by Lady Morgan
CHAPTER XVII.
However a propensity to evil may be inherent in human nature, it isimpossible to conceive an idea of abstract wickedness, uninfluenced bysome powerful passion, and existing without any decided reference tosome object we wish to attain, or some obstacle we desire to vanquish.
The Pundit of Lahore had seen the Christian Missionary dragged in chainsto the dungeon of the Inquisition, and the Priestess of Cashmiredelivered up to the tyranny of a fanaticism no less dreadful in theexercise of its power than that from which she had escaped. Heconsidered himself as the remote cause of their mutual sufferings:equally incredulous as to the truth or influence of their respectivedoctrines, when opposed to the feelings of nature, he had felt a kind oftriumph in putting their boasted infallibility to the test, whichdeserted him the moment he discovered the fatal consequences which arosefrom the success of his design. Unprincipled and corrupt to a certaindegree, when a dereliction from right favoured the views of hisinterests, or established the justness of his opinions, (for the humanmind, whether it credulously bends to imposition, or boldly resists inscepticism, can never wholly relinquish the intolerance of self-love,)he was yet naturally humane and benevolent; and the moment hediscovered the fate which awaited the Missionary and his proselyte, hedetermined to use every exertion to avert it.
Free at all times of admittance to the Viceroy’s gardens, he continuedto wander incessantly beneath the wall which divided them from thegrounds of the convent. He had caught a few notes of Luxima’s vespersong, and recognized the air of an Indian hymn, sung upon certainfestivals by the priestesses of _Brahma_; he ventured therefore to scalethe wall, veiled by the obscurity of a dark night; and by means of aladder of ropes, he finally effected the escape of the Neophyte: heconveyed her to his own lodging in a retired part of the city, and gaveher up to the care of a Jewess, who lived with him, and who, thoughoutwardly professing Christianity from fear and policy, hated equallythe Christians and the Pagans; love, however, secured her fealty to herprotector, to whom she was ardently devoted; and pity secured herfidelity to the trust he had committed to her care; for the unfortunateIndian was now alike condemned by the religion of truth and thesuperstition of error--driven with shame and obloquy from the altar ofBrahma, her life had become forfeit by the laws of the Inquisition as arelapsed Christian.[16] It was from the order issued from the HolyOffice that the Pundit learned the latter circumstances. It was fromthe lips of the apostate that he learned she had forfeited cast,according to all the awful rites of Braminical excommunication. It wastherefore impossible to restore her to her own cast, and difficult topreserve her from the power of her new religion; and he found withregret and dismay, that the efforts he had made to save her, might butultimately tend to her destruction;--he now considered that his life wasinvolved in hers, and that his own preservation depended upon herconcealment. His first thought was to remove her from Goa: but thedisorder of her mind had fallen upon her constitution, and she wasseized with the _mordechi_[17]--that disease so melancholy, and sodangerous, in those burning climes, where exercise, the sole preventive,is impossible. The ill success of his endeavours hitherto, theimpossibility of gaining admittance into the interior of the Santa Casa,destroyed the hopes and checked the intentions of the Pundit, whichpointed to the liberation of the Missionary; and the mystery which hungover the fate of a man for whom all Goa was interested, no human powercould fathom. But the festival upon which the next _auto da fè_ was tobe celebrated was fast approaching; and the result of those trials, theaccused had sustained at the _messa di santo officio_, could at thatperiod only be ascertained.
The day had already passed, upon which the ministers of theInquisition, preceded by their banners, marched from the palace of theHoly Office to the _Campo Santo_, or place of execution, and there bysound of trumpet proclaimed the day and hour on which the _solemn act_of faith was to be celebrated.
That awful day at length arrived--its dawn, that beamed so fearfully tomany, was ushered in by the deep toll of the great bell of theCathedral; a multitude of persons, of every age and sex, Christians,Pagans, Jews, and Mussulmen, filled the streets, and occupied the roofs,the balconies and windows of the houses, to see the procession passthrough the principal parts of the city. The awful ceremony at lengthcommenced--the procession was led by the Dominicans, bearing beforethem a white cross; the scarlet standard of the Inquisition, on whichthe image of the founder was represented armed with a sword, preceded aband of the _familiars of the Holy Office_, dressed in black robes, thelast of whom bore a green cross, covered with black crape; six penitentsof the _San Benito_ who had escaped death, and were to be sent to thegalleys, each conducted by a familiar, bearing the standard of St.Andrew, succeeded, and were followed by the penitents of the _FuegoRevolto_, habited in grey scapulars, painted with reversed flames; thenfollowed some persons bearing the effigies of those who had died inprison, and whose bones were also borne in coffins; the victimscondemned to death appeared the last of the awful train; they werepreceded by the _Alcaid_ of the Inquisition, each accompanied on eitherside by two officers of the Holy Office, and followed by an officiatingpriest: a corps of _Halberdeens_, or guards of the Inquisition, closedthe procession. In this order it reached the church of St. Dominick,destined for the celebration of _the act of faith_. On either side ofthe great altar, which was covered with black cloth, were erected twothrones; that on the right was occupied by the Grand Inquisitor; that onthe left by the Viceroy and his court: each person having assumed theplace destined for him, two Dominicans ascended a pulpit, and readaloud, alternately, the sentences of the guilty, the nature of theircrimes, and the species of punishment to which they were condemned.While this awful ceremony took place, each unfortunate, as his sentencewas pronounced, was led to the foot of the altar by the Alcaid, where heknelt to receive it. Last of this melancholy band, appeared the_Apostolic Nuncio of India_. Hitherto no torture had forced from him aconfession of crimes of which he was guiltless; but the power of hisenemies had prevailed, and his innocence was not proof against thetestimony of his interested accusers. Summoned to approach the altar, headvanced with the dignity of a self-devoted martyr to receive hissentence; firm alike in look and motion, as though created thing “noughtvalued he or shunned,” he knew his doom to be irrevocable, and met itunappalled.
