vikram and the vampire fifth story - mocomi

8/14/2019 Vikram And The Vampire Fifth Story - Mocomi

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By

Sir Richard F. Burton

Volume - 6

THE VAMPIRE'S FIFTH STORY

Vikram and the Vampire

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Your majesty (quoth the demon, withunusual politeness), there is a countrycalled Malaya, on the western coast ofthe land of Bharat—you see that I amparticular in specifying the place—andin it was a city known as Chandrodaya,whose king was named Randhir.

This Raja, like most others of his semi-deified order, had been in youth what is

called a Sarva-rasi ; that is, he ate anddrank and listened to music, and lookedat dancers and made love much morethan he studied, reflected, prayed, orconversed with the wise. After the ageof thirty he began to reform, and hebrought such zeal to the good cause,

that in an incredibly short space of timehe came to be accounted and quoted asthe paragon of correct Rajas.

This was very praiseworthy. Many ofBrahma's viceregents on earth, be it ob-served, have loved food and drink, and

music and dancing, and the worship ofKama, to the end of their days.

Amongst his officers was Gunshankar, amagistrate of police, who, curious tosay, was as honest as he was just. Headministered equity with as much carebefore as after dinner; he took no bribeseven in the matter of advancing hisfamily; he was rather merciful than oth-

erwise to the poor, and he never pun-ished the rich ostentatiously, in order todisplay his and his law's disrespect forpersons.

Besides which, when sitting on thecarpet of justice, he did not, as some

Kotwals do, use rough or angry lan-guage to those who cannot reply; nordid he take offence when none was in-tended.

All the people of the city Chandrodaya,in the province of Malaya, on the west-

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THE THIEF WHO LAUGHED AND WE





ern coast of Bharatland, loved and es-teemed this excellent magistrate; whichdid not, however, prevent thefts beingcommitted so frequently and so regu-larly, that no one felt his propertysecure.

At last the merchants who had sufferedmost from these depredations went in abody before Gunshankar, and said to

him:

"O flower of the law! robbers have exer-cised great tyranny upon us, so greatindeed that we can no longer stay in thiscity."

Then the magistrate replied, "What hashappened, has happened. But in futureyou shall be free from annoyance. I willmake due preparation for thesethieves."

Thus saying Gunshankar called together

his various delegates, and directedthem to increase the number of theirpeople. He pointed out to them howthey should keep watch by night; be-sides which he ordered them to openregisters of all arrivals and departures,to make themselves acquainted bymeans of spies with the movements ofevery suspected person in the city, andto raise a body of paggis (trackers), who

could follow the footprints of thieveseven when they wore thieving shoes, tillthey came up with and arrested them.

And lastly, he gave the patrols fullpower, whenever they might catch arobber in the act, to slay him without

asking questions.

People in numbers began to mountguard throughout the city every night,but, notwithstanding this, robberies con-tinued to be committed.

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After a time all the merchants havingagain met together went before themagistrate, and said, "O incarnation of

justice! you have changed your officers,you have hired watchmen, and you haveestablished patrols: nevertheless thethieves have not diminished, and plun-dering is ever taking place."

Thereupon Gunshankar carried them tothe palace, and made them lay their pe-

tition at the feet of the king Randhir. That Raja, having consoled them, sentthem home, saying, "Be ye of goodcheer. I will to-night adopt a new plan,which, with the blessing of the Bhag-wan, shall free ye from further anxiety."

Observe, O Vikram, that Randhir wasone of those concerning whom the poetsang

The unwise run from one end to theother.

Not content with becoming highly re-spectable, correct, and even unim-peachable in point of character, he re-formed even his reformation, and he didmuch more than he was required to do.

When Canopus began to sparkle gaily inthe southern skies, the king arose andprepared for a night's work. He dis-guised his face by smearing it with a cer-

tain paint, by twirling his moustachiosup to his eyes, by parting his beard uponhis chin, and conducting the two endstowards his ears, and by tightly tying ahair from a horse's tail over his nose, soas quite to change its shape.

