubichar, terrified by this additional show of sanctity, at once\nsummoned an astrologer, and fixed upon the auspicious moment and lunar\ninfluence. He did not consult the princess, and had he done so she would\nnot have resisted his wishes. Chandraprabha had heard of Sita\u2019s\nescape from the treasurer\u2019s house, and she had on the subject her own\nsuspicions. Besides which she looked forward to a certain event, and\nshe was by no means sure that her royal father approved of the Gandharba\nform of marriage--at least for his daughter. Thus the Brahman\u2019s son\nreceiving in due time the princess and her dowry, took leave of the king\nand returned to his own village.\n\nHardly, however, had Chandraprabha been married to Shashi the Pandit,\nwhen Manaswi went to him, and began to wrangle, and said, \u201cGive me my\nwife!\u201d He had recovered from the effects of his fall, and having lost\nher he therefore loved her--very dearly.\n\nBut Shashi proved by reference to the astrologers, priests, and ten\npersons as witnesses, that he had duly wedded her, and brought her to\nhis home; \u201ctherefore,\u201d said he, \u201cshe is my spouse.\u201d\n\nManaswi swore by all holy things that he had been legally married to\nher, and that he was the father of her child that was about to be. \u201cHow\nthen,\u201d continued he, \u201ccan she be thy spouse?\u201d He would have summoned\nMuldev as a witness, but that worthy, after remonstrating with him,\ndisappeared. He called upon Chandraprabha to confirm his statement, but\nshe put on an innocent face, and indignantly denied ever having seen the\nman.\n\nStill, continued the Baital, many people believed Manaswi\u2019s story, as it\nwas marvellous and incredible. Even to the present day, there are\nmany who decidedly think him legally married to the daughter of Raja\nSubichar.\n\n\u201cThen they are pestilent fellows!\u201d cried the warrior king Vikram, who\nhated nothing more than clandestine and runaway matches. \u201cNo one knew\nthat the villain, Manaswi, was the father of her child; whereas, the\nPandit Shashi married her lawfully, before witnesses, and with all the\nceremonies.[152] She therefore remains his wife, and the child will\nperform the funeral obsequies for him, and offer water to the manes of\nhis pitris (ancestors). At least, so say law and justice.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhich justice is often unjust enough!\u201d cried the Vampire; \u201cand ply thy\nlegs, mighty Raja; let me see if thou canst reach the sires-tree before\nI do.\u201d\n\n      *     *     *     *     *\n\n\u201cThe next story, O Raja Vikram, is remarkably interesting.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S NINTH STORY -- Showing That a Man\u2019s Wife Belongs Not to His Body but to His Head.\n\n\nFar and wide through the lovely land overrun by the Arya from the\nWestern Highlands spread the fame of Unmadini, the beautiful daughter\nof Haridas the Brahman. In the numberless odes, sonnets, and acrostics\naddressed to her by a hundred Pandits and poets her charms were sung\nwith prodigious triteness. Her presence was compared to light shining\nin a dark house; her face to the full moon; her complexion to the yellow\nchampaka flower; her curls to female snakes; her eyes to those of the\ndeer; her eyebrows to bent bows; her teeth to strings of little opals;\nher feet to rubies and red gems,[153] and her gait to that of the wild\ngoose. And none forgot to say that her voice affected the author like\nthe song of the kokila bird, sounding from the shadowy brake, when the\nbreeze blows coolly, or that the fairy beings of Indra\u2019s heaven would\nhave shrunk away abashed at her loveliness.\n\nBut, Raja Vikram! all the poets failed to win the fair Unmadini\u2019s love.\nTo praise the beauty of a beauty is not to praise her. Extol her wit and\ntalents, which has the zest of novelty, then you may succeed. For the\nsame reason, read inversely, the plainer and cleverer is the bosom you\nwould fire, the more personal you must be upon the subject of its grace\nand loveliness. Flattery you know, is ever the match which kindles\nthe Flame of love. True it is that some by roughness of demeanour and\nbluntness in speech, contrasting with those whom they call the \u201cherd,\u201d\n have the art to succeed in the service of the bodyless god.[154] But\neven they must--\n\nThe young prince Dharma Dhwaj could not help laughing at the thought\nof how this must sound in his father\u2019s ear. And the Raja hearing\nthe ill-timed merriment, sternly ordered the Baital to cease his\nimmoralities and to continue his story.\n\nThus the lovely Unmadini, conceiving an extreme contempt for poets\nand literati, one day told her father who greatly loved her, that her\nhusband must be a fine young man who never wrote verses. Withal she\ninsisted strongly on mental qualities and science, being a person of\nmoderate mind and an adorer of talent--when not perverted to poetry.\n\nAs you may imagine, Raja Vikram, all the beauty\u2019s bosom friends, seeing\nher refuse so many good offers, confidently predicted that she would\npass through the jungle and content herself with a bad stick, or that\nshe would lead ring-tailed apes in Patala.\n\nAt length when some time had elapsed, four suitors appeared from four\ndifferent countries, all of them claiming equal excellence in youth and\nbeauty, strength and understanding. And after paying their respects to\nHaridas, and telling him their wishes, they were directed to come early\non the next morning and to enter upon the first ordeal--an intellectual\nconversation.\n\nThis they did.\n\n\u201cFoolish the man,\u201d quoth the young Mahasani, \u201cthat seeks permanence in\nthis world--frail as the stem of the plantain-tree, transient as the\nocean foam.\n\n\u201cAll that is high shall presently fall; all that is low must finally\nperish.\n\n\u201cUnwillingly do the manes of the dead taste the tears shed by their\nkinsmen: then wail not, but perform the funeral obsequies with\ndiligence.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat ill-omened fellow is this?\u201d quoth the fair Unmadini, who was\nsitting behind her curtain; \u201cbesides, he has dared to quote poetry!\u201d\n There was little chance of success for that suitor.\n\n\u201cShe is called a good woman, and a woman of pure descent,\u201d quoth the\nsecond suitor, \u201cwho serves him to whom her father and mother have\ngiven her; and it is written in the scriptures that a woman who in the\nlifetime of her husband, becoming a devotee, engages in fasting, and in\naustere devotion, shortens his days, and hereafter falls into the fire.\nFor it is said--\n\n               \u201cA woman\u2019s bliss is found not in the smile\n                Of father, mother, friend, nor in herself;\n                Her husband is her only portion here,\n                Her heaven hereafter.\u201d\n\nThe word \u201cserve,\u201d which might mean \u201cobey,\u201d was peculiarly disagreeable\nto the fair one\u2019s ears, and she did not admire the check so soon placed\nupon her devotion, or the decided language and manner of the youth. She\ntherefore mentally resolved never again to see that person, whom she\ndetermined to be stupid as an elephant.\n\n\u201cA mother,\u201d said Gunakar, the third candidate, \u201cprotects her son in\nbabyhood, and a father when his offspring is growing up. But the man of\nwarrior descent defends his brethren at all times. Such is the custom of\nthe world, and such is my state. I dwell on the heads of the strong!\u201d\n\nTherefore those assembled together looked with great respect upon the\nman of valour.\n\nDevasharma, the fourth suitor, contented himself with listening to the\nothers, who fancied that he was overawed by their cleverness. And when\nit came to his turn he simply remarked, \u201cSilence is better than speech.\u201d\n Being further pressed, he said, \u201cA wise man will not proclaim his age,\nnor a deception practiced upon himself, nor his riches, nor the loss\nof riches, nor family faults, nor incantations, nor conjugal love, nor\nmedicinal prescriptions, nor religious duties, nor gifts, nor reproach,\nnor the infidelity of his wife.\u201d\n\nThus ended the first trial. The master of the house dismissed the\ntwo former speakers, with many polite expressions and some trifling\npresents. Then having given betel to them, scented their garments with\nattar, and sprinkled rose-water over their heads, he accompanied them to\nthe door, showing much regret. The two latter speakers he begged to come\non the next day.\n\nGunakar and Devasharma did not fail. When they entered the assembly-room\nand took the seats pointed out to them, the father said, \u201cBe ye pleased\nto explain and make manifest the effects of your mental qualities. So\nshall I judge of them.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have made,\u201d said Gunakar, \u201ca four-wheeled carriage, in which the\npower resides to carry you in a moment wherever you may purpose to go.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have such power over the angel of death,\u201d said Devasharma, \u201cthat I\ncan at all times raise a corpse, and enable my friends to do the same.\u201d\n\nNow tell me by thy brains, O warrior King Vikram, which of these two\nyouths was the fitter husband for the maid?\n\nEither the Raja could not answer the question, or perhaps he would not,\nbeing determined to break the spell which had already kept him walking\nto and fro for so many hours. Then the Baital, who had paused to let\nhis royal carrier commit himself, seeing that the attempt had failed,\nproceeded without making any further comment.\n\nThe beautiful Unmadini was brought out, but she hung down her head and\nmade no reply. Yet she took care to move both her eyes in the direction\nof Devasharma. Whereupon Haridas, quoting the proverb that \u201cpearls\nstring with pearls,\u201d formally betrothed to him his daughter. The soldier\nsuitor twisted the ends of his mustachios into his eyes, which were red\nwith wrath, and fumbled with his fingers about the hilt of his sword.\nBut he was a man of noble birth, and presently his anger passed away.\n\nMahasani the poet, however, being a shameless person--and when can we be\nsafe from such?--forced himself into the assembly and began to rage and\nto storm, and to quote proverbs in a loud tone of voice. He remarked\nthat in this world women are a mine of grief, a poisonous root, the\nabode of solicitude, the destroyers of resolution, the occasioners of\nfascination, and the plunderers of all virtuous qualities. From the\ndaughter he passed to the father, and after saying hard things of him as\na \u201cMaha-Brahman,\u201d[155] who took cows and gold and worshipped a monkey,\nhe fell with a sweeping censure upon all priests and sons of priests,\nmore especially Devasharma. As the bystanders remonstrated with him,\nhe became more violent, and when Haridas, who was a weak man, appeared\nterrified by his voice, look, and gesture, he swore a solemn oath that\ndespite all the betrothals in the world, unless Unmadini became his wife\nhe would commit suicide, and as a demon haunt the house and injure the\ninmates.\n\nGunakar the soldier exhorted this shameless poet to slay himself at\nonce, and to go where he pleased. But as Haridas reproved the warrior\nfor inhumanity, Mahasani nerved by spite, love, rage, and perversity to\nan heroic death, drew a noose from his bosom, rushed out of the house,\nand suspended himself to the nearest tree.\n\nAnd, true enough, as the midnight gong struck, he appeared in the form\nof a gigantic and malignant Rakshasa (fiend), dreadfully frightened the\nhousehold of Haridas, and carried off the lovely Unmadini, leaving word\nthat she was to be found on the topmost peak of Himalaya.\n\nThe unhappy father hastened to the house where Devasharma lived. There,\nweeping bitterly and wringing his hands in despair, he told the terrible\ntale, and besought his intended son-in-law to be up and doing.\n\nThe young Brahman at once sought his late rival, and asked his aid.\nThis the soldier granted at once, although he had been nettled at being\nconquered in love by a priestling.\n\nThe carriage was at once made ready, and the suitors set out, bidding\nthe father be of good cheer, and that before sunset he should embrace\nhis daughter. They then entered the vehicle; Gunakar with cabalistic\nwords caused it to rise high in the air, and Devasharma put to flight\nthe demon by reciting the sacred verse,[156] \u201cLet us meditate on the\nsupreme splendour (or adorable light) of that Divine Ruler (the sun)\nwho may illuminate our understandings. Venerable men, guided by the\nintelligence, salute the divine sun (Sarvitri) with oblations and\npraise. Om!