Man was now to him an atom, and earth a speck! the collective force ofhis mind was directed to _one sole_ object, but that objectwas--_eternity!_ The struggle between the mortal and immortal being wasover; passion no longer gave to his imagination the vision of itsdisappointed desires, nor love the seductive images of its frailenjoyment: the ambition of religious zeal, and the blandishments oftender emotion, no longer influenced a soul which was, in so short aspace of time, to be summoned before the tribunal of its God.
Less awed than aweful, he stood at the foot of the judgment seat of hisearthly umpire, and heard unshrinking and unmoved his accusationpublicly pronounced; but when to the sin of heresy, and breach ofmonastic vow, was added the _seduction of a Neophyte_, then _nature_ fora moment asserted her rights, and claimed the revival of her almostextinguished power--his spirit again descended to earth, his heart witha resistless impulsion opened to the influence of human feeling! to therecollection of human ties! and Luxima, even at the altar’s feet, rushedto his memory in all her loveliness, and all her affliction; innocentand persecuted, abandoned and despairing: then, the firmness of his lookand mind alike deserted him--his countenance became convulsed--his frameshook--an agonizing solicitude for the hapless cause of his deathdisputed with Heaven the last thoughts of his life--and his head droppedupon the missal on which his hand was spread according to the form ofthe ceremony:--but when closely following the enumeration of his crimes,he heard pronounced the aweful sentence of a dreadful and _an immediatedeath_, then the inspired fortitude of the martyr re-called thewandering feelings of the man, steadied the vibration of nerves, whichlove, for the last time, had taught to thrill, strengthened the weaknessof the fainting heart, and restor
ed to the troubled spirit the soothingpeace of holy resignation and religious hope.
The fate of those condemned to the flames was at last announced--theofficers of the secular tribunal came forward to seize the victims of acruel and inexorable bigotry; and the procession increased by theViceroy, and the Grand Inquisitor, with their respective courts,proceeded to the place of execution.--It was a square, one side of whichopened to the sea; the three others were composed of the houses of theSpanish grandees, before which a covered platform was erected, for the_Grand Inquisitor_ and the Viceroy; in the centre of the square, threepiles of faggots were erected, at a certain distance from each other,one of which was already slowly kindling; the air was still, andbreathed the balmy softness of an eastern evening; the sun, somethingshorn of his beams, was setting in mild glory, and threw a saffron hueon the luxuriant woods which skirt the beautiful bay of Goa--not aripple disturbed the bosom of the deep; every thing in the natural scenedeclared the beneficent intentions of the Deity, every thing in thehuman spectacle declared the perversion of man from the decrees of hisCreator. It was on such an evening as this, that the Indian Priestesswitnessed the dreadful act of her excommunication; the heavens smiledthen, as now; and man, the minister of error, was then, as now, crueland unjust,--substituting malevolence for mercy, and the horrors of afanatical superstition for the blessed peace and loving kindness of truereligion.
The secular judges had already taken their seats on the platform; theGrand Inquisitor and the Viceroy had placed themselves beneath theirrespective canopies; the persons who composed the procession were rangedaccording to their offices and orders,--all but the three unhappypersons condemned to death; they alone were led into the centre of thesquare, each accompanied by a familiar of the Inquisition, and aconfessor. The condemned consisted of two relapsed Indians, and _theApostolic Nuncio_ of _India_. The pile designed for him, wasdistinguished by a _standard_[18] on which, as was the custom in suchcases, an inscription was written, intimating, “that he was to be burntas a _convicted Heretic who refused to confess his crime_!”
The timid Indians, who, in the zeal and enthusiasm of their ownreligion, might have joyously and voluntarily sought the death, theynow met with horror, hung back, shuddering and weeping in agony anddespair, endeavouring to defer their inevitable sufferings by utteringincoherent prayers and useless supplications to the priests who attendedthem. The Christian Missionary, who it was intended should suffer first,alone walked firmly up to the pile, and while the martyr light flashedon his countenance, he read unmoved the inscription imprinted on thestandard of death; which was so soon to wave over his ashes--then,withdrawing a little on one side, he knelt at the feet of his confessor;the last appeal from earth to heaven was now made; he arose with aserene look; the officers of the bow-string advanced to lead him towardsthe pile: the silence which belongs to death, reigned on every side;thousands of persons were present; yet the melancholy breeze that swept,at intervals, over the ocean, and died away in sighs, was distinctlyheard. Nature was touched on the master-spring of emotion, and betrayedin the looks of the multitude, feelings of horror, of pity, and ofadmiration, which the bigoted vigilance of an inhuman zeal would in vainhave sought to suppress.