He then wrapped himself in a coarseouter garment, girt his loins, buckled onhis sword, drew his shield upon his arm,and without saying a word to thosewithin the palace, he went out into thestreets alone, and on foot.

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It was dark, and Raja Randhir walkedthrough the silent city for nearly an hourwithout meeting anyone. As, however,he passed through a back street in themerchants' quarter, he saw what ap-peared to be a homeless dog, lying atthe foot of a house-wall. He approachedit, and up leaped a human figure, whilsta loud voice cried, "Who art thou?"

Randhir replied, "I am a thief; who artthou?"

"And I also am a thief," rejoined theother, much pleased at hearing this;"come, then, and let us make together.But what art thou, a high-loper or a

lully-prigger?"

"A little more ceremony between covesin the lorst," whispered the king, speak-ing as a flash man, "were not out ofplace. But, look sharp, mind old Oliver,

or the lamb-skin man will have the pullof us, and as sure as eggs is eggs weshall be scragged as soon aslagged."Well, keep your red rag quiet,"grumbled the other, "and let us be work-ing."

Then the pair, king and thief, beganwork in right earnest. The gang seemedto swarm in the street. They were drink-

ing spirits, slaying victims, rubbing theirbodies with oil, daubing their eyes withlamp-black, and repeating incantationsto enable them to see in the darkness;others were practicing the lessons of thegod with the golden spear, and carryingout the four modes of breaching a

house:

1. Picking out burnt bricks.2.Cutting through unbaked ones whenold, when softened by recent damp, byexposure to the sun, or by saline exuda-tions.

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3. Throwing water on a mud wall; and4. Boring through one of wood. The sonsof Skanda were making breaches in theshape of lotus blossoms, the sun, thenew moon, the lake, and the water jar,and they seemed to be anointed withmagic unguents, so that no eye couldbehold, no weapon harm them

At length having filled his bag with

costly plunder, the thief said to the king,"Now, my rummy cove, we'll be off tothe flash ken, where the lads and themorts are waiting to wet their whistles."

Randhir, who as a king was perfectly fa-miliar with "thieves' Latin," took heart,

and resolved to hunt out the secrets ofthe den. On the way, his companion,perfectly satisfied with the importancewhich the new cove had attached to arat-hol and convinced that he was atrue robber, taught him the whistle, theword, and the sign peculiar to the gang,

and promised him that he should smackthe lit that night before "turning in."So saying the thief rapped twice at thecity gate, which was at once opened tohim, and preceding his accomplice ledthe way to a rock about two kos (fourmiles) distant from the walls. Before en-tering the dark forest at the foot of theeminence, the robber stood still for amoment and whistled twice through his

fingers with a shrill scream that rangthrough the silent glades.

After a few minutes the signal was an-swered by the hooting of an owl, whichthe robber acknowledged by shriekinglike a jackal. Thereupon half a dozen

armed men arose from their crouchingplaces in the grass, and one advancedtowards the new comers to receive thesign.

It was given, and they both passed on,whilst the guard sank, as it were, into

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the bowels of the earth. All these thingsRandhir carefully remarked: besideswhich he neglected not to take note ofall the distinguishable objects that layon the road, and, when he entered thewood, he scratched with his dagger allthe tree trunks within reach.

After a sharp walk the pair reached ahigh perpendicular sheet of rock, rising

abruptly from a clear space in the jungle, and profusely printed over withvermilion hands. The thief, havingwalked up to it, and made his obeisance,stooped to the ground, and removed abunch of grass. The two then raised bytheir united efforts a heavy trap door,

through which poured a stream of light,whilst a confused hubbub of voices washeard below.

