The inner part of the vestibule was not large,--a square room,
supported upon massive stone pillars at the corners, with a slightly
raised dais all round; and as the Brahmuns entered and took their
seats, Tara could not avoid noticing them, and appeared more conscious
of surrounding occurrences than before. Thinking she would rise, Gunga
approached to assist her, but Tara motioned her away. "My time is not
yet come," she said; "I will not go;" and again she drew her garment
about her, and resumed her silent position.
But not for long. There was a sudden movement among those without, and
a way was cleared for one who came in rapidly.
"Who wants me here?" cried a strong manly voice, apparently hoarse from
shouting. "A girl! what girl? Let me pass."
As he strode in through the men who were sitting behind, Tara turned
her head, and suddenly beheld her enemy.
She rose at once, excited and defiant, so noble in her manner, so
expressive in her abhorrence, that Moro Trimmul shrank back a step,
abashed.
"Begone!" she cried, stamping her foot. "There is the Mother; not
a second time shalt thou take me from her. My fathers," she cried,
appealing to all around, "he would twice have dishonoured me, and I
have been saved. Now I am under your protection, O, give me not to
him! Take me to the mother of the Rajah; she will protect me."
"She is here," said the Shastree, stepping forward; "and thy fate shall
be decided before her. Fear not, daughter."
"Friends," said Moro Trimmul, looking round, "have care for my honour!
Twice have I rescued her from shame. Once when she was escaping from
Tooljapoor; once in separating her from those who have been slain. Give
her to me, for her shame to be hidden away for ever."
"I will not go; I will not go!" cried Tara, entering the door of the
shrine, and clasping the feet of the image. "Kill me if ye will,
here,--I am ready; but I will not go with him."
"I claim them both, sirs," cried Moro Trimmul passionately; "her, and
her sister Moorlee yonder. Beware, all of ye, how ye interfere with
the family honour of a respectable man. I will brook it from no one,
not even from Sivaji Bhóslay himself! Have I won a victory to-day at
the Mother's command, and am I to be disgraced and humbled before her,
by a deranged girl and doting priests, ere it is closed? Come forth,
Tara!" he called, in a hoarse voice--"come forth, else I will tear thee
thence. Away with her," he cried to two of his attendants, who had
seized Gunga, and were holding her fast--"away with her to my house,
and bind her there; I will bring the other. Now, friends, beware who
stays me, for, by the gods, he dies, be he who he may!" and he drew his
sword, and was advancing, when the Shastree stepped before him.
"Madman," he cried, stretching forth his hands; "forbear! put up thy
weapon,--no one here dreads it. We are Brahmuns, as thou art! Fear
not," he continued to Tara, who had stood up also by the altar, and was
trembling violently, but not with terror. "Fear not; thou art under the
protection of the council, and he dare not interfere with thee."
"Fool and dotard," exclaimed Moro Trimmul under his breath, and from
between his clenched teeth, "I will settle with thee for this, one
day yet. As ye will, sirs," he continued bitterly, looking round and
panting as he dropped his sword's point. "My honour is in the hands of
a priest's council at last, not in my own keeping, and I am helpless;
but hasten what ye have to do, for I will not leave ye till ye have
decided in regard to her. Look at her--harlot and witch, sorceress and
devil--who hath already destroyed men's souls,--will ye believe the
Mother protects such as she is?"
"Let it be so," said the Shastree. "Tara, art thou willing to abide the
night, as the issue of the ordeal suggested by thyself, to wait her
coming? If so, we will stay here with thee."
"Mother," she said in a low voice, turning to the altar, and joining
her hands in supplication before the image--"Mother, if I am thy
child, tell me what to say to them; or, if thou wilt, let me be another
sacrifice to thee, and it will be well. Mother,--O Toolja Máta! dost
thou hear?--Tara is ready before thee--ready to come!"
Low as the words were spoken, they were heard by all; and remembering
the events of the day, and believing in the power of the goddess, it
was expected the girl would fall and die where she was, on the solemn
invocation; but it was not so. For a few moments she stood gazing
intently at the image, without altering her position of supplication;
then she smiled, her hands dropped, and she turned at once and faced
the assembly. Not even in her first office as priestess had her beauty
been more glorious--the expression of her features more sublime.
"O priests and elders," she said calmly and simply, in her sweet
musical voice, "hear my last words: I am an orphan and a widow, I have
no one left on earth to protect me,--not one. To be in danger of that
man's evil designs, is to die, hourly. Did he succeed as he has tried,
it would be to live in shame; now I can die in purity. The Mother calls
me; she will not come to me, though I have asked her. She is far from
me, yet she beckons to me; look, there!" and she stretched forth her
hand to the roof--"she calls me, and I come, pure, and purified by
fire. Now listen, all ye Brahmuns; I am true and pure, and I am sutee
henceforth. When ye will, and where ye will, I am sutee; and on his
head be curses, and the vengeance of Kalee, who forbids it. Let me die
in the fire, and I am happy! What she puts into my mouth, I say to you
truly. Let no one forbid it."