In this aweful interval, while the presiding officers of death werepreparing to bind their victim to the stake, a form scarcely human,darting with the velocity of lightning through the multitude, reachedthe foot of the pile, and stood before it, in a grand and aspiringattitude; the deep red flame of the slowly kindling fire shone througha transparent drapery which flowed in loose folds from the bosom of theseeming vision, and tinged with golden hues, those long dishevelledtresses, which streamed like the rays of a meteor on the air;--thusbright and aerial as it stood, it looked like a spirit sent from Heavenin the aweful moment of dissolution to cheer and to convey to theregions of the blessed, the soul which would soon arise, pure from theordeal of earthly suffering.
The sudden appearance of the singular phantom struck the imagination ofthe credulous and awed multitude with superstitious wonder.--Even theministers of death stood for a moment, suspended in the execution oftheir dreadful office. The Christians fixed their eyes upon the_cross_, which glittered on a bosom whose beauty scarcely seemed ofmortal mould, and deemed themselves the witnesses of a miracle, wroughtfor the salvation of a persecuted martyr, whose innocence was assertedby the firmness and fortitude with which he met a dreadful death.
The Hindoos gazed upon the sacred impress of _Brahma_, marked on thebrow of his consecrated offspring; and beheld the fancied _herald_ ofthe tenth _Avater_, announcing vengeance to the enemies of theirreligion. The condemned victim, still confined in the grasp of theofficers of the bow-string, with eyes starting from their sockets, sawonly the _unfortunate_ he had made--the creature he adored--hisdisciple!--his mistress!--the Pagan priestess--the ChristianNeophyte--his still lovely, though much changed Luxima. A cry of despairescaped from his bursting heart; and in the madness of the moment, heuttered aloud her name. Luxima, whose eyes and hands had been hithertoraised to Heaven, while she murmured the _Gayatra_, pronounced by theIndian women before their voluntary immolation, now looked wildly roundher, and, catching a glimpse of the Missionary’s figure, through thewaving of the flames, behind which he struggled in the hands of hisguards, she shrieked, and in a voice scarcely human, exclaimed, “Mybeloved, I come!--_Brahma_ receive and eternally unite ourspirits!”--She sprang upon the pile: the fire, which had only kindled inthat point where she stood, caught the light drapery of her robe--adreadful death assailed her--the multitude shouted in horrid frenzy--theMissionary rushed forward--no force opposed to it, could resist theenergy of madness, which nerved his powerful arm--he snatched the victimfrom a fate he sought not himself to avoid--he held her to hisheart--the flames of her robe were extinguished in his closeembrace;--he looked round him with a dignified and triumphant air--theofficers of the Inquisition, called on by their superiors, who nowdescended from the platforms, sprang forward to seize him:--for amoment, the timid multitude were _still_ as the pause of a broodingstorm.--Luxima clung round the neck of her deliverer--the Missionary,with a supernatural strength, warded off the efforts of those who wouldhave torn her from him--the hand of fanaticism, impatient for itsvictim, aimed a dagger at his heart; its point was received in the bosomof the Indian;--she shrieked,--and called upon “Brahma!”--Brahma!Brahma! was re-echoed on every side. A sudden impulse was given tofeelings long suppressed:--the timid spirits of the Hindoos rallied toan event which touched their hearts, and roused them from their lethargyof despair;--the sufferings, the oppression they had so long endured,seemed now epitomized before their eyes, in the person of theircelebrated and distinguished Prophetess--they believed it was their godwho addressed them from her lips--they rushed forward with a hideouscry, to rescue his priestess--and to avenge the long slighted cause oftheir religion, and their freedom;--they fell with fury on theChristians, they rushed upon the cowardly guards of the Inquisition, wholet fall their arms, and fled in dismay.
Their religious enthusiasm kindling their human passions, their ragebecame at once inflamed and sanctified by their superstitious zeal. Someseized the prostrate arms of the fugitives, others dealt round a rapiddestruction by fire; they scattered the blazing faggots, and, snatchingthe burning brands from the pile, they set on fire the light materialsof which the balconies, the verandahs, and platforms were composed, tillall appeared one horrid and entire conflagration. The Spanish soldiersnow came rushing down from the garrison upon the insurgents,--thenative troops, almost in the same moment, joined their compatriots--theengagement became fierce and general--a promiscuous carnage ensued--theSpaniards fought as mercenaries, with skill and coolness; the Indians asenthusiasts, for their religion and their liberty, with an uncurbedimpetuosity; the conflict was long and unequal; the Hindoos weredefeated; but the Christians purchased the victory of the day by losseswhich almost rendered their conquest a defeat.
CONCLUSION.
In the multitude who witnessed the awe
ful ceremony of the _auto da fè_,in the church of St. Dominick, stood the Pundit of Lahore; and he heardwith horror the sentence of death pronounced against the ChristianMissionary. Considering himself as the remote cause of his destruction,he was overwhelmed by compassion and remorse--aware of the ripeness ofthe Indians to a revolt, he determined on exciting them to a rescue oftheir compatriots at the place of execution; he knew them prompt toreceive every impression which came through the medium of their senses,and connected with the popular prejudices of their religion; when hebeheld them following, with sullen looks, the slow march of theprocession, to witness the execution of their countrymen, whom theyconceived by their obstinate abjuration of the Christian religion tohave been seduced from their ancient faith, his hopes strengthened, hemoved rapidly among them, exciting the pity of some, the horror ofothers, and a principle of resistance in all: but it was to anunforeseen accident that he owed the success of his hazardous efforts.