\u201d\n\nThen they returned with the girl to the house, and Haridas blessed them,\npraising the sun aloud in the joy of his heart. Lest other accidents\nmight happen, he chose an auspicious planetary conjunction, and at a\nfortunate moment rubbed turmeric upon his daughter\u2019s hands.\n\nThe wedding was splendid, and broke the hearts of twenty-four rivals.\nIn due time Devasharma asked leave from his father-in-law to revisit his\nhome, and to carry with him his bride. This request being granted, he\nset out accompanied by Gunakar the soldier, who swore not to leave the\ncouple before seeing them safe under their own roof-tree.\n\nIt so happened that their road lay over the summits of the wild Vindhya\nhills, where dangers of all kinds are as thick as shells upon the\nshore of the deep. Here were rocks and jagged precipices making the\ntraveller\u2019s brain whirl when he looked into them. There impetuous\ntorrents roared and flashed down their beds of black stone, threatening\ndestruction to those who would cross them. Now the path was lost in the\nmatted thorny underwood and the pitchy shades of the jungle, deep and\ndark as the valley of death. Then the thunder-cloud licked the earth\nwith its fiery tongue, and its voice shook the crags and filled their\nhollow caves. At times, the sun was so hot, that wild birds fell dead\nfrom the air. And at every moment the wayfarers heard the trumpeting of\ngiant elephants, the fierce howling of the tiger, the grisly laugh of\nthe foul hyaena, and the whimpering of the wild dogs as they coursed by\non the tracks of their prey.\n\nYet, sustained by the five-armed god[157] the little party passed safely\nthrough all these dangers. They had almost emerged from the damp glooms\nof the forest into the open plains which skirt the southern base of the\nhills, when one night the fair Unmadini saw a terrible vision.\n\nShe beheld herself wading through a sluggish pool of muddy water, which\nrippled, curdling as she stepped into it, and which, as she advanced,\ndarkened with the slime raised by her feet. She was bearing in her arms\nthe semblance of a sick child, which struggled convulsively and filled\nthe air with dismal wails. These cries seemed to be answered by a\nmultitude of other children, some bloated like toads, others mere\nskeletons lying upon the bank, or floating upon the thick brown waters\nof the pond. And all seemed to address their cries to her, as if she\nwere the cause of their weeping; nor could all her efforts quiet or\nconsole them for a moment.\n\nWhen the bride awoke, she related all the particulars of her ill-omened\nvision to her husband; and the latter, after a short pause, informed\nher and his friend that a terrible calamity was about to befall them. He\nthen drew from his travelling wallet a skein of thread. This he divided\ninto three parts, one for each, and told his companions that in case of\ngrievous bodily injury, the bit of thread wound round the wounded\npart would instantly make it whole. After which he taught them the\nMantra,[158] or mystical word by which the lives of men are restored to\ntheir bodies, even when they have taken their allotted places amongst\nthe stars, and which for evident reasons I do not want to repeat. It\nconcluded, however, with the three Vyahritis, or sacred syllables--Bhuh,\nBhuvah, Svar!\n\nRaja Vikram was perhaps a little disappointed by this declaration. He\nmade no remark, however, and the Baital thus pursued:\n\nAs Devasharma foretold, an accident of a terrible nature did occur.\nOn the evening of that day, as they emerged upon the plain, they were\nattacked by the Kiratas, or savage tribes of the mountain.[159] A small,\nblack, wiry figure, armed with a bow and little cane arrows, stood in\ntheir way, signifying by gestures that they must halt and lay down their\narms. As they continued to advance, he began to speak with a shrill\nchattering, like the note of an affrighted bird, his restless red eyes\nglared with rage, and he waved his weapon furiously round his head. Then\nfrom the rocks and thickets on both sides of the path poured a shower of\nshafts upon the three strangers.\n\nThe unequal combat did not last long. Gunakar, the soldier, wielded his\nstrong right arm with fatal effect and struck down some threescore of\nthe foes. But new swarms came on like angry hornets buzzing round the\ndestroyer of their nests. And when he fell, Devasharma, who had left\nhim for a moment to hide his beautiful wife in the hollow of a tree,\nreturned, and stood fighting over the body of his friend till he also,\noverpowered by numbers, was thrown to the ground. Then the wild men,\ndrawing their knives, cut off the heads of their helpless enemies,\nstripped their bodies of all their ornaments, and departed, leaving the\nwoman unharmed for good luck.\n\nWhen Unmadini, who had been more dead than alive during the affray,\nfound silence succeed to the horrid din of shrieks and shouts, she\nventured to creep out of her refuge in the hollow tree. And what does\nshe behold? her husband and his friend are lying upon the ground, with\ntheir heads at a short distance from their bodies. She sat down and wept\nbitterly.\n\nPresently, remembering the lesson which she had learned that very\nmorning, she drew forth from her bosom the bit of thread and proceeded\nto use it. She approached the heads to the bodies, and tied some of\nthe magic string round each neck. But the shades of evening were fast\ndeepening, and in her agitation, confusion and terror, she made a\ncurious mistake by applying the heads to the wrong trunks. After which,\nshe again sat down, and having recited her prayers, she pronounced, as\nher husband had taught her, the life-giving incantation.\n\nIn a moment the dead men were made alive. They opened their eyes, shook\nthemselves, sat up and handled their limbs as if to feel that all was\nright. But something or other appeared to them all wrong. They placed\ntheir palms upon their foreheads, and looked downwards, and started to\ntheir feet and began to stare at their hands and legs. Upon which they\nscrutinized the very scanty articles of dress which the wild men had\nleft upon them, and lastly one began to eye the other with curious\npuzzled looks.\n\nThe wife, attributing their gestures to the confusion which one might\nexpect to find in the brains of men who have just undergone so great a\ntrial as amputation of the head must be, stood before them for a\nmoment or two. She then with a cry of gladness flew to the bosom of\nthe individual who was, as she supposed, her husband. He repulsed her,\ntelling her that she was mistaken. Then, blushing deeply in spite of her\nother emotions, she threw both her beautiful arms round the neck of the\nperson who must be, she naturally concluded, the right man. To her utter\nconfusion, he also shrank back from her embrace.\n\nThen a horrid thought flashed across her mind: she perceived her fatal\nmistake, and her heart almost ceased to beat.\n\n\u201cThis is thy wife!\u201d cried the Brahman\u2019s head that had been fastened to\nthe soldier\u2019s body.\n\n\u201cNo; she is thy wife!\u201d replied the soldier\u2019s head which had been placed\nupon the Brahman\u2019s body.\n\n\u201cThen she is my wife!\u201d rejoined the first compound creature.\n\n\u201cBy no means! she is my wife,\u201d cried the second.\n\n\u201cWhat then am I?\u201d asked Devasharma-Gunakar.\n\n\u201cWhat do you think I am?\u201d answered Gunakar-Devasharma, with another\nquestion.\n\n\u201cUnmadini shall be mine,\u201d quoth the head.\n\n\u201cYou lie, she shall be mine,\u201d shouted the body.\n\n\u201cHoly Yama,[160] hear the villain,\u201d exclaimed both of them at the same\nmoment.\n\n         *     *     *     *     *\n\nIn short, having thus begun, they continued to quarrel violently, each\none declaring that the beautiful Unmadini belonged to him, and to him\nonly. How to settle their dispute Brahma the Lord of creatures only\nknows. I do not, except by cutting off their heads once more, and by\nputting them in their proper places. And I am quite sure, O Raja Vikram!\nthat thy wits are quite unfit to answer the question, To which of\nthese two is the beautiful Unmadini wife? It is even said--amongst us\nBaitals--that when this pair of half-husbands appeared in the presence\nof the Just King, a terrible confusion arose, each head declaiming all\nthe sins and peccadilloes which its body had committed, and that Yama\nthe holy ruler himself hit his forefinger with vexation.[161]\n\nHere the young prince Dharma Dhwaj burst out laughing at the ridiculous\nidea of the wrong heads. And the warrior king, who, like single-minded\nfathers in general, was ever in the idea that his son had a velleity for\nderiding and otherwise vexing him, began a severe course of reproof. He\nreminded the prince of the common saying that merriment without cause\ndegrades a man in the opinion of his fellows, and indulged him with a\nquotation extensively used by grave fathers, namely, that the loud laugh\nbespeaks a vacant mind. After which he proceeded with much pompousness\nto pronounce the following opinion:\n\n\u201cIt is said in the Shastras----\u201d\n\n\u201cYour majesty need hardly display so much erudition! Doubtless it\ncomes from the lips of Jayudeva or some other one of your Nine Gems of\nScience, who know much more about their songs and their stanzas than\nthey do about their scriptures,\u201d insolently interrupted the Baital, who\nnever lost an opportunity of carping at those reverend men.\n\n\u201cIt is said in the Shastras,\u201d continued Raja Vikram sternly, after\nhesitating whether he should or should not administer a corporeal\ncorrection to the Vampire, \u201cthat Mother Ganga[162] is the queen amongst\nrivers, and the mountain Sumeru[163] is the monarch among mountains, and\nthe tree Kalpavriksha[164] is the king of all trees, and the head of\nman is the best and most excellent of limbs. And thus, according to this\nreason, the wife belonged to him whose noblest position claimed her.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe next thing your majesty will do, I suppose,\u201d continued the\nBaital, with a sneer, \u201cis to support the opinions of the Digambara, who\nmaintains that the soul is exceedingly rarefied, confined to one place,\nand of equal dimensions with the body, or the fancies of that worthy\nphilosopher Jaimani, who, conceiving soul and mind and matter to be\nthings purely synonymous, asserts outwardly and writes in his books that\nthe brain is the organ of the mind which is acted upon by the immortal\nsoul, but who inwardly and verily believes that the brain is the mind,\nand consequently that the brain is the soul or spirit or whatever you\nplease to call it; in fact, that soul is a natural faculty of the body.\nA pretty doctrine, indeed, for a Brahman to hold. You might as well\nagree with me at once that the soul of man resides, when at home, either\nin a vein in the breast, or in the pit of his stomach, or that half of\nit is in a man\u2019s brain and the other or reasoning half is in his heart,\nan organ of his body.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat has all this string of words to do with the matter, Vampire?\u201d\n asked Raja Vikram angrily.\n\n\u201cOnly,\u201d said the demon laughing, \u201cthat in my opinion, as opposed to the\nShastras and to Raja Vikram, that the beautiful Unmadini belonged,\nnot to the head part but to the body part. Because the latter has an\nimmortal soul in the pit of its stomach, whereas the former is a box of\nbone, more or less thick, and contains brains which are of much the same\nconsistence as those of a calf.\u201d\n\n\u201cVillain!\u201d exclaimed the Raja, \u201cdoes not the soul or conscious life\nenter the body through the sagittal suture and lodge in the\nbrain, thence to contemplate, through the same opening, the divine\nperfections?\u201d\n\n\u201cI must, however, bid you farewell for the moment, O warrior king,\nSakadhipati-Vikramadityal[165]! I feel a sudden and ardent desire to\nchange this cramped position for one more natural to me.\u201d\n\nThe warrior monarch had so far committed himself that he could not\nprevent the Vampire from flitting. But he lost no more time in following\nhim than a grain of mustard, in its fall, stays on a cow\u2019s horn. And\nwhen he had thrown him over his shoulder, the king desired him of his\nown accord to begin a new tale.\n\n\u201cO my left eyelid flutters,\u201d exclaimed the Baital in despair, \u201cmy heart\nthrobs, my sight is dim: surely now beginneth the end. It is as Vidhata\nhath written on my forehead--how can it be otherwise[166]? Still listen,\nO mighty Raja, whilst I recount to you a true story, and Saraswati[167]\nsit on my tongue.