Chapter IV

“Thou art the father of all things, animate and inanimate; thou art
the sage instructor of the whole, worthy to be adored! There is none
like unto thee; where then, in the three worlds, is there one above
thee? Wherefore, I bow down; and, with my body prostrate upon the
ground, crave thy mercy. Lord! worthy to be adored; for thou shouldst
bear with me, even as a father with his son, a friend with his friend,
a lover with his beloved. I am well pleased with having beheld things
before never seen; yet my mind is overwhelmed with awful fear.”

BHAGVAT-GEETA.

The discovery of Send-Brare, and of the marvellous agency which enabled it to disperse secret messages throughout all parts of Hindostan, were the never-ending topics of Kanun’s admiration. She would have exposed her dress to be drenched a thousand times by the rain, her soul to be appalled by a hundred storms, rather than not to have known the exact position of the sacred fountain. Often as she had heard of it, since her arrival in Cashmere, she never could succeed in getting any body to show her where it was, and all her regrets were now converged on one point, that there lived nobody in Hindostan to whom she could despatch one of those symbols of her affection. Haply a few days might make some difference in that respect. The march to Bember would be speedily effected. Ah! there was one to whom she looked as to a star--so far beyond her reach--so bright, so fascinating always to her adoring gaze, but to whom her feelings were unknown, who, even if he knew them, would never notice them--could she dare to take this mode of disclosing to him the secret of her life? The thought was rapture--it almost brightened into hope--that ray of gladness which still remains to us of the sun of Eden.

Nourmahal also felt no slight curiosity to behold the fountain of so much power, and, as the period of its operation was limited, she crossed the drawbridge the day after the departure of Afkun, and, attended only by the Circassian, proceeded in the direction which she pointed out. When they arrived at the spot, so well remembered by Kanun, they found it perfectly dry; but the moment the sun attained its mid-day height, they perceived the sands gradually becoming moist--the whole of the bed of the lake was soon covered with water, which rose higher every moment. Pilgrims, who had performed their devotions in the ruined temple, but silently, as no part then remained of the roof of the building, crowded round the margin of the fountain as before, and cast into it their various bouquets of flowers.

Nourmahal stopped to see the waters retire, and she was surprised to observe, that, with the element disappeared, through fissures at the sides of the lake, all the bouquets of the devotees. Whatever were the thoughts by that circumstance excited in her bosom, she kept them to herself. Kanun watched the varying expression of her countenance, with an intense desire to know what was passing within the world of her mistress’s mind; but she had not the temerity even to insinuate any question on a subject, which, above all others, she knew to be sacred.

Kanun, however, when she perceived Nourmahal alone the same evening in her garden, culling a variety of flowers, from which she diligently separated every imperfect or fading leaf, and which she re-examined from time to time with a degree of anxious attention, that mantled her countenance in glowing blushes, felt scarcely at a loss to conjecture the purpose for which those letters of love’s alphabet were put together. Nor were her suspicions diminished, on receiving orders from her mistress the same evening, to direct that her favourite palfrey should be in readiness an hour before sunrise the next day, when she purposed, as she said, to pay a visit to Baba Zeinedeen.

There being so many fountains, and caves, and temples, and groves, and hills, resorted to in Cashmere, by religious men and women from all parts of the earth, it was no unusual circumstance to meet there with females alone, or in groups, with or without attendants, at all hours of the night or day, proceeding in the different directions to which they were led by their vows. The purposes which they were engaged in executing, invested them with a character of inviolability held in universal respect. No remark was, therefore, made by the guard or sentinels of the castle, when they opened the gate to the drawbridge for Nourmahal, just as the first streaks of morning were reddening the sky. Arrayed in a plain white muslin turban and veil, a pelisse of blue cloth, her under garments being of slightly figured straw-coloured silk, a Cashmere shawl carelessly thrown over her shoulders, and a bouquet of flowers held in her girdle, she passed through the gate on her padded palfrey, and reached Send-Brare in time to witness a repetition of the flowing and ebbing of the mysterious lake, after having duly performed the prescribed devotions amidst the ruins of the temple. While stooping over the fountain, just as it was beginning to diminish, her cincture, by some means, became loosened, and her bouquet falling into the water instantly disappeared. She would have given worlds to obtain it back again. Her mind had suffered during the night so much agitation, on account of that bouquet--the visions which haunted her during the few moments of slumber she had enjoyed, rendered her so irresolute, that when the moment came for taking the decisive step of committing it to the mystic well, she determined at least to postpone a step, fraught with consequences which she scarcely knew whether she ought more to hope for or to apprehend.

