Tara: A Mahratta Tale

by Meadows Taylor

  CHAPTER LXIV.

  Among the events which passed at Sholapoor after the arrival of theKhan, was the disposition of the prisoner Moro Trimmul. Heavily ironedand closely guarded, he had been brought from Tooljapoor on horseback,his irons loosened from one leg, and, when they were again riveted, hewas consigned to the custody of the Khan's own troop. When the fateof the Brahmun hung in a balance, and Fazil, fearing him, and knowinghis indefatigable and successful attempts in propagating the politicalinfluence of the Mahrattas, had at first urged his execution, then histransmission to Beejapoor,--there was not a dissentient voice in thesmall council; but at Sholapoor the aspect of affairs had changed:the priest and his father had sent for Moro Trimmul, and examined himin private; and the sullenness of the man had apparently broken downbefore the threats of being despatched to Beejapoor, and submitted tohis fate with the King.

  The Khan and the priest were no believers in the honesty of Mahrattas;and at the second of these examinations, the Brahmun was plied withtemptation such as was difficult to resist, and to which he yieldedwith apparent reluctance, but yielded nevertheless. To assist themin speaking with the prisoner (for though the priest spoke Mahrattaperfectly well, yet, as a language of infidels, rarely suffered it, ashe said, to defile his mouth; and if he did, subjected that organ to anexcessive purification at the hour of prayer),--a Brahmun, who belongedto the accountant's department of the state, by name Punto Gopinath,was employed by the Khan. Of this man he knew but little: but he was agood Persian scholar, as well as an intelligent official servant of thekingdom, and the Khan had no doubt of his fidelity.

  Nor, indeed, Bulwunt Rao either; who, a bad interpreter himself,had, on all occasions, been allowed to be present, as a check uponthe Brahmuns. Both had joined in trying to persuade Moro Trimmul todisclose the intentions of his master, and had always been met with thesame answer, that the Prince only desired recognition of his rights,and that when he heard for certain of the march of the force, he wouldbe sure to send ambassadors to explain what had occurred. So it hadcome to this, that if ambassadors did arrive within a few days, MoroTrimmul was to be confronted with them; otherwise, that he was to besent back to Beejapoor, to be dealt with as a traitor.

  To Bulwunt Rao, whose Mahratta mind was capable of understanding andappreciating an indirect motive of policy, the Khan's determinationseemed perfectly reasonable; and if Moro Trimmul could by any means bebrought to consent to lead the force through the defiles beyond Wye,some effect upon the Rajah's position might be obtained. If not, whowas to do it?

  To Fazil, however, the position taken up by his father was sounintelligible, and so unlike his usual straightforward mode ofproceeding, that he feared some extraneous agency was at work. It wasnot so, however: it was simply the power which strong minds exerciseover weaker; and by the Brahmun's cool contempt of death, his certaintythat Sivaji would beg for terms, and his willingness to assist if hedid,--the Khan's suspicions were overcome.

  Nor was it strange, perhaps, that after a time the Khan appeared toattach no particular culpability to Moro Trimmul's attempt to carryoff Tara. He had explained the act, by her father having tired ofher presence in the house as the jealous enemy of his sister, a newand beautiful wife, and had requested him to take her away to Wye,to devote her to one of the temples there. Some little force was,no doubt, necessary; but her father had authorized its being used,to prevent interference by her mother. What did he care about thegirl?--as a widow she was impure, and her not having performed therites of widowhood, placed her beyond the pale of respectability; yes,the Khan might make a Mahomedan of her, send her to the King, or dowhat he pleased with his slave, he had no concern for her now.

  The Khan thought this state of the case on the whole more probable, inall its aspects, than Tara's own story, heard through Lurlee and Zyna.It did not affect her character, which Moro Trimmul spared no words tocommend.

  So the Brahmun grew into favour; and as he did so, the flattery whichhe distributed to the Khan and the priest had its effect, in procuringhim liberty, first from his irons, and then of speech with Gopinath andother persons of his own sect, who came to converse with one so wellknown by reputation. The position of all parties continued thus till afew days after the force had left Sholapoor; when, one morning, as theKhan reached the halting-place for the day, the arrival of envoys fromthe Rajah Sivaji was announced in camp, and without delay they weresummoned to the Khan's presence.

