Vikram and the Vampire
Here the Vampire whispered for a time and in a low tone, lest some listening goblin might carry his words if spoken out loud to the ears of the devotee Shanta-Shil.
At the end of the monologue a rustling sound was heard. It proceeded from the Baital, who was disengaging himself from the dead body in the bundle, and the burden became sensibly lighter upon the monarch’s back.
The departing Baital, however, did not forget to bid farewell to the warrior king and his son. He complimented the former for the last time, in his own way, upon the royal humility and the prodigious self-mortification which he had displayed – qualities, he remarked, which never failed to ensure the proprietor’s success in all the worlds.
Raja Vikram stepped out joyfully, and soon reached the burning-ground. There he found the Jogi, dressed in his usual habit, a deerskin thrown over his back, and twisted reeds instead of a garment hanging round his loins. The hair had fallen from his limbs and his skin was bleached ghastly white by exposure to the elements. A fire seemed to proceed from his mouth, and the matted locks dropping from his head to the ground were changed by the rays of the sun, to the colour of gold or saffron. He had the beard of a goat and the ornaments of a king; his shoulders were high and his arms long, reaching to his knees: his nails grew to such a length as to curl round the ends of his fingers, and his feet resembled those of a tiger. He was drumming upon a skull, and incessantly exclaiming, ‘Ho, Kali! ho, Durga! ho, Devi!’
As before, strange beings were holding their carnival in the Jogi’s presence. Monstrous Asuras, giant goblins, stood grimly gazing upon the scene with fixed eyes and motionless features. Rakshasas and messengers of Yama, fierce and hideous, assumed at pleasure the shapes of foul and ferocious beasts. Nagas and Bhutas, partly human and partly bestial, disported themselves in throngs about the upper air, and were dimly seen in the faint light of the dawn. Mighty Daityas, Bramha-daityas, and Pretas, the size of a man’s thumb, or dried up like leaves, and Pisachas of terrible power guarded the place. There were enormous goats, vivified by the spirits of those who had slain Brahmans; things with the bodies of men and the faces of horses, camels, and monkeys; hideous worms containing the souls of those priests who had drunk spirituous liquors; men with one leg and one ear, and mischievous blood-sucking demons, who in life had stolen church property. There were vultures, wretches that had violated the beds of their spiritual fathers, restless ghosts that had loved low-caste women, shades for whom funeral rites had not been performed, and who could not cross the dread Vaitarani stream,188 and vital souls fresh from the horrors of Tamisra, or utter darkness, and the Usipatra Vana, or the sword-leaved forest. Pale spirits, Alayas, Gumas, Baitals, and Yakshas,189 beings of a base and vulgar order, glided over the ground, amongst corpses and skeletons animated by female fiends, Dakinis, Yoginis, Hakinis, and Shankinis, which were dancing in frightful revelry. The air was filled with supernatural sights and sounds, cries of owls and jackals, cats and crows, dogs, asses, and vultures, high above which rose the clashing of the bones with which the Jogi sat drumming upon the skull before him, and tending a huge cauldron of oil whose smoke was of blue fire. But as he raised his long lank arm, silver-white with ashes, the demons fled, and a momentary silence succeeded to their uproar. The tigers ceased to roar and the elephants to scream; the bears raised their snouts from their foul banquets, and the wolves dropped from their jaws the remnants of human flesh. And when they disappeared, the hooting of the owl, and ghastly ‘ha! ha!’ of the curlew, and the howling of the jackal died away in the far distance, leaving a silence still more oppressive.
As Raja Vikram entered the burning-ground, the hollow sound of solitude alone met his ear. Sadly wailed the wet autumnal blast. The tall gaunt trees groaned aloud, and bowed and trembled like slaves bending before their masters. Huge purple clouds and patches and lines of glaring white mist coursed furiously across the black expanse of firmament, discharging threads and chains and lozenges and balls of white and blue, purple and pink lightning, followed by the deafening crash and roll of thunder, the dreadful roaring of the mighty wind, and the torrents of plashing rain. At times was heard in the distance the dull gurgling of the swollen river, interrupted by explosions, as slips of earth-bank fell headlong into the stream. But once more the Jogi raised his arm and all was still: nature lay breathless, as if awaiting the effect of his tremendous spells.
