THE VAMPIRE'S ELEVENTH STORY

VIKRAM AND THE VAMPIRE.
THE VAMPIRE'S ELEVENTH STORY.




Which Puzzles Raja Vikram.
There is a queer time coming, O Raja Vikram!--a queer time
coming (said the Vampire), a queer time coming. Elderly people
like you talk abundantly about the good old days that were, and
about the degeneracy of the days that are. I wonder what you
would say if you could but look forward a few hundred years.
Brahmans shall disgrace themselves by becoming soldiers and
being killed, and Serviles (Shudras) shall dishonour themselves by
wearing the thread of the twiceborn, and by refusing to be slaves;
in fact, society shall be all "mouth" and mixed castes.[FN#173]
The courts of justice shall be disused; the great works of peace
shall no longer be undertaken; wars shall last six weeks, and their
causes shall be clean forgotten; the useful arts and great sciences
shall die starved; there shall be no Gems of Science; there shall be
a hospital for destitute kings, those, at least, who do not lose their
heads, and no Vikrama----
A severe shaking stayed for a moment the Vampire's tongue.
He presently resumed. Briefly, building tanks feeding Brahmans;
lying when one ought to lie; suicide, the burning of widows, and
the burying of live children, shall become utterly unfashionable.
The consequence of this singular degeneracy, O mighty Vikram,
will be that strangers shall dwell beneath the roof tree in Bharat
Khanda (India), and impure barbarians shall call the land their
own. They come from a wonderful country, and I am most
surprised that they bear it. The sky which ought to be gold and
blue is there grey, a kind of dark white; the sun looks deadly pale,
and the moon as if he were dead.[FN#174] The sea, when not dirty
green, glistens with yellowish foam, and as you approach the
shore, tall ghastly cliffs, like the skeletons of giants, stand up to
receive or ready to repel. During the greater pert of the sun's
Dakhshanayan (southern declination) the country is covered with a
sort of cold white stuff which dazzles the eyes; and at such times
the air is obscured with what appears to be a shower of white
feathers or flocks of cotton. At other seasons there is a pale glare
produced by the mist clouds which spread themselves over the
lower firmament. Even the faces of the people are white; the men
are white when not painted blue; the women are whiter, and the
children are whitest: these indeed often have white hair.
"Truly," exclaimed Dharma Dhwaj, "says the proverb, 'Whoso
seeth the world telleth many a lie.'"
At present (resumed the Vampire, not heeding the interruption),
they run about naked in the woods, being merely Hindu outcastes.
Presently they will change-- the wonderful white Pariahs! They
will eat all food indifferently, domestic fowls, onions, hogs fed in
the street, donkeys, horses, hares, and (most horrible!) the flesh of
the sacred cow. They will imbibe what resembles meat of
colocynth, mixed with water, producing a curious frothy liquid,
and a fiery stuff which burns the mouth, for their milk will be
mostly chalk and pulp of brains; they will ignore the sweet juices
of fruits and sugar-cane, and as for the pure element they will
drink it, but only as medicine, They will shave their beards instead
of their heads, and stand upright when they should sit down, and
squat upon a wooden frame instead of a carpet, and appear in red
and black like the children of Yama.[FN#175] They will never
offer sacrifices to the manes of ancestors, leaving them after their
death to fry in the hottest of places. Yet will they perpetually
quarrel and fight about their faith; for their tempers are fierce, and
they would burst if they could not harm one another. Even now the
children, who amuse themselves with making puddings on the
shore, that is to say, heaping up the sand, always end their little
games with "punching," which means shutting the hand and
striking one another's heads, and it is soon found that the children
are the fathers of the men.
These wonderful white outcastes will often be ruled by female
chiefs, and it is likely that the habit of prostrating themselves
before a woman who has not the power of cutting off a single
head, may account for their unusual degeneracy and uncleanness.
They will consider no occupation so noble as running after a
jackal; they will dance for themselves, holding on to strange
women, and they will take a pride in playing upon instruments,
like young music girls.
The women, of course, relying upon the aid of the female
chieftains, will soon emancipate themselves from the rules of
modesty. They will eat with their husbands and with other men,
and yawn and sit carelessly before them showing the backs of their
heads. They will impudently quote the words, "By confinement at
home, even under affectionate and observant guardians, women
are not secure, but those are really safe who are guarded by their
own inclinations "; as the poet sang--
Woman obeys one only word, her heart.