"This is the ken," said the robber, pre-paring to descend a thin ladder ofbamboo, "follow me!" And he disap-

peared with his bag of valuables. The king did as he was bid, and the pairentered together a large hall, or rather acave, which presented a singular spec-tacle. It was lighted up by links fixed tothe sombre walls, which threw a smokyglare over the place, and the contrastafter the deep darkness remindedRandhir of his mother's descriptions ofPatal-puri, the infernal city. Carpets of

every kind, from the choicest tapestry tothe coarsest rug, were spread upon theground, and were strewed with bags,wallets, weapons, heaps of booty, drink-ing cups, and all the materials of de-bauchery.

Passing through this cave the thief ledRandhir into another, which was full ofthieves, preparing for the pleasures ofthe night. Some were changing gar-ments, ragged and dirtied by creepingthrough gaps in the houses: others werewashing the blood from their hands and

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feet; these combed out their long di-shevelled, dusty hair: those anointedtheir skins with perfumed cocoa-nut oil.

There were all manner of murdererspresent, a villanous collection of Kar-tikeya's and Bhawani's crew. There werestabbers with their poniards hung to lan-yards lashed round their naked waists,Dhaturiya- poisoners distinguished bythe little bag slung under the left arm,

and Phansigars wearing their fatal ker-chiefs round their necks. And Randhirhad reason to thank the good deed inthe last life that had sent him there insuch strict disguise, for amongst therobbers he found, as might be expected,a number of his own people, spies and

watchmen, guards and patrols.

The thief, whose importance of mannernow showed him to be the chief of thegang, was greeted with applause as heentered the robing room, and he badeall make salam to the new companion. A

number of questions concerning thesuccess of the night's work was quicklyput and answered: then the company,having got ready for the revel, flockedinto the first cave. There they sat downeach in his own place, and began to eatand drink and make merry.

After some hours the flaring torchesbegan to burn out, and drowsiness to

overpower the strongest heads. Most ofthe robbers rolled themselves up in therugs, and covering their heads, went tosleep. A few still sat with their backs tothe wall, nodding drowsily or leaning onone side, and too stupefied with opiumand hemp to make any exertion.

At that moment a servant woman,whom the king saw for the first time,came into the cave, and looking at himexclaimed, "O Raja! how came you withthese wicked men? Do you run away asfast as you can, or they will surely kill

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you when they awake."

"I do not know the way; in which direc-tion am I to go?" askedRandhir.

The woman then showed him the road.He threaded the confused mass of snor-ers, treading with the foot of a tiger-cat,found the ladder, raised the trap-door by

exerting all his strength, and breathedonce more the open air of heaven. Andbefore plunging into the depths of thewood he again marked the place wherethe entrance lay and carefully replacedthe bunch of grass.

Hardly had Raja Randhir returned to thepalace, and removed the traces of hisnight's occupation, when he received asecond deputation of the merchants,complaining bitterly and with the lon-gest faces about their fresh misfortunes.

"O pearl of equity!" said the men ofmoney, "but yesterday you consoled uswith the promise of some contrivance bythe blessing of which our houses andcoffers would be safe from theft;whereas our goods have never yet suf-fered so severely as during the lasttwelve hours."

Again Randhir dismissed them, swear-

ing that this time he would either die ordestroy the wretches who had beenguilty of such violence.

Then having mentally prepared his mea-sures, the Raja warned a company of ar-chers to hold themselves in readiness

for secret service, and as each one of hisown people returned from the robbers'cave he had him privily arrested and putto death—because the deceased, it issaid, do not, like Baitals, tell tales. Aboutnightfall, when he thought that thethieves, having finished their work of

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plunder, would meet together as usualfor wassail and debauchery, he armedhimself, marched out his men, and ledthem to the rock in the jungle.

But the robbers, aroused by the disap-pearance of the new companion, hadmade enquiries and had gained intelli-gence of the impending danger. Theyfeared to flee during the daytime, lest

being tracked they should be discoveredand destroyed in detail. When nightcame they hesitated to disperse, fromthe certainty that they would be cap-tured in the morning.