The warrior king drew near the terrible man, unstrung his bundle from his back, untwisted the portion which he held, threw open the cloth, and exposed to Shanta Shil’s glittering eyes the corpse, which had now recovered its proper form – that of a young child. Seeing it, the devotee was highly pleased, and thanked Vikram the Brave, extolling his courage and daring above any monarch that had yet lived. After which he repeated certain charms facing towards the south, awakened the dead body, and placed it in a sitting position. He then in its presence sacrificed to his goddess, the White One,190 all that he had ready by his side – betel leaf and flowers, sandal wood and unbroken rice, fruits, perfumes, and the flesh of man untouched by steel. Lastly, he half filled his skull with burning embers, blew upon them till they shot forth tongues of crimson light, serving as a lamp, and motioning the Raja and his son to follow him, led the way to a little fane of the Destroying Deity, erected in a dark clump of wood, outside and close to the burning-ground.
They passed through the quadrangular outer court of the temple whose piazza was hung with deep shade.191 In silence they circumambulated the small central shrine, and whenever Shanta Shil directed, Raja Vikram entered the Sabha, or vestibule, and struck three times upon the gong, which gave forth a loud and warning sound.
They then passed over the threshold, and looked into the gloomy inner depths. There stood Smashana-Kali,192 the goddess, in her most horrid form. She was a naked and very black woman, with half-severed head, partly cut and partly painted, resting on her shoulder; and her tongue lolled out from her wide yawning mouth;193 her eyes were red like those of a drunkard; and her eyebrows were of the same colour: her thick coarse hair hung like a mantle to her heels. She was robed in an elephant’s hide, dried and withered, confined at the waist with a belt composed of the hands of the giants whom she had slain in war: two dead bodies formed her earrings, and her necklace was of bleached skulls. Her four arms supported a scimitar, a noose, a trident, and a ponderous mace. She stood with one leg on the breast of her husband, Shiva, and she rested the other on his thigh. Before the idol lay the utensils of worship, namely, dishes for the offerings, lamps, jugs, incense, copper cups, conchs and gongs; and all of them smelt of blood.
As Raja Vikram and his son stood gazing upon the hideous spectacle, the devotee stooped down to place his skull-lamp upon the ground, and drew from out his ochre-coloured cloth a sharp sword which he hid behind his back.
‘Prosperity to thine and thy son’s for ever and ever, O mighty Vikram!’ exclaimed Shanta Shil, after he had muttered a prayer before the image. ‘Verily thou hast right royally redeemed thy pledge, and by the virtue of thy presence all my wishes shall presently be accomplished. Behold! the Sun is about to drive his car over the eastern hills, and our task now ends. Do thou reverence before this my deity, worshipping the earth through thy nose, and so prostrating thyself that thy eight limbs may touch the ground.194 Thus shall thy glory and splendour be great; the Eight Powers195 and the Nine Treasures shall be thine, and prosperity shall ever remain under thy roof-tree.’
Raja Vikram, hearing these words, recalled suddenly to mind all that the Vampire had whispered to him. He brought his joined hands open up to his forehead, caused his two thumbs to touch his brow several times, and replied with the greatest humility,
‘O pious person! I am a king ignorant of the way to do such obeisance. Thou art a spiritual preceptor: be pleased to teach me and I will do even as thou desirest.’
Then the Jogi, being a cunning man, fell into his own net. As he bent him down to salute the goddess, Vikram drawing his sword struck him upon the neck so violent a blow, that his head rolled from his body upon the ground. At the same moment Dharma Dhwaj, seizing his father’s arm, pulled him out of the way in time to escape being crushed by the image, which fell with the sound of thunder upon the floor of the temple.
A small thin voice in the upper air was heard to cry, ‘A man is justified in killing one who has the desire to kill him.’ Then glad shouts of triumph and victory were heard in all directions. They proceeded from the celestial choristers, the heavenly dancers, the mistresses of the gods, and the nymphs of Indra’s Paradise, who left their beds of gold and precious stones, their seats glorious as the meridian sun, their canals of crystal water, their perfumed groves, and their gardens where the wind ever blows in softest breezes, to applaud the valour and good fortune of the warrior king.