No one spoke, no one answered. The people before her rose as one man.
Many trembled, some wept, and women screamed aloud; but Tara stood
there unmoved, her bosom heaving rapidly, and the glowing beauty and
rapture of her face unchanged.
"Jey Kalee! Jey Toolja Máta!" exclaimed the Shastree; "let it be as she
says, brothers. Henceforth she is sutee, and we accept the sacrifice,
for the Mother hath said it by her lips. Ah, the ordeal is fulfilled
indeed, and to the honour of her votary! Fear not," he said, "daughter:
by this act is thy husband delivered from hell; and all thou hast
suffered in this life is sanctified unto thee. Bring flowers, bring
garlands," he cried to the people; "crown her here at the altar, and
let her be worshipped."
"Tara, Tara!" cried a husky voice close to her, entreatingly; "Tara,
what hast thou done? Art thou mad? O girl, why hast thou doomed
thyself? Come, there is yet time: come with me!"
"Begone!" cried the girl, interrupting him; "I spurn thee, Moro
Trimmul, before all these elders: false and cruel as thou art, I am at
last beyond thy reach!"
"Come away, Moro," said Maloosray roughly, who had just entered,
and dragged him backwards with one hand, while he seized his sword
and wrested it from him with the other; "art thou a child? dost thou
fight with priests and women? Come with me; the Rajah calls thee." The
Brahmun struggled to be free, but Tannajee's powerful arms were about
him, in which he was borne away, helpless to resist.
Not in her first admission to the office she had held, not in the
holiest of ceremonies at which she had before assisted, was greater
honour ever done to Tara than now. Bedecked with garlands, with
incense burnt before her, the priests present formed themselves into a
procession, and, chanting hymns of praise, led her round and round the
shrine. The temple court and its precincts were now filled with people,
who took up the shouts of victory--"Jey Kalee! Jey Toolja Máta!" and
as she passed onwards, throwing handfuls of flowers among them, all
who could reach her, touched her garments reverently, or prostrated
themselves before her, with frantic cries for blessings. And so they
led her on.
How many sweet memories crowded into Tara's mind now, and urged her on.
There was no fear, no irresolution--father, mother, Zyna, Fazil--all
dead, as she thought, and a fierce and ruthless enemy persecuting her
to the last. All she could think on was, that she was free, that no
one could harm her now. Had they then led her to death, she would have
gone, singing the hymns triumphantly.
* * * * *
Late that night Moro Trimmul returned to his place of residence. Long
before, when Sivaji's power was in its infancy, and the young men
had taken possession of the mountain-built fort, and led their bands
forth to plunder and destroy the Mahomedan villages around, Moro
Trimmul had fitted up a hollow bastion on one of the angles of the
precipice--in which the builder had left a small room and anteroom--as
his place of shelter. The inside was rudely plastered with clay; and
a sleeping-place, also of clay, had been raised from the floor, on
which was placed a mattress and pillow. In the face of the bastion a
small oriel window had been built, which had a balcony projecting from
the wall, large enough for two people to sit in. Seated there, you
looked down a dizzy depth upon the forest below; but on all sides the
precipices, the woods, and their deep glens, and the varied mountains
beyond, formed a combination of glorious beauty, which there, above all
other places in the mountain fortress, was most deeply felt.
Thither had Gunga been taken by the Brahmun's servants on the morning
of the battle. He had charged them to have the place swept and newly
plastered with clay, and Gunga, with having it done as he wished. On
its completion, she had gone into the temple to worship for him in the
exercise of her vocation, as the signal was to be given, which they
all told her of. She knew of his design. He had charged her to watch
Tara, and, if she saw her, to give him information of her actions. He
had told her that he should bring Fazil's sister to the fort, for he
felt sure she could not escape him. Herself, Zyna, and Tara should
be confronted at last. How long should the latter elude him? For the
Khan, Gunga cared nothing; for Zyna and Fazil as little--they were
Mussulmans, and must perish,--but for Tara!