Of the disorder by which Luxima had been attacked, a slight deliriumonly remained; her health was restored, but her mind was wandering andunsettled; the most affecting species of mental derangement had seizedher imagination--the melancholy insanity of sorrow: she wept no tears,she heaved no sighs--she sat still and motionless, sometimes murmuring aBraminical hymn, sometimes a Christian prayer--sometimes talking of hergrandsire, sometimes of her lover--alternately gazing on the muntras shehad received from one, and the cross that had been given her by theother.
On the day of the _auto da fè_, she sat, as was her custom since herrecovery, behind the gauze blind of the casement of the little apartmentin which she was confined; she beheld the procession moving beneath itwith a fixed and vacant eye, until a form presented itself before her,which struck like light from heaven on her darkened mind; she beheld thefriend of her soul; love and reason returned together; intelligencerevived to the influence of affection--she felt, and thought, andacted--whatever were his fate, she resolved to share it:--she was alone,her door was not fastened, she passed it unobserved, she darted throughthe little vestibule which opened to the street; the procession hadturned into another, but the street was still crowded--so much so, thateven her singular appearance was unobserved; terrified and bewildered,she flew down an avenue that led to the sea, either because it was emptyand silent, or that her reason was again lost, and she was unconsciouswhither she went, till chance brought her into the “square ofexecution!”--she saw the smoke of the piles rising above the heads ofthe multitude--in every thing she beheld, she saw a spectacle similar tothat which the self-immolation of the Brahmin women presents:--theimages thus presented to her disordered mind, produced a naturalillusion--she believed the hour of her sacrifice and her triumph wasarrived, that she was on the point of being united in heaven to him whomshe had alone loved on earth; and when she heard her name pronounced byhis well-known voice, she rushed to the pile in all the enthusiasm oflove and of devotion. The effect produced by this singular event wassuch as, under the existing feelings of the multitude, might have beenexpected. During the whole of the tumult, the Pundit did not for amoment lose sight of the Missionary, who, still clasping Luxima in hisarms, was struggling with her through the ranks of destruction; thePundit approaching him, seized his arm, and, while all was uproar andconfusion, dragged him towards the shore, near to which a boat, drivenin by the tide, lay undulating; assisting him to enter, and to placeLuxima within it, he put the only oar it contained into his hands;driving it from the shore, he himself returned to the scene of action.
The Missionary, wounded in his right arm, with difficulty managed thelittle bark; yet he instinctively plied the oar, and put out from theland, without any particular object in the effort--his thoughts werewild, his feelings were tumultuous--he was stunned, he was bewildered bythe nature and rapidity of the events which had occurred. He saw thereceding shore covered with smoke; he saw the flames ascending toHeaven, which were to have consumed him; he heard the discharge offirearms, and the shouts of horror and destruction: but the ocean wascalm; the horizon was bathed in hues of living light, and the horrors hehad escaped, gradually faded into distance, and sunk into silence. Hesteered the boat towards the rocky peninsula which is crowned by thefortress of Alguarda; he saw the crimson flag of the Inquisition hoistedfrom its ramparts--he saw a party of soldiers descending the rocks togain a watch-tower, placed at the extremity of the peninsula, whichguards the mouth of the bay:--here, remote as was the place, there wasfor him no asylum, no safety; he changed his course, and put out againto sea--twilight was deepening the shadows of evening; his little barkwas no longer discernible from the land; he threw down the oar, heraised Luxima in his arms--her eye met his--she smiled languidly onhim--he held her to his heart, and life and death were alikeforgotten--but Luxima returned not the pressure of his embrace, she hadswooned; and as he threw back her tresses, to permit the air to visither face more freely, he perceived that they were _steeped in blood_! Henow first discovered that the poignard he had escaped, had been receivedin the bosom of the Indian: distracted, he endeavoured to bind the woundwith the scapular which had made a part of his death dress; but thoughhe thus stopped for the time the effusion of blood, he could not recallher senses. He looked round him wildly, but there was no prospect ofrelief; he seized her in his arms, and turned his eyes on the deep,resolved to seek with her eternal repose in its bosom--he approachedthe edge of the boat--“To what purpose,” he said, “do I struggle toprotract, for a few hours, a miserable existence? Death we cannotescape, whatever way we turn--its horrors we may--O God! am I thenobliged to add to the sum of my frailties and my sins the crimes ofsuicide and murder?” He gazed passionately on Luxima, and added,“Destroy thee, my beloved! while yet I feel the vital throb of thatheart which has so long beaten only for me--oh, no! The Providence whichhas hitherto miraculously preserved us, may still make us the object ofits care.”--He laid Luxima gently down in the boat, and, looking roundhim, perceived that the moon, which was now rising, threw its light on apeninsula of rocks, which projected from the main land to aconsiderable distance into the sea--it was the light of heaven thatguided him--he seized the oar, and plying it with all the strength hecould yet collect, he soon reached the rocks, and perceived a cavernthat seemed to open to receive and shelter them.
