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 POETICAL WORKS 
 
 OF 
 
 EDWi:Nr AEXOLD 
 
 f 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 THE LIGHT OF ASIA 
 
 THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS 
 
 PEARLS OF THE FAITH 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY, 
 
 14 AND 16 ^'ESEY Street. 
 
^; 
 
 J T n E 
 
 LIG-HT OF ASIA 
 
 BEINO 
 
 THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF GAUTAMA, 
 
 Prince of India and Founder of Buddhism. 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWIN ARNOLD, M.A. 
 
 WITH NOTES 
 By MRS. I. L. HAUSER, 
 
I 
 
 Copyright, 1882, 
 By The Useful Knowledge Publishing Company. 
 
 48 65 55 
 
 JUL 2 1942 
 
THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS DUTirtJXLT INSCRIBED TO 
 
 THE SOVEREIGN, GRAND MASTER, AND COMPANIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 STl)^ ittost (i%aiuh (Drber of tl}e Star of Inbia .., 
 
 BT 
 
 THE AUTHOR, 
 
 3 
 
 H 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In the following Poem I have sought, by the mediam 
 of an imaginary Buddhist votary, to depict the life and 
 character and indicate the philosophy of that noble hero 
 and reformer, Prince Gautama of India, the founder of 
 Buddhism. 
 
 A generation ago little or nothing was known in Europe 
 of this great faith of Asia, which had nevertheless existed 
 during twenty-four centuries, and at this day surpasses, in 
 the number of its followers and the area of its prevalence, 
 any other form of creed. Four hundred and seventy mil- 
 lions of our race live and die in the tenets of Gautama ; 
 and the spiritual dominions of this ancient teacher extend, 
 at the present time, from Nepaul and Ceylon over the 
 vdiole Eastern Peninsula to China, Japan, Thibet, Central 
 Asia, Siberia, and even Swedish Lapland. India itself 
 might fairly be included in this magnificent empire of be- 
 lief, for though the profession of Buddhism has for the 
 most part passed away from the land of its birth, the 
 mark of Gautama's sublime teaching is stamped inefface- 
 ably upon modern Brahmanism, and the most characteris- 
 tic habits and convictions of the Hindus are clearly due 
 to the benign influence of Buddha's precepts. More than 
 a third of mankind, therefore, owe their moral and relig- 
 
 V 
 
■~''^'~^"'" ■ -n I «i » I 
 
 
 Vi PREFACE. 
 
 ious ideas to this illustrious prince, whose personality, 
 though imperfectly revealed in the existing sources of in- 
 formation, cannot but appear the highest, gentlest, holiest, 
 and most beneficent, with one exception, in the history of 
 Thought. Discordant in frequent particulars, and sorely 
 overlaid by corruptions, inventions, and misconceptions, 
 the Buddhistical books yet agree in the one point of re- 
 cording nothing — no single act or word — which mars the 
 perfect purity and tenderness of this Indian teacher, who 
 united the truest princely qualities with the intellect of a 
 sage and the passionate devotion of a martyr. Even M. 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire, totally misjudging, as he does, 
 many points of Buddhism, is well cited by Professor Max 
 Miiller as saying of Prince Siddartha, " Sa vie n'a point de 
 cache. Son constant heroisme egale sa conviction ; et si 
 la theorie qu'il preconise est fausse, les exemples person- 
 nels qu'il donne sont irreprochables. II est le modele 
 acheve de toutes les vertus qu'il preche ; son abnegation, 
 sa charite, son inalterable douceur ne se dementent point 
 un seul instant. ... II prepare silencieusement sa doc- 
 trine par six annees de retraite et de meditation ; il la pro- 
 page par la seule puissance de la parole et de la persua- 
 sion pendant plus d'un demi-si^cle, et quand il meurt 
 i.ntre les bras de ses disciples, c'est avec la serenite d'un 
 sage qui a pratique le bien toute sa vie, et qui est assur^ 
 d'avoir trouve le vrai." To Gautama has consequently 
 been given this stupendous conquest of humanity ; and — • 
 ihough he discountenanced ritual, and declared himself, 
 even when on the threshold of Nirvana, to be only what 
 all other men might become — the love and gratitude of 
 Asia, disobeying his mandate, have given, him fervent 
 
PREFACE. VU 
 
 i worship. Forests of flowers are daily laid upon his stain- 
 ] less shrines, and countless millions of lips daily repeat the 
 I formula, " I take refuge in Buddha ! " 
 ^ The Buddha of this poem — if, as need not be doubted, 
 i he really existed — was born on the borders of Nepaul, 
 I about 620 B.C., and died about 543 b.-c. at Kusinagara in 
 
 IOudh. In point of age, therefore, most other creeds are 
 youthful compared with this venerable religion, which has 
 , in it the eternity of a universal hope, the immortality of a 
 I boundless love, an indestructible element of faith in final 
 j good, and the proudest assertion ever made of human 
 freedom. The extravagances which disfigure the record 
 and practice of Buddhism are to be referred to that in- 
 I evitable degradation which priesthoods always inflict upon 
 I great ideas committed to their charge. The power and 
 i sublimity of Gautama's original doctrines should be es- 
 timated by their influence, not by their interpreters ; nor 
 by that innocent but lazy and ceremonious church which 
 has arisen on the foundations of the Buddhistic Brother- 
 hood or '' Sangha." 
 
 I have put my poem into a Buddhist's mouth, because, 
 to appreciate the spirit of Asiatic thoughts, they should 
 be regarded from the Oriental point of view ; and neither 
 I the miracles which consecrate this record, nor the phi- 
 I losophy which it embodies, could have been otherwise so 
 
 i naturally reproduced. The doctrine of Transmigration, 
 for instance — startling to modern minds — was established 
 and thoroughly accepted by the Hindus of Buddha's time ; 
 that period when Jerusalem was being taken by Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, when Nineveh was falling to the Medes, and 
 Marseilles was founded by the Phocaeans. The exposi- 
 
 Be(]«nn<«9*vn'«Hi 
 
VIU PREFACE. 
 
 tion here offered of so antique a system is of necessity 
 incomplete, and — in obedience to the laws of poetic art — 
 passes rapidly by many matters philosophically most im- 
 portant, as well as over the long ministry of Gautama. 
 But my purpose has been obtained if any just conception 
 be here conveyed of the lofty character of this noble 
 prince, and of the general purport of his doctrines. As to 
 these there has arisen prodigious controversy among the 
 erudite, who will be aware that I have taken the imper- 
 fect Buddhistic citations much as they stand in Spence 
 Hardy's work, and have also modified more than one 
 passage in the received narratives. The views, however, 
 here indicated of " Nirvana," " Dharma," " Karma," and 
 the other chief features of Buddhism, are at least the 
 fruits of considerable study, and also of a firm conviction 
 that a third of mankind would never have been brought to 
 believe in blank abstractions, or in Nothingness as the 
 issue and crown of Being. 
 
 Finally, in reverence to the illustrious Promulgator of 
 this " Light of Asia," and in homage to the many eminent 
 scholars who have devoted noble labors to his memory, 
 for which both repose and ability are wanting to me, I 
 beg that the shortcomings of my too hurried study may 
 be forgiven. It has been composed in the brief intervals 
 of days without leisure, but is inspired by an abiding 
 desire to aid in the better mutual knowledge of East and 
 West. The time may come, I hope, when this book and 
 my "Indian Song of Songs" will preserve the memory 
 of one who loved India and the Indian peoples. 
 
 EDWIN ARNOLD, C.S.L 
 London, July, 1879. 
 
— r 
 
 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 13 00k tl)e i^irst. 
 
 The Scripture of the Saviour of the Worlds 
 Lord Buddha^ — Prince Sidddrtha^ styled on ear-th- 
 in Earth and Heavens and Hells Incomparable^ 
 All-honored, Wisest, Best, most Pitiful ; 
 
 The Teacher of Nirvdna and the Law. 
 
 Thus came he to be born again for men. 
 
 Below the highest sphere four Regents sit^ 
 Who rule our world, and under them are 2ones 
 Nearer, but high, where saintliest spirits dead 
 Wait thrice ten thousand years,^ then live again ; 
 And on Lord Buddha, waiting in that sky, 
 Came for our sakes the five sure signs of birth^ 
 So that the Devas^ knew the signs, and said 
 "Buddha will go again to help the World." 
 " Yea ! " spake He, " now I go to help the World 
 
 9 
 
 V 
 
■ ZCM—tJf^Tm — ^-^-•*».^-W..«^«^,»-m-l ■ * ■■■MBT— ■ 
 
 10 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 This last of many times ; for birth and death 
 End hence for me and those who learn my Law. 
 I will go down among the Sakyas,' 
 Under the southward snows of Himalay, 
 Where pious people live and a just King." 
 
 That night the wife of King Suddhodana/ 
 Maya the Queen,® asleep beside her Lord, 
 Dreamed a strange dream ; dreamed that a star from 
 
 heaven — 
 Splendid, six-rayed, in color rosy-pearl, 
 Whereof the token was an Elephant^" 
 Six-tusked and whiter than Vahuka's" milk — 
 Shot through the void and, shining into her, 
 Entered her womb upon the right. Awaked, 
 Bliss beyond mortal mother's filled her breast, 
 And over half the earth a lovely light 
 Forewent the morn. The strong hills shook ; the waves 
 Sank lulled ; all flowers that blow by day came forth 
 As 'twere high noon ; down to the farthest hells 
 Passed the Queen's joy, as when warm sunshine thrills 
 AVood-glooms to gold, and into all the deeps 
 A tender whisper pierced.^^ " Oh ye," it said, 
 " The dead that are to live, the live who die. 
 Uprise, and hear, and hope ! Buddha is come ! " 
 Whereat in Limbos numberless much peace 
 Spread, and the world's heart throbbed, and a wind ble\V 
 With unknown freshness over lands and seas. 
 And when the morning dawned, and this was told, 
 The gray dream-readers^^ said " The dream is good ! 
 The Crab is in conjunction with the Sun ;" 
 
r-rm- -' I f n"i i a-'-'^rH ' r rra— »mv^in ii ' i r-a W rn mr mriM ir iiM T 
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. II 
 
 The Queen shall bear a boy, a holy child 
 Of wondrous wisdom, profiting all flesh, 
 Who shall deliver men from ignorance, 
 Or rule the world, if he will deign to rule." 
 
 In this wise was the holy Buddha born. 
 
 Queen Maya stood at noon, her days fulfilled, 
 
 Under a Palsa'^ in the Palace-grounds, 
 
 A stately trunk, straight as a temple-shaft. 
 
 With crown of glossy leaves and fragrant blooms : 
 
 And, knowing the time come — for all things knew — 
 
 The conscious tree bent down its boughs to make 
 
 A bower about Queen Maya's majesty, 
 
 And Earth put forth a thousand sudden flowers 
 
 To spread a couch, while, ready for the bath, 
 
 The rock hard by gave out a limpid stream 
 
 Of crystal flow. So brought she forth her child 
 
 Pangless — he having on his perfect form 
 
 The marks, thirty and two, of blessed birth ; 
 
 Of which the great news to the Palace came. 
 
 But when they brought the painted palanquin^® 
 
 To fetch him home, the bearers of the poles 
 
 Were the four Regents of the Earth, come down 
 
 From Mount Sumeru" — they who write men's deeds 
 
 On brazen plates — the Angel of the East, 
 
 Whose hosts are clad in silver robes, and bear 
 
 Targets of pearl : the Angel of the South, 
 
 Whose horsemen, the Kumbhandas,^^ ride blue steeds, 
 
 With sapphire shields : the Angel of the West, 
 
 By Nagas followed, riding steeds blood-red, 
 
K^mmtaU'ifwm 
 
 12 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 With coral shields : the Angel of the North, 
 Environed by his Yakshas/® all in gold, 
 On yellow horses, bearing shields of gold. 
 These, with their pomp invisible, came down 
 And took the poles, in caste and outward garb 
 Like bearers, yet most mighty gods ; and gods 
 Walked free with men that day, though men knew not i 
 For Heaven was filled with gladness for Earth's sake,*^® 
 Knowing Lord Buddha thus was come again. 
 
 But King Suddhodana wist not of this ; 
 
 The portents troubled, till his dream-readers 
 
 Augured a Prince of earthly dominance, 
 
 A Chakravartin,^^ such as rise to rule 
 
 Once in each thousand years ; seven gifts he has — 
 
 The Chakra-ratna,^"^ disc divine ; the gem ; 
 
 The horse, the Aswa-ratna,^^ that proud steed 
 
 Which tramps the clouds ; a snow-white elephant, 
 
 The Hasti-ratna,^"* born to bear his King ; 
 
 The crafty Minister, the General 
 
 Unconquered, and the wife of peerless grace. 
 
 The Istrt-ratna,^^ lovelier than the Dawn. 
 
 Eor which gifts looking with this wondrous boy. 
 
 The King gave order that his town should keep 
 
 High festival ; therefore the ways were swept,^^ 
 
 Rose-odors sprinkled in the street, the trees 
 
 Were hung with lamps and flags," while merry crowds 
 
 Gaped on the sword-players^^ and posturers, 
 
 The jugglers,^® charmers, swingers, rope-walkers. 
 
 The nautch-girls in their spangled skirts and bclls^ 
 
BOOK THE FIRST. 1 3 
 
 That chime light .laughter round their restless feet ; 
 
 The masquers wrapped in skins of bear and deer. 
 
 The tiger-tamers, wrestlers, quail-fighters, 
 
 Beaters of drum and twanglers of the wire, 
 
 Who made the people happy^ by command. 
 
 Moreover from afar came merchant-men, 
 
 Bringing, on tidings of this birth, rich gifts 
 
 In golden trays ;^* goat-shawls,^'^ and nard^^ and jade, 
 
 Turkises,^ " evening sky " tint, woven webs — 
 
 So fine twelve folds hide not a modest face — 
 
 Waist-cloths sewn thick with pearls, and sandal-wood ; 
 
 Homage from tribute cities ; so they called 
 
 Their Prince Savarthasiddh, " All-Prospering,'* 
 
 Briefer, Siddartha. 
 
 'Mongst the strangers came 
 A gray-haired saint, Asita,^^ one whose ears, 
 Long closed to earthly things, caught heavenly sounds, 
 And heard at prayer beneath his peepul-tree 
 The Devas singing songs at Buddha's birth. 
 Wondrous in lore he was by age and fasts ; 
 Him, drawing nigh, seeming so reverend, 
 The King saluted, and Queen Maya made 
 To lay her babe before such holy feet ; 
 But when he saw the Prince the old man cried 
 " Ah, Queen, not so ! " and thereupon he touched 
 Eight times the dust,^^ laid his waste visage there, 
 Saying, *' O Babe ! I worship ! Thou art He ! 
 I see the rosy light,^^ the foot-sole marks,^ 
 The soft-curled tendril of the Swastika,^^ 
 The sacred primal signs thirty and two, 
 The eighty lesser tokens.'"' Thou art Buddh, 
 

 I 14 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 I And thou wilt preach the Law and save all flesh 
 5 Who learn the Law, though I shall never hear, 
 5 Dying too soon, who lately longed to die ; 
 I Howbeit I have seen Thee. Know, O King ! 
 ? This is that Blossom on our human tree 
 
 [Which opens once in many myriad years'*^ — 
 But opened, fills the world with Wisdom's scent 
 I And Love's dropped honey ; from thy royal root 
 i A Heavenly Lotus springs : Ah, happy House ! 
 i Yet not all-happy, for a sword must pierce 
 [ Thy bowels for this boy ^^ — whilst thou, sweet Queen ! 
 I Dear to all gods and men for this great birth. 
 Henceforth art grown too sacred for more woe, 
 And life is woe, therefore in seven days 
 Painless thou shalt attain the close of pain." ^^ 
 
 Which fell : for on the seventh evening 
 Queen Maya smiling slept, and waked no more, 
 Passing content to Trayastrinshas-Heaven,'*'* 
 I Where countless Devas worship her and wait 
 I Attendant on that radiant Motherhead. 
 I But for the Babe they found a foster-nurse, 
 ! Princess Mahaprajapati ^'^ — her breast 
 t Nourished with noble milk the lips of Him 
 I Whose lips comfort the Worlds. 
 I When th' eighth year passed^ 
 
 I The careful King bethought to teach his son 
 I All that a Prince should learn, for still he shunned 
 I Tiie too vast presage of those miracles, 
 I The glories and the sufferings of a Buddh. 
 ? So, in full council of his Ministers, 
 
 ,|-.,r«c«™«^— «. 
 
BOOK THE FIRST. 
 
 ^5 
 
 " Who is the wisest man, great sirs," he asked, 
 
 " To teach my Prince that which a Prince sl^ould know ? " 
 
 Whereto gave answer each with instant voice 
 
 " King ! Viswamitra^'' is the wisest one, 
 
 The farthest-seen in Scriptures, and the best 
 
 In learning, and the manual arti, and all." 
 
 Thus Viswamitra came and heard commands ; 
 
 And, on a day found fortunate, the Prince 
 
 Took up his slate of ox-red sandal-wood, 
 
 All-beautified by gems around the rim. 
 
 And sprinkled smooth with dust of emery. 
 
 These took he, and his writing-stick, and stood 
 
 With eyes bent down before the Sage, who said, 
 
 "Child, write this Scripture," speaking slow the verse 
 
 " Gdyatri'' ^^ named, which only High-born hear: — 
 
 Om, iatsaviturvarenyani 
 
 Bhaj'go devasya dhi7tiaJii 
 
 Dhiyo yo na prachodaydt. 
 " Acharya,**^ I write," meekly replied 
 The Prince, and quickly on the dust he drew — 
 Not in one script, but many characters — 
 The sacred verse ; Nagri"'' and Dakshin,^^ Ni/'^ 
 MangaV' Parusha,^ Yava,'' Tirthi,'' Uk,''' 
 Darad,'' Sikhyani,'' Mana,'" Madhyachar," 
 The pictured writings and the speech of signs. 
 Tokens of cave-men and the sea-peoples. 
 Of those who worship snakes beneath the earth, 
 And those who flame adore and the sun's orb,^^ 
 The Magians and the dwellers on the mounds ; 
 Of all the nations all strange scripts he traced 
 One after other with his writing-stick, 
 
l6 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Reading the master's verse in every tongue ; 
 
 And Viswamitra said, " It is enough, 
 
 Let us to numbers. 
 
 After me repeat 
 
 Your numeration till we reach the Lakh.^'^ 
 
 One, two, three, four, to ten, and then by tens 
 
 To hundreds, thousands." After him the child 
 
 Named digits, decads, centuries ; nor paused, 
 
 The round lakh reached, but softly murmured on 
 
 *' Then comes the koti, nahut, ninnahut, 
 
 Khamba, viskhamba, abab, attata, 
 
 To kumuds, gundhikas, and utpalas, 
 
 By pundarikas unto padumas, 
 
 Which last is how you count the utmost grains 
 
 Of Hastagiri ground to finest dust ; 
 
 But beyond that a numeration is. 
 
 The Katha, used to count the stars of night ; 
 
 The Koti-Kdtha, for the ocean drops ; 
 
 Ingga, the caculus of circulars ; 
 Sarvanikchepa, by the which you deal 
 
 With all the sands of Gunga, till we come 
 
 To Antah-Kalpas,^ where the unit is 
 
 The sands of ten crore^^ Gungas. If one seeks 
 
 More comprehensive scale, th' arithmic mounts 
 
 By the Asankya, which is the tale 
 
 Of all the drops that in ten thousand years 
 
 Would fall on all the worlds by daily rain ; 
 
 Thence unto Maha Kalpas, by the which 
 
 The Gods compute their future and their past." 
 
 " *Tis good," the Sage rejoined, '' Most noble Prince, 
 If these thou know'st, needs it that I should teach 
 
BOOK THE FIRST. Ij 
 
 The mensuration of the lineal ? " 
 Humbly the boy replied, " Acharya ! " 
 " Be pleased to hear me. Paraaianus^® ten 
 A parasukshma®' make ; ten of those build 
 The trasarene,^^ and seven trasarenes 
 One mote's-length floating in the beam, seven motes 
 The whisker-point of mouse, and ten of these 
 One likhya f likhyas ten a yuka, ten 
 Yukas'^ a heart of barley, which is held 
 Seven times a wasp-waist ; so unto the grain 
 Of mung^^ and mustard and the barley-corn, 
 Whereof ten give the finger-joint, twelve joints 
 The span, wherefrom we reach the cubit, staff, 
 Bow-length, lance-length ; while twenty lengths of lance 
 Mete what is named a 'breath,"^ which is to say 
 Suck space as man may stride with lungs once filled, 
 Whereof a gow'^ is forty, four times that 
 A yojana ;'"* and. Master ! if it please, 
 I shall recite how many sun-motes lie 
 From end to end within a yojana." 
 Thereat, with instant skill, the little Prince 
 Pronounced the total of the atoms true. 
 [But Viswamitra heard it on his face 
 [Prostrate before the boy ; " For thou," he cried, 
 '' Art Teacher of thy teachers — thou, not I, 
 Art Giiru." Oh, I worship thee, sweet Prince ! 
 That comest to my school only to show 
 Thou knowest all without the books, and know'st 
 Fair reverence besides." 
 
 Which reverence 
 Lord Buddha kept to all his schoolmasters, 
 
1 8 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Albeit beyond their learning taught ; in speech 
 
 Right gentle, yet so wise ; princely of mien, 
 
 Yet softly-mannered ; modest, deferent, 
 
 And tender-hearted, though of fearless blood ; 
 
 No l)older horseman in the youthful band 
 
 E'er rode in gay chase of the shy gazelles ; 
 
 No keener driver of the chariot 
 
 In mimic contest scoured the Palace-courts ; 
 
 Yet in mid-play the boy would ofttimes pause, 
 
 Letting the deer pass free ; would ofttimes yield 
 
 His half- won race because the laboring steeds 
 
 Fetched painful breath ; or if his princely mates 
 
 Saddened to lose, or if some wistful dream 
 
 Swept o'er his thoughts. And ever with the years 
 
 Waxed this compassionateness of our Lord, 
 
 Even as a great tree grows, from two soft leaves 
 
 To spread its shade afar ; but hardly yet 
 
 Knew the young child of sorrow, pain, or tears, 
 
 Save as strange names for things not felt by kings, 
 
 Nor ever to be felt. But it befell 
 
 In the Royal garden on a day of spring, 
 
 A flock of wild swans passed, voyaging north 
 
 To their nest-places on Himala's breast. 
 
 Calling in love-notes down their snowy line 
 
 The bright birds flew, by fond love piloted ; 
 
 And Devadatta," cousin of the Prince, 
 
 Pointed his bow, and loosed a willful shaft 
 
 Which found the wide wing of the foremost swan 
 
 Broad-spread to glide upon the free blue road, 
 
 So that it fell, the bitter arrow fixed. 
 
 Bright scarlet blood-gouts staining the pure plumei 
 
BOOK THE FIRST. I9 
 
 Which seeing, Prince Siddartha took the bird 
 Tenderly up, rested it in his lap — 
 Sitting with knees crossed, as Lord Buddha sits — 
 And, soothing with a touch the wild thing's fright, 
 Composed its ruffled vans, calmed its quick <lieart, 
 Caressed it into peace with light kind palms 
 As soft as plantain-leaves an hour unrolled ; 
 And while the left hand held, the right hand drew 
 The cruel steel forth from the wound and laid 
 Cool leaves and healing honey on the smart. 
 Yet all so little knew the boy of pain 
 That curiously into his wrist he pressed 
 The arrow's barb, and winced to feel it sting, 
 And turned with tears to soothe his bird again. 
 
 Then some one came who said, " My Prince hath shot 
 A swan, which fell among the roses here. 
 He bids me pray you send it. Will you send ? * 
 *^ Nay," quoth Siddartha, " if the bird were dead 
 To send it to the slayer might be well, 
 But the swan lives ; my cousin hath but killed 
 The god-like speed which throl)bed in this white wing." 
 And Devadatta answered, "The wild thing, 
 Living or dead, is his who fetched it down ; 
 'Twas no man's in the clouds, but fall'n 'tis mine, 
 Give me my prize, fair Cousin." Then our Lord 
 Laid the swan's neck beside his own smooth cheek 
 And gravely spake, " Say no ! the bird is mine, 
 The first of myriad things which shall be mine 
 By right of mercy and love's lordliness. 
 For now I know, by what within me stirs. 
 That I shall teach compassion unto men 
 
 t 
 
20 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 And be a speechless world's interpreter, 
 
 Abating this accursed flood of woe, 
 
 Not man's alone ; but, if the Prince disputes, 
 
 Let him submit this matter to the wise 
 
 And we will wait their word." So was it done ; 
 
 In full divan " the business had debate, 
 
 And many thought this thing and many that, 
 
 Till there arose an unknown priest who r;aid, 
 
 "If life be aught, the savior of a life 
 
 Owns more the living thing than he can own 
 
 Who sought to slay — the slayer spoils and wastes. 
 
 The cherisher sustains, give him the bird : " 
 
 Which judgment all found just ; but when the King 
 
 Sought out the sage for honor, he was gone ; 
 
 And some one saw a hooded snake ''^ glide forth, — 
 
 The gods come ofttimes thus ! So our Lord Buddh 
 
 Began his works of mercy. 
 
 Yet not more 
 Knew he as yet of grief than that one bird's, 
 Which, being healed, went joyous to its kind. 
 But on another day the King said, "Come, 
 Sweet son ! and see the pleasaunce of the spring. 
 And how the fruitful earth is wooed to yield 
 Its riches to the reaper ; how my realm — 
 Which shall be thine when the pile flames for me'^ — 
 Feeds all its mouths and keeps the King s chest filled. 
 Fair is the season with new leaves, bright blooms, 
 Green grass, and cries of plough-time." So they rode 
 Into a land of wells and gardens, where, 
 All up and down the lich red loam, the steers 
 Strained their strong shoulders in the cloaking yoke 
 
BOOK THE FIRST. 2S 
 
 Dragging the ploughs ; the fat soil rose and rolled 
 
 In smooth dark waves back from the plough ; who drove 
 
 Planted both feet upon the leaping share 
 
 To make the furrow deep ; among the palms 
 
 The tinkle of the rippling water rang, 
 
 And where it ran the glad earth 'broidered it ' 
 
 With balsams and the spears of lemon-grass. 
 
 Elsewhere were sowers who went forth to sow ; 
 
 And all the jungle laughed with nesting-songs, 
 
 And all the thickets rustled with small life 
 
 Of lizard, bee, beetle, and creeping things 
 
 Pleased at the spring-time. In the mango-sprays^ 
 
 The sun-birJs^^ flashed ; alone at his green forge 
 
 Toiled the loud coppersmith ; bee-eaters hawked 
 
 Chasing the purple butterflies ; beneath, 
 
 Striped squirrels raced, the mynas^^ perked and picked 
 
 The nine brown sisters chattered in the thorn, 
 
 The pied fish-tiger hung above the pool, 
 
 The egrets®^ stalked among the buffaloes, 
 
 The kites sailed circles in the golden air ; 
 
 About the painted temple peacocks flew,^ 
 
 The blue doves cooed from every well, far off^ 
 
 The village drums^^ beat for some marriage-feast ; 
 
 All things spoke peace and plenty, and the Prince 
 
 Saw and rejoiced. But, looking deep, he saw 
 
 The thorns which grow upon this rose of life : 
 
 How the swart peasant sweated for his wage, 
 
 Toiling for leave to live ; and how he urged 
 
 The great-eyed oxen through the flaming hours, 
 
 Goading their velvet flanks : then marked he, too, 
 
 How lizard fed on ant, and snake on him, 
 
22 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 And kite on both ; and how the fish-hawk robbed 
 
 The fish-tiger of that which it had seized ; 
 
 The shrike chasing the bulbul,®^ which did chase ' 
 
 The jeweled butterflies ; till everywhere 
 
 Each slew a slayer and in turn was slain, 
 
 Life living upon death. So the fair show 
 
 Veiled one vast, savage, grim conspiracy 
 
 Of mutual murder, from the worm to man, 
 
 Who himself kills his fellow ; seeing which — 
 
 The hungry ploughman and his laboring kine. 
 
 Their dewlaps blistered with the bitter yoke, 
 
 The rage to live which makes all living strife — 
 
 The Prince Siddartha sighed. " Is this," he said, 
 
 "That happy earth they brought me forth to see? 
 
 How salt with sweat the peasant's bread ! how liard 
 
 The oxen's service ! in the brake how fierce 
 
 The war of weak and strong ! i' th' air what plots ! 
 
 No refuge e'en in water. Go aside 
 
 A space, and let me muse on what ye show." 
 
 So saying, the good Lord Buddha seated him 
 
 Under a jambu-tree,®^ with ankles crossed — 
 
 A.S holy statues sit — and first began 
 
 To meditate this deep disease of life, 
 
 What its far source and whence its remedy. 
 
 So vast a pity filled him, such wide love 
 
 For living things, such passion to heal pain, 
 
 That by their stress his princely spirit passed 
 
 To ecstasy, and, purged from mortal taint 
 
 Of sense and self, the boy attained thereat 
 
 Dhydna,®^ first step of "the path." 
 
 There flew 
 
BOOK THE FIRST, 23 
 
 High overhead that hour five holy ones, 
 Whose free wings falteied as they passed the tree. 
 j "What power superior draws us from our flight? ** 
 They asked, for spirits feel all force divine, 
 And know the sacred presence of the pure. 
 Then, looking downward, they beheld the Buddh 
 Crowned with a rose-hued aureole, intent 
 On thoughts to save ; while from the grove a voice 
 Cried, " Rishis l"' this is He shall help the world. 
 Descend and worship." So the Bright Ones came 
 And sang a song of praise, folding their wings. 
 Then journeyed on, taking good news to Gods. 
 
 But certain from the King seeking the Prince 
 Found him still musing, though the noon was past. 
 And the sun hastened to the western hills : 
 Yet, while all shadows moved, the jambu-tree's 
 Stayed in one quarter, overspreading him, 
 Lest the sloped rays should strike that sacred head ; 
 And he who saw this sight heard a voice say, 
 Amid the blossoms of the rose-apple, 
 " Let be the King's son ! till the shadow goes 
 Forth from his heart my shadow will not shift/* 
 
 " 
 
Book t\)c Seconb. 
 
 Now, when our Lord was come to eighteen years, 
 The King commanded that there should be built 
 Three stately houses, one of hewn square beams 
 With cedar lining, warm for winter days ; 
 One of veined marbles, cool for summer heat ; 
 And one of burned bricks, with blue tiles bedecked. 
 Pleasant at seed-time, when the champaks^ bud — 
 Subha,^ Suramma,^ Ramma,^ were their names. 
 Delicious gardens round about them bloomed, 
 Streams wandered wild and musky thickets stretched. 
 With many a bright pavilion and fair lawn 
 In midst of which Siddartha strayed at will, 
 Some new delight provided every hour ; 
 And happy hours he knew, for life was rich. 
 With youthful blood at quickest ; yet still came 
 The shadows of his meditation back. 
 As the lake's silver dulls with driving clouds. 
 
 Which the King marking, called his Ministers : 
 " Bethink ye, sirs ! how the old Rishi spake," 
 He said, " and what my dream-readers foretold. 
 This boy, more dear to me than mine heart's blood, 
 
 24 
 
BOOK THE SECOND. 2$ 
 
 Shall be of universal dominance, 
 
 Trampling the neck of all his enemies, 
 
 A King of kings — and this is in my heart ; — 
 
 Or he shall tread the sad and lowly path 
 
 Of self-denial and of pious pains, ^, 
 
 Gaining who knows what good, when all is lost 
 
 Worth keeping ; and to this his wistful eyes 
 
 Do still incline amid my palaces. 
 
 But ye are sage, and ye will counsel me ; 
 
 How may his feet be turned to that proud road 
 
 Where they should walk, and all fair signs come true 
 
 Which gave him Earth to rule, if he would rule?" 
 
 The eldest answered, " Maharaja ! ^ love 
 Will cure these thin distempers ; weave the spell 
 Of woman's wiles about his idle heart. 
 What knows this noble boy of beauty yet, 
 Eyes that make heaven forgot, and lips of balm ? 
 Find him soft wives and pretty playfellows ; 
 The thoughts ye cannot stay with brazen chains 
 A girl's hair lightly binds." 
 
 And all thought good, 
 But the King answered, " If we seek him wives. 
 Love chooseth ofttimes with another eye ; 
 And if we bid range Beauty's garden round, 
 To pluck what blossom pleases, he will smile 
 And sweetly shun the joy he knows not of." 
 Then said another, "Roams the barasingh^ 
 Until the fated arrow flies ; for him, 
 As for less lordly spirits, some one charms. 
 Some face will seem a Paradise, some form 
 Fairer than pale Dawn when she wakes the world. 
 
mmaHmammt 
 
 26 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 This do, my King ! Command a festival 
 Where the realm's maids shall be competitors 
 In youth and grace/ and sports that Sakyas use. 
 Let the Prince give the prizes to the fair, 
 And, when the lovely victors pass his seat, 
 There shall be those who mark if one or two 
 Change the fixed sadness of his tender cheek ; 
 So we may choose for Love with Love's own eyes, 
 And cheat his Highness into happiness." 
 This thing seemed good ; wherefore upon a day 
 The criers bade the young and beautiful 
 Pass to the palace, for 'twas in command 
 To hold a court of pleasure, and the Prince 
 Would give the prizes, something rich for all, 
 The richest for the fairest judged. So flocked 
 Kapilavastu's^ maidens to the gate, 
 Eacli with her dark hair newly smoothed and bound, 
 Eyelashes lustred with the soorma-stick,^ 
 Fresh-bathed and scented ; all in shawls and cloths 
 Of gayest ; slender hands and feet new-stained 
 With crimson,'" and the tilka-spots" stamped bright. 
 Fair show it was of all those Indian girls 
 Slow-pacing past the throne with large black eyes 
 Fixed on the ground, for when they saw the Prince 
 More than the awe of Majesty made beat 
 Their fluttering hearts, he sate so passionless. 
 Gentle, but so beyond them. Each maid took 
 With down-dropped lids her gift, afraid to gaze ; 
 And if the people hailed some lovelier one 
 Beyond her rivals worthy royal smiles, 
 She stood like a scared antelope to touch 
 
 -4 
 
BOOK THE SECOND. 
 
 The gracious hand, then fled to join her mates 
 Trembling at favor, so divine he seemed, 
 So high and saint-Hke and above her world. 
 Thus filed they, one bright maid after another, 
 The city's flowers, and all this beauteous marc^ 
 Was ending and the prizes spent, when last 
 Came young Yasodhara,*'^ and they that stood 
 Nearest Siddartha saw the princely. boy 
 Start, as the radiant girl approached. A form 
 Of heavenly mold ; a gait like Parvati's ;" 
 Eyes like a hind's in love-time, face so fair 
 Words cannot paint its spell ; and she alone 
 Gazed full — folding her palms across her breasts— 
 On the boy's gaze, her stately neck unbent. 
 " Is there a gift for me ?" she asked, and smiled. 
 " The gifts are gone," the Prince replied, " yet take 
 This for amends, dear sister, of whose grace 
 Our happy city boasts ; " therewith he loosed 
 The emerald necklet from his throat, and clasped 
 Its green beads round her dark and silk-soft waist ; 
 And their eyes mixed, and from the look sprang love. 
 
 Long after — when enlightenment was full — 
 Lord Buddha — being prayed why thus his heart 
 Took fire at first glance of the Sakya girl. 
 Answered, " We were not strangers, as to us 
 And all it seemed ; in ages long gone by 
 A hunter's son, playing with forest girls 
 By Yamun's^^ springs, where Nandadevi'^ stands, 
 Sate umpire while they raced beneath the firs 
 Like hares at eve that run their playful rings ; 
 
1 
 
 28 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 One with flower-stars crowned he, one with long pkimes 
 Plucked from eyed pheasant and the jungle-cock, 
 One with fir-apples ; but who ran the last 
 Came first for him, and unto her the boy- 
 Gave a tame fawn and his heart's love beside. 
 And in the wood they lived many glad years, 
 And in the wood they undivided died. 
 T.o ! as hid seed shoots after rainless years, 
 So good and evil, pains and pleasures, hates 
 And loves, and all dead deeds, come forth again 
 Bearing bright leaves or dark, sweet fruit or sour. 
 Thus I was he and she Yasodhara ; 
 And while the wheel of birth and death turns round, 
 That which hath been must be between us two." 
 
 But they who watched the Prince at prize-giving 
 Saw and heard all, and told the careful King 
 How sate Siddartha heedless, till there passed 
 Great Suprabuddha's child, Yasodhara ; 
 And how — at sudden sight of her — he changed, 
 And how she gazed on him and be on her, 
 And of the jewel-gift, and what beside 
 Passed in their speaking glance. 
 
 I The fond King smiled 
 
 " Look ! we have found a lure ; take counsel now 
 To fetch therewith our falcon from the clouds. 
 Let messengers be sent to ask the maid 
 In marriage for my son." But it was law 
 With Sakyas. when any asked a maid 
 Of noble house, fair and desirable. 
 He must make good his skill in martial arts 
 
BOOK THE SECOND. 29 
 
 Against all suitors who should challenge it ; 
 
 Nor might this custom break itself for kings. 
 
 Therefore her father spake : " Say to the King, 
 
 The child is sought by princes far and near ; 
 
 If thy most gentle son can bend the bow, 
 
 Sway sword, and back a horse better than they, 
 
 Best would he be in all and best to us : 
 
 But how shall this be, witli his cloistered ways ? " 
 
 Then the King's heart was sore, for now the Prince 
 
 Begged sweet Yasodhara for wife — in vain, 
 
 With Devadatta foremost at the bow, 
 
 Ardjuna^^ master of all fiery steeds. 
 
 And Nanda" chief in sword-play ; but the Prince 
 
 Laughed low and said, " These things, too, I have learned ; 
 
 Make proclamation that thy son will meet 
 
 All comers at their chosen games. I think 
 
 I shall not lose my love for such as these." 
 
 So 'twas given forth that on the seventh day 
 
 The Prince Siddartha summoned whoso would 
 
 To match with him in feats of manliness, 
 
 The victor's crown to be Yasodhara. 
 
 Therefore, upon the seventh day, there went 
 The Sakya lords and town and country round 
 Unto the maidan ;^^ and the maid went too 
 Amid her kinsfolk, carried as a bride, 
 With music, ^^ and with litters gayly dight, 
 And gold-horned oxen, flower-caparisoned.^" 
 Whom Devadatta claimed, of royal line, 
 And Nanda and Ardjuna, noble botli, 
 The flower of all youths there, till the Prince came 
 
3O THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Riding his white horse Kantaka, which neighed^ 
 
 Astonished at this great strange world without : 
 
 Also Siddartha gazed with wondering eyes 
 
 On all those people born beneath the throne, 
 
 Otherwise housed than kings, otherwise fed, 
 
 And yet so like — perchance — in joys and griefs. 
 
 But when the Prince saw sweet Yasodhara, 
 
 Brightly he smiled, and drew his silken rein. 
 
 Leaped to the earth from Kantaka's broad back, 
 
 And cried, " He is not wortliy of this pearl 
 
 Who is not worthiest ; let my rivals prove 
 
 If I have dared too much in seeking her." 
 
 Then Nanda challenged for the arrow-test 
 
 And set a brazen drum six gows away, 
 
 Ardjuna six and Devadatta eight ; 
 
 But Prince Siddartha bade them set his drum 
 
 Ten gows^^ from off the line, until it seemed 
 
 A cowry-shelP for target. Then they loosed. 
 
 And Nanda pierced his drum, Ardjuna his, 
 
 And Devadatta drove a well-aimed shaft 
 
 Through both sides of his mark, so that the crowd 
 
 Marveled and cried ; and sweet Yasodhara 
 
 Dropped the gold sari^^ o'er her fearful eyes, 
 
 Lest she should see her Prince's arrow fail. 
 
 But he, taking their bow of lacquered cane. 
 
 With sinews bound, and strong with silver wire, 
 
 Which none but stalwart arms could draw a span. 
 
 Thrummed it — low laughing — drew the twisted string 
 
 Till the horns kissed, and the thick belly snapped : 
 
 " That is for play, not love," he said ; *' hath none 
 
 A bow more fit for Sakya lords to use ? " 
 
BOOK THE SECOND. 3 1 
 
 And one said, " There is Sinhahanu's bow,'^ 
 
 Kept in the temple since we know not when, 
 
 Which none can string, nor draw if it be strung." 
 
 " Fetch me," he cried, " that weapon of a man ! " 
 
 They brought the ancient bow, wrought of black steel 
 
 Laid with gold tendrils on its branching curves 
 
 I. ike bison-horns ; and twice Siddartha tried 
 
 Its strength across his knee, then spake — " Shoot now 
 
 With this, my cousins ! " but they could not bring 
 
 The stubborn arms a hand's-breadth nigher use ; 
 
 Then the Prince, lightly leaning, bent the bow,*^ 
 
 Slipped home the eye upon the notch, and twanged 
 
 Sharply the cord, which, like an eagle's wing 
 
 Thrilling the air, sang forth so clear and loud 
 
 That feeble folk rt home that day inquired 
 
 " What is this sound ? " and people answered them, 
 
 " It is the sound of Sinhahanu's bow. 
 
 Which the King's son has strung and goes to shoot ; " 
 
 Then fitting fair a shaft, he drew and loosed. 
 
 And the keen arrow clove the sky, and drave 
 
 Right through that farthest drum, nor stayed its flight. 
 
 But skimmed the plain beyond, past reach oi. eye. 
 
 Then Devadatta challen.^ed with the sword, 
 And clove a Talas-tree^*^ six fingers thick ;^ 
 Ardjuna seven ; and Nanda cut through nine i 
 But two such stems together grew, and both 
 Siddartha's blade shred at one flashing stroke, 
 Keen, but so smooth that the straight trunks upstood, 
 And Nanda cried, " His edge turned ! " and the maid 
 Trembled anew seeing the trees erect, 
 
32 
 
 THE LIGHT OF ASIA, 
 
 Until the Devas of the air, v/ho watched, 
 
 Blew light breaths from the south, and both green crowns 
 
 Crashed in the sand, clean-felled. 
 
 Then brought they steeds, 
 High-mettled, nobly- bred, and three times scoured 
 Around the maidan, but white Kantaka 
 I,eft even the fleetest far behind — so swift, 
 That ere the foam fell from hiis mouth to earth 
 Twenty spear-lengths he flew ; but Nanda saici, 
 "We too mip;ht win with such as Kantaka ; 
 Bring an unbroken horse, and let men see 
 Who best can back him." So the syces"^ brought 
 A stallion dark as night, led by three chains, 
 Fierce eyed, with nostrils wide and tossing mane. 
 Unshod, unsaddled, for no rider yet 
 Had crossed him. Three times each young Sdkya 
 Sprang to his mighty back, but the hot steed 
 Furiously reared, and flung them to the plain 
 In dust and shame ; only Ardjuna held 
 His seat awhile, and, bidding loose the chains, 
 Lashed the black flank, and shook the bit, and held 
 The proud jaws fast with grasp of master-hand, 
 So that in storms of wrath and rage and fear 
 The savage stallion circled once the plain 
 Half-tamed ; but sudden turned with naked teeth. 
 Gripped by the foot Ardjuna, tore him down, 
 And would have slain him, but the grooms ran in 
 Fettering the maddened beast. Then all men cried, 
 " Let not Siddartha meddle with this Bhut,"* 
 Whose liver is a tempest, and his blood 
 Red flame ; " but the Prince said. '' Let gro the chains, 
 
 T 
 
BOOK THE SECOND. 33 
 
 Give me his forelock only," which he held 
 With quiet grasp, and, speaking some low wprd, 
 Laid his right palm across the stallion's eyes, 
 And drew it gently down the angry face, 
 And all along the neck and panting flanks, 
 Till men astonished saw the night-black horse 
 Sink his fierce crest and stand subdued and meek, 
 As though he knew our Lord and worshiped him. 
 Nor stirred he while Siddartha mounted, then 
 Went soberly to touch of knee and rein 
 Before all eyes, so that the people said, 
 " Strive no more, for Siddartha is the best." 
 
 And all the suitors answered " He is best ! " 
 And Suprabuddha, father of the maid, 
 Said, " It was in our hearts to find thee best. 
 Being dearest, yet what magic taught thee more 
 Of manhood 'mid thy rose-bowers and thy dreams 
 Than war and chase and world's work bring to these r 
 But wear, fair Prince, the treasure thou hast won." 
 Then at a word the lovely Indian girl 
 Rose from her place above the throng, and took 
 A crown of mogra-flowers^ and lightly drew 
 The veil of black and gold across her brow. 
 Proud pacing past the youths, until she came 
 To where Siddartha stood in grace divine. 
 New lighted from the night-dark steed, which bent 
 Its strong neck meekly underneath his arm. 
 Before the Prince lowly she bowed, and bared 
 Her face celestial beaming with glad love ; 
 Then on his neck she hung the fragrant wreath, 
 9 
 
34 I'HE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 And on his breast she laid her perfect head, 
 And stooped to touch his feet with proud glad eyes, 
 Saying, " Dear Prince, behold me, who am thine ! " 
 And all the throng rejoiced, seeing them pass 
 Hand fast in hand, and heart beating with heart, 
 The veil of black and gold drawn close again. 
 