  We need not follow the negotiations which ensued; we have only to dowith those who took part in them. Most of us know, too, what Easternnegotiations are, when weakness is covered by temporizing expedientsof falsehood or treachery. So it has been from the first, so it willbe to the end. Moro Trimmul had well guessed what his master's policywould be when he laid his fate upon the result; and when he heardfrom Bulwunt Rao that the envoys had proffered submission, and beggedof Afzool Khan to advance and partake of the Rajah's hospitality atPertabgurh, where the affairs pending in dispute could be amicablydiscussed, he was satisfied--he could understand what was to come.

  His own liberation soon followed. Of what use was it confining anirresponsible agent, when real ambassadors had voluntarily met theKhan, and declared their master's intention to throw himself on theroyal clemency? So Moro Trimmul was set free.

  His first act was to seek Gunga. So long as he had been kept within thefort at Sholapoor he had heard nothing of her; but the day the forcemarched, he had seen her, attended by two stout footmen with sword andbuckler, riding among the camp followers, as the division of horsemen,under whose charge he was placed, rapidly passed a crowd of themstraggling onwards. She had not observed him, he thought, for she madeno sign of recognition. It had been otherwise, however; and we mustretrace a little this girl's proceedings, in order to comprehend herpresent position.

  Under that strange fascination which often impels women to enduremore from men who ill-use them than from those who caress them, shehad been unable to remain at Tooljapoor, and after a brief struggleshe had yielded to her destiny. When the Khan discharged her, and thetemporary insensibility of Lukshmun had procured her the gold zone,which was valuable, the hard, mercenary nature which had grown out ofher vocation, rose as a wall between her and Moro Trimmul, and yet butfor a moment.

  It said to her, "You have got all you can from this man, his fate isevil; you have had many escapes from him, and this is the last. Go!leave him, you could not save his life if you would; the Mussulmanshate him, and will destroy him, or imprison him for life. Enough thatyou have escaped; go, and be thankful." This was what she thought,as she picked up the zone when it rolled away, fastened it round herwaist, and walked out of the room. Where was she to go? She dared notvisit the temple. Dead bodies were still lying there, and there wasblood about the streets. She went to Anunda's house, and looked intoall the courts. She saw the dead negro lying among the flowers, and,horrified at the sight, she started back; and just as some men openeda door and tried to intercept her, she fled away in terror. She darednot trust herself in the quiet parts of the town nor in the camp; forthere were many who would have thought little of a stab with a dagger,or open violence, to rid her of the zone and the valuable ornaments shehad about her. The bazar, however, was safe, and she might meet someone she knew, and obtain protection.

  There were many. Among them Janoo the Ramoosee, now very tipsy, yetable to recognize her. He knew she was no friend of Anunda's or Tara's,and to her he told the same story as he had done to Fazil. "Dead, alldead!" he cried, as he staggered away--"dishonoured and murdered by thenegroes; and they are buried in the hole beyond the well, without thegate. Go and see--go and see."

  She went up through the gate idly, and sat down beside the great well.She dared not go beyond it. A large peepul tree hung over it, and anumber of Hindu soldiers were cooking under its shade. She asked fora few hot cakes, and they gave them, and she ate them there. Thenshe wandered into the fields and gardens beyond, and so round to thePap-nas temple, and sat down on the ledge of rock above the littlestream
, which thence leapt plashing down the precipice, looking overthe broad plain, over which the light shadows of fleecy clouds werechasing each other.

  Her eyes filled with tears, for there came back to her, hard anddepraved as she was, many tender memories of the man whom she had lovedpassionately;--feared, hated with bitter jealousy, and again loved withthat perversity which is part of the fiercest jealousy, and distortsevery semblance of truth to serve its own purpose. The scene of Tara'sinauguration came back to her memory, and her beauty. "It was nothis fault, Mother," she cried out aloud; "it was thine, to send thatlotos-faced girl to bewitch him, else he had been true to me, and thouart rightly served for it. He said thou wast a fiend, and feared theenot; nor do I."

  Yes, Tara was gone; would the Mussulman boy, so grand, so beautiful,ever give up so lovely a captive? Surely not. "Let him have her," shesaid: "she will go away, far, far from me and him, and it is well. Yes,it is well, and what have I to do but follow and watch,--follow andwatch?"