* * * * *
The Pundit of Lahore was among the few who escaped from the destructionhe had himself excited. Pursued by a Spanish soldier, he had fledtowards the shore, and, acquainted with all the windings of the rocks,their deep recesses and defiles, he had eluded the vigilance of theSpaniard, and reached a cavern, which held out a prospect of temporarysafety, till his strength should be sufficiently recruited to permit himto continue his flight towards a port, where some Bengal vessels werestationed, which might afford him concealment, and convey him to adistant part of India: as he approached the cavern, he looked round itcautiously, and by the light of the moon, with which it was illuminated,he perceived that it was already occupied--for kneeling on the earth,the _Apostolic Nuncio_ of India, supported on his bosom the dying_Priestess of Cashmire_. The Pundit rushed forward; “Fear not,” he said,“be cheered, be comforted, all may yet go well: here we are safe for thepresent, and when we are able to proceed, some Bengalese merchantmen wholie at a little port at a short distance from hence, will give usconveyance to a settlement, where the power of Spain or of theInquisition cannot reach us.”
The presence, the words of the Pundit were balm to the harassed spiritsof the Missionary; a faint hope beamed on his sinking heart, and heurged him to procure some fresh water among the rocks, the onlyrefreshment for the suffering Indian, which the desolate and savageplace afforded. The Pundit, having sought for a large shell to containthe water, flew in search of it; and the Missionary remained gazing uponLuxima, who lay motionless in his arms. The presence of the Punditsuddenly recalled to his memory the first scene of his mission; and heagain beheld in fancy the youthful priestess of mystic love, bornetriumphantly along amidst an idolizing multitude; he c
ast his eyes uponthe object that lay faint and speechless in his arms; and the brilliantvision of his memory faded away, nor left upon his imagination one traceof its former lustre or its beauty; for the image which succeeded, wassuch as the _genius_ of Despair could only pourtray in its darkest moodof gloomy creation.
In a rude and lonesome cavern, faintly lighted up by the rays of themoon, and echoing to the moaning murmurs of the ocean’s tide, lay _thatLuxima_, who once, like the delicious shade of her native region, seemedcreated only for bliss, and formed only for delight; those eyes, inwhose glance the spirit of devotion, and the enthusiasm of tenderness,mingled their brilliancy and their softness, were now dim and beamless;and that bosom, where love lay enthroned beneath the vestal’s veil, wasstained with the lifeblood which issued from its almost exhausted veins.Motionless, and breathing with difficulty, and with pain, she lay in hisarms, with no faculty but that of suffering, with no sensibility butthat of pain:--he had found her like a remote and brilliant planet,shining in lone and distant glory, illuminating, by her rays, a sphereof harmony and peace; but she had for him deserted her _orbit_, and herlight was now nearly extinguished for ever.
When the Pundit returned, he moistened her lips with water, and chafedher temples and her hands with the pungent herbs the surrounding rockssupplied; and when the vital hues of life again faintly revisited hercheek, the Missionary, as he gazed on the symptoms of returningexistence, gave himself up to feelings of suspense and anxiety, to whichdespondency was almost preferable, and pressing those lips in death,which in life he would have deemed it the risk of salvation to touch,his soul almost mingled with that pure spirit, which seemed ready toescape with every low-drawn sigh; and his heart offered up its silentprayer to Heaven, that thus they might unite, and thus seek togethermercy and forgiveness at its throne. _Luxima_ revived, raised her eyesto those which were bent in agony and fondness over her, and on her lookof suffering, and smile of sadness, beamed the ardour of a soul whosewarm, tender, and imperishable feelings were still triumphant over evenpain and death.
“Luxima!” exclaimed the Missionary, in a melancholy transport, andpressing her to a heart which a feeble hope cheered and re-animated,“_Luxima_, my beloved! wilt thou not struggle with death? wilt thou notsave me from the horror of knowing, that it is _for me thou_ diest? andthat what remains of my wretched existence, has been purchased at theexpence of thine? Oh! if _love_, which has led thee to death, can recallor attach thee to life, still live, even though thou livest _for mydestruction_.” A faint glow flushed the face of the Indian, her smilebrightened, and she clung still closer to the bosom, whose throb nowreplied to the palpitation of her own.
“Yes,” exclaimed the Missionary, answering the eloquence of her languidand tender looks, “yes, dearest, and most unfortunate, our destinies arenow inseparably united! Together we have loved, together we haveresisted, together we have erred, and together we have suffered; lostalike to the glory and the fame, which our virtues, and the conquest ofour passions, once obtained for us; alike condemned by our religions andour countries, there now remains nothing on _earth_ for us, but eachother!--Already have we met the horrors of death, without its repose;and the life for which thou hast offered the precious purchase of thineown, must _now belong alone to thee_.”
Luxima raised herself in his arms, and grasping his hands, and fixing onhim her languid eyes, she articulated in a deep and tremulous voice,“_Father!_” but, faint from bodily exhaustion and mental emotion, sheagain sunk in silence on his bosom! At the plaintive sound of thistouching and well-remembered epithet, the Missionary shuddered, and theblood froze round his sinking heart; again he heard the voice of theproselyte, as in the shades of Cashmire he had once heard it, when pure,and free from the taint of human frailty, he had addressed her only inthe spiritual language of an holy mission, and she had heard him with asoul ignorant of human passion, and opening to receive that sacredtruth, to whose cause he had proved so faithless: the religion he hadoffended, the zeal he had abandoned, the principles, the habits offeeling, and of thinking, he had relinquished, all rushed in this awfulmoment on his mind, and tore his conscience with penitence, and withremorse; he saw before his eyes the retribution of his error in thesufferings of its innocent cause; he sought to redeem what was yetredeemable of his fault, to recall to his wandering soul the duties ofthe minister of Heaven, and to put from his guilty thoughts the feelingsof the impassioned man! He sought to withdraw his attention from theperishable woman, and to direct his efforts to the salvation of theimmortal spirit; but when again he turned his eyes on the Indian, heperceived that hers were ardently fixed on the rosary of her idolatrouscreed, to which she pressed with devotion her cold and quivering lips,while the crucifix which lay on her bosom was steeped in the blood shehad shed to preserve him.
