Tara: A Mahratta Tale

by Meadows Taylor

  CHAPTER LXXXIV.

  After a while, they heard the sound of drums and cymbals, and of therude Mahratta pipes, advancing up the street, playing a wailing,mournful air, and the musicians stopped at the door of the outer court.The people within fell back, and made a lane of egress, and Tara roseand came forth from the bower. Once she prostrated herself beforeher father and mother, and those with her saw a shiver--whether ofgrief, despair, or terror, who could say--pass through her body; butshe recovered herself quickly, and as she stood on the upper step ofthe basement, she asked for flowers, and, throwing handfuls among thecrowd, descended the steps into the court.

  Then slowly on through the people, who worshipped her as she passed;and out of the court into the street, where an open litter, such aone as she had sat in when they made her a priestess of the templeat Tooljapoor, awaited her. Carried in this, as in a triumphantprocession, and with baskets full of flowers before her, she threw themamong the crowd. As she proceeded through the streets, shouts from thepeople around her, and from those on house-tops, trees, and terraces,were redoubled; many women shrieked, and most prayed aloud for theSutee. The clash of the music increased, and the march played wasone of victory; while companies of Brahmuns, bare-headed, joined theprocession, singing and chanting the hymns of death. So, on through thetown, past the holy temples, and into the river bed, where thousandsawaited her, and set up a hoarse shouting as they saw her first. Whatwas the first honour of life as a priestess, to this glory of its death?

  She reached the pile, now covered with fluttering pennons, andstreamers,--orange, white, and crimson,--and thousands of garlands,which the people had hung or thrown upon it as votive offerings sincethe morning,--and the litter was set down for her to alight. It waswith difficulty the crowd was kept back so as to form a space round thepile which would admit of her passing in procession; but it was clearedat last by the Brahmuns, and the people hung back awestruck and staringat the beauty of the victim.

  Tara looked at the pile; but there was that strange ecstasy glowingin her eyes which appeared to have rendered her unconscious of itspurport, or of all else about her. Sometimes she cast up her eyes witha strange bright smile, and nodded as if she were saying, as perhapsshe did, "I come, I come." Again she looked round her dreamily. Theroar of the people's voices, the clash of cymbals, the shrill screamsof the pipes and horns, the hoarse braying of trumpets, and thecontinuous beating of deep-toned drums, were around her, drowning thesound of words, and the bitter sobs and low shrieks of her mother andRadha at her side. Her father's spirit seemed to have risen to the needof the occasion, for he stood near her joining the solemn chant, whichblended with, and softened, the rude music.

  As she stood, the Brahmuns worshipped her, and poured libations beforeher and on her feet, touched her forehead with sacred colour, and putfresh garlands over her neck. Then the last procession was formed,in which she would walk round the pile thrice, and ascend it, as herlast act of ceremonial observance. Now, and before she had to take offher ornaments, she turned her full gaze on it, and they thought, whowere watching her, that she seemed to comprehend its purpose. A hugeplatform of logs, black with oil and grease that had been poured uponthem, strewed with camphor and frankincense, which had been scatteredlavishly by the people in their votive offerings, and smeared with redpowder. A rude step had been made for Tara to ascend by, and on thesummit some bright cloths were laid as a bed, where she might recline,upon which a small effigy of a man, rudely conceived and dressed, hadbeen placed. Her marriage-bed in the spiritual sense of the sacrifice,on which, through fire, she would be united to her husband. The wholewas garish, hideous, and cruel. Face to face with death so horrible, soimminent, the girl seemed to shiver and gasp suddenly, and sank downswooning.

  Vishnu Pundit, and another old Brahmun, raised her up. "It must notbe," they said to each other in a whisper; "she must not fail now, elseshame will come upon us."

  Moro Trimmul was near her also, and had been one to seize hermechanically as she was falling. To him the scene was like some mockingphantasy, which held him enthralled, while it urged him to action.Since he had murdered Gunga, his evil spirit had known no rest; nosleep had come to him, except in snatches more horrible than thereality of waking. Again and again he had felt the rush of the girl'swarm blood upon his hands, and the senseless body falling from his armsinto the black void of air, to be no more seen or heard of--and hadstarted up in abject fear. Day or night, it was the same;--the shortstruggle, the frantic efforts of the girl for life, his own maddenedexertions to destroy her, were being acted over and over again. Everymoment of his life was full of them; and nothing else, do what hemight, go where he would, came instead. He had eaten opium in largequantities, but it only made the reality of this hideous vision morepalpable, and exaggerated all its details. He had busied himself deeplyin the arrangements consequent upon the victory and the distribution ofplunder, but with no effect. Haunted by Gunga's murder on the one hand,by Tara's determination to die as Sutee on the other, the remonstrancesof Maloosray and other friends only irritated him the more. They hadendeavoured to restrain him from going to Wye to see her burned, butwith no result--he had broken from them, and ridden over alone thatmorning.