They will not allow their husbands to have more than one wife,
and even the single wife will not be his slave when he needs her
services, busying herself in the collection of wealth, in ceremonial
purification, and feminine duty; in the preparation of daily food
and in the superintendence of household utensils. What said Rama
of Sita his wife?" If I chanced to be angry, she bore my impatience
like the patient earth without a murmur; in the hour of necessity
she cherished me as a mother does her child; in the moments of
repose she was a lover to me; in times of gladness she was to me
as a friend." And it is said, "a religious wife assists her husband in
his worship with a spirit as devout as his own. She gives her whole
mind to make him happy; she is as faithful to him as a shadow to
the body, and she esteems him, whether poor or rich, good or bad,
handsome or deformed. In his absence or his sickness she
renounces every gratification; at his death she dies with him, and
he enjoys heaven as the fruit of her virtuous deeds. Whereas if she
be guilty of many wicked actions and he should die first, he must
suffer much for the demerits of his wife."
But these women will talk aloud, and scold as the braying ass, and
make the house a scene of variance, like the snake with the
ichneumon, the owl with the crow, for they have no fear of losing
their noses or parting with their ears. They will (O my mother!)
converse with strange men and take their hands; they will receive
presents from them, and, worst of all, they will show their white
faces openly without the least sense of shame; they will ride
publicly in chariots and mount horses, whose points they pride
themselves upon knowing, and eat and drink in crowded places--
their husbands looking on the while, and perhaps even leading
them through the streets. And she will be deemed the pinnacle of
the pagoda of perfection, that most excels in wit and
shamelessness, and who can turn to water the livers of most men.
They will dance and sing instead of minding their children, and
when these grow up they will send them out of the house to shift
for themselves, and care little if they never see them
again.[FN#176] But the greatest sin of all will be this: when
widowed they will ever be on the look-out for a second husband,
and instances will be known of women fearlessly marrying three,
four, and five times.[FN#177] You would think that all this licence
satisfies them. But no! The more they have the more their weak
minds covet. The men have admitted them to an equality, they will
aim at an absolute superiority, and claim respect and homage; they
will eternally raise tempests about their rights, and if anyone
should venture to chastise them as they deserve, they would call
him a coward and run off to the judge.
The men will, I say, be as wonderful about their women as about
all other matters. The sage of Bharat Khanda guards the frail sex
strictly, knowing its frailty, and avoids teaching it to read and
write, which it will assuredly use for a bad purpose. For women
are ever subject to the god[FN#178] with the sugar-cane bow and
string of bees, and arrows tipped with heating blossoms, and to
him they will ever surrender man, dhan, tan--mind, wealth, and
body. When, by exceeding cunning, all human precautions have
been made vain, the wise man bows to Fate, and he forgets, or he
tries to forget, the past. Whereas this race of white Pariahs will
purposely lead their women into every kind of temptation, and,
when an accident occurs, they will rage at and accuse them, killing
ten thousand with a word, and cause an uproar, and talk scandal
and be scandalized, and go before the magistrate, and make all the
evil as public as possible. One would think they had in every way
done their duty to their women!
And when all this change shall have come over them, they will feel
restless and take flight, and fall like locusts upon the Aryavartta
(land of India). Starving in their own country, they will find
enough to eat here, and to carry away also. They will be
mischievous as the saw with which ornament-makers trim their
shells, and cut ascending as well as descending. To cultivate their
friendship will be like making a gap in the water, and their
partisans will ever fare worse than their foes. They will be selfish
as crows, which, though they eat every kind of flesh, will not
permit other birds to devour that of the crow.
In the beginning they will hire a shop near the mouth of mother
Ganges, and they will sell lead and bullion, fine and coarse
woollen cloths, and all the materials for intoxication. Then they
will begin to send for soldiers beyond the sea, and to enlist
warriors in Zambudwipa (India). They will from shopkeepers
become soldiers: they will beat and be beaten; they will win and
lose; but the power of their star and the enchantments of their
Queen Kompani, a daina or witch who can draw the blood out of a
man and slay him with a look, will turn everything to their good.
Presently the noise of their armies shall be as the roaring of the
sea; the dazzling of their arms shall blind the eyes like lightning;
their battle-fields shall be as the dissolution of the world; and the
slaughter-ground shall resemble a garden of plantain trees after a
storm. At length they shall spread like the march of a host of ants
over the land They will swear, "Dehar Ganga[FN#179]!" and they
hate nothing so much as being compelled to destroy an army, to
take and loot a city, or to add a rich slip of territory to their rule.
And yet they will go on killing and capturing and adding region to
region, till the Abode of Snow (Himalaya) confines them to the
north, the Sindhu-naddi (Incus) to the west, and elsewhere the sea.
Even in this, too, they will demean themselves as lords and
masters, scarcely allowing poor Samudradevta[FN#180] to rule his
own waves.
Raja Vikram was in a silent mood, otherwise he would not have
allowed such ill-omened discourse to pass uninterrupted. Then the
Baital, who in vain had often paused to give the royal carrier a
chance of asking him a curious question, continued his recital in a
dissonant and dissatisfied tone of voice.