This affecting combination of images so opposite and so eloquent intheir singular but natural association, struck on his heart with a forcewhich his reason and his zeal had no power to resist:--and the wordswhich religion, awakened to its duty, sent to his lips, died away insounds inarticulate, from the mingled emotions of horror and compassion,of gratitude and love--and, wringing his hands, while cold drops hungupon his brow, he exclaimed in a tone of deep and passionate affliction,“Luxima, Luxima! are we then to be _eternally disunited_?”
Luxima replied only by a look of love, whose fond expression was thenext moment lost in the convulsive distortions of pain. Much enfeebledby the sudden pang, a faintness, which resembled the sad torpor ofdeath, hung upon her frame and features; yet her eyes were still fixedwith a gaze so motionless and ardent, on the sole object of her dyingthought, that her look seemed the last look of life and love, when bothinseparably united dissolve and expire together. “Luxima,” exclaimed theMissionary wildly, “Luxima, thou wilt not die! Thou wilt not leave mealone on earth to bear thy innocent blood upon my head, and thyinsupportable loss for ever in my heart!--to wear out life in shame anddesolation--my hope entombed with thee--my sorrows lonely andunparticipated--my misery keen and eternal!--Oh! no, fatal creature!sole cause of all I have ever known of bliss or suffering, of happinessor of despair, thou hast bound me to thee by dreadful ties; by bonds,sealed with thy blood, indissoluble and everlasting! And if thy hour iscome, mine also is arrived, for triumphing over the fate which woulddivide us; we shall _die_, as we dared _not live_--together!”
Exhausted by the force and vehemence of an emotion which had now reachedits crisis--enervated by tenderness, subdued by grief, and equallyvanquished by bodily anguish, and by the still surviving conflicts offeeling and opinion--he sunk overpowered on the earth; and Luxima, heldup by the sympathizing Pundit, seemed to acquire force from the weaknessof her unfortunate friend, and to return from the grasp of death, thatshe might restore him to life. Endeavouring to support his head in herfeeble arms, and pressing her cold cheek to his, she sought to raise andcheer his subdued spirit, by words of hope and consolation. At the soundof her plaintive voice, at the pressure of her soft cheek, the creepingblood quickened its circulation in his veins, and a faint sensation ofpleasure thrilled on his exhausted nerves; he raised his head, and fixedhis eyes on her face with one of those looks of passionate fondness,tempered by fear, and darkened by remorse, with which he had sofrequently, in happier days, contemplated that exquisite lovelinesswhich had first stolen between him and Heaven. Luxima still too wellunderstood that look, which had so often given birth to emotions, whicheven approaching death had not quite annihilated; and with renovatedstrength (the illusory herald of dissolution) she exclaimed--“Soul of mylife! the God whom thou adorest, did doubtless save thee from a dreadfuldeath, that thou mightest live for others, and still he commands thee tobear the painful burthen of existence: yet, oh! if for others thou_wilt not live_, live at least for _Luxima!_ and be thy beneficence toher nation, the redemption of those faults of which for thy sake she hasbeen guilty!--Thy brethren will not dare to take a life, which Godhimself has miraculously preserved--and when _I_ am no more, thou shaltpreach, not to the Brahm
ins only, but to the Christians, that the swordof destruction, which has been this day raised between the followers ofthy faith and of mine, may be for ever sheathed! Thou wilt appear amongthem as a spirit of peace, teaching mercy, and inspiring love; thou wiltsoothe away, by acts of tenderness, and words of kindness, the stubbornprejudice which separates the mild and patient Hindu from his species;and thou wilt check the Christian’s zeal, and bid him follow the sacredlesson of the God he serves, who, for years beyond the Christian era,has extended his merciful indulgence to the errors of the Hindu’s mind,and bounteously lavished on his native soil those wondrous blessingswhich first tempted the Christians to seek our happier regions. Butshould thy eloquence and thy example fail, tell them my story! tell themhow I have suffered, and how even thou hast failed:--thou, for whom Iforfeited my cast, my country, and my life; for ’tis too true, thatstill _more loving_ than enlightened, my ancient habits of belief clungto my mind, thou to my _heart_: still I lived thy seeming proselyte,that I might _still live thine_; and now _I die_ as Brahmin women _die_,a _Hindu_ in my feelings and my faith--dying for him I loved, andbelieving as my fathers have believed.”
