The Rajpoot Marriage.
CHAPTER I.
The beautiful Jaya was on her way to join the relatives of her father, who had lately been made prisoner by the sovereign of Delhi. She was in a close hackery, accompanied by a numerous guard and several female attendants, being the daughter of Ray Ruttun Sein, Rajah of Chittore. The captivity of her father rendered her silent and thoughtful. The tear stood in her eye, and filled the cavity in which it had gathered, but fell not over the fringed boundary that confined it. She was a Rajpoot, and would not for the world have allowed the gush of sorrow to stream over her cheek in the sight of her women. It was repelled therefore at the source, but her heart was big with grief, and struck with a dull heavy throb against the walls of its beautiful prison.
Jaya was a young Rajpootni now only in her fifteenth year; but, though so young, she had attained the perfect maturity of womanhood. Her form was slight, her every muscle had its due and exquisite proportion, and the whole compact was harmonized to the perfect roundness and undulations of beauty. Her limbs were small, but exquisitely moulded; and whenever she spoke, every member appeared to exhibit a sympathetic energy, which made the gazer admire with how many modes of expression, both silent and vocal, nature had gifted this rare Hindoo. Her eyes were of the deepest black, but so soft amid their radiance, that it seemed as if they had looked upon the things of paradise, and borrowed the celestial blandness which everywhere reigns in thatregion of supernal repose. Her skin had the rich blooming brown of the ripe hazel-nut, and under it the sanguine streams circulated with a healthy freedom, that carried life in its free young impulses through ten thousand channels, over every part of her exquisite frame. The mouth appeared as if it had been kissed by the lips of a cherub, and had stolen its gentle delicate bloom, over which her breath came like an exhalation. She was beautiful and tender as the mother dove, yet inheriting all the firmness of her race, which could both endure and act when the energies requisite for endurance and action were demanded.
All with whom she came in contact loved her for her gentleness as much as they admired her for her beauty, and she was the idol of her father’s heart. Her mother died in giving her birth, and he reared her with a care proportioned to the fondness which she inspired. She had been for some time affianced to a youth of her own tribe, son of the Rajah of Moultan; between him and Jaya there existed a strong and abiding affection. Her prospects had been all blighted, for the moment at least, by the captivity of her father, who had been removed by the conqueror to Delhi. Under the impressions which her reflections upon these unhappy events caused, she was silent and absorbed. Two of her women rode in the hackery with her, but they did not presume to interrupt the sacred silence of her sorrow, which she could not conceal, though she forebore to express it. It was deep and bitter.
As the cavalcade proceeded, a violent storm came on, and there was no village or hamlet near. The covering of the hackery was very slight, and therefore afforded but an imperfect protection against such a mischance. The rain began to fall heavily, and the distant lightning to gleam, followed by the low muttering thunder which rapidly approached. A ponderous mass of vapour, of a dull slate colour, rolled heavily onward, and very soon excluded the sun, producing a gloom as deep as twilight, and investing every object with the same dusky tint. The rain at length fell in torrents, and the cloud above poured from its dark womb a stream of fire, which burst through the shower, and was reflected by the large falling drops in ten thousand vivid scintillations. At every flashthe whole region round was flooded with a blaze of ghastly light.
By this time the tremendous crashings of the thunder were awful in the extreme; and these blending with the loud hissing of the rain, produced a din which, though it was the music of the spheres, proved anything but “a concord of sweet sounds” to the ears of our travellers.
The beautiful Jaya heeded not the storm; but her women crowded more closely towards their mistress, hid their heads in their hands, and gave expression to fearful lamentations. The tempest heeded not their terrors, but raged with redoubled fury. The frail covering of the vehicle in which they rode was soon soaked through, and the rain was beginning to drip upon the heads of those within. Palampores were spread over it, which seemed for a time to keep out the intruding water; but they soon became saturated, and the rain at length forced its way so copiously into the hackery, that it was found expedient to stop and seek shelter somewhere from its pitiless fury.
It fortunately happened that not far from the spot, at the foot of a small hill, there was a cavern known to one of the escort, who conducted the party thither with some reluctance, as the place was reported to be infested by noxious reptiles of all kinds, and the resort of wild beasts and desperate bands of robbers. The party however taking courage from their numbers, proceeded to the cavern, thinking that any change of situation must be for the better, as the conflict of elements was still maintained with unabated fury.
The entrance to the cave was lofty and rugged, the sides having been broken away, and the angles splintered, as if great manual violence had been employed to disfigure what the severe labour of man had originally executed with no little attention to nicety of proportion and simplicity of effect. Dilapidated as it was, the portal was not devoid of beauty; but without staying to enjoy the pleasure of admiration, the whole party passed anxiously into the cavern. Fires were immediately kindled, and many noxious reptiles and large bats ejected, before the place was consideredsafe, even as a temporary refuge from the storm, which continued to rage with undiminished violence.