By my feet and your head,[FN#181] O warrior king! it will fare
badly in those days for the Rajas of Hindustan, when the
red-coated men of Shaka[FN#182] shall come amongst them.
Listen to my words.
In the Vindhya Mountain there will be a city named Dharmapur,
whose king will be called Mahabul. He will be a mighty warrior,
well-skilled in the dhanur-veda (art of war)[FN#183], and will
always lead his own armies to the field. He will duly regard all the
omens, such as a storm at the beginning of the march, an
earthquake, the implements of war dropping from the hands of the
soldiery, screaming vultures passing over or walking near the
army, the clouds and the sun's rays waxing red, thunder in a clear
sky, the moon appearing small as a star, the dropping of blood
from the clouds, the falling of lightning bolts, darkness filling the
four quarters of the heavens, a corpse or a pan of water being
carried to the right of the army, the sight of a female beggar with
dishevelled hair, dressed in red, and preceding the vanguard, the
starting of the flesh over the left ribs of the commander-in-chief,
and the weeping or turning back of the horses when urged forward.
He will encourage his men to single combats, and will carefully
train them to gymnastics. Many of the wrestlers and boxers will be
so strong that they will often beat all the extremities of the
antagonist into his body, or break his back, or rend him into two
pieces. He will promise heaven to those who shall die in the front
of battle and he will have them taught certain dreadful expressions
of abuse to be interchanged with the enemy when commencing the
contest. Honours will be conferred on those who never turn their
backs in an engagement, who manifest a contempt of death, who
despise fatigue, as well as the most formidable enemies, who shall
be found invincible in every combat, and who display a courage
which increases before danger, like the glory of the sun advancing
to his meridian splendour.
But King Mahabul will be attacked by the white Pariahs, who, as
usual, will employ against him gold, fire, and steel. With gold they
will win over his best men, and persuade them openly to desert
when the army is drawn out for battle. They will use the terrible
"fire weapon,[FN#184]'' large and small tubes, which discharge
flame and smoke, and bullets as big as those hurled by the bow of
Bharata.[FN#185] And instead of using swords and shields, they
will fix daggers to the end of their tubes, and thrust with them like
lances.
Mahabul, distinguished by valour and military skill, will march out
of his city to meet the white foe. In front will be the ensigns, bells,
cows'-tails, and flags, the latter painted with the bird
Garura,[FN#186] the bull of Shiva, the Bauhinia tree, the
monkey-god Hanuman, the lion and the tiger, the fish, an
alms-dish, and seven palm-trees. Then will come the footmen
armed with fire-tubes, swords and shields, spears and daggers,
clubs, and bludgeons. They will be followed by fighting men on
horses and oxen, on camels and elephants. The musicians, the
water-carriers, and lastly the stores on carriages, will bring up the
rear.
The white outcastes will come forward in a long thin red thread,
and vomiting fire like the Jwalamukhi.[FN#187] King Mahabul
will receive them with his troops formed in a circle; another
division will be in the shape of a halfmoon; a third like a cloud,
whilst others shall represent a lion, a tiger, a carriage, a lily, a
giant, and a bull. But as the elephants will all turn round when they
feel the fire, and trample upon their own men, and as the cavalry
defiling in front of the host will openly gallop away; Mahabul,
being thus without resource, will enter his palanquin, and
accompanied by his queen and their only daughter, will escape at
night-time into the forest.
The unfortunate three will be deserted by their small party, and
live for a time on jungle food, fruits and roots; they will even be
compelled to eat game. After some days they will come in sight of
a village, which Mahabul will enter to obtain victuals. There the
wild Bhils, famous for long years, will come up, and surrounding
the party, will bid the Raja throw down his arms. Thereupon
Mahabul, skilful in aiming, twanging and wielding the bow on all
sides, so as to keep off the bolts of the enemy, will discharge his
bolts so rapidly, that one will drive forward another, and none of
the barbarians will be able to approach. But he will have failed to
bring his quiver containing an inexhaustible store of arms, some of
which, pointed with diamonds, shall have the faculty of returning
again to their case after they have done their duty. The conflict will
continue three hours, and many of the Bhils will be slain: at length
a shaft will cleave the king's skull, he will fall dead, and one of the
wild men will come up and cut off his head.
When the queen and the princess shall have seen that Mahabul fell
dead, they will return to the forest weeping and beating their
bosoms. They will thus escape the Bhils, and after journeying on
for four miles, at length they will sit down wearied, and revolve
many thoughts ir; their minds.