Exhausted and faint, she drooped her head on her bosom--and theMissionary, stiffened with horror, his human and religious feelingsalike torn and wounded, hung over her, motionless and silent. ThePundit, dropping tears of compassion on the chilling hands he chafed,now administered some water to the parched lips of the dying Indian, onwhose brow, the light of the moon shone resplendently. Somewhat revivedby the refreshment, she turned on him her languid but grateful eyes, andslowly recognizing his person, a faint blush, like the first doubtfulcolouring of the dawn, suffused the paleness of her cheek; she continuedto gaze earnestly on him for some moments, and a few tears, the lastshe ever shed, fell from her closing eyes,--and though the springs oflife were nearly exhausted, yet her fading spirits rallied to therecollection of _home!_ of _friends!_ of _kindred!_ and of _country!_which the presence of a sympathizing compatriot thus painfully andtenderly awakened--then, after a convulsive struggle between life anddeath, whose shadows were gathering on her countenance, she said in avoice scarcely audible, and in great emotion--“I owe thee much, let meowe thee more--thou seest before thee Luxima! the Prophetess andBrachmachira of Cashmire!--and thou wast haply sent by the interpositionof Providence to receive her last words, and to be the testimony to herpeople of her innocence; and when thou shalt return to the blessedparadise of her nativity, thou wilt say--‘that having gathered _a darkspotted flower in the garden of love_, she expiates her error by theloss of her life; that her disobedience to the forms of her religion andthe laws of her country, was punished by days of suffering, and by anuntimely death; yet that her _soul_ was pure from sin, as, when clothedin transcendent brightness, she outshone, in faith, in _virtue_, allwomen of her nation!’”
This remembrance of her former glory, deepened the hues of hercomplexion, and illumined a transient ray of triumph in her almostbeamless eyes: then pausing for a moment, she fixed her glance on theimage of her tutelar god, which she still held in her hand--the idol,wearing the form of infant beauty, was symbolic of that religiousmystic love, to which she had _once_ devoted herself! she held it for amoment to her lips, and to her heart--then, presenting it to theCashmirian, she added, “Take it, and bear it back to him, from whom Ireceived it, on the day of my consecration, in the _temple ofSerinagur!_ to him! the aged grandsire whom I abandoned!--dear andvenerable!--should he still survive the loss and shame of her, his childand his disciple! should he still deign to acknowledge as _his_offspring the outcast whom he cursed--the Chancalas whom--” the wordsdied away upon her quivering lips, “Brahma!” she faintly exclaimed,“Brahma!” and, grasping the hands of the Missionary, alternatelydirected her looks to him and to Heaven; but he replied not to the lastglance of life and love. He had sunk beneath the acuteness of hisfeelings; and the Indian, believing that his spirit had fled before herown to the realms of eternal peace, and there awaited to receive her,bowed her head, and expired in the blissful illusion, with a smile oflove and a ray of religious joy shedding their mingled lustre on herslowly closing eyes.
* * * * *
* * * * *
The guards, who by order of the Inquisition were sent in pursuit of thefugitives, reached the cavern of their retreat three days after that ofthe insurrection; but here they found only a pile partly consumed, andthe ashes of such aromatic plants as the interstices of the surroundingrocks afforded, which the Hindus usually burn with the bodies of theirdeceased friends, at the funeral pyre; they continued therefore theirsearch farther along the shore; it was long, persevering and fruitless.The Apostolic Nuncio of India was _never heard of more_.
Time rolled on, and the majestic order of nature, uninterrupted in itsharmonious course, finely contrasted the rapid vicissitudes of humanevents, and the countless changes in human institutions! In the shortspace of _twenty_ years, the mighty had fallen, and the lowly wereelevated; the lash of oppression had passed alternately from the graspof the persecutor to the hand of the persecuted; the slave had seizedthe sceptre, and the tyrant had submitted to the chain. Portugal,resuming her independence, carried the standard of her triumph even tothe remote shores of the Indian ocean, and, knowing no ally but that of_compatriot unanimity_, resisted by her single and unassisted force, thecombined powers of a mighty state, the intrigues of a wily cabinet, andthe arms of a successful potentate.[19] While _Freedom_ thus unfurledher spotless banner in a remote corner of the West, she lay mangled andin chains, at the foot of victorious tyranny in the East. _Aurengzebe_had waded through carnage and destruction to the throne of India--he hadseized a sceptre stained with a brother’s blood, and wore the diadem,torn from a parent’s brow! worthy to represent the most powerful anddespotic dynasty of the earth, his genius and his fortunes resembled theregions he governed, mingling sublimity with destruction; splendour withperil;--and combining, in their mighty scale, the great extremes ofgood and evil. Led by a love of pleasure, or allured by a naturalcuriosity, he resolved on visiting the most remote and most deliciousprovince of his empire, where his ancestors had so often sought reposefrom the toils of war, and fatigue of government; and where, _twentyyears_ before, his own heroic and unfortunate nephew, Solymon Sheko, hadsought asylum and resource against his growing power and fatalinfluence. He left _Delhi_ for Cashmire, during an interval of generalprosperity and peace, and performed his expedition with all the pomp ofeastern magnificence.[20]
In the immense and motley multitude which composed his suite, there wasan European _Philosopher_, who, highly distinguished by the countenanceand protection of the emperor, had been led, by philosophical curiosityand tasteful research, to visit a country, which, more celebrated thanknown, had not yet attracted the observation of genius, or the inquiryof science. He found the natural beauty of the vale of _Cashmire_, farexceeding the description of its scenes which lived in the songs of theIndian bards, and its mineral and botanic productions curious, andworthy of the admiration and notice of the naturalist; and in a spotwhich might be deemed the region of natural phenomena, he discoveredmore than _one_ object to which a moral interest was attached. Yet to_one object only_ did the _interest of sentiment_ peculiarly belong; itwas a sparry cavern, among the hills of Serinagur, called, by the_natives_ of the valley, the “_Grotto of congelations_!”[21] Theypointed it out to strangers as a place constructed by magic, which formany years had been the residence of a recluse! a stranger, who hadappeared suddenly among them, who had been rarely seen, and more rarelyaddressed, who led a lonely and an innocent life, equally avoided andavoiding, who lived unmolested, awakening no interest, and exciting nopersecution--“he was,” they said, “a wild and melancholy man! whosereligion was unknown, but who prayed at the confluence of rivers, at therising and the setting of the sun; living on the produce of the soil, heneeded no assistance, nor sought any intercourse; and his life, thusslowly wearing away, gradually faded into death.”