Ah yes, strange indeed, perhaps, yet not unnatural, had been the
revulsion. The jealousy which had urged Gunga to hate the girl, and
assist in plots for her ruin, had strangely altered to love. Twice had
Moro Trimmul been foiled; twice he had fallen savagely upon her, and
beaten her cruelly. We know when he did when Tara was last rescued,
and how Gunga, relenting, had not then abandoned him. But it had not
ended there. The fierce rage of disappointment had broken out again
and again, and he had vented it upon her brutally. She had borne
this patiently at the time; but she had now sworn to herself, in the
temple of the goddess at Wye, not only to lend herself no more to Moro
Trimmul's design, but had formed the resolution to assist Tara to
escape--to carry her off by mountain paths; and she knew that if they
could once enter the forest near the fort, they were safe.
Day by day, as these thoughts passed through Gunga's mind, the love for
Tara grew stronger, till it became an absorbing passion. Would she but
trust her--would she but believe her--they might yet again see their
beloved Tooljapoor, and she would work out her forgiveness by devotion.
It was not too late, she thought: but....
We have already told how she met her in the temple: but it is
impossible to describe her despair at her failure to induce Tara to
escape, or when the man she dreaded, bid his servants seize and bind
her. If she could have remained with Tara--only near her....
Alas! it was too late now. She had scarcely been carried, shrieking,
from the temple, by the servants of Moro Trimmul, when another man
followed, and said Tara had become a Sutee, and was to be burnt next
day beside the tank in the fort. Then Gunga felt the heroism of the
girl's resolution. At least Moro Trimmul could not injure her; she
would soon be beyond reach of his persecution. It was well--yes, it was
well. She could at least see her die; and then?...
The desire of death sat hard at her heart. At first she shuddered at
it; but once it had entered, it abode there and grew stronger. If Moro
Trimmul cast her off now, it would be but to be haunted by the memory
of the girl she had wronged so cruelly, and the love for whom, and the
despair of whose forgiveness, had pursued her night and day--night and
day: but it seemed to have reached her at last. "Yes, she touched me
kindly," she said to herself; "she parted the hair from my face as a
sister would have done: ere she spoke to me she forgave me: and I will
see her die, decked in flowers, as a holy and pure sacrifice. I will
worship her as she goes to death, and then I will follow her. O Tara,
there, not here, I may be forgiven before the Mother."
Moro Trimmul's servants had taken Gunga, and literally obeyed the
orders they had received; bound her with one of her own garments, lest
she should do herself or them injury, and laid her gently upon the
couch in the inner room. How long she had lain there she had no idea;
but, as the time passed, it only confirmed her resolution. She would
die, no matter how. There was nothing definite in her mind, but that
she would die: a dull despair blunting every faculty--a reality of
determination before which her very senses seemed to refuse office.
She heard Moro Trimmul ask without where she was, and the servant
answered that she was within, lying on the couch. A small lamp had been
lighted and placed in a niche; and as he entered and stood over her,
she feigned sleep. She felt him unfasten the bandage round her arms,
and then he dragged her roughly to her feet.
"Devil!" he cried, "this is thy doing, and she is gone. Lost! O Tara,
how beautiful thou wast in living death!" he continued, apostrophizing
her, "speaking thy own death-sentence--as I listened, I could have died
for thee."
"Thou art a coward, Moro Trimmul," cried the girl, scornfully and
desperately; "thou darest neither die thyself, nor kill me. Thou die
with Tara? she would spit at thee, as I do."
He struck her brutally to the ground with his clenched hand. "Lie
there, witch! devil!" he cried. "Thou hast been the cause of all this;
alone, I could have done it. Thou and she are one now, else why didst
thou not decoy her here? Did I not tell thee to do so? Speak!" and he
pushed her with his foot as she lay.
She arose. "Moro Trimmul," she said calmly, but with desperation in her
voice, "may the Mother forgive me what I have done with thee against
Tara; that is all I pray now. Between me and thee all is ended, long
since. Let me go. I will serve thee no longer, I spit at thee and defy
thee; and in the Rajah's court, before every image of Kalee in the
Dekhan, if I live, I will sing thy shame and her honour. Let me go out!"
She saw him set his teeth, as his eyes flashed with a wicked glare,
draw a knife from his waist-band, and spring at her. The glitter of
that knife was the last thing, perhaps, of which she was conscious,
except that she seized the hand that held it, instinctively, and then
came a struggle for life. But only a brief one. A weak girl, before a
powerful man, could not endure long,--sickened, too, as she was by
his previous blow. Back--back, he forced her to the window, which was
open; on the little balcony without, they swayed to and fro fearfully
for a moment; but he wrenched his hand free by a desperate effort, and,
striking her one heavy blow with the knife, where he knew not,--as the
body dropped heavily in his arms, he pushed it forth into the dark
air. He did not hear it fall, though he listened; but in the morning,
the vultures, which lived on pinnacles of the precipices, were seen
descending in hundreds to their hideous feast below.