 Long after — when enlightenment was come^ — 
 They prayed Lord Buddha touching all, and why 
 She wore this black and gold, and stepped so proud. 
 And the World-honored answered, '' Unto me 
 This was unknown, albeit it seemed half known ; 
 For while the wheel of birth and death turns round, 
 Past things and thoughts, and buried lives come back 
 I now remember, myriad rains ago, 
 What time I roamed Himala's hanging woods, 
 A tiger, with my striped and hungry kind ; 
 I, who am Buddh, couched in the kusa grass^* 
 Gazing with green blinked eyes upon the herds 
 Which pastured near and nearer to their death 
 Round my day-lair ; or underneath the stars 
 I roamed for prey, savage, insatiable, 
 Snififing the paths for track of man and deer. 
 Amid the beasts that were my fellows then, 
 Met in deep jungle or by reedy jheel,^^ 
 A tigress, comeliest of the forest, set 
 The males at war ; her hide was lit with gold, 
 Black-broidered like the veil Yasodhara 
 Wore for me ; hot the strife waxed in that wood 
 With tooth and claw, while underneath a neem^^ 
 The fair beast watched us bleed, thus fiercely wooed. 
 
BOOK THE SECOND. jtf 
 
 And I remember, at the end she came 
 
 Snarling past tliis and that torn forest-lord ; 
 
 Which I had conquered, and with fawning jaws 
 
 Licked my quick-heaving flank, and with me went 
 
 Into the wild with proud steys, amorously. 
 
 The wheel of birth and death turns low and high.** 
 
 Therefore the maid was given unto the Prince 
 A wilhng spoil ; and when the stars were good — 
 Mesha,^ the Red Ram, being Lord of heaven — 
 The marriage feast was kept, as Sakyas use, 
 The golden gadi^^ set, the carpet spread, 
 The wedding garlands hung, the arm-threads tied,^ 
 The sweet cake broke, the rice and attar thrown,^^ 
 The two straws floated on the reddened milk, 
 Which, coming close, betokened " love till death ; ** 
 The seven steps taken thrice around the fire, 
 The gifts bestowed on holy men, the alms 
 And temple offerings made, the mantras^^ sung, 
 The garments of the bride and bridegroom tied. 
 Then the gray father spake : " Worshipful Prince, 
 She that was ours henceforth is only thine ; 
 Be good to her, who hath her life in thee." 
 Wherewith they brought home sweet Yasodhara, 
 With songs and trumpets, to the Prince's arms, 
 And love was ail in all. 
 
 Yet not to love 
 Alone trusted the King ; love's prison-house 
 Stately and beautiful he bade them build, 
 So that in all the earth no marvel was 
 Like Vishramvan, the Prince's pleasure-place. 
 
36 THE LIGHT OP ASIA. 
 
 Midway in those wide palace-grounds there rose 
 A verdant hill whose base Rohini^^ bathed, 
 Murmuring adown from Kimalay's broad feet, 
 To bear its tribute into Gunga's^*^ waves. 
 Southward a growth of tamarind trees and sal/* 
 Thick set with pale sky-colored ganthi flowers/' 
 Shut out the world, save if the city's hum 
 Came on the wind no harsher than when bees 
 Hum out of sight in thickets. Northwards soared 
 The stainless ramps of huge Himala's wall,''^ 
 Ranged in white ranks against the blue — untrod, 
 Infinite, wonderful — whose uplands vast, 
 And lifted universe of crest and crag, 
 Shoulder and shelf, green slope and icy horn, 
 Riven ravine, and splintered precipice 
 Led climbing thought higher and higher, until 
 It seemed to stand in heaven and speak with gods. 
 Beneath the snows dark forests spread, sharp laced 
 With leaping cataracts and veiled with clouds : 
 Lower grew rose-oaks and the great fir groves 
 Where echoed pheasant's call and panther's cry, 
 Clatter of wild sheep on the stones, and scream 
 Of circling eagles : under these the plain 
 Gleamed like a praying-carpet at the foot 
 Of those divinest altars. Fronting this 
 The builders set the bright pavilion up. 
 Fair-planted on the terraced hill, with towers 
 On either flank and pillared cloisters round. 
 Its beams were carved with stories of old time^^r" 
 Radha and Krishna and the sylvan girls — *^ 
 Sita** and Hanuman and Draupadi f^ 
 
BOOK THE SECOND. 37 
 
 And on the middle porch God Ganesha, 
 
 With disc and hook — to brinff wisdom and wealth — 
 
 ... I 
 
 Propitious sate, wreathing his sidelong trunk.**^ 
 
 By winding ways of garden and of court 
 
 The inner gate was reached, of marble wrought, 
 
 White with pink veins ; the lintel lazuli. 
 
 The threshold alabaster, anH the doors 
 
 Sandal-wood, cut in pictureri paneling ; 
 
 Whereby to lofty halls and shadowy bowers 
 
 Passed the delighted foot, on stately stairs, 
 
 Through latticed galleries, 'neath painted roofs 
 
 And clustering columns, where cool fountains — fringed 
 
 With lotus and nelumbo^^ — danced, and fish 
 
 Gleamed through their crystal, scarlet, gold, and blue. 
 
 Great-eyed gazelles in sunny alcoves browsed 
 
 The blown red roses ; birds of rainbow wing 
 
 Fluttered among the palms ; doves, green and gray, 
 
 Built their safe nests on gilded cornices ; 
 
 Over the shining pavements peacocks drew 
 
 The splendors of their trains, sedately watched 
 
 By milk-white herons and the small house-owls. 
 
 The plum-necked parrots swung from fruit to fruit ; 
 
 The yellow sun-birds whirred from bloom to bloom. 
 
 The timid lizards on the lattice basked 
 
 Fearless, the squirrels ran to feed from hand. 
 
 For all was peace : the shy black snake, that gives 
 
 Fortune to households, sunned his sleepy coils 
 
 Under the moon-flowers, where the musk-deer played, 
 
 And brown-eyed monkeys chattered to the crows. 
 
 And all this house of love was peopled fair 
 
 With sweet attendance, so that in each part 
 
^8 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 With lovely sights were gentle faces found, 
 Soft speech and willing service, each one glad 
 To gladden, pleased at pleasure, proud to obey ; 
 Till life glided beguiled, like a smooth stream 
 Banked by perpetual flow'rs, Yasodhara 
 Queen of the enchanting Court. 
 
 But innermost, 
 Beyond the richness of those hundred halls, 
 A secret chamber lurked, where skill had spent 
 All lovely fantasies to lull the mind. 
 The entrance of it was a cloistered square — 
 Roofed by the sky, and in the midst a tank — 
 Of milky marble built, and laid with slabs 
 Of milk-white marble ; bordered round the tank 
 And on the steps, and all along the frieze 
 With tender inlaid work of agate-stones. 
 Cool as to tread in summer-time on snows 
 It was to loiter there ; the sunbeams dropped 
 Their gold, and, passing into porch and niche, 
 Softened to shadows, silvery, pale, and dim. 
 As if the very Day paused and grew Eve 
 In love and silence at that bower's gate ; 
 For there beyond the gate the chamber was, 
 Beautiful, sweet ; a wonder of the world ! 
 Soft light from perfumed lamps through windows fell 
 Of nakre^^ and stained stars of lucent film 
 On golden cloths outspread, and silken beds. 
 And heavy splendor of the purdah's'^" fringe. 
 Lifted to take only the loveliest in. 
 Here, whether it was night or day none knew, 
 For always streamed that softened light, more bright 
 
BOOK THE SECOND. 39 
 
 Than sunrise, but as tender as the eve's ; 
 
 And always breathed sweet airs, more joy-givinp 
 
 Than morning's, but as cool as midnight's breath ; 
 
 And night and day lutes sighed, and night and day 
 
 Delicious foods were spread, and dewy fruits, 
 
 Sherbets new chilled with snows of Himalay, 
 
 And sweetmeats made of subtle daintiness, 
 
 With sweet tree-milk in its own ivory cup. 
 
 And night and day served there a chosen band 
 
 Of nautch girls, cup-bearers, and cymbalers, 
 
 Delicate, dark-browed ministers of love, 
 
 Who fanned the sleeping eyes of the happy Prince, 
 
 And when he waked, led back his thoughts to bliss 
 
 With music whispering through the blooms, and charm 
 
 Of amorous songs and dreamy dances, linked 
 
 By chime of ankle-bells and wave of arms 
 
 And silver vina-strings f^ while essences 
 
 Of musk and champak and the blue haze spread 
 
 From burning spice's soothed his soul again 
 
 To drowse by sweet Yas5dhara ; and thus 
 
 Siddartha lived forgetting. 
 
 Furthermore, 
 The King commanded that within those walls 
 No mention should be made of death or age, 
 Sorrow, or pain, or sickness. If one drooped 
 In the lovely Court — her dark glance dim, her feeJ 
 Faint in the dance — the guiltless criminal 
 Passed forth an exile from that Paradise, 
 Lest he should see and suffer at her woe. 
 Bright-eyed intendants watched to execute 
 Sentence on such as spake of the harsh world 
 
^O THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Without, wnere aches and plagues were, tears and fears, 
 
 And wail of mourners, and grim fume of pyres. 
 
 *Twas treason if a thread of silver strayed 
 
 In tress of singing-girl or nautch-dancer ; 
 
 And every dawn the dying rose was plucked, 
 
 The dead leaves hid, all evil sights removed : 
 
 For said the King, " If he shall pass his youth 
 
 Far from such things as move to wistfulness, 
 
 And brooding on the empty eggs of thought, 
 
 The shadow of this fate, too vast for man, 
 
 May fade, belike, and I shall see him grow 
 
 To that great stature of fair sovereignty^' 
 
 When he shall rule all lands — if he will rule— 
 
 The King of kings and glory of his time.** 
 
 Wherefore, around that pleasant prison-house — 
 Where love was jailer and delights its bars. 
 But far removed from sight — the King bade build 
 A massive wall, and in the wall a gate 
 With brazen folding-doors, which but to roll 
 Back on their hinges asked a hundred arms ; 
 Also the noise of that prodigious gate 
 Opening, was heard full half a yojana. 
 And inside this another gate he made. 
 And yet within another — through the three 
 Must one pass if he quit that Pleasure-house. 
 Three mighty gates there were, bolted and barred, 
 And over each was set a faithful watch ; 
 And the King's order said, " Suffer no man 
 To pass the gates, though he should be the Prince : 
 This on your lives — even though it be my son." 
 
iB00ktl)e (5hir&. 
 
 I 
 
 In which calm home of happy life and love 
 Ligged our Lord Buddha, knowing not of woe, 
 Nor want, nor pain, nor plague, nor age, nor death, 
 Save as when sleepers roam dim seas in dreams, 
 And land awearied on the shores of day. 
 Bringing strange merchandise from that black voyage. 
 Thus ofttimes when he lay with gentle head 
 Lulled on the dark breasts of Yasbdhara, 
 Her fond hands fanning slow his sleeping lids. 
 He would start up and cry, " My world ! Oh, world ! 
 I hear ! I know ! I come ! " And she would ask, 
 " What ails my Lord ? " with large eyes terror-struck ; 
 For at such times the pity in his look 
 Was awful, and his visage like a god's. 
 Then would he smile again to stay her tears, 
 And bid the vinas sound ; but once they set 
 A stringed gourd on the sill, there where the wind 
 Could linger o'er its notes and play at will — 
 Wild music makes the wind on silver strings — 
 And those who lay around heard only that ; 
 But Prince Siddartha heard the Devas play, 
 And to his ears they sang such words as these : — 
 
 41 
 
42 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 I'P e are the voices of the wandei'ing wind^ 
 Which moan for rest and rest caji never find s 
 Lo ! as the wind is so is jnortal life, 
 A moafi, a sigh, a sob, a storjii, a strife. 
 
 Wherefore and wheitce we are ye cannot know, 
 Nor where life springs nor whither life doth go ; 
 We are as ye are, ghosts from the inane. 
 What pleasure have we of our changef til pain 7 
 
 What pleasure hast thou of thy changeless bliss f 
 Nay, if love lasted, there were joy in this ; 
 But life's way is the wind's way, all these things 
 Are but brief voices breathed on shifting strings. 
 
 O Maya's son ! because we roam the earth 
 Moan we upon these strings ; we make no fnirth. 
 So many woes we see in many lands. 
 So many streaming eyes and wringing hands. 
 
 Yet mock we while we wail, for, could they hiow^ 
 This life they cling to is but empty show ; 
 ' Twere all as well to bid a cloud to standj 
 Or hold a running river with the hand. 
 
 But thou that art to save, thine hour is nigh ! 
 The sad world waiteth tn its misery. 
 The bliftd luorld stumbleth on its round of paifi ; 
 Rise, Maya's child ! wake I slumber not again ! 
 
 We are the voices of the wandering wind : 
 Wander thou, too, O Prince, thy rest to find ; 
 
BOOK THE THIRD. .43 
 
 Leave love for love of lovers, for woes sake 
 
 Quit state for sorrow, and deliverance j?iake. ^ 
 
 So sigh we, passing o'er the silver strings, 
 
 To thee who know'st not yet of earthly things ; 
 
 So say we ; mocking, as we pass away. 
 
 These lovely shadows wherewith thou dost play. 
 
 Thereafter it befell he sate at eve 
 Amid his beauteous Court, holding the hand 
 Of sweet Yasodhara, and some maid told — 
 With breaks of music when her rich voice dropped — 
 An ancient tale to speed the hour of dusk, 
 Of love, and of a magic horse, and lands 
 Wonderful, distant, where pale peoples dwelled, 
 And where the sun at night sank into seas. 
 Then spake he, sighing, " Chitra^ brings me back 
 The wind's song in the strings with that fair tale. 
 Give her, Yasodhara, thy pearl for thanks. 
 But thou, my pearl ! is there so wide a world ? 
 .Is there a land which sees the great sun roll 
 Into the waves, and are there hearts like ours, 
 Countless, unknown, not happy — it may be — 
 Whom we might succor if we knew of them ? 
 Ofttimes I marvel, as the Lord of day 
 Treads from the east his kingly road of gold. 
 Who first on the world's edge hath hailed his beam, 
 The children of the morning ; oftentimes, 
 Even in thine arms and on thy breasts, bright wife. 
 Sore have I panted, at the sun's decline. 
 To pass with him into that crimson west 
 
44 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 And see the peoples of the evening. 
 
 There must be many we should love — how else ? 
 
 Now have I in this hour an ache, at last, 
 
 Thy soft lips cannot kiss away : oh, girl ! 
 
 O Chitra ! you that know of fairyland ! 
 
 Where tether they that swift steed of the tale ? 
 
 My palace for one day upon his back, 
 
 To ride and ride and see the spread of the earth ! 
 
 Nay, if I had yon callow vulture's plumes — 
 
 The carrion heir of wider realms than mine — 
 
 How would I stretch for topmost Himalay, 
 
 Light where the rose-gleam lingers on those snows, 
 
 And strain my gaze with searching what is round ! 
 
 Why have I never seen and never sought ? 
 
 Tell me what lies beyond our brazen gates." 
 
 Then one replied, " The city first, fair Prince ! 
 The temples, and the gardens, and the groves, 
 And then the fields, and afterwards fresh fields, 
 With nullahs,'^ maidans,^ jungle, koss on koss ;'* 
 And next King Bimbsdra's realm, and then 
 The vast flat world, with crores on crores^ of folk.** 
 " Good," said Siddartha, " let the word be sent 
 That Channa yoke my chariot — at noon 
 To-morrow I shall ride and see beyond." 
 
 Whereof they told the King : ** Our Lord, thy son, 
 Wills that his chariot be yoked at noon, 
 That he may ride abroad and see mankind." 
 
 " Yea ! " spake the careful King, " 'tis time he see ! 
 
BOOK THE THIIxD. 45 
 
 But let the criers go about and bid 
 
 My city deck itself, so there be met 
 
 No noisome sight ; and let none blind or maimed, 
 
 None that is sick or stricken deep in years, 
 
 No leper, and no feeble folk come forth." 
 
 Therefore the stones were swept, and up and down 
 
 The water-carriers sprinkled all the streets 
 
 From spirting skins,^ the housewives scattered fresh 
 
 Red powder on their thresholds, strung new wreaths, 
 
 And trimmed the tulsi-bush' before their doors. 
 
 The paintings on the walls were heightened up 
 
 With liberal brush, the trees set thick with flags. 
 
 The idols gilded ; in the four-went ways 
 
 Suryadeva^ and the great gods shone 
 
 'Mid shrines of leaves ; so that the city seemed 
 
 A capital of some enchanted land. 
 
 Also the criers passed, with drum and gong, 
 
 Proclaiming loudly, " Ho ! all citizens. 
 
 The King commands that there be seen to-day 
 
 No evil sight : let no one blind or maimed. 
 
 None that is sick or stricken deep in years, 
 
 No leper, and no feeble folk go forth. 
 
 Let none, too, burn his dead nor bring them out 
 
 Till nightfall. Thus Suddhodana commands." 
 
 So all was comely and the houses trim 
 Throughout Kapilavastu, while the Prince 
 Came forth in painted car, which two steers drew,' 
 Snow-white, with swinging dewlaps and huge humps 
 Wrinkled against the carved and lacquered yoke. 
 Goodly it was to mark the people's joy 
 
46 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Greeting their Prince ; and glad Siddartha waxed 
 At sight of all those liege and friendly folk 
 Bright-clad'° and laughing as if life were good. 
 *' Fair is the world," he said, " it likes me well ! 
 And light and kind these men that are not kings, 
 And sweet my sisters here, who toil and tend ; 
 What have I done for these to make them thus ? 
 Why, if I love them, should those children know ? 
 I pray take up yon pretty Sakya boy 
 Who flung us flowers, and let him ride with me. 
 How good it is to reign in realms like this ! 
 Kow simple pleasure is, if these be pleased 
 Because I come abroad ! How many thing:; 
 I need not if such little households hold 
 Enough to make our city full of smiles ! 
 Drive, Cbanna ! through the gates, and let me see 
 More of this gracious world I have not known." 
 
 So passed they through the gates, a joyous crowd 
 Thronging about the wheels, whereof some ran 
 Before the oxen, throwing wreaths, some stroked 
 Their silken flanks, some brought them rice and cakes 
 All crying, ^' Jai ! jai !^^ for our noble Prince ! " 
 Thus all the path was kept with gladsome looks 
 And filled with fair sights — for the King's word was 
 That such should be — when midway in the road, 
 Slow tottering from the hovel where he hid, 
 Crept forth a wretch in rags, haggard and foul, 
 An old, old man, whose shriveled skin, sun-tanned, 
 Clung like a beast's hide to his fleshless bones. 
 Bent was his back with load of many days, 
 
BOOK THE THKvD. 
 
 His eyepits red with rust of ancient tears, 
 
 His dim orbs blear with rheum, his toothless jaws 
 
 Wagging with palsy and the fright to see 
 
 So many and such joy. One skinny hand 
 
 Clutched a worn staff to prop his quavering limbs, 
 
 And one was pressed upon the ridge of ribs 
 
 Whence came in gasps the heavy painful breath. 
 
 " Alms ! " moaned he, *' give, good people ! for I die 
 
 To-morrow or the next day ! " then the cough 
 
 Choked him, but still he stretched his palm, and stood 
 
 Blinking, and groaning 'mid his spasms, *' Alms ! " 
 
 Then those around had wrenched his feeble feet 
 
 Aside, and thrust him. from the road again, 
 
 Saying, " The Prince ! dost see ? get to thy lair ! " 
 
 But that Siddartha cried, " Let be ! let be ! 
 
 Channa ! what thing is this who seems a man, 
 
 Yet surely only seems, being so bowed, 
 
 So miserable, so horrible, so sad ? 
 
 Are men born sometimes thus ? What meaneth he 
 
 Moaning * to-morrow or next day I die ?' 
 
 Finds he no food that so his bones jut forth ? 
 
 What woe hath happened to this piteous one ? ** 
 
 Then answer made the charioteer, " Sweet Prince ! 
 
 This is no other than an aged man. 
 
 Some fourscore years ago his back was straight, 
 
 His eye bright, and his body goodly : now 
 
 The thievish years have sucked his sap away, 
 
 Pillaged his strength and filched his will and wit ; 
 
 His lamp has lost its oil, the wick burns black ; 
 
 What life he keeps is one poor lingering spark 
 
 Which flickers for the finish : such is age ; 
 
 47 
 
i_ 
 
 48 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Why should your Highness heed ? " Then spake the 
 
 Prince — 
 ** But shall this come to others, or to all, 
 Or is it rare that one should be as he ? " 
 " Most noble," answered Channa, " even as he, 
 Will all these grow if they shall live so long." 
 "But," quoth the Prince, " if I shall live as long 
 Shall I be thus ; and if Yas6dhara 
 Live fourscore years, is this old age for her, 
 Jalini,'=^ little Hasta,'' Gautami,'* 
 And Gunga,^^ and the others ? " " Yea, great Sir ! '* 
 The charioteer replied. Then spake the Prince : 
 " Turn back, and drive me to my house again ! 
 I have seen that I did not think to see." 
 
 Which pondering, to his beauteous Court returned^ 
 Wistful Siddartha, sad of mien and mood ; 
 Nor tasted he the white cakes nor the fruits 
 Spread for the evening feast, nor once looked up 
 While the best palace-dancers strove to charm : 
 Nor spake — save one sad thing — when wofully 
 Yasbdhara sank to his feet and wept, 
 Sighing, " Hath not my Lord comfort in me ? " 
 *' Ah, Sweet ! " he said, " such comfort that my soul 
 Aches, thinking it must end, for it will end,** 
 And we shall both grow old, Yasbdhara ! 
 Loveless, unlovely, weak, and old, and bowed. 
 Nay, though we locked up love and life with lips 
 So close that night and day our breaths grew one, 
 Time would thrust in between to filch away 
 My passion and thy grace, as black Night steals 
 
BOOK THE THIRD. 49 
 
 The rose-gleams from yon peak, which fade to gray 
 And are not seen to fade. This have I found, 
 And all my heart is darkened with its dread, 
 And all my heart is fixed to think how Love 
 Might save its sweetness from the slayer, Time, 
 Who makes men old." So through that night he sate 
 Sleepless, uncomforted. 
 
 And all that night 
 The King Suddhodana dreamed troublous dreams. 
 The first fear of his vision was a flag 
 Broad, glorious, glistening with a golden sun. 
 The mark of Indra ;^^ but a strong wind blew, 
 Rending its folds divine, and dashing it 
 Into the dust ; whereat a concourse came 
 Of shadowy Ones, who took the spoiled silk up 
 And bore it eastward from the city gates. 
 The second fear was ten huge elephants. 
 With silver tusks and feet that shook the earth, 
 Trampling the southern road in mighty march ; 
 And he who sate upon the foremost beast 
 Was the King's son — the others followed him. 
 The third fear of the vision was a car. 
 Shining with blinding light, which four steeds drew, 
 Snorting white smoke and champing fiery foam ; 
 And in the car the Prince Siddartha sate. 
 The fourth fear was a wheel which turned and turned, 
 With nave of burning gold and jeweled spokes, 
 And strange things written on the binding tire. 
 Which seemed both fire and music as it whirled. 
 The fifth fear was a mighty drum, set down 
 Midway between the city and the hills, 
 
50 THE LIGHT OF ASIA, 
 
 On which the Prince beat with an iron mace, 
 
 So that the sound pealed Hke a thunder-storm, 
 
 Rolling around ihe sky and far away. 
 
 The sixth fear was a tower, which rose and rose 
 
 High o'er the city till its stately head 
 
 Shone crowned with clouds, and on the top the Prince 
 
 Stood, scattering from both hands, this way and that, 
 
 Gems of most lovely light, as if it rained 
 
 Jacinths and rubies ; and the whole world came. 
 
 Striving to seize those treasures as they fell 
 
 Towards the four quarters. But the seventh fear was 
 
 A noise of wailing, and behold six men 
 
 Who wept and gnashed their teeth, and laid their palms 
 
 Upon their mouths, walking disconsolate. 
 
 These seven fears made the vision of his sleep, 
 But none of all his wisest dream-readers 
 Could tell their meaning. Then the King was wroth. 
 Saying, " There cometh evil to my house. 
 And none of ye have wit to help me know 
 What the great gods portend sending me this." 
 So in the city men went sorrowful 
 Because the King had dreamed seven signs of fear 
 Which none could read ; but to the gate there came 
 An aged man, in robe of deer-skin clad. 
 By guise a herm.it, known to none ; he cried, 
 " Bring me before the King, for I can read 
 The vision of his sleep ; " who, when he heard 
 The sevenfold mysteries of the midnight dream. 
 Bowed reverent and said, " O Maharaj ! 
 I hail this favored House, whence shall arise 
 
mmm 
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 5I 
 
 A wider-reaching splendor than the sun's ! | 
 
 Lo ! all these seven fears are seven joys, 
 
 Whereof the first, where thou didst see a flag — 
 
 Broad, glorious, gilt with Indra's badge — cast down 
 
 And carried out, did signify the end 
 
 Of old faiths and beginning of the new, 
 
 For there is change with gods not less than men, 
 
 And as the days pass kalpas pass at length. 
 
 The ten great elephants that shook the earth 
 
 The ten great gifts of wisdom signify,^^ 
 
 In strength whereof the Prince shall quit his state 
 
 And shake the world with passage of the Truth. 
 
 The four flame-breathing horses of the car 
 
 Are those four fearless virtues^^ v/hich shall bring 
 
 Thy son from doubt and gloom to gladsome light ; 
 
 The wheel that turned with nave of burning gold 
 
 Was that most precious Wheel of perfect Law 
 
 Which he shall turn in sight of all the world. 
 
 The mighty drum whereon the Prince did beat, 
 
 Till the sound filled all lands, doth signify 
 
 The thunder of the preaching of the Word 
 
 Which he shall preach ; the tower that grew to heaven 
 
 The growing of the Gospel of this Buddh 
 
 Sets forth ; and those rare jewels scattered thence 
 
 The untold treasures are of that good Law 
 
 To gods and men dear and desirable. 
 
 Such is the interpretation of the tower ; 
 
 But for those six men weeping with shut mouths. 
 
 They are the six chief teachers whom thy son 
 
 Shall, with bright truth and speech unanswerable, 
 
 Convince of foolishness. O King ! rejoice ; 
 
 The fortune of my Lord the Prince is more 
 
52 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Than kingdoms, and his hermit-rags will be 
 
 Beyond fine cloths of gold. This was thy dream ! 
 
 And in seven nights and days these things shall fall." 
 
 So spake the holy man, and lowly made 
 
 The eight prostrations, touching thrice the ground ; 
 
 Then turned and passed ; but when the King bade send 
 
 A rich gift after him, the messengers 
 
 Brought word, " We came to where he entered in 
 
 At Chandra's temple,^'' but within was none 
 
 Save a gray owl which fluttered from the shrine." 
 
 The gods come sometimes thus. 
 
 But the sad King 
 Marveled, and gave command that new delights 
 Be compassed to inthrall Siddartha's heart 
 Amid those dancers of his pleasure-house, 
 Also he set at all the brazen doors 
 A doubled guard. 
 
 Yet who shall shut out Fate ? 
 
 For once again the spirit of the Prince 
 Was moved to see this world beyond his gates, 
 This life of man, so pleasant if its waves 
 Ran not to waste and woful finishing 
 In Time's dry sands. " I pray you let me view 
 Our city as it is," such was his prayer 
 To King Suddhodana. " Your Majesty 
 Tn tender heed hath warned the folk before 
 To put away ill things and common sights. 
 And make their faces glad to gladden me, 
 And all the causeways gay ; yet have I learned 
 This is not daily life, and if I stand 
 
BOOK THE THIRD. 53 
 
 Nearest, my father, to the realm and thee, \- 
 
 Fain would I know the people and the streets, 
 Their simple usual ways, and work-day deeds, 
 And lives which those men live who are not kings. 
 Give me good leave, dear Lord ! to pass unknown 
 Beyond my happy gardens ; I shall come 
 The more contented to their peace again, 
 Or wiser, father, if not well content. 
 Therefore, I pray thee, let me go at will 
 To-morrow, with my servants, through the streets." 
 And the King said, among his Ministers, 
 *' Belike this second flight may mend the first. 
 Note how the falcon starts at every sight 
 New from his hood, but what a quiet eye 
 Cometh of freedom ; let my son see all. 
 And bid them bring me tidings of his mind." 
 
 Thus on the morrow, when the noon was come, 
 The Prince and Channa passed beyond the gates. 
 Which opened to the signet of the King ; 
 Yet knew not they who rolled the great doors back 
 It was the King's son in that merchant's robe,^^ 
 And in the clerkly dress^^ his charioteer. 
 Forth fared they by the common way afoot, 
 Mingling with all the Sakya citizens. 
 Seeing the glad and sad things of the town : 
 The painted streets alive with hum of noon, 
 The traders cross-legged *mid their spice and grain,^ 
 The buyers with their money in the cloth, ^^ 
 The war of words to cheapen this or that,*^' 
 The shout to clear the road, ^^ the huge stone wheels. 
 The strong slow oxen and their rustling loads, 
 
4- 
 
 54 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 The singing bearers with the palanquins,^ 
 
 The broad-necked hamals^ sweating in the sun, 
 
 The housewives bearing water from the well 
 
 With balanced chatties, and athwart their hips 
 
 The black-eyed babes ; ^^ the fly-swarmed sweetmeat 
 
 shops,^ 
 The weaver at his loom,^' the cotton-bow 
 Twanging,^^ the millstones grinding meal, the dogs 
 Prowling for orts, the skillful armorer 
 With tong and hammer linking shirts of mail, 
 The blacksmith with a mattock and a spear 
 Reddening together in his coals, the school 
 Where round their Giirii, in a grave half-moon, 
 The Sakya children sang the mantras through, 
 And learned the greater and the lesser gods ; ^^ 
 The dyers stretching waistcloths in the sun ^ 
 Wet from the vats — orange, and rose, and green ; 
 The soldiers clanking past with swords and shields, 
 The camel-drivers rocking on the humps. 
 The Brahmin proud,^^ the martial Kshatriya,^® 
 The humble toiling Sudra ;^^ here a throng 
 Gathered to watch some chattering snake-tamer 
 Wind round his wrist the living jewelry 
 Of asp and nag,^ or charm the hooded death 
 To angry dance with drone of beaded gourd ; ^^ 
 There a long line of drums and horns, which went 
 With steeds gay painted and silk canopies. 
 To bring the young bride home ; and here a wife 
 Stealing with cakes and garlands to the god 
 To pray her husband's safe return from trade, 
 Or beg a boy next birth ;"" hard by the booths 
 
J 
 
 ■■•■ ■ 
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 55 
 
 Where the swart potters beat the noisy brass 
 For lamps and lotas ; '^^ thence, by temple walls 
 And gateways, to the river and the bridge 
 Under the city walls. 
 
 These had they passed 
 When from the roadside moaned a mournful voice, 
 " Help, masters ! lift me to my feet ; oh, help ! 
 Or I shall die before I reach my house ! " 
 A stricken wretch it was, whose quivering frame, 
 Caught by some deadly plague, lay in the dust 
 Writhing, with fiery purple blotches specked ; 
 The chill sweat beaded on his brow, his mouth 
 Was dragged awry with twitchings of sore pain, 
 The wild eyes swam with inward agony. 
 Gasping, he clutched the grass to rise, and rose 
 Half-way, then sank, with quaking feeble limbs 
 And scream of terror, crying, "Ah, the pain ? 
 Good people, help ! " whereon Siddartha ran. 
 Lifted the woful man with tender hands, 
 With sweet looks laid the sick head on his knee. 
 And while his soft touch comforted the wretch, 
 Asked, " Brother, what is ill with thee? what harm 
 Hath fallen ? wherefore canst thou not arise ? 
 Why is it, Channa, that he pants and moans, 
 And gasps to speak and sighs so pitiful ? " 
 Then spake the charioteer : " Great Prince ! this man 
 Is smitten with some pest ; his elements 
 Are all confounded ; in his veins the blood, 
 Which ran a wholesome river, leaps and boils 
 A fiery flood ; his heart, which kept good time, 
 Beats like an ill-played drum-skin, quick and slow ; 
 
56 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 His sinews slacken like a bow-string slipped ; 
 
 The strength is gone from ham, and loin, and neck, 
 
 And all the grace and joy of manhood fled : 
 
 This is a sick man with the fit upon him. 
 
 See how he plucks and plucks to seize his grief, 
 
 And rolls his bloodshot orbs, and grinds his teeth, 
 
 And draws his breath as if 'twere choking smoke. 
 
 Lo ! now he would be dead, but shall not die 
 
 Until the plague hath had its work in him. 
 
 Killing the nerves which die before the life ; 
 
 Then, when his strings have cracked with agony 
 
 And all his bones are empty of the sense 
 
 To ache, the plague will quit and light elsewhere. 
 
 Oh, sir ! it is not good to hold him so ! 
 
 The harm may pass, and strike thee, even thee." 
 
 But spake the Prince, still comforting the man, 
 
 " And are there others, are there many thus ? 
 
 Or might it be to me as now with him ?" 
 
 " Great Lord ! " answered the charioteer, " this comes 
 
 In many forms to all men ; griefs and wounds, 
 
 Sickness and tetters, palsies, leprosies. 
 
 Hot fevers, watery wastings, issues, blains 
 
 Befall all flesh and enter everywhere." 
 
 " Come such ills unobserved ?" the Prince inquired. 
 
 And Channa said, " Like the sly snake they come 
 
 That stings unseen ; like the striped murderer,'*^ 
 
 Who waits to spring from the Karunda bush,"''' 
 
 Hiding beside the jungle path ; or like 
 
 The lightning, striking these and sparing those. 
 
 As chance may send." 
 
 " Then all men live in fear ? " 
 
BOOK THE THIRD. 57 
 
 " So live they, Prince ! '* 
 
 " And none can say, * I sleep 
 Happy and whole to-night, and so shall wake ? ' " 
 ** None say it." 
 
 " And the end of many aches, 
 Which come unseen, and will come when they come, 
 Is this, a broken body and sad mind, 
 And so old age ? " 
 
 " Yea, if men last as long." 
 " But if they cannot bear their agonies, 
 Or if they will not bear, and seek a term ; 
 Or if they bear, and be, as this man is, 
 Too weak except for groans, and so still live, 
 And growing old, grow older, then what end ? '* 
 " They die, Prince." 
 
 " Die ? " 
 
 " Yea, at the last comes death, 
 In whatsoever way, whatever hour. 
 Some few grow old, most suffer and fall sick, 
 But all must die — behold, where comes the Dead !" 
 
 Then did Siddartha raise his eyes, and see 
 Fast pacing towards the river brink a band 
 Of wailing people, foremost one who swung 
 An earthen bowl with lighted coals,^ behind 
 The kinsmen shorn,^^ with mourning marks, ungirt. 
 Crying aloud, " O Rama,^ Rama, hear ! 
 Call upon Rama, brothers ; " next the bier. 
 Knit of four poles with bamboos interlaced, 
 Whereon lay, stark and stiff, feet foremost, lean, 
 Chapfallen, sightless, hollow-flanked, a-grin. 
 
58 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Sprinkled with red and yellow dust — the Dead, 
 Whom at the four-went ways they turned head first. 
 And crying " Rama, Rama ! " carried on 
 To where a pile was reared beside the stream ;" 
 Thereon they laid him, building fuel up — 
 Good sleep hath one that slumbers on that bed ! 
 ' He shall not wake for cold albeit he lies 
 Naked to all the airs — for soon they set 
 The red flame to the corners four, which crept, 
 And licked, and flickered, finding out his flesh 
 And feeding on it with swift hissing tongues. 
 And crackle of parched skin, and snap of joint ; 
 Till the fat smoke thinned and the ashes sank 
 Scarlet and gray, with here and there a bone 
 White midst the gray — the total of the man. 
 
 Then spake the Prince : " Is this the end which comes 
 To all who live ? " 
 
 ** This is the end that comes 
 To all," quoth Channa ; "he upon the pyre — 
 Whose remnants are so petty that the crows 
 Caw hungrily, then quit the fruitless feast — 
 Ate, drank, laughed, loved, and lived, and liked life well. 
 Then came — who knows ? — some gust of jungle wind. 
 A stumble on the path, a taint in the tank, 
 A snake's nip, half a span of angry steel, 
 A chill, a fishbone, or a falling tile. 
 And life was over and the man is dead ; 
 No appetites, no pleasures, and no pains 
 Hath such ; the kiss upon his lips is nought, 
 The fire-scorch nought ; he smelleth not his flesh 
 
BOOK THE THIRD. 59 
 
 A-roast, nor yet tlie sandal and the spice 
 
 They burn ; the taste is emptied from his mouth, 
 
 The hearing of his ears is clogged, the sight 
 
 Is blinded in his eyes ; those whom he loved 
 
 Wail desolate, for even that must go, 
 
 The body, which was lamp unto the life, 
 
 Or worms will have a horrid feast of it. 
 
 Here is the common destiny of flesh : 
 
 The high and low, the good and bad, must die, 
 
 And then, 'tis taught, begin anew and live 
 
 Somewhere, somehow, — who knows ? — and so again 
 
 The pangs, the parting, and the lighted pile : — 
 
 Such is man's round." ^ 
 
 But lo 1 Siddartha turned 
 Eyes gleaming with divine tears to the sky, 
 Eyes lit with heavenly pity to the earth ; 
 From sky to earth he looked, from earth to sky, 
 As if his spirit sought in lonely flight 
 Some far-off vision, linking this and that, 
 Lost — past — but searchable, but seen, but known. 
 Then cried he, while his lifted countenance 
 Glowed with the burning passion of a love 
 Unspeakable, the ardor of a hope 
 Boundless, insatiate : " Oh ! suffering world. 
 Oh ! known and unknown of my common flesh, 
 Caught in this common net of death and woe, 
 And life which binds to both ! I see, I feel 
 The vastness of the agony of earth. 
 The vainness of its joys, the mockery 
 Of all its best, the anguish of its worst ; 
 Since pleasures end in pain, and youth in age, 
 
6o THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 And love in loss, and life in hateful death, 
 
 And death in unknown lives, which will but yoke 
 
 Men to their wheel again to whirl the round 
 
 Of false delights and woes that are not false. 
 
 Me too this lure hath cheated, so it seemed 
 
 Lovely to live, and life a sunlit stream 
 
 Forever flowing in a changeless peace ; 
 
 Whereas the foolish ripple of the flood 
 
 Dances so lightly down by bloom and lawn 
 
 Only to pour its crystal quicklier 
 
 Into the foul salt sea. The veil is rent 
 
 Which blinded me ! I am as all these men 
 
 Who cry upon their gods and are not heard 
 
 Or are not heeded — yet there must be aid ! 
 
 For them and me and all there must be help » 
 
 Perchance the gods have need of help themselves 
 
 Being so feeble that when sad lips cry 
 
 They cannot save ! I would not let one cry 
 
 Whom I could save ! How can it be that Brahm ** 
 
 Would make a world and keep it miserable, 
 
 Since, if all-powerful, he leaves it so. 
 
 He is not good, and if not powerful, 
 
 He is not God ? — Channa ! lead home again ! 
 
 It is enough ! mine eyes have seen enough ! '* 
 
 Which when the King heard, at the gates he set 
 A triple guard, and bade no man should pass 
 By day or night, issuing or entering in. 
 Until the days were numbered of that dreara. 
 
J300k t\)C iToxtrtl). 
 
 But when the days were numbered, then befell 
 The parting of our Lord — which was to be — 
 Whereby came wailing in the Golden Home, 
 Woe to the King and sorrow o'er the land. 
 But for all flesh deliverance, and that Law 
 Which — whoso hears — the same shall make him free. 
 
 Softly the Indian night sinks on the plains 
 At full moon in the month of Chaitra shud,^ 
 When mangoes redden and the asoka buds^ 
 Sweeten the breeze, and Rama's birthday comes,^ 
 And all the fields are glad and all the towns. 
 Softly that night fell over Vishramvan, 
 Fragrant with blooms and jeweled thick with stars, 
 And cool with mountain airs sighing adown 
 From snow-flats on Himala high-outspread ; 
 For the moon swung above the eastern peaks, 
 Climbing the spangled vault, and lighting clear 
 Rohini's ripples and the hills and plains, 
 And all the sleeping land, and near at hand 
 Silvering those roof-tops of the pleasure-house, 
 Where noth,ing stirred nor sign of watching was. 
 Save at the outer gates whose warders cried 
 
 61 
 
62 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Mudra!' the watchword, and the countersign 
 Angaria^ and the watch-drums beat a round ; 
 Whereat the earth lay still, except for call 
 Of prowling jackals, and the ceaseless trill 
 Of crickets on the garden grounds. 
 
 Within— 
 Where the moon glittered through the lace-worked stone, 
 Lighting the walls of pearl-shell and the floors 
 Paved with veined marble — softly fell her beams 
 On such rare company of Indian girls, 
 It seemed some chamber sweet in Paradise 
 Where Devas® rested. All the chosen ones 
 Of Prince Siddartha's pleasure-home were there, 
 The brightest and most faithful of the Court, 
 Each form so lovely in the peace of sleep, 
 That you had said " This is the pearl of all '. '\ 
 Save that beside her or beyond her lay 
 Fairer and fairer, till the pleasured gaze 
 Roamed o'er that feast of beauty as it roams 
 From gem to gem in some great goldsmith- work, 
 Caught by each color till the next is seen. 
 With careless grace they lay. their soft brown limbs 
 Part hidden, part revealed ; their glossy hair 
 Bound back with gold or flowers, or flowing loose 
 In black waves down the shapely nape and neck. 
 Lulled into pleasant dreams by happy toils, 
 They slept, no wearier than jeweled birds 
 Which sing and love all day, then under wing 
 Fold head till morn bids sing and love again. 
 Lamps of chased silver swinging from the roof 
 
1 
 
 BOOK THE FOURTH. 6^ 
 
 In silver chains, and fed with perfumed oils, 
 
 Made with the moonbeams tender lights and shades, 
 
 Whereby were seen the perfect lines of grace, 
 
 The bosom's placid heave, the soft stained palms 
 
 Drooping or clasped, the faces fair and dark, 
 
 The great arched brows, the parted lips, the teeth 
 
 Like pearls a merchant picks to make a string, 
 
 The satin-lidded eyes, v/ith lashes dropped 
 
 Sweeping the delicate cheeks, the rounded wrists. 
 
 The smooth small feet with bells and bangles decked, 
 
 Tinkling low music where some sleeper moved, 
 
 Breaking her smiling dream of some new dance 
 
 Praised by the Prince, some magic ring to find. 
 
 Some fairy love-gift. Here one lay full-length, 
 
 Her vina by her cheek, and in its strings 
 
 The little fingers still all interlaced 
 
 As when the last notes of her light song played 
 
 Those radiant eyes to sleep and sealed her own. 
 
 Another slumbered folding in her arms 
 
 A desert-antelope, its slender head 
 
 Buried with back-sloped horns between her breasts. 
 
 Soft nestling ; it was eating — when both drowsed — 
 
 Red roses, and her loosening hand still held 
 
 A rose half-mumbled, while a rose-leaf curled 
 
 Between the deer's lips. Here two friends had dozed 
 
 Together, weaving mogra-buds, which bound 
 
 Their sister-sweetness in a starry chain, 
 
 Linking them limb to limb and heart to heart 
 
 One pillowed on the blossoms, one on her. 
 
 Another, ere she slept, was stringing stones 
 
 To make a necklet — agate, onyx, sard. 
 
64 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Coral, and moonstone — round her wrist it gleamed 
 A coil of splendid color, while she held, 
 Unthreaded yet, the bead to close it up, 
 Green turkis, carved with golden gods and scripts. 
 Lulled by the cadence of the garden stream, 
 Thus lay they on the clustered carpets, each 
 A girlish rose with shut leaves, waiting dawn 
 To open and make daylight beautiful. 
 This was the antechamber of tlie Prince ; 
 But at the purdah's fringe the sweetest slept — 
 Gunga and Gotama — chief ministers 
 In that still house of love. 
 