  Then she rose, remembering her store of money in a pot under thefireplace, in a cloister of the temple, where she had lived. Herclothes, her property, would be gone; what matter, if that were safe?

  So she rose up and ran lightly along the plain, back to the gate,avoiding the new graves; then passed down the bazar and into the templecourt. All the dead had been removed. The scavengers were washing thecourt, which she crossed rapidly. As she expected, her room had beenplundered, all her clothes were gone, but the fireplace had not beendisturbed. She closed the door carefully, then sat down for a whilewith a beating heart, to see whether she were followed or not; no onecame,--no one had cared to stop her, though she had been seen. Witha small iron bar which lay in a corner, she hastily dug up the clayplastering of the hearth, and took out the brass vessel she had hiddenthere, which contained her savings; there were upwards of a hundredrupees in it--wealth to her.

  Tying these coins carefully into her waist-band, she again went outinto the court, and proceeded to the temple. "Do not go there," cried aman sweeping; "it is not washed." But she went on.

  It was not washed, and was ghastly with dried and clotted blood. Shelooked into the shrine, to see what had become of the image, venerated,feared, and yet even detested. It lay there as it had fallen. No onehad yet dared to touch it, and the wicked eyes still glistened andsparkled in the light of the lamp which had been placed beside it."Aha!" cried the girl exultingly; "lie there, liar and murdering devil,as he called thee. He did not fear thee, nor do I. Lie there, till theypick thee up; or why dost thou not rise thyself? Up, Mother, up! shallI help thee?" she cried mockingly, as she seized the stone hand; butshe dropped it as instantly--it was wet and cold.

  As she did so, she fancied the eyes turned spitefully towards her, anda horrible superstitious terror came into her heart when she lookedat her hand and saw it was covered with blood. Then she shrieked andfled shuddering, out of the front entrance to the vestibule, acrossthe court, up the steps, staying only for a moment to wash hurriedlyin the sacred cistern. Thus she went into the bazar, and sought out acarrier who she knew possessed a strong pony, who agreed to take her toSholapoor; and, purchasing a heavy, coarse cotton sheet, she wrappedherself in it, and, mingling with the crowd of camp-followers, rodeafter the force to Sholapoor.

  For many days she could get no speech of Moro Trimmul. She had seen himtaken to rivulets and wells to bathe, and he had also seen her; butthough she daily tried, on one pretence or other, to get near him, shewas repulsed. It was enough, however, that she knew where he was.

  It was not long after his release ere he discovered her. She did notimportune him, and he could hardly resist the devotion which hadprompted her to abandon what had been her home and follow his fortunes.He trusted also to induce her, gradually, again to further his designsagainst Tara, which, now that her parents, and, as he believed, alsohis own sister, were all dead, appeared more probable of success thanbefore.

  If ever this selfish man had felt a pang of real grief in his life, itwas when he had heard of his sister's death. Poor Radha! whom he hadsettled at last so well, when any provision for her had become next tohopeless--Radha, who, with all her faults, was part of his own ruggednature, polished and set in a more beautiful frame. It was impossiblenot to grieve for her. This was the first impression; afterwards thereensued an element of rejoicing in it, which daily grew stronger. Thathe was free--free to act: free from the keen perception and daringopposition of his sister, which, ever protecting Tara as with a shield,had only yielded to violence at the last.

  Now Tara was within his reach, and, comparatively speaking, in a fargreater measure than before. He knew her to be safe in the family withwhom she had obtained protection. Their own high honour and strictrespectability were guarantee for this. Knowing her helplessness, MoroTrimmul had but one source of alarm or apprehension: she might allowherself to be converted to the Mahomedan faith, or it might be donewithout her consent. Then, indeed, there would be no hope.

  But, on the other hand, was she not a Brahmun--wonderfully learnedfor a woman, proud of this learning, and, above all, a self-professeddevotee of the goddess?

  "No," he thought, "they may attempt conversion, probably will do so,but she will resist it: and yet she should not be too long exposed toa double temptation." Now, therefore, as before, he discussed planswith Gunga as to what means could be employed to separate Tara fromher new protectors, and carry her away into the wilds of his nativeprovince, where she could be effectually concealed; and his pursuit ofthe girl grew once more into a fierce and morbid passion, absorbing anddeadening all other feelings of his life.