They are very lovely (continued the Vampire), as I see them with
the eye of clear-seeing. What beautiful hair! it hangs down like the
tail of the cow of Tartary, or like the thatch of a house; it is shining
as oil, dark as the clouds, black as blackness itself. What charming
faces! likest to water-lilies, with eyes as the stones in unripe
mangos, noses resembling the beaks of parrots, teeth like pearls set
in corals, ears like those of the redthroated vulture, and mouths
like the water of life. What excellent forms! breasts like boxes
containing essences, the unopened fruit of plantains or a couple of
crabs; loins the width of a span, like the middle of the viol; legs
like the trunk of an elephant, and feet like the yellow lotus.
And a fearful place is that jungle, a dense dark mass of thorny
shrubs, and ropy creepers, and tall canes, and tangled brake, and
gigantic gnarled trees, which groan wildly in the night wind's
embrace. But a wilder horror urges the unhappy women on; they
fear the polluting touch of the Bhils; once more they rise and
plunge deeper into its gloomy depths.
The day dawns. The white Pariahs have done their usual work,
They have cut off the hands of some, the feet and heads of others,
whilst many they have crushed into shapeless masses, or scattered
in pieces upon the ground. The field is strewed with corpses, the
river runs red, so that the dogs and jackals swim in blood; the birds
of prey sitting on the branches, drink man's life from the stream,
and enjoy the sickening smell of burnt flesh.
Such will be the scenes acted in the fair land of Bharat.
Perchance two white outcastes, father and son, who with a party of
men are scouring the forest and slaying everything, fall upon the
path which the women have taken shortly before. Their attention is
attracted by footprints leading towards a place full of tigers,
leopards, bears, wolves, and wild dogs. And they are utterly
confounded when, after inspection, they discover the sex of the
wanderers.
"How is it," shall say the father, "that the footprints of mortals are
seen in this part of the forest?"
The son shall reply, "Sir, these are the marks of women's feet: a
man's foot would not be so small."
"It is passing strange," shall rejoin the elder white Pariah, "but thou
speakest truth. Certainly such a soft and delicate foot cannot
belong to anyone but a woman."
"They have only just left the track," shall continue the son, "and
look! this is the step of a married woman. See how she treads on
the inside of her sole, because of the bending of her ankles." And
the younger white outcaste shall point to the queen's footprints.
"Come, let us search the forest for them," shall cry the father,
"what an opportunity of finding wives fortune has thrown in our
hands. But no! thou art in error," he shall continue, after examining
the track pointed out by his son, "in supposing this to be the sign
of a matron. Look at the other, it is much longer; the toes have
scarcely touched the ground, whereas the marks of the heels are
deep. Of a truth this must be the married woman." And the elder
white outcaste shall point to the footprints of the princess.
"Then," shall reply the son, who admires the shorter foot, "let us
first seek them, and when we find them, give to me her who has
the short feet, and take the other to wife thyself."
Having made this agreement they shall proceed on their way, and
presently they shall find the women lying on the earth, half dead
with fatigue and fear. Their legs and feet are scratched and torn by
brambles, their ornaments have fallen off, and their garments are in
strips. The two white outcastes find little difficulty, the first
surprise over, in persuading the unhappy women to follow them
home, and with great delight, conformably to their arrangement,
each takes up his prize on his horse and rides back to the tents. The
son takes the queen, and the father the princess.
In due time two marriages come to pass; the father, according to
agreement, espouses the long foot, and the son takes to wife the
short foot. And after the usual interval, the elder white outcaste,
who had married the daughter, rejoices at the birth of a boy, and
the younger white outcaste, who had married the mother, is
gladdened by the sight of a girl.
Now then, by my feet and your head, O warrior king Vikram,
answer me one question. What relationship will there be between
the children of the two white Pariahs?
Vikram's brow waxed black as a charcoal-burner's, when he again
heard the most irreverent oath ever proposed to mortal king. The
question presently attracted his attention, and he turned over the
Baital's words in his head, confusing the ties of filiality,
brotherhood, and relationship, and connection in general.
"Hem!" said the warrior king, at last perplexed, and remembering,
in his perplexity, that he had better hold his tongue--"ahem!"
"I think your majesty spoke? " asked the Vampire, in an inquisitive
and insinuating tone of voice.
"Hem!" ejaculated the monarch.
The Baital held his peace for a few minutes, coughing once or
twice impatiently. He suspected that the extraordinary nature of
this last tale, combined with the use of the future tense, had given
rise to a taciturnity so unexpected in the warrior king. He therefore
asked if Vikram the Brave would not like to hear another little
anecdote.
"This time the king did not even say "hem!" Having walked at an
unusually rapid pace, he distinguished at a distance the fire kindled
by the devotee, and he hurried towards it with an effort which left
him no breath wherewith to speak, even had he been so inclined.
"Since your majesty is so completely dumbfoundered by it,
perhaps this acute young prince may be able to answer my
question?" insinuated the Baital, after a few minutes of anxious
suspense.
But Dharma Dhwaj answered not a syllable.