The accident which occurred deprived her of all further control over the symbol she had prepared. She lingered on the margin of the lake until all its waters vanished, and then, hoping that she might still find some balm in the counsels of Zeinedeen to tranquillize the conflicting storms in her heart, where her duties were all upon one side, and her affections on the other, she remounted her palfrey and directed his steps up the mountain.

The little active animal, well accustomed to climb those rugged heights, rapidly conveyed her to the hermitage. She was forthwith conducted to Zeinedeen, whom she found in the uppermost chamber of a lofty tower, surrounded by piles of books, by globes representing the earth and starry heavens, circles on which the signs of the zodiac were figured, charts, and compasses, and steel mirrors, paintings of strange insects and birds, and statues of gods, such as she had never seen before. The hermit received her with patriarchal kindness, and at once entered upon the subject which he knew to be nearest to her heart.

“You are unhappy, my daughter,” he said, “and it has not been difficult for me to divine the source from which your solicitude proceeds. I, who, as you know, have dominion over the elements, could not have once glanced over the page which your countenance discloses to my eyes, without reading in it the secret sorrow that, like a bird of ill omen, perpetually hovers over your mind, and mars all the delights your youth, and intelligence, and susceptibility, ought to strew along the path of your existence. Thus it always is--and will be with those who inhabit this globe. It is written in the stars which rule their destinies, that the moment one cherished object is attained, another is sought for as the true loadstone of felicity, to which tend all their desires. But that acquired, still new wants, real or imaginary, arise, the latter being, of all others, the most tyrannical in their exactions, the most indefinable in the duration and number of the miseries they inflict on mankind.

“It is given to me to converse much with beings of a higher order, for there are gradations of intelligence, from the mite you discern in that sunbeam, to Him in whose presence that sun would be but as the darkness of night. From those admirable masters I have learned that happiness is a gift withdrawn from this planet, in consequence of the transgressions of those by whom it was first inhabited; and that, nevertheless, the search after that lost treasure, which they never shall find again while here, is a penance which all the sons and daughters of Eve must perform to the last hour of time.

“Give up, then, my child, the vain pursuit. Be assured, that if you were to-morrow to be placed in possession of the throne of Hindostan, the next day would find you meditating on some object, dearer to your hope than even the throne of the first empire in the world. Come with me, and I shall expose to your view a scene that will teach you, if, indeed, you can yet be taught by any experience to shun the precipices towards which ambition may urge you, how futile are the dreams of felicity fostered by mankind.”

Nourmahal never felt so humbled as in the presence of this monitor, who, without asking her a question, or consulting a star, seemed to fathom, with unerring certainty, all the most hidden abysses of her soul--to whose lofty trains of meditation the thoughts that engrossed her attention seemed now so little in her own esteem.

Unlocking a door that was concealed behind a mirror, the hermit led his fair pupil by a secret staircase, to a cavern, beyond which further progress appeared to be intercepted by a wall of porphyry. Zeinedeen struck the wall with his staff, calling out at the same time, in his awful voice, the name of Chunder. The name was repeated by a thousand echoes through the hollows of the mountain, and before the lapse of many minutes Nourmahal heard chains let down, and enormous bolts drawn back, when the mural mass, separating from the roof of the cavern, was lowered with a creaking noise, until it became level with the floor. A black, swarthy figure, with shaggy hair, and bent almost to the earth by the weight of years, stood at the other side of this drawbridge, holding a lighted branch of pine-wood; by the flame, Nourmahal perceived that the bridge spanned a torrent, through which rolled an immense body of water.