  Soon after he arrived, he heard that Vyas Shastree and his sister werealready there, and he had sought her, and in his former desperatemanner, threatened and persuaded in turn. It might be that, havingexperience of these threats, Radha no longer feared them, or that theposition she now occupied was so utterly hopeless as regarded Tara,that even he must see that it was useless to persecute her further.As a last resource, he had proposed to some of his own men, desperateand licentious as himself, to attack the procession, and carry Taraaway; but, hardened as they were, the sacrilege of violently abductinga Sutee, was an impossible crime against their faith, and his proposalhad been rejected.

  He was there, therefore, alone. He had bathed and performed the needfulceremonies with the other Brahmuns, and the thought that he should atleast see Tara die, came, for the time, like sweet revenge into hisheart, feeding his evil passions and sustaining them. Devils both, Taraand Gunga, witches and sorceresses. What matter if both died horribledeaths? it was the penalty of their crimes; and in such thoughts amomentary consolation was offered by the mocking fiend at his heart, tobe whirled away to the chaos of despair, in which Gunga seemed writhingin her blood, and Tara tossing her arms in the agony of the fire.

  Thus he had walked with her, almost beside her, from the house, throughthe streets, to the pile by the river-side. In the litter, surroundedby chanting priests, she was unapproachable; but, sinking to the earthhelpless before him, she seemed once more fated to be his prey.

  "Tara, Tara," he whispered quickly and sharply in her ear, as, helpingher to rise, he passed his arm under her. "Come, O beloved! savethyself, even now--even now. I can do it. Come, O beloved!"

  The words and his hot breath on her cheek roused the girl morecompletely than aught else could have done. She did not speak, but shearose, strong and defiant, and, shaking him off, pushed him away soviolently from her, that he staggered and fell backwards.

  * * * * *

  For some time past, a body of horsemen, with their faces tied up,after the fashion of Mahratta cavaliers, the housings of theirhorses weather-stained, and their arms rusty and unpolished, hadmoved about the bed of the river and the bank beyond, and as theprocession advanced to the pile, pressed on nearer to the crowd. Itmight be a hundred men or more; and the leader, who was a Mahratta,spoke cheerfully to the people who addressed him, and told them ofhis pursuit of the Mussulmans, and the raid they had done into theBeejapoor country, from which they were only now returning in time tosee the show before they went home to the fort.

  Our old friend Bulwunt Rao had become spokesman and ostensible leader;and the hunchback rode with him, and bandied words with the bystandersfreely, but in good humour. With them, too, was Fazil Khan, who joinedheartily in the rough jokes which were passing--many, at his
ownexpense of ragged clothes, rusty arms, and gaunt features: and thusthe band pressed on to the very skirts of the crowd, as if to seethe Sutee, but actually to take up the position necessary for theiradventure. During the day they had passed several bodies of Mahrattahorse, but had been taken for a similar party, and had as yet beenunchallenged; and in the crowd, their bold confident demeanour, andthe ready replies given to all questions, with the certainty among thepeople that every Moslem soldier had perished at Pertabgurh, or was aprisoner, prevented any suspicion of their real character.

  Bulwunt Rao had seen Sutee rites before. They had watched theprocession issue from the town, and he knew Tara would alight fromthe litter when she arrived at the pile. As she did so--as the litterwas carried aside, and before the procession around the pile wasformed--they had determined to ride in upon the crowd and bear heraway. They had no fear of the result; there was not a doubt among them.They knew that every horseman in the town would be present there,unarmed and on foot, and that miles would be passed by them ere pursuitcould be made. Their old hiding-place was not known, and beyond wasopen country; and if a long ride by night, what fear?--the horses werefresh and well fed.

  "Be ready, Meah," said Bulwunt Rao, in a low voice. "See, they areclearing a space around the pile for her to walk. Holy Krishna! howbeautiful she is! 'Jey Kalee! Jey Toolja Mata!'" he shouted with thecrowd. Then turning to the hunchback, he bade him go round the rear ofthe party and see they all kept together. "As one man, Lukshmun, whenthey hear our shout, let them follow."

  So they advanced nearer and nearer, and the crowd on foot, unable toresist the pressure of the horses, gave way before them. The sword ofevery man was loosened in its sheath, and a few of the rear men, whohad matchlocks with lighted matches slung over their backs, unslungthem, and held them on their saddlebows ready for use. If any one hadnoticed Fazil Khan, they would have seen him smoothing a cushion, asit were, of cloths upon the pommel of his saddle, while he wakened hishorse with an occasional touch of his leg, and kept him excited for asudden rush.

  He moved up close to Bulwunt Rao. "If I fall, dear friend, in this," hesaid, "tell them how it was, and take the men to them. Do not wait forme; let them do with me as they list."

  Bulwunt Rao smiled. "Fear not, Meah," he replied. "Ride thou in to her,and trust to us for the rest."