 The purdah hung, 
 Crimson and blue, with broidered threads of gold. 
 Across a portal carved in sandal- wood, 
 Whence by three steps the way was to the bower 
 Of inmost splendor, and the marriage-couch 
 Set on a dais soft with silver cloths, 
 Where the foot fell as though it trod on piles 
 Of neem-blooms. All the walls were plates of pearl, 
 Cut shapely from the shells of Lanka V wave ; 
 And o'er the alabaster roof there ran 
 Rich inlayings of lotus and of bird, 
 Wrought in skilled work of lazulite and jade, 
 Jacinth and jasper ; woven round the dome. 
 And down the sides, and all about the frames 
 Wherein were set the fretted lattices, 
 Through which there breathed, with moonlight and cool 
 
 airs, 
 Scents from the shell-flowers and the jasmine sprays ; 
 Not bringing thither grace or tenderness 
 
"i~" 
 
 BOOK THE FOURTH. 65 
 
 Sweeter than shed from those fair presences 
 Within the place — the beauteous Sakya Prince, 
 And hers, the stately, bright Yas6dhara. 
 
 Half risen from her soft nest at his side, 
 
 The chuddah* fallen to her waist, her brow 
 
 Laid in both palms, the lovely Princess leaned 
 
 With heaving bosom and fast falling tears. 
 
 Thrice with her lips she touched Siddartha's hand, 
 
 And at the third kiss moaned, " Awake, my Lord ! 
 
 Give me the comfort of thy speech ! " Then he — 
 
 ** What is it with thee, O my life ? " but still 
 
 She moaned anew before the words would come ; 
 
 Then spake, " Alas, my Prince ! I sank to sleep 
 
 Most happy, for the babe I bear of thee 
 
 Quickened this eve, and at my heart there beat 
 
 That double pulse of life and joy and love 
 
 Whose happy music lulled me, but — aho ! — 
 
 In slumber I beheld three sights of dread, 
 
 With thought whereof my heart is throbbing yet. 
 
 I saw a white bull with wide branching horns, 
 
 A lord of pastures, pacing through the streets, 
 
 Bearing upon his front a gem which shone 
 
 As if some star had dropped to glitter there, 
 
 Or like the kantha-stone® the great Snake keeps 
 
 To make bright daylight underneath the earth. 
 
 Slow through the streets towards the gates he paced, 
 
 And none could stay him, though there came a voice 
 
 From Indra's temple, ' If ye stay him not, 
 
 The glory of the city goeth forth.* 
 
 Yet none could stay him. Then I wept aloud, 
 3 
 
 t 
 
" 
 
 66 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 And locked my arms about his neck, and strove, 
 
 And bade them bar the gates ; but that ox-king 
 
 Bellowed, and, lightly tossing free his crest, 
 
 Broke from my clasp, and bursting through the bars, 
 
 Trampled the warders down and passed away. 
 
 The next strange dream was this : Four Presences 
 
 Splendid, with shininc; eyes, so beautiful 
 
 They seemed the Regents of the Earth who dwell 
 
 On Mount Sumeru, lighting from the sky 
 
 With retinue of countless heavenly ones, 
 
 Swift swept unto our city, where I saw 
 
 The golden flag of Indra on the gate 
 
 Flutter and fall ; and lo ! there rose instead 
 
 A glorious banner, all the folds whereof 
 
 Rippled with flashing fire of rubies sewn 
 
 Thick on the silver threads, the rays wherefrom 
 
 Set forth new words and weighty sentences 
 
 Whose message made all living creatures glad ; 
 
 And from the east the wind of sunrise blew 
 
 With tender waft, opening tliose jeweled scrolls 
 
 So that all flesh might read ; and wondrous blooms — 
 
 Plucked in what clime I know not — fell in showers, 
 
 Colored as none are colored in our groves." 
 
 Then spake the Prince : " All this, my Lotus-flower i 
 Was good to see." 
 
 " Ay, I^ord," the Princess said, 
 "Save that it ended with a voice of fear 
 Crying, ' The time is nigh ! the time is nigh ! * 
 Thereat the third dream came ; for when I sought 
 Thy side, sweet Lord ! ah, on our bed there lay 
 
 aWBHBMIiaiaM 
 
I 
 
 "4" 
 
 BOOK THE FOURTH 67 
 
 An unpressed pillow and an empty ro? 
 Nothing of thee but those ! — nothing of thee, 
 Who art my life and light, my king, my world ! 
 And sleeping still I rose, and sleeping saw 
 Thy belt of pearls, tied here below my breasts, 
 Change to a stinging snake ; my ankle-rings 
 Fall off, my golden bangles part and fall • 
 The jasmines in my hair wither to dust ; 
 While this our bridal-couch sank to the ground, 
 And something rent the crimson purdah down ; 
 Then far away I heard the white bull low. 
 And far away the embroidered banner flap, 
 And once again that cry, * The time is come ! * 
 But with that cry — which shakes my spirit still — 
 I woke ! O Prince ! what may such visions meap 
 Except I die, or — worse than any death — 
 Thou shouldst forsake me or be taken ? " 
 
 Sweet 
 As the last smile of sunset was the look 
 Siddartha bent upon his w*eeping,wife. 
 " Comfort thee, dear ! " he said, " if comfort lives 
 In changeless love ; for though thy dreams may be 
 Shadows of things to come, and though the gods 
 Are shaken in their seats, and though the world 
 Stands nigh, perchance, to know some way of help, 
 Yet, whatsoever fall to thee and me, 
 Be sure I loved and love Yasodhara. 
 Thou knowest how I muse these many moons, 
 Seeking to save the sad earth I have seen ; 
 (\nd when the time comes, that which will be will 
 put if my bOuI yearns sore for souls unknown, 
 
 
1 rr^' -^ -^— .M--aKj 
 
 68 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 And if I grieve for griefs which are not mine, 
 
 Judge how my high-winged thoughts must hover here 
 
 O'er all these lives that share and sweeten mine — 
 
 So dear ! and thine the dearest, gentlest, best, 
 
 And nearest. Ah, thou mother of my babe ! 
 
 Whose body mixed with mine for this fair hope, 
 
 When most my spirit wanders, ranging round 
 
 The lands and seas — as full of ruth for men 
 
 As the far-flying dove is full of ruth 
 
 For her twin nestlings — ever it has come 
 
 Home with glad wing and passionate plumes to thee, 
 
 Who art the sweetness of my kind best seen. 
 
 The utmost of their good, the tenderest 
 
 Of all their tenderness, mine most of all. 
 
 Therefore, whatever after this betide, 
 
 Bethink thee of that lordly bull which owed. 
 
 That jeweled banner in thy dream which waved 
 
 Its folds departing, and of this be sure. 
 
 Always I loved and always love thee well. 
 
 And what I sought for all sought most for thee. 
 
 But thou, take comfort ; and, if sorrow falls, 
 
 Take comfort still in deeming there may be 
 
 A way of peace on earth by woes of ours ; 
 
 And have with this embrace what faithful love 
 
 Can think of thanks or frame for benison — 
 
 Too little, seeing love's strong self is weak — 
 
 Yet kiss me on the mouth, and drink these words 
 
 From heart to heart therewith, that thou mayst know — 
 
 What others will not — that I loved thee most 
 
 Because I loved so well all living souls. 
 
 Now. Princess ! rest, for I will rise and watch." 
 
 CNomaMauriai 
 
 ■iiwaSiMiwiiw 
 
BOOK THE FOURTH. 69 
 
 Then in her tears she slept, but sleeping sighed — 
 As if that vision passed again — " The time ! 
 The time is come ! " Whereat Siddartha turned, 
 And, lo ! the moon shone by the Crab ! the stars 
 In that same silver order long foretold 
 Stood ranged to say, " This is the night ! — choose thou 
 The way of greatness or the way of good : 
 To reign a King of kings, or wander lone, 
 Crownless and homeless, that the world be helped." 
 Moreover, with the whispers of the gloom 
 Came to his ears again that warning song, 
 As when the Devas spoke upon the wind : 
 And surely Gods were round about the place 
 Watching our Lord, who vv^atched the shining stars. 
 
 " I will depart," he spake ; " the hour is come 1 
 Thy tender lips, dear sleeper, summon me 
 To that which saves the earth but sunders us ; 
 And in the silence of yon sky I read 
 My fated message flashing. Unto this 
 Came I, and unto this all nights and days 
 Have led me ; for I will not have that crown 
 Which may be mine : I lay aside those realms 
 Which wait the gleaming of my naked sword : 
 My chariot shall not roll with bloody v/heels 
 From victory to victory, till earth 
 Wears the red record of my name. I choose 
 To tread its paths with patient, stainless feet, 
 Making its dust my bed, its loneliest wastes 
 My dwelling, and its meanest things my mates : 
 Clad in no prouder garb than outcasts wear, 
 
70 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Fed with no meats save what the charitable 
 
 Give of their will, sheltered by no more pomp 
 
 Than the dim cave lends or the jungle-bush. 
 
 This will I do because the woiul cry 
 
 Of life and all flesh living cometh up 
 
 Into my ears, and all my soul is full 
 
 Of pity for the sickness of this world ; 
 
 Which I will heal, if healing may be found 
 
 By uttermost renouncing and strong strife. 
 
 For which of all the great and lesser Gods 
 
 Have power or pity ? Who hath seen them — who ? 
 
 What have they wrought to help their worshipers ? 
 
 How hath it steaded man to pray, and pay 
 
 Tithes of the corn and oil, to chant the charms, 
 
 To slay the shrieking sacrifice, to rear 
 
 The stately fane, to feed the priests, and call 
 
 On Vishnu,^° Shiva," Surya,^^ who save 
 
 None — not the worthiest — from the griefs that teach 
 
 Those litanies of flattery and fear 
 
 Ascending day by day, like wasted smoke ? 
 
 Hath any of my brothers 'scaped thereby 
 
 The aches of life, the stings of love and loss, 
 
 The fiery fever and the ague-shake. 
 
 The slow, dull sinking into withered age, 
 
 The horrible dark death — and what beyond 
 
 Waits — till the whirling wheel comes up again, 
 
 And new lives bring new sorrows to be borne, 
 
 New generations for the new desires 
 
 Which have their end in the old mockeries ? 
 
 Hath any of my tender sisters found 
 
 Fruit of the fast or harvest of the hymn, 
 
mam» bnoa 
 
 BOOK THE FOURTH. 7I 
 
 Or bought one pang the less at bearing-time 
 
 For white curds offered and trim tulsi-leaves ? 
 
 Nay ; it may be some of the Gods are good 
 
 And evil some, but all in action weak ; 
 
 Both pitiful and pitiless, and both — 
 
 As men are — bound upon this wheel of change, 
 
 jKnowing the former and the after lives. 
 
 For so our scriptures truly seem to teach. 
 
 That — once, and wheresoe'cr, and whence begun — 
 
 Life runs its rounds of living, climbing up 
 
 From mote, and gnat, and worm, reptile, and fish, 
 
 Bird and shagged beast, man, demon, deva, God, 
 
 To clod and mote again ; so are we kin 
 
 To all that is ; and thus, if one might save 
 
 Man from his curse, the whole wide world should share 
 
 The lightened horror of this ignorance 
 
 Whose shadow is chill fear, and cruelty 
 
 Its bitter pastime. Yea, if one might save ! 
 
 And means must be ! There must be refuge ! Men 
 
 Perished in winter-winds till one smote fire 
 
 From flint-stones coldly hiding what they held, 
 
 The red spark treasured from the kindling sun. 
 
 They gorged on flesh like wolves, till one sowed corn. 
 
 Which grew a weed, yet makes the life of man ; 
 
 They mowed and babbled till some tongue struck speech. 
 
 And patient fingers framed the lettered sound. 
 
 What good gift have my brothers, but it came 
 
 From search and strife and loving sacrifice ? 
 
 If one, then, being great and fortunate. 
 
 Rich, dowered with health and ease, from birth designed 
 
 To rule — if he would rule — a King of kings ; 
 
72 
 
 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 If one, not tired with life's long day but glad 
 
 I' the freshness of its morning, one not cloyed 
 
 With love's delicious feasts, but hungry still ; 
 
 If one not worn and wrinkled, sadly sage, 
 
 But joyous in the glory and the grace 
 
 That mix with evils here, and free to choose 
 
 Earth's loveliest at his will : one even as I, 
 
 Who ache not, lack not, grieve not, save with griefs 
 
 Which are not mine, except as I am man ; — 
 
 If such a one, having so much to give. 
 
 Gave all, laying it down for love of men. 
 
 And thenceforth spent himself to search for truth, 
 
 Wringing the secret of deliverance forth. 
 
 Whether it lurk in hells or hide in heavens. 
 
 Or hover, unrevealed, nigh unto all : 
 
 Surely at last, far off, sometime, somewhere. 
 
 The veil would lift for his deep-searching eyes, 
 
 The road would open for his painful feet, 
 
 That should be won for which he lost the world, 
 
 And Death might find him conqueror of death. 
 
 This will I do, who have a realm to lose. 
 
 Because I love my realm, because my heart 
 
 Beats with each throb of all the hearts that ache, 
 
 Known and unknown, these that are mine and those 
 
 Which shall be mine, a thousand million more 
 
 Saved by this sacrifice I offer now. 
 
 Oh, summoning stars ! I come ! Oh, mournful earth ; 
 
 For thee and thine I lay aside my youth, 
 
 My throne, my joys, my golden days, my nights, 
 
 My happy palace — and thine arms, sweet Queen ! 
 
 Harder to put aside than all the rest ! 
 
BOOK THE FOURTH. 73 
 
 Yet thee, too, I shall save, saving this earth ; 
 
 And that which stirs within thy tender womb, 
 
 My child, the hidden blossom of our loves, 
 
 Whom if I wait to bless my mind will fail. 
 
 Wife ! child ! father ! and people ! ye must share 
 
 A little while the anguish of this hour 
 
 That light may break and all flesh learn the Law. 
 
 Now am I fixed, and now I will depart, 
 
 Never to come again till what I seek 
 
 Be found — if fervent search and strife avail." 
 
 So with his brow he touched her feet, and bent 
 The farewell of fond eyes, unutterable. 
 Upon her sleeping face,^^ still wet with tears ; 
 And thrice around the bed in reverence. 
 As though it were an altar, softly stepped 
 With clasped hands laid upon his beating heart, 
 " For never," spake he, *' lie I there again ! " 
 And thrice he made to go, but thrice came back, 
 So strong her beauty was, so large his love : 
 Then, o'er his head drawing his cloth, he turned 
 And raised the purddh's edge : 
 
 There drooped, close-hushed, 
 In such sealed sleep as water-lilies know. 
 The lovely garden of his Indian girls ; 
 That twin dark-petaled lotus-buds of all — 
 Gunga and Gautami — on either side. 
 And those, their silk-leaved sisterhood, beyond. 
 *' Pleasant ye are to me, sweet friends ! " he said, 
 " And dear to leave ; yet if I leave ye not 
 What else will come to all of us save eld . 
 
74 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Without assuage and death without avail ? 
 
 Lo ! as ye lie asleep so must ye lie 
 
 A-dead ; and when the rose dies where are gone 
 
 Its scent and splendor ? when the lamp is drained 
 
 Whither is fled the flame ? Press heavy, Night ! 
 
 Upon their down-dropped lids and seal their lips, 
 
 That no tear stay me and no faithful voice. 
 
 For all the brighter that these made my life, 
 
 The bitterer it is that they and I, 
 
 And all, should live as trees do — so much spring, 
 
 Such and such rains and frosts, such winter-times. 
 
 And then dead leaves, with may be spring again, 
 
 Or ax-stroke at the root. This will not I, 
 
 Whose life here was a God's ! — this would not I, 
 
 Though all my days were godlike, while men moan 
 
 Under their darkness. Therefore farewell, friends ! 
 
 While life is good to give, I give, and go 
 
 To seek deliverance and that unknown Light ! " 
 
 Then, lightly treading where those sleepers lay, 
 
 Into the night Siddartha passed : its eyes. 
 
 The watchful stars, looked love on him : its breath, 
 
 The wandering wind, kissed his robe's fluttered fringe ; 
 
 The garden-blossoms, folded for the dawn, 
 
 Opened their velvet hearts to waft him scents 
 
 From pink and purple censers : o'er the land. 
 
 From Himalay unto the Indian Sea, 
 
 A tremor spread, as if earth's soul beneath 
 
 Stirred with an unknown hope ; and holy books — 
 
 Which tell the story of our Lord — say, too. 
 
 That rich celestial musics thrilled the air 
 
BOOK THE FOURTH. 75 
 
 From hosts on hosts of shining ones, who thronged 
 
 Eastward and westward, making bright the night — 
 
 Northward and southward, making glad the ground. 
 
 Also those four dread Regents of the Earth, 
 
 Descending at the doorway, two by two, — 
 
 With their bright legions of Invisibles 
 
 In arms of sapphire, silver, gold, and pearl — 
 
 Watched with joined hands the Indian Prince, who stood, 
 
 His tearful eyes raised to the stars, and lips 
 
 Close-set with purpose of prodigious love. 
 
 Then strode he forth into the gloom and cried, 
 " Channa, awake ! and bring out Kantaka ! " 
 
 " What would my Lord ? " the charioteer replied — 
 Slow-rising from his place beside the gate — 
 " To ride at night when all the ways are dark ? " 
 
 " Speak low," Siddartha said, " and bring nty horse, 
 For now the hour is come when I should quit 
 This golden prison where my heart lives caged 
 To find the truth ; which henceforth I will seek, 
 For all men's sake, until the truth be found." 
 
 "Alas ! dear Prince," answered the charioteer, 
 " Spake then for nought those wise and holy men 
 Who cast the stars and bade us wait the time 
 When King Suddhodana's great son should rule 
 Realms upon realms, and be a Lord of lords ? 
 Wilt thou ride hence and let the rich world slip 
 Out of thy grasp, to hold a beggar's bowl ? 
 
 l^ttJUPMH^ JHtW.II 
 
 T 
 
y6 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Wilt thou go forth into the friendless waste 
 That hast this Paradise of pleasures here ? " 
 
 The Prince made answer, *' Unto this I came, 
 And not for thrones : the kingdom that I crave 
 Is more than many realms — and all things pass 
 To change and death. Bring me forth Kantaka ! " 
 
 " Most "honored," spake again the charioteer, 
 " Bethink ihee of my Lord thy father's grief ! 
 Bethink thcc r{ their woe whose bliss thou art- 
 How shalt thou help them, first undoing them ? ** 
 
 Siddartha answered, " Friend, that love is false 
 Which clings to love for selfish sweets of love ; 
 But I, who love these more than joys of mine — 
 Yea, more than joy of theirs — depart to save 
 Them and aU flesh, if utmost love avail 
 Go, bring mo Kantaka ! " 
 
 Then Channa said, 
 " Master, I go ! " and forthwith, mournfully, 
 Unto the stall he passed, and from the rack 
 Took down the silver bit and bridle-chains, 
 Breast-cord and curb, and knitted fast the straps, 
 And linked the hooks, and led out Kantaka : 
 Whom tethering to the ring, he combed and dressed, 
 Stroking the snowy coat to silken gloss ; 
 Next on the steed he laid the numdah '* square. 
 Fitted the saddle-cloth across, and set 
 The saddle fair, drew tight the jeweled girths, 
 
BOOK THE FOURTH. 7/ 
 
 Buckled the breech-bands and the martingale, 
 And made fall both the stirrups of worked gold. 
 Then over all he cast a golden net, 
 With tassels of seed-pearl and silken strings, 
 And led the great horse to the palace door, 
 Where stood the Prince ° but when he saw his Lord, 
 Right glad he waxed and joyoudy he neighed, 
 Spreading his scarlet nDstrils ; and the books 
 Write, " Surely all had heard Kantaka's neigh, 
 And that strong trampling of his ircn heels, 
 Save that the Devas laid their unseen wings 
 Over their ears and kept the sleepers deaf." 
 
 Fondly Siddartha drew the proud head down, 
 Patted the shining neck, and said, " Be still. 
 White Kantaka ! be still, and bear me now 
 The farthest journey ever rider rode ; 
 For this night take I horse to find the truth, 
 And where my quest will end yet know I not, 
 Save that it shall not end until I find. 
 Therefore to-night, good steed, be fierce and bold ! 
 Let nothing stay thee, though a thousand blades | 
 
 Deny the road ! let neither wall nor moat 
 Forbid our flight ! Look ! if I touch thy flank 
 And cry, * On, Kantaka ! ' let whirlwinds lag 
 Behind thy course ! Be fire and air, my horse ! 
 To stead thy Lord, so shalt thou share with him 
 The greatness of this deed which helps the world ; 
 For therefore ride I, not for men alone. 
 But for all things which, speechless, share our pain 
 And have no hope, nor wit to ask for hope. 
 Now, therefore- bear thy master valorously ' '* 
 
78 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Then to the saddle lightly leaping, he 
 Touched the arched crest, and Kantaka sprang forth 
 With armed hoofs sparkling on the stones and ring 
 Of champing bit ; but none did hear that sound, 
 For that the Suddha Devas,^^ gathering near, 
 Plucked the red mohra-flowers^^ and strewed them thick 
 Under his tread, while hands invisible 
 Muffled the ringing bit and bridle-chains. 
 Moreover, it is written when they cane 
 Upon the pavement near the inner gates. 
 The Yakshas of the air laid magic cloths 
 Under the stallion's feet, so that he went 
 Softly and still. 
 
 But when they reached the gate" 
 Of tripled brass — which hardly fivescore men 
 Served to unbar and open — lo l the doors 
 Rolled back all silently, though one might hear 
 in daytime two kos off the thunderous roar 
 Of those grim hinges and unwieldy plates. 
 
 itfso the middle and the outer gates 
 Unfolded each their monstrous portals thus 
 In silence as Siddartha and his steed 
 Drew near ; while underneath their shadow lay, 
 Silent as dead men, all those chosen guards — 
 The lance and sword let fall, the shields unbraced, 
 'claptains and soldiers — for there came a wind, 
 Drowsier than blows o'er Mahva's^^ fields of sleep, 
 Before the Prince's path, which, being breathed. 
 Lulled every sense aswoon : and so he passed 
 Free from the palace. 
 
BOOK THE FOURTH. 79 
 
 When the morning star 
 Stood half a spear's length from the eastern rim, 
 And o'er the earth the breath of morning sighed 
 Rippling Anoma's wave," the border-stream, 
 Then drew he rein, and leaped to earth and kissed 
 White Kantaka betwixt the ears, and spake 
 Full sweet to Channa:^'' "This which thou hast done 
 Shall bring thee good and bring all creatures good. 
 Be sure I love thee always for thy love. 
 Lead back my horse and take my crest-pearl here, 
 My princely robes, which henceforth stead me not. 
 My jeweled sword-belt and my sword, and these 
 The long locks by its bright edge severed thus 
 From off my brows. Give the King all, and say 
 Siddartha prays forget him till he come 
 Ten times a Prince, with royal wisdom won 
 From lonely searchings and the strife for light ; 
 Where, if I conquer, lo ! all earth is mine — 
 Mine by chief service ! — tell him — mine by love I 
 Since there is hope for man only in man. 
 And none hath sought for this as I will seek, 
 Who cast away my world to save my world." 
 
Book ll)e iTiftf). 
 
 Round Rdjdgriha^ five fair hills arose, 
 Guarding King Bimbsara's sylvan town: 
 Baibhara/ green with lemon-grass and palms; 
 Bipulla, at whose foot thin Sarsuti^ 
 Steals with warm ripple; shadowy Tapovan,^ 
 Whose steaming pools mirror black rocks, which ooze 
 Sovereign earth-butter^ from their rugged roofs ; 
 South-east the vulture-peak Sailagiri f 
 And eastward Ratnagiri, hill of gems. 
 A winding track, paven with foot-worn slabs, 
 Leads thee by safflower fields and bamboo tufts 
 Under dark mangoes and the jujube-trees,' 
 Past milk-white veins of rock and jasper crags, 
 Low cliff and flats of jungle-flowers, to where 
 The shoulder of that mountain, sloping west, 
 O'erhangs a cave with wild figs canopied. 
 Lo ! thou who comest thither, bare thy feet 
 And bow thy head ! for all this spacious earth 
 Hath not a spot more dear and hallowed. Here 
 Lord Buddha sate^ the scorching summers through. 
 The driving rains, the chilly dawns and eves ; 
 Wearing for all men's sakes the yellow robe, 
 
 80 
 
BOOK THE FIFTH 6t 
 
 Eating in beggar's guise the scanty meal 
 
 Chance-gathered from the charitable ; at night 
 
 Couched on the grass, homeless, alone ; while yelped 
 
 The sleepless jackals round his cave, or coughs 
 
 Of famished tiger from the thicket broke. 
 
 By day and night here dwelt the World-honored, 
 
 Subduing that fair body born for bliss 
 
 With fast and frequent watch and search intense 
 
 Of silent meditation, so prolonged 
 
 That ofttimes while he mused — as motionless 
 
 As the fixed rock his seat — the squirrel leaped 
 
 Upon his knee, the timid quail led forth 
 
 Her brood between his feet, and blue doves pecked 
 
 The rice-grains from the bowl beside his hand. 
 
 Thus would he muse from noontide^ — when the land 
 Shimmered with heat, and walls and temples danced 
 In the reeking air — till sunset, noting not 
 The blazing globe roll down, nor evening glide, 
 Purple and swift, across the softened fields ; 
 Nor the still coming of the stars, nor throb 
 Of drum-skins in the busy town, nor screech 
 Of owl and night-jar ; wholly wrapt from self 
 In keen unraveling of the threads of thought 
 And steadfast pacing of life's labyrinths. 
 Thus would he sit till midnight hushed the world, 
 Save where the beasts of darkness in the brake 
 Crept and cried out, as fear and hatred cry, 
 As lust and avarice and anger creep 
 In the black jungles of man's ignorance. 
 Then slept he for what space the fleet moon asks 
 
82 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 To swim a tenth part of her cloudy sea; 
 But rose ere the False- dawn,**^ and stood again 
 Wistful on some dark platform of his hill, 
 Watching the sleeping earth with ardent eyes 
 And thoughts embracing all its living things, 
 While o'er the waving fields that murmur move 
 Which is the kiss of Morn waking the lands, 
 And in the east that miracle of Day 
 Gathered and grew. At first a dusk so dim 
 Night seems still unaware of whispered dawn, 
 But soon — before the jungle-cock crows twice — 
 A white verge clear, a widening, brightening white, 
 High as the herald- star, which fades in floods 
 Of silver, warming into pale gold, caught 
 By topmost clouds, and flaming on their rims 
 To fervent golden glow, flushed from the brink 
 With saffron, scarlet, crimson, amethyst ; 
 Whereat the sky burns splendid to the blue. 
 And, robed in raiment of glad light, the King 
 Of Life and Glory cometh !" 
 
 Then our Lord, 
 After the manner of a RishI, hailed 
 The rising orb,^^ and went — ablutions made — 
 Down by the winding path unto the town ; 
 And in the fashion of a Rishi passei* 
 From street to street, with begging-bowl in hand. 
 Gathering the little pittance of his needs. 
 Soon was it filled, for all the townsmen cried, 
 " Take of our store, great sir ! " and " Take of ours ! *' 
 Marking his godlike face and eyes enwrapt ; 
 And mothers, when they saw our Lord go by, 
 
 "F 
 
BOOK THE FIFTH. S$ 
 
 Would bid their children fall to kiss his feet, 
 
 And lift his robe's hem to their brows, or run 
 
 To fill his jar, and fetch him milk and cakes. 
 
 And ofttimes as he paced, gentle and slow, 
 
 Radiant with heavenly pity, lost in care 
 
 For those he knew not, save as fellow-lives. 
 
 The dark surprised eyes of some Indian maid 
 
 Would dwell in sudden love and worship deep 
 
 On that majestic form, as if she saw 
 
 Her dreams of tenderest thought made true, and grace 
 
 Fairer than mortal fire her breast. But he 
 
 Passed onward with the bowl and yellow robe. 
 
 By mild speech payinrj all those gifts of hearts, 
 
 Wending his way back to the solitudes 
 
 To sit upon his hill with holy men, 
 
 And hear and ask of wisdom and its roads. 
 
 Midway on Ratnagiri's groves of calm, 
 Beyond the city, but below the caves. 
 Lodged such as hold the body foe to soul. 
 And flesh a beast which men must chain and tame 
 With bitter pains, till sense of pain is killed. 
 And tortured nerves vex torturer no more — 
 Yogis'^ and Brahmacharis,'* Bhikshus,'^ all 
 A gaunt and mournful band,'^ dwelling apart. 
 Some day and night had stood with lifted arms, 
 Till — drained of blood and withered by disease — 
 Their slowly-wasting joints and stiffened limbs 
 Jutted from sapless shoulders like dead forks 
 From forest trunks. Others had clinched their hands 
 So long and with so fierce a fortitude. 
 
84 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 The daw-like nails grew through the festered palm. 
 
 Some walked on sandals spiked ; some with sharp flints 
 
 Gashed breast and brow and thigh, scarred these with fire, 
 
 Threaded their flesh with jungle thorns and spits, 
 
 Besmeared with mud and ashes, crouching foul 
 
 In rags of dead men wrapped about their loins. 
 
 Certain there were inhabited the spots 
 
 Where death-pyres smouldered, cowering defiled 
 
 With corpses for their company, and kites 
 
 Screaming around them o'er the funeral-spoils : 
 
 Certain who cried five hundred times a day 
 
 The names of Shiva, wound with darting snakes 
 
 About their sun-tanned necks and hollow flanks 
 
 One palsied foot drawn up against the ham. 
 
 So gathered they, a grievous company ; 
 
 Crowns blistered by the blazing heat, eyes bleared, 
 
 Sinews and muscles shriveled, visages 
 
 Haggard and wan as slain men's, five days dead ; 
 
 Here crouched one in the dust who noon by noon 
 
 Meted a thousand grains of millet out, 
 
 Ate it with famished patience, seed by seed, 
 
 And so starved on ; there one who bruised his pulse 
 
 With bitter leaves lest palate should be pleased ; 
 
 And next, a miserable saint self-maimed, 
 
 Eyeless and tongueless, sexless, crippled, deaf ; 
 
 The body by the mind being thus stripped 
 
 For glory of much suffering, and the bliss 
 
 Which they shall win — say holy books — whose woe 
 
 Shames gods that send us woe, and makes men gods 
 
 Stronger to suffer than Hell is to harm. 
 
BOOK THE FIFTH. 85 
 
 Whom sadly eying spake our Lord to one, 
 Chief of the woe-begones : " Much-suffering sir ! 
 These many moons I dwell upon the hill — 
 Who am a seeker of the Truth — and see 
 My brothers here, and thee, so piteously 
 Self-anguished ; wherefore add ye ills to life 
 Which is so evil ? " 
 
 Answer made the sage : 
 
 Tis written if a man shall mortify 
 His flesh, till pain be grown the life he lives 
 And death voluptuous rest, such woes shall purge 
 Sin's dross away, and the soul, purified, 
 Soar from the furnace of its sorrow, winged 
 For glorious spheres and splendor past all thought." 
 
 " Yon cloud which floats in heaven," the Prince replied, 
 " Wreathed like gold cloth around your Indra's throne, 
 kose thither from the tempest-driven sea ; 
 But it must fall again in tearful drops, 
 Trickling through rough and painful water-ways 
 By cleft and nullah and the muddy flood, 
 To Gunga and the sea, wherefrom it sprang. 
 Know'st thou, my brother, if it be not thus. 
 After their many pains, with saints in bliss ? 
 Since that which rises falls, and that which buys 
 Is spent ; and if ye buy he-av'n with your blood 
 In hell's hard market, when the bargain's through 
 The toil begins again ! " 
 
 " It may begin," 
 The hermit moaned. " Alas !• we know not this-^ 
 
S6 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Nor surely anything ; yet after night 
 Day comes, and after turmoil peace, and we 
 Hate this accursed flesh which clogs the soul 
 That fain would rise ; so, for the sake of soul, 
 We stake brief agonies in game with Gods 
 To gain the larger joys." 
 
 " Yet if they last 
 A myriad years," he said, "they fade at length. 
 Those joys ; or if not, is there then some life 
 Below, above, beyond, so unlike life 
 It will not change ? Speak ! do your Gods endure 
 Forever, brothers ? " 
 
 " Nay," the Yogis said, 
 "Only great Brahm endures : the Gods but live." " 
 
 Then spake Lord Buddha : " Will ye, being wise, 
 As ye seem holy and strong-hearted ones. 
 Throw these sore dice, which are your groans and moans, 
 For gains which may be dreams, and must have end''' 
 Will ye, for love of soul, so loathe your flesh, 
 So scourge and maim it, that it shall not serve 
 To bear the spirit on, searching for home, 
 But founder on the track before nightfall, 
 Like willing steed o'er-spurred ? Will ye, sad siris 
 Dismantle and dismember this fair house, 
 Where we have come to dwell by painful pasts ; 
 Whose windows give us light — the little light — 
 Whereby we gaze abroad to know if dawn 
 Will break, and whither winds the better road?" 
 
BOOK THE FIFTH.' 87 
 
 Then cried they, " We havft chosen this for road 
 And tread it, Rajdputra,^^ till the close — 
 Though all its stones were fire — in trust of death. 
 Speak, if thou know'st a way more excellent ; 
 If not, peace go with thee ! '* 
 
 Onward he passed, 
 Exceeding sorrowful, seeing how men 
 Fear so to die they are afraid to fear, 
 lust so to live they dare not love their life, 
 But plague it with fierce penances, belike 
 To please the Gods who grudge pleasure to man % 
 Belike to balk hell by self-kindled hells : 
 Belike in holy madness, hoping soul 
 May break the better through their wasted flesh. 
 " Oh, florets of the field ! " Siddartha said, 
 " Who turn your tender faces to the sun — 
 Glad of the light, and grateful with sweet breath 
 Of fragrance and these robes of reverence donned 
 Silver and gold and purple — none of ye 
 Miss perfect living, none of ye despoil 
 Your happy beauty. Oh, ye palms ! which rise 
 Eager to pierce the sky and drink the wind 
 Blown from Malaya" and the cool blue seas. 
 What secret know ye that ye grow content. 
 From time of tender shoot to time of fruit, 
 Murmuring such sun-songs from your feathered crowns ■ 
 Ye, too, who dwell so merry in the trees — 
 Quick-darting parrots, bee-birds, bulbuls, doves — 
 None of ye hate your life, none of ye deem 
 To strain to better by foregoing needs ! 
 
a iB( 
 
 88 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 But man, who slays ye — being lord — is wise, 
 And wisdom, nursed on blood, cometh thus forth 
 In self-tormentings ! " 
 
 While the Master spake 
 Blew down the mount the dust of pattering feet. 
 White goats and black sheep winding; slow their way, 
 With many a lingering nibble at the tufts, 
 And wanderings from the path, where water gleamed 
 Or wild figs hung. But always as they strayed 
 The herdsman cried, or slung his sling, and kept 
 The silly crowd still moving to the plain. 
 A ewe with couplets in the flock there was, 
 Some hurt had lamed one lamb, which toiled behind 
 Bleeding, while in the front its fellow skipped, 
 
 And the vexed dam hither and thither ran. 
 
 Fearful to lose this little one or that ; 
 
 Which when our Lord did mark, full tenderly 
 
 He took the limping lamb upon his neck, 
 
 Saying, " Poor woolly mother, be at peace ! 
 
 Whither thou goest I will bear thy care ; 
 
 'Twere all as good to ease one beast of grief 
 
 As sit and watch the sorrows of the world 
 
 In yonder caverns with the priests who pray." 
 
 " But," spake he to the herdsmen, " wherefore, friends 
 Drive ye the flocks adown under high noon. 
 Since 'tis at evening that men fold their sheep ? " 
 
 And answer gave the peasants : " We are sent 
 To fetch a sacrifice of goats five-score. 
 And five-score sheep, the which our Lord the King 
 Slayeth this night in worship of his gods." 
 
BOOK THE FIFTH. 89 
 
 Then said the Master : " I will also go ! " 
 So paced he patiently, bearing the lamb 
 Beside the herdsmen in the dust and sun, 
 The wistful ewe low bleating at his feet. 
 
 Whom, when they came unto the river-side, 
 A woman — dove-eyed, young, with tearful face 
 And lifted hands — saluted, bending low : 
 " Lord ! thou art he," she said, " who yesterday 
 Had pity on me in the fig-grove here, 
 Where I live lone and reared my child ; but he 
 Straying amid the blossoms found a snake. 
 Which twined about his wrist, whilst he did laugh 
 And tease the quick forked tongue and opened mouth 
 Of that cold playmate. But, alas ! ere long 
 He turned so pale and still, I could not think 
 Why he should cease to play, and let my breast 
 Fall from his lips. And one said, * He is sick 
 Of poison ; * and another, * He will die.' 
 But I, who could not lose my precious boy, 
 Prayed of them physic, which might bring the light 
 Back to his eyes ; it was so very small 
 That kiss-mark of the serpent, and I think 
 It could not hate him, gracious as he was, 
 Nor hurt him in his sport. And some one said, 
 ' There is a holy man upon the hill — 
 Lo ! now he passeth in the yellow robe — 
 Ask of the Rishi if there be a cure 
 For that which ails thy son.* Whereon I came 
 Trembling to thee, whose brow is like a god's. 
 And wept and drew the face-cloth from my babe. 
 
90 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Praying thee tell what simples might be good. 
 And thou, great sir ! didst spurn me not, but gaze 
 With gentle eyes and touch with patient hand ; 
 Then draw the face-cloth back, saying to me, 
 ' Yea ! little sister, there is that might heal 
 Thee first, and him, if thou couldst fetch the thing ; 
 'For they who seek physicians bring to them 
 What is ordained. Therefore, I pray thee, find 
 Black mustard-seed, a tola f^ only mark 
 Thou take it not from any hand or house 
 Where father, mother, child, or slave hath died ; 
 It shall be well if thou canst find such seed.' 
 Thus didst thou speak, my Lord ! " 
 
 The Master smiled 
 Exceeding tenderly. " Yea ! I spake thus, 
 Dear Kisagotami ! But didst thou find 
 The seed ? " 
 
 " I went, Lord, clasping to my breast 
 The babe, grown colder, asking at each hut — 
 Here in the jungle and towards the town — 
 
 * I pray you, give me mustard, of your grace, 
 A tola — black ; * and each who had it gave, 
 For all the poor are piteous to the poor ; 
 
 But when I asked, ' In my friend's household here 
 
 Hath any peradventure ever died — 
 
 Husband, or wife, or child, or slave ? ' they said : 
 
 * O Sister ! what is this you ask ? the dead 
 Are very many, and the living few ! ' 
 
 So with sad thanks I gave the mustard back, 
 And prayed of others ; but the others said, 
 
 * Here is the seed, but we have lost our slave ! * 
 
BOOK THE FIFTH. 9 1 
 
 ' Here is the seed, but our good man is dead ! * 
 * Here is some seed, but he that sowed it died 
 Between the rain-time and the harvesting ! ' 
 Ah, sir ! I could not find a single house 
 Where there was mustard-seed and none had died ! 
 Therefore I left my child — who would not suck 
 Nor smile — beneath the wild-vines by the stream, 
 To seek thy face and kiss thy feet, and pray 
 Where I might find this seed and find no death, 
 If now, indeed, my baby be not dead, 
 As I do fear, and as they said to me." 
 
 " My sister ! thou hast found," the Master said, 
 " Searching for what none finds — that bitter balm 
 I had to give thee. He thou lovedst slept 
 Dead on thy bosom yesterday : to-day 
 Thou know'st the whole wide world weeps with thy woe : 
 The grief which all hearts share grows less for one. 
 Lo ! I would pour my blood if it could stay 
 Thy tears and win the secret of that curse 
 Which makes sweet love our anguish, and which drives 
 O'er flowers and pastures to the sacrifice — 
 As these dumb beasts are driven — men their lords. 
 I seek that secret : bury thou thy child ! " 
 
 So entered they the city side by side, 
 The herdsman and the Prince, what time the sun 
 Gilded slow Sona's distant stream,*^^ and threw 
 Long shadows down the street and through the gate 
 Where the King's men kept watch. But when these saw 
 Our Lord bearing the lamb, the guards stood back, 
 
92 
 
 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 The market-people drew their wains aside, 
 
 In the bazar buyers and sellers stayed 
 
 The war of tongues to gaze on that mild face ; 
 
 The smith, with lifted hammer in his hand, 
 
 Forgot to strike ; the weaver left his web, 
 
 The scribe his scroll, the money-changer lost 
 
 His count of cowries \^ from the unwatched rice 
 
 Shiva's white bull fed free ;^^ the wasted milk 
 
 Ran o'er the lota'^'* while the milkers watched 
 
 The passage of our Lord moving so meek. 
 
 With yet so beautiful a majesty. 
 
 But most the women gathering in the doors 
 
 Asked, " Who is this that brings the sacrifice 
 
 So graceful and peace-giving as he goes ? 
 
 What is his caste? whence hath he eyes so sweet ? 
 
 Can he be Sakra'' or the Devaraj ? " '' 
 
 And others said, " It is the holy man 
 
 Who dwelleth with the Rishis on the hill." 
 
 But the Lord paced, in meditation lost, 
 
 Thinking, " Alas ! for all my sheep which have 
 
 No shepherd ; wandering in the night with none 
 
 To guide them ; bleating blindly towards the knife 
 
 Of Death, as these dumb beasts which are their kin.'* 
 
 Then some one told the King, " There cometh here 
 A holy hermit, bringing down the flock 
 Winch thou didst bid to crown the sacrifice." 
 
 The King stood in his hall of offering. 
 On either hand the white-robed Brahmins ranged 
 Muttered their mantras," feeding still the fire 
 
BOOK THE FIFTH. 93 
 
 Which roared upon the midmost altar. There 
 
 From scented woods flickered bright tongues of flame, 
 
 Hissing and curling as they licked the gifts 
 
 Of ghee*^^ and spices and the Soma juice,^' 
 
 The joy of Indra. Round about the pile 
 
 A slow, thick, scarlet streamlet smoked and ran, 
 
 Sucked by the sand, but ever rolling down. 
 
 The blood of bleating victims. One such lay, 
 
 A spotted goat, long-horned, its head bound back 
 
 With munja grass ;^ at its stretched throat the knife 
 
 Pressed by a priest, who murmured, " This, dread gods, 
 
 Of many yajnas ^* cometh as the crown 
 
 From Bimbsara :^*take ye joy to see 
 
 The spirted blood, and pleasure in the scent 
 
 Of rich flesh roasting 'mid the fragrant flames ; 
 
 Let the King's sins be laid upon this goat, 
 
 And let the fire consume them burning it, 
 
 For now I strike." 
 
 But Buddha softly said,^^ 
 " Let him not strike, great King ! " and therewith loosed 
 The victim's bonds, none staying him, so great 
 His presence was. Then, craving leave, he spake 
 Of life, which all can take but none can give. 
 Life, which all creatures love and strive to keep, 
 Wonderful, dear and pleasant unto each. 
 Even to the meanest ; yea, a boon to all 
 Where pity is, for pity makes the world 
 Soft to the weak and noble for the strong. 
 Unto the dumb lips of his flock he lent 
 Sad pleading words, showing how man, who prays 
 For mercy to the gods, is merciless. 
 
94 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Being as god to those ; albeit all life 
 
 Is linked and kin, and what we slay have given 
 
 Meek tribute of the milk and wool, and set 
 
 Fast trust upon the hands which murder them. 
 
 Also he spake of what the holy books 
 
 Do surely teach, how that at death some sink 
 
 To bird and beast, and these rise up to man 
 
 In wanderings cf the spark which grows purged flame. 
 
 So were the sacrifice new sin, if so 
 
 The fated passage of a soul be stayed. 
 
 Nor, spake he, shall one wash his spirit clean 
 
 By blood ; nor gladden gods, being good, with blood ; 
 
 Nor bribe them, being evil ; nay, nor lay 
 
 Upon the brow of innocent bound beasts 
 
 One hair's weight of that answer all must give 
 
 For all things done amiss or wrongfully, 
 
 Alone, each for himself, reckoning with that 
 
 The fixed arithmic of the universe. 
 
 Which meteth good for good and ill for ill, 
 
 Measure for measure, unto deeds, words, thoughts ; 
 
 Watchful, aware, implacable, unmoved ; 
 
 Making all futures fruits of all the pasts. 
 
 Thus spake he, breathing words so piteous 
 
 With such high lordliness of ruth and right. 
 
