An Essence of the Dusk, 5th Edition Read online

  [10] It may not be superfluous to remind the English reader, that, according to Hindoo ideas, there is no disgrace like that of possessing an unmarried daughter. Hence the practice, among the Rajpoots and adjacent peoples, of destroying the female infants, to avoid it.

  [11] Intending, of course, a son. Unfortunately he employed a word of indeterminate gender: hence the lamentable _denouement_. For in ancient India, as in ancient Rome, the _spoken word_, the letter, determined everything.

  [12] Nothing in Hindoo mythology is more absurd than the implacable fury of the most holy men for the most trifling slights, unless it be the accuracy with which their most dreadful imprecations are literally fulfilled. This was, I believe, characteristic also of the saints of Erin.

  [13] An English lady having called, not long ago, at the house of a Hindoo lady, to enquire how she was, after an interesting event, and _what was the result_, received for answer: Alas, _memsahib, nothing at all_: a girl. Had she been a partisan of "woman's rights," she would probably never have recovered from the shock.

  [14] A play on words, not transferable to English.

  [15] It is a very bad omen, in India, for a vulture to settle on a house.

  [16] A female vulture. I retain the original word, because it seems to be peculiarly expressive of the thing.

  So as Aja stood, lost in wonder at the old King's story, his daughtersuddenly rose to her feet with a shrill cry. And she exclaimed: O son ofa King, fly quickly! Hence! away! back with thee even into the desert,and leave me and my father and this miserable city to our inevitablefate. And she sank down in a swoon, and would have fallen to the ground,but that Aja sprang quickly forward and caught her as she fell.

  So as he stood, holding her in his arms, and wishing that her swoonmight last for ever, so only that he held her, for she stole away hissenses with the seduction of her fragrance and proximity, her fatherexclaimed, in dismay: Ha! this is something new, and a thing that hasnever occurred before. And what can be the matter now? O son of a King!she must have fallen in love with thee, as well indeed she might, forthy beauty and thy youth. And doubtless it has grieved her soul, tothink of thy approaching end. But alas! alas! this is worse than all.For now, if thou fallest a victim, as cannot fail to be the case, likeall thy predecessors, she will herself not survive thee: and then,indeed, there is an end of all. For as long as she was left to bemarried, there was still a shadow of hope behind.

  And he began to ramble about, wringing his hands for grief. But Aja saidto himself, with joy: Ha! this was all I wanted, if only it be true. Andhe said to the King: O King, it will be time enough to afflict thyselffor her death or for mine, when we have actually died. But count me, inthe meantime, as thy son-in-law: and be under no anxiety as to the fateof thy ancestors. For I will guarantee their good condition: and thisvery night, I will rid thee of the evil demon that molests her. Andto-morrow, I will take this hand, and lead her round the fire[17].

  [17] That is, marry her.

  And he took her hand, as she lay in his arms, and touched it with hislips.

  V.

  And instantly, as though his kiss had been to her like sandal and likepalm-leaf fans, she came back to herself. And when she saw who held her,she started up, and stood, blushing the colour of her own lips, witheyes cast upon the ground. And the King said: O daughter, what is this?Does it become a high caste maiden outwardly to exhibit her inwardfeelings, and abandon the straight line of virgin modesty by behaviourthat betrays her heart?

  And then, Yashowati sighed deeply. And she looked for a while insilence, first at her father, and then at Aja: and all at once, shestood erect, like one seized by sudden resolution, and she clapped herhands together, and exclaimed, in a voice that shook and quivered withemotion: Ha! who can hide a forest fire by covering it over with alittle straw, or what does maiden conduct matter, in the ruin of thethree worlds! Aye! the fire of grief consumed me, to see this noble sonof a king, and to think that he escaped the desert only to meet hisdeath from me. Now has my punishment come upon me in the form of thistall and splendid youth. For I grieved for the fate of my formersuitors, and yet I saw them for all that go, one by one, to theiruseless doom, and still myself remained alive. Long ago, beyond a doubt,I ought myself to have left the body, and perished of my own accord,rather than consent to live, the cause of death to so many others: andby putting myself to death, I should have cut in two the fatal chain oftheir succession, and saved their lives by the substitute of my own. Andnow, instead, I have been as it were their murderess, and a death tothem all in female form. And now the Deity has avenged them, by sendingto me at last the God of Love in human shape, whose death will be agrief to me a hundred fold more awful than any death I could have died.And I myself shall not survive him. Then why waste time in chiding onewho has but one more day to live? For as soon as night arrives, he mustgo like the rest to meet his doom: and certain it is, that I shall notlive to see the sun rise again without him.