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S TENTH STORY [168] -- Of the Marvellous Delicacy of Three Queens.\n\n\nThe Baital said, O king, in the Gaur country, Vardhman by name, there\nis a city, and one called Gunshekhar was the Raja of that land. His\nminister was one Abhaichand, a Jain, by whose teachings the king also\ncame into the Jain faith.\n\nThe worship of Shiva and of Vishnu, gifts of cows, gifts of lands, gifts\nof rice balls, gaming and spirit-drinking, all these he prohibited. In\nthe city no man could get leave to do them, and as for bones, into\nthe Ganges no man was allowed to throw them, and in these matters the\nminister, having taken orders from the king, caused a proclamation to\nbe made about the city, saying, \u201cWhoever these acts shall do, the Raja\nhaving confiscated, will punish him and banish him from the city.\u201d\n\nNow one day the Diwan[169] began to say to the Raja, \u201cO great king, to\nthe decisions of the Faith be pleased to give ear. Whosoever takes the\nlife of another, his life also in the future birth is taken: this very\nsin causes him to be born again and again upon earth and to die And thus\nhe ever continues to be born again and to die. Hence for one who has\nfound entrance into this world to cultivate religion is right and\nproper. Be pleased to behold! By love, by wrath, by pain, by desire,\nand by fascination overpowered, the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahadeva\n(Shiva) in various ways upon the earth are ever becoming incarnate.\nFar better than they is the Cow, who is free from passion, enmity,\ndrunkenness, anger, covetousness, and inordinate affection, who supports\nmankind, and whose progeny in many ways give ease and solace to the\ncreatures of the world These deities and sages (munis) believe in the\nCow.[170]\n\n\u201cFor such reason to believe in the gods is not good. Upon this earth\nbe pleased to believe in the Cow. It is our duty to protect the life of\neveryone, beginning from the elephant, through ants, beasts, and birds,\nup to man. In the world righteousness equal to that there is none. Those\nwho, eating the flesh of other creatures, increase their own flesh,\nshall in the fulness of time assuredly obtain the fruition of Narak\n[17l]; hence for a man it is proper to attend to the conversation of\nlife. They who understand not the pain of other creatures, and who\ncontinue to slay and to devour them, last but few days in the land, and\nreturn to mundane existence, maimed, limping, one-eyed, blind, dwarfed,\nhunchbacked, and imperfect in such wise. Just as they consume the bodies\nof beasts and of birds, even so they end by spoiling their own bodies.\nFrom drinking spirits also the great sin arises, hence the consuming of\nspirits and flesh is not advisable.\u201d\n\nThe minister having in this manner explained to the king the sentiments\nof his own mind, so brought him over to the Jain faith, that whatever\nhe said, so the king did. Thus in Brahmans, in Jogis, in Janganis, in\nSevras, in Sannyasis,[172] and in religious mendicants, no man believed,\nand according to this creed the rule was carried on.\n\nNow one day, being in the power of Death, Raja Gunshekhar died. Then\nhis son Dharmadhwaj sat upon the carpet (throne), and began to rule.\nPresently he caused the minister Abhaichand to be seized, had his head\nshaved all but seven locks of hair, ordered his face to be blackened,\nand mounting him on an ass, with drums beaten, had him led all about the\ncity, and drove him from the kingdom. From that time he carried on his\nrule free from all anxiety.\n\nIt so happened that in the season of spring, the king Dharmadhwaj,\ntaking his queens with him, went for a stroll in the garden, where there\nwas a large tank with lotuses blooming within it. The Raja admiring its\nbeauty, took off his clothes and went down to bathe.\n\nAfter plucking a flower and coming to the bank, he was going to give it\ninto the hands of one of his queens, when it slipped from his fingers,\nfell upon her foot, and broke it with the blow. Then the Raja being\nalarmed, at once came out of the tank, and began to apply remedies to\nher.\n\nHereupon night came on, and the moon shone brightly: the falling of its\nrays on the body of the second queen formed blisters And suddenly from\na distance the sound of a wooden pestle came out of a householder\u2019s\ndwelling, when the third queen fainted away with a severe pain in the\nhead.\n\nHaving spoken thus much the Baital said \u201cO my king! of these three\nwhich is the most delicate?\u201d The Raja answered, \u201cShe indeed is the most\ndelicate who fainted in consequence of the headache.\u201d The Baital hearing\nthis speech, went and hung himself from the very same tree, and the\nRaja, having gone there and taken him down and fastened him in the\nbundle and placed him on his shoulder, carried him away.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VAMPIRE\u2019S ELEVENTH STORY -- Which Puzzles Raja Vikram.\n\n\nThere is a queer time coming, O Raja Vikram!--a queer time coming\n(said the Vampire), a queer time coming. Elderly people like you talk\nabundantly about the good old days that were, and about the degeneracy\nof the days that are. I wonder what you would say if you could but look\nforward a few hundred years.\n\nBrahmans shall disgrace themselves by becoming soldiers and being\nkilled, and Serviles (Shudras) shall dishonour themselves by wearing the\nthread of the twice-born, and by refusing to be slaves; in fact, society\nshall be all \u201cmouth\u201d and mixed castes.[173] The courts of justice shall\nbe disused; the great works of peace shall no longer be undertaken; wars\nshall last six weeks, and their causes shall be clean forgotten; the\nuseful arts and great sciences shall die starved; there shall be no Gems\nof Science; there shall be a hospital for destitute kings, those, at\nleast, who do not lose their heads, and no Vikrama----\n\nA severe shaking stayed for a moment the Vampire\u2019s tongue.\n\nHe presently resumed. Briefly, building tanks feeding Brahmans; lying\nwhen one ought to lie; suicide, the burning of widows, and the burying\nof live children, shall become utterly unfashionable.\n\nThe consequence of this singular degeneracy, O mighty Vikram, will\nbe that strangers shall dwell beneath the roof tree in Bharat Khanda\n(India), and impure barbarians shall call the land their own. They come\nfrom a wonderful country, and I am most surprised that they bear it. The\nsky which ought to be gold and blue is there grey, a kind of dark white;\nthe sun looks deadly pale, and the moon as if he were dead.[174] The\nsea, when not dirty green, glistens with yellowish foam, and as you\napproach the shore, tall ghastly cliffs, like the skeletons of giants,\nstand up to receive or ready to repel. During the greater part of the\nsun\u2019s Dakhshanayan (southern declination) the country is covered with a\nsort of cold white stuff which dazzles the eyes; and at such times the\nair is obscured with what appears to be a shower of white feathers or\nflocks of cotton. At other seasons there is a pale glare produced by the\nmist clouds which spread themselves over the lower firmament. Even the\nfaces of the people are white; the men are white when not painted blue;\nthe women are whiter, and the children are whitest: these indeed often\nhave white hair.\n\n\u201cTruly,\u201d exclaimed Dharma Dhwaj, \u201csays the proverb, \u2018Whoso seeth the\nworld telleth many a lie.\u2019\u201d\n\nAt present (resumed the Vampire, not heeding the interruption), they run\nabout naked in the woods, being merely Hindu outcastes. Presently\nthey will change--the wonderful white Pariahs! They will eat all food\nindifferently, domestic fowls, onions, hogs fed in the street, donkeys,\nhorses, hares, and (most horrible!) the flesh of the sacred cow.\nThey will imbibe what resembles meat of colocynth, mixed with water,\nproducing a curious frothy liquid, and a fiery stuff which burns the\nmouth, for their milk will be mostly chalk and pulp of brains; they will\nignore the sweet juices of fruits and sugar-cane, and as for the pure\nelement they will drink it, but only as medicine, They will shave their\nbeards instead of their heads, and stand upright when they should sit\ndown, and squat upon a wooden frame instead of a carpet, and appear\nin red and black like the children of Yama.[175] They will never offer\nsacrifices to the manes of ancestors, leaving them after their death\nto fry in the hottest of places. Yet will they perpetually quarrel and\nfight about their faith; for their tempers are fierce, and they would\nburst if they could not harm one another. Even now the children, who\namuse themselves with making puddings on the shore, that is to say,\nheaping up the sand, always end their little games with \u201cpunching,\u201d\n which means shutting the hand and striking one another\u2019s heads, and it\nis soon found that the children are the fathers of the men.\n\nThese wonderful white outcastes will often be ruled by female chiefs,\nand it is likely that the habit of prostrating themselves before a woman\nwho has not the power of cutting off a single head, may account\nfor their unusual degeneracy and uncleanness. They will consider no\noccupation so noble as running after a jackal; they will dance for\nthemselves, holding on to strange women, and they will take a pride in\nplaying upon instruments, like young music girls.\n\nThe women, of course, relying upon the aid of the female chieftains,\nwill soon emancipate themselves from the rules of modesty. They will\neat with their husbands and with other men, and yawn and sit carelessly\nbefore them showing the backs of their heads. They will impudently\nquote the words, \u201cBy confinement at home, even under affectionate and\nobservant guardians, women are not secure, but those are really safe who\nare guarded by their own inclinations \u201c; as the poet sang--\n\n               Woman obeys one only word, her heart.\n\nThey will not allow their husbands to have more than one wife, and\neven the single wife will not be his slave when he needs her services,\nbusying herself in the collection of wealth, in ceremonial purification,\nand feminine duty; in the preparation of daily food and in the\nsuperintendence of household utensils. What said Rama of Sita his wife?\n\u201cIf I chanced to be angry, she bore my impatience like the patient earth\nwithout a murmur; in the hour of necessity she cherished me as a mother\ndoes her child; in the moments of repose she was a lover to me; in times\nof gladness she was to me as a friend.\u201d And it is said, \u201ca religious\nwife assists her husband in his worship with a spirit as devout as his\nown. She gives her whole mind to make him happy; she is as faithful to\nhim as a shadow to the body, and she esteems him, whether poor or rich,\ngood or bad, handsome or deformed. In his absence or his sickness she\nrenounces every gratification; at his death she dies with him, and he\nenjoys heaven as the fruit of her virtuous deeds. Whereas if she be\nguilty of many wicked actions and he should die first, he must suffer\nmuch for the demerits of his wife.\u201d\n\nBut these women will talk aloud, and scold as the braying ass, and make\nthe house a scene of variance, like the snake with the ichneumon,\nthe owl with the crow, for they have no fear of losing their noses or\nparting with their ears. They will (O my mother!) converse with strange\nmen and take their hands; they will receive presents from them, and,\nworst of all, they will show their white faces openly without the least\nsense of shame; they will ride publicly in chariots and mount horses,\nwhose points they pride themselves upon knowing, and eat and drink in\ncrowded places--their husbands looking on the while, and perhaps even\nleading them through the streets. And she will be deemed the pinnacle of\nthe pagoda of perfection, that most excels in wit and shamelessness, and\nwho can turn to water the livers of most men. They will dance and sing\ninstead of minding their children, and when these grow up they will send\nthem out of the house to shift for themselves, and care little if they\nnever see them again.[176] But the greatest sin of all will be this:\nwhen widowed they will ever be on the look-out for a second husband, and\ninstances will be known of women fearlessly marrying three, four, and\nfive times.[177] You would think that all this licence satisfies them.