At last the brilliant god, Indra himself, with the thousand eyes, rising from the shade of the Parigat tree, the fragrance of whose flowers fills the heavens, appeared in his car drawn by yellow steeds and cleaving the thick vapours which surround the earth – whilst his attendants sounded the heavenly drums and rained a shower of blossoms and perfumes – bade the king Vikramajit the Brave ask a boon.
The Raja joined his hands and respectfully replied,
‘O mighty ruler of the lower firmament, let this my history become famous throughout the world!’
‘It is well,’ rejoined the god. ‘As long as the sun and moon endure, and the sky looks down upon the ground, so long shall this thy adventure be remembered over all the earth. Meanwhile rule thou mankind.’
Thus saying Indra retired to the delicious Amrawati.196 Vikram took up the corpses and threw them into the cauldron which Shanta Shil had been tending. At once two heroes started into life, and Vikram said to them, ‘When I call you, come!’
With these mysterious words the king, followed by his son, returned to the palace unmolested. As the Vampire had predicted, everything was prosperous to him, and he presently obtained the remarkable titles, Sakaro, or foe of the Sakas, and Sakadhipati-Vikramaditya.
And when, after a long and happy life spent in bringing the world under the shadow of one umbrella, and in ruling it free from care, the warrior king Vikram entered the gloomy realms of Yama, from whom for mortals there is no escape, he left behind him a name that endured amongst men like the odour of the flower whose memory remains long after its form has mingled with the dust.197
1
Metamorphoseon, seu de Asino Aureo, libri XI. The well known and beautiful episode is in the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth books.
2
This ceremony will be explained in a future page.
3
A common exclamation of sorrow, surprise, fear, and other emotions. It is especially used by women.
4
Quoted from View of the Hindoos, by William Ward, of Serampore (vol. i. p. 25).
5
In Sanskrit, Vétála-pancha-Vinshatí. ‘Baital’ is the modern form of ‘Vétála.’
6
In Arabic, Bidpai el Hakim.
7
Dictionnaire philosophique, sub v. ‘Apocryphes.’
8
I do not mean that rhymes were not known before the days of El Islam, but that the Arabs popularised assonance and consonance in Southern Europe.
9
‘Vikrama’ means ‘valour’ or ‘prowess.’
10
Mr. Ward of Serampore is unable to quote the names of more than nine out of the eighteen, namely: Sanskrit, Prakrit, Naga, Paisacha, Gandharba, Rakshasa, Ardhamágadi, Apa, and Guhyaka – most of them being the languages of different orders of fabulous beings. He tells us, however, that an account of these dialects may be found in the work called Pingala.
11
Translated by Sir Wm. Jones, 1789; and by Professor Williams, 1856.
12
Translated by Professor H. H. Wilson.
13
The time was propitious to savans. Whilst Vikramaditya lived, Mágha, another king, caused to be written a poem called after his name. For each verse he is said to have paid to learned men a gold piece, which amounted to a total of 5,280l.– a large sum in those days, which preceded those of Paradise Lost. About the same period, Karnáta, a third king, was famed for patronising the learned men who rose to honour at Vikram’s court. Dhavaka, a poet of nearly the same period, received from King Shriharsha the magnificent present of 10,000l. for a poem called the Ratna-Malá.
14
Lieut. Wilford supports the theory that there were eight Vikramadityas, the last of whom established the era. For further particulars, the curious reader will consult Lassen’s Anthologia, and Professor H. H. Wilson’s Essay on Vikram, (New) As. Res. ix. 117.
15
History tells us another tale. The god Indra and the King of Dhara gave the kingdom to Bhartari-hari, another son of Gandharba-Sena, by a handmaiden. For some time, the brothers lived together; but presently they quarrelled. Vikram being dismissed from court, wandered from place to place in abject poverty, and at one time hired himself as a servant to a merchant living in Guzerat. At length, Bhartari-hari, disgusted with the world on account of the infidelity of his wife, to whom he was ardently attached, became a religious devotee, and left the kingdom to its fate. In the course of his travels, Vikram came to Ujjayani, and finding it without a head, assumed the sovereignty. He reigned with great splendour, conquering by his arms Utkala, Vanga, Kuch-behar, Guzerat, Somnat, Delhi, and other places; until, in his turn, he was conquered and slain by Shalivaban.