  And as she spoke, they gazed at her, astonished. For she seemed like onethat has burst the bonds of all restraint, and thrown all considerationto the eight quarters of the world. But as soon as she stopped, the oldKing uttered a doleful cry. And he exclaimed: Yashowati, O daughter,what words are these? Is it any fault of thine that thou art beautiful?And wilt thou talk of abandoning the body? Then what will become of thefamily, of which thou art the only hope? But Aja laughed: and he said: Olovely lady, waste not thy grief on such a thing as I am: and Ofather-in-law, cease from bewailing calamities that are only the shadowsof thy own fears cast upon the dark curtain of the future. For many arethey that are doomed to die, yet never perish after all. And I have notescaped the sand, to perish lightly in any other way. Be assured thatthe lamp of thy race is burning still with a steady flame, not to beextinguished by a little puff of wind. To-morrow we will laugh togetherover these idle apprehensions, which the rising sun will dissipatetogether with the mists of night.

  But Yashowati turned, and looked at him with steady eyes. And she said:My husband, for such indeed thou art, the first that I have everchosen[18], and the last that shall ever claim my hand: dost thou thinkthat I would have so far forgotten the reserve that is becoming to amaiden of my caste, as to offer myself like an _abhisarika_, but that Iknow, as thou canst not know it, the absolute and utterly inevitablecertainty of thy doom, and that this is the very last day we shall spendtogether, though it is also the very first? And Aja looked at her withaffection: and he laughed again. And he said: Sweet wife, since thou artso very certain, then as it must be, let it be. What care I forto-morrow, if I am with thee all to-day? Know, that but an hour ago,when first I saw thee, I would have given my life, doubly dear as it wasby reason of its recent escape from death, to win from thee a littlelove, even a very little. But as it is, a single day is life enough,provided it is spent with thee, even though I were really destined neverto see another.

  [18] This was the privilege of kings' daughters.

  And she looked at him with wistful eyes; and after a while, she said:Thou art brave, and as I would have had thee. And thou dost not believeme: and it may be, it is better so. And then she turned to the King, andsaid: O father, go away now: and leave me alone with my husband. And benot afraid, either for thy honour or my own, for there shall be as itwere a sword between us. But I wish to have him all to myself, until theend. And when the time has come, let the gong be sounded, and I willsend him out to thee, and thou canst show him the way to death. Andthereupon the old King went away as she desired, moaning and muttering,and wringing his hands with grief.

  So when he was gone, those two lovers sat together all day long, gazingat each other like the sunflower and the sun. And he utterly forgot themorrow, but it never left her mind, even for a single instant. And shemade him relate to her his whole life from the very beginning, drinkingin his words, and hanging on his lips, and watching him keenly, witheyes that never left his face, holding all the while his hand, with thegrasp
of one who knows that her husband must be led to execution in theevening. And she said to herself, at every moment: Still he is here:still he is here. And when the sun set, she sent for food and delicaciesand wine, and fed him like a child with her own hand, tasting herselfnothing. And she surfeited him with the honey of her sweetness and thesyrup of her kisses and the nectar of the young new moon of beautybathed in the sun of love, the redder[19] because of its approachingset. And all at once, she started to her feet, in the very middle of acaress. And she stood, listening. And Aja listened also: and he heard inthe silence the sound of a gong.

  [19] A play on words: meaning also _more affectionate_.