 The priests drew back their garments o'er the hands 
 
 Crimsoned with slaughter, and the King came near, 
 
 Standing with clasped palms reverencing Buddh ; 
 
 While still our Lord went on, teaching how fair 
 
 This earth were if all living things be linked 
 
 In friendliness and common use of foods, 
 
 Bloodless and pure ; the golden grain, bright fruits, 
 
BOOK THE FIFTH. 95 
 
 Sweet herbs which grow for all, the waters wan, 
 
 Sufficient drinks and meats. Which when these heard, 
 
 The might of gentleness so conquered them, 
 
 The priests themselves scattered their altar flames 
 
 And flung away the steel of sacrifice ; 
 
 And through the land next day passed a decree 
 
 Proclaimed by criers, and in this wise graved 
 
 On rock and column : " Thus the King's will is : — 
 
 There hath been slaughter for the sacrifice 
 
 And slaying for the meat, but henceforth none 
 
 Shall spill the blood of life nor taste of flesh, 
 
 Seeing that knowledge grows, and life is one, 
 
 And mercy cometh to the merciful." 
 
 So ran the edict, and from those days forth 
 
 Sweet peace hath spread between all living kind, 
 
 Man and the beasts which serve him,, and the biris, 
 
 On all those banks of Gunga where our Lord 
 
 Taught with his saintly pity and soft speech. 
 
 For aye so piteous was the Master's heart 
 To all that breathe this breath of fleeting life, 
 Yoked in one fellowship of joys and pains, 
 That it is written in the holy books 
 How, in an ancient age — when Buddha wore 
 A Brahmin's form, dwelling upon the rock 
 Named Munda, by the village of Dalidd — 
 Drought withered all the land : the young rice died 
 Ere it could hide a quail ; in forest glades 
 A fierce sun sucked the pools ; grasses and herbs 
 Sickened, and all the woodland creatures fled 
 Scattering for sustenance. At such a time, 
 
96 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Between the hot walls of a nullah, stretched 
 On naked stones, our Lord spied, as he passed, 
 A starvmg tigress. Hunger in her orbs 
 Glared with green flame ; her dry tongue lolled a span 
 Beyond the gasping jaws and shriveled jowl ; 
 Her painted hide hung wrinkled on her ribs. 
 As when between the rafters sinks a thatch 
 Rotten with rains ; and at the poor lean dugs 
 Two cubs, whining with famine, tugged and sucked, 
 Mumbling those milkless teats which rendered nought. 
 While she, their gaunt dam, licked full motherly 
 The clamorous twins, yielding her flank to them 
 With moaning throat, and love stronger than want, 
 Softening the first of that wild cry wherewith 
 She laid her famished muzzle to the sand 
 And roared a savage thunder-peal of woe. 
 I Seeing which bitter strait, and heeding nought 
 i Save the immense compassion of a Buddh, 
 ' Our Lord bethought, " There is no other way 
 • To help this murderess of the woods but one. 
 j By sunset these will die, having no meat : 
 There is no living heart will pity her, 
 Bloody with ravin, lean for lack of blood. 
 Lo ! if I feed her, who shall lose but I, 
 And how can love lose doing of its kind 
 Even to the uttermost ? " So saying, Buddh 
 Silently laid aside sandals and staff, 
 His sacred thread,^^ turban, and cloth, and came 
 Forth from behind the milk-bush on the sand, 
 Saying, " Ho ! mother, here is meat for thee ! " 
 AVhereat the perishing beast yelped hoarse and si\ril], 
 
4- 
 
 BOOK THE FIFTH. 97 
 
 Sprang from her cubs, and, hurling to the earth 
 That willing victim, had her feast of him 
 With all the crooked daggers of her claws 
 Rending his flesh, and all her yellow fangs 
 Bathed in his blood : the great cat's burning breath 
 Mixed with the last sigh of such fearless love. 
 
 Thus large the Master's heart was long ago, 
 Not only now, when with his gracious ruth 
 He bade cease cruel worship of the Gcds. 
 And much King Bimbsara prayed our Lord — 
 Learning his royal birth and holy search — 
 To tarry in that city, saying oft, 
 " Thy princely state may not abide such fasts ; 
 Thy hands were made for scepters, not for alms. 
 Sojourn with me, who have no son to rule, 
 And teach my kingdom wisdom, till I die, 
 Lodged in my palace with* a beauteous bride." 
 But ever spake Siddartha, of set mind, 
 *' These things I had, most noble King, and left, 
 Seeking the Truth ; which still I seek, and shall ; 
 Not to be stayed though Sakra's^^ palace ope'd 
 Its doors of pearl and Devis^® wooed me in. 
 I go to build the Kingdom of the Law, 
 Journeying to Gaya and the forest shades, 
 Where, as I think, the light will come to me ; 
 For nowise here among the Rishis comes 
 That light, nor from the Shasters,^' nor from fasts 
 Borne till the body faints, starved by the soul. 
 Yet there is light to reach and truth to win ; 
 
 4 
 
98 THE LIGHT OK ASIA. 
 
 And surely, O true Friend, if I attain 
 I will return and quit thy love." 
 
 Thereat 
 Thrice round the Prince King Bimbsara paced, 
 Reverently bending to the Master's feet, 
 And bade him speed. So passed our Lord away 
 Towards Uravilva,^^ not yet comforted. 
 And wan of face, and weak with six years' quest. 
 But they upon the hill and in the grove — 
 Alara, Udra, and the ascetics five — 
 Had stayed him, saying all was written clear 
 In holy Shasters, and that none might win 
 Higher than SrutP^ and than Smriii'^^ — nay, 
 Not the chief saints ! — for how should mortal man 
 Be wiser than the Jnana-Kand,'*^ which tells 
 How Brahm is bodiless and actionless, 
 Passionless, calm, unqualified, unchanged. 
 Pure life, pure thought, pure joy ? Or how should man 
 Be better than the Karmma-Kand,*' which shows 
 How he may strip passion and action off, 
 Break from the bond of self, and so, unsphered, 
 Be God, and melt into the vast divine, 
 Flying from false to true, from wars of sense 
 To peace eternal, where the silence lives t 
 
 But the Prince heard them, not yet comforted. 
 
Bookt\)c Si^tl). 
 
 Thou who wouldst see where dawned the light at last, 
 
 North-westwards from the " Thousand Gardens " * go 
 
 By Gunga's valley till thy steps be set 
 
 On the green hills where those twin streamlets spring 
 
 Nilajan and Mohana ; follow them, 
 
 Winding beneath broad-leaved mahiia-trees,* 
 
 'Mid thickets of the sansar^ and the blr/ 
 
 Till on the plain the shining sisters meet 
 
 In Phalgu's bed, flowing by rocky banks 
 
 To Gaya and the red Barabar hills/ 
 
 Hard by that river spreads a thorny waste, 
 
 Uruwela named in ancient days, 
 
 With sandhills broken ; on its verge a wood 
 
 Waves sea-green plumes and tassels 'thwart the sky, 
 
 With undergrowth wherethrough a still flood steals, 
 
 Dappled with lotus-blossoms, blue and white, 
 
 And peopled with quick fish and tortoises. 
 
 Near it the village of Senani* reared 
 
 Its roofs of grass, nestled amid the palms. 
 
 Peaceful with simple folk and pastoral toils. 
 
 There in the sylvan solitudes once more 
 Lord Buddha lived, musing the woes of men, 
 
 99 
 
lOO THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 The ways of fate, the doctrines of the books, 
 The lessons of the creatures of the brake, 
 The secrets of the silence whence all come, 
 The secrets of the gloom whereto all go. 
 The life which lies between, like that arch flung 
 From cloud to cloud across the sky, which hath 
 Mists for its masonry and vapory piers, 
 Melting to void again which was so fair 
 With sapphire hues, garnet, and chrysoprase. 
 Moon after moon our Lord sate in the wood, 
 So meditating these that he forgot 
 Ofttimes the hour of food, rising from thoughts 
 Prolonged beyond the sunrise and the noon 
 To see his bowl unfilled, and eat perforce 
 Of wild fruit fallen from the boughs o'erhead, 
 Shaken to earth by chattering ape or plucked 
 By purple paroquet. Therefore his grace 
 Faded ; his body, worn by stress of soul, 
 Lost day by day the marks, thirty and two,' 
 Which testify the Buddha. Scarce that leaf, 
 Fluttering so dry and withered to his feet 
 From off the sal-branch,^ bore less likeliness 
 Of spring's soft greenery than he of him 
 Who was the princely flower of all his land. 
 
 And once at such a time the o'erwrought Prince 
 Fell to the earth in deadly swoon, all spent. 
 Even as one slain, who hath no longer breath 
 Nor any stir of blood ; so M^an he was. 
 So motionless. But there came by that way 
 A shepherd-boy, who saw Siddartha lie 
 
BOOK THE SIXTH. 
 
 With lids fast-closed, and lines of nameless pain 
 
 Fixed on his lips — the fiery noonday sun 
 
 Beating upon his head — who, plucking boughs 
 
 From wild rose-apple trees, knitted them thick 
 
 Into a bower to shade the sacred face. 
 
 Also he poured upon the Master's lips 
 
 Drops of warm milk, pressed from his she-goat's bag, 
 
 Lest, being of low caste, he do wrong to one 
 
 So high and holy seeming. But the books 
 
 Tell how the jambu-branches,^ planted thus, 
 
 Shot with quick life in wealth of leaf and flow^er 
 
 And glowing fruitage interlaced and close, 
 
 So that the bower grew like a tent of silk 
 
 Pitched for a king at hunting, decked with studs 
 
 Of silver-work and bosses of red gold 
 
 And the boy worshiped, deeming him some God ; 
 
 But our Lord gaining breath, arose and asked 
 
 Milk in the shepherd's lota.^° " Ah, my Lord, 
 
 I cannot give thee," quoth the lad ; " thou seest 
 
 I am a Sudra, and my touch defiles ! " " 
 
 Then the World-honored spake : " Pity and need 
 
 Make all flesh kin. There is no caste in blood. 
 
 Which runneth of one hue, nor caste in tears. 
 
 Which trickle salt with all ; neither comes man 
 
 To birth with tilka-mark^'"^ stamped on the brow, 
 
 Nor sacred thread on neck. Who doth right deeds 
 
 Is twice-born, and who doeth ill deeds vile. 
 
 Give me to drink, my brother ; when I come 
 
 Unto my quest it shall be good for thee." 
 
 Thereat the peasant's heart was glad, and gave. 
 
102 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 And on another day there passed that road 
 A band of tinseled girls, the nautch-dancers 
 Of India's temple^^ in the town, with those 
 Who made their music — one that beat a drum 
 Set round with peacock-feathers, one that blew 
 The piping bansuli,'^ and one that twitched 
 A three-string sitar.^^ Lightly tripped they down 
 From ledge to ledge and through the chequered paths 
 To some gay festival, the silver bells 
 Chiming soft peals about the small brown feet, 
 Armlets and wrist-rings tattling answer shrill ; 
 While he that bore the sitar thrummed and twanged 
 His threads of brass, and she beside him sang — 
 
 " Fair goes the dancing whe7i the sitar* s tuned ; 
 Tu7ie us the sitar neither low nor highy 
 And we will dance away the hearts of men. 
 
 The string o^ er stretched breaks^ and the music flies ; 
 The string oer slack is dumhy and mtisic dies ; 
 Tune us the sitar neither low ?ior high.^* 
 
 So sang the nautch-girl to the pipe and wires, 
 Fluttering like some vain, painted butterfly 
 From glade to glade along the forest path. 
 Nor dreamed her light words echoed on the ear 
 Of him, that holy man, who sate so rapt 
 Under the fig-tree by the path. But Buddh 
 Lifted his great brow as the wantons passed. 
 And spake : " The foolish ofttimes teach the wise ; 
 I strain too much this string of life, bejike, 
 
BOOK THE SIXTH. 
 
 Meaning to make such music as shall save. 
 Mine eyes are dim now that they see the truth, 
 My strength is waned now that my need is most ; 
 Would that I had such help as man must have, 
 For I shall die, whose life was all men's hope.'* 
 
 Now, by that river dwelt a landholder 
 Pious and rich, master of many herds, 
 A goodly chief, the friend of all the poor ; 
 And from his house the village drew its name — - 
 *' Senani."i6 Pleasant and in peace he lived, 
 Having for wife Sujata,^^ loveliest 
 Of all the dark-eyed daughters of the plain ; 
 Gentle and true, simple and kind was she, 
 Noble of mien, with gracious speech to all 
 And gladsome looks — a pearl of womanhood — 
 Passing calm years of household happiness 
 Beside her lord in that still Indian home, 
 Save that no male child blessed their wedded love. 
 Wherefore with many prayers she had besought^*^ 
 Lakshmi ;^^ and many nights at full-moon gone 
 Round the great Lingam,^*^ nine times nine, with gifts 
 Of rice and jasmine wreaths and sandal oil, 
 Praying a boy ; also Sujata vowed — 
 If this should be — an offering of food 
 Unto the Wood-God, plenteous, delicate, 
 Set in a bowl of gold under his tree, 
 Such as the lips of Dcvs^^ may taste and take. 
 And this had been : for there was born to her 
 A beauteous boy, now three months old, who lay 
 Between Sujdta's breasts, while she did pace 
 
104 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 With grateful footsteps to the Wood-God's shrine, 
 One arm clasping her crimson sari^^ close 
 To wrap the babe, that jewel of her joys, 
 The other lifted high in comely curve 
 To steady on her head the bowl and dish 
 Which held the dainty victuals for the God. 
 
 But Radha, sent before to sweep the ground 
 And tie the scarlet threads around the tree,'-^^ 
 Came eager, crying, "Ah, dear Mistress ! look ! 
 There is the Wood-God sitting in his place, 
 Revealed, with folded hands upon his knees. 
 See how the light shines round about his brow ! 
 How mild and great he seems, Vt^ith heavenly eyes I 
 Good fortune is it thus to meet the gods." 
 
 So — thinking him divine, — Sujdta drew 
 Tremblingly nigh, and kissed the earth and said. 
 With sweet face bent, " Would that the Holy One 
 Inhabiting this grove. Giver of good 
 Merciful unto me his handmaiden 
 Vouchsafing nov/ his presence, might accept 
 These our poor gifts of snowy curds, fresh-made. 
 With milk as white as new-carved ivory ! " 
 
 Therewith into the golden bowl she poured 
 The curds and milk, and on the hands of Buddh 
 Dropped attar from a crystal flask — distilled 
 Out of the hearts of roses : and he ate. 
 Speaking no word, while the glad mother stood 
 III reverence apart. But of that meal 
 
BOOK THE SIXTH. lO- 
 
 So wondrous was the virtue that our Lord 
 Felt strength and life return as though the nights 
 Of watching and the days of fast had passed 
 In dream, as though the spirit with the flesh 
 Shared that fine meat and plumed its wings anew, 
 Like some delighted bird at sudden streams 
 Weary with flight o'er endless wastes of sand, 
 Which laves the desert dust from neck and crest. 
 And more Sujata worshiped, seeing our Lord 
 Grow fairer and his countenance more bright : 
 " Art thou indeed the God ? " she lowly asked, 
 " And hath my gift found favor ? " 
 
 But Buddh said, 
 " What is it thou dost bring me ? " 
 
 " Holy one ! " 
 Answered Sujdta, " from our droves I took 
 Milk of a hundred mothers, newly-calved, 
 And with that milk I fed fifty white cows, 
 And with their milk twenty and five, and then 
 With theirs twelve more, and yet again with theirs 
 The six noblest and best of all our herds. 
 That yield I boiled with sandal and fine spice 
 In silver lotas,^* adding rice, well grown 
 From chosen seed, set in new-broken ground, 
 So picked that every grain was like a pearl. 
 This did I of true heart, because I vowed 
 Under thy tree, if I should bear a boy 
 I would make offering for my joy, and now 
 I have my son and all my life is bliss ! " 
 
 Softly our Lord drew down the crimson fold, 
 And, laying on the little head those hands 
 
Io6 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Which help the worlds, he said, " Long be thy bliss ! 
 
 And lightly fall on him the load of life ! 
 
 For thou hast holpen me who am no God, 
 
 But one, thy Brother ; heretofore a Prince 
 
 And now a wanderer, seeking night and day 
 
 These six hard years that light which somewhere shines 
 
 To lighten all men's darkness, if they knew ! 
 
 And I shall find the light ; yea, now it dawned 
 
 Glorious and helpful, when my weak flesh failed 
 
 Which this pure food, fair Sister, hath restored, 
 
 Drawn manifold through lives to quicken life 
 
 As life itself passes by many births 
 
 To happier heights and purging off of sins. 
 
 Yet dost thou truly find it sweet enough 
 
 Only to live ? Can life and love suffice ? ** 
 
 Answered Sujdta, " Worshipful ! my heart 
 ts little, and a little rain will fill 
 The lily's cup which hardly moists the field. 
 It is enough for me to feel life's sun 
 Shine in my Lord's grace and my baby's smile, 
 Making the loving summer of our home. 
 Pleasant my days pass filled with household cares 
 From sunrise when I wake to praise the gods, 
 And give forth grain, and trim the tulsi-plant,^^ 
 And set my handmaids to their tasks, till noon. 
 When my Lord lays his head upon my lap 
 Lulled by soft songs and wavings of the fan ; 
 And so to supper-time at quiet eve, 
 Wlien by his side I stand and serve the cakes.^ 
 Then the stars light their silver lamps for sleep, 
 
BOOK THE SIXTH. I07 
 
 After the temple and the talk with friends. 
 
 How should I not be happy, blest so much, 
 
 And bearing him this boy whose tiny hand 
 
 Shall lead his soul to Swerga,'^^ if it need ? 
 
 For holy books teach when a man shall plant 
 
 Trees for the travelers' shade, and dig a well 
 
 For the folks' comfort, and beget a son. 
 
 It sliall be good for such after their death ; 
 
 And what the books say that I humbly take, 
 
 Being not wiser than those great of old 
 
 Who spake with gods, and knew the hymns and charms, 
 
 And all the ways of virtue and of peace. 
 
 Also I think that good must come of good 
 
 And ill of evil — surely — unto all — 
 
 In every place and time — seeing sweet fruit 
 
 Groweth from wholesome roots, and bitter things 
 
 From poison-stocks ; yea, seeing, too, how spite 
 
 Breeds hate, and kindness friends, and patience peace 
 
 Even while we live ; and when 'tis willed we die 
 
 Shall there not be as good a * Then ' as ' Now ? ' 
 
 Haply much better ; since one grain of rice 
 
 Shoots a green feather gemmed with fifty pearls, 
 
 And all the starry champak's^^ white and gold 
 
 Lurks in those little, naked, gray spring-buds. 
 
 Ah, Sir ! I know there might be woes to bear 
 
 Would lay fond Patience with her face in dust ; 
 
 If this my babe pass first I think my heart 
 
 Would break — almost I hope my heart would break ! 
 
 That I might clasp him dead and wait my Lord — 
 
 In whatsoever world holds faithful wives — 
 
 Duteous, attending till his hour should come. 
 
Io8 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 But if Death called Senani, I should mount 
 
 The pile and lay that dear head in my lap,^' 
 
 My daily way, rejoicing when the torch 
 
 Lit the quick flame and rolled the choking smoke. 
 
 For it is written if an Indian wife 
 
 Die so, her love shall give her husband's soul 
 
 For every hair upon her head a cror^° 
 
 Of years in Swerga. Therefore fear I not. 
 
 And therefore. Holy Sir ! my life is glad, 
 
 Nowise forgetting yet those other lives 
 
 Painful and poor, wicked and miserable, 
 
 Whereon the gods grant pity ! but for m'^* 
 
 What good I see humbly I seek to do, 
 
 And live obedient to the law, in trust 
 
 That what will come, and must come, shall come well.' 
 
 Then spake our Lord, " Thou teachest them who teach, 
 Wiser than wisdom in thy simple lore. 
 Be thou content to know not, knowing thus 
 The way of right and duty : grow, thou flower ! 
 With thy sweet kind in peaceful shade — the light 
 Of Truth's high noon is not for tender leaves 
 Which must spread broad in other suns and lift 
 In later lives a crowned head to the sky. 
 Thou who hast worshiped me, I worship thee I 
 Excellent heart ! learned unknowingly, 
 As the dove is which flieth home by love. 
 In thee is seen why there is hope for man 
 And where we hold the wheel of life at will. 
 Peace go with thee, and comfort all thy days ! 
 As thou accomplishest, may I achieve ! 
 He whom thou thoiiQ:hlest God bids thee wish this.** 
 
BOOK THE SIXTH. 
 
 " May'st thou achieve," she said, with earnest eyes 
 Bent on her babe, who reached its tender hands 
 To Buddh — knowing, belike, as children know. 
 More than we deem, and reverencing our Lord ; 
 But he arose — made strong with that pure meat — 
 And bent his footsteps where a great Tree grew, 
 The Bodhi-tree^' (thenceforward in all years 
 Never to fade, and ever to be kept 
 In homage of the world), beneath whose leaves 
 It was ordained that Truth should come to Buddh : 
 AVhich now the Master knew ; wherefore he went 
 With measured pace, steadfast, majestical. 
 Unto the Tree of Wisdom. Oh, ye Worlds ! 
 Rejoice ! our Lord wended unto the Tree ! 
 
 Whom — as he passed into its ample shade, 
 Cloistered with columned dropping stems, and roofed 
 With vaults of glistening green — the conscious earth 
 Worshiped with waving grass and sudden flush 
 Of flowers about his feet. The forest-boughs 
 Bent down to shade him ; from the river sighed 
 Cool wafts of wind laden with lotus-scents 
 Breathed by the water-gods. Large wondering eyes 
 Of woodland creatures — panther, boar, and deer — 
 At peace that eve, gazed on his face benign 
 From cave and thicket. From its cold cleft wound 
 The mottled deadly snake, dancing its hood 
 In honor of our Lord ; bright butterflies 
 Fluttered their vans, azure and green and gold. 
 To be his fan-bearers ; the fierce kite dropped 
 Its prey and screamed ; the striped palm-squirrel raced 
 
 109 
 
no THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 From stem to stem to see ; the weaver-bird 
 Chirped from her swinging nest ; the lizard ran ; 
 The koiP sang her hymn ; the doves flocked round ; 
 Even the creeping things were 'ware and glad. 
 Voices of earth and air joined in one song,^^ 
 Which unto ears that hear said, " Lord and Friend ! 
 Lover and Savior ! Thou who hast subdued 
 Angers and prides, desires and fears and doubts, 
 Thou that for each and all hast given thyself, 
 Pass to the Tree ! The sad world blesseth thee 
 Who art the Buddh that shall assuage her woes. 
 Pass, Hailed and Honored ! strive thy last for us. 
 King and high Conqueror ! thine hour is come ; 
 This is the Night the ages waited for ! " 
 
 Then fell the night even as our Master sate 
 Under that Tree. But he who is tlie Prince 
 Of Darkness, Mara^ — knowing this was Buddh 
 Who should deliver men, and now the hour 
 When he should find the Truth and save the worlds- 
 Gave unto all his evil powers command. 
 Wherefore there trooped from every deepest pit 
 The fiends who war with Wisdom and the Light, 
 Arati,'^* Trishna,^® Raga,^^ and their crew 
 Of passions, horrors, ignorances, lusts, 
 The brood of gloom and dread ; all hating Buddh, 
 Seeking to shake his mind ; nor knoweth one. 
 Not even the wisest, how those fiends of Hell 
 Battled that night to keep the Truth from Buddh : 
 Sometimes with terrors of the tempest, blasts 
 Of demon-armies clouding all the wind, 
 
 T" 
 
BOOK THE SIXTH. Ill 
 
 With thunder, and with blinding lightning flung 
 In jagged javelins of purple wrath 
 From splitting skies ; sometimes with wiles and words 
 Fair-sounding, 'mid hushed leaves and softened airs 
 From shapes of witching beauty; wanton songs, 
 Whispers of love ; sometimes with royal allures 
 Of proffered rule ; sometimes with mocking doubts, 
 Making truth vain. But whether these befell 
 AVithout and visible, or whether Buddh 
 Strove with fell spirits in his inmost heart, 
 Judge ye :— I write what ancient books have writ. 
 
 The ten chief Sins came — Mara's mighty ones, 
 Angels of evil — Attavada first. 
 The Sin of Self, who in the Universe 
 As in a mirror sees her fond face shown, 
 And crying " I " would have the world say *' I," 
 And all things perish so if she endure. 
 " If thou be'st Buddh," she said, " let others grope 
 Lightless ; it is enough that thou art Thou 
 Changelessly ; rise and take the bliss of gods 
 AVho change not, heed not, strive not." But Buddh spake. 
 " The right in thee is base, the wrong a curse ; 
 Cheat such as love themselves." Then came v/an Doubt,, 
 He that denies — the mocking Sin — and this 
 Hissed in the Master's ear, " All things are shows, 
 And vain the knowledge of their vanity ; 
 Thou dost but chase the shadow of thyself ; 
 Rise and go hence, there is no better way 
 Than patient scorn, nor any help for man. 
 Nor any staying of his whirling wheel." 
 
112 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 But qnoth our Lord, " Thou hast no part with me, 
 
 False Visikitcha, subtlest of man's foes." 
 
 And third came she who gives dark creeds their power, 
 
 Silabbat-paramasa, sorceress, 
 
 Draped fair in many lands as lowly Faith, 
 
 But ever juggling souls with rites and prayers ; 
 
 The keeper of those keys which lock up Hells 
 
 And open Heavens. " Wilt thou dare," she said, 
 
 " Put by our sacred books, dethrone our gods. 
 
 Unpeople all the temples, shaking down 
 
 That law which feeds the priests and props the realms ? 
 
 But Buddha answered, " What thou bidd'st me keen 
 
 Is form which passes, but the free Truth stands ; 
 
 Get thee unto thy darkness." Next there drew 
 
 Gallantly nigh a braver Tempter, he, 
 
 Kama,^^ the King of passions, who hath sway 
 
 Over the gods themselves. Lord of all loves, 
 
 Ruler of Pleasure's realm. Laughing he came 
 
 Unto the Tree, bearing his bow of gold 
 
 AVreathed with red blooms, and arrows of desire 
 
 Pointed with five-tongued delicate flame which stings 
 
 The heart it smites sharper than poisoned barb : 
 
 And round him came into that lonely place 
 
 Bands of bright shapes with heavenly eyes and lips 
 
 Singing in lovely words the praise of Love 
 
 To music of invisible sweet cords. 
 
 So witching, that it seemed the night stood still 
 
 To hear them, and the listening stars and moon 
 
 Paused in their orbits while these hymned to Buddh 
 
 Of lost delights, and how a mortal man 
 
 Findeth nought dearer in the three wide worlds 
 
BOOK THE SIXTH. II3 
 
 Than are the yielded loving fragrant breasts 
 
 Of Beauty and the rosy breast-blossoms, 
 
 Love's rubies ; nay, and toucheth nought more high 
 
 Than is that dulcet harmony of form 
 
 Seen in the lines and charms of loveliness 
 
 Unspeakable, yet speaking, soul to soul. 
 
 Owned by the bounding blood, worshiped by will 
 
 Which leaps to seize it, knowing this is best, 
 
 This the true ^eaven where mortals are like gods, 
 
 Makers and Masters, this the gift of gifts 
 
 Ever renewed and worth a thousand woes. 
 
 For who hath grieved when soft arms shut him safe, 
 
 And all life melted to a happy sigh, 
 
 And all the world was given in one warm kiss ? 
 
 So sang they with soft float of beckoning hands, 
 
 Eyes lighted with love-flames, alluring smiles ; 
 
 In dainty dance their supple sides and limbs 
 
 Revealing and concealing like burst buds 
 
 Which tell their color, but hide yet their hearts. 
 
 Never so matchless grace delighted eye 
 
 As troop by troop these midnight-dancers swept 
 
 Nearer the Tree, each daintier than the last, 
 
 Murmuring " O great Siddartha ! I am thine, 
 
 Taste of my mouth and see if youth is sweet ! " ' 
 
 Also, when nothing moved our Master's mind, 
 
 Lo ! Kama waved his magic bow, and lo ! 
 
 The band of dancers opened, and a shape 
 
 Fairest and stateliest of the throng came forth 
 
 Wearing the guise of sweet Yasbdhara. 
 
 Tender the passion of those dark eyes seemed 
 
 Brimming with tears ; yearning' those outspread arms 
 
114 "^^^ LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Opened towards him ; musical that moan 
 
 Wherewith the beauteous shadow named his name, 
 
 Sighing " My Prince ! I die for lack of thee ! 
 
 What heaven hast thou found like that we knew 
 
 By bright Rohini in the Pleasure-house, 
 
 Where all these weary years I weep for thee ? 
 
 Return, Siddartha ! ah ! return. But touch 
 
 My lips again, but let me to thy breast 
 
 Once, and these fruitless dreams will end ! Ah, look ! 
 
 Am I not she thou lovedst ? " But Buddh said, 
 
 " For that sweet sake of her thou playest thus, 
 
 Fair and false Shadow ! is thy playing vain ; 
 
 I curse thee not who wear'st a form so dear. 
 
 Yet as thou art so are all earthly shows. 
 
 Melt to thy void again ! " Thereat a cry 
 
 Thrilled through the grove, and all that comely rout 
 
 Faded with flickering wafts of flame, and trail 
 
 Of vaporous robes. 
 
 Next under darkening skies 
 And noise of rising storm came fiercer Sins, 
 The rearmost of the Ten ; Patigha — Hate — 
 With serpents coiled about her waist, which suck 
 Poisonous milk from both her hanging dugs, 
 And with her curses mix their angry hiss. 
 Little wrought she upon that Holy One 
 Who with his calm eyes dumbed her bitter lips 
 And made her black snakes writhe to hide their fangs. 
 Then followed Ruparaga — Lust of days — 
 That sensual Sin which out of greed for life 
 Forgets to live ; and next him Lust of Fame^ 
 Nobler Aruparaga, she whose spell 
 
BOOK THE SIXTH. II5 
 
 Beguiles the wise, mother of daring deeds, 
 
 Battles and toils. And haughty Mano came, 
 
 The Fiend of Pride ; and smooth Self-Righteousness, 
 
 Uddhachcha ; and — with many a hideous band 
 
 Of vile and formless things, which crept and flapped 
 
 Toad-like and bat-like — Ignorance, the Dam 
 
 Of Fear and Wrong, Avidya, hideous hag, 
 
 Whose footsteps left the midnight darker, while 
 
 The rooted mountains shook, the wild winds howled, 
 
 The broken clouds shed from their caverns streams 
 
 Of levin-lighted rain ; stars shot from heaven. 
 
 The solid earth shuddered as if one laid 
 
 Flam.e to her gaping wounds ; the torn black air 
 
 Was full of whistling winds, of screams and yells, 
 
 Of evil faces peering, of vast fronts 
 
 Terrible and majestic. Lords of Hell 
 
 Who from a thousand I/imbos led their troops 
 
 To tempt the Master. 
 
 But Buddh heeded not. 
 Sitting serene, with perfect virtue walled 
 As is a stronghold by its gates and ramps ; 
 Also the Sacred Tree — the Bodhi-tree — 
 Amid that tumult stirred not, but each leaf 
 Glistened as still as when on moonlit eves 
 No zephyr spills the glittering gems of dew ; 
 For all this clamor raged outside the shade 
 Spread by those cloistered stems : 
 
 In the third watch, 
 The earth being still, the hellish legions fled, 
 A soft air breathing from the sinking moon. 
 Our Lord attained Samma Sambuddh; ^^ he saw 
 
Il6 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 By light which shines beyond our mortal ken 
 
 The line of all his lives in all the worlds, 
 
 Far back and farther back and farthest yet, 
 
 Five hundred lives and fifty. Even as one, 
 
 At rest upon a mountain-summit, marks 
 
 His path wind up by precipice and crag, 
 
 Past thick-set woods shrunk to a patch ; through bogs 
 
 Glittering false-green ; down hollows where he toiled 
 
 Breathless ; on dizzy ridges where his feet 
 
 Had well-nigh slipped ; beyond the sunny lawns, 
 
 The cataract and the cavern and the pool, 
 
 Backward to those dim flats wherefrom he sprang 
 
 To reach the blue ; thus Buddha did behold 
 
 Life's upward steps long-linked, from levels low 
 
 Where breath is base, to higher slopes and higher 
 
 Whereon the ten great Virtues^*' wait to lead 
 
 The climber skyward. Also, Buddha saw 
 
 How new life reaps what the old life did sow : 
 
 How where its march breaks off its march begins ; 
 
 Holding the gain and answering for the loss ; 
 
 And how in each life good begets more good, 
 
 Evil fresh evil ; Death but casting up 
 
 Debit or credit, whereupon th* account 
 
 In merits or demerits stamps itself 
 
 By sure arithmic — where no tittle drops — 
 
 Certain and just, on some new-springing life ; 
 
 Wherein are packed and scored past thoughts and deeds. 
 
 Strivings and triumphs, memories and marks 
 
 Of lives foregone : 
 
 And in the middle watch 
 Our Lord attained Abhidjna^^ — insight vast 
 
BOOK THE SIXTH. II7 
 
 Ranging beyond this sphere to spheres unnamed, 
 
 System on system, countless worlds and suns 
 
 Moving in splendid measures, band by band 
 
 Linked in division, one yet separate, 
 
 The silver islands of a sapphire sea 
 
 Shoreless, unfathomed, undiminished, stirred 
 
 With waves which roll in restless tides of change. 
 
 He saw those Lords of Light who hold their worlds 
 
 By bonds invisible, how they themselves 
 
 Circle obedient round mightier orbs 
 
 Which serve profounder splendors, star to star 
 
 Flashing the ceaseless radiance of life 
 
 From centers ever shifting unto cirques 
 
 Knowing no uttermost. These he beheld 
 
 With unsealed vision, and of all those worlds. 
 
 Cycle on epicycle, all their tale 
 
 Of Kalpas, Maha-kalpas^^ — terms of time 
 
 Which no man grasps, yea, though he knew to count 
 
 The drops in Gunga from her springs to the sea, 
 
 Measureless unto speech — whereby these wax 
 
 And wane ; whereby each of this heavenly host 
 
 Fulfills its shining life and darkling dies. 
 
 Sakwal by Sakwal,^^ depths and heights he passed 
 
 Transported through the blue infinitudes, 
 
 Marking — behind all modes, above all spheres, 
 
 Beyond the burning impulse of each orb — 
 
 That fixed decree at silent work which wills 
 
 E^'-olve the dark to light, the dead to life, 
 
 To fullness void, to form the yet unformed, 
 
 Good unto better, better unto best, 
 
 By wordless edict ; having none to bid, 
 
m^ 
 
 Il8 THE LIGHT OF ASIA, 
 
 None to forbid ; for this is past all gods 
 
 Immutable, unspeakable, supreme, 
 
 A Power which builds, unbuilds, and builds again, 
 
 Ruling all things accordant to the rule 
 
 Of virtue, which is beauty, truth, and use. 
 
 So that all things do well which serve the Power, 
 
 And ill which hinder ; nay, the worm does well 
 
 Obedient to its kind ; the hawk does well 
 
 Which carries bleeding quarries to its young ; 
 
 The dewdrop and the star shine sisterly, 
 
 Globing together in the common work ; 
 
 And man who lives to die, dies to live well 
 
 So if he guide his ways by blamelessness 
 
 And earnest will to hinder not but help 
 
 All things both great and small which suffer life. 
 
 These did our Lord see in the middle watch. 
 
 But when the fourth watch came the secret came 
 Of Sorrow, which with evil mars the law, 
 As damp and dross hold back the goldsmith's fire. 
 Then was the Dukha-satya"" opened him 
 First of the " Noble Truths ; '"' how Sorrow is 
 Shadow to life, moving where life doth move ; 
 Not to be laid aside until one lays 
 Living aside, with all its changing states, 
 Birth, growth, decay, love, hatred, pleasure, pain, 
 Being and doing. How that none strips off 
 These sad delights and pleasant griefs who lacks 
 Knowledge to know them snares ; but he who knows 
 Avidya — Delusion — sets those snares, 
 Loves life no longer but ensues escape. 
 
BOOK THE SIXTH. 
 
 119 
 
 The eyes of such a one are wide, he sees 
 
 Delusion breeds Sankhara, Tendency 
 
 Perverse : Tendency Energy — Vidnndn — 
 
 Whereby comes Namanipa, local form 
 
 And name and bodiment, bringing the man 
 
 With senses naked to the sensible, 
 
 A helpless mirror of all shows which pass 
 
 Across his heart ; and so Vedana grows — 
 
 " Sense-life " — false in its gladness, fell in sadness, 
 
 But sad or glad, the Mother of Desire, 
 
 Trishna, that thirst which makes the living drink 
 
 Deeper and deeper of the false salt waves 
 
 Whereon they float, pleasures, ambitions, wealth, 
 
 Praise, fame, or domination, conquest, love ; 
 
 Rich meats and robes, and fair abodes, and pride 
 
 Of ancient lines, and lust of days, and strife 
 
 To live, and sins that flow from strife, some sweet, 
 
 Some bitter. Thus Life's thirst quenches itself 
 
 With draughts which double thirst, but who is wise 
 
 Tears from his soul this Trishnd, feeds his sense 
 
 No longer on false shows, files his firm mind 
 
 To seek not, strive not, wrong not ; bearing meek 
 
 All ills which flow from foregone wrongfulness. 
 
 And so constraining passions that they die 
 
 Famished ; till all the sum of ended life — 
 
 The Kar7nd'^^ — all that total of a soul 
 
 Which is the things it did, the thoughts it had. 
 
 The " Self " it wove — with woof of viewless time, 
 
 Crossed on the warp invisible of acts — 
 
 The outcome of him on the Universe, 
 
 Grows pure and sinless ; either never more 
 
120 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Needing to find a body and a place, 
 
 Or so informing what fresh frame it takes 
 
 In new existence that the new toils prove 
 
 Lighter and lighter not to be at all, 
 
 Thus " finishing the Path ; " free from Earth's cheats ; 
 
 Released from all the skandhas ^^ of the flesh ; 
 
 Broken from ties — from Upadans^^ — saved 
 
 From whirling on the wheel ; aroused and sane 
 
 As is a man wakened from hateful dreams. 
 
 Until — greater than Kings, than Gods more glad ! — 
 
 The aching craze to live ends, and life glides — 
 
 Lifeless — to nameless quiet, nameless joy, 
 
 Blessed nirvana"' — sinless, stirless rest — 
 
 That change which never changes ! 
 
 Lo ! the Dawn 
 Sprang with Buddh's Victory ! lo ! in the East 
 Flamed the first fires of beauteous day, poured forth 
 Through fleeting folds of Night's black drapery. 
 High in the widening blue the herald-star 
 Faded to paler silver as there shot 
 Brighter and brightest bars of rosy gleam 
 Across the gray. Far off the shadowy hills 
 Saw the great Sun, before the world was 'ware, 
 And donned their crowns of crimson ; flower by flower 
 Felt the warm breath of Morn and 'gan t' unfold 
 Their tender lids. Over the spangled grass 
 Swept the swift footsteps of the lovely Light, 
 Turning the tears of Night to joyous gems, 
 Decking the earth with radiance, 'broidering 
 The sinking storm-clouds with a golden fringe, 
 
BOOK THE SIXTH. 121 
 
 Gilding the feathers of the palms, which waved 
 
 Glad salutation ; darting beams of gold 
 
 Into the glades ; touching with magic wand 
 
 The stream to rippled ruby ; in the brake 
 
 Finding the mild eyes of the antelopes 
 
 And saying *' it is day ; " in nested sleep 
 
 Touching the small heads under many a wing 
 
 And whispering, "Children, praise the light of day ! " 
 
 Whereat there piped anthems of all the birds. 
 
 The Koil's'^ fluted song, the Bulbul's'' hymn. 
 
 The " morning, morning " of the painted thrush. 
 
 The twitter of the sun-birds starting forth 
 
 To find the honey ere the bees be out. 
 
 The gray crow's caw, the parrot's scream, the strokes 
 
 Of the green hammersmith, the myna's^^ chirp, 
 
 The never finished love-talk of the doves : 
 
 Yea ! and so holy was the influence 
 
 Of that high Dawn which came with victory 
 
 That, far and near, in homes of men there spread 
 
 An unknown peace. The slayer hid his knife ; 
 
 The robber laid his plunder back ; the shroff 
 
 Counted full tale of coins ; all evil hearts 
 
 Grew gentle, kind hearts gentler, as the balm 
 
 Of that divinest Daybreak lightened Earth. 
 
 Kings at fierce war called truce ; the sick men leaped 
 
 Laughing from beds of pain ; the dying smiled 
 
 As though they knew that happy Morn was sprung 
 
 From fountains farther than the utmost East ; 
 
 And o'er the heart of sad Yasbdhara, 
 
 Sitting forlorn at Prince Siddartha's bed. 
 
 Came sudden bliss, as if love should not fail 
 
122 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Nor such vast sorrow miss to end in joy. 
 So glad the World was — though it wist not why — 
 That over desolate wastes went swooning songs 
 Of mirth, the voice of bodiless Prets^^ and Bhiits" 
 Foreseeing Buddh ; and Devas in the air 
 Cried " It is finished, finished ! " and the priests 
 Stood with the wondering people in the streets 
 Watching those golden splendors flood the sky 
 And saying " There hath happed some mighty thing." 
 Also in Ran^^ and Jungle^^ grew that day 
 Friendship amongst the creatures ; spotted deer 
 Browsed fearless where the tigress fed her cubs, 
 And cheetahs" lapped the pool beside the buck?* * 
 Under the eagle's rock the brown hares scoured 
 While his fierce beak but preened an idle wing ; 
 The snake sunned all his jewels in the beam 
 With deadly fangs in sheath ; the shrike let pass 
 The nestling-finch ; the emerald halcyons 
 Sate dreaming while the fishes played beneath, 
 Nor hawked the merops, though the butterflies — 
 Crimson and blue and amber — flitted thick 
 Around his perch ; the Spirit of our Lord 
 Lay potent upon man and bird and beast, 
 Even while he mused under that Bodhl-tree,^ 
 Glorified with the Conquest gained for all 
 And lightened by a Light greater than Day's. 
 
 Then ne arose — radiant, rejoicing, strong — 
 Beneath the Tree, and lifting high his voice 
 Spake this, in hearing of all Times and Worlds : — 
 
BOOK THE SIXTH. 1 23 
 
 An^kajdlisangsdrang 
 Sandhdwissang anibhisang 
 Gahakdrakajigawesanto 
 Dukkhdjdtipunappunang. 
 
 Gahakdrakadithosi j 
 Puiiagehang nakdhasi ; 
 Sabhdtephdsiikhdbhaggd^ 
 Gahakutangwisang khitang ; 
 Wisaiigkhdragatang c/iitfa?tg ; 
 Janhdnangkhayainajhagd. 
 
 Many a House of Life 
 Hath held me — seeking ever him who wrought 
 These prisons of the senses, sorrow- fraught ; 
 
 Sore was my ceaseless strife ! 
 
 But now, 
 Thou Builder of this Tabernacle — Thou ! 
 I KNOW Thee ! Never shalt thou build again 
 
 These walls of pain, 
 Nor raise the roof-tree of deceits, nor lay 
 
 Fresh rafters on the clay ; 
 Broken thy house is, and the ridge-pole split ! 
 
 Delusion fashioned it ! 
 Safe pass I thence — deliverance to obtain.^'' 
 
Book tlje geoentl). 
 
 Sorrowful dwelt the King Suddhodana 
 All those long years among the Sakya Lords 
 Lacking the speech and presence of his Son ; 
 Sorrowful sate the sweet Yas5dhara 
 All those long years, knowing no joy of life, 
 Widowed of him her living Liege and Prince 
 And ever, on the news of some recluse 
 Seen far away by pasturing camel-men 
 Or traders treading devious paths for gain, 
 Messengers from the King had gone and come 
 Bringing account of many a holy sage 
 Lonely and lost to home ; but nought of him 
 The crown of white Kapilavastu's line. 
 The glory of her monarch and his hope, 
 The heart's content of sweet Yasodhara, 
 Far-wandered now, forgetful, changed, or dead. 
 
 But on a day in the Wasanta-time,' 
 
 When silver sprays swing on the mango-trees 
 
 And all the earth is clad with garb of spring, 
 
 The Princess sate by that bright garden-stream 
 
 Whose gliding glass, bordered with lotus-cups, 
 
 124 
 
BOOK THE SEVENTH. 1 25 
 
 Mirrored so often in the bliss gone by 
 
 Their clinging hands and meeting lips. Her lids 
 
 Were wan with tears, her tender cheeks had thinned ; • 
 
 Her lips* delicious curves were drawn with grief ; 
 
 The lustrous glory of her hair was hid — 
 
 Close-bound as widows use ; no ornament 
 
 She wore, nor any jewel clasped the cloth — 
 
 Coarse, and of mourning- white — crossed on her breast. 
 
 Slow moved and painfully those small fine feet 
 
 Which had the roe's gait and the rose-leaf's fall 
 
 In old years at the loving voice of him. 
 