  Fazil's teeth were hard set, and his heart throbbed quick; but he wascalm and cool. It was no time for chance work, and there must not beany mistake now. He felt his sword was loose in the sheath, and smiledto himself. The men had orders not to strike unarmed people; but ifany resisted, there would be some revenge for Pertabgurh he thought,and, looking round, saw the rough faces of his followers in thick arraybehind him, holding in their horses as though for a race.

  They saw Tara alight. Fazil was not a stone's-throw distant, andperhaps she might see him, but she did not. He was not in her thoughtsnow; the agony of relinquishing him had passed from her in the despairof life long ago. They saw her suddenly sink down, and Vishnu Punditand Moro Trimmul stoop to raise her up.

  "Bismilla! Futteh-i-nubbee!" cried the young Khan, as, pressing hishorse's flanks, the animal bounded forward. "Bismilla, brothers, YaAlla! Ya Alla!"

  "Ya Alla! Ya Alla!" shouted the rest behind, as they too gave theirhorses the rein, and all dashed forward furiously.

  Some men with poles and sticks struck at Fazil, Bulwunt, and Lukshmun,as they came on first, but none there had arms. It was as Tara,watching the effect of her effort against Moro Trimmul, stood apart,with flashing eyes and heaving bosom--belonging for the moment to theworld she had abjured--that the hoarse shout of the horsemen fell uponher ear. She looked at them for a moment; she saw people go down beforethem, trampled, shrieking, under foot, and the weapons flashing in thesunlight. Then two men stopped for an instant--she was between them:both stooped towards her at the same moment, and one threw himself offhis horse, and lifted her to the other's saddle.

  As it was done, a man sprang at Fazil's horse's bridle, with a franticexecration, caught it, and jerked it violently. The noble beast, urgedon--for Fazil saw the danger--partly reared, but was held down by thebridle; else it had fared ill perhaps with the young man--for Tara wasnot sensible now, and he could only hold her up with difficulty--hadnot Lukshmun been nigh.

  "I never kill Brahmuns," he said through his teeth, "but thou art adevil;" and he struck at Moro Trimmul's bare neck with all his force.As the wretched man sank to the earth under the terrible wound, thehunchback sprang to his horse, clambered upon it like a cat, andflourishing his bloody sword, though he struck no one, rode by Fazil'sside onwards, unharmed.

  No one opposed them; the action was too sudden and too desperate. Thecrowd, also, was not so thick towards the river, and gave way beforethem; and, dashing through the shallow ford, the horses throwing upthe bright water in a cloud of sparkling drops, they galloped up thebank, and even then, were beyond pursuit. A few of the matchlock-men,firing their pieces over the heads of the crowd beyond, shook them indefiance, as they turned to ride after their party; and a few shots inreturn, the balls of which sang shrilly in the air over their heads,were fired after them by people in the throng with harmless effect.

  It was long ere the party drew rein, and no one spoke. Tara lay easily,supported on the cushion by Fazil's arms, and he watched anxiouslyfor signs of returning consciousness. It came at last, as he felt hercling to him, and she looked up to his face, as they crossed a smallstreamlet leisurely, with a pleading look which could not be mistaken.

  "Ah, fear not," he said; "fear not, beloved! Thou art safe now; andthat hideous pageant is far behind. Didst thou think, Tara, I wouldleave thee to die that frightful death without an effort?"

  The beauteous eyes opened again, and closed softly as the tears welledfrom them. The rapt glittering expression of religious enthusiasm hadpassed away, and left the world coming back fast into them, with allits tender interests and love, a thousandfold more powerful than before.

  That night, another pile was lighted by the river-side, and a corpse,never removed from the spot where it fell, was burned upon it; but thepile of the Sutee remained, grim and black, and the garlands of flowershad withered in the next day's sun ere it was dismantled.

  There were a thousand rumours current in the town for some days as towho could have done so bold a deed, but no one guessed the truth. HadMoro Trimmul lived, he could have told; but he had never spoken afterthe hunchback's sturdy death-blow. So the people believed that someof the starving Beejapoor cavalry, wandering about, had determined toattack the people collected for the Sutee, and plunder them of whatthey could; and that the rich ornaments which the Sutee herself hadworn attracted their attention, and they had carried her off for them.

  Some days afterwards, too, near a spot where the fugitives had restedfor a while, the remains of a young woman, so much torn by wildbeasts as to be unrecognizable, with some shreds of silken garmentsabout them, were found by the village people. It was clear that amurder had been done, and the circumstances under which Tara haddisappeared, rendered it probable that these remains were hers. Sothey were taken into Wye: and the miserable parents, believing them tobe their daughter's, had them burned by the river-side in all honourand respect, and thenceforth believed her dead. They did not leave Wyeimmediately. The excitement and fatigue had exhausted the Shastree,who required rest; and the ceremonies consequent on Tara's death,and necessary purification, occupied some days; so Vishnu Pundit'spersuasions prevailed, and they remained with him.