>
A _goalo_, or Indian shepherd, who missed him for several mornings athis wonted place of matinal devotion, was led by curiosity or bycompassion to visit his grotto. He found him dead, at the foot of analtar which he had himself raised to the deity of his secret worship,and fixed in the attitude of one who died in the act of prayer. Besidehim lay a small urn, formed of the sparry congelations of the grotto--onopening it, it was only found to contain some ashes, a cross stainedwith blood, and the dsandum of an Indian Brahmin. On the lucid surfaceof the _urn_ were carved some characters which formed the name of“_Luxima!_”--It was the name of an _outcast_, and had long beencondemned to oblivion by the crime of its owner. The Indians shudderedwhen they pronounced it! and it was believed that the _Recluse_ wholived so long and so unknown among them, was the same, who once, and indays long passed, had seduced, from the altar of the god she served, themost celebrated of their religious women, when he had visited theirremote and lovely valley in the character of
_A Christian Missionary_.
THE END.
* * * * *
NOTICE.
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Including
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_Embellished with a characteristic representation, neatly coloured, of the Inside of an Asiatic Captain’s Tent._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The odour of this flower produces violent head-aches.
[2] Une laine, ou plutôt un poil, qu’on nomme _touz_, se prend sur les poitrines des chèvres sauvages des montagnes de Cashmire.--_Bernier._
It is of this wool the Cashmirian shawls are formed.
[3] See Kindersley’s History of the Hindu Mythology.
[4] “C’est dans le _Shasta_ que l’on trouve ’histoire de la Chute des Anges.”--_Essai sur les Mœurs des Nations. P. 2, T. 2._
[5] This singular spectacle frequently presents itself to the eye of the traveller in the hilly parts of the Carnatic, as well as in Upper India, particularly about the _Ghauts_, which are covered with the bamboo tree.
[6] One of the varieties of the _asbestos_, which when long exposed to air, dissolves into a downy matter, unassailable by common fire.
[7] _Augne-Baugauvin_, the God of Fire, and one of the eight keepers of the world.
[8] Saindovoer.
[9] The _tellertum_ is a mark which is at once an ornament and an indication of cast and religious profession.
[10] According to the _Abbé_ Guy on, there is in India a species of serpent, which even in the pursuit of its prey is to be lulled into a profound slumber by the sounds of _musical instruments_. The Indian serpent-hunters frequently make use of this artifice, that they may destroy them with greater facility.
[11] “Notwithstanding the labours of the Missionaries for upwards of two hundred years, out of perhaps one hundred millions of _Hindus_, there are not twelve thousand _Christians_, and those are almost all entirely _chancalas_, or _outcasts_.”--_Sketches of the History of the Religion, Learning, and Manners of the Hindus, p. 48._
[12] “They all wear (the Familiares de Santo Officio), as a mark of creditable distinction, a gold medal, upon which are engraven the Arms of the Inquisition.”
_Stockdale’s History of the Inquisitions._
[13] The people also dare not speak of this Inquisition, but with the utmost respect and reverence; and if by accident the slightest word should escape one, which concerned it ever so little, it would be necessary immediately to accuse and inform against one’s self. People are frequently confined to the prison for one, two, or three years, without knowing the reason, and are visited only by officers of the Inquisition, and never suffered to behold any other person.--_History of the Inquisition by Stockdale_, p. 213.
[14] An insurrection of a fatal consequence took place in _Vellore_ so late as 1806, and a mutiny at Nundydrag and Benglore, occurred about the same period: both were supposed to have originated in the religious bigotry of the natives, suddenly kindled by the supposed threatened violation of their faith from the Christian settlers.
[15] The Pagans and Moors of Goa are not subject to the Inquisition till they have been baptized. A disgusting and absurd cruelty is displayed in its treatment of those unfortunate Indians who are accused of magic and sorcery, and, as guilty of such offences, are committed to the flames.--_See Hist. of the Inquisition, p. 243._
[16] The Inquisition, which punishes with death relapsed Christians, never inflicts any capital punishment on those who have not received the rites of baptism.--_History of the Inquisition, p. 214._
[17] A species of delirious fever.
[18] “Morreo queimado por hereje convitto negativo.”
[19] Revolution of Portugal.
[20] Historical.
[21] Monsieur de Bernier laments, in his interesting account of his journey to Cashmire which he performed in the suite of Aurengzebe, that circumstances prevented him visiting the grotto of congelations, of which so many strange tales were related by the natives of the valley.