“Here,” said the hermit to his trembling companion, as he led her over the bridge, “you behold the first gush of the Indus; no man has ever yet plumbed the depths from which those waters ascend. Proceed, Chunder, to the halls of the Ganges.”

Following the footsteps of their guide, Zeinedeen and Nourmahal walked on hand in hand, until they entered a gallery lined on each side with brazen figures of serpents. They then passed through a chamber, in which gigantic marble statues of the Hindoo gods were arranged, one hand of each pressed on the lips, the other pointing towards a spacious vestibule, where the light of the flambeau was no longer necessary, so resplendent was the arch of many colours, through which fell from the heavens, curled by no wind, stained by no foam, a vast sheet of water into an abyss in the bosom of the earth, whence no sound returned. The silence with which the stupendous element descended from on high, struck Nourmahal as more appalling than any thunder that had ever reached her ear. It was the fountain of the Ganges.

Chunder next led the way through a dark and horrid labyrinth, which opened upon an ample circular space, thickly spread on all sides with cinders and lava. The blue sky was visible at a great height above the tops of the surrounding mountains, while, at a short distance beneath the spot on which they stood, appeared a glassy lake. A boat, with oars in it, was hauled up on the declivity. Chunder immediately launched the little bark, into which Zeinedeen conducted his wondering companion, who scarcely hoped that she could retain her senses amidst the marvels she was permitted to witness.

When the boat was in the middle of the lake, Chunder drew in his oars, and Zeinedeen, after waiting till the circles caused on the surface of the water by the motion of the vessel had disappeared, desired Nourmahal to look down into the bosom of the calm mirror. Instead of the reflection of the gloomy scene around, which she expected to see, she beheld, as if in another world beneath her, numerous temples and towers; palaces and houses of every order; market-places filled with people and commodities of every description; bazaars and shops; streets and squares lined with shady trees; suburbs decorated with gardens in the highest state of cultivation; green hills, and vallies, and forests; rivers gleaming through them, on which were numerous boats piled with fruits, and vegetables, and flowers; and on the roads leading to the different gates of the city, and in the streets, crowds of elephants, and camels, and buffaloes, engaged in the conveyance of passengers and burthens, and all things indicating the presence of a great and luxurious capital.

“Need we do more than gaze upon this imperishable monument of the vengeance of the Supreme Being, to be convinced of the emptiness of all human hopes and calculations?” said the hermit. “Behold, there are crowds of every age and sex, whom the morning sun found occupied in all the affairs of life. That building which you see crowning the citadel, is the palace of Damuder, famed for the immense treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones, which he accumulated during his reign; and for the exquisite loveliness of the sultanas, with whom his harem was filled from all quarters of the globe. He had many valiant sons, had conquered all the foes who attempted to disturb his peaceful reign, and in those fields and vineyards surrounding the capital, you may perceive his disbanded soldiers turning their spears into ploughshares, their scymitars into pruning-hooks, and their once formidable clubs into the staffs of shepherds. Men who had grown grey in battles, you may see on the hillsides tending their flocks, or sleeping beneath the shade of their own fig-trees.

“The senate-house, a sumptuous pile of building, long frequented by orators and crowds of citizens, who hastened hither to consult for the safety of the state, or to regulate, by wise laws, the interests of the community, seems without a being in it; to such a state of order and peace had they arrived, that no further precautions were necessary in the way of legislation. Abundance prevailed every where. Orange and lemon groves teemed with their cooling fruits. Luxuries which the neighbourhood of the capital did not supply, were borne hither from all parts of Asia; spices are passing hither from Arabia; fine cloths and silks from Persia; diamonds, and emeralds, and rubies from Golconda; muslins and chintzes from Masulipatam; rice, and timber, and wheat from Bengal; and fine wool from Thibet.

“Behold the lakes and islands filled with families occupied only in pursuit of pleasure. Musical instruments are in the hands of thousands of players, surrounded by groups of dancers and singers, from whose upraised looks and joyous countenances you may easily fancy you hear the bursts of laughter that come from hearts inexperienced in care. The public arena is thronged in every part with spectators, assembled to witness the combats of elephants and lions, and of those terrible bulls who make the forests of Cabul tremble with their roar. But the temples raised in the elder days are all abandoned. So secure had the sultan become of the permanence of the felicity which he enjoyed, that he ceased to put up prayers to the gods, and the people were taught to worship Damuder alone, as if he were the fountain of all the blessings they enjoyed.