16
The words are found, says Mr. Ward, in the Hindu History compiled by Mrityungaya.
17
These duties of kings are thus laid down in the Rajtarangini. It is evident, as Professor H. H. Wilson says, that the royal status was by no means a sinecure. But the rules are evidently the closet work of some pedantic, dogmatic Brahman, teaching kingcraft to kings. He directs his instructions, not to subordinate judges, but to the Raja as the chief magistrate, and through him to all appointed for the administration of his justice.
18
Lunus, not Luna.
19
That is to say, ‘upon an empty stomach.’
20
There are three sandhyas amongst the Hindus – morning, midday, and sunset; and all three are times for prayer.
21
The Hindu Cupid.
22
Patala, the regions beneath the earth.
23
The Hindu Triad.
24
Or Avanti, also called Padmavati. It is the first meridian of the Hindus, who found their longitude by observation of lunar eclipses, calculated for it and Lanka, or Ceylon. The clepsydra was used for taking time.
25
In the original only the husband ‘practised austere devotion.’ For the benefit of those amongst whom the ‘pious wife’ is an institution, I have extended the privilege.
26
A Moslem would say, ‘This is our fate.’ A Hindu refers at once to metempsychosis, as naturally as a modern Swedenborgian to spiritism.
27
In Europe, money buys this world, and delivers you from the pains of purgatory; amongst the Hindus, it furthermore opens the gate of heaven.
28
This part of the introduction will remind the reader of the two royal brothers and their false wives in the introduction to the Arabian Nights. The fate of Bhartari Raja, however, is historical.
29
In the original, ‘Div’ – a supernatural being, god, or demon. This part of the plot is variously told. According to some, Raja Vikram was surprised, when entering the city, to see a grand procession at the house of a potter, and a boy being carried off on an elephant, to the violent grief of his parents. The king inquired the reason of their sorrow, and was told that the wicked Div that guarded the city was in the habit of eating a citizen per diem. Whereupon the valorous Raja caused the boy to dismount; took his place; entered the palace; and, when presented as food for the demon, displayed his pugilistic powers in a way to excite the monster’s admiration.
30
In India, there is still a monastic order the pleasant duty of whose members is to enjoy themselves as much as possible. It has been much the same in Europe. ‘Représentez-vous le couvent de l’Escurial ou du Mont Cassin, où les cénobites ont toutes sortes de commodités, nécessaires, utiles, délectables, superflues, surabondantes, puisqu’ils ont les cent cinquante mille, les quatre cent mille, les cinq cent mille écus de rente; et jugez si monsieur l’abbé a de quoi laisser dormir la méridienne à ceux qui voudront.’ —Saint Augustin, de l’Ouvrage des Moines, by Le Camus, Bishop of Belley, quoted by Voltaire, Dict. phil., sub v. ‘Apocalypse.’
31
This form of matrimony was recognised by the ancient Hindus, and is frequent in books. It is a kind of Scotch wedding – ultra-Caledonian – taking place by mutual consent, without any form or ceremony. The Gandharbas are heavenly minstrels of Indra’s court, who are supposed to be witnesses.
32
The Hindu Saturnalia.
33
The powders are of wheaten flour, mixed with wild-ginger root, sappan-wood, and other ingredients. Sometimes the stuff is thrown in syringes.
34
The Persian proverb is – ‘Bala e tavilah bar sar i maimun:’ ‘The woes of the stable be on the monkey’s head!’ In some Moslem countries a hog acts prophylactic. Hence probably Mungo Park’s troublesome pig at Ludamar.
35
So the moribund father of the ‘babes in the wood’ lectures his wicked brother, their guardian:
’’To God and you I recommend
My children deare this day:
But little while, be sure, we have
Within this world to stay.’’
But to appeal to the moral sense of a goldsmith!