\nBut no! The more they have the more their weak minds covet. The men have\nadmitted them to an equality, they will aim at an absolute superiority,\nand claim respect and homage; they will eternally raise tempests about\ntheir rights, and if anyone should venture to chastise them as they\ndeserve, they would call him a coward and run off to the judge.\n\nThe men will, I say, be as wonderful about their women as about all\nother matters. The sage of Bharat Khanda guards the frail sex strictly,\nknowing its frailty, and avoids teaching it to read and write, which it\nwill assuredly use for a bad purpose. For women are ever subject to the\ngod[178] with the sugar-cane bow and string of bees, and arrows tipped\nwith heating blossoms, and to him they will ever surrender man, dhan,\ntan--mind, wealth, and body. When, by exceeding cunning, all human\nprecautions have been made vain, the wise man bows to Fate, and he\nforgets, or he tries to forget, the past. Whereas this race of white\nPariahs will purposely lead their women into every kind of temptation,\nand, when an accident occurs, they will rage at and accuse them, killing\nten thousand with a word, and cause an uproar, and talk scandal and\nbe scandalized, and go before the magistrate, and make all the evil as\npublic as possible. One would think they had in every way done their\nduty to their women!\n\nAnd when all this change shall have come over them, they will feel\nrestless and take flight, and fall like locusts upon the Aryavartta\n(land of India). Starving in their own country, they will find enough\nto eat here, and to carry away also. They will be mischievous as the saw\nwith which ornament-makers trim their shells, and cut ascending as well\nas descending. To cultivate their friendship will be like making a gap\nin the water, and their partisans will ever fare worse than their foes.\nThey will be selfish as crows, which, though they eat every kind of\nflesh, will not permit other birds to devour that of the crow.\n\nIn the beginning they will hire a shop near the mouth of mother Ganges,\nand they will sell lead and bullion, fine and coarse woollen cloths,\nand all the materials for intoxication. Then they will begin to send for\nsoldiers beyond the sea, and to enlist warriors in Zambudwipa (India).\nThey will from shopkeepers become soldiers: they will beat and be\nbeaten; they will win and lose; but the power of their star and the\nenchantments of their Queen Kompani, a daina or witch who can draw the\nblood out of a man and slay him with a look, will turn everything to\ntheir good. Presently the noise of their armies shall be as the roaring\nof the sea; the dazzling of their arms shall blind the eyes like\nlightning; their battle-fields shall be as the dissolution of the world;\nand the slaughter-ground shall resemble a garden of plantain trees after\na storm. At length they shall spread like the march of a host of ants\nover the land They will swear, \u201cDehar Ganga[179]!\u201d and they hate nothing\nso much as being compelled to destroy an army, to take and loot a city,\nor to add a rich slip of territory to their rule. And yet they will go\non killing and capturing and adding region to region, till the Abode of\nSnow (Himalaya) confines them to the north, the Sindhu-naddi (Incus)\nto the west, and elsewhere the sea. Even in this, too, they will\ndemean themselves as lords and masters, scarcely allowing poor\nSamudradevta[180] to rule his own waves.\n\nRaja Vikram was in a silent mood, otherwise he would not have allowed\nsuch ill-omened discourse to pass uninterrupted. Then the Baital, who in\nvain had often paused to give the royal carrier a chance of asking him a\ncurious question, continued his recital in a dissonant and dissatisfied\ntone of voice.\n\nBy my feet and your head,[181] O warrior king! it will fare badly\nin those days for the Rajas of Hindustan, when the red-coated men of\nShaka[182] shall come amongst them. Listen to my words.\n\nIn the Vindhya Mountain there will be a city named Dharmapur, whose king\nwill be called Mahabul. He will be a mighty warrior, well-skilled in the\ndhanur-veda (art of war)[183], and will always lead his own armies to\nthe field. He will duly regard all the omens, such as a storm at the\nbeginning of the march, an earthquake, the implements of war dropping\nfrom the hands of the soldiery, screaming vultures passing over or\nwalking near the army, the clouds and the sun\u2019s rays waxing red, thunder\nin a clear sky, the moon appearing small as a star, the dropping of\nblood from the clouds, the falling of lightning bolts, darkness filling\nthe four quarters of the heavens, a corpse or a pan of water being\ncarried to the right of the army, the sight of a female beggar with\ndishevelled hair, dressed in red, and preceding the vanguard, the\nstarting of the flesh over the left ribs of the commander-in-chief, and\nthe weeping or turning back of the horses when urged forward.\n\nHe will encourage his men to single combats, and will carefully train\nthem to gymnastics. Many of the wrestlers and boxers will be so strong\nthat they will often beat all the extremities of the antagonist into his\nbody, or break his back, or rend him into two pieces. He will promise\nheaven to those who shall die in the front of battle and he will have\nthem taught certain dreadful expressions of abuse to be interchanged\nwith the enemy when commencing the contest. Honours will be conferred\non those who never turn their backs in an engagement, who manifest a\ncontempt of death, who despise fatigue, as well as the most formidable\nenemies, who shall be found invincible in every combat, and who display\na courage which increases before danger, like the glory of the sun\nadvancing to his meridian splendour.\n\nBut King Mahabul will be attacked by the white Pariahs, who, as usual,\nwill employ against him gold, fire, and steel. With gold they will win\nover his best men, and persuade them openly to desert when the army is\ndrawn out for battle. They will use the terrible \u201cfire weapon,[184]\u201d\n large and small tubes, which discharge flame and smoke, and bullets as\nbig as those hurled by the bow of Bharata.[185] And instead of using\nswords and shields, they will fix daggers to the end of their tubes, and\nthrust with them like lances.\n\nMahabul, distinguished by valour and military skill, will march out of\nhis city to meet the white foe. In front will be the ensigns, bells,\ncows\u2019-tails, and flags, the latter painted with the bird Garura,[186]\nthe bull of Shiva, the Bauhinia tree, the monkey-god Hanuman, the lion\nand the tiger, the fish, an alms-dish, and seven palm-trees. Then will\ncome the footmen armed with fire-tubes, swords and shields, spears and\ndaggers, clubs, and bludgeons. They will be followed by fighting men\non horses and oxen, on camels and elephants. The musicians, the\nwater-carriers, and lastly the stores on carriages, will bring up the\nrear.\n\nThe white outcastes will come forward in a long thin red thread, and\nvomiting fire like the Jwalamukhi.[187] King Mahabul will receive them\nwith his troops formed in a circle; another division will be in the\nshape of a halfmoon; a third like a cloud, whilst others shall represent\na lion, a tiger, a carriage, a lily, a giant, and a bull. But as the\nelephants will all turn round when they feel the fire, and trample upon\ntheir own men, and as the cavalry defiling in front of the host will\nopenly gallop away; Mahabul, being thus without resource, will enter his\npalanquin, and accompanied by his queen and their only daughter, will\nescape at night-time into the forest.\n\nThe unfortunate three will be deserted by their small party, and live\nfor a time on jungle food, fruits and roots; they will even be compelled\nto eat game. After some days they will come in sight of a village, which\nMahabul will enter to obtain victuals. There the wild Bhils, famous for\nlong years, will come up, and surrounding the party, will bid the Raja\nthrow down his arms. Thereupon Mahabul, skilful in aiming, twanging and\nwielding the bow on all sides, so as to keep off the bolts of the\nenemy, will discharge his bolts so rapidly, that one will drive forward\nanother, and none of the barbarians will be able to approach. But he\nwill have failed to bring his quiver containing an inexhaustible store\nof arms, some of which, pointed with diamonds, shall have the faculty\nof returning again to their case after they have done their duty. The\nconflict will continue three hours, and many of the Bhils will be slain:\nat length a shaft will cleave the king\u2019s skull, he will fall dead, and\none of the wild men will come up and cut off his head.\n\nWhen the queen and the princess shall have seen that Mahabul fell dead,\nthey will return to the forest weeping and beating their bosoms. They\nwill thus escape the Bhils, and after journeying on for four miles, at\nlength they will sit down wearied, and revolve many thoughts in their\nminds.\n\nThey are very lovely (continued the Vampire), as I see them with the eye\nof clear-seeing. What beautiful hair! it hangs down like the tail of\nthe cow of Tartary, or like the thatch of a house; it is shining as\noil, dark as the clouds, black as blackness itself. What charming faces!\nlikest to water-lilies, with eyes as the stones in unripe mangos, noses\nresembling the beaks of parrots, teeth like pearls set in corals, ears\nlike those of the redthroated vulture, and mouths like the water of\nlife. What excellent forms! breasts like boxes containing essences, the\nunopened fruit of plantains or a couple of crabs; loins the width of a\nspan, like the middle of the viol; legs like the trunk of an elephant,\nand feet like the yellow lotus.\n\nAnd a fearful place is that jungle, a dense dark mass of thorny shrubs,\nand ropy creepers, and tall canes, and tangled brake, and gigantic\ngnarled trees, which groan wildly in the night wind\u2019s embrace. But a\nwilder horror urges the unhappy women on; they fear the polluting touch\nof the Bhils; once more they rise and plunge deeper into its gloomy\ndepths.\n\nThe day dawns. The white Pariahs have done their usual work, They have\ncut off the hands of some, the feet and heads of others, whilst many\nthey have crushed into shapeless masses, or scattered in pieces upon the\nground. The field is strewed with corpses, the river runs red, so that\nthe dogs and jackals swim in blood; the birds of prey sitting on the\nbranches, drink man\u2019s life from the stream, and enjoy the sickening\nsmell of burnt flesh.\n\nSuch will be the scenes acted in the fair land of Bharat.\n\nPerchance two white outcastes, father and son, who with a party of men\nare scouring the forest and slaying everything, fall upon the path which\nthe women have taken shortly before. Their attention is attracted by\nfootprints leading towards a place full of tigers, leopards, bears,\nwolves, and wild dogs. And they are utterly confounded when, after\ninspection, they discover the sex of the wanderers.\n\n\u201cHow is it,\u201d shall say the father, \u201cthat the footprints of mortals are\nseen in this part of the forest?\u201d\n\nThe son shall reply, \u201cSir, these are the marks of women\u2019s feet: a man\u2019s\nfoot would not be so small.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is passing strange,\u201d shall rejoin the elder white Pariah, \u201cbut thou\nspeakest truth. Certainly such a soft and delicate foot cannot belong to\nanyone but a woman.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey have only just left the track,\u201d shall continue the son, \u201cand look!\nthis is the step of a married woman. See how she treads on the inside of\nher sole, because of the bending of her ankles.\u201d And the younger white\noutcaste shall point to the queen\u2019s footprints.\n\n\u201cCome, let us search the forest for them,\u201d shall cry the father, \u201cwhat\nan opportunity of finding wives fortune has thrown in our hands. But no!\nthou art in error,\u201d he shall continue, after examining the track pointed\nout by his son, \u201cin supposing this to be the sign of a matron. Look at\nthe other, it is much longer; the toes have scarcely touched the ground,\nwhereas the marks of the heels are deep. Of a truth this must be\nthe married woman.\u201d And the elder white outcaste shall point to the\nfootprints of the princess.\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d shall reply the son, who admires the shorter foot, \u201clet us first\nseek them, and when we find them, give to me her who has the short feet,\nand take the other to wife thyself.