Then their captain, who throughout had

been of one opinion, proposed to themthat they should resist, and promisedthem success if they would hear hiswords. The gang respected him, for hewas known to be brave: they all listenedto his advice, and they promised to beobedient.

As young night began to cast transpar-ent shade upon the jungle ground, thechief of the thieves mustered his men,inspected their bows and arrows, gavethem encouraging words, and led themforth from the cave. Having placed themin ambush he climbed the rock to espythe movements of the enemy, whilstothers applied their noses and ears tothe level ground. Presently the moon

shone full upon Randhir and his band ofarchers, who were advancing quicklyand carelessly, for they expected tocatch the robbers in their cave. The cap-tain allowed them to march nearlythrough the line of ambush. Then hegave the signal, and at that moment the

thieves, rising suddenly from the bushfell upon the royal troops and drovethem back in confusion.

The king also fled, when the chief of therobbers shouted out, "Hola! thou aRajput and running away from combat?"

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Randhir hearing this halted, and thetwo, confronting each other, bared theirblades and began to do battle with pro-digious fury.

The king was cunning of fence, and sowas the thief. They opened the duel, asskilful swordsmen should, by bendingalmost double, skipping in a circle, eachkeeping his eye well fixed upon the

other, with frowning brows and con-temptuous lips; at the same time ex-ecuting divers gambados and measuredleaps, springing forward like frogs andbackward like monkeys, and beatingtime with their sabres upon theirshields, which rattled like drums.

Then Randhir suddenly facing his an-tagonist, cut at his legs with a loud cry,but the thief sprang in the air, and theblade whistled harmlessly under him.Next moment the robber chief's sword,thrice whirled round his head, de-

scended like lightning in a slanting di-rection towards the king's left shoulder:the latter, however, received it upon histarget and escaped all hurt, though hestaggered with the violence of the blow.

And thus they continued attacking eachother, parrying and replying, till theirbreath failed them and their hands andwrists were numbed and cramped with

fatigue. They were so well matched incourage, strength, and address, thatneither obtained the least advantage,till the robber's right foot catching astone slid from under him, and thus hefell to the ground at the mercy of hisenemy. The thieves fled, and the Raja,

himself on his prize, tied his handsbehind him, and brought him back to thecity at the point of his good sword.

The next morning Randhir visited hisprisoner, whom he caused to be bathed,and washed, and covered with fine

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clothes. He then had him mounted on acamel and sent him on a circuit of thecity, accompanied by a crier proclaimingaloud: "Who hears! who hears! whohears! the king commands! This is thethief who has robbed and plundered thecity of Chandrodaya. Let all men there-fore assemble themselves together thisevening in the open space outside thegate leading towards the sea. And let

them behold the penalty of evil deeds,and learn to be wise."

Randhir had condemned the thief to becrucified, nailed and tied with his handsand feet stretched out at full length, inan erect posture until death; everything

he wished to eat was ordered to him inorder to prolong life and misery. Andwhen death should draw near, meltedgold was to be poured down his throattill it should burst from his neck andother parts of his body.

In the evening the thief was led out forexecution, and by chance the proces-sion passed close to the house of awealthy landowner. He had a favouritedaughter named Shobhani, who was inthe flower of her youth and very lovely;every day she improved, and everymoment added to her grace and beauty.

The girl had been carefully kept out of

sight of mankind, never being allowedoutside the high walls of the garden, be-cause her nurse, a wise woman muchtrusted in the neighbourhood, had at thehour of death given a solemn warning toher parents. The prediction was that themaiden should be the admiration of the

city, and should die a Sati- widow beforebecoming a wife. From that hour Shob-hani was kept as a pearl in its casket byher father, who had vowed never to sur-vive her, and had even fixed upon theplace and style of his suicide.