36
Maha (great) raja (king): common address even to those who are not royal.
37
The name means, ‘Quietistic Disposition.’
38
August. In the solar-lunar year of the Hindu the months are divided into fortnights – light and dark.
39
A flower, whose name frequently occurs in Sanskrit poetry.
40
The stars being men’s souls raised to the sky for a time proportioned to their virtuous deeds on earth.
41
A measure of length, each two miles.
42
The warm region below.
43
Hindus admire only glossy black hair; the ‘bonny brown hair’ loved by our ballads is assigned by them to low-caste men, witches, and fiends.
44
A large kind of bat; a popular and silly Anglo-Indian name. It almost justified the irate Scotchman in calling ‘prodigious lecars’ those who told him in India that foxes flew and trees were tapped for toddy.
45
The Hindus, like the European classics and other ancient peoples, reckon four ages: – The Satya Yug, or Golden Age, numbered 1,728,000 years; the second, or Treta Yug, comprised 1,296,000; the Dwapar Yug had 864,000; and the present, the Kali Yug, has shrunk to 832,000 years.
46
Especially alluding to prayer. On this point, Southey justly remarks (Preface to Curse of Kehama): ‘In the religion of the Hindoos there is one remarkable peculiarity. Prayers, penances, and sacrifices are supposed to possess an inherent and actual value, in one degree depending upon the disposition or motive of the person who performs them. They are drafts upon heaven for which the gods cannot refuse payment. The worst men, bent upon the worst designs, have in this manner obtained power which has made them formidable to the supreme deities themselves.’ Moreover, the Hindoo gods hear the prayers of those who desire the evil of others. Hence when a rich man becomes poor, his friends say, ‘See how sharp are men’s teeth!’ and, ‘He is ruined because others could not bear to see his happiness!’
47
A pond, natural or artificial; in the latter case often covering an extent of ten to twelve acres.
48
The Hindustani ‘gilahri,’ or little grey squirrel, whose twittering cry is often mistaken for a bird’s.
49
The autumn or rather the rainy season personified – a hackneyed Hindu prosopopœia.
50
Light conversation upon the subject of women is a personal offence to serious-minded Hindus.
51
Cupid in his two forms, Eros and Anteros.
52
This is true to life; in the East, women make the first advances, and men do the bégueules.
53
Raja-hans, a large grey goose, the Hindu equivalent for our swan.
54
Properly Karnatak; karna in Sanskrit means an ear.
55
Danta in Sanskrit is a tooth.
56
Padma means a foot.
57
A common Hindu phrase equivalent to our ‘I manage to get on.’
58
Meaning marriage, maternity, and so forth.
59
Yama is Pluto; ‘mother of Yama’ is generally applied to an old scold.
60
Snake-land; the infernal region.
61
A form of abuse given to Durga, who was the mother of Ganesha (Janus); the latter had an elephant’s head.
62
Unexpected pleasure, according to the Hindus, gives a bristly elevation to the down of the body.
63
The Hindus banish ‘flasks,’ et hoc genus omne, from these scenes, and perhaps they are right.
64
The Pankha, or large common fan, is a leaf of the Corypha umbraculifera, with the petiole cut to the length of about five feet, pared round the edges and painted to look pretty. It is waved by the servant standing behind a chair.
65
The fabulous mass of precious stones forming the sacred mountain of Hindu mythology.
66
‘I love my love with an “S,” because he is stupid and not psychological.’
67
Hindu mythology has also its Cerberus, Trisisa, the ‘three-headed’ hound that attends dreadful Yama (Pluto).
68
Parceque c’est la saison des amours.
69
The police magistrate, the Catual of Camoens.
70
The seat of a Hindu ascetic.
71
The Hindu scriptures.
72
The Goddess of Prosperity.
73
In the original the lover is not blamed; this would be the Hindu view of the matter; we might be tempted to think of the old injunction not to seethe a kid in the mother’s milk.
74
In the original a ‘maina’ – the Gracula religiosa.
75
As we should say, buried them.
76
A large kind of black bee, common in India.
77
The beautiful wife of the demigod Rama Chandra.
78
The Hindu Ars Amoris.
79