\u201d\n\nHaving made this agreement they shall proceed on their way, and\npresently they shall find the women lying on the earth, half dead\nwith fatigue and fear. Their legs and feet are scratched and torn by\nbrambles, their ornaments have fallen off, and their garments are\nin strips. The two white outcastes find little difficulty, the first\nsurprise over, in persuading the unhappy women to follow them home, and\nwith great delight, conformably to their arrangement, each takes up his\nprize on his horse and rides back to the tents. The son takes the queen,\nand the father the princess.\n\nIn due time two marriages come to pass; the father, according to\nagreement, espouses the long foot, and the son takes to wife the short\nfoot. And after the usual interval, the elder white outcaste, who had\nmarried the daughter, rejoices at the birth of a boy, and the younger\nwhite outcaste, who had married the mother, is gladdened by the sight of\na girl.\n\nNow then, by my feet and your head, O warrior king Vikram, answer me one\nquestion. What relationship will there be between the children of the\ntwo white Pariahs?\n\nVikram\u2019s brow waxed black as a charcoal-burner\u2019s, when he again heard\nthe most irreverent oath ever proposed to mortal king. The question\npresently attracted his attention, and he turned over the Baital\u2019s\nwords in his head, confusing the ties of filiality, brotherhood, and\nrelationship, and connection in general.\n\n\u201cHem!\u201d said the warrior king, at last perplexed, and remembering, in his\nperplexity, that he had better hold his tongue--\u201cahem!\u201d\n\n\u201cI think your majesty spoke?\u201d asked the Vampire, in an inquisitive and\ninsinuating tone of voice.\n\n\u201cHem!\u201d ejaculated the monarch.\n\nThe Baital held his peace for a few minutes, coughing once or twice\nimpatiently. He suspected that the extraordinary nature of this last\ntale, combined with the use of the future tense, had given rise to a\ntaciturnity so unexpected in the warrior king. He therefore asked if\nVikram the Brave would not like to hear another little anecdote.\n\nThis time the king did not even say \u201chem!\u201d Having walked at an\nunusually rapid pace, he distinguished at a distance the fire kindled by\nthe devotee, and he hurried towards it with an effort which left him no\nbreath wherewith to speak, even had he been so inclined.\n\n\u201cSince your majesty is so completely dumbfoundered by it, perhaps this\nacute young prince may be able to answer my question?\u201d insinuated the\nBaital, after a few minutes of anxious suspense.\n\nBut Dharma Dhwaj answered not a syllable.\n\n\n                CONCLUSION.\n\nAt Raja Vikram\u2019s silence the Baital was greatly surprised, and he\npraised the royal courage and resolution to the skies. Still he did not\ngive up the contest at once.\n\n\u201cAllow me, great king,\u201d pursued the Demon, in a dry tone of voice, \u201cto\nwish you joy. After so many failures you have at length succeeded in\nrepressing your loquacity. I will not stop to enquire whether it was\nhumility and self-restraint which prevented your answering my last\nquestion, or whether Rajait was mere ignorance and inability. Of course\nI suspect the latter, but to say the truth your condescension in at last\ntaking a Vampire\u2019s advice, flatters me so much, that I will not look too\nnarrowly into cause or motive.\u201d\n\nRaja Vikram winced, but maintained a stubborn silence, squeezing his\nlips lest they should open involuntarily.\n\n\u201cNow, however, your majesty has mortified, we will suppose, a somewhat\nexacting vanity, I also will in my turn forego the pleasure which I had\nanticipated in seeing you a corpse and in entering your royal body for\na short time, just to know how queer it must feel to be a king. And what\nis more, I will now perform my original promise, and you shall derive\nfrom me a benefit which none but myself can bestow. First, however,\nallow me to ask you, will you let me have a little more air?\u201d\n\nDharma Dhwaj pulled his father\u2019s sleeve, but this time Raja Vikram\nrequired no reminder: wild horses or the executioner\u2019s saw, beginning\nat the shoulder, would not have drawn a word from him. Observing his\nobstinate silence, the Baital, with an ominous smile, continued:\n\n\u201cNow give ear, O warrior king, to what I am about to tell thee, and bear\nin mind the giant\u2019s saying, \u2018A man is justified in killing one who has\na design to kill him.\u2019 The young merchant Mal Deo, who placed such\nmagnificent presents at your royal feet, and Shanta-Shil the devotee\nsaint, who works his spells, incantations, and magical rites in a\ncemetery on the banks of the Godaveri river, are, as thou knowest, one\nperson--the terrible Jogi, whose wrath your father aroused in his folly,\nand whose revenge your blood alone can satisfy. With regard to myself,\nthe oilman\u2019s son, the same Jogi, fearing lest I might interfere with his\nprojects of universal dominion, slew me by the power of his penance,\nand has kept me suspended, a trap for you, head downwards from the\nsires-tree.\n\n\u201cThat Jogi it was, you now know, who sent you to fetch me back to him on\nyour back. And when you cast me at his feet he will return thanks to you\nand praise your valour, perseverance and resolution to the skies. I warn\nyou to beware. He will lead you to the shrine of Durga, and when he\nhas finished his adoration he will say to you, \u2018O great king, salute my\ndeity with the eight-limbed reverence.\u2019\u201d\n\nHere the Vampire whispered for a time and in a low tone, lest some\nlistening goblin might carry his words if spoken out loud to the ears of\nthe devotee Shanta-Shil.\n\nAt the end of the monologue a rustling sound was heard. It proceeded\nfrom the Baital, who was disengaging himself from the dead body in the\nbundle, and the burden became sensibly lighter upon the monarch\u2019s back.\n\nThe departing Baital, however, did not forget to bid farewell to the\nwarrior king and to his son. He complimented the former for the last\ntime, in his own way, upon the royal humility and the prodigious\nself-mortification which he had displayed--qualities, he remarked, which\nnever failed to ensure the proprietor\u2019s success in all the worlds.\n\nRaja Vikram stepped out joyfully, and soon reached the burning ground.\nThere he found the Jogi, dressed in his usual habit, a deerskin thrown\nover his back, and twisted reeds instead of a garment hanging round\nhis loins. The hair had fallen from his limbs and his skin was bleached\nghastly white by exposure to the elements. A fire seemed to proceed from\nhis mouth, and the matted locks dropping from his head to the ground\nwere changed by the rays of the sun to the colour of gold or saffron. He\nhad the beard of a goat and the ornaments of a king; his shoulders were\nhigh and his arms long, reaching to his knees: his nails grew to such a\nlength as to curl round the ends of his fingers, and his feet resembled\nthose of a tiger. He was drumming upon a skull, and incessantly\nexclaiming, \u201cHo, Kali! ho, Durga! ho, Devi!\u201d\n\nAs before, strange beings were holding their carnival in the Jogi\u2019s\npresence. Monstrous Asuras, giant goblins, stood grimly gazing upon the\nscene with fixed eyes and motionless features. Rakshasas and messengers\nof Yama, fierce and hideous, assumed at pleasure the shapes of foul and\nferocious beasts. Nagas and Bhutas, partly human and partly bestial,\ndisported themselves in throngs about the upper air, and were dimly\nseen in the faint light of the dawn. Mighty Daityas, Bramba-daityas, and\nPretas, the size of a man\u2019s thumb, or dried up like leaves, and Pisachas\nof terrible power guarded the place. There were enormous goats, vivified\nby the spirits of those who had slain Brahmans; things with the bodies\nof men and the faces of horses, camels and monkeys; hideous worms\ncontaining the souls of those priests who had drunk spirituous liquors;\nmen with one leg and one ear, and mischievous blood-sucking demons, who\nin life had stolen church property. There were vultures, wretches that\nhad violated the beds of their spiritual fathers, restless ghosts that\nhad loved low-caste women, shades for whom funeral rites had not been\nperformed, and who could not cross the dread Vaitarani stream,[188] and\nvital souls fresh from the horrors of Tamisra, or utter darkness, and\nthe Usipatra Vana, or the sword-leaved forest. Pale spirits, Alayas,\nGumas, Baitals, and Yakshas,[189] beings of a base and vulgar order,\nglided over the ground, amongst corpses and skeletons animated by female\nfiends, Dakinis, Yoginis, Hakinis, and Shankinis, which were dancing\nin frightful revelry. The air was filled with supernatural sights and\nsounds, cries of owls and jackals, cats and crows, dogs, asses, and\nvultures, high above which rose the clashing of the bones with which the\nJogi sat drumming upon the skull before him, and tending a huge cauldron\nof oil whose smoke was of blue fire. But as he raised his long lank\narm, silver-white with ashes, the demons fled, and a momentary silence\nsucceeded to their uproar. The tigers ceased to roar and the elephants\nto scream; the bears raised their snouts from their foul banquets, and\nthe wolves dropped from their jaws the remnants of human flesh. And when\nthey disappeared, the hooting of the owl, and ghastly \u201cha! ha!\u201d of the\ncurlew, and the howling of the jackal died away in the far distance,\nleaving a silence still more oppressive.\n\nAs Raja Vikram entered the burning-ground, the hollow sound of solitude\nalone met his ear. Sadly wailed the wet autumnal blast. The tall gaunt\ntrees groaned aloud, and bowed and trembled like slaves bending before\ntheir masters. Huge purple clouds and patches and lines of glaring\nwhite mist coursed furiously across the black expanse of firmament,\ndischarging threads and chains and lozenges and balls of white and blue,\npurple and pink lightning, followed by the deafening crash and roll of\nthunder, the dreadful roaring of the mighty wind, and the torrents of\nplashing rain. At times was heard in the distance the dull gurgling of\nthe swollen river, interrupted by explosions, as slips of earth-bank\nfell headlong into the stream. But once more the Jogi raised his arm and\nall was still: nature lay breathless, as if awaiting the effect of his\ntremendous spells.\n\nThe warrior king drew near the terrible man, unstrung his bundle from\nhis back, untwisted the portion which he held, threw open the cloth,\nand exposed to Shanta-Shil\u2019s glittering eyes the corpse, which had now\nrecovered its proper form--that of a young child. Seeing it, the devotee\nwas highly pleased, and thanked Vikram the Brave, extolling his courage\nand daring above any monarch that had yet lived. After which he repeated\ncertain charms facing towards the south, awakened the dead body, and\nplaced it in a sitting position. He then in its presence sacrificed\nto his goddess, the White One,[190] all that he had ready by his\nside--betel leaf and flowers, sandal wood and unbroken rice, fruits,\nperfumes, and the flesh of man untouched by steel. Lastly, he half\nfilled his skull with burning embers, blew upon them till they shot\nforth tongues of crimson light, serving as a lamp, and motioning the\nRaja and his son to follow him, led the way to a little fane of the\nDestroying Deity erected in a dark clump of wood, outside and close to\nthe burning ground.\n\nThey passed through the quadrangular outer court of the temple whose\npiazza was hung with deep shade.[191] In silence they circumambulated\nthe small central shrine, and whenever Shanta-Shil directed, Raja Vikram\nentered the Sabha, or vestibule, and struck three times upon the gong,\nwhich gave forth a loud and warning sound.\n\nThey then passed over the threshold, and looked into the gloomy inner\ndepths. There stood Smashana-Kali,[192] the goddess, in her most horrid\nform. She was a naked and very black woman, with half-severed head,\npartly cut and partly painted, resting on her shoulder; and her tongue\nlolled out from her wide yawning mouth[193]; her eyes were red like\nthose of a drunkard; and her eyebrows were of the same colour: her\nthick coarse hair hung like a mantle to her heels. She was robed in an\nelephant\u2019s hide, dried and withered, confined at the waist with a belt\ncomposed of the hands of the giants whom she had slain in war: two dead\nbodies formed her earrings, and her necklace was of bleached skulls.\nHer four arms supported a scimitar, a noose, a trident, and a ponderous\nmace. She stood with one leg on the breast of her husband, Shiva, and\nshe rested the other on his thigh. Before the idol lay the utensils of\nworship, namely, dishes for the offerings, lamps, jugs, incense, copper\ncups, conches and gongs; and all of them smelt of blood.\n\nAs Raja Vikram and his son stood gazing upon the hideous spectacle, the\ndevotee stooped down to place his skull-lamp upon the ground, and drew\nfrom out his ochre-coloured cloth a sharp sword which he hid behind his\nback.