  So as he watched her, she turned paler and ever paler, like the east atthe break of dawn. And she put her two hands together, and pressed themtight against her heart, and then against her brow. And all at once, shecame quickly to him, and said in a low voice: It is time. And she tookhis head in her hands, and kissed him, with lips that were cold as ice,and yet hot as fire, first on the eyes, and then on the mouth, and lastof all upon the brow. And then she took his hand, and held it for alittle while, with a clutch that almost hurt him, gazing at him withthirsty eyes. And suddenly, she threw away his hand, and pushed him awayroughly, saying: Go. But Aja caught her in his arms, and kissed her yetagain, as it were against her will. And he said: O fearful heart, be notafraid. Very soon, I will return. And he went away quickly, but at thedoor he turned, and saw her standing still, watching him with dry brighteyes, and lips that were shut tight. And at that very moment, the oldKing took him by the arm, and said: Come now, and I will show thee theway by which all thy predecessors went before thee.

  Then Aja said: O King, I am unarmed. Give me a weapon to carry with me.So the King took him into the armoury, and he chose for himself a swordalmost as long as he was tall. But he threw away the scabbard, saying:This would only be in the way: and now, I am prepared. And then the Kingled him away, and up a winding stair.

  And when they were at the top, he stopped. And he said: O son-in-lawthat might have been, now fare thee well. And even I feel it harder topart with thee than with any of thy predecessors. Thou wouldst have madean altogether appropriate husband for my daughter, and O! that thoucouldst have seen her dance, before thus disappearing: but now it is toolate, for I doubt whether Tumburu himself could make her dance to-night,so troubled did she seem to be at bidding thee good bye. Go out, now,through yonder door: and thou wilt be more fortunate than all theothers, if thou canst manage to return through it.

  Then he went back into the palace. But Aja passed through the door, andfound himself on the city wall.

  A Total Eclipse.

  _Then kith and kin and home forget, and all, To sail beyond the setting-sun, with me, Where dead love's dreamy recollections call Across the sea._

  I.

  And he stood on the edge of the city wall, with his naked sword in hishand. And he looked on this side and on that, and saw the turrets of thecity jutting out along the wall, like the huge black heads of elephantsof war advancing in a line. And behind him lay the city, covered overwith a pall of black that was edged and touched with silver points andfringes; and before him the desert stretched away, smeared as it werewith ashes, under the light of the moon. And brave as he was, his heartbeat, just a very little, in expectation of what was coming. And he saidto himself: My father-in-law's dismissal was not very reassuring. Butwhere then is the danger, and from what quarter is it coming, and whatform will it take? For here is nothing whatever to fight with, exceptthe shadows cast by the moon. Or is this all merely a trick of the Kingto test me, before which all my predecessors have ignominiously failed?Yet no. For were it so, my wife would indeed be an actress[1] capable ofreducing Tumburu to the state of ashes.

  [1] An actress and a dancer are in Sanskrit denoted by the same word.