Towards evening the rain ceased, but it was then considered by the travellers too late to renew their journey, and Jaya was content to pass the night within the gloomy cave where she and her attendants had found sanctuary. The hackery was wheeled in, the bullocks unyoked, and the lovely Rajpootni entered the vehicle, round which the drapery was closely drawn, where she resigned herself to repose, her attendants lying upon rugs round a large fire which had been kindled in the centre of the cavern. The apartment was of considerable magnitude, hollowed out of the mountain, exhibiting a square area of about sixty feet on all sides, and five yards high. No light was admitted but through the door. The original purpose of the excavation was mere matter of conjecture, but it had evidently not been lately the resort of human beings. The ceiling was crowded with large bats, measuring nearly four feet from the extremities of the wings, having heads like small foxes, and bodies larger than rats. They clung to the roof of the chamber; but, scared by the flames which had been kindled underneath, frequently dropped into them, scattering the fire in every direction in their fierce struggles to escape, to the great peril of the travellers. When seized, they bit the venturous hand to the bone, and thus greatly disturbed the repose of the Rajpootni’s followers. These creatures, however, were not the most formidable disturbers of their rest.
Before they had composed themselves to sleep, a stranger entered the cave, and looking round him for a moment, suddenly made his retreat. He was a Mahomedan. His appearance gave considerable uneasiness to the Hindoos. They began to fear the proximity of a foe, and were neither in sufficient force nor properly armed to repel aggression from a superior or even from an equal number. Jaya was not aware of what had passed, but it was remarked that the stranger’s attention had been particularly directed towards the hackery. The King of Delhi’s troops were known to be in the neighbouring province, which he had lately subdued, and a surprise was seriously apprehended.
A man was sent forth as a scout, to bring word if strangers were approaching the cavern, in order that the Hindoo travellers might have timely notice, and thus secure their retreat. The man had not been absent above a few minutes when he ran breathlessly back with the alarming intelligence that a detachment of Mahomedan troops was within a hundred yards of the cave. The information was instantly given to the unhappy Rajpootni, who calmly ordered the oxen to be yoked to the vehicle into which she had retired for the night, and declared her intention of immediately resuming her journey. “Mahomedans are men,” she said, “and will not molest a woman. Let us proceed; they no doubt seek a place of refuge after the storm. We will resign this chamber to their convenience, since the Hindoos and the despisers of their gods cannot lie down together on the same floor.”
“But they are troops of the enemy, lady,” said the leader of the escort, “and will probably force us to make our beds beneath the same shelter with the profaners of our altars.”
“We are under the protection of One,” said Jaya solemnly, “to whom mortal might is as the spider’s web against the fierce rush of the tempest. If they use violence, let us trust to Pollear, the Hindoo traveller’s god, who will interpose on our behalf, and baffle their wicked designs towards those who seek his protection and pay him homage.”
The lovely Hindoo had yet to learn that there was just as much divinity in her venerated Pollear, as there was truth in the factitious oracles of the prophet of Mecca, venerated by her enemies: but with a calm affiance in the protection of a very unsightly stone image, daubed with red ochre, and often stuck up by the road-side to court the homage of half-crazy devotees, she awaited the entrance of the expected enemy. She was not kept long in suspense; for scarcely had she closed her lips after expressing her confidence in the protection of one of the ugliest gods of her tribe, than a numerous detachment of Alla-ood-Deen’s troops entered the cavern.
The officer who commanded ordered them to halt just within the entrance, seeing that the place was occupied. The fire had beennearly extinguished the moment the approach of an enemy was announced, so that there was only a very imperfect light emitted by the rapidly expiring embers of the fire which had been kindled in the centre of the cave. The officer stepped forward, and raking the still glowing ashes together, excited them into a gentle flame with his breath, lit a torch, and looking inquisitively round the gloomy chamber, said to the chief of Jaya’s escort, “Whom have we here?” pointing to the hackery in which the lovely Hindoo still sat, secluded from the profane gaze of her Mahomedan foe.
The Hindoo was silent.
“Tell me,” said the Mussulman, “whom you have here, or I shall tear down these trappings and take the liberty of looking. Are you willing to say what is your companion?”
“A woman.”
“I guessed as much, for men don’t go cooped up behind cotton or silk walls. You are so communicative that I shall trouble you with no more questions, but judge for myself.”
Saying this, he laid his hands rudely upon the curtains of the hackery, and attempted to draw them aside, when the Hindoo, angry at this violation of a woman’s sanctuary, seized him by the arm, and attempted to drag him from the spot. The enraged Mussulman instantly drew a short sword and cut him down. Jaya, hearing the stroke and the groan which succeeded it, sprang from her place of refuge, and stood before her enemy in the peerless eminence of her beauty.
“I am Jaya,” she cried, “the daughter of Ray Ruttun Sein, Rajah of Chittore, whom your sovereign holds in bondage.” The astonished Mahomedan dropped his sword.