“Look on that lofty golden throne, shining with precious stones of every hue, on which the sultan is seated, in the midst of a large plain, densely crowded with his vassals kneeling before him, and holding silver censers still full of frankincense, which were prepared for a general act of adoration he had ordered. He had proclaimed a great festival to be celebrated on his birth-day. A thousand oxen were led, decorated in flowers and ribands, to that altar, where you may still count them. Near them are the priests of the new religion, which the sultan had ordained to be instituted in his own honour; and elevated on a lofty stage are a hundred musicians, with silver trumpets raised to their mouths. Upon the first signal from those trumpets being sounded, the sacrificers were to slay the oxen, the priests were to lift their hands to the throne, and the worshippers were to hold in the same direction their censers kindled at the moment, in order that the cloud of their fragrant offering, and the hymns of the priests, and the blood of the victims might in unison complete the triumph of the new faith.

“But, awful to relate, the first blast of those silver trumpets was answered by a voice of scorn from the skies, that shook the earth in its orbit. That capital then occupied a magnificent valley, called the Garden of Cashmere, above the place where we now stand. The sultan, arrayed in more than the glory of Solomon, was at the instant paralysed on his throne. The censers repelled the fires that were applied to them; the uplifted arms of the priests remained suspended in the air; the knives vanished from the clenched hands of the sacrificers; the womb of these mountains opened, and amidst lightnings and thunders, such as from the creation of the world were never seen or heard before, the whole kingdom was precipitated into the abyss where you now behold it; every thing living that it contained, struck dead by the sword of the archangel.

“For the instruction of yet distant generations, a sheet of crystal was spread over this valley, whose declivities still retain frightful traces of the convulsion, by which that occurrence was signalized. The lake that covers the crystal is the fountain-head of your favourite Jumna. When you behold that river again, forget not the terrible example of punishment, visited upon human insolence and folly, which you have witnessed at its source. I know not if it shall deter you from the ways of ambition. The appetite for power, when once excited, is insatiable as the ensanguined jaws of the tiger!

“Hindostan! Hindostan! when shalt thou be at rest? Even now the son is armed against the father,--the father against the son, and troops are marching from all parts of the empire to contend for a throne, just as certain to perish, as that sepulchred beneath these waters!

“Men, men!” repeated the hermit, rising and clasping his hands in emotion; “think you with Damuder, that there is no God? Is there a whisper to be heard on earth which denies His existence? Do you hear it on the plains, in the forest, among the mountains? Comes it from ocean booming in the tempest; from the conflicting clouds when they peal along the arches of eternal space? The breath of such a voice, passing over Cashmere, would clothe it in widows’ mourning, blighting the golden harvest, bereaving the rose of its fragrance, the lily of its raiment, the vine of its fruit, the woodland of its shade, and all that fair scenery diversified by hill and vale of its beauty and enchantment. The heart of man--would it not be palsied with horror--his brain fired with madness, if he were assured by such an unearthly mutter that there is _no_ Omnipotent? What would he have to live for--what to hope, if he be indeed the sport of a delusion--the fool of the universe? Why was he born in helplessness, condemned to labour in sorrow, endowed with desire of offspring who could but renew his misery? Why feels he pleasure in virtue, loathing in vice, if there be no parent to cherish him hereafter, no judge to distinguish between innocence and crime? No; there is no such voice on earth, or in space; or, if there be, it is a LIE, which the very outcasts from heaven would not dare to repeat; for even they believe and tremble, thoughtful of the arm that hurled them from those regions of light which they shall never see again!”

Nourmahal had no disposition to interrupt the silence that followed these words of the hermit, who leading her back by the way they came, and resigning her to the care of an attendant, resumed the studies in which he had been engaged upon her arrival. On her way down the mountain she was met by Kanun, who had been anxiously looking out for her mistress, and they both returned to the castle together.