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But the shaft of Fate strikes down thevulture sailing above the clouds, and fol-lows the worm into the bowels of theearth, and pierces the fish at the bottomof the ocean—how then can mortal manexpect to escape it? As the robber chief,mounted upon the camel, was passingto the cross under the old householder'swindows, a fire breaking out in thewomen's apartments, drove the inmates

into the rooms looking upon the street. The hum of many voices arose from thesolid pavement of heads: "This is thethief who has been robbing the wholecity; let him tremble now, for Randhirwill surely crucify him!"

In beauty and bravery of bearing, as instrength and courage, no man in Chan-drodaya surpassed the robber, who,being magnificently dressed, looked,despite his disgraceful cavalcade, likethe son of a king. He sat with an un-

moved countenance, hardly hearing inhis pride the scoffs of the mob; calm andsteady when the whole city was frenziedwith anxiety because of him. But as heheard the word "tremble" his lips quiv-ered, his eyes flashed fire, and deeplines gathered between his eyebrows.

Shobhani started with a scream fromthe casement behind which she had hid

herself, gazing with an intense womanlycuriosity into the thoroughfare. The rob-ber's face was upon a level with, and nothalf a dozen feet from, her pale cheeks.She marked his handsome features, andhis look of wrath made her quiver as if ithad been a flash of lightning. Then she

broke away from the fascination of hisyouth and beauty, and ran breathless toher father, saying:

"Go this moment and get that thief re-leased!

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"The old housekeeper replied: "Thatthief has been pilfering and plunderingthe whole city, and by his means theking's archers were defeated; why,then, at my request, should our mostgracious Raja Randhir release him?"

Shobhani, almost beside herself, ex-claimed: "If by giving up your wholeproperty, you can induce the Raja to re-

lease him, then instantly so do; if hedoes not come to me, I must give up mylife!"

The maiden then covered her head withher veil, and sat down in the deepest de-spair, whilst her father, hearing her

words, burst into a cry of grief, and has-tened to present himself before theRaja. He cried out:

"O great king, be pleased to receive fourlakhs of rupees, and to release thisthief."

But the king replied: "He has been rob-bing the whole city, and by reason ofhim my guards have been destroyed. Icannot by any means release him."

Then the old householder finding, as hehad expected the Raja inexorable, andnot to be moved, either by tears orbribes, or by the cruel fate of the girl, re-turned home with fire in his heart, and

addressed her:"Daughter, I have said and done all thatis possible but it avails me nought withthe king. Now, then, we die."

In the mean time, the guards having led

the thief all round the city, took him out-side the gates, and made him standnear the cross. Then the messengers ofdeath arrived from the palace, and theexecutioners began to nail his limbs. Hebore the agony with the fortitude of thebrave; but when he heard what had

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been done by the old householder'sdaughter, he raised his voice and weptbitterly, as though his heart had beenbursting, and almost with the samebreath he laughed heartily as at a feast.All were startled by his merriment;coming as it did at a time when the ironwas piercing his flesh, no man could seeany reason for it.

When he died, Shobhani, who was mar-ried to him in the spirit, recited to her-self these sayings:

"There are thirty-five millions of hairs onthe human body. The woman who as-cends the pile with her husband will

remain so many years in heaven. As thesnake-catcher draws the serpent fromhis hole, so she, rescuing her husbandfrom hell, rejoices with him; aye, thoughhe may have sunk to a region of tor-ment, be restrained in dreadful bonds,have reached the place of anguish, be

exhausted of strength, and afflicted andtortured for his crimes. No other effec-tual duty is known for virtuous women atany time after the death of their lords,except casting themselves into thesame fire. As long as a woman in hersuccessive transmigrations, shall de-cline burning herself, like a faithful wife,in the same fire with her deceased lord,so long shall she not be exempted from

springing again to life in the body ofsome female animal."

Therefore the beautiful Shobhani, virginand wife, resolved to burn herself, andto make the next life of the thief certain.She showed her courage by thrusting

her finger into a torch flame till itbecame a cinder, and she solemnlybathed in the nearest stream.