\n\n\u201cProsperity to thine and thy son\u2019s for ever and ever, O mighty Vikram!\u201d\n exclaimed Shanta-Shil, after he had muttered a prayer before the image.\n\u201cVerily thou hast right royally redeemed thy pledge, and by the virtue\nof thy presence all my wishes shall presently be accomplished. Behold!\nthe Sun is about to drive his car over the eastern hills, and our task\nnow ends. Do thou reverence before this my deity, worshipping the earth\nthrough thy nose, and so prostrating thyself that thy eight limbs may\ntouch the ground.[194] Thus shall thy glory and splendour be great; the\nEight Powers[195] and the Nine Treasures shall be thine, and prosperity\nshall ever remain under thy roof-tree.\u201d\n\nRaja Vikram, hearing these words, recalled suddenly to mind all that the\nVampire had whispered to him. He brought his joined hands open up to\nhis forehead, caused his two thumbs to touch his brow several times, and\nreplied with the greatest humility,\n\n\u201cO pious person! I am a king ignorant of the way to do such obeisance.\nThou art a spiritual preceptor: be pleased to teach me and I will do\neven as thou desirest.\u201d\n\nThen the Jogi, being a cunning man, fell into his own net. As he bent\nhim down to salute the goddess, Vikram, drawing his sword, struck him\nupon the neck so violent a blow, that his head rolled from his body upon\nthe ground. At the same moment Dharma Dhwaj, seizing his father\u2019s arm,\npulled him out of the way in time to escape being crushed by the image,\nwhich fell with the sound of thunder upon the floor of the temple.\n\nA small thin voice in the upper air was heard to cry, \u201cA man is\njustified in killing one who has the desire to kill him.\u201d Then glad\nshouts of triumph and victory were heard in all directions. They\nproceeded from the celestial choristers, the heavenly dancers, the\nmistresses of the gods, and the nymphs of Indra\u2019s Paradise, who left\ntheir beds of gold and precious stones, their seats glorious as the\nmeridian sun, their canals of crystal water, their perfumed groves, and\ntheir gardens where the wind ever blows in softest breezes, to applaud\nthe valour and good fortune of the warrior king.\n\nAt last the brilliant god, Indra himself, with the thousand eyes, rising\nfrom the shade of the Parigat tree, the fragrance of whose flowers fills\nthe heavens, appeared in his car drawn by yellow steeds and cleaving the\nthick vapours which surround the earth--whilst his attendants sounded\nthe heavenly drums and rained a shower of blossoms and perfumes--bade\nthe Vikramajit the Brave ask a boon.\n\nThe Raja joined his hands and respectfully replied,\n\n\u201cO mighty ruler of the lower firmament, let this my history become\nfamous throughout the world!\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is well,\u201d rejoined the god. \u201cAs long as the sun and moon endure, and\nthe sky looks down upon the ground, so long shall this thy adventure be\nremembered over all the earth. Meanwhile rule thou mankind.\u201d\n\nThus saying, Indra retired to the delicious Amrawati[196] Vikram took up\nthe corpses and threw them into the cauldron which Shanta-Shil had been\ntending. At once two heroes started into life, and Vikram said to them,\n\u201cWhen I call you, come!\u201d\n\nWith these mysterious words the king, followed by his son, returned\nto the palace unmolested. As the Vampire had predicted, everything was\nprosperous to him, and he presently obtained the remarkable titles,\nSakaro, or foe of the Sakas, and Sakadhipati-Vikramaditya.\n\nAnd when, after a long and happy life spent in bringing the world under\nthe shadow of one umbrella, and in ruling it free from care, the warrior\nking Vikram entered the gloomy realms of Yama, from whom for mortals\nthere is no escape, he left behind him a name that endured amongst men\nlike the odour of the flower whose memory remains long after its form\nhas mingled with the dust.[197]\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[Footnote 1: Metamorphoseon, seu de Asino Aureo, libri Xl. The well known and\nbeautiful episode is in the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth books.]\n\n[Footnote 2: This ceremony will be explained in a future page.]\n\n[Footnote 3: A common exclamation of sorrow, surprise, fear, and other emotions.\nIt is especially used by women.]\n\n[Footnote 4: Quoted from view of the Hindoos, by William Ward, of Serampore (vol.\ni. p. 25).]\n\n[Footnote 5: In Sanskrit, Vetala-pancha-Vinshati. \u201cBaital\u201d is the modern form of\n\u201cVetala\u201d.]\n\n[Footnote 6: In Arabic, Badpai el Hakim.]\n\n[Footnote 7: Dictionnaire philosophique sub v. \u201cApocryphes.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 8: I do not mean that rhymes were not known before the days of\nAl-Islam, but that the Arabs popularized assonance and consonance in\nSouthern Europe.]\n\n[Footnote 9: \u201cVikrama\u201d means \u201cvalour\u201d or \u201cprowess.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 10: Mr. Ward of Serampore is unable to quote the names of more than\nnine out of the eighteen, namely: Sanskrit, Prakrit, Naga, Paisacha,\nGandharba, Rakshasa, Ardhamagadi, Apa, and Guhyaka--most of them being\nthe languages of different orders of fabulous beings. He tells us,\nhowever, that an account of these dialects may be found in the work\ncalled Pingala.]\n\n[Footnote 11: Translated by Sir Wm. Jones, 1789; and by Professor Williams, 1856.]\n\n[Footnote 12: Translated by Professor H. H. Wilson.]\n\n[Footnote 13: The time was propitious to savans. Whilst Vikramaditya lived,\nMagha, another king, caused to be written a poem called after his name\nFor each verse he is said to have paid to learned men a gold piece,\nwhich amounted to a total of 5,280l.--a large sum in those days, which\npreceded those of Paradise Lost. About the same period Karnata, a third\nking, was famed for patronizing the learned men who rose to honour at\nVikram\u2019s court. Dhavaka, a poet of nearly the same period, received from\nKing Shriharsha the magnificent present of 10,000l. for a poem called\nthe Ratna-Mala.]\n\n[Footnote 14: Lieut. Wilford supports the theory that there were eight\nVikramadityas, the last of whom established the era. For further\nparticulars, the curious reader will consult Lassen\u2019s Anthologia, and\nProfessor H. H. Wilson\u2019s Essay on Vikram (New), As. Red.. ix. 117.]\n\n[Footnote 15: History tells us another tale. The god Indra and the King of Dhara\ngave the kingdom to Bhartari-hari, another son of Gandhar-ba-Sena, by\na handmaiden. For some time, the brothers lived together; but presently\nthey quarrelled. Vikram being dismissed from court, wandered from place\nto place in abject poverty, and at one time hired himself as a servant\nto a merchant living in Guzerat. At length, Bhartari-hari, disgusted\nwith the world on account of the infidelity of his wife, to whom he was\nardently attached, became a religious devotee, and left the kingdom to\nits fate. In the course of his travels, Vikram came to Ujjayani, and\nfinding it without a head, assumed the sovereignty. He reigned with\ngreat splendour, conquering by his arms Utkala, Vanga, Kuch-bahar,\nGuzerat, Somnat, Delhi, and other places; until, in his turn, he was\nconquered, and slain by Shalivahan.]\n\n[Footnote 16: The words are found, says Mr. Ward, in the Hindu History compiled\nby Mrityungaya.]\n\n[Footnote 17: These duties of kings are thus laid down in the Rajtarangini. It is\nevident, as Professor H. H. Wilson says, that the royal status was by\nno means a sinecure. But the rules are evidently the closet work of some\npedantic, dogmatic Brahman, teaching kingcraft to kings. He directs his\ninstructions, not to subordinate judges, but to the Raja as the chief\nmagistrate, and through him to all appointed for the administration of\nhis justice.]\n\n[Footnote 18: Lunus, not Luna.]\n\n[Footnote 19: That is to say, \u201cupon an empty stomach.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 20: There are three sandhyas amongst the Hindus--morning, mid-day, and\nsunset; and all three are times for prayer.]\n\n[Footnote 21: The Hindu Cupid.]\n\n[Footnote 22: Patali, the regions beneath the earth.]\n\n[Footnote 23: The Hindu Triad.]\n\n[Footnote 24: Or Avanti, also called Padmavati. It is the first meridian of the\nHindus, who found their longitude by observation of lunar eclipses,\ncalculated for it and Lanka, or Ceylon. The clepsydra was used for\ntaking time.]\n\n[Footnote 25: In the original only the husband \u201cpracticed austere devotion.\u201d For\nthe benefit of those amongst whom the \u201cpious wife\u201d is an institution, I\nhave extended the privilege.]\n\n[Footnote 26: A Moslem would say, \u201cThis is our fate.\u201d A Hindu refers at once to\nmetempsychosis, as naturally as a modern Swedenborgian to spiritism.]\n\n[Footnote 27: In Europe, money buys this world, and delivers you from the pains\nof purgatory; amongst the Hindus, it furthermore opens the gate of\nheaven.]\n\n[Footnote 28: This part of the introduction will remind the reader of the two\nroyal brothers and their false wives in the introduction to the Arabian\nNights. The fate of Bhartari Raja, however, is historical.]\n\n[Footnote 29: In the original, \u201cDiv\u201d--a supernatural being god, or demon. This\npart of the plot is variously told. According to some, Raja Vikram was\nsurprised, when entering the city to see a grand procession at the house\nof a potter and a boy being carried off on an elephant to the violent\ngrief of his parents The King inquired the reason of their sorrow, and\nwas told that the wicked Div that guarded the city was in the habit of\neating a citizen per diem. Whereupon the valorous Raja caused the boy\nto dismount; took his place; entered the palace; and, when presented as\nfood for the demon, displayed his pugilistic powers in a way to excite\nthe monsters admiration.]\n\n[Footnote 30: In India, there is still a monastic order the pleasant duty of\nwhose members is to enjoy themselves as much as possible. It has been\nmuch the same in Europe. \u201cRepresentez-vous le convent de l\u2019Escurial\nou du Mont Cassin, ou les cenobites ont toutes sortes de commodities,\nnecessaires, utiles, delectables, superflues, surabondantes, puisqu\u2019ils\nont les cent cinquante mille, les quatre cent mille, les cinq cent mille\necus de rente; et jugez si monsieur l\u2019abbe a de quoi laisser dormir\nla meridienne a ceux qui voudront.\u201d--Saint Augustin, de l\u2019Ouvrage des\nMoines, by Le Camus, Bishop of Belley, quoted by Voltaire, Dict. Phil.,\nsub v. \u201cApocalypse.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 31: This form of matrimony was recognized by the ancient Hindus, and\nis frequent in books. It is a kind of Scotch\nwedding--ultra-Caledonian--taking place by mutual consent, without\nany form or ceremony. The Gandharbas are heavenly minstrels of Indra\u2019s\ncourt, who are supposed to be witnesses.]\n\n[Footnote 32: The Hindu Saturnalia.]\n\n[Footnote 33: The powders are of wheaten flour, mixed with wild ginger-root,\nsappan-wood, and other ingredients. Sometimes the stuff is thrown in\nsyringes.]\n\n[Footnote 34: The Persian proverb is--\u201cBala e tavilah bar sat i maimun\u201d: \u201cThe\nwoes of the stable be on the monkey\u2019s head!\u201d In some Moslem countries\na hog acts prophylactic. Hence probably Mungo Park\u2019s troublesome pig at\nLudamar.]\n\n[Footnote 35: So the moribund father of the \u201cbabes in the wood\u201d lectures his\nwicked brother, their guardian:               \u201cTo God and you I recommend\n                    My children deare this day:\n               But little while, be sure, we have\n                    Within this world to stay.\u201d\n  But, to appeal to the moral sense of a goldsmith!]\n\n[Footnote 36: Maha (great) raja (king): common address even to those who are not\nroyal.]\n\n[Footnote 37: The name means. \u201cQuietistic Disposition.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 38: August. In the solar-lunar year of the Hindu the months are divided\ninto fortnights--light and dark.]\n\n[Footnote 39: A flower, whose name frequently occurs in Sanskrit poetry.]\n\n[Footnote 40: The stars being men\u2019s souls raised to the sky for a time pro\nportioned to their virtuous deeds on earth.]\n\n[Footnote 41: A measure of length, each two miles.]\n\n[Footnote 42: The warm region below.]\n\n[Footnote 43: Hindus admire only glossy black hair; the \u201cbonny brown hair\u201d\n loved by our ballads is assigned by them to low-caste men, witches, and\nfiends.]