  So as he stood, waiting, and smiling at his own thoughts, it happenedthat that daughter of Kirttisena, whose jealousy of the King's daughterhad caused all the trouble in the King's city, came according to hercustom flying towards the city wall. For every night she came to seewhether there was a new suitor. And whenever she discovered one, she hadrecourse to a Rakshasa that was bound to her by obligations, who came assoon as thought of, and swallowed that unhappy suitor whole[2]. And nowfor some time, no new suitor had appeared. So as she came flying in thelikeness of a bat, she looked towards the city wall, expecting to findit empty. And she saw, instead, Aja, standing, leaning on his sword, andsmiling, on the very edge of the wall. And at the very first glance athim, she was struck with stupor, and she fell that very moment soviolently in love with him[3] that she could hardly flap her wings, byreason of the fierce agitation of her heart. So she alighted on thewall, a little distance off, and remained watching him, hardly able tobreathe for emotion, in her own form[4], but surrounding herself with aveil of invisibility to escape his observation. And after a while, shedrew a long breath, and murmured to herself: Ha! this is a suitorindeed, very different from all the others; and rather than a meremortal man, he resembles the son of Dewaki[5], with Radha caressing himin the form of the moonlight that seems to cling affectionately to hisglorious limbs. Ha! he looks like the tutelary deity of the city come todefy me, bringing the god of love to his aid in the form of his ownmarvellous and incomparable beauty. Aye! and I feel that I am defeatedalready, before the battle has so much as begun. And then, all at once,a spasm of rage shot through her heart, and she turned pale. And sheexclaimed: Ah! but I am anticipated by this accursed King's daughter,who will rob me of him, nay, has already done it, by her undeniablehateful beauty, and her priority of claim, Alas! alas! O why did I notsee him first, before her abominable loveliness had made an impressionon his heart? For he is very young, and it must be, open to the spell ofbeauty, and artless, and sincere. Ha! And suddenly, she started up, asif an idea had rushed into her mind. And she stood for a moment,thinking. And then she exclaimed, with a gesture of resolution: Yes, Ialso am beautiful. Now, then, I will efface her image from his heart,and replace it by my own. Now I will assault him, by all the power of mycharms[6], and we will see whether he will be proof against the glamourof a beauty such as mine, multiplied and magnified by magic sorcery andfierce determination. Aye! I will move heaven and earth to steal hisheart from the King's daughter, and turn Patala[7] upside down, to makehim mine instead of hers. But if I fail? And again she turned deadlypale. And after a while, a bitter smile curled over her lips. And shesaid: If, if I fail; no, but I will not fail. But if I fail, then, Iwill take another way.

  [2] This method of disposing of objectionable suitors is unfortunately not available in Europe. A great swallowing capacity is a feature of the species Rakshasa. The "coming as soon as thought of" (_dhyatagata_) is the Indian equivalent of "rubbing the lamp" in the Arabian Nights.

  [3] _Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?_ Every Oriental would side with Shakspeare in this matter: love, in the East, is not love, unless it comes like a flash of lightning.

  [4] This might be either that of a woman or a snake, for the Nagas, to whom she belonged, waver between the two. The Naga, it may be well to remind the reader, is a being possessed of magic powers, especially that of _glamour_ or _blearing the eye_, which appealed so powerfully to Spenser and Sir Walter Scott.

  [5] Krishna, whose colour, it is to be noted, is blue.

  [6] In every sense of the word: _mohajalamaya_ is stronger than any English equivalent.

  [7] The Underworld, the home of the snakes.

  II.

  So as Aja stood upon the wall, looking out over the desert, suddenly allvanished from before his eyes. And he saw before him no city, and nodesert. But he found himself in a dusky wood, thick with tall_tamala_[8] trees, and lit by a light that was neither that of the sunnor that of the moon. And all around him huge red poppies waved gentlywithout a wind, mixed with great moon-lotuses, whose perfume went andcame by turns as it hung on the heavy air. An
d under the shadow of theblack leaved trees large bats flew here and there with slow andnoiseless flap, and on the branches monstrous owls with topaz eyes likewheels of flame sat motionless, as if to watch. And a dead silence likethat of space whence all three worlds have been removed left Aja nothingelse to hear but the beat of his own heart. And the hair rose up uponhis head with sheer amazement. And he said to himself: Ha! what newwonder is this, and what has become of the city wall? And where in theworld have I got to now, and how? Now let me be very wary, for thedanger is evidently coming near.

  [8] A tree with very black bark and white blossoms, dear to exotic poets, such as e.g. Jayadewa.

  And as he stood, grasping his sword, prepared, and looking quickly rightand left, suddenly he saw a thing which rivetted his gaze to it, as ifwith an iron nail.

  A little way off, among the poppies, was standing up like a lonelycolumn all that was left of one of the walls of a ruined temple, whosefallen pillars were lying scattered all around it, half concealed bycreeping leaves. And as he gazed intently at this upright fragment of afallen wall, he saw upon it the image of a sculptured woman, which stoodout so distinctly that he could not take his eyes from it. And after awhile, he said to himself: Surely that can be no stone statue, but areal woman of flesh and blood, actually leaning, who knows why, againstthat bit of a broken wall. And he looked and looked, and after a while,filled with irresistible curiosity, he went nearer, but very slowly, andas it were on his guard, to see.