A hole was dug in the ground, and upona bed of green tree-trunks were heapedhemp, pitch, faggots, and clarified

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butter, to form the funeral pyre. Thedead body, anointed, bathed, anddressed in new clothes, was then laidupon the heap, which was some two feethigh. Shobhani prayed that as long asfourteen Indras reign, or as many yearsas there are hairs in her head, she mightabide in heaven with her husband, andbe waited upon by the heavenly danc-ers.

She then presented her ornaments andlittle gifts of corn to her friends, tiedsome cotton round both wrists, put twonew combs in her hair, painted her fore-head, and tied up in the end of herbody-cloth clean parched rice and

cowrie-shells. These she gave to the by-standers, as she walked seven timesround the funeral pyre, upon which laythe body. She then ascended the heapof wood, sat down upon it, and takingthe thief's head in her lap, without cordsor levers or upper layer or faggots, she

ordered the pile to be lighted. The crowdstanding around set fire to it in severalplaces, drummed their drums, blewtheir conchs, and raised a loud cry of"Hari bol! Hari bol! " Straw was thrownon, and pitch and clarified butter werefreely poured out. But Shobhani's was aSahamaran, a blessed easy death: nopart of her body was seen to move afterthe pyre was lighted—in fact, she

seemed to die before the flame touchedher.

By the blessing of his daughter's de-cease, the old householder beheadedhimself. He caused an instrument to bemade in the shape of a half-moon with

an edge like a razor, and fitting the backof his neck. At both ends of it, as at thebeam of a balance, chains were fas-tened. He sat down with eyes closed; hewas rubbed with the purifying clay of theholy river, Vaiturani; and he repeatedthe proper incantations. Then placing

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his feet upon the extremities of thechains, he suddenly jerked up his neck,and his severed head rolled from hisbody upon the ground. What a happydeath was this!

The Baital was silent, as if meditating onthe fortunate transmigration which theold householder had thus secured.

"But what could the thief have beenlaughing at, sire?" asked the youngprince Dharma Dhwaj of his father.

"At the prodigious folly of the girl, myson," replied the warrior king, thought-lessly.

"I am indebted once more to your maj-esty," burst out the Baital, "for releasingme from this unpleasant position, butthe Raja's penetration is again at fault.Not to leave your royal son and heir la-bouring under a false impression, before

going I will explain why the brave thiefburst into tears, and why he laughed atsuch a moment."He wept when he reflected that hecould not requite her kindness in beingwilling to give up everything she had inthe world to save his life; and thisthought deeply grieved him.

Then it struck him as being passing

strange that she had begun to love himwhen the last sand of his life was wellnigh run out; that wondrous are theways of the revolving heavens whichbestow wealth upon the niggard thatcannot use it, wisdom upon the bad manwho will misuse it, a beautiful wife upon

the fool who cannot protect her, and fer-tilizing showers upon the stony hills. Andthinking over these things, the gallantand beautiful thief laughed aloud.

"Before returning to my sires-tree," con-tinued the Vampire, "as I am about to do

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in virtue of your majesty's unintelligentreply, I may remark that men may laughand cry, or may cry and laugh, about ev-erything in this world, from their neigh-bours' deaths, which, as a general rule,in no wise concern them, to their ownlatter ends, which do concern them ex-ceedingly.

For my part, I am in the habit of laughing

at everything, because it animates thebrain, stimulates the lungs, beautifiesthe countenance, and—for the moment,good-bye, Raja Vikram!

The warrior king, being forewarned thistime, shifted the bundle containing theBaital from his back to under his arm,where he pressed it with all his might.

This proceeding, however, did not pre-vent the Vampire from slipping back tohis tree, and leaving an empty cloth withthe Raja.

Presently the demon was trussed up asusual; a voice sounded behind Vikram,and the loquacious thing again began totalk.

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THE END

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