\n\n[Footnote 44: A large kind of bat; a popular and silly Anglo-Indian name. It\nalmost justified the irate Scotchman in calling \u201cprodigious leears\u201d\n those who told him in India that foxes flew and tress were tapped for\ntoddy.]\n\n[Footnote 45: The Hindus, like the European classics and other ancient peoples,\nreckon four ages:--The Satya Yug, or Golden Age, numbered 1,728,000\nyears: the second, or Treta Yug, comprised 1,296,000; the Dwapar Yug had\n864,000 and the present, the Kali Yug, has shrunk to 832,000 years.]\n\n[Footnote 46: Especially alluding to prayer. On this point, Southey justly\nremarks (Preface to Curse of Kehama): \u201cIn the religion of the Hindoos\nthere is one remarkable peculiarity. Prayers, penances, and sacrifices\nare supposed to possess an inherent and actual value, in one degree\ndepending upon the disposition or motive of the person who performs\nthem. They are drafts upon heaven for which the gods cannot refuse\npayment. The worst men, bent upon the worst designs, have in this manner\nobtained power which has made them formidable to the supreme deities\nthemselves.\u201d Moreover, the Hindu gods hear the prayers of those who\ndesire the evil of others. Hence when a rich man becomes poor, his\nfriends say, \u201cSee how sharp are men\u2019s teeth!\u201d and, \u201cHe is ruined because\nothers could not bear to see his happiness!\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 47: A pond, natural or artificial; in the latter case often covering an\nextent of ten to twelve acres.]\n\n[Footnote 48: The Hindustani \u201cgilahri,\u201d or little grey squirrel, whose twittering\ncry is often mistaken for a bird\u2019s.]\n\n[Footnote 49: The autumn or rather the rainy season personified--a hackneyed\nHindu prosopopoeia.]\n\n[Footnote 50: Light conversation upon the subject of women is a persona offence\nto serious-minded Hindus.]\n\n[Footnote 51: Cupid in his two forms, Eros and Anteros.]\n\n[Footnote 52: This is true to life in the East, women make the first advances,\nand men do the begueules.]\n\n[Footnote 53: Raja-hans, a large grey goose, the Hindu equivalent for our swan.]\n\n[Footnote 54: Properly Karnatak; karna in Sanskrit means an ear.]\n\n[Footnote 55: Danta in Sanskrit is a tooth.]\n\n[Footnote 56: Padma means a foot.]\n\n[Footnote 57: A common Hindu phrase equivalent to our \u201cI manage to get on.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 58: Meaning marriage maternity, and so forth.]\n\n[Footnote 59: Yama is Pluto; \u2018mother of Yama\u2019 is generally applied to an old\nscold.]\n\n[Footnote 60: Snake-land: the infernal region.]\n\n[Footnote 61: A form of abuse given to Durga, who was the mother of Ganesha\n(Janus); the latter had an elephant\u2019s head.]\n\n[Footnote 62: Unexpected pleasure, according to the Hindus, gives a bristly\nelevation to the down of the body.]\n\n[Footnote 63: The Hindus banish \u201cflasks,\u201d et hoc genus omne, from these scenes,\nand perhaps they are right.]\n\n[Footnote 64: The Pankha, or large common fan, is a leaf of the Corypha\numbraculifera, with the petiole cut to the length of about five feet,\npared round the edges and painted to look pretty. It is waved by the\nservant standing behind a chair.]\n\n[Footnote 65: The fabulous mass of precious stones forming the sacred mountain of\nHindu mythology.]\n\n[Footnote 66: \u201cI love my love with an \u2018S,\u2019 because he is stupid and not\npyschological.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 67: Hindu mythology has also its Cerberus, Trisisa, the \u201cthree headed\u201d\n hound that attends dreadful Yama (Pluto)]\n\n[Footnote 68: Parceque c\u2019est la saison des amours.]\n\n[Footnote 69: The police magistrate, the Catual of Camoens.]\n\n[Footnote 70: The seat of a Hindu ascetic.]\n\n[Footnote 71: The Hindu scriptures.]\n\n[Footnote 72: The Goddess of Prosperity.]\n\n[Footnote 73: In the original the lover is not blamed; this would be the Hindu\nview of the matter; we might be tempted to think of the old injunction\nnot to seethe a kid in the mother\u2019s milk.]\n\n[Footnote 74: In the original a \u201cmaina \u201c-the Gracula religiosa.]\n\n[Footnote 75: As we should say, buried them.]\n\n[Footnote 76: A large kind of black bee, common in India.]\n\n[Footnote 77: The beautiful wife of the demigod Rama Chandra.]\n\n[Footnote 78: The Hindu Ars Amoris.]\n\n[Footnote 79: The old philosophers, believing in a \u201cSat\u201d (xx xx), postulated an\nAsat (xx xx xx) and made the latter the root of the former.]\n\n[Footnote 80: In Western India, a place celebrated for suicides.]\n\n[Footnote 81: Kama Deva. \u201cOut on thee, foul fiend, talk\u2019st thou of nothing but\nladies?\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 82: The pipal or Ficus religiosa, a favourite roosting-place for\nfiends.]\n\n[Footnote 83: India.]\n\n[Footnote 84: The ancient name of a priest by profession, meaning \u201cpraepositus\u201d\n or praeses. He was the friend and counsellor of a chief, the minister\nof a king, and his companion in peace and war. (M. Muller\u2019s Ancient\nSanskrit Literature, p. 485).]\n\n[Footnote 85: Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity. Raj-Lakshmi would mean the\nKing\u2019s Fortune, which we should call tutelary genius. Lakshichara is our\n\u201cluckless,\u201d forming, as Mr. Ward says, an extraordinary coincidence of\nsound and meaning in languages so different. But the derivations are\nvery distinct.]\n\n[Footnote 86: The Monkey God.]\n\n[Footnote 87: Generally written \u201cBanyan.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 88: The daughter of Raja Janaka, married to Ramachandra. The latter\nplaced his wife under the charge of his brother Lakshmana, and went\ninto the forest to worship, when the demon Ravana disguised himself as a\nbeggar, and carried off the prize.]\n\n[Footnote 89: This great king was tricked by the god Vishnu out of the sway of\nheaven and earth, but from his exceeding piety he was appointed to reign\nin Patala, or Hades.]\n\n[Footnote 90: The procession is fair game, and is often attacked in the dark with\nsticks and stones, causing serious disputes. At the supper the guests\nconfer the obligation by their presence, and are exceedingly exacting.]\n\n[Footnote 91: Rati is the wife of Kama, the God of Desire; and we explain the\nword by \u201cSpring personified.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 92: The Indian Cuckoo (Cucuius Indicus). It is supposed to lay its eggs\nin the nest of the crow.]\n\n[Footnote 93: This is the well-known Ghi or Ghee, the one sauce of India which is\nas badly off in that matter as England.]\n\n[Footnote 94: The European reader will observe that it is her purity which\ncarries the heroine through all these perils. Moreover, that her virtue\nis its own reward, as it loses to her the world.]\n\n[Footnote 95: Literally, \u201cone of all tastes\u201d--a wild or gay man, we should say.]\n\n[Footnote 96: These shoes are generally made of rags and bits of leather; they\nhave often toes behind the foot, with other similar contrivances, yet\nthey scarcely ever deceive an experienced man.]\n\n[Footnote 97: The high-toper is a swell-thief, the other is a low dog.]\n\n[Footnote 98: Engaged in shoplifting.]\n\n[Footnote 99: The moon.]\n\n[Footnote 100: The judge.]\n\n[Footnote 101: To be lagged is to be taken; scragging is hanging.]\n\n[Footnote 102: The tongue.]\n\n[Footnote 103: This is the god Kartikeya, a mixture of Mars and Mercury,\nwho revealed to a certain Yugacharya the scriptures known as\n\u201cChauriya-Vidya\u201d--Anglice, \u201cThieves\u2019 Manual.\u201d The classical robbers\nof the Hindu drama always perform according to its precepts. There is\nanother work respected by thieves and called the \u201cChora-Panchashila,\u201d\n because consisting of fifty lines.]\n\n[Footnote 104: Supposed to be a good omen.]\n\n[Footnote 105: Share the booty.]\n\n[Footnote 106: Bhawani is one of the many forms of the destroying goddess, the\nwife of Shiva.]\n\n[Footnote 107: Wretches who kill with the narcotic seed of the stramonium.]\n\n[Footnote 108: Better know as \u201cThugs,\u201d which in India means simply \u201crascals.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 109: Crucifixion, until late years, was common amongst the Buddhists\nof the Burmese empire. According to an eye-witness, Mr. F. Carey, the\npunishment was inflicted in two ways. Sometimes criminals were crucified\nby their hands and feet being nailed to a scaffold; others were merely\ntied up, and fed. In these cases the legs and feet of the patient began\nto swell and mortify at the expiration of three or four days; men are\nsaid to have lived in this state for a fortnight, and at last they\nexpired from fatigue and mortification. The sufferings from cramp also\nmust be very severe. In India generally impalement was more common than\ncrucifixion.]\n\n[Footnote 110: Our Suttee. There is an admirable Hindu proverb, which says, \u201cNo\none knows the ways of woman; she kill her husband and becomes a Sati.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 111: Fate and Destiny are rather Moslem than Hindu fancies.]\n\n[Footnote 112: Properly speaking, the husbandman should plough with not fewer\nthan four bullocks; but few can afford this. If he plough with a cow\nor a bullock, and not with a bull, the rice produced by his ground is\nunclean, and may not be used in any religious ceremony.]\n\n[Footnote 113: A shout of triumph, like our \u201cHuzza\u201d or \u201cHurrah!\u201d of late degraded\ninto \u201cHooray.\u201d \u201cHari bol\u201d is of course religious, meaning \u201cCall upon\nHari!\u201d i.e. Krishna, i.e. Vishnu.]\n\n[Footnote 114: This form of suicide is one of those recognized in India. So\nin Europe we read of fanatics who, with a suicidal ingenuity, have\nsucceeded in crucifying themselves.]\n\n[Footnote 115: The river of Jaganath in Orissa; it shares the honours of sanctity\nwith some twenty-nine others, and in the lower regions it represents the\nclassical Styx.]\n\n[Footnote 116: Cupid. His wife Rati is the spring personified. The Hindu poets\nalways unite love and spring, and perhaps physiologically they are\ncorrect.]\n\n[Footnote 117: An incarnation of the third person of the Hindu Triad, or\nTriumvirate, Shiva the God of Destruction, the Indian Bacchus. The image\nhas five faces, and each face has three eyes. In Bengal it is found in\nmany villages, and the women warn their children not to touch it on pain\nof being killed.]\n\n[Footnote 118: A village Brahman on stated occasions receives fees from all the\nvillagers.]\n\n[Footnote 119: The land of Greece.]\n\n[Footnote 120: Savans, professors. So in the old saying, \u201cHanta, Pandit Sansara\n\u201c--Alas! the world is learned! This a little antedates the well-known\nschoolmaster.]\n\n[Footnote 121: Children are commonly sent to school at the age of five. Girls are\nnot taught to read, under the common idea that they will become widows\nif they do.]\n\n[Footnote 122: Meaning the place of reading the four Shastras.]\n\n[Footnote 123: A certain goddess who plays tricks with mankind. If a son when\ngrown up act differently from what his parents did, people say that he\nhas been changed in the womb.]\n\n[Footnote 124: Shani is the planet Saturn, which has an exceedingly baleful\ninfluence in India as elsewhere.]\n\n[Footnote 125: The Eleatic or Materialistic school of Hindu philosophy, which\nagrees to explode an intelligent separate First Cause.]\n\n[Footnote 126: The writings of this school give an excellent view of the\n\u201cprogressive system,\u201d which has popularly been asserted to be a modern\nidea. But Hindu philosophy seems to have exhausted every fancy that can\nspring from the brain of man.]\n\n[Footnote 127: Tama is the natural state of matter, Raja is passion acting upon\nnature, and Satwa is excellence These are the three gunas or qualities\nof matter.]\n\n[Footnote 128: Spiritual preceptors and learned men.]\n\n[Footnote 129: Under certain limitations, gambling is allowed by Hindu law and\nthe winner has power over the person and property of the loser. No\n\u201cdebts of honour\u201d in Hindustan!]\n\n[Footnote 130: Quotations from standard works on Hindu criminal law, which in\nsome points at least is almost as absurd as our civilized codes.]\n\n[Footnote 131: Hindus carry their money tied up in a kind of sheet which is wound\nround the waist and thrown over the shoulder.]\n\n[Footnote 132: A thieves\u2019 manual in the Sanskrit tongue; it aspires to the\ndignity of a \u201cScripture.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 133: All sounds, say the Hindus, are of similar origin, and they do not\ndie; if they did, they could not be remembered.]\n\n[Footnote 134: Gold pieces.]