 Her eyes, those lamps of love, — which were as if 
 
 Sunlight should shine from out the deepest dark, 
 
 Illumining Night's peace with Daytime's glow — 
 
 Unlighted now, and roving aimlessly, 
 
 Scarce marked the clustering signs of coming Spring 
 
 So the silk lashes drooped over their orbs. 
 
 In one hand was a girdle thick with pearls, 
 
 Siddartha's — treasured since that night he fled — 
 
 (Ah, bitter Night ! mother of weeping days ! 
 
 When was fond Love so pitiless to love 
 
 Save that this scorned to limit love by life ?) 
 
 The other led her little son, a boy 
 
 Divinely fair, the pledge Siddartha left — 
 
 Named Rahula — j^ow seven years old, who tripped 
 
 Gladsome beside his mother, light of heart 
 
 To see the spring-blooms burgeon o'er the world. 
 
 So while they lingered by the lotus-pools 
 And, lightly laughing, Rahula flung rice 
 To feed the blue and purple fish ; and she 
 
126 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 With sad eyes watched the swiftly-flying cranes, 
 
 Sighing, " Oh ! creatures of the wandering win^, 
 
 If ye shall light where my dear Lord is hid, 
 
 Say that Yasodhara lives nigh to death 
 
 For one word of his mouth, one touch of him ! " — 
 
 So, as they played and sighed — motlier and child — 
 
 Came some among the damsels of the Court 
 
 Saying, " Great Princess ! there have entered in 
 
 At the south gate merchants of Hastinpiir^ 
 
 Tripusha called and Bhalluk, men of worth. 
 
 Long traveled from the loud sea's edge, who bring 
 
 Mavelous lovely webs pictured with gold. 
 
 Waved blades of gilded steel, wrought bowls in brass, 
 
 Cut ivories, spice, simples, and unknown birds. 
 
 Treasures of far-off peoples ; but they bring 
 
 That which doth beggar these, for He is seen ! 
 
 Thy Lord, — our Lord, — the hope of all the land — 
 
 Siddartha ! they have seen him face to face, 
 
 Yea, and have worshiped him with knees and brows, 
 
 And offered offerings ; for he is become 
 
 All which was shown, a teacher of the wise. 
 
 World-honored, holy, wonderful ; a Buddh 
 
 Who doth deliver men and save all flesh 
 
 By sweetest speech and pity vast as Heaven : 
 
 And, lo ! he journeyeth hither these do say." 
 
 Then — while the glad blood bounded in her veins 
 As Gunga leaps when first the mountain snows 
 Melt at her springs — uprose Yas6dhara 
 And clapped her palms, and laughed, with brimm 
 tears 
 
BOOK THE SEVENTH. I27 
 
 Beading her lashes. "Oh ! call quick," she cried, 
 " These merchants to my purdah,^ for mine ears 
 Thirst like parched throats to drink their blessed news. 
 Go bring them in, — but if their tale be true, 
 Say I will fill their girdles with much gold, 
 With gems that Kings shall envy : come ye too, 
 My girls, for ye shall have guerdon of this 
 If t>fire be gifts to speak my grateful heart." 
 
 So went those merchants to the Pleasure-House, 
 Full softly pacing through its golden ways 
 With naked feet,"^ amid the peering maids. 
 Much wondering at the glories of the Court. 
 Whom, when they came without the purdah's folds,^ 
 A voice, tender and eager, filled and charmed 
 With trembling music, saying, " Ye are come 
 From far, fair Sirs ! and ye have seen my Lord — 
 Yea, worshiped — for he is become a Buddh, 
 World-honored, holy, and delivers men, 
 And journeyeth hither. Speak ! for, if this be. 
 Friends are ye of my House, v/elcome and dear.** 
 
 Then answer made Tripusha, " We have seen 
 That sacred Master, Princess ! we have bowed 
 Before his feet ; for who was lost a Prince 
 Is found a greater than the King of kings. 
 Under the Bodhi-tree" by Phalgu's bank 
 That which shall save the world hath late been wrought 
 Bv him — the Friend of all, the Prince of all — 
 Thine most, High Lady ! from whose tears men win 
 The comfort of this Word the Master speaks. 
 
 "T 
 
 iirimnw— ■ww»Gaw»«WB 
 
""-J" 
 
 128 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Lo ! he is well, as one beyond all ills, 
 Uplifted as a god from earthly woes, 
 Shining with risen Truth, golden and clear. 
 Moreover as he entereth town by town, 
 Preaching those noble ways which lead to peace, 
 f The hearts of men follow his path as leaves 
 Troop to wind or sheep draw after one 
 Who knows the pastures. We ourselves have heara 
 By Gay a in the green Tchirnika^ grove 
 Those v/ondrous lips and done them reverence : 
 He cometh hither ere the first rains fall." 
 
 Thus spake he, and Yasbdhara, for joy, 
 Scarce mastered breath to answer, " Be it well 
 Now and at all times with ye, worthy friends ! 
 Who bring good tidings ; but of this great thing 
 Wist ye how it befell ? ''' 
 
 Then Bhalluk told 
 Such as the people of the valleys knew 
 Of that dread night of conflict, when the air 
 Darkened with fiendish shadows, and the earth 
 Quaked, and the waters swelled with Mara's wrath." 
 Also how gloriously that morning broke 
 Radiant with rising hopes for man, and how 
 The Lord was found rejoicing 'neath his Tree. 
 But many days the burden of release — 
 To be escaped beyond all storms of doubt, 
 Safe on Truth's shore — lay, spake he, on that heart 
 A golden load ; for how shall men — Buddh mused-= 
 Who love their sins and cleave to cheats of sense, 
 And drink of error from a thousand springs — 
 
 ir si m mmmMat afKmtBiamtam iei^ m %. 
 
Ei 
 
 BOOK THE SEVENTH. 1 29 
 
 Having no mind to see, nor strength to break 
 
 The fleshly snare which binds them — how should such 
 
 Receive the Twelve Nidanas^ and the Law 
 
 Redeeming all, yet strange to profit by. 
 
 As the caged bird oft shuns its opened door ? 
 
 So had we missed the helpful victory 
 
 If, in this earth without a refuge, Buddh 
 
 Winning the way, had deemed it all too hard 
 
 For mortal feet, and passed, none following him. 
 
 Yet pondered the compassion of our Lord, 
 
 But in that hour there rang a voice as sharp 
 
 As cry of travail, so as if the earth 
 
 Moaned in birth- throe " Nasyanii aham bhU 
 
 Nasyati lo'ka ! " Surely I am lost, 
 
 I AND MY CREATURES I then a pause, and next, 
 
 A pleading sigh borne on the western wind, 
 
 ^^ Sruyatdm dkannay Bhagwai /'* Oh, Supreme ! 
 
 Let thy great Law be uttered ! Whereupon 
 
 The Master cast his vision forth on flesh, 
 
 Saw who should hear and who must wait to hear, 
 
 As the keen Sun gilding the lotus-lakes 
 
 Seeth which buds will open to his beams 
 
 And which are not yet risen from their roots ; 
 
 Then spake, divinely smiling, " Yea ! I preach ! 
 
 Whoso will listen let him learn the Law." 
 
 Afterwards passed he, said they, by the hills 
 Unto Benares, where he taught the Five,'" 
 Showing how birth and death should be destroyed. 
 
 i And how man hath no fate except past deeds, 
 
130 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 No Hell but what he makes, no Heaven too high 
 For those to reach whose passions sleep subdued. 
 This was the fifteenth day of Vaishya^^ 
 Mid-afternoon and that night was full moon. 
 
 But, of the Rishis,'^ first Kaundinya 
 Owned the Four Truths" and entered on the Paths ; 
 And after him Bhadraka, Asvajit, 
 Basava, Mahanama ; also there 
 Within the Deer-park, at the feet of Buddh, 
 Yasad the Prince^'' with nobles fifty-four 
 Hearing the blessed word our Master spake 
 Worshiped and followed ; for there sprang up peace 
 And knowledge of a new time come for men 
 In all who heard, as spring the flowers and grass 
 When water sparkles through a sandy plain. 
 
 These sixty — said they — did our Lord send forth, 
 Made perfect in restraint and passion-free, 
 To teach the Way ; but the World-honored turned 
 South from the Deer-park and Isipatan 
 To Yashti and King Bimbsara's realm, 
 Where many days he taught ; and after these 
 King Bimbsdra and his folk believed. 
 Learning the law of love and ordered life. 
 Also he gave the Master, of free gift, — 
 Pouring forth water on the hands of Buddh — 
 The Bamboo-Garden, named Weluvana, 
 Wherein are streams and caves and lovely glades ; 
 And the King set a stone there, carved with this : — 
 
BOOK THE SEVENTH. 13I 
 
 Yd dharma hetuppabhawa 
 
 Yesan hetun Tathdgato ; 
 Aha yesan cha yo nirodhd 
 Ewan wadi Maha samano. 
 
 " What life's course and cause sustain 
 These Tathagato made plain ; 
 What delivers from life's woe 
 That our Lord hath made us know." 
 
 And, in that Garden — said they — there was held 
 A high Assembly, where the Teacher spake 
 Wisdom and power, winning all souls which heard. 
 So that nine hundred took the yellow robe — 
 Such as the Master wears, — and spread his Law ; 
 And this the gdtha ^^ was wherewith he closed ; — 
 
 Sabba pdpassa akaranan; 
 Kusalassa up as amp add ; 
 Sa chitta pariyodapanan ; 
 £ta7i Budhdnusdsanan. 
 
 " Evil swells the debts to pay, 
 Good delivers and acquits ; 
 Shun evil, follow good ; hold sway 
 Over thyself. This is the Way." 
 
 Whom, when they ended, speaking so of him, 
 With gifts, and thanks which made the jewels dull, 
 The Princess recompensed. " But by what road 
 Wendeth my Lord ? " she asked : the merchants said, 
 " Yojans ^ three-score stretch from the city-walls 
 
132 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 To Rajdgriha, whence the easy path 
 Passeth by Sona " hither and the hills. 
 Our oxen, treading eight slow kos ^® a day, 
 Came in one moon." 
 
 Then the King hearing word, 
 Sent nobles of the Court — well-mounted lords — 
 Nine separate messengers, each embassy 
 Bidden to say, " The King Suddhodana — 
 Nearer the pyre by seven long years of lack, 
 Wherethrough he hath not ceased to seek for thee— • 
 Prays of his son to come unto his own, 
 The Throne and people of this longing Realm, 
 Lest he shall die and see thy face no more." 
 Also nine horsemen sent Yasbdhara 
 Bidden to say, " The Princess of thy House — 
 Rahula's mother ^^ — craves to see thy face 
 As the night-blowing moon-flower's swelling heart ^ 
 Pines for the moon, as pale as6ka-buds ^* 
 Wait for a woman's foot : if thou hast found 
 More than was lost, she prays her part in this, 
 Rahula's part, but most of all thyself." 
 So sped the Sdkya Lords, but it befell 
 That each one, with the message in his mouth, 
 Entered the Bamboo- Garden in that hour 
 When Buddha taught his Law ; and — hearing — each 
 Forgot to speak, lost thought of King and quest, 
 Of the sad Princess even ; only gazed 
 Eye-rapt upon the Master ; only hung 
 Heart-caught upon the speech, compassionate, 
 Commanding, perfect, pure, enlightening all. 
 Poured from those sacred lips. Look ! like a bee 
 
BOOK THE SEVENTH. 
 
 Winged for the hive, who sees the mogras^^ spread 
 
 And scents their utter sweetness on the air, 
 
 If he be honey-filled, it matters not ; 
 
 If night be nigh, or rain, he will not heed ; 
 
 Needs mast he light on those delicious blooms 
 
 And drain their nectar ; so these messengers 
 
 One v/ith another, hearing Buddha's words, 
 
 Let go the purpose of their speed, and mixed, 
 
 Heedless of all, amid the Master's train. 
 
 Wherefore the King bade that Udayi ^^ go — 
 
 Chiefest in all the Court, and faithfulest, 
 
 Siddartha's playmate in the happier days — 
 
 Who, as he drew anear the garden, plucked 
 
 Blown tufts of tree-wool ^^ from the grove and sealed 
 
 The entrance of his hearing ; thus he came 
 
 Safe through the lofty peril of the place 
 
 And told the message of the King, and her's. 
 
 Then meekly bowed his head and spake our Lord 
 Before the people, " Surely I shall go ! 
 It is my duty as it was my will; 
 Let no man miss to render reverence 
 To those who lend him life, whereby come means 
 To live and die no more, but safe attain 
 Blissful Nirvana,^^ if ye keep the Law, 
 Purging past wrongs and adding nought thereto. 
 Complete in love and lovely charities. 
 Let the King know and let the Princess hear 
 I take the way forthwith." This told, the folk 
 Of white Kapilavastu and its fields 
 Made ready for the entrance of their Prince. 
 
1 
 
 134 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 At the south gate a bright pavilion rose 
 
 With flower-wreathed pillars and the walls of silk 
 
 Wrought on their red and green with woven gold. 
 
 Also the roads were laid with scented boughs 
 
 Of neem^^ and mango,^' and full masakhs^^ shed 
 
 Sandal and jasmine on the dust, and flags 
 
 Fluttered ; and on the day when he should come 
 
 It was ordained how many elephants — 
 
 With silver howdahs^^ and their tusks gold-tipped — 
 
 Should wait beyond the ford, and where the drums 
 
 Should boom " Siddartha cometh ! " where the lords 
 
 Should light and worship, and the dancing-girls 
 
 Where they should strew their flowers with dance and song 
 
 So that the steed he rode might tramp knee-deep 
 
 In rose and balsam, and the ways be fair ; 
 
 While the town rang with music and high joy. 
 
 This v/as ordained, and all men's ears were pricked 
 
 Dawn after dawn to catch the first drum's beat 
 
 Announcing, ** Now he cometh ! " 
 
 '&) 
 
 But it fell — 
 
 Eager to be before — Yasodhara 
 
 Rode in her litter to the city-walls 
 
 Where soared the bright pavilion. All around 
 
 A beauteous garden smiled — Nigrodha^" named — 
 
 Shaded with bel-trees^^ and the green-plumed dates. 
 
 New-trimmed and gay with winding walks and banks 
 
 Of fruits and flowers ; for the southern road 
 
 Skirted its lawns, on this hand leaf and bloom. 
 
 On that the suburb-huts where base-borns dwelt 
 
 Outside the gates, a patient folk and poor. 
 
 Whose touch for Kshatriya^^ and priest of Brahm 
 
 ■n 111 I ■im— —iM—afa—ii—m^—i ■■MWftiMaeMKgai 
 
 '■■■»iaiiiiiiiii>i«»iii———i—i^i^t^gi—B»iiW— —■—■—— MaBS 
 
BOOK THE SEVENTH. 1 35 
 
 Were sore defilement. Yet those, too, were quick 
 
 With expectation, rising ere the dawn 
 
 To peer along the road, to climb the trees 
 
 At far-off trumpet of some elephant, 
 
 Or stir of temple-drum ; and when none came, 
 
 Busied with lowly chares^^ to please the Prince ; 
 
 Sweeping their door-stones, setting forth their flags, 
 
 Stringing the fluted fig-leaves into chains. 
 
 New furbishing the Lingam,^ decking new 
 
 Yesterday's faded arch of boughs, but aye 
 
 Questioning wayfarers if any noise 
 
 Be on the road of great Siddartha. These 
 
 The Princess marked with lovely languid eyes. 
 
 Watching, as they, the southward plain, and bent 
 
 Like them to listen if the passers gave 
 
 News of the path. So fell it she beheld 
 
 One slow approaching with his head close shorn, 
 
 A yellow cloth over his shoulder cast, 
 
 Girt as the hermits are, and in his hand 
 
 An earthen bowl, shaped melonwise, the which 
 
 Meekly at each hut-door he held a space. 
 
 Taking the granted dole with gentle thanks 
 
 And all as gently passing where none gave. 
 
 Two followed him wearing the yellow robe. 
 
 But he who bore the bowl so lordly seemed. 
 
 So reverend, and with such a passage moved, 
 
 AVith so commanding presence filled the air, 
 
 With such sweet eyes of holiness smote all, 
 
 That as they reached him alms the givers gazed 
 
 Awestruck upon his face, and some bent down 
 
 In worship, and some ran to fetch fresh gifts, 
 
i 
 
 i 
 
 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Grieved to be poor ; till slowly, group by group, 
 
 Children and men and women drew behind 
 
 Into his steps, whispering with covered lips, 
 
 " Who is he ? who ? when looked a Rishi^^ thus ? " 
 
 But as he came with quiet footfall on 
 
 Nigh the pavilion, lo ! the silken door 
 
 Lifted, and, all unveiled, Yasbdhara 
 
 Stood in his path crying, " Siddartha ! Lord ! " 
 
 With wide eyes streaming and with close-clasped hands. 
 
 Then sobbing fell upon his feet, and lay. 
 
 Afterwards, when this weeping lady passed 
 Into the Noble Paths,^® and one had prayed 
 Answer from Buddha wherefore — being vowed 
 Quit of all mortal passion and the touch. 
 Flower-soft and conquering, of a woman's hands — 
 He suffered such embrace, the Master said : 
 " The greater beareth with the lesser love 
 So it may raise it unto easier heights. 
 Take heed that no man, being 'scaped from bonds, 
 Vexeth bound souls with boasts of liberty. 
 Free are ye rather that your freedom spread 
 By patient winning and sweet wisdom's skill. 
 Three eras of long toil bring Bodhisats" — 
 Who will be guides and help this darkling worlds 
 Unto deliverance, and the first is named 
 Of deep ' Resolve,' the second of 'Attempt,' 
 The third of * Nomination.' Lo ! I lived 
 In era of Resolve, desiring good. 
 Searching for wisdom, but mine eyes were sealed. 
 Count the gray seeds on yonder castor-cluijip, 
 
BOOK THE SEVENTH. I37 
 
 So many rains it is since I was Ram, 
 
 A merchant of the coast which looketh south 
 
 To Lanka^ and the hiding place of pearls. 
 
 Also in that far time Yasodhara 
 
 Dwelt with me in our village by the sea, 
 
 Tender as now, and Lakshmi was her name. 
 
 And I remember how I journeyed thence 
 
 Seeking our gain, for poor the household was 
 
 And lowly. Not the less with wistful tears 
 
 She prayed me that I should not part, nor tempt 
 
 Perils by land and water. * How could love 
 
 Leave what it loved ? ' she wailed ; yet, venturing, I 
 
 Passed to the Straits, and after storm and toil 
 
 And deadly strife with creatures of the deep. 
 
 And woes beneath the midnight and the noon, 
 
 Searching the wave I won therefrom a pearl 
 
 Moonlike and glorious, such as Kings might buy 
 
 Emptying their treasury. Then came I glad 
 
 Unto mine hills, but over all that land 
 
 Famine spread sore ; ill was I stead to live 
 
 In journey home, and hardly reached my door — 
 
 Aching for food — with that white wealth of the sea 
 
 Tied in my girdle. Yet no food was there ; 
 
 And on the threshold she for whom I toiled — 
 
 More than myself — lay with her speechless lips 
 
 Nigh unto death for one small gift of grain. 
 
 Then cried I, ' If there be who hath of grain, 
 
 Here is a kingdom's ransom for one life : 
 
 Give Lakshmi bread and take my moonlight pearl. 
 
 Whereat one brought the last of all his hoard, 
 
 Millet — ^three seers ^ — and clutched the beauteous thing. 
 
138 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 But Lakshmi lived and sighed with gathered life, 
 ' Lo ! thou didst love indeed ! ' I spent my pearl 
 Well in that life to comfort heart and mind 
 Else quite uncomforted, but these pure pearls. 
 My last large gain, won from a deeper wave — ► 
 The Twelve Nidanas"*" and the Law of Good— 
 Cannot be spent, nor dimmed, and most fulfill 
 Their perfect beauty being freeliest given. 
 For like as is to Meru ^^ yonder hill 
 Heaped by the little ants, and like as dew 
 Dropped in the footmark of a bounding roe 
 Unto the shoreless seas, so was that gift 
 Unto my present giving ; and so love — 
 Vaster in being free from toils of sense — 
 Was wisest stooping to the weaker heart ; 
 And so the feet of sweet Yasbdhara 
 Passed into peace and bliss, being softly led."^* 
 
 But when the King heard how Siddartha came 
 Shorn, with the mendicant's sad-colored cloth, 
 And stretching out a bowl to gather orts 
 From base-borns' leavings, wrathful sorrow drove 
 Love from his heart. Thrice on the ground he spat, 
 Plucked at his silvered beard, and strode straight forth 
 Lackeyed by trembling lords. Frowning he clcmb 
 Upon his war-horse, drove the spurs, and dashed. 
 Angered, through wondering streets and lanes of folk, 
 Scarce finding breath to say, '' The King ! bow down ! " 
 Ere the loud cavalcade had clattered by : 
 Which — at the turning by the Temple-wall 
 Where the south gate was seen — encountered full 
 
BOOK THE SEVENTH. 1 39 
 
 A mighty crowd ; to every edge of it 
 
 Poured fast more people, till the roads were lost, 
 
 Blotted by that huge company which thronged 
 
 And grew, close following him whose look serene 
 
 Met the old King's. Nor lived the father's wrath 
 
 Longer than while the gentle eyes of Buddh 
 
 Lingered in worship on his troubled brows, 
 
 Then downcast sank, with his true knee, to earth 
 
 In proud humility. So dear it seemed 
 
 To see the Prince, to know him whole, to mark 
 
 That glory greater than of earthly state 
 
 Crowning his head, that majesty which brought 
 
 All men, so awed and silent, in his steps. 
 
 Nathless the King broke forth, " Ends it in this 
 
 That great Siddartha steals into his realm. 
 
 Wrapped in a clout, shorn, sandaled, craving food 
 
 Of low-borns, he whose life was as a God's ? 
 
 My son ! heir of this spacious power, and heir 
 
 Of Kings who did but clap their palms to have 
 
 What earth could give or eager service bring ? 
 
 Thou should'st have come appareled in thy rank, 
 
 With shining spears and tramp of horse and foot. 
 
 Lo ! all my soldiers camped upon the road, 
 
 And all my city waited at the gates ; 
 
 Where hast thou sojourned through these evil years 
 
 Whilst thy crowned father mourned ? and she, too, there 
 
 Lived as the widows use, foregoing joys ; 
 
 Never once hearing sound of song or string, 
 
 Nor wearing once the festal robe, till now 
 
 When in her cloth of gold she welcomes home 
 
 A beggar spouse in yellow remnants clad. 
 
I40 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Son ! why is this ? " 
 
 ** My Father ! " came reply, 
 " It is the custom of my race." 
 
 " Thy race," 
 Answered the King, " counteth a hundred thrones 
 From Mahdsammat/' but no deed like this." 
 
 " Not of a mortal line," the Master said, 
 " I spake, but of descent invisible, 
 The Buddhas who have been and who shall be : 
 Of these am I, and what they did I do. 
 And this which now befalls so fell before 
 That at his gate a King in warrior-mail 
 Should meet his son, a Prince in hermit-weeds ; 
 And that, by love and self-control, being more 
 Than mightiest Kings in all their puissance, 
 The appointed Helper of the Worlds should bow — 
 As now do I — and with all lowly love 
 Proffer, where it is owed for tender debts, 
 The first-fruits of the treasure he hath brought ; 
 Which now I proffer." 
 
 Then the King amazed 
 Inquired "What treasure ? " and the Teacher took 
 Meekly the royal palm, and while they paced 
 Through worshiping streets — the Princess and the King 
 On either side — he told the things which make 
 For peace and pureness, those Four noble Truths'" 
 Which hold all wisdom as shores shut the seas. 
 Those eight right Rules'*^ whereby who will may walk — 
 Monarch or slave — upon the perfect Path 
 That hath its Stages Four*^ and Precepts Eight,^ 
 
BOOK THE SEVENTH. I4I 
 
 Whereby whoso will live — mighty or mean, 
 Wise or unlearned, man, woman, young or old — 
 Shall soon or late break from the wheels of life 
 Attaining blest Nirvana. So they came 
 Into the Palace-porch, Suddhodana 
 With brows unknit drinking the mighty words, 
 And in his own hand carrying Buddha's bowl, 
 Whilst a new light brightened the lovely eyes 
 Of sweet Yas5dhara and sunned her tears ; 
 And that night entered they the Way of Peace, 
 
 ■ no 
 
iBooli t\]z ©iglitl). 
 
 A BROAD rpead spreads by swift Kohana's bank 
 At Nagara ;' five days shall bring a rnan 
 In ox-wain^ thither from Benares* shrines 
 Eastward and northward journeying. The horns 
 Of white Himala look upon the place, 
 Which all the year is glad with blooms and girt 
 By groves made green from that bright streamlet's wave. 
 Soft are its slopes and cool its fragrant shades, 
 And holy all the spirit of the spot 
 Unto this time : the breath of eve comes hushed 
 Over the tangled thickets, and high heaps 
 Of carved red stones cloven by root and stem 
 Of creeping fig, and clad with waving veil 
 Of leaf and grass. The still snake glistens forth 
 From crumbled work of lac and cedar-beams 
 To coil his folds there on deep-graven slabs ; 
 The lizard dwells and darts o'er painted floors 
 Where kings have paced ; the gray fox litters safe 
 Under the broken thrones ; only the peaks, 
 And stream, and sloping lawns, and gentle air 
 Abide unchanged. All else, like all fair shows 
 Of life, are fled — for this is where it stood, 
 
 143 
 
BOOK THE EIGHTH. I43 
 
 The city of Suddhddana, the hill 
 Whereon, upon an eve of gold and blue 
 At sinking sun Lord Buddha set himself 
 To teach the Law in hearing of his own. 
 
 Lo ! ye shall read it in the Sacred Books 
 How, being met in that glad pleasaunce-place— 
 A garden in old days with hanging walks. 
 Fountains, and tanks, and rose-banked terraces 
 Girdled by gay pavilions and the sweep 
 Of stately palace-fronts — the Master sate 
 Eminent, worshiped, all the earnest throng 
 Catching the opening of his lips to learn 
 That wisdom which hath made our Asia mild ; 
 Whereto four hundred crors^ of living souls 
 Witness this day. Upon the King's right hand 
 He sate, and round were ranged the Sakya Lords 
 Ananda, Devadatta — all the Court. 
 Behind stood Seriyut and Mugallan, chiefs 
 Of the calm brethren in the yellow garb, 
 A goodly company. Between his knees 
 Rahula smiled with wondering childish eyes 
 Bent on the awful face, while at his feet 
 Sate sweet Yasodhara, her heartaches gone, 
 Foreseeing that fair love which doth not feed 
 On fleeting sense, that life which knows no age. 
 That blessed last of deaths when Death is dead, 
 His victory and hers. Wherefore she laid 
 Her hand upon his hands, folding around 
 Her silver shoulder-cloth his yellow robe. 
 Nearest in all the world to him whose words 
 
144 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 'J'he Three Worlds waited for. I cannot tell 
 
 A small part of the splendid lore which broke 
 
 From Buddha's lips: I am a late-come scribe 
 
 Wiio love the Master and his love of men, 
 
 Anil tell this legend, knowing he was wise, 
 
 But have not wit to speak beyond the books ; 
 
 And time hath blurred their script and ancient sense, 
 
 "vViiich once was new and mighty, moving all. 
 
 A little of that large discourse I know 
 
 Which Buddha spake on the soft Indian eve. 
 
 Also I know it writ that they who heard 
 
 Were more — lakhs^ more — crors more — than could be 
 
 seen. 
 For all the Devas and the Dead thronged there. 
 Till Heaven was emptied to the seventh- zone 
 And uttermost dark Hells opened their bars ; 
 Also the daylight lingered past its time 
 In rose-leaf radiance on the watching peaks, 
 So that it seemed Night listened in the glens 
 And Noon upon the mountains ; yea, they write, 
 The evening stood between them like some maid 
 Cc-kstial, love-struck, rapt ; the smooth-rolled clouds 
 Her braided hair ; the studded stars the pearls 
 And diamonds of her coronal ; the moon 
 Her forehead-jewel, and the deepening dark 
 Her woven garments. 'Twas her close-held breath 
 Which came in scented sighs across the lawns 
 While our Lord taught, and, while he taught, who heard — 
 Tliough he were stranger in the land, or slave, 
 High caste or low, come of the Aryan blood, 
 Or Mlech'^ or Jungle-dweller — seemed to hear 
 
BOOK THE EIGHTH. I45 
 
 What tongue his fellows talked. Nay, outside those 
 Who crowded by the river, great and small, 
 The birds and beasts and creeping things^ — 'tis writ- 
 Had sense of Buddha's vast embracing love 
 And took the promise of his piteous speech ; 
 So that their lives — prisoned in shape of ape, 
 Tiger, or deer, shagged bear, jackal, or wolf, 
 Foul-feeding kite, pearled dove, or peacock gemmed, 
 Squat toad, or speckled serpent, lizard, bat ; 
 Yea, or of fish fanning the river-waves — 
 Touched meekly at the skirts of brotherhood 
 With man who hath less innocence than these ; 
 And in mute gladness knew their bondage broke 
 Whilst Buddha spake these things before the King :— 
 
 Om,' amitaya ! * measure not with words 
 
 Th' Immeasurable ; nor sink the string of thought 
 
 Into the Fathomless. Who asks doth err, 
 Who answers, errs. Say nought ! 
 
 The Books teach Darkness was, at first of all, 
 And Brahm, sole meditating in that night : 
 
 Look not for Brahm^ and the Beginning there ! 
 Nor him, nor any light 
 
 Shall any gazer see with mortal eyes, 
 Or any searcher know by mortal mind ; 
 
 Veil after veil will lift — but there must be 
 Veil upon veil behind. 
 
146 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Stars sweep and question not. This is enough 
 I That life and death and joy and woe abide ; 
 
 And cause and sequence, and the course of time, 
 And Being's ceaseless tide, 
 
 Which, ever-changing, runs, linked like a river 
 By ripples following ripples, fast or slow — 
 
 The same yet not the same — from far-off fountain 
 To where its waters flow 
 
 Into the seas. These, steaming to the Sun, 
 Give the lost wavelets back in cloudy fleece 
 
 To trickle down the hills, and glide again ; 
 Having no pause or peace. 
 
 This is enough to know, the phantasms are ; 
 
 The Heavens, Earths, Worlds, and changes changing 
 them 
 A mighty whirling wheel of strife and stress 
 
 Which none can stay or stem. 
 
 Pray not ! the darkness will not brighten ! Ask 
 Nought from the Silence, for it cannot speak ! 
 
 Vex not your mournful minds with pious pains ! 
 Ah ! Brothers, Sisters ! seek 
 
 Nought from the helpless gods by gift and hymn, 
 Nor bribe with blood, nor feed with fruit and cakes ; 
 
 Within yourselves deliverance must be sought ; 
 Each man his prison makes." 
 
BOOK THE EIGHTH. I47 
 
 Ravh hath such lordship as the loftiest ones ; 
 
 Nay, for with Powers above, around, below, 
 As with all flesh and whatsoever lives. 
 
 Act maketh joy and woe. 
 
 What hath been bringeth what shall be, and is. 
 Worse — better — last for first and first for last ; 
 
 The Angels in the Heavens of Gladness reap 
 Fruits of a holy past. 
 
 The devils in the underworlds wear out 
 Deeds that were wicked in an age gone by. 
 
 Nothing endures : fair virtues waste with time, 
 Foul sins grow purged thereby. 
 
 Who toiled a slave may come anew a Prince 
 
 For gentle worthiness and merit won ; 
 Who ruled a King may wander earth in rags 
 
 For things done and undone. 
 
 Higher than Indrd's " ye may lift your lot, 
 And sink it lower than the worm or gnat ; 
 
 The end of many myriad lives is this, 
 The end of myri::ds that. 
 
 Only, while turns this wheel invisible, 
 
 No pause, no peace, no staying-place can be ; 
 
 Who mounts will fall, who falls may mount ; the spokes 
 Go round unceasingly ! 
 
148 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 If ye lay bound upon the wheel of change, 
 And no way were of breaking from the chain, 
 
 The Heart of boundless Being is a curse, 
 The Soul of Things fell Pain. 
 
 Ye are not bound ! the Soul of Things is sweet, 
 The Heart of Being is celestial rest ; 
 
 Stronger than woe is will : that which was Good 
 Doth pass to Better — Best. 
 
 I, Buddh, who wept with all my brothers' tears, 
 Whose heart was broken by a whole world's woe, 
 
 Laugh and am glad, for there is Liberty ! 
 Ho ! ye who suffer ! know 
 
 Ye suffer from yourselves. None else compels, 
 None other holds you that ye live and die, 
 
 And whirl upon the wheel, and hug and kiss 
 Its spokes of agony, 
 
 Its tire of tears, its nave of nothingness. 
 
 Behold, I show you Truth ! Lower than hell. 
 Higher than heaven, outside the utmost stars. 
 
 Farther than Brahm doth dwell. 
 
 Before beginning, and without an end. 
 
 As space eternal and as surety sure. 
 Is fixed a power divine which moves to good, 
 
 Only its laws endure. 
 
 This is its touch upon the blossomed rose, 
 The fashion of its hand shaped lotus-leaves; 
 
BOOK THE EIGHTH. I49 
 
 In dark soil and the silence of the seeds 
 The robe of Spring it weaves ; 
 
 That is its painting on the glorious clouds, 
 
 And these its emeralds on the peacock's train ; 
 
 It hath its stations in the stars ; its slaves 
 In lightning, wind, and rain. 
 
 Out of the dark it wrought the heart of man, 
 Out of dull shells the pheasant's penciled neck ; 
 
 Ever at toil, it brings to loveliness 
 All ancient wrath and wreck. 
 
 The gray eggs in the golden sun-bird's nest 
 
 Its treasures are, the bees* six-sided cell 
 Its honey-pot ; the ant wots of its ways. 
 
 The white doves know them well. 
 
 It spreadeth forth for flight the eagle's wings 
 What time she beareth home her prey ; it sends 
 
 The she-wolf to her cubs ; for unloved things 
 It findeth food and friends. 
 
 It is not marred nor stayed in any use. 
 
 All liketh it ; the sweet white milk it brings 
 
 To mothers' breasts ; it brings the white drops, too, 
 Wherewith the young snake stings. 
 
 The ordered music of the marching orbs 
 
 It makes in viewless canopy of sky ; 
 In deep abyss of earth it hides up gold, 
 
 Sards, sapphires, lazuli. 
 
150 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Ever and ever bringing secrets forth, 
 
 It sitteth in the green of forest-glades 
 Nursing strange seedlings at the cedar's root, 
 
 Devising leaves, blooms, blades. 
 
 It slayeth and it saveth, nowise moved 
 
 Except unto the working out of doom ; 
 Its threads are Love and Life ; and Death and Pain 
 
 The shuttles of its loom. 
 
 It maketh and unmaketh, mending all ; 
 
 What it hath wrought is better than hath been ; 
 Slow grows the splendid pattern that it plans 
 
 Its wistful hands between. 
 
 This is its work upon the things ye see. 
 
 The unseen things are more ; men's hearts and minds, 
 The thoughts of peoples and their ways and wills. 
 
 Those, too, the great Law binds. 
 
 Unseen it helpeth ye with faithful hands. 
 
 Unheard it speaketh stronger than the storm. 
 
 Pity and Love are man's because long stress 
 Molded blind mass to form. 
 
 It will not be contemned of any one ; 
 
 Who thwarts it loses, and who serves it gains ; 
 The hidden good it pays with peace and bliss, 
 
 The hidden ill with pains. 
 
 It seeth everywhere and marketh all : 
 
 Do right — it recompenseth ! do one wrong — 
 
 ■■^RSOmiLWUIUI 
 
BOOK THE EIGHTH. I5I 
 
 The equal retribution must be made, 
 Though Dharma '^ tarry long. 
 
 It knows not wrath nor pardon ; utter-true 
 
 Its measures mete, its faultless balance weighs ; 
 
 Times are as nought, to-morrow it will judge, 
 Or after many days. 
 
 By this the slayer's knife did stab himself ; 
 
 The unjust judge hath lost his own defender ; 
 The false tongue dooms its lie ; the creeping thief 
 
 And spoiler rob, to render. 
 
 Such is the Law which moves to righteousness, 
 Which none at last can turn aside or stay ; 
 
 The heart of it is Love, the end of it 
 
 Is Peace and Consummation sweet. Obey ! 
 
 The Books say well, my Brothers ! each man's life 
 The outcome of his former living is ; 
 
 The bygone wrongs bring forth sorrows and woes, 
 The bygone right breeds bliss. 
 
 That which ye sow ye reap. See yonder fields ! 
 
 The sesamum was sesamum,^^ the corn 
 Was corn. The Silence and the Darkness knew ! 
 
 So is a man's fate born. 
 
 He cometh, reaper of the things he sowed, 
 Sesamum, corn, so much cast in past birth ; 
 
152 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 And so much weed and poison-stuff, which mar 
 Him and the aching earth. 
 
 If he shall labor rightly, rooting these, 
 
 And planting wholesome seedlings where they grew, 
 Fruitful and fair and clean the ground shall be. 
 
 And rich the harvest due. 
 
 If he who liveth, learning whence woe springs, 
 
 Endureth patiently, striving to pay 
 His utmost debt for ancient evils done 
 
 In Love and Truth alway ; 
 
 If making none to lack, he throughly purge 
 The lie and lust of self forth from his blood ; 
 
 Suffering all meekly, rendering for offense 
 Nothing but grace and good ; 
 
 If he shall day by day dwell merciful, 
 
 Holy and just and kind and true ; and rend 
 
 Desire from where it clings with bleeding roots, 
 Till love of life have end : 
 
 He — dying — leaveth as the sum of him 
 
 A life-count closed, whose ills are dead and quit, 
 Whose good is quick and mighty, far and near, 
 ^ So that fruits follow it. 
 
 No need hath such to live as ye name life ; 
 
 That which began in him when he began 
 Is finished : he hath wrought the purpose through 
 
 Of what did make him Man. 
 
BOOK THE EIGHTH. I53 
 
 » 
 
 Never shall yearnings torture him, nor sins 
 Stain him, nor ache of earthly joys and woes 
 
 Invade his safe eternal peace ; nor deaths 
 And lives recur. He goes 
 
 Unto Nirvana." He is one with Life 
 Yet lives not. He is blest, ceasing to be. 
 
 Om,'^ mani'^ padme," om ! the Dewdrop slips 
 Into the shining sea ! '* 
 
 This is the doctrine of the Karma." Learn ! 
 
 Only when all the dross of sin is quit, 
 Only when life dies like a white flame spent 
 
 Death dies along with it. 
 
 Say not " I am," " I was," or " I shall be," 
 
 Think not ye pass from house to house of flesh 
 
 Like travelers who remember and forget, 
 Ill-lodged or well-lodged. Fresh 
 
 Issues upon the Universe that sum 
 Which is the lattermost of lives. It makes 
 
 Its habitation as the worm spins silk 
 And dwells therein. It takes 
 
 Function and substance as the snake's egg hatched 
 Takes scale and fang ; as feathered reed-seeds fly 
 
 O'er rock and loam and sand, until they find 
 Their marsh and multiply. 
 
154 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Also it issues forth to help or hurt. 
 
 When Death the bitter murderer doth smite, 
 Red roams the unpurged fragment of him, driven 
 
 On wings of plague and blight. 
 
 But when the mild and just die, sweet airs breathe ; 
 
 The world grows richer, as if desert-stream 
 Should sink away to sparkle up again 
 
 Purer, with broader gleam. 
 
 So merit won winneth the happier age 
 
 Which by demerit halteth short of end ; 
 Yet must this Law of Love reign King of all 
 
 Before the Kalpas^" end. 
 
 What lets ? — Brothers ! the Darkness lets ! which breeds 
 Ignorance, mazed whereby ye take these shows 
 
 For true, and thirst to have, and, having, cling 
 To lusts which work you woes. 
 
 Ye that will tread the Middle Road, whose course 
 Bright Reason traces and soft Quiet smoothes ; 
 
 Ye who will take the high Nirvana-way 
 List the Four Noble Truths. 
 
 The First Truth is of Sorrow. Be not mocked ! 
 
 Life which ye prize is long-drawn agony ; 
 Only its pains abide ; its pleasures are 
 
 As birds which light and fly. 
 
 Ache of the birth, ache of the helpless days, 
 
 Ache of hot youth and ache of manhood's prime ; 
 
BOOK THE EIGHTH. I55 
 
 Ache of the chill gray years and choking death, 
 These fill your piteous time. 
 
 Sweet is fond Love, but funeral-flames must kiss 
 The breasts which pillow and the lips which cling 
 
 Gallant is warlike Might, but vultures pick 
 The joints of chief and King. 
 
 Beauteous is Earth, but all its forest-broods 
 
 Plot mutual slaughter, hungering to live ; 
 Of sapphire are the skies, but when men cry 
 
 Famished, no drops they give. 
 
 Ask of the sick, the mourners, ask of him 
 Who tottereth on his staff, lone and forlorn, 
 
 ** Liketh thee life ? " — these say the babe is wise 
 That weepeth, being born. 
 
 The Second Truth is Sorrow's Cause. What grief 
 Springs of itself and springs not of Desire ? 
 
 Senses and things perceived mingle and light 
 Passion's quick spark of fir j ; 
 
 So flameth Trishna, luct and thirst of things. 
 
 Eager ye cleave to shadows, dote on dreams ; 
 A false Self in the midst ye plant, and make 
 
 A world around which seems 
 
 Blind to the height beyond, deaf to the sound 
 Of sweet airs breathed from far past Indra's sky ; 
 
 Dumb to the summons of the true life kept 
 For him who false puts by. 
 
156 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 So grow the strifes and lusts which make earth's war, 
 So grieve poor cheated hearts and flow salt tears ; 
 
 So wax the passions, envies, angers, hates ; 
 So years chase blood-stained years 
 
 With wild red feet. So, where the grain should grow, 
 Spreads the birdn-weed^^ with its evil root 
 
 And poisonous blossoms ; hardly good seeds find 
 Soil where to fall and shoot ; ^ 
 
 And drugged with poisonous drink the soul departs, 
 And fierce with thirst to drink Karma returns ; 
 
 Sense-struck again the sodden self begins, 
 And new deceits it earns. 
 
 The Third is Sorrow's Ceasing. This is peace 
 To conquer love of self and lust of life, 
 
 To tear deep-rooted passion from the breast. 
 To still the inward strife ; 
 
 For love to clasp Eternal Beauty close ; 
 
 For glory to be Lord of self, for pleasure 
 To live beyond the gods ; for countless wealth 
 
 To lay up lasting treasure 
 
 Of perfect service rendered, duties done 
 In charity, soft speech, and stainless days : 
 
 These riches shall not fade away in life, 
 Nor any death dispraise. 
 
 Then Sorrow ends, for Life and Death have ceased ; 
 How should lamps flicker when their oil is spent ? 
 
BOOK THE EIGHTH. 1 57 
 
 The old sad count is clear, the new is clean ; 
 Thus hath a man content. 
 
 * 
 
 The Fourth Truth is The Way. It openeth wide, 
 Plain for all feet to tread, easy and near, 
 
 The Noble Eightfold Path ; it goeth straight 
 To peace and refuge. Hear ! 
 
 Manifold tracks lead to yon sister-peaks 
 
 Around whose snows the gilded clouds are curled ; 
 
 By steep or gentle slopes the climber comes 
 Where breaks that other world. 
 
 Strong limbs may dare the rugged road which storms, 
 Soaring and perilous, the mountain's breast ; 
 
 The weak must wind from slower ledge to ledge 
 With many a place of rest. 
 
 So is the Eightfold Path which brings to peace ; 
 
 By lower or by upper heights it goes. 
 The firm soul hastes, the feeble tarries. All 
 
 Will reach the sunlit snows. 
 
 The First good Level is Right Doctrine. Walk 
 In Fear of Dharma, shunning all offense ; 
 
 In heed of Karma, which doth make man's fate ; 
 In lordship over sense. 
 
 The Second is Right Purpose. Have good- will 
 To all that lives, letting unkindness die 
 
158 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 And greed and wrath ; so that your lives be made 
 Like soft airs passing by. 
 
 The Third is Right Discourse. Govern the lips 
 As they were palace-doors, the King within ; 
 
 Tranquil and fair and courteous be all words 
 Which from that presence win. 
 
 The Fourth is Right Behavior. Let each act 
 
 Assoil a fault or help a merit grow : 
 Like threads of silver seen through crystal beads 
 
 Let love through good deeds show. 
 
 Four higher roadways be. Only those feet 
 
 May tread them which have done with earthly things ; 
 
 Right Purity, Right Thought, Right Loneliness, 
 Right Rapture. Spread no wings 
 
 For sunward flight, thou soul with unplumed vans ! 
 