\n\n[Footnote 135: These are the qualifications specified by Hindu classical\nauthorities as necessary to make a distinguished thief.]\n\n[Footnote 136: Every Hindu is in a manner born to a certain line of life,\nvirtuous or vicious, honest or dishonest and his Dharma, or religious\nduty, consists in conforming to the practice and the worship of his\nprofession. The \u201cThug,\u201d for instance, worships Bhawani, who enables him\nto murder successfully; and his remorse would arise from neglecting to\nmurder.]\n\n[Footnote 137: Hindu law sensibly punishes, in theory at least, for the same\noffence the priest more severely than the layman--a hint for him to\npractice what he preaches.]\n\n[Footnote 138: The Hindu Mercury, god of rascals.]\n\n[Footnote 139: A penal offence in India. How is it that we English have omitted\nto codify it? The laws of Manu also punish severely all disdainful\nexpressions, such as \u201ctush\u201d or \u201cpish,\u201d addressed during argument to a\npriest.]\n\n[Footnote 140: Stanzas, generally speaking, on serious subjects.]\n\n[Footnote 141: Whitlows on the nails show that the sufferer, in the last life,\nstole gold from a Brahman.]\n\n[Footnote 142: A low caste Hindu, who catches and exhibits snakes and performs\nother such mean offices.]\n\n[Footnote 143: Meaning, in spite of themselves.]\n\n[Footnote 144: When the moon is in a certain lunar mansion, at the conclusion of\nthe wet season.]\n\n[Footnote 145: In Hindustan, it is the prevailing wind of the hot weather.]\n\n[Footnote 146: Vishnu, as a dwarf, sank down into and secured in the lower\nregions the Raja Bali, who by his piety and prayerfulness was subverting\nthe reign of the lesser gods; as Ramachandra he built a bridge between\nLanka (Ceylon) and the main land; and as Krishna he defended, by\nholding up a hill as an umbrella for them, his friends the shepherds\nand shepherdesses from the thunders of Indra, whose worship they had\nneglected.]\n\n[Footnote 147: The priestly caste sprang, as has been said, from the noblest part\nof the Demiurgus; the three others from lower members.]\n\n[Footnote 148: A chew of betel leaf and spices is offered by the master of the\nhouse when dismissing a visitor.]\n\n[Footnote 149: Respectable Hindus say that receiving a fee for a daughter is like\nselling flesh.]\n\n[Footnote 150: A modern custom amongst the low caste is for the bride and\nbridegroom, in the presence of friends, to place a flower garland on\neach other\u2019s necks, and thus declare themselves man and wife. The old\nclassical Gandharva-lagan has been before explained.]\n\n[Footnote 151: Meaning that the sight of each other will cause a smile, and that\nwhat one purposes the other will consent to.]\n\n[Footnote 152: This would be the verdict of a Hindu jury.]\n\n[Footnote 153: Because stained with the powder of Mhendi, or the Lawsonia inermis\nshrub.]\n\n[Footnote 154: Kansa\u2019s son: so called because the god Shiva, when struck by his\nshafts, destroyed him with a fiery glance.]\n\n[Footnote 155: \u201cGreat Brahman\u201d; used contemptuously to priests who officiate\nfor servile men. Brahmans lose their honour by the following things:\nBy becoming servants to the king; by pursuing any secular business; by\nacting priests to Shudras (serviles); by officiating as priests for a\nwhole village; and by neglecting any part of the three daily services.\nMany violate these rules; yet to kill a Brahman is still one of the five\ngreat Hindu sins. In the present age of the world, the Brahman may not\naccept a gift of cows or of gold; of course he despises the law. As\nregards monkey worship, a certain Rajah of Nadiya is said to have\nexpended 10,000L in marrying two monkeys with all the parade and\nsplendour of the Hindu rite.]\n\n[Footnote 156: The celebrated Gayatri, the Moslem Kalmah.]\n\n[Footnote 157: Kama again.]\n\n[Footnote 158: From \u201cMan,\u201d to think; primarily meaning, what makes man think.]\n\n[Footnote 159: The Cirrhadae of classical writers.]\n\n[Footnote 160: The Hindu Pluto; also called the Just King.]\n\n[Footnote 161: Yama judges the dead, whose souls go to him in four hours and\nforty minutes; therefore a corpse cannot be burned till after that time.\nHis residence is Yamalaya, and it is on the south side of the earth;\ndown South, as we say. (I, Sam. xxv. 1, and xxx. 15). The Hebrews, like\nthe Hindus, held the northern parts of the world to be higher than the\nsouthern. Hindus often joke a man who is seen walking in that direction,\nand ask him where he is going.]\n\n[Footnote 162: The \u201cGanges,\u201d in heaven called Mandakini. I have no idea why we\nstill adhere to our venerable corruption of the word.]\n\n[Footnote 163: The fabulous mountain supposed by Hindu geographers to occupy the\ncentre of the universe.]\n\n[Footnote 164: The all-bestowing tree in Indra\u2019s Paradise which grants everything\nasked of it. It is the Tuba of Al-Islam and is not unknown to the\nApocryphal New Testament.]\n\n[Footnote 165: \u201cVikramaditya, Lord of the Saka.\u201d This is prevoyance on the part\nof the Vampire; the king had not acquired the title.]\n\n[Footnote 166: On the sixth day after the child\u2019s birth, the god Vidhata writes\nall its fate upon its forehead. The Moslems have a similar idea, and\nprobably it passed to the Hindus.]\n\n[Footnote 167: Goddess of eloquence. \u201cThe waters of the Saraswati\u201d is the\nclassical Hindu phrase for the mirage.]\n\n[Footnote 168: This story is perhaps the least interesting in the collection. I\nhave translated it literally, in order to give an idea of the original.\nThe reader will remark in it the source of our own nursery tale about\nthe princess who was so high born and delicately bred, that she could\ndiscover the three peas laid beneath a straw mattress and four feather\nbeds. The Hindus, however, believe that Sybaritism can be carried so\nfar; I remember my Pandit asserting the truth of the story.]\n\n[Footnote 169: A minister. The word, as is the case with many in this collection,\nis quite modern Moslem, and anachronistic.]\n\n[Footnote 170: The cow is called the mother of the gods, and is declared by\nBrahma, the first person of the triad, Vishnu and Shiva being the second\nand the third, to be a proper object of worship. \u201cIf a European speak to\nthe Hindu about eating the flesh of cows,\u201d says an old missionary, \u201cthey\nimmediately raise their hands to their ears; yet milkmen, carmen, and\nfarmers beat the cow as unmercifully as a carrier of coals beats his ass\nin England.\u201d The Jains or Jainas (from ji, to conquer; as subduing the\npassions) are one of the atheistical sects with whom the Brahmans have\nof old carried on the fiercest religious controversies, ending in many\na sanguinary fight. Their tenets are consequently exaggerated and\nridiculed, as in the text. They believe that there is no such God as the\ncommon notions on the subject point out, and they hold that the highest\nact of virtue is to abstain from injuring sentient creatures. Man does\nnot possess an immortal spirit: death is the same to Brahma and to a\nfly. Therefore there is no heaven or hell separate from present pleasure\nor pain. Hindu Epicureans!--\u201cEpicuri de grege porci.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 171: Narak is one of the multitudinous places of Hindu punishment, said\nto adjoin the residence of Ajarna. The less cultivated Jains believe in\na region of torment. The illuminati, however, have a sovereign contempt\nfor the Creator, for a future state, and for all religious ceremonies.\nAs Hindus, however, they believe in future births of mankind, somewhat\ninfluenced by present actions. The \u201cnext birth\u201d in the mouth of a Hindu,\nwe are told, is the same as \u201cto-morrow\u201d in the mouth of a Christian. The\nmetempsychosis is on an extensive scale: according to some, a person\nwho loses human birth must pass through eight millions of successive\nincarnations--fish, insects, worms, birds, and beasts--before he can\nreappear as a man.]\n\n[Footnote 172: Jogi, or Yogi, properly applies to followers of the Yoga or\nPatanjala school, who by ascetic practices acquire power over the\nelements. Vulgarly, it is a general term for mountebank vagrants,\nworshippers of Shiva. The Janganis adore the same deity, and carry\nabout a Linga. The Sevras are Jain beggars, who regard their chiefs\nas superior to the gods of other sects. The Sannyasis are mendicant\nfollowers of Shiva; they never touch metals or fire, and, in religious\nparlance, they take up the staff They are opposed to the Viragis,\nworshippers of Vishnu, who contend as strongly against the worshippers\nof gods who receive bloody offerings, as a Christian could do against\nidolatry.]\n\n[Footnote 173: The Brahman, or priest, is supposed to proceed from the mouth of\nBrahma, the creating person of the Triad; the Khshatriyas (soldiers)\nfrom his arms; the Vaishyas (enterers into business) from his thighs;\nand the Shudras, \u201cwho take refuge in the Brahmans,\u201d from his feet. Only\nhigh caste men should assume the thread at the age of puberty.]\n\n[Footnote 174: Soma, the moon, I have said, is masculine in India.]\n\n[Footnote 175: Pluto.]\n\n[Footnote 176: Nothing astonishes Hindus so much as the apparent want of\naffection between the European parent and child.]\n\n[Footnote 177: A third marriage is held improper and baneful to a Hindu woman.\nHence, before the nuptials they betroth the man to a tree, upon which\nthe evil expends itself, and the tree dies.]\n\n[Footnote 178: Kama]\n\n[Footnote 179: An oath, meaning, \u201cFrom such a falsehood preserve me, Ganges!\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 180: The Indian Neptune.]\n\n[Footnote 181: A highly insulting form of adjuration.]\n\n[Footnote 182: The British Islands--according to Wilford.]\n\n[Footnote 183: Literally the science (veda) of the bow (dhanush). This weapon,\nas everything amongst the Hindus, had a divine origin: it was of three\nkinds--the common bow, the pellet or stone bow, and the crossbow or\ncatapult.]\n\n[Footnote 184: It is a disputed point whether the ancient Hindus did or did not\nknow the use of gunpowder.]\n\n[Footnote 185: It is said to have discharged balls, each 6,400 pounds in weight.]\n\n[Footnote 186: A kind of Mercury, a god with the head and wings of a bird, who is\nthe Vahan or vehicle of the second person of the Triad, Vishnu.]\n\n[Footnote 187: The celebrated burning springs of Baku, near the Caspian, are so\ncalled. There are many other \u201cfire mouths.\u201d]\n\n[Footnote 188: The Hindu Styx.]\n\n[Footnote 189: From Yaksha, to eat; as Rakshasas are from Raksha, to\npreserve.--See Hardy\u2019s Manual of Buddhism, p. 57.]\n\n[Footnote 190: Shiva is always painted white, no one knows why. His wife Gauri\nhas also a European complexion. Hence it is generally said that the sect\npopularly called \u201cThugs,\u201d who were worshippers of these murderous gods,\nspared Englishmen, the latter being supposed to have some rapport with\ntheir deities.]\n\n[Footnote 191: The Hindu shrine is mostly a small building, with two inner\ncompartments, the vestibule and the Garbagriha, or adytum, in which\nstands the image.]\n\n[Footnote 192: Meaning Kali of the cemetery (Smashana); another form of Durga.]\n\n[Footnote 193: Not being able to find victims, this pleasant deity, to satisfy\nher thirst for the curious juice, cut her own throat that the blood\nmight spout up into her mouth. She once found herself dancing on her\nhusband, and was so shocked that in surprise she put out her tongue to a\ngreat length, and remained motionless. She is often represented in this\nform.]\n\n[Footnote 194: This ashtanga, the most ceremonious of the five forms of Hindu\nsalutation, consists of prostrating and of making the eight parts of\nthe body--namely, the temples, nose and chin, knees and hands--touch the\nground.]\n\n[Footnote 195: \u201cSidhis,\u201d the personified Powers of Nature. At least, so we\nexplain them: but people do not worship abstract powers.]\n\n[Footnote 196: The residence of Indra, king of heaven, built by Wishwa-Karma, the\narchitect of the gods.]\n\n[Footnote 197: In other words, to the present day, whenever a Hindu novelist,\nromancer, or tale writer seeks a peg upon which to suspend the texture\nof his story, he invariably pitches upon the glorious, pious, and\nimmortal memory of that Eastern King Arthur, Vikramaditya, shortly\ncalled Vikram.]\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg\u2019s Vikram and the Vampire, by Richard F. Burton","title":"Vikram and the Vampire: Classic Hindu Tales of Adventure, Magic, and Romance","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":77461}