 Sweet is the lower air and safe, and known 
 The homely levels : only strong ones leave 
 
 The nest each makes his own. 
 
 Dear is the love, I know, of Wife and Child ; 
 
 Pleasant the friends and pastimes of your years ; 
 Fruitful of good Life's gentle charities ; 
 
 False, though firm-set, its fears. 
 
 Live — ye who must — such lives as live on these ; 
 
 Make golden stair-ways of your weakness ; rise 
 By daily sojourn with those phantasies 
 
 To lovelier verities. 
 
BOOK THE EIGHTH. 159 
 
 So shall ye pass to clearer heights and find 
 
 Easier ascents and lighter loads of sins, 
 And larger will to burst the bonds of sense. 
 
 Entering the Path. Who wins 
 
 To such commencement hath the Fi7'st Stage touched ; 
 
 He knows the Noble Truths, the Eightfold Road ; 
 By few or many steps such shall attain 
 
 Nirvana's blest abode. 
 
 Who standeth at the Second Stage, made free 
 From doubts, delusions, and the inward strife, 
 
 Lord of all lusts, quit of the priests and books. 
 Shall live but one more life. 
 
 Yet onward lies the Third Stage : purged and pure 
 Hath grown the stately spirit here, hath risen 
 
 To love all living things in perfect peace. 
 His life at end, life's prison 
 
 Is broken. Nay, there are who surely pass 
 
 Living and visible to utmost goal 
 By Fourth Stage of the Holy ones — the Buddhs — 
 
 And they of stainless soul. 
 
 Lo ! like fierce foes slain by some warrior. 
 
 Ten sins along these Stages lie in dust, 
 The Love of Self, False Faith, and Doubt arc three, 
 
 Two more. Hatred and Lust. 
 
 Who of these Five is conqueror hath trod 
 Three stages out of Four : yet there abide 
 
l6o THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 The Love of Life on Earth, Desire for Heaven, 
 Self-Praise, Error, and Pride. 
 
 As one who stands on yonder snowy horn 
 
 Having nought o'er him but the boundless blue, 
 
 So, these sins being slain, the man is come 
 Nirvana's verge unto. 
 
 Him the Gods envy from their lower seats ; 
 
 Him the Three Worlds in ruin should not shake ; 
 All life is lived for him, all deaths are dead ; 
 
 Karma will no more make 
 
 New houses. Seeking nothing, he gains all ; 
 
 Foregoing self, the Universe grows " I : '* 
 If any teach NIRVAnA is to cease. 
 
 Say unto such they lie. 
 
 If any teach NIRVANA is to live, 
 
 Say unto such they err ;^ not knowing this, 
 
 Nor what light shines beyond their broken lamps, 
 Nor lifeless, timeless bliss. 
 
 Enter the Path ! There is no grief like Hate ! 
 
 No pains like passions, no deceit like sense ! 
 Enter the Path ! far hath he gone whose foot 
 
 Treads down one fond offense. 
 
 Enter the Path ! There spring the healing streams 
 
 Quenching all thirst ! there bloom th' immortal flowers 
 
 Carpeting all the way with joy ! there throng 
 Swiftest and sweetest hours ! 
 
BOOK THE EIGHTH. l6l 
 
 More is the treasure of the Law than gems ; 
 
 Sweeter than comb its sweetness ; its deUghts 
 Delightful past compare. Thereby to live 
 
 Hear the Five Rules aright : — 
 
 Kill not — for Pity's sake — and lest ye slay 
 The meanest thing upon its upward way. 
 
 Give freely and receive, but take from none 
 By greed, or force or fraud, what is his own. 
 
 Bear not false witness, slander not, nor lie ; 
 Truth is the speech of inward purity. 
 
 Shun drugs and drinks which work the wit abuse ; 
 Clear minds, clean bodies, need no Soma juice.^ 
 
 Touch not thy neighbor's wife, neither commit 
 Sins of the flesh unlawful and unfit. 
 
 These words the Master spake of duties due 
 To father, mother, children, fellows, friends ; 
 Teaching how such as may not swiftly break 
 The clinging chains of sense — whose feet are weak 
 To tread the higher road — should order so 
 This life of flesh that all their hither days 
 Pass blameless in discharge of charities 
 And first true footfalls in the Eightfold Path ; 
 Living pure, reverent, patient, pitiful, 
 Loving all things which live even as themselves ; 
 6 — ^ 
 
J5 
 
 162 THE LIGHT OF ASIA. 
 
 Because what falls for ill is fruit of ill 
 
 Wrought in the past, and what falls well of good ; 
 
 And that by howsomuch the householder 
 
 Purgeth himself of self and helps the world. 
 
 By so much happier comes he to next stage, 
 
 In so much bettered being. This he spake. 
 
 As also long before, when our Lord walked 
 
 By Rajagriha in the bamboo-grove : 
 
 For on a dawn he walked there and beheld 
 
 The householder Singala, newly bathed, 
 
 Bowing himself with bare head to the earth. 
 
 To Heaven, and all four quarters ; while he threw 
 
 Rice, red and white, from both hands.''* " Wherefore thus 
 
 Bowest thou. Brother ? " said the Lord ; and he, 
 
 " It is the way, Great Sir ! our fathers taught 
 
 At every dawn, before the toil begins, 
 
 To hold off evil from the sky above 
 
 And earth beneath, and all the winds which blow." 
 
 Then the World-honored spake : " Scatter not rice, 
 
 But offer loving thoughts and acts to all. 
 
 To parents as the East where rises light ; 
 
 To teachers as the South v/hence rich gifts come ; 
 
 To wife and children as the West where gleam 
 
 Colors of love and calm, and all days end ; 
 
 To friends and kinsmen and all men as North ; 
 
 To humblest living things beneath, to Saints 
 
 And Angels and the blessed Dead above : 
 
 So shall all evil be shut off, and so 
 
 The six main quarters will be safely kept.'* 
 
 But to his own, them of the yellow robe — 
 They who, as wakened eagles, soar with scorn 
 
BOOK THE EIGHTH. 163 
 
 From life's low vale, and wing towards the Sun — 
 
 To these he taught the Ten Observances, 
 
 The Dasa sil^^ and how a mendicant 
 
 Must know the Three Doors ^^ and the Triple Thoughts ;^ 
 
 The Sixfold States of Mind j ^' the Fivefold Powers ; -' 
 
 The Eight High Gates of Purity j^" the Modes 
 
 Of Understanding j^^ Iddhi j^'^ Upeksha ;^^ 
 
 The Five great Meditations^ which are food 
 
 Sweeter than Amrit ^^ for the holy soul ; 
 
 The Jhdnas^ and the Three Chief Refuges. ^"^ 
 
 Also he taught his own how they should dwell ; 
 
 How live, free from the snares of love and wealth ; 
 
 What eat and drink and carry — three plain cloths, — 
 
 Yellow, of stitched stuff, worn with shoulder bare — 
 
 A girdle, almsbowl, strainer.^ Thus he laid 
 
 The great foundations of our Sangha^^ well, 
 
 That noble Order of the Yellow Robe 
 
 Which to this day standeth to help the World. 
 
 So all that night he spake, teaching the Law : 
 And on no eyes fell sleep — for they who heard 
 Rejoiced with tireless joy. Also the King, 
 When this was finished, rose upon his throne 
 And with bared feet bowed low before his Son 
 Kissing his hem ; and said, '* Take me, O Son ! 
 Lowest and least of all thy Company." 
 And sweet Yasodhara, all happy now — 
 Cried " Give to Rahula — thou Blessed One ! 
 The Treasure of the Kingdom of thy Word 
 For his inheritance." Thus passed these Three 
 Into the Path. 
 
*^4 THE LIGHT OF ASIA, 
 
 Here endeth what I write 
 Who love the Master for his love of ns. 
 A little knowing, little have I told 
 Touching the Teacher and the Ways of Peace. 
 Forty-five rains thereafter showed he those 
 In many lands and many tongues and gave 
 Our Asia light, that still is beautiful, 
 Conquering the world with spirit of strong grace : 
 All which is written in the holy Books, 
 And where he passed and what proud Emperors 
 Carved his sweet words upon the rocks and caves ; 
 And how — in fullness of the times — it fell 
 The Buddha died, the great Tathagato,'*' 
 Even as a man 'mongst men, fulfilling all : 
 Ar^d how a thousand thousand crors since then 
 H\ve trod the path which leads whither he went 
 ^ hto Nirvana where the Silence lives. 
 
 Ah ! Blessed Lord ! Oh, High Deliverer ! 
 Forgive this feeble script, which doth thee wrong, 
 Measuring with little wit thy lofty Love. 
 A.H ! Lover ! Brother ! Guide ! Lamp of the Law I 
 
 I TAKE MY refuge IN THY NAME AND THEE ! 
 I TAKE MY REFUGE IN THY LaW OF GoOD ! 
 I TAKE MY REFUGE IN THY OrDER ! OAf / 
 
 tuE Dew is on the lotus !— rise. Great Sun ! 
 And lift my leaf and mix me with the wave, 
 Om mani padme hum,^' the Sunrise comes ! 
 The Dewdrop slips into the shining Sea ! 
 
52lfter Uxatt) in Arabia. 
 
 BY EDWIN ARNOLD. 
 
 He who died at Azan sends 
 This to comfort all his friends : 
 
 Faithful friends ! It lies, I know, 
 Pale and white and cold as snow ; 
 And ye say, " Abdallah's dead ! " 
 Weeping at the feet and head, 
 I can see your falling tears, 
 I can hear your sighs and prayers ; 
 Yet I smile and whisper this, — 
 *' I am not the thing you kiss ; 
 Cease your tears, and let it lie ; 
 It was mine, it is not I." 
 
 Sweet friends ! What the women lave 
 For its last bed of the grave. 
 Is but a hut which I am quitting. 
 Is a garment no more fitting, 
 Is a cage, from which, at last. 
 Like a hawk my soul hath passed. 
 Love the inmate, not the room, — 
 The wearer, not the garb,— the plume 
 165 
 
l66 AFTER DEATH IN ARABIA. 
 
 Of the falcon, not the bars 
 Which kept him from those splendid stars. 
 Loving friends ! Be wise and dry- 
 Straightway every weeping eye,— 
 What ye lift upon the bier 
 Is not worth a wistful tear. 
 *Tis an empty sea-shell, — one 
 Out of which the pearl is gone ; 
 The shell is broken, it lies there ; 
 The pearl, the all, the soul, is here. 
 'Tis an earthen jar, whose lid 
 Allah sealed, the while it hid 
 That treasure of his treasury, 
 A mind that loved hi?n ; let it lie ! 
 Let the shard be earth's once more, 
 Since the gold shines in his store ! 
 
 Allah glorious ! Allah good ! 
 Now thy world is understood ; 
 Now the long, long wonder ends ; 
 Yet ye w^eep, my erring friends, 
 While the man whom ye call dead, 
 In unspoken bliss, instead, 
 Lives and loves you ; lost, 'tis true. 
 By such light as shines for you ; 
 But in the light ye cannot see 
 Of unfulfilled felicity, — 
 In enlarging paradise. 
 Lives a life that never dies. 
 
 Farewell, friends ! Yet not farewell ; 
 Where I am, ye, too, shall dwell. 
 
 "t 
 
AFTER DEATH IN ARABIA. 167 
 
 I am gone before your face, 
 A moment's time, a little space. 
 When ye come where I have stepped 
 Ye will wonder why ye wept ; 
 Ye will know, by wise love taught, 
 That here is all, and there is naught. 
 Weep awhile, if ye are fain, — 
 Sunshine still must follow rain ; 
 Only not at death, — for death, 
 Now I know, is that first breath 
 Which our souls draw when we enter 
 Life, which is of all life center. 
 
 Be ye certain all seems love, 
 
 Viewed from Allah's throne above , 
 
 Be ye stout of heart, and come 
 
 Bravely onward to your home ! 
 
 La Allah ilia Allah I yea ! 
 
 Thou love divine ! Thou love alway ! 
 
 He that died at Azan gave 
 
 This to those who made his grave. 
 
«« 
 
 j^e nnb She.'" 
 
 BY EDWIN ARNOLD. 
 
 " She is dead ! " they said to him ; " come away ; 
 Kiss her and leave her, — thy love is clay ! " 
 
 They smoothed her tresses of dark brown hair; 
 On her forehead of stone they laid it fair ; 
 
 Over her eyes that gazed too much 
 They drew the lids with a gentle touch ; 
 
 With a tender touch they closed up well 
 The sweet thin lips that had secrets to tell ; 
 
 About her brows and beautiful face 
 They tied her veil and her marriage lace, 
 
 And drew on her white feet her white silk shoes— 
 Which were the whitest no eye could choose — 
 
 And over her bosom they crossed her hands. 
 " Come away ! " they said ; " God understands.*' 
 
 And there was silence, and nothing there 
 But silence, and scents of eglantere, 
 
 168 
 
••he and she. 169 
 
 And jasmine, and roses, and rosemary ; 
 
 And they said, " As a lady should lie, lies she." 
 
 And they held their breath till they left the room, 
 With a shudder, to glance at its stillness and gloom. 
 
 But he who loved her too well to dread 
 The sweet, the stately, the beautiful dead, 
 
 He lit his lamp and took the key 
 
 And turned it — alone again — he and she. 
 
 He and she ; but she would not speak, 
 
 Though he kissed, in the old place, the quiet cheek. 
 
 He and she ; yet she would not smile. 
 
 Though he called her the name she loved erewhile. 
 
 He and she ; still she did not move 
 To any one passionate whisper of love. 
 
 Then he said : " Cold lips and breasts without breath, 
 Is there no voice, no language of death ? 
 
 " Dumb to the ear and still to the sense, 
 But to heart and to soul distinct, intense? 
 
 " See now ; I will listen with soul, not ear ; 
 What was the secret of dying, dear ? 
 
 *' Was it the infinite wonder of all 
 
 That you ever could let life's flower fall? 
 
170 "he and she.** 
 
 " Or was it a greater marvel to feel 
 The perfect calm o'er the agony steal ? 
 
 " Was the miracle greater to find how deep 
 Beyond all dreams sank downward that sleep ? 
 
 " Did life roll back its records dear, 
 
 And show, as they say it does, past things clear? 
 
 " And was it the innermost heart of the bliss 
 To find out so, what a wisdom love is ? 
 
 ** O perfect dead ! O dead most dear, 
 I hold the breath of my soul to hear ! 
 
 " I listen as deep as to horrible hell, 
 
 As high as to heaven, and you do not telL 
 
 " There must be pleasure in dying, sweet, 
 To make you so placid from head to feet ! 
 
 " I would tell you, darling, if I were dead, 
 
 And 'twere your hot tears upon my brow shed, — 
 
 ** I would say, though the Angel of Death had laid 
 His sword on my lips to keep it unsaid. 
 
 " You should not ask vainly, with streaming eyes, 
 Which of all deaths was the chiefest surprise, 
 
 " The very strangest and suddenest thing 
 Of all the surprises that dying must bring." 
 
"he and she." 171 
 
 Ah, foolish world ; O most kind dead ! 
 
 Though he told me, who will believe it was said ? 
 
 Who will believe that he heard her say. 
 
 With the sweet, soft voice, in the dear old way : 
 
 " The utmost wonder is this, — I hear 
 
 And see you, and love you, and kiss you, dear ; 
 
 " And am your angel, who was your bride, 
 
 And know that, though dead, I have never died." 
 
. RULES FOR PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 A, unmarked like u in but. 
 
 A, marked like a in father. 
 
 E, like a in fate. 
 
 I, unmarked like i in him. 
 
 I, marked as ee in feel. 
 
 O, marked or unmarked like o in gold. 
 
 IJ", marked like u in rule. 
 
 U. unmarked like u in gun. 
 
PREFACE TO NOTES. 
 
 A FEW summer afternoon ** Conversations" on tlie " Liglit of 
 Asia," at the earnest request of the company who listened, are at 
 last condensed into these notes. Interpretation rather than criti- 
 cism has been my aim, neither have I thought it best to enter into 
 any extended discussion of the merits of Buddliist doctrine pre- 
 sented or incidentally mentioned. A separate volume would be 
 needed for that. Of necessity Mr. Arnold has been obliged to use 
 CUiristian phraseology, and as a powerful artist, without being a 
 Buddhist or any other sort of a heathen, he has made the most of 
 his picture. 
 
 We find it as difficult to becloud Christian words with heathen 
 ideas as the heathen find it difficult to attach to their theological 
 terms, when used to explain Christianity, the truth, purity and 
 clearness of Christian doctrine. 
 
 If the corresponding legends introduced in these notes shall give 
 to any one a juster idea of the place Buddhist history holds in 
 Oriental literature ; if the translation of Hindu words and descrip- 
 tions of Hindu customs shall add to the pleasure of any as they 
 strive to comprehend Mr. Arnold's picture ; if the fuller details of 
 Brahminical and Buddhist beliefs shall give to any a clearer view 
 of the darkness which Buddha with his candle of truth bravely 
 strove to illumine ; if any, reading these notes, shall love mankind 
 more and Christianity not less, my aim is fulfilled. 
 
 Mrs. I. L. HAUSER. 
 Evanston, 111., April 13, 1883. 
 
 175 
 
EDWIN ARNOLD C. S. I. 
 
 Edwin Arnold was the second son of Robert Coles Arnold, a 
 magistrate in Sussex ; he was born June 10, 1831, and was educa- 
 ted at King's Scliooi, Rochester, and King's College, London ; and 
 was elected to a scholarship at University College, Oxford. In 
 1852 he obtained the Newdigate prize for his English poem on the 
 Feast of Belshazzar. In 1853 he was elected to address the Earl of 
 Derby on his installation as Chancellor of the University. He 
 graduated with honor in 1851, and became second master in King 
 Edward the Sixth's school in Birmingham, and subsequently was 
 appointed principal of the Government Sanskrit College at Poena, 
 in Western India. He held the position until 1860, when he was 
 compelled to leave his much-loved India, by the death of a child, 
 and the illness of his young wife. For nearly twenty years since 
 lie has held the position of sub-editor, or editor-in-chief, of the 
 London Daily lelegrcqjh, where he has become greatly distin- 
 guished as a writer of powerful " leaders." Mr. Arnold has con- 
 tributed largely to critical and literary journals, and is the author 
 of " Griselda, a Drama;" "Poems Narrative and Lyrical," 
 " Education in India," " The Euterpe of Herodotus," a translation 
 with notes ; a translation of the "Hitopodesh," or "Book of Good 
 Counsels," a Sanskrit work; "The History of Lord Dalhousie's 
 Administration," *' The Indian Song of Songs," and the " Light of 
 Asia." This last work he began in September of 1878, and though^ 
 his duties as editor of the Daily Telegraph were unremitting, lie 
 was able, within a year, to have it publislied on both sides the 
 Atlantic. Later, Mr. Arnold has translated into verse two books 
 from the Mahabharata, " The Iliad of India." 
 
 177 
 
BUDDHA. 
 
 Op the real history of Buddha comparatively little was Icnowii 
 in the Western world until within the present century. Whether 
 he ever existed at all was a great question among the best scholars, 
 but recent research and comparison of Buddliist works from Cey- 
 lon, Burmah, Siam, Thibet, China and Sanskrit works in Indi i 
 seems to establish the fact beyond further question. As scholars 
 in each of the countries where Buddhism prevails read the works, 
 ancient or modern, that proclaimed the greatness and doctrines of 
 Buddha, they found them so overgrown witli legends and absurdi- 
 ties that it was impossible for them to decide which was truth and 
 which falsehood ; but when these works were brought together in 
 European studies, and a few earnest scholars set themselves to 
 the task of comparison, it was found that on certain points of 
 Buddha's life and doctrine there was practical agreement. These 
 being gathered out of the mass of nonsense, we now have an in- 
 telligible history of Buddha. It should be remembered that com- 
 merce, or other intercourse between Cliina, Thibet and India had 
 been almost entirely suspended for nearly a thousand years, and 
 the thought and traditions of one country had not been affected 
 by that of tlie other ; hence it seems evident that a common 
 origin in the spread of Buddhism, some fifteen or twenty centuries 
 since, must account for the agreement of the Buddliist books of 
 those countries on history and doctrine. 
 
 Notliing has been more uncertain about Buddha than the time 
 of his life. Professor Wilson enumerates over twenty different 
 dates given in Buddhist books, each as reliable as the other, and 
 ranging over a thousand years previous to 453 B.C. ; but the most 
 careful research, and the balance of Oriental authorities, places 
 his birth about G30 b c. 
 
 The story of Buddha'g ante-natal existence is as firmly believed 
 in by hii followers as that of the recorded eighty years of his last 
 appearance. He is said t,o have passed through an infinitudt- of 
 births, in various characters, during ten millions of million and 
 cue hundred thousand millions of kalpas, or e*^^ernities. Appear- 
 ing as a prince fifty-one times m the Jine of Mahasammata, he 
 was therefore fifty-one times his own anc-istor. In every birth he 
 
 17d 
 
I So 
 
 BUDDHA. 
 
 Is represented as being possessed of rare moral excellence and 
 great benevolence. It is said that when he was living as King 
 Kannkavarna he gave to a Bodhisattwa — or candidate for Buddha- 
 hood — the last morsel of food which long famine had left for his 
 sustenance. This act of charity was followed by rain and plenty. 
 Again Buddha born as a Brahmin gave his own body to feed a 
 famished tigress and her cubs. After this marvel of charity he 
 attained the rank of Bodhisattwa, which is only inferior to that 
 of Buddha, and lived in the Tushita heaven, where he taught 
 his doctrine to innumerable millions of Bodhisattwas, or future 
 Buddhas, and was glorified by many strange creatures of Hindu 
 mythology. Another account places Buddha as one of the seven 
 holy Rishis — saints — each one of whom awaits, in one of the 
 seven stars of the Great Bear, final birth or incarceration. In 
 other works the occasion of Buddha's b'rtli is differently told. 
 Vishnu, one of the Hindu trinity, saw that men, by their extraor- 
 dinary strict practice of the doctrines and rites of the Vedas, 
 threatened to prove rivals to the gods themselves. In order to 
 destroy this power of men, or rather to rob them of it, Vishnu 
 became incarnate as Buddha, that he might preach skepticism and 
 heterodox doctrines, as atheism, and to destroy hope of im- 
 mortality, that men might be reduced to their original weakness, 
 and the fears and jealousy of the gods be removed. 
 
 The facts of his mortal life may be briefly told. His father had 
 married sisters, Mahamaya and Mahaprajapati. Maliamaya, hav- 
 ing come to her forty-fifth year, was about to be delivered of her 
 first child, and, in accordance with Hindu custom, had started for 
 her father's home. On the way she rested under a satin tree, and 
 there gave birth to her boy. Here legend steps in with marvels. 
 Buddha at his birth was received by Maha Brahma in a golden 
 net, from which he was transferred to the guardians of the four 
 quarters, who received him on a tiger's skin ; from these he was 
 received by the nobles, who wrapped him in folds of the finest 
 and softest cloth ; but at once Bodliisat descended from their 
 hands to the ground, and looked to the four points, and the four 
 half points ; when he looked toward the nortli he proceeded seven 
 steps in that direction, and exclaimed : " I am the most exalted 
 in the world. I am chief in the world. I am the most excellent 
 in the world. Hereafter there is to me no other birth ! " Upon 
 the death of his mother, seven days after, his aunt adopted him 
 and nourished him. The story of the trial of his prowess and 
 learning at the time of, or just after, his marriage, is probably 
 the only authentic bit of his history, as a youth, tiiat remains, and 
 tliat is exaggerated beyond all belief. As a prince of the warrior, 
 or Kshatriya caste, his training had been in that direction,- though 
 he must have been a much more tlian ordinarily meditative 
 
BUDDHA. l8l 
 
 youth. The impressions made upon his mind by the sip:ht of 
 extreme age, suffering and death, do not seem at all improbable or 
 unnatural. How often have similar sights made impressions on 
 our hearts and lives that we shall never lose ! It is not wonder- 
 ful that a man of such remarkably thoughtful and benevolent 
 characteristics as Buddha possessed should have had the whole 
 course of his life influenced by them. After Buddha's renuncia- 
 tion of earthly honors and family ties and love, he spent seven 
 days in a mango grove, after which he spent some time at Raja- 
 griha ; from thence he went to the jungle near Uruwela, on a 
 spur of the Vindhya range, where he spent six years in severe 
 penances, until his fame spread, as the Burmese chronicle says, 
 " like the sound of a great bell hung in the canopy of the skies." 
 Here he found his long-sought quest, that peace of mind that 
 comes from absolute surrender of selfish desires, after brave re- 
 sistance of the powers of evil. His contest had been long and 
 severe. He had much to lose, the way was dark, and the gain 
 must have often seemed doubtful. Every earnest soul at some 
 time in life, in a greater or less degree, is assailed by like tempta- 
 tions and doubts. Tlie greater the man, the greater the conflict. Car- 
 lyle's description of his season of temptation when he was obliged 
 to decide finally whether he should enter the ministry reads 
 wonderfully like Buddha's struggle. 
 
 " I entered into my chamber, and closed the door. And around 
 about me there came a trooping throng of phantasms dire, from 
 the abysmal depths of nethermost perdition. Doubt, Fear, Un- 
 belief, Mockery and Scoffing were there, and I wrestled with them 
 in travail and agony of spirit. Thus it was, sir, for weeks. 
 Whether I ate I know not, whether I drank I know not, whether 
 I slept I know not. But I only know that when I came forth 
 again beneath the glimpses of the moon it was with the direful 
 persuasion that 1 was the miserable owner of a diabolical appa- 
 ratus called a stomach." 
 
 Carlyle came forth to write, Buddha began to preach. 
 
 He went to the deer forest near Benares, and before the rainy 
 season closed had sixty converts. These he sent out two by two 
 to propagate his doctrines. He now went to his old liume, and 
 after bringing over to his views his half brother, his son and 
 others, he returned to Rajagriha, where the King Bimbsara gave 
 him a bamboo grove and monastery. He spent the rainy seasons 
 here, teaching those who gathered about him, and during the dry 
 seasons itinerated within a radius of a hundred and fifty miles 
 about Benares. For forty-five years he taught and sent forth his 
 missionaries. Death came at last to the old man of blameless life 
 and found him tranquil, and looking peacefully forward to Nir- 
 ▼dna. Carefully had he followed in his own life the best light he 
 
Ib2 13UDDHA. 
 
 had, patiently lie taught others truth, purity and humility, and 
 who shall say that his earnest soul, passins^ f rom the imprisonment 
 of the body, awoke not to those things which " Eye hath not seen, 
 nor ear heard, neither hav^e entered into the heart of man?" 
 
 Buddha lived in an era of great moral reforms. Throughout the 
 known world ritualism had superseded the old and pure faith of 
 which scai'cely more than the ancient traditions remained. Men 
 were weary of forms. Within the two centuries which Buddha's 
 life partly spanned, Confucius, with his wonderful code, appeared 
 in China ; in Persia, Zoroaster arose with reforms ; at the court of 
 Ahasuerus, Esther and Mordecai plead for justice, and their cry 
 was heard from India to Ethiopia ; in Babylon Daniel throughout 
 a long life upheld in biilliant example the grandeur of righteous 
 living ; in Greece the Delphian temple sunk in ashes, and just 
 laws supplanted the tripod ; and in Palestine, Isaiah, Ezekiel, 
 Jeremiah and most of the lesser prophets declared against new 
 moons, feasts and fasts, and foretold certain destruction for those 
 who, in ceremonials, should forget equity and justice. The Great 
 Father of all, who has not created any soul and left it in utter 
 darkness, He who in tender compassion sent Jonah to preach 
 repentance to the people of Nineveh who were at enmity with Him 
 and His chosen people, cared also for the millions of India who 
 knew not their right hand from their left, and sent Buddha to 
 preach a purity and morality that should save the nation from 
 destruction. Buddh selected out from the old faith that which 
 was noblest and best, and presented it with rare power to such as 
 would hear. But the lights of those times, brilliant as they shone 
 in the surrounding darkness, paled before a later Light that leads 
 on to perfect day. The burden of Buddha's doctrine is not to, 
 not to, not to. Positive, heroic, stalwart righteousness he dared 
 not teach. A hero himself, he found the battle harder than any 
 but rare spirits bear, and he could offer men no help outside of 
 themselves. Of a highly poetic and speculative nature, he looked 
 eagerly into the future for those who should fulfill the law. Con- 
 fucius, more practical and w^aiiting in inutgination, answered no 
 questions as to the future. In the old faith Buddha found Nir- 
 vana, absorption into Brahm, but his soul shrunk from contact with 
 the unholy diviuities of the Brahmins. In accordance with that 
 law of the mind that causes the Mohammedan to look for heaven 
 as a place of sensual enjoyments ; that teaches the Greenlander to 
 describe hell as a place of intense cold ; that led the Jew, with his 
 love of costly things, to picture heaven as built of gold and precious 
 stones ; that gives to the American Indian a hope of happy hunt- 
 ing grounds. Nirvana, under Buddha's teaching, became a state 
 free from irritation, action or even consciousness, a mere abstrac- 
 tion. The East Indian, under an enervating climate, where exer- 
 
BUDDHA. 183 
 
 tion of mind or body, wlietlier for good or ill, is a br.rden, can 
 understand tins. Its intense undisturbed selfishness lias fjreat 
 attraction for him. Like all religionist^, he seeks to begin his 
 heaven here below. He cuts loose from family ties that he may be 
 rid of its cares ; he takes the beggar's bowl and rob(^, that h" may 
 not be subject to the discomfort of providing even for himself ; he 
 fixes his attention on the top of his nose, and in utter disregard of 
 all claims, dreams his life away. 
 
 Buddha had a noble purpose, but long since its vitality and 
 power to benefit mankind was exhausted. In his own words, 
 " The lamp whose oil is spent flickers not." 
 
NOTES. 
 
 BOOK THE FIRST. 
 
 1. Buddha : — He by whom tlie truth is known. In India Wed- 
 nesday is called Buddh-ka-din — the day of Buddh. Buddha lived 
 to great age, hence his name is commonly used as an adjectivo 
 noun in India, and applied to old people. 
 
 2. JSidddrtha : — He by wliom the end is accomplished, is tho 
 translation usually given of this name. Turnour translates it, 
 the establishes The occasion of Buddha's reception of this name 
 occurred many ages before his birth as a Buddh. When sitting 
 in his palace as a prince, in that far-off age, " having seen Dipan- 
 kara Bodhisat carrying the almsbowl, he sent an attendant to in- 
 quire what was his business, when he was informed that he was 
 seeking oil. On hearing this the prince called him to his palace. 
 
 I and filling a golden vessel with oil of white mustard seed, Sid- 
 1 harttha put it upon his head, saying at the same time, * By vir- 
 ^ tue of this act may I hereafter become a Buddh ; and as this is 
 I sidharttha oil, may my name in that birth be Sidharttha.' " * The 
 I Brahmins collected at the festival upon his birth said : " This 
 I prince will hereafter be a blessing to the world — sidhatta ; tohim- 
 l selt also will be great prosperity ;" in consequence of which he 
 I was called Sidhartta. 
 
 i 3. Below the highest sphere four Regents sit : — The following 
 I description of these spheres and their inhabitants, from Wilson's 
 I Vishnu Puiana, vol. ii, 2G1, gives the best idea of the Hindu 
 \ heavens : "On the Lokaloka mountain reside the four holy pro- 
 tectors of the world, or Sudhaman and Sankhapad (the two sons 
 of Kardama), and Hiranyaroman, and Ketumat. Unaffected by 
 the contrasts of existence, void of selfishness, active and unen- 
 cumbered by dependents, they take charge of the spheres, them- 
 selves abiding on the four cardinal points of the Lokaloka 
 mountain. 
 
 " On the south of Agastya, and south of the line of the Goat, 
 exterior to the Vaiswanara jiath, lies the road of the Pitris. There 
 
 * Manual of Luddhism, pa e &4. 
 185 
 
1 86 NOTES. 
 
 dwell the great Rishis — in Ursa Major — the officers of oblations 
 with fire, reverencing the Vedas, after whose injunctions creation 
 commenced, and who were discharging the duties of ministrant 
 priests. For as the worlds are destroyed and renewed they insti- 
 tute new rules of conduct and re-establish the interrupted ritual 
 of the Vedas. Mutually descending from each other, progenitor 
 springing from descendant, and descendant from progenitor, in 
 the alternating succession of births, they repeatedly" appear in 
 different houses and races — along with posterity, devout practices 
 and instituted observances — residing to the south of the solar orb, 
 as long as the moon and stars endure. 
 
 "The path of the gods lies to the north of the solar sphere, 
 north of Nagavithi — Aries and Taurus — and south of the seven 
 Rishis — Ursa Major. There dwell Siddhas, of subdued senses, 
 continent and pure, undesirous of progeny, and, therefore, vic- 
 torious over death. Eighty-eight thousand of these chaste beings 
 tenant the regions of the sky north of the sun, until the destruc- 
 tion of tlue universe ; they enjoy immortality, for they are holy, 
 exempt from covetousuess and concupiscence, love and hatred ; 
 taking no part in the procreation of living beings ; and detecting 
 the unreality of the properties of elementary matter. By immor- ■ 
 tality is meant existence to the end of the'kalpa. liife as long 
 as the three regions — earth, sky and heaven — last is called ex- 
 emption from reiterated death. 
 
 "The space between the seven Rishis and Dhruva — from Ursa 
 Major to the polar star — the third region of the sky, is the splen- 
 did celestial path of Vishnu, and the abode of those sanctified 
 ascetics who are cleansed from every evil, and in whom virtue 
 and vice are annihilated. This is that excellent place of Vishnu 
 to which those repair in whom all sources of pain are extinct, in 
 consequence of the cessation of — the consequences of — piety or 
 iniquity, and where they never sorrow any more. There abide 
 Dharma, Dhruva and other spectators of the world, radiant with 
 the superhuman faculties of Vishnu acquired through religious 
 meditation ; and there are fastened and inwoven, too, all that is, 
 and all that ever shall be, animate or inanimate." 
 
 4. Thrice ten thousand years: — A year of the seven Rishis is 
 8030 years. The sacred books do not agree in giving names of 
 the Rishis. The Mahabharata has three lists, each ditfering. Mr. 
 Wilson mentions seven other authorities, each of which gives dif- 
 ferent names. Gotama name appears in some, but is omitted 
 in others. The Vishnu Parana mentions three kinds of Rishis, 
 divine Rishis — or sages who are demi-gods also, asNarada — Brah- 
 min Rishis — or sages who are sons of Brahma or Brahmins, as 
 Vusishtha and others — and royal Rishis, or princes who have 
 adopted a life of devotion, as Viswamitra and Buddha, or Gotama, 
 
NOTES. 187 
 
 5. Mve sure signs of birth : — Mr. Spence Hardy mentions but 
 four. *' 1. His garments lose their appearance of purity. 2. 
 The garlands and ornaments on his body begin to fade. 3. The 
 body emits a kind of perspiration, like a tree covered with dew. 
 4. The mansion in which he resided loses its attractiveness and 
 beauty." The same signs, as distinguishing gods from men, are 
 spoken of in the Mahabharata that was composed many centuries 
 before the Buddhist era. At the Swayamvara, or tournament of 
 the beautiful Damayanti, *' she glanced around her at the glitter- 
 ing crowd of suitors, and saw in her dismay that there were five 
 Nalas in the hall, for each of the four bright gods had taken 
 upon himself the form of Nala. And Damayanti trembled with 
 fear, and after a while she folded her hands in reverence to the 
 gods, and said in sad and humble tones : * Since I heard the lan- 
 guage of the swan I have clrosen Nala for my lord, and have thought 
 of no other husband. Therefore, gods, I pray you that you re- 
 sume your own immortal shapes and reveal Nala to me, that I may 
 choose him for my lord in the presence of all.' And the gods 
 heard the piteous prayer of Damayanti, and they wondered at her 
 steadfast truth and fervent love ; and straightway they revealed 
 the J;okens of their godhead. Then Damayanti saw the four 
 bright gods, and knew that they were not mortal heroes, for their 
 feet tfeuched not the earth, and their eyes winked not ; and no 
 perspiration hung upon their brows, nor dust upon their raiment, 
 and their garlands were as fresh as if the flowers were just gath- 
 ered. And Damayanti also saw the true Nala, for he stood before 
 her with shadow falling to the ground, and twinkling eyes, and 
 drooping garland ; and moisture was on his brow, and dust upon 
 his raiment ; and she knew that he was Nala. Then she went in 
 all maidenly modesty to Nala, and took the hem of his garment, 
 and threw a wreath of radiant flowers round his neck, and thus 
 chose him for her lord." * 
 
 6. Devas : — Gods, or bright ones. 
 
 7. Sdkyas : — This name has no place in Hindu mythology or 
 geography ; they are supposed to have been a people living on the 
 border of Nepal, and formerly called Okkaka. 
 
 8. Suddhodana : — He whose food is pure. 
 
 9. Maya, the Queen : — Illusion, sometimes called Maha Maya — 
 great illusion, or Deve Maya — Divine illusion. 
 
 10. An elephant : — In Burmah it is believed that Buddha, in his 
 manifold transmigrations, must necessarily delight to abide for 
 some time in that grand incarnation of purity which they consider 
 represented by the white elephant. While the bonzes teach that 
 there is no spot in the heavens above, or the earth below, or the 
 
 ♦ Wheeler's History 0/ India, vol. i, 4&1. 
 
1 88 NOTES. 
 
 waters under the earth, which is not visited in the peregrin- 
 ations of Buddha — whose every step or stage is towardpari- 
 fication — they hold that his tarrying may be longer in the white 
 elephant than in any other abode, and that in possession of the 
 sacred animal they may possess the presence of Buddha him 
 self. 
 
 11. Vahuka : — The cow on whose horn the earth rests ; when 
 tired she tosses her burden to the other horn, hence earth- 
 quakes. Hindu geography states that this cow stands on an 
 elephant, the elephant on a tortoise, the tortoise on — ' ' who 
 knows ? " 
 13. And over half the earth a lovely light 
 
 Forewent the morn. The strong hills shook ; the waves 
 Sank lulled ; all powers that Mow hy day came forth 
 As 'twere high noon ; down to the farthest hells 
 Passed the Queen's joy, as when warm sunshine thrills 
 Wood-glooms to gold, and into all the deeps 
 A tender tchisper pierced. 
 Mr. Hardy, in the Manual of Buddhism, enumerates thirty- 
 two great wonders that occurred at the time of conception. " The 
 10,000 sakwalas — systems of worlds — trembled at once ; there 
 was in each a preternatural light, so that they Avere all equally 
 illuminated at the same moment ; the blind from their birth re- 
 ceived power to see ; the deaf heard the joyful noise ; the dumb 
 burst forth into songs ; the lame danced ; the crooked became 
 straight ; those in confinement were released from bonds ; the fires 
 of all the hells were extinguished, so that they became cool as 
 water, and the bodies of all therein were as pillars of ice ; the 
 thirst of pretas — famished spirits — and the hunger of all other 
 beings was appeased ; the fears of the terrified fled away ; the dis- 
 eases of the sick were cured ; all beings forgot their enmity to 
 each other ; bulls and buffaloes roared in triumph ; horses, asses 
 and elephants joined in the acclaim ; lions sent forth the thunder 
 of their voices ; instruments of music spontaneously uttered 
 sounds ; the devas put on their most splendid ornaments ; in all 
 countries lamps Avcre lighted of themselves ; the winds were 
 loaded with perfumes ; clouds arose though it was not the season 
 of rain, and the whole of the 10,000 sakwalas were watered at 
 once ; the earth opened, and fountains of water sprang up in 
 various places • the flight of the birds was arrested as they passed 
 through the air ; the stream of the rivers was stopped, as if to look 
 at Bodhisat ; the waves of the sea became placid, and its waters 
 sweet ; the whole surface of the ocean was covered with flowers ; 
 the buds upon the land and the water became fully expanded ; 
 every creeper and tree was covered with flowers from the root to 
 the top ; the rocka abounded with the seven species of water 
 
NOTES. 189 
 
 lilies ; even beams of dry wood put forth flowers, so that the 
 earth resembled one extensive garden ; the sl?:y was covered as with 
 a floral canopy, and flowers were showered from tlie heavens ; the 
 10,000 salcwalas were all thus covered alike ; and great favors were 
 everywhere received." 
 
 Similar manifestations are frequently recorded in Hindu writ- 
 ings, with this difference, however: they are seldom narrated at 
 such length as in Buddhist writings, and lack the all-pervading 
 element of peace and happy accord. In either Vedic or Brahmin- 
 ical traditions, some enemy almost invariably appears to mar the 
 harmony. 
 
 13. The gray dream-readers : — Brahmins who make the inter- I 
 pretation of dreams and the understanding of the mysteries of | 
 astrology specialties. ^| 
 
 14. The Crab is in conjunction with the Sun : — The event occurred g 
 
 on the day of the full moon of the month Mskla. — July, August. 3 
 
 15. Palsa : — Satin tree. 
 The marks, thirty and tico, of blessed birth : — Marks of Vishnu, 
 
 some of them as follows: "The feet of Buddha were like two 
 golden sandals. There was a cliakra, or wheel, in the center of 
 the sole. The palms and soles appeared like richly ornamented 
 windows. His body did not collect dust or dirt, as the lotus is 
 not defiled by the mud in the midst of which it grows. His teeth 
 shone like the stars of a constellation . His tongue was so long 
 that by putting it out he could touch his forehead, or the orifices 
 of his ears. His eyes were blue, and sparkled like sapphires. 
 Upon his forehead was a lock of hair curling toward the right." 
 
 16. Palanquin : — See illustration in Webster's Unabridged. 
 
 17. Were the four Regents of the Earth, come down 
 From Mount Siimeru. 
 
 The Vedas name the following as regents of the four quarters : 
 Kuvera, the regent of the North, and god of riches ; Yama, 
 regent of the South, and judge of the dead; Indra, regent 
 of the East, and god of the clouds or heaven ; Varuna, regent of the 
 West, and god of the ocean or waters. In Buddhist writings their 
 names are Dhratarashtra, Wirudha, Wirupaksha andjWaisrawana. 
 The attendants of each number a hundred thousand times ten 
 millions. Mount Sumeru is described in Hindu geography as a 
 sacred mountain composed of gold and gems, situated somewhere in 
 the center of the earth, which they suppose to be flat like a round 
 table. Sumeru is the residence of the gods, is broader at the top 
 than at the base, and is yet undiscovered by man. Around this 
 mount is our earth, surrounded by an ocean of salt water of the 
 same diameter as the earth. Surrounding this, in regular suc- 
 cession, always doubling the diameter, are seven circular islands 
 and oceans: Ist ocean, salt water, 2d milk, 3d curds, 4th melted 
 
190 NOTES. 
 
 butter, 5tli sugar-cane juice, 6tli lioney, 7tli fresli water. 
 Hindu authorities differ greatly in descriptions of Mount Snnieru ; 
 no two agree as to its sliape and dimensions. The Buddhists of 
 Ceylon claim that Sumeru is of the same diameter throughout. 
 Those of Nepal conceive it to be shaped like an Indian drum. 
 
 18. Kumhhandas : — One of the signs of the Indian Zodiac is 
 Kumblui, a white man holding a water jar. These arc of 
 immense size and disgusting form. 
 
 Ndgas : — are serpent deities. The upper half of their bodies 
 is of human form, the lower serpent. They dwell in Patala, 
 below the earth, a place of sensual pleasures, and lighted by 
 resplendent gems. The origin of the mythological ISJagas is 
 shrouded in much mystery. A powerful Scythian race in ancient 
 times lived in the mountainous regions, and worshiped the snake 
 as a national deity, adopting it as a national emblem ; and from 
 these circumstances seems to have been derived the name of 
 Nagas or serpents. These Nagas made constant raids upon the 
 Brahminical nations, inspiring them with terror and an abject 
 fear, that led them to worship, in hope of appeasing, the god of 
 their enemies. The Nagas as a people have almost entirely dis- 
 appeared from India, but the myth and the old fear remain. In 
 the latter part of August a day is held sacred to snakes and 
 numerous religious fairs are held for their special worship. On 
 that day the women pour milk into snake holes, the doors of 
 houses are smeared with cow-dung and neem leaves as a preserva- 
 tive against poisonous snakes ; and in Benares is a well, called a 
 snake well, where people bathe. 
 
 19. Yakshas : — Brahma, in one stage of the creation, produced 
 beings hunger bitten, hideous and long-bearded. Some of these 
 cried out, *' Oh, preserve us !" and hence were called Rakshas, 
 from rakh to preserve; others cried, "Let us eat !" and hence 
 were termed Yakshas, from yaksh to eat. They are demi-gods 
 with few peculiar attributes, and are regarded only as the compan- 
 ions or attendants of Kuvera, the god of wealth. Occasionally 
 they appear as the imps of evil, but in general their character is 
 inoffensive. 
 
 20. For Heavemcas filled loith gladness for Earth's sake. The 
 legend says that the Maha Bramas — chief divinities — of the 
 10,000 sakwalas — system of worlds — brought umbrellas twelve 
 miles high, to be held over the infant's head as a canopy, and the 
 gods and men of each of these systems brought flowers, golden cas- 
 kets, tiaras, frontlets, perfumes, red sandal-wood, and other gifts, 
 while they acknowledged Buddha's supremacy. The thirty-two 
 wonders seen at the time of his conception were also repeated. 
 
 21. Cliakravartm : — A. wheel king, one of the twelve universal 
 monarchs who arise at long distfl \i periods to rule the entire 
 
NOTES. 191 
 
 world. Professor Wilson translates it, "He wlio abides in, or 
 rules over, an extensive territory called acliakra." 
 
 22. Tlie cliakra-vatna : — A cliakra is a radiated metallic ring- 
 used as a missile weapon ; it was thrown wliile revolving rapidly 
 on a rod, and was a most dangerous weapon in ancient warfare, as 
 its sliarp edge cut in pieces anything witli which it came in con- 
 tact. The chakra is the discus of Vishnu, his distinguishing 
 weapon. Ratna signifies a gem, and is used adjectively, or as we 
 sometimes say, "a gem of a horse," or "a gem of a wife." The 
 chakravartin, having arrived at a suitable age, reflects upon the 
 merit he has gained in former existences, when the seven gi fts 
 appear, one after another in the air, and having performed 
 marvels, take up their abode in his palace. The chakra was 
 ultimately converted into the prayer wheel of the Buddhists. 
 
 23. A8wa : — Horse. 
 
 24. HciHti .-—Elephant. 
 
 25. Mri:—\N\iQ. 
 
 26. the icays were sioept : — In the larger cities of India. 
 
 gangs of men are constantly employed to sweep the principal 
 streets daily, which they do for their entire length and breadth, 
 with brooms about two feet long, made of bamboo splints and 
 without handles. On the occasion of the advent of a prince or 
 other notable, his route is ascertained beforehand and carefully 
 swept. When the Governor General, Sir John Lawrence, entered 
 Lucknow in 1867, the road for three miles between the depot and 
 the Residency, the place of reception, was swept on tlie morning 
 of his arrival, and sprinkled by men who carried the water in 
 great skins on their backs. That rose odors were not added to the 
 water, the natives would set down to what they consider the parsi- 
 mony of the English, in making arrangements for display on court 
 occasions. 
 
 27. lamps and flags : — The lamps are usually tiny earthen 
 
 saucers filled with oil and a lighted wick set in one side, or on 
 grand occasions, talq bowls are half filled with water, on which 
 floats oil and a lighted wick. Hundreds and thousands of the lights 
 are used with wonderful effect. The flags are generally of gold or 
 silver tinsel. 
 
 28. lohUe merry crowds 
 
 Gaped on the sicord-players. 
 
 The itinerant tricksters who appear on such occasions perform in 
 the open air, without screens or admission fee, hence all may ^vit- 
 ness the sports. Persons of wealth or rank frequently make it a 
 point to fee the performer, while the poorer spectators exclaim at 
 their greatness and benevolence. The sword-players are simply 
 marvelous in their dexterous use of sharp weapons. While per- 
 torming, they wear only a turban, and a piece of cloth about the 
 
1 92 NOTES. 
 
 loins. One of their principal feats is to keep four or five large 
 butcher knives spinning in the air for five minutes or more 
 Each knife is caught in its descent and tossed witli such accuracy 
 that the distance between the flying knives differs scarcely a 
 finger's breadth. 
 
 29. The jugglers : — seldom have more than two or three men in 
 a company. They carry a couple of round shallow covered baskets 
 swung on a pole. Their dress is scanty and without sleeves. 
 They have neither curtains, nor tents, nor closets for retirement, 
 and yet with their simple outfits they are able to perform wonders 
 that would nonplus our western necromancers. 
 
 80. Tlie nautch-girls in their spangled skirts and hells. Dancing 
 girls. Their skirts are often broidered or sewn thick with gold 
 or silver spangles, and their veils are frequently set close round 
 the border with mirrors, each about an inch in diameter. ^I'lny 
 bells in shape of fruits or blossoms are strung around their 
 ankles, or worn on their toe rings. 
 
 31. Bringing, on tidings of this hirth, rich gifts 
 In golden trays. 
 
 It is a custom in India that none dare neglect to send presents to 
 a family when a boy is first born. These are always carried on shal 
 low trays, usually of brass, but, if possible, of richer metal. 
 
 32. Goat-shawls : — These shawls are made of the soft hair of 
 the Cashmere goat, and are often of such fine and delicate texture 
 that a shawl two yards square can be drawn through a finger 
 ring. 
 
 33. Nard : — Spikenard, being a native of India, is much used as 
 a perfume. 
 
 34. Turkises : — Turquois. 
 
 35. Asita : — is a name not common in Hindu mythology or his- 
 tory ; it seems to have always been borne by men of more than 
 average piety and understanding. In the Vishnu Purana, Asita is 
 said to have communicated to Janaka the following stanzas that 
 were chanted by the earth. "How great is the folly of princes, 
 who are endowed with the faculty of reason, to cherish the con- 
 fidence of ambition, when they themselves are but foam upon the 
 wave ! Before they subdue themselves they seek to reduce their 
 ministers, their servants, their subjects, under their authority ; 
 they then endeavor to overcome their foes. * Thus,' say they, 
 ' will we conquer the ocean-encircled earth ; ' and intent upon 
 their project, behold not death, which is not far off. But what 
 mighty matter is the subjugation of the sea-girt earth to one who 
 can subdue himself? Emancipation from existence is the fruit of 
 self-control. It is through infatuation that kings desire to posses£ 
 me, whom their predecessors have been forced to leave, whom 
 their fathers have not retained. Beguiled by the selfish love of 
 
NOTES. 193 
 
 sway, fathers contend with song, and "brothers with brothers, for 
 my possession. Foolishness has been the character of every k'aig 
 wiio has boasted, * All this earth is mine — everything is mine — it 
 \vill be my home forever ; ' for he is dead. How is it possible thai 
 such vain desires should survive in the hearts of his descendants, 
 who have seen their progenitor, absorbed in the thirst of domin- 
 ion, compelled to relinquish me, whom he called his own, and 
 tread the path of dissolution? When I hear a king sending word 
 to another, by his ambassador, ' This earth is mine ; immediately 
 resign your pretensions to it,' T am moved to violent laughter, at 
 first, but it subsides in pity for the infatuated fool." 
 
 This wisdom, in truth, can scarcely be accredited to the Asita of 
 the poem, but is certainly worthy of the man who, without fault, 
 was prime minister to the king of one generation, the trusted 
 adviser of the second, and saint, in the time of Buddha, of the 
 third generation. If the legend were true, there would be small 
 wonder that Asita heard Devas singing, deaf as he was ; for it is 
 said that at the time of Buddha's birth the Sekras brought conches- 
 one hundred and twenty cubits long, the blast of which rolled on 
 without ceasing during four and a half months, and the Pan, 
 chasikas brought harps twelve miles long. 
 
 36. thereupon he touched 
 
 Eight times the dust. 
 
 Before the supreme teachers obeisance must be made by th«u 
 prostration of the body, with the application of eight parts: the 
 forehead, eyes, breast, hands, knees and insteps of the feet, words 
 and mind to the ground. 
 
 37. — the rosy light : — Aureole. 
 
 38. — ihe foot-sole marks : — The telling of fortunes in India 
 by the lines upon the soles of the feet corresponds to 
 palmistrv in Europe and America ; the fortunate signs are, a 
 wheel with many spokes, an umbrella, an elephant's trunk, a 
 lotus. Mount Meru, the sun, the moon, a tiger, mystic crosses and 
 many other imaginary representations. 
 
 39. 2he Swastika : — Mystical figure, the inscription of whicl't 
 oi\ any person or thing is generally considered to be lucky, 
 Wilson's Sanskrit Dictionary. In the Vishnu Purana it is de- 
 scribed as "a particular diagram used in mystical ceremonies." 
 '' This figure is found in many magical diagrams, and in Run'/c 
 inscriptions and amulets ; it is the hammer of Tlior ; it is seen jn 
 some ancient Etruscan vases that were dug up at Rome in 1817. It is 
 also very commonly seen on the ancient coins that were struck 
 by the Buddhist monarchs of India."* 
 
 * Manual of Buddhism, page 381. 
 
T94 NOTES. 
 
 40. 77ie sacred jjmnal signs tMriy and two, 
 The eighty lesser tokens. 
 
 Mr. Hardy enumerates all these signs and tokens, also 
 the larger part of two hundred and sixteen inferior marks, Tiie 
 repetition of these would be tedious and profitless. The follow- 
 ing description of a Jain saint adequately conveys the idea: 
 "Beauty of form, fragrance of his body, the white color of his 
 blood, curling hair, and its non-increase, also that of the beard 
 and nails, his exemption from all natural hifirmities and decay; 
 these qualities are born with him. He can collect around hiiu 
 millions of beings — gods, men and animals — in a comparatively 
 small space ; his voice is audible to a great distance, and his 
 language, which is Arddha, Magadha, is intelligible to animals, 
 men and gods. The back of his head is surrounded by a halo of 
 light brighter than the disk of the sun. For an immense distance 
 around him, wherever he moves, neither sickness, storms, war, 
 nor troubles of any sort occur. Other attributes, or marks of 
 Vishnu, are of a celestial origin, as the raining of flowers, 
 perfumes, the sound of heavenly drums, and the menial offices 
 rendered by Indra and the gods." * 
 
 41. Tliis is that Blossom on our huriian tree 
 Which opens once in r)iany myriad years. 
 
 Buddhists and Hindus both believe that our earth has been 
 created and destroyed many times. In the process of creation 
 "the part where the sacred tree of Buddha is to appear is the 
 first spot of earth that is found, as it is the last spot destroyed 
 at the end of a kalpa. To point out this place a lotus appears ; 
 and if a Buddha is to be born in that kalpa a flower will be 
 expanded ; but if there is to be no Buddha there will be no 
 flower, f 
 
 43. a sword must pierce 
 
 Thy bowels for this hoy. 
 This is addressed to the father, and signifies that he must 
 bear bitter disappointment in not seeing his son become a 
 chakravartin, or universal monarch. 
 
 43 whilst thou, sweel Queen ! 
 
 Dear to all gods and men for this great hirth. 
 Henceforth art grown too sacred for more looe. 
 And life is woe, therefore in seven days 
 Painless thou shalt attain the close of pain. 
 The reward of becoming the mother of a Buddha is to be trans, 
 lated in seven days thereafter to a highest heaven. The mothers 
 of each of the thousands of Buddhas that are supposed to have 
 appeared have all died on the seventh day after the birth. 
 
 * Wilaon's Essays on the Religion of tlio Hindus, vol, i, siSO. 
 t Manual of Buddhism, p. 2J„_^ 
 
NOTES. 195 
 
 44. Trdyastrinfthns Ueamn : — The ultimate abode, whose 
 dwellers are liberated and escaped from all dangers of earth. 
 
 45. MaMprajaimti : — This princess and Mahamaya were sisters, 
 and both queens of Suddhodana, On the day she was named, tiie 
 diviners saw that she Avould be the mother or mother-in-law of a 
 chakravartin, so called her Prajapati — lord of the world. As 
 children the sisters were of remarkable merit. No intoxicatini^ 
 liquor touched their 1 ps ; even in play they never told an untruth, 
 or Ivilled even an insect ; as queens ''they lived together like two 
 srikantawas in one lotus tiower." This princess was the first wo- 
 man admitted to holy orders, and the first of Buddha's disciples to 
 enter Nirvana. The legend tells of a hundred royal wet-nurses, 
 all without blemish and of perfect form, and a hundred and sixty 
 thousand attendant princes. 
 
 46. W/ien th" eightJiyedr passed : — The sons of Brahmins and the 
 ml ng- classes are invested with the sacred cord, and taught for the 
 first certain sacred syllables and prayers when about nine years 
 of age. 
 
 47. Yisirnmitra : — The name of the author of the hymns in the 
 third Rig Veda, composed about 1500 B C Another Viswamitra 
 was an ancient prince of the warrior caste who opposed Brah- 
 min ism, 
 
 48. Gdyatri : — Sacred meter, peculiar to certain of the Yedas, 
 or a verse from the Vedas, Williams' Sanskrit Grammar defines 
 it "as consisting of a triplet of three divisions of eight syllables 
 each, or six feet of four syllables each, and generally printed in 
 one line ; the quantity of each syllable is very irregular. The fol- 
 lowing verse exhibits the most usual quantities : 
 
 ^. . , I u— U. I .... I U— U. I . . . .U -U.|| " 
 The gayatri in the poem for three thousand years has held its 
 place as the most sacred sentence in Hindu literature, and is the 
 prayer recited daily by thousands of devout Hindus. The most 
 usual translation is the following: " Om, earth, sky, heavens. 
 We meditate on that adorable light of the resplendent sun, may it 
 direct our intellects." It occurs in the third book of the Rig 
 Veda. The last hymn in this book consist s*of six prayers ; the 
 one containing the gayatri is as follows : " This new and excellent 
 praise of thee, O splendid, playful sun, is offered by us to thee. 
 Be gratified by this my speech. Approach this craving mind as a 
 fond man seeks a woman. May that sun who contemplates and 
 looks into all worlds be our protection. Let us meditate on the 
 adorable light of the divine ruler ; may it guide our intellects. 
 Desirous of food, we solicit the gift of the splendid sun, who 
 should be studiously worshiped. Venerable men, guided by un- 
 derstanding, salute the divine sun with oblations and praise." * 
 
 * Hand book of Sanskrit Literature. 
 
196 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 This Gfayatri is personified as tlie wife of Brahma. The Brah- 
 min wlio pronounces the gayatri is absolved from all sin. " By 
 the sole repetition of tlie gayatri, a priest may indubitably attain 
 l)eatitude, let him perform or not perform any other religious act."* 
 The woman, sudra — low caste person or barbarian — who should 
 dare pronounce the sacred words of the gayatri, it is believed 
 would bring upon herself the most signal punishment from 
 heaven. 
 
 49. Achdrya : — A religious teacher, " That priest who girds his 
 pupil with the sacrificial cord, and afterwards instructs him in the 
 whole Veda, with the law of sacrifice, and the sacred Upanishads, 
 holy sages call an Acharya." f 
 
 50. iSfdgri : — Language of the northern Hindus. 
 
 51. DaksJdn : — Language of the southern Hindus. 
 
 52. Ni : — Language of the Peris. 
 
 53. Mangal : — Language of the Tartars. 
 
 54. Parusha : — Language of the Ancients. 
 
 55. Yava : — Language of Moderns. 
 
 56. Tirthl : — Language of the Pilgrims, 
 
 57. Uk : — Language of the Herons. 
 
 58. Darad : — Language of modern Cinnebar. 
 
 59. Sikhydni : — Language of the Teachers. 
 
 60. Man.a : — Language of the Sages. 
 
 6L Madhydchdr : — Intelligible to men and animals. 
 
 62. And those who flame adore and the sun's orb : — Persians. 
 
 63. XaM ;— 100,000. 
 
 Any earthly method of computation would fail entirely to 
 convey in figures the sums of the boy's numeration. All the 
 matter of all the worlds counted in molecules could not express 
 an asankya. The reader may obtain some idea of its magnitude 
 by the following table : 
 
 10 dasa or decenniums make. . . 
 
 10 saus or hundreds " 1 hazar or thousand 
 
 100 bazars or thousands " 1 lakh 
 
 ,1 sau or hundred 
 
 100 lahks. 
 
 " 1 koti or kela 
 
 100 lakhs of kotis " 1 prakoti 
 
 1 koti of prakotis. 
 1 koti of kotiprakotis. 
 
 ,1 koti prakoti 
 .1 nahuta 
 
 1 koti of nahutas " 1 ninuahuta 
 
 1 koti of ninnahutas ** 1 hutanahuta 
 
 1 koti of hutanahutas ** 1 kliamba 
 
 1 koti of khambas '* 1 wiskhamba 
 
 1 koti of wiskhambas " 1 abada 
 
 1 koti of abadas " 1 attata 
 
 * Laws of Manu, No. 87. 
 + Laws of Manu, No. 140. 
 
NCJTES. 197 
 
 I Roti of attatas , ^ . .make 1 alialia 
 
 I koti of alialias " 1 kuniuda 
 
 1 koti of kumudas. ....... " 1 g-andliika 
 
 1 koti of gandhikas. . c .-,. e " 1 iitpala 
 
 1 koti of utpalas " 1 puudarika 
 
 1 koti of pundarikas. r " 1 padiima 
 
 1 koti of padumas. . .- r " 1 katlui 
 
 1 koti of katlias " 1 malia katlia 
 
 1 koti of malia katlitld " 1 asankya* 
 
 An asankya could be represented by one hundred and twenty- 
 nine figures. 
 
 64. Antah-Kalpns : — A kalpa is a measure of time indicating 
 eternity. A kalpa represents a day and a night of the god 
 Brahm, or the time of the creation of the world, and the time of 
 its extinction until the creation of another world. The length of 
 a kalpa is thus described : *' Take a rock forming a cube of about 
 sixteen miles, touch it once in a hundred years with the finest 
 piece of cloth, and the roclc will sooner be reduced to dust than a 
 kalpa shall end." Another definition is: "A palya or kalpa is a 
 period measured by the time in which a vast well, eight hundred 
 miles every way, filled with minute hairs so closely packed that a 
 river hurried over them without penetrating the interstices could 
 be emptied at the rate of one hair a century, f Were the earth to 
 increase in elevation one inch in a century, the elevation would 
 extend to twenty-eight miles before an antah-kalpa would be 
 concluded." " Twenty antah-kalpas make an asankya-kal pa ; four 
 asankya-kalpas make a maha-kalpa. " 
 
 65. Cror ;— 10,000,000. 
 
 66. Paramaiius : — The invisible base of all aggregate bodies. 
 
 67. Parasukshma : — Fairy atom. 
 
 68. Trasarene : — Ten trasarenes make one particle of dust. 
 
 69. Likhya : — A stroke of the pen. 
 
 70. Yuka : — A louse. 
 
 71. Mung : — Pulse. 
 
 72. A breath: — The distance to which a cooly can carry the 
 native yoke, with a load attached at either end, without putting 
 down the burden. 
 
 73. Goic : — Two to two and a half miles. 
 
 74. Yojana : — The length of a yojana varies greatly — from four 
 and a half miles to sixteen miles. 
 
 75. Ouru : — Master. 
 
 76. Devadatta : — Signifies god-given, a common name in India. 
 This Devadatta is one of the five persons of whom it is recorded 
 
 * Manual of Buddhism, p. 6. 
 
 t Wilson's lieligious of the Hindus, vol, 1, 308. 
 
98 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 they went, to naraJca — hell. TTis offense was tlint lie tempted some 
 of the followers of r>uddlia to forsake him, and fojl into here-sv. 
 
 77. Divan : — Court. 
 
 78, A liooded snake, : — Cobra. 
 
 70. the pile flames for me : — Cremation, 
 
 80. Tfi the mango -sprays ; — The mango is a spreading tree of 
 rapid growth, thirty to forty feet in lieiglit, the stem only rising 
 eight or ten feet before it divides into brandies. The dark glossy 
 leaves, about eight inches in length, liave a sweet resinous smell, 
 and are so densely set as to be impenetrable to the sun's burning 
 rays, and form a most grateful shade. The fruit is abundant and 
 highly prized. 
 
 81. Su,i-hirds : — Paroquets. 
 
 82. Mynas : — Indian robin. 
 
 83. Egret : — A dark, plain plumaged bird, that is a constant com- 
 panion of the black, hairless, domestic buffalo. 
 
 84. Abovt the painted temple peacoelcs fleio : — The Hindu temples 
 are built of brick and stuccoed over with a white cement. Its 
 shining surface is gayly ornamented with outlined paintings of 
 gods, saints, sacred animals and geometric designs. Peacocks are 
 considered sacred, and '.ften bel:ng to temples, 
 
 85. The blue doves cooed, from every icell : — The wells are built up 
 with wide masonry curbrj, on the top of which are little shallows 
 for resting the round \v^ater jars. The water gathers in these shal- 
 lows, and from them the birds drink. In the temporary wells, 
 dug in the sand, doves build ^lieir nests in the holes in the sides. 
 
 86. Village drums : — are the constant attendants of feasts, and 
 are beaten almost without cessation, night and day, during the 
 two, three or four days of feasting. 
 
 87. Bulb id : — Nightingale. 
 
 88. Jambu-tree : — In Jambudwipa, a fabulous country supposed 
 to lie south of Mount Sumeru, is a wonderful tree called the 
 jambti-tree. It is one thousand miles high, covers a space three 
 tliousand miles in circumference, and bears continually a golden 
 fruit as large as a water vessel capable of holding sixteen gallons. 
 "The fable probably arises in an exaggerated account of a pine 
 tree — the deodar, god wood — found in the Himalaya mountains. 
 It grows to great size, and bears catkins of a bright yellow color in 
 great profusion. The wind shakes from these a golden dust that 
 ajiparently sheets the ground with gold for some distance about the 
 tree." * The deodar pine, however, grows only on the mountains 
 at an elevation of seven thousand feet or higher, and could not 
 survive at Kapilavastu on the hot, dry plain. The introduction of 
 the jambu-tree in the poem, though allowed by poetic license. 
 
 * Manual of Buddhism. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 T99 
 
 hardly accords witli fact. A nimbii, or lemon tree, moro probably 
 sbiuled. the young philosopher. 
 
 89. Dhyaiui : — Contemplation, the first of the four stages to- 
 ward Bnddhaliood. 
 
 93. Jiishis : — Saints. 
 
 BOOK THE SECOND. 
 
 1. ChampnJcs : — Trees bearing gold colored flowers so exceeding- 
 ly fragrant that the bees seldom alight on them. The timber is 
 used in ship building. The tree is sacred to Vishnu. Michelia 
 champaca. 
 
 2. Suhha : — Pleasant or spring palace. 
 
 3. Suramma : — Winter palace. 
 
 4. Ramma : — Summer palace. 
 
 5. Maharaja : — Great prince, 
 
 6. Barasiugh : — Great-horned deer. 
 
 7» Command a festival 
 
 Where the realm's 7naids shall be competitors 
 III youth and grace. 
 
 In Vedic times the daughters of princes had the choice of a hus- 
 band from a crowd of candidates for her hand, or was given as a 
 prize to that warrior who proved most skillful in the use of the 
 bow. In Buddha's case he seems to have been given the choice 
 first, and showed his prowess afterward. This day of choice by 
 a maiden was called her Swayamvara. The description of the 
 young Rajas — princes — as they appeared at the Swayamvara of 
 Damayanti, is a fine companion picture to Mr. Arnold's picture of 
 the Kapilavastu maidens. 
 
 " At length the day of harpy omen, the great day of the Sway- 
 amvara of Damayanti, dawned upon the city of Yidharba. And all 
 the Rcijas, sick with love, passed through the glittering portals, 
 and the court of great columns, and entered the Hnll of State, like 
 lions entering their mountain lairs. And all the Rajas were 
 adorned with fragrant garlands, and rich earrings of costly gems 
 were hanging from their ears. And some had long arms, ro- 
 bust and vigorous as the ponderous battle-mace ; whilst others 
 were soft and delicately rounded as a smooth serpent. With 
 bright and flowing hair, and arched eyebrows, their faces were as 
 radiant as the stars ; and they filled the Hall of State, as the ser- 
 pents fill the under world, or as tigers fill the caves in the moun- 
 tains. But when Damayanti entered the hall, every eye was fixed, 
 and every soul entranced, at her dazzling loveliness ; and all the 
 Rajas gazed upon her beauty and were stricken with deep and 
 
200 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 passionate desire. Then the name of every Raja was proclaimed 
 aloud, and Damayanti glanced around at the glittering crowd of 
 suitors."* 
 
 8. Kapilavastu ;— Buddlia's birthplace, situated a little north of 
 Goruckpiir, in the eastern part of the province of Kosala. It was 
 on the Rohini river, tliat empties into tlie Rapti. 
 
 9. Soorma-stick .-—Pencil of lead used to darken the eyelashes. 
 
 10. Slender hands and feet new-stained 
 With crimson. 
 
 The women of India still follow the fashion of coloring the 
 palms of their hands and soles of their feet with henna. 
 
 11. Tilka-spots : — A bit of gold tinsel, or a stamp of colored 
 powder, worn between the eyebrows. 
 
 13. Yasddhara : — was born on the same day as Buddha, and 
 fore-ordained to be his queen. The horse Kantaka, the nobleman 
 Channa, the personal attendant Ananda, and the messenger Udayi, 
 were all born at the time of Buddha's birth. 
 
 13. Parmti ;— was the wife of Shiv, one of the Hindu trinity. 
 Her gait was like that of an elephant, gently swaying from side to 
 side, a style that is greatly admired in India. 
 
 14. Yamun : — The river Jumna that flows past Agra and Delhi, 
 
 Nandadem .-—A sacred peak of the Himalayas. 
 
 Ardjuna : — Named for one of India's great warriors. 
 
 Wanda : — Named for a god. 
 
 Maiddn : — Plain, or park. 
 
 With music : — The instruments accompanying wedding pro- 
 cessions are mostly drums and horns. Of a 'list of thirty-five 
 musical instruments given in an Indian hand-book, ten are varie- 
 ties of drums, eleven are stringed instruments, mostly stringed 
 gourds, and eight are horns or pipes ; the remaining six are cym- 
 bals and smaller instruments. The singers all sing one part, as 
 harmony is unknown to the Hindus ; many of their melodies, 
 however, are pleasing, and if introduced to the Western world, 
 would become popular. 
 
 20. and with litters gaily dight, 
 
 And gold-horned oxen, flower-cajmrisoned. 
 
 The wedding color is red, usually that known as " Turkey red." 
 The bride is, if possible, dressed in red silk ; the palanquins are 
 hung around with red, also the carriages. The horns of the 
 oxen are gilded or colored with red ; also their tails and hoofs ; 
 also the manes, tails and hoofs of horses that may be in the pro- 
 cession ; bells are hung upon the carriage- wheels, and garlands of 
 strung jasmine blossoms are put about the necks of the oxen. 
 
 21. Ten gows : — Twenty miles. 
 
 15. 
 16. 
 17. 
 
 18. 
 19. 
 
NOTES. 20I 
 
 23. A cowry-sJiell : — is about two-tliirds of an incn in lengtL, 
 
 23. Gold sari: — A large veil nearly enwrapping" tlie whole 
 person. 
 
 24. SinJiahdmu's hotc : — The bow of liis grandfather. 
 
 25. Then the Prince, lightly leaning, bent the hoic : — The Icfjcnd, 
 with usual extravagance of description, says that Siddhartha took 
 " this bow that required the strength of a thousand men to bend 
 it, and placing the lower end on the nail of the great toe of his 
 right foot, without standing up, thrummed the string of the 1)ow 
 with his finger nail as easily as if it were merely the bow by 
 which cotton is cleaned." The vibration rolled ten thousand 
 miles. Then he placed four plantain trees at the corners of a 
 square, and by one flight of the arrow pierced them all. Marvel- 
 ous archery is a favorite theme in the mythology, history and 
 poetry of India. In the Ramayan, the great epic poem of 
 India, an archery feat even greater than this of Siddliarta's is 
 described. Rama, the hero of the poem, at the winning of his 
 wife Sita, used a bow which had required the combined strength 
 of five thousand youths to fetch in its casket. Rama 
 
 " Before the thonsands of the court. 
 The weapon by the middle raised. 
 That all the crowd in wonder gazed. 
 With steady arm the string he drew. 
 Till burst the mighty bow in two. 
 As snapped the bow in awful clang. 
 Loud as the shriek of tempests rang. 
 The earth affrighted shook amain. 
 As when a hill is rent in twain ; 
 Then senseless at the fearful sound, 
 The people fell upon the ground ; 
 None save the king, the princely pair. 
 And the great saint the shock could bear.'* 
 
 In the Mahabharata several* wonderful feats of archery are 
 described, but none can be more appropriately given in this con- 
 nection than some extracts from the Swayamvara of Draupadi. 
 
 " And when they reached that city they found a vast number of 
 Rajas encamped, with a great host of troops and elephants, and 
 multitudes of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, traveling merchants, show- 
 men and spectators. And there was set apart without the city a 
 large plain inclosed by barriers, in which the Rajas were to ex- 
 hibit their skill in archery ; and around the plain were many glit- 
 tering pavilions for the lodging of the more distinguished guests, 
 and also raised galleries from which to behold the performances. 
 And at one end of the plain was a tall pole, and on the top of this 
 pole was a golden fish, and below the fish was a chakra ever 
 whirling round ; and the rule of the Swayamvara was, that who- 
 
— ,-- 
 
 ■MKVradWM 
 
 20 2 NOTES. 
 
 ever discharged an arrow tlirougli the chakra at the first shot, and 
 Rtriiclc the eye of the g-olden fish, that man should be llie husband 
 of tlie daughter of lliija l)rau|)atla." 
 
 After sixteen days of feasting, " the moment arriveil »vhen the* 
 young Princess was to exhibit herself in all her loveliness to those 
 who hoped to gain lier for a bride, and the beautiful damsel v/as 
 dressed in elegant array, and adorned with radiant gems, and led 
 into the arena, carrying in her liand the garland which she was 
 to throw over the nock of that fortunate hero who might have the 
 fortune to win her to be his wife. Then the different choirs of 
 Brahmins chanted Vedic hymns to the glory and praise of tlie 
 gods, and filled the heavens and the earth with the music of their 
 prayers. After this, and amidst a universal silence, the Prince 
 Dhrishta-dyumna, who was the brother of Draupadi, stood hy the 
 side of his resplendent sister, and proclaimed that wliosoever shot 
 the arrow through the chakra in the first attempt and struck the 
 eye of the golden fish sliould have the Princess for his wife. 
 Then the Prince told into the ears of Draupadi the name and 
 lineage of every one of her suitors; and he also told her, in the 
 hearing of all, that she must place the garland round the neciv of 
 the man who struck the fish, and accept him for her husband from 
 that day. Dhrishta-dyumna then turned to the Rajas and chief- 
 tains and said, * Hero stands this lady, my sister ; whoever feels 
 confident in his skill and strength that he can hit the mark ia a 
 single trial, let him arise and fulfill the conditions of the taway- 
 amvara. 
 
 " At these words the Rajas arose from their seats and approached 
 the pole on which the golden fish was fixed, and the chaicra below 
 it ever turning round, and they viewed the strong and heavy bow 
 from which the arrow was to be discharged. Now every man was 
 jealous of the other, and yet for a long while no chieftain would 
 take up the bow, lest he should fail to bend it, and thus excite the 
 laughter of the multitude. Presently a R'lja stepped before his 
 fellows and tried to bend the bow, but coul'. not, and another and 
 yet another essayed in like manner to string the bow, but all were 
 alike unable to do so because of its great size and strength. Then 
 many of the Rajas made the attempt, and they strained themselves 
 to the very uttermost, casting aside their robes and collars, and 
 l)utting forth their whole strength, but not one amongst them 
 could bend the bow. 
 
 *'A]1 this time the Pandavas — five brother princes — had been, 
 standing amongst the crowd disguised as Enihmins, but suddenly 
 Arjuna, one of the brothers, advanced and lifted the bow, and a 
 cry of astonishment ran through the assembly at seeing a Brah- 
 min attempt to compete at a Swayamvara. Some there were who 
 jeered at Arjuna, and said, * Shall a Brahmin do this great thing 
 
NOTES. 203 
 
 wliicli all tlie miglity Rajas have failed to do?* Others cried, 
 ' Unless the Brahmin knew his own skill and strength, he would 
 not make the essay. And all the real Bralnnins that were pres- 
 ent were fearful lest the attempt should offend the Rajas, so that 
 the Rajas should give them, no gifts, and they entreated Arjuna 
 to withdraw ; but Arjuna Avas heedless alike of words of blame or 
 words of encouragement, and he offered up a mental prayer to hij 
 tutor Droua, and then bent the bow and drew the cord, rjid fi:ting 
 the arrow to the string, he discharged it through the center of the 
 chakra, and struck the eye of the golden fish. Then a roar 
 of acclamations arose from the vast assembly like the crash and 
 roll of distant thunder, and the Brahmins waved their scarfs in 
 the greatness of their delight, and the drums and trumpets 
 filled the air with joyous music. And the beautiful Draupaui 
 was filled with joy and wonder at the youth and grace of 
 the hero who struck the golden fish, and she came forward as 
 she had been commanded by her brother, and threw the garland 
 round the neck of Arjuna and permitted him to lead her away, 
 according to the rule of the Swayamvara." * 
 
 To the single arrow test of the earlier centuries, other feats of 
 strength and skill were subsequently added ; but ultimatcl}' the 
 Swayamvara was abandoned on account of the feuds .and wars that 
 arose from the jealousies and hatreds that these assemblies excited, 
 and the custom of infant marriages was introduced, thus jn-eclud- 
 ing such occasions of war. 
 
 26. And clove a Talas-tree : — Palm-tree. 
 
 27. Six fingers thick : — This must be understood as the icicltJi of 
 six fingers laid one against another, not as six fingers' length. 
 
 28. Byces : — Grooms. 
 
 29. BhU .-—Evil spirit. 
 
 30. Mogra : — Double Arabian jasmine. 
 
 31. Kusd grass : — *'Ever3'"law book and almost every poem in 
 Sanskrit contains frequent, allusion to the holiness of this plant, 
 and in the fourth veda we have the following address to it at the 
 close of a terrible incantation : * Thee, O Dharba, the learned pro- 
 claim a divinity not subject to age or death ; thee they call the 
 armor of Indra, the preserver of religions, the destroyer of enemies, 
 a gem that givetli increase to the fields. At the time when the 
 ocean resounded, when the clouds murmured, and the lightnings 
 flashed, then was Dharba produced, pure as a drop of fine gold ! ' 
 Some of the leaves taper to a most acute evanescent point, v^dience 
 the Pandits often say of a very sharp-minded man, that his intel- 
 lects are as acute as the point of a kusaleaf."! Pandits — Hindu 
 teachers — say that the kusa grass is equal in sanctity to gold, as boll' 
 
 * Wheeler's History of India, vol. i, 119. 
 
 * Sir Wm. Jones, vol, ii, Essay on Plants of India. 
 
204 NOTES. 
 
 are produced from the earth, and as gold is the chief of metals, so ig 
 this of grasses. It is especially holy, and is in great demand in al. 
 most all the native offerings and religious ceremonies of the Hin< 
 dus, particularly in presenting water to the manes of their ances. 
 tors. The reason of selecting it is, that the moutlia of these ghosts 
 are so small at first that the libation offered them can only enter by 
 being poured along one of these fine sharp roots. It is considered 
 very desirable that a man should die upon a bed of kusa, and it is 
 consequently the duty of attendant relations to spread the grass on 
 the floor, and after covering it w^ith a cloth, to lay the dying man 
 upon it, in order that he may emit his last breath in that hallowed 
 position." * 
 
 32. Jheel: — Marsh. 
 
 33. Neem : — Margosa, or bitter tree, — Melia azadirachta — or ash 
 leaved bead tree ; considered sacred, as it once had the honor of 
 supporting the sun. An eminent saint visited another saint named 
 Bhaskara Acharya, w^lio was supposed to have been an incarnation 
 of the sun. The two saints were engaged in discussion until sunset, 
 when Bhaslvara offered his guest food. Neither of tliem could eat 
 after dark, so Bhaskara stopped the further descent of the sun, and 
 ordered him to take up his abode in a neighboring neem tree until 
 the food sliould be cooked and eaten, and the sun obeyed. 
 
 34. Menha : — The sign of Aries. 
 
 35. Oadi : — Cushion, throne or exalted seat. 
 
 36. The arm-tJweads tied : — This ceremony is conducted with 
 more state and solemnity than any other during the marriage festi- 
 val. It consists in fastening on the right wrist of the young 
 man, and on the left of the girl, a bit of saffron, called the kau- 
 kanam. 
 
 37. The rice and attar thrown : — During the wedding ceremo- 
 nies, which usually last about five days, two baskets, made of 
 bamboo, are placed close together ; the bride steps into one, the 
 bridegroom into the other. Two other baskets are brought filled 
 with ground rice ; the Imsband empties one over the head of the 
 bride, and she pours the other over him ; this they repeat until 
 they are weary or are admonished that it is enough. In the mar- 
 riage of princes pearls and perfumes are sometimes used in placj 
 of rice.f 
 
 The seven steps taken thrice around the fire : — The sacred 
 fire, and the three circuits which the young couple make around 
 the fire, indicate the ratification of a mutual agreement between 
 them, as there is nothing more solemn than what is transacted 
 over this element, which, among the Hindus, is the most pure of 
 
 * Phillips' Missionary Vade Mecum, 231, 
 t Abbe Duboia' Worki*. 
 
NOTES, 205 
 
 the deities, and therefore fitter than all others to ratify the solemn 
 oaths of which it is the most faithful memorial." * 
 
 38. Mantras: — are variously hymns, incantations, prayers or 
 ascriptions of praise to the gods. It is with great reluctance 
 that the Hindus communicate these to any other than those of 
 their own caste. Mr. Wilson fully understood the dislike Hindus 
 have ot'imparting these sacred words, and seriously doubted 
 if they could be trusted even when they professed to impart 
 them. 
 
 39. Roldiii : — A river in the eastern part of Oude. 
 
 40. Ounga : — Ganges. 
 
 41. Sill : — A common timber tree, Sliorea robusta. 
 
 42. Oanthi floicers : — Clusters of. 
 
 43. Northimrds soared 
 The stainless ramjjs of huge Eimala's loall. 
 
 This is a beautiful and most accurate description of the Him- 
 alaya mountains. The closing lines 
 
 under these the jylciin, 
 
 Gleamed like a praying -carpet at the foot 
 
 Of those dicinest altars 
 are unsurpassed for truth and beauty. The combined views of the 
 snowy range and the plains from the lower ranges — seven to ten 
 thousand feet — are magnificent beyond description. The specta- 
 tor, looking away to the snows a hundred miles distant on the one 
 hand, and over the plains for thirty or forty miles on the other, 
 with hill, mountain aixd valley rising and falling far away to 
 the east and west, has such a view as no other place on earth 
 affords. ' 
 
 44. Radhd and Krishna and the sylvan girls : — Krishna was 
 one of the nine incarnations of Vishnu, and is one of the most 
 worshiped gods of India. His life was so foul that no literal 
 translation of his history could be published in this country, and 
 jet the story is read to persons of all ages and both sexes in 
 India. Many fine sayings are attributed to Krishna, and these 
 Sanskrit scholars have given to the Western world ; but the parts 
 most attractive to uncultivated and carnal minds are necessaiily 
 suppressed. Radha was the chief of his thirty thousand mis- 
 tresses, and she, not his lawful wife, is always pictured and 
 worshiped with him. 
 
 45. Bita : — was the beautiful wife that Rama Avon when he 
 broke the bow that five thousand youths could scarcely carry. 
 Later, when Rama's father would have placed this, his eldest son , 
 on the throne, a second wife steps in and claims the fulfillment of 
 a long-forgotten promise that her son should be heir to the throne. 
 Rama, to avoid discord, and upon the advice of his father, becomes 
 a hermit. Sita insists on accompanying him, though he in iliC 
 
 * Abbe Dubois' Works. 
 
■ I ■irilS" 
 
 206 NOTES. 
 
 most tender laniruage beseeches lier not to undertake such hard- 
 shijis and discomforts for his sake. Sita insists that " wherevt^r 
 the husband may be, the wife must dwell in the shadow of his 
 foot," and for ten years they wander in the jungle. They visit 
 the dwellings of the most celebrated hermits ; a female hermit 
 named Anasuya, talks to Sita, who tells Anasuya of her birth, and 
 says : 
 
 " My preceptor taught me ever to reverence my mother earth, 
 and to strive to be as pure and true and brave as she, and he called 
 me Sita because I sprang out of a furrow of the ground." Ana- 
 suya says : "Thou hast indeed the courage of the brave earth 
 mother, for thou hast not feared to face the scorching heat, and 
 the biting winds, and the angry storm ; and thou art so noble, too, 
 Sita, for thou hast lavished thy beauty on the sorrowful, and hast 
 sought to make even the path of exile sweet to thy beloved." 
 Rawan, the monstrous king of Ceylon, one day in the absence of 
 Hiima made the beautiful Sita his -most unwilling captive, and 
 carried her through the air to his capital. Sita has naught but 
 bitterness for her captor, and tells him that Rama will deliver her 
 and destroy him. Rtima instituted a search for her, and Avith the 
 assistance of Hanuman — the monkey god, — who took a flying leap 
 of sixty miles from the mainland to Ceylon — found Sita. A 
 mighty war ensued, the giant was slain, and Sita recovered. To 
 prove her purity to Rama, she passed through a Are ordeal, and 
 ever since her name has been the synonym for wifely constancy 
 and noble devotion. 
 
 46. Draupadi : — was the maiden won by Arjuna, who shot the 
 fish through the whirling chakra. By the unfortunate exclama- 
 tion of his mother, who, on being told by the brothers that they 
 had made a fine acquisition, said, "Go and share it, you five 
 brothers, amongst yourselves and eat it," she was compelled to be 
 a wife for all of them. Her difficult place she filled with rare 
 credit and honor. 
 
 47. God Ganesha 
 With disc and hook, tohring ^oisdom and imaltli — 
 'Propitious sate, wreathing Ids sidelong trunk. 
 
 Ganesh is the god of wisdom, eloquence and obstacles. The 
 Abbe Dubois gives the following account of the cause of the re- 
 markable elephant head which Ganesh bears: '* The god Kumara, 
 who had long entertained a grudge against Ganesh, finding him 
 altme one day, cut ofT his head. Shiv, his father, was much 
 grieved when he heard of the misfortune, and being desirous to 
 repair it, he made a vow that he would cut off the head of the 
 first living creature he should find with his head lying toward the 
 north, and unite to the trunk of Ganesh. In acting on this design, 
 liie fi/st animal he met with lying in this position was an elephant, 
 
T 
 
 NOTES. 207 
 
 the head of wliicli L e cut off, aud set on tlie neck of Ganesli , and thus 
 restored him to life. The mother of Ganesh was terrified and ago- 
 nized to find her son with such a deformity, but was paciued on be- 
 in^ assured by Briihma that Ganesh should be the most worshipt d of 
 all gods, Ganesh, as the god of obstacles, thougli he has no temples , 
 is more frequently invoked than any other God in India, as every 
 undertaking, even the worship of the gods, must be prefaced with 
 prayer to him. Every book in the Hindi and Sanskrit languages 
 opens with an invocation to Ganesli, usually Sri Ganesha luuna — 
 to the honorable Ganesh respect. " The following is an introduction 
 to a treatise on geometry: " Having bowed to Goaiesh, whose 
 head is like an elephant, whose feet are adored by the gods, who, 
 when called to mind, restores his votaries from embarrassment, 
 and bestows happiness on his worshipers, I propound this easy 
 method of computation." 
 
 48. Nelumbo : — Dark blue flowers. 
 
 49. Of7iakre : — Silvery whiteness, or panes of mica. 
 
 50. Purdah : — ('urtain. 
 
 51. And silver vma-stri?igs : — The vina is one of the most ancient 
 of the muiiical instruments of India. A hollow gourd is fastened 
 near either end of a bar that is strung with three steel and four 
 brass or silver wires ; these are played with plectrums, usually 
 fish scales fastened with springs or tied with thread to the little 
 finger and two first fingers of the right Land.* An English writer 
 claims that " it is an instrument of the greatest capacity and 
 power ; and a really superior vina, in the hands of an expert per- 
 former, is perhaps little inferior to a fine-toned piano." 
 
 52. To that great stature [of fair sovereignty : — To be a chakra- 
 vartin. 
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 
 
 1. Chitra .'—The name of the 14th mansion of the moon. 
 
 2. Nullahs: — Ravines. 
 
 3. Maiddn: — Plain. 
 
 4 Kos : — About two miles. 
 
 5 Oroi'S : — Ten millions. 
 
 6 . The water-carriers spinkled all the streets 
 
 From sjyirting skins. ' 
 
 The water carriers of India bear v/ater in goat-skins on the back. 
 
 The neck of the skin is left open ; this the carriers grasp with the 
 
 left hand, and by a little dexterous movement, are able to throw 
 
 the water in small streams quite a distance. 
 
 7. Tul-n-bush : — Ocymum sanctum. Sweet basil. The basil is 
 considered sacred by the Hindus, and is constantly used in re- 
 ligious services. One tradition says that Tulsi was a nymph b-j- 
 
2o8 NOTES. 
 
 loved by Krislma and by liim metamorpliosed into this plant. A 
 more commonly received tradition is that Tulsi wished to become 
 the wife of Vishnu, but was turned by the curse of Lalvshnn, 
 Vishnu's wife, into the basil or tulsi plant. Vishnu, not pleased 
 with this, promised Tulsi tliat he Vv'ould always continue with lier 
 in the form of the Salaoram, or Ammonite stone, found in the 
 rivers of Nepal. For this reason the Hindus who worship Vislmu 
 keep leaves of the basil above and below a salagram in the tem- 
 ples, and adorn their temples and houses with pictures of the sala- 
 gram and basil, the women paying- particular attention to the cul- 
 tivation of the latter. "By Tulsi's leaf the truth I speak " is a 
 favorite mode of affirmation. 
 
 8. Suryadeva : — The sun god, who is represented in statuary as 
 seated on a chariot drawn by seven horses. 
 
 9 Came forth in 2-^'^^^ted car, vchich two steers drew: — Tlie 
 pleasure carriages of the Hindus usually have two, sometimes 
 four, heavy untired wheels. The floor of the carriage is made of 
 interlaced bamboos, and is without springs or seats. On tiiis the 
 rider sits tailor fashion, or for a change with feet liangirig in some 
 convenient place among the wheels. The driver sits in front astride 
 the cumberous and ornamented tongue. The top of the carriage is 
 dome-like in shape, and hung witli fringed curtains of v/idte cot- 
 ton, or red silk, as the owner can afford. The oxen used lor these 
 carriages are as much objects of pride and care as carriage horses in 
 the V/est. They are never used for labor, and are beauti f ul animtds. 
 They trot with considerable speed, and, on the ordinary country 
 roads, are not excelled by the European horse and buggy. 
 
 10. Bright-clad : —Probably no people present a brighter appear- 
 ance on a gala day than do the Hindus, of the north country par- 
 ticularly. Tlie great majority of the men dress in white muslin. 
 coats and trousers, tliat, on such occasions, are marvelously white 
 and clean. The turbans are of white, rose pink, pale green, lav- 
 ender or other delicate shade, or often of turkey red with redkam- 
 marband, or v/aist-scarf. Priests and religious mendicants wear 
 oclier colored garments; the native police have uniforms of ritie 
 green with red turbans and kammarbands ; the women generally 
 wear skirts of dark blue or red, v/ith large veils of white or bright 
 colored muslin spangled or gayly bordered ; and among the crowd 
 is sure to be a sprinkling of graiidees in silks, cashmere shawls, 
 cloth of gold, or brilliant array of some soit,, attended by white- 
 robed servants, v^earing scarlet sashes, swords and gay tiu'baii.'V 
 
 11. Jai! jai!—ll'c\\\, hail! 
 
 13. Ja.liin : Feminine for Galen. 
 
 13. Hastd : — Named for the 14th mansion of the moon 
 
 14. Qautami : — Feminine for Gotama. 
 
 15. Gunga : — Named for the Ganges. 
 
mmoBocmsmat 
 
 NOTES. 209 
 
 16. "Ah, Sweet," he said, "such comfort that my soul 
 
 Aches, thinking it must end, for it will end. " 
 Compare this mournful, hopeless fear of love's decay, as seen 
 from a heathen stand-point, with dear old '* John Anderson, my 
 Joe, John," the song of Christian lovers. 
 
 17. Indrd : — was one of the original deities of India, and before 
 the introduction of Brahuiinism, held in the Indian pantheon about 
 the same relation as Jupiter in the Grecian. 
 
 18. The ten great gifts of wisdom- signify : — Mr. Hardj enumer- 
 ates these gifts as follows : ** 1. The wisdom that understands 
 what knowledge is necessary for the right fulfillment of any par- 
 ticular duty, in whatsoever situation. 2. That which knows the re- 
 sult or consequence of karma. 3. That which knows the way to the 
 attainment of Nirvana. 4. That which sees the various sakwalas. 
 5. That which knows the thoughts of other beings. 6. That 
 which knows that the organs of sense are not the self. 7. That 
 which knows the purity produced by the exercise of the dliyanas. 
 8. That which knows where any one was born in all his former 
 births. 9. That which knows where any one will be born in all 
 future births. 10. That which knows how the results j)roceeding 
 from karma — action — may be overcome." 
 
 19. Are those four fearless 'cirtues : — The first path or virtue is 
 the awakening of the heart when it is perceived that pain is in- 
 separable from existence, that all earthly good leads to sorrow; 
 then he is awake and has entered upon the first stage. In the sec- 
 ond he loses all impure desires, and all revengeful feelings; in the 
 third he becomes free from evil desires, ignorance, doubt, heresy 
 and unkindness and vexation ; universal charity follows opening 
 Nirvana. 
 
 20. At Gliandra's temple : — The temple of llie moon. 
 
 21. Merchant' srobe : — The shop-keepers of India generally wear 
 turbans of white, or pale colored muslin, that are made on light 
 frames, in a very set fashion of many tiny folds, one over the 
 other ; the coat is a short waist jacket ; about the loins is wrapped 
 the dhoti (three or four yards of cloth tliat is folded to assume a 
 trowsers-like appearance, each leg being covered to belov/ the 
 knee), and about the shoulders an ample sheet is loosely thrown. 
 
 23. Clerkly dress : — The trousers for this dress are white, long 
 and close-fitting ; the white coat is long and narrow, surmounted 
 by a short waist jacket, frequently made of colored muslin ; the 
 turban is of loose and ample folds of white muslin. 
 
 23, The traders cross-legged 'mid their sjrice and grain : — Native 
 stores in India have neither shelves, counters, chairs, stools, nor 
 boxes or bins. Six or eight feet square of a verandah floor with 
 a closet or two, is quite an establishment. The merchant spreads 
 a few goods on the open side of his shop and sits on his heels in 
 
2IC 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 the midst. The c:raln merchants spread their shoulder cloths on 
 the ground, in tiie bazar square, and dump tlie grain upon thcnn ; 
 from these they sell by weight, using balanced baskets. Large 
 numbers of regular traders in spices, pottery, jewelry, toys and 
 other wares simply spread a cloth on the ground, display the goods 
 and sit cross-legged l>eside them. 
 
 24. The buyers iciththdr money in the doth: — A Hindu's gar- 
 ments are made without pockets; pocket- boolcs are unknown, so a 
 bit of cloth carried in the hand, or tucked in the waist-band, 
 serves both purposes. 
 
 25. The icaroficords to cheapen this or that : — The seller always 
 asks three or four times the sum he expects to receive for any 
 article ; the buyer understands this, and offers what he tliiuks 
 right, what he can afford, or as sujall a sum as he thinks may be 
 received, " The war of words " is indefinitely continued, and lo 
 a foreigner, when not exasperating, is extremely amusing. 
 
 26. T//e shout to clear the road: — As there are no sidewalks, and the 
 hucksters lay their goods as near the road as possible when the 
 trade and war over prices is fairly begun, every passing wagon 
 must send forward some one to shout and shove, to make a ])ass- 
 age and prevent injury. Persons of rank always send on a fore- 
 runner on any road. 
 
 27. 7 he singing bearers mth the palanquins : — Four men bear a 
 palanquin, and three or four run alongside for relief. It is neces- 
 sary that the men carrying should keep step, both for their own 
 ease, and the comfort of the person in the palanquin. To aid 
 themselves they call back and forth, "Hu, hu, ho, ho," in a sub- 
 dued tone. This call they vary, by chanting in measure, and in 
 the same tone, remarks about the person they are carrying 
 Except as regards weight, these sentences are usually highly com- 
 plimentary, and calculated to induce a larger gift of buckhsheesh. 
 
 28. Ilanials : — Associate cattle. 
 
 29. The housewives bearing water from the well 
 With balanced chatties, and athwart their hips 
 The black-eyed babes. 
 
 A. chattie is a globular water jar, with a short neck on one side. 
 The poorer women who go to the wells will carry two or three 
 such jars, each holding from two to f(Hir gallons, one above the 
 other, on tlieir heads; also a jar in one arm resting on one hip, and 
 a baby astride the other hip. 
 
 oO. The fly-swarmed siceetmeat shops : — Candy stores are in about 
 tlie same proportion to other stores in India as are licjuor saloons 
 to our stores in American cities. The sweetmeats are not adul- 
 terated with as hurtful materials as Western confectioners us*j, 
 and they are seldom colored. Ghee, or clarified butter, is largely 
 used in candies, making them distasteful to most Europeans. 
 
 mamamtamm 
 
NOTES. 211 
 
 81. Tlie uea.Ter nt his loom: — The looms are -worked by hand, 
 and are most primitive, but by careful skill, fine textures audrich 
 materials are produced from them. 
 
 82. Thi' cotton -how iicanQ'ing : — The cotton-bow is a stout bow 
 five or six feet in length, with a strong rawhide string. This is 
 twanged sharply npon the lieap of cotton, and by its vibration 
 causes the dust and dirt to Hy off, leaving the cotton clean and 
 white. By striking the b(;w at different points a kind of music is 
 produced. 
 
 33. TJie school 
 
 WJiere round tJieir Gurii, in a grave Jinlfmoon^ 
 The Sdkya children S(ing tJie mantras through. 
 And learmd tlie greater ami the lesser gods. 
 
 In the school the teacher and scholars, boys only, sit cross- 
 legged upon the floor, without desks or other school apparatus 
 than a hook, reed pens, ink and coarse paper. Tlie instruc- 
 tion, until the introduction of English methods of instruction by 
 that government, was almost entiiely confined to religious pre- 
 cepts and stanzas, and histories of the gods and tlieir worship. 
 
 81. The dyers stretching iraistcloths in the sun : — Th.ese cloths 
 a.ld greatly to the picturesqueness of the scene in the Indian 
 bazar, as tlipy hang and wave like great ribbons in the still air 
 from floor to housetop, on horizontal poles set in gables, roofs, 
 balconied windows or towers. 
 
 35. 7716 Brdhrni/i proud : — The Brahmins are usually taller 
 and fairer than other castes. For thousands of years tluMr pro- 
 genitors have been the best fed and most comfortably housed class. 
 The result is everywhere apparent. 
 
 36. The marti^d Kshatriya: — Soldier caste. 
 
 37. Sudra : — The lower castes and laborers. 
 
 38. If^dg : — Serpent. 
 
 39. or charm the hooded death 
 
 To angry dance icith drone of headed gourd. 
 
 The snake charmers capture the most fatally venomous of all 
 snakes, the cobra, and carry them about in baskets for c-xhil)ition. 
 The charmers seat themselves beside the baskets, in which the 
 snakes lie apparently asleep, and begin to blow upon their gourds 
 and pipes, that sound not unlike a Scotch bagpipe. Presently the 
 snakes begin to stir, then to arise until they stand tipon their 
 bellies to a height of eighteen inches or more, wlien they expand 
 their hoods, thrust out their tongues, and sway back and forth, us 
 long as the music lasts. 
 
 4U. Or beg a hoy next birtJt : — A man's funeral ceremonies cannot 
 be properly performed by any but a son, hence the great anxiety 
 of parents for sons. A woman may bo lawfully divcrced if she 
 have no sons, or her husband is expected to take a second wife, 
 
212 
 
 KOTES. 
 
 frequently at tlie request of the first wife, tliat the name and honor 
 of the house may be sustained. 
 
 41. Lotas : — Globular water vessels, usually about- a quart 
 measure. 
 
 42. Striped murderer : — Tiger. 
 
 43. Karunda husli: — Corinda, or carissa carandas. 
 
 44. An earthen bo d icith lighted cords : — In ancient times when 
 Ag-ni, the god of f;re, was worshiped, every householder was the 
 family priest, and the sacrod or sacrificial fire was kept con- 
 tinually burning on the heartli-stone. This has passed away, but 
 remains of the old fire worship are still seen in many religious 
 ceremonies among the Hindus. Carrying lighted coals in a bowl 
 before the dead signifies that that oa tlie family hearth-stone is 
 out, and its remains are to be used in performing the last cere- 
 monies of burning. , 
 
 45. TJie kinsmen s7/(?r?i;— Upon the death of a son,father or brother, 
 the nearest male relatives are required to shave every part of the 
 body. 
 
 40. Rama: — A leading divinity; the hero of the epic poem, the 
 Ranuiyan. 
 
 47. To where a pile wa.<i reared beside the stream : — Those v/ho have 
 borne the dead and lighted tlie funeral pile cannot return to their 
 familic s or eat until they have bathed in flowing water, hence the 
 dead are generally burned beside streams. Not unfrequently when 
 the relatives cannot afford sulficient fuel to entirely consume the 
 body it is thrust half burned into the stream, to become food for 
 vultures and alligators. The funeral ceremonies are many, and 
 vary in different parts of the country. Frequently years elapse 
 before the last can be performed. 
 
 48. Such is man's round ; — Transmigration of soul. 
 
 49. Brahm : — Tlie divine essence, the original Creator; he from 
 whom sprung the three principal gods, Brahma, Slav and Vishnu. 
 
 BOOK THE FOURTH. 
 
 1. Chaitra Shud ; — The full moon of March and April. 
 
 2. Asdka buds; — Tiie vegetable world scarce exhibits a richer 
 sight than an Asoka tree in full bloom ; it is about as high as an 
 ordinary cherry tree. The flowers grow in dense clusters, beauti- 
 fully diversified with tints of orange scarlet, of pale yellow and of 
 blight orange, which grov/s deeper every day, and forms a variety 
 of shades according to the age of each blossom that opens in the 
 cluster.* 
 
 3. Rama's birthday comes: — The birthday cf Rama is celebrated 
 
 ♦ Sir William Jones' Works. 
 
 » wm 
 
NOTES. 213 
 
 witli great ceremonies and festivities. Near the larger towns open 
 fiir tlieatricals are held representhig the hermitage of Rama, the 
 theft of his wife Sita by R'lwan, tlie King of Ceylon, the war tliat 
 followed, the retaking of Sita, and the triumphal return of Rama. 
 The play lasts two or three days, and is witnessed by thousands of 
 eager spectators. 
 
 4. J-Iadra ; — A seal, a signet. 
 
 5. Angana : — A court. 
 
 6. Devis : — Feminine for Devas, bright ones, or lesser gods. 
 
 7. Lankd : — Ceylon. 
 
 8. The chuddah : — A veil worn over the head and nearly enwrap- 
 ping the whole person. 
 
 9. Kantlid-stoiiQ : — Precious stones worn in a necklace are called 
 kantha. 
 
 10. VisJinu : — The second deity of the Hindu triad is vp.riously 
 represented in paintings and sculpture, but is most commonly 
 figured as a black or deep blue man, Vv^ith four arms in v/hich he 
 holds a discus, a conch, a mace and an Egyptian lotus uower, em- 
 blematic of his attributes or power. He is tlie source of the greater 
 part of Hindu incarnations. Nine of Vishnu have already appeared. 
 The tenth, that is to bring in the golden ap;e, is expected toappear 
 in a temple in Sembha!, a town near Moradabnd. A few yea-rs 
 since a long lease of this temple was for sale, and if the mission- 
 aries resident in the place had had money enough, tliey could have 
 bought it for a preaching place. 
 
 \ 11. Shiva: — The third of the Hindu trinity. In appearance he 
 
 is always disgusting or frightful. In one form he appears as a 
 white man, with three eyes (one in ins forelicad), a tiger skin 
 barely covering his loins, and three snakes curled about his head 
 and shoulders. From his miserable wickedness the famous Ling 
 had its origin. 
 
 12. Buryoj ; — The sun. 
 
 13. 80 with his brow he touchsd her feet, and tent 
 The farewell of fond eyes, iinutteraMe, 
 Upon her sleeping face. 
 
 Wherever, and in whatever form, this legend of the renunciation 
 is found, 11 always betokens deepest, truest love Yiekliiig only to 
 stern duty and greater benevolence. The legend of the Southern 
 Buddhists says that the son was already born. " The Prince, in 
 order tliat he might see his son, went to the apartment of 
 Yasodhara, and on opening the door he saw the Princess upon a 
 couch, surrounded by flowers ; but she was asleep, her hand em- 
 bracing the infant, which was also asleep, and laid upon her 
 bosom. Siddartha perceived that in order to take up his son 
 Rahula he must remove the mother's arm, vvliich would probably 
 cause her to awake, and as he knew that if she av»'oke she would 
 
mTn illlMiili m ■ i iai Miniiir' > " ri*r-tTAr'ir^T'^-*r*r'"*"^*-^^'**^*^'*-*'=^ ^ 
 
 ^4 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 speak to liim, ^.vhicli miglit sliake his rpsolution, lie reraained 
 upon the tlirosliokl, liolding the door-post with his hand, but not 
 proceeding any further, lie thought, * I can see my child after I 
 become Buddha; were 1, from parental affection, to endanger the 
 reception of the Buddhaship, how could the various orders of being 
 be released from the sorrows of existence?' Then resolutely, like 
 a man atiempting to root up Mount Siimeru, he withdrew his foot 
 from the doorway, and descended to the court-yard."^' Tiiis de- 
 cisive step taken, tlie legend again narrates the marvels tliat oc 
 curred at the time of Buddha's birth, wherein all nature puts forth 
 freshness and beauty in honor of the great event. 
 
 14. liinndaJb : — Felt, or coarse woolen cloth formed without 
 weaving, and used as a covering for horses, or to keep ofE rain. 
 
 15. SuddaJi Dccas : — Demi-gods from Indra's heaven. 
 
 16. Mohra-jloimrs: — The molira tree bears sweet-scented flowers, 
 from whose petals a spirituous liquor is distilled; from tlie nuts an 
 oil is extracted, Bassia latifolia. 
 
 17. But icltenthey reached the gate ; — The King, who had fore- 
 seen that his son would attempt to escape by stealth, liad placed a 
 thousand men as wardens. This marvelous horse Kantaka, eigh- 
 teen cubits in length and of proportionate height, proud to assist 
 his master at this time, to which the horse had so long looked for- 
 ward, resolved that if the gate were not open he would leap the 
 ramparts of the city v/ith the Prince on his ba.ck, and Channa hang- 
 ing to liis tail. Channa, equally as loyal, resolved to leap the bar- 
 rier with the horse on one shoulder and the Prince on the other ; 
 but the dovas, kuov/ing that through Buddha they too should ob- 
 tain entrance to the city of peace — Nirvana— noiselessly opened 
 the gate. 
 
 18. Mali 
 grown for opium. 
 
 19. Anoma'sioave: 
 and saltless. 
 
 20. 
 
 ca ; — A province of India wdiere fields of popj)ies are 
 This name has two significations — illustrious 
 
 andj spake 
 
 Fidlsiceet to thanna. 
 In India it is the custom for the grooms to run beside, or at 
 least in full sight of, master and horse %vhen on a journey. Thf^se 
 men become remarkable for speed and endurance. Channa was 
 evidently v/oll trained, hence stood ready to take Siddartha's horse 
 at the close of the vv^onderful lid:!. Channa requested th. -it he miglit 
 be his master's companion in lus asceticism, but Siddartlia be- 
 souglii him to return, that his father and wife might know 
 v/hither he l\ad gone. The horse, knowing that his service for 
 jiis master was ended, became greatly distressed and fell dead. 
 A temple was afterward erected to his memory on that spot. 
 
 * MunuiU 01 JUuddhism, lOi. 
 
 tomamgmsftaaKam^xmKmr^ 
 
NOTES. 
 
 BOOK THE FIFTH. 
 
 "':) 
 
 1. Rajdgnha ; — A Prince's liouse. Tlie town was formerly fa- 
 mous for beauty and wealth. It was tlie capital of Magadlia. 'I'lie 
 place lias l)een in ruins for centuries. 
 
 2. Baiblidra ; — Distant gardens, tlie cultivated lands near a 
 town. 
 
 3. Snrsuti : — Thread of the gods, a little stream. 
 
 4. Tapovan : — Place of devotees. 
 
 5. Sovereign earth-butter : — Liquid bitumen. 
 
 6. Saildgiri : — Cool hill. 
 
 7. Jujube trees : — Native of Arabia. 
 
 8. here 
 
 Lord Buddha sate. 
 
 This place of meditation was chosen with strict regard to the 
 rules laid down in the sacred books that say : " Curbing the 
 senses and appetites, and breathing gently through the nostrils, 
 v/liile meditating tho scholar should concentrate his thouglits. 
 On a clean smooth spot, free from pebbles, from gravel, or from 
 scorching sand, where the mind is tranquillized by pleasant 
 sounds, by running water and grateful shade, with naugiit to 
 offend the eye, let him apply himself to his task." Though 
 Buddha sat " motionless as the fixed rock his seat," the old snint 
 of the Mahabharata beat him all hollow. " And the old Rishi had 
 sat in one place so many years that a tree had grown up between 
 his legs, and birds had built their nests upon the tree, and serpents 
 had made their holes all round him. And the Rishi said that he 
 had remained there during twenty Brahmas, and had frequently 
 seen the world come to a close and begin again." A day of 
 Brahma is more than 4,000 millions of years. 
 
 In the effect of meditation the infant of the Vishnu Purana 
 excels both Buddha and the Rishi. " Dhruva, aged five years, 
 performed a penance as enjoined by Marichi and the sages. He 
 contemplated Vishnu, the sovereign of all gods, seated in himself. 
 Whilst his mind was wholly absorbed in meditation, the mighty 
 Hari, identical with all beings and with all natures, took posses- 
 sion of his heart. Vishnu being thus present in liis mind, the 
 earth, the supporter of elemental life, could not sustain thev/eight 
 of the ascetic. As he stood upon his left foot one hemisphere 
 bent beneath him, and when he stood upon his right foot, the 
 other half of the earth sunk down. When he touched it v.'ith his 
 toes it shook with all its mountains and rivers, and the seas were 
 troubled and the gods partook of the universal agitation." The 
 celestials interfered with many strategems, but could not induce 
 liim to forego his penances, until Hari himself came to him and 
 granted his wish that he should be above all worlds and creations. 
 
2l6 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 9. Tlius icould he muse from noontide: — That a deep religious 
 life was attained cliiefly throagli contemplation se ms to have 
 been a ruling idea since very early times in India. The most 
 ancient histories tell of devotees seeking union with Deity by con- 
 templation. The sacred books prescribe various methods and atti- 
 tudes to assist the mind in concentrating thought. " The devotee 
 must attend to tlie gradual suppi-ession of bi-eathing, since tho 
 animal soul and the mind act in conjunction. In this worlc he must 
 first endeavor to fix the understanding by some act of the senses : 
 for example, he must place his siglit and thoughts on the tip cf 
 his nose, by which he will perceive smell ; then bring his mind to 
 the tip of kis tongue, when taste will be realized ; and afterward 
 fix his thoughts on the root of his tongue, by v.'liich sound v*'ill bo 
 suggested. After this, if the mind be full of the principle of 
 grandness, and free from passion and ignorance, it will escape the 
 Avaves of passion and become truly fixed. He who meditates on 
 God, placing his mind on the sun, moon, fire, or any other lund- 
 nous body, or within his heart, or at the bottom of his throat, or 
 in the center of his skull, will, by afterward ascending from these 
 gross images of tlie Deity to the glorious original, secure fixed- 
 ness of thought. " * 
 
 The experience of an ex-devotee, as given by tlie Abbe Dubois, 
 is not only curious but amusing. " I was a novice, '^ said the 
 devotee, " under a celebrated Sunyasis, who had fixed his her- 
 mitage in a remote situation near Bellaburam. As he prescribed, 
 I devoted the great part of the night to Vv^atchfulness, and to en- 
 deavors to expel from my mind every thought whatever. Agree- 
 ably to other instructions daily repeated to me by my master, I 
 exerted all my might to restrain my breathing as long as it could 
 be possibly endured. I persisted in thus containing myself, con- 
 tinually, till I v/as neatly ready to faint away. Such violent 
 efforts brought on the most profuse perspiration from all parts of 
 my body. At length, one day while I was practicing as usual, I 
 imagined I saw before me the full moon, very bright, but tremu- 
 lous. At another time I was led to fancy, in broad day, thiit I 
 was plunged into thick darkness. My spiritual guide, wlio had 
 often predicted to me that the practice of penitence and c iitem- 
 plation would disclose to me very wonderful appearances, wns 
 quite delighted with my spiritual progress when I related to hini 
 what I had experienced, lie then set me some new tasks. Wearied 
 out at last with these tiresome follies, I gave them up, fearing 
 they would altogether discompose my brain ; and 1 again betook 
 myself to my old employment of a laborer." 
 
 10. False-dawn: — The slight stir and awakening that occurs 
 
 * Small's Sanskrit Literature. 
 
-JL 
 
 NOTES. 217 
 
 aliout two o'clock in the morning. The only pure divinity in the 
 whole Hindu pantheon is Ushas, or the dawn, represented as a 
 b'-autiful maiden. The sun and the moon both wished to woo 
 her, bat she turned them into calves for their audacity, and only 
 released them at the earnest request of their wives 
 
 11^ the King 
 
 Of Life and Glory cometh I 
 
 People brought up in the Christian faith, when reading of Buddha 
 and In's teachings, should constantly bear in mind the caution of 
 W, Rhys Davids in his article on Buddhism in the Cyclopedia 
 Brittanica. He says, " Christian ideas must not be put into Budd- 
 hist expressions." In reading the above quotation our minds at 
 once revert to God as the " King of Life and Glory," but the 
 king intended is Surya, the Sun. 
 
 13. After the manner of a lUshi, Jiailed 
 
 The rising orb. . 
 
 " Before the risins: of the sun the devout Hindu must have rinsed 
 his mouth, cleaned his teeth with a particular twig, in a particular 
 attitude, and bathed in a stream or body of water, Avith repeated 
 dinpings, gesticulations and prayers. The G.lyati, held to be the 
 most sacred verse in the Vedas— * Let us meditate on the sacred 
 light of that divine sun, that it may illuminate our mmds,'— 
 must be repeated "mentally, as often as the v.orshiper can do 
 it while he closes his mouth and nostrils, eifecting the latter by 
 rule. It is the most orthodox of gesticulations, and is performed 
 bv placing the two longest fingers of the right hand on the left 
 nostril, inhaling through the light, closing the right with the 
 thumb and when tiie breathing can be no longer suspended rais- 
 in «• the fingers and exhaling by the left nostril.'* After many 
 prayers addressed with proper gestures to the ten minds lodged 
 in various parts of the body, to the four cardinal points of heaven ; 
 heaven earth, himself, the elements, his prayer and the whole of 
 the aods in a body, he addresses the following to thf sun : ' Thou 
 art i3rahma when thou lisest ; Siva in thy middle course ; Vishnu 
 at thy settino- : Thou art the precious stone of the air ; king of 
 day • observt^r of our deeds ; the eye of tlie world ; tiie measure 
 of 'time ; Lord of the nine planets ; he that blotteth out the sms 
 of those' who honor him, and expels darkness on the return of the 
 twenty-four hours ; he who, in his chariot, bounds over the 
 mountains of the north, whicli stretches ninety millions five liun- 
 dred and ten yojanas ; Thee will 1 praise with my utmost strength ; 
 and do thou, in thy mercy, forgive all iniquities.' This prayer is 
 closed with twelve, twenty-four or forty-eight obeisances to the 
 
 * Wilsou's Relig ion of Kindua. 
 
KBTWRVieVr, 
 
 »*— * 
 
 2l8 NOTES. 
 
 Sun,*' * These seemingly senseless gesticulations and attitudes 
 are followed with the thought that they assist in fixing the mind 
 upon the object to be venerated, and drawing it away from the 
 distractions of material life. 
 
 13. Togis : — The term Yogi is applied to the followers of the 
 Yoga school of philosophy, whose chief tenet is that it is possible, 
 even in this life, to acquire entire command over elementary 
 matter by means of certain ascetic practices. Their principal 
 methods are, long-continued suppressions of the breatli, of in- 
 
 / haling and exhaling in a particular manner, of sitting in eighty- 
 four different attitudes, and of fixing the eyes on the top of the 
 nose. They profess to be able to attain the power of performing 
 miracles, which leads them into the cultivation of the arts of 
 necromancy, until at present they are little better than traveling 
 mountebanks. They carry with them trained goats, monkeys, or 
 animals v/ith some sort of lapsus naturce, as a fifth leg, and beg 
 and perform various tricks. 
 
 14. JJraJimdchdris : — A student class of mendicants. 
 
 15. Bhikshiis: — A higher order of Buddhist ascetics. 
 
 16. A gaunt and monrnfid hand : — No nation has devised so 
 many paiiiful methods of seeking final salvation as have the Hin- 
 dus; the religious orders and sects are numerous, and are followed by 
 men of all dispositions ; the truly religious, wlio in darkness feel 
 after God if haply they may find Him ; the lazy, who hud rather 
 beg than v/ork ; the vain, who love to attract attention by their 
 seeming holiness ; and the vicious, who in a saint's robe find larger 
 liberty for passion. A few of these sects as at present existing in 
 India may be noticed. The Khfikis are so called on account of their 
 rubbing their bodies all over with ashes. They go about almost 
 naked, and lead a wandering life. The Visaktas go bare-headed, 
 and must have but one garment and one water pot. The Sakhi 
 Bliaras worship Radha, the mistress of Krishna, so exclusively that 
 they even clothe themselves as women, and follow their occupa- 
 tions. The Sunyasis are sturdy beggars bedaubed with ashes to 
 make themselves hideous. The Nagas go entirely naked, and of 
 all classes are the most worthless and profligate. They carry arms, 
 and are a dangerous people. The Akalis go fully armed; tbey 
 carry the chakra or discus, and are very expert in its use. They 
 can throw it a hundred feet and cut off a man's head with unerring 
 certainty. The Mahansas go naked in all weathers, and never 
 speak or beg. They are almost entirely helpless; the people think 
 it a merit to care for them. The Aghoris, a sect nearly rooted out 
 by the English government, required human victims for their sac- 
 rifices. They carry a pole with a shoe, a water pot, a skull and 
 
 * Abbe Dubois, vol. li. 
 
NOTES. 219 
 
 human bones fastened on the top. They eat carrion and filth, and 
 rub themselves with it to make themselves disgusting, thus com- 
 pelling decent people to comply with their requests, that they 
 may be rid of them. The Vakis believe in the great merit of per- 
 sonal torture; they distort their limbs, cause the nails to grow 
 through the hand, or hold their hands above the head for years. 
 The Vamacharis require flesh, fish, wine and women in their wor- 
 ship, that is conducted with great secrecy. Everywhere in India 
 these mendicants may be seen wandering about in their filth or yel- 
 low robes colored with red ocher. They are at once objects of ter- 
 ror and veneration to the common people, who give of their hard- 
 earned and scanty store to support these miserable creatures. 
 
 17. Only great Brahm endures : the Gods hut live : — The great 
 aim of Hindu devotees who enter upon their painful life from 
 religious conviction is to obtain liberation from future terres- 
 trial existence, and speedy absorption into great Brahm, the 
 creative spirit. That this union will eventually occur is to them 
 a settled matter, but as the time is tolerably far removed, they 
 seek to hasten the event. " The elements of form developed from 
 primary matter remain unaltered for a day of Brahm, an interval 
 of 2,160,000,000 years. At the end of this period, Brahm sleeps. 
 The material forms which then occupy the world and the lower 
 spheres of the universe are then consumed by fire ; the fire is ex- 
 tinguished by mighty rains, and the globe becomes a shoreless 
 ocean. The sages, the gods, the elements survive, and when 
 Brahm awakes and finds what mischief his slumbers have gene- 
 rated, he sets to work to repair it. With the materials ready to his 
 hands he remanufactures the earth and its inhabitants, and this 
 is what is intended by a secondary creation. This creation is re- 
 peated daily during the one hundred years of Brahm's existence. 
 At the end of this term Brahma himself expires, and with him die 
 all the gods and holy sages, and alP forms whatever retrograde 
 successively into their constituent elements, until the whole is 
 finally merged into the single or double rudiment of being, uni- 
 versal spirit, or primary matter and primary spirit, according to 
 the theories of the dualistic or non-dualistic philosophers. After 
 a considerable interval, similar causes produce similar effects ; 
 nature and spirit are again in movement, the creation is renewed, 
 and the universe thus eternally fluctuates between existence and 
 non-existence, without any motive, without any end." * This 
 universal, unconscious spirit is known to most of the Hindu sects" 
 as Brahm, the creator of Brahma, who in turn creates the universe. 
 
 18. Rdjdputra : — Prince's son. 
 
 19. Malaya /—The islands of the Indian Archipelago. 
 
220 NOTES. 
 
 20. Tola : — T\yo ounces. 
 
 21. Sona's distant stream : — Tlie river Golden. 
 
 22. Cowries : — Small shells ; from one liundred to one linndred 
 and twenty make the value of a cent. 
 
 23. ■ from the unwatched rice 
 
 Shiva's v:hii6 biUl fed free. 
 
 In the ten J pies of Shiv white bulls are kept as emblems of the 
 god ; these are frequently turned loose in the streets, and none 
 dare abuse tlicni whatever they may do. The grain merchants 
 have their stores dumped on cloths on the ground in a, most con- 
 venient manner, as the bulls soon learn. Ihe merchants, to save 
 themselves from loss, when tliey see a bull approaching meet him 
 with handfuls of grain and entice him beyond their stalls. 
 
 24. Lotd .-—See note 41, Book the Third 
 
 25. Sdkra : — Indni. 
 
 26. Devardj : — The prince god. 
 
 27. Mantras : — See note 38, Book the First. 
 
 28. Of ghee : — Clarified butter ; milky juice of the moon plant ; 
 acid ascelpias. 
 
 29. Soma juice : — This drink was very much used in ancient 
 worship, but at present is aliiost unknown, and it is with difficulty 
 that a priest can be found who understands its preparation. It is 
 supposed to give health, wisdom, inspiration, even immortality, 
 when received from the hands of a twice-born priest. Dr. Ilaug, 
 an eminent Sanskrit scholar who resided some years in Western 
 India, found a priest who, for a very mercenary consideration, 
 consented to reproduce the ceremonies of the ancient sacrifices. 
 He brewed Soma juice, of which Dr. Haug says : " The sap of the 
 plant now used at Poona appears whitish, has a very stringent 
 taste, is bitter, but not sour ; it is a very nasty drink, and has 
 some intoxicating effect. I tasted it several times, but it was im- 
 possible for me to drink more than some spoonfuls." 
 
 30. Muiija grass : — A grass of which roofs are made, also ropes 
 and girdles. The laws of Manu require that a priest's girdle shall 
 be made of IMunja grass, 
 
 31. Ya.jnas : — Sacrifices. 
 
 82. Bliahsdra : — 'I'he prince who became one of Buddha's 
 earliest disciples, and who gave to him the Bamboo garden where 
 he spent a large part of his life. 
 
 33. But Buddha sojtly said: — Though Buddhism as a religion 
 has long since departed from India, the effects of Buddha's teach- 
 ings remain in a most marked degree. Through his teachings sacri- 
 fices of blood and animals, that previously were considered in- 
 dispensable, were almost entirely abandoned. The killing of 
 animals, eating flesh and drinking intoxicants were generally dis- 
 continued save by the lowest of the people. Buddhism left the 
 
lOTES. 221 
 
 people of India vegetarians and total abstainers from spirituous 
 liquors. 
 
 o4. His sacred thread: — When young, boys of the Brabmin, and 
 some of the princes at nine years of age * are invested witli the 
 triple cord. It consists of coarse cotton threads, that when a man 
 marries is increased to nine. 
 
 The ceremonies of investiture last four days and are full of 
 trifling detail, and very expensive. Hindus of every caste believe 
 it to be a meritorioas act to contribnte to the necessary expenses. 
 The cotton of which the cord is made is sown, watered, gathered 
 and spun by Brahmins. The instant it is touched in any stage by a 
 person of another caste it loses its sacredness and niu.st be re- 
 placed. It is worn over the left shoulder, and hangs down to the 
 right hip. 
 
 85. Sdkra : — Indra. 
 
 S3. Dens : — Bright ones, goddesses. 
 
 37. Bhdsters : — Scrijitural writings of the Brahmins. 
 
 o8. Uravilr.a : — is si:uated on the northernmost s"^ur of the 
 Vindhya range. 
 
 39. Sruti : — Revealed Scriptures. 
 
 40. Smriti : — Traditional Scriptures. 
 
 41. Jncuia-Kdnd : — Theological portion of the Vedas. 
 
 42. Karmma-Kdnd : — Ritual portion of the Vedas. 
 
 BOOK THE SIXTH 
 
 1. 21ioiisand Gardens: — See on the map of Iidia in Coiton's 
 large Atlas-Hazareebagh. 
 
 2. Mahiia : — Same as mohra ; see Note 16, Book the Fourth. 
 
 3. Sansdr : — Hemp. 
 
 4. Bir : — Fig trees. 
 
 5. Barabar hills : — The eastern portion of the Vindhya range. 
 The origin of this range is given by the Hindus as follows' : Wireii 
 Haimnuin, the monkey god, and his hosts were assisting Rama to 
 regain his wife Sita from the King of Ceylon, they were oblis-ed 
 to build a bridge from the main-land to Ceylon ; for this purpose 
 they brought roclcs from the Himalaya mountains, nearly 1,500 
 miles distant. When the bridge was completed word was sent 
 back to tiie monkeys still coming with rocks that no more were 
 needed, n-hereupon they cast down their loads, hence these hills. 
 Between the main-land and Ceylon a rocky causeway still makes it 
 necessary for ships to circumnavigate the island, instead of pass- 
 ing the channel. 
 
 6. Village of Sendni : — Named for the army general, who was 
 at that time the peaceful head man of the place. 
 
 7. jLhe 7narkSy thirty aiid two .'—See note 40, B:>ok the First. 
 
I 
 
 i 
 
 222 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 8. Sdl-hrancfi : — See note 41, Book tlie Second. 
 
 9. Jambu-hranches : — See note 88, Book tlie First. 
 IQ. Milk in the shepherd's lota: — In bis drinking cap. 
 
 11. "lam a Sudra, and my touch defiles: " — Caste causes strang-e 
 contradictions. Bralimia and Sudra will take milk from one gout 
 or cow, but not from tbe same cup, nor water from tbe same well 
 or sprinc^. Tbe Brabmin will take from tbe Sudra uncooked 
 food, and fruit, but not cooked food. Wben I was traveling in tbe 
 Himalayas our coolies, dirty, lousy, ill-smelling fellows, would not 
 take water from a spring in wbicb any of our company bad 
 dipped our cups, or from tbe stream unless tbey could go so7ne 
 distance above and get tbe water bigber up. Tbey would travel 
 tbirsty for miles, ratlier tban defile tbemselves. 
 
 12. Tilka-mark : — Tbe tilka-mark and sacred tbread are never 
 giv^en to any one of low birtb. Tbe tilka-mark varies in different 
 castes and sects. One sect, tbe Kamanujas, liave two pyrpendica- 
 lar wbite lines drawn from tbe root of tbe liair to tbe commence- 
 ment of each eyebrow, and a transverse streak connecting tbem 
 across tbe root of tbe nose ; in tbe center is a perpendicular streak 
 of red, made witb a preparation of rice, turmeric, and lime witb 
 acid. Tbey also bave streaks on tbe breast and eacb upper arm. 
 Tbe marks are supposed to represent tbe sbell, discus, club and 
 lotus wbicb Visbnu bears in bis four bands, wbile tbe centr.;! 
 streak is Laksbmi, Some have tbe objects carved on wouiicu 
 stamps witb wbicb tbey impress the emblems on tbeir bodies, and 
 some even cicatrize tbemselves v/itb heated metallic representa- 
 tions. Another sect wear two red perpendicular lines, meeting in 
 a Sfmicircle on tbe top of tbe nose, witb a round spot of red be- 
 tween tbem ; others mark tbe forehead with transverse lines of 
 ashes, and others put the sign of worship and caste on the temples 
 and ears. 
 
 13. the nautch-dancerSy 
 
 Of Indrd's temple. 
 
 In families where there is a surplus of girls, one is frequently 
 dedicated or married to the god of a temple. Tbe girl has no 
 choice whatever in the matter, and is usually very young v/ben 
 l)laced in tbe temple service. Her life is one of the lowest x>rosti- 
 tution. Tbey are taught to dance, a performance which in itself 
 is not so indecent as the dances of Western nations, but tbe object 
 is frankly admitted. Tbey are also taught to read and several 
 accomplishments to make them attractive — a fact that has siooJ 
 greatly in the w^ay when respectable women desired education, 
 le.^t tbey should be set down in the same class. 
 
 14. The piping hdnsidl : — A hollow bamboo played as a flute. 
 
 15. A three-string sitdr : — The introduction of tbe sitar in tbis 
 poem is something of an anachronism, as the sitar was invented by 
 
NOTES. 223 
 
 a MuliPvinedan over a tliousand years later. Sitar is derived from 
 tlie ^Persian si, tliree, and td, string. It resembles a guitar witii 
 a liollow gourd for a body. 
 
 I'o. Sendni : — An army general. 
 
 17. Sujdta : — Nobly born, 
 
 18. Wherefo7'e loith many prayers she had 'besought 
 Lakshvii; and many nights at full-moon gone 
 Round the great Lingam, nine times nine, with gifts 
 Of rice and jasmine wreaths and sandal oil. 
 
 On a certain mocniight night in mid winter, Sliiv, or his emblem, 
 the Lingam or Ling, is to be worshiped witli jasmine flowers, and 
 particular offerings are made to his bride by the Avomen, of liowers, 
 incense, lights and condiments, in hope of securing children. At 
 this season, also, " women walk in the forests with a fan in one 
 hand, and eat certain vegetables in hope of beautiful children.'* 
 
 JNIr. Ward gives a fuller account of these observances : " The 
 worship is performed by a Brahmin, under tho vata tree — Fiscus 
 Indica — or under a branch of this tree planted in the house. At 
 the time of this worship every woman of the village, dressed in 
 her best clothes, with her face painted, her ornaments on, and her 
 body anointed with oil, goes to the place of worship under the tree, 
 taking in her hand an olLering, over each of whicli the ofHciating 
 Brahmin performs the usual sacriflces. The offerings are sent to 
 the house of th^ Brahmin, or distributed to th.e eager bystanders. 
 Among others who are ej^ger to obtain some of these offerings are 
 childless women, each of whom sits down pensively among the 
 crowd, and opens the end of her garment to receive what the 
 mothers are glad to bestow, when the giver says, 'May the bless- 
 ing of Shasti be upon you, and next year may you bring offerings 
 with a child in your arras.* " 
 
 19. Lakshmi : — Goddess of fortune and prosperity. 
 
 20. Lingam : — Carved representation of the male organs, 
 
 21. Bevs : — Gods. 
 
 22. Sari : — Skirt and veil in one piece. 
 
 23. And tie the scarlet threads around the tree : — " On a day dur- 
 ing a most popular festival held in March, the women worship the 
 Anola tree — Pliyllanthus Emblica — a kind of myrobalan. On this 
 occasion libations are poured at the foot of the tree, a red or yel- 
 lovv' thread is bound round the trunk, prayers are offered up for 
 its fruitfulness, and the ceremony is concluded by a reverential 
 inclination of the head to the ancient tree, whose branches bear 
 the marks of village reverence and care." * 
 
 24. In silver lotas : — See 41, Book the Third. 
 
 25. Tulst-2?lant ;— See 7, Book the Third. 
 
 * Missionary's Vade Mecum. 
 
224 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 26. WJien "by Ms side I stand and serve the calces : — No wife eats 
 with lier husband among the Hindus. She sets the meal before 
 him, and eats what he sees fit to leave her. 
 
 27. Sfwerga : — The Swarga of the Hindus, and Bihisht of the 
 Muhamedans, indicate Paradise as a place of luxury and sensual 
 enjoyments, while Narak and Jahannam are those cares and pains 
 that make a hell upon earth. 
 
 28. Ghampak : — See I^ote 1, Book the Second. 
 
 29. 1 should mount 
 
 The^ile and lay that dear head in rny laij. 
 
 This refers to Suttee, or the practice of burning the living wife 
 with her dead husband. Suttee was abolished in 1829, by Lord 
 Bentinck, Governor General of India. 
 
 80. Cror : — Ten millions. 
 
 31. Bodhi-tree : — The peepul tree, or tree of wisdom. A few 
 hundred yards west of the Nilajan river, in a plain of great extent, 
 about five miles from Gaya Proper, there are remarkable remains, 
 that now consist of a confused heap of brick and stone, exhibiting 
 traces of having once been regularly arranged. There is a build- 
 ing called the temple of Buddha, built of briclc, and lofty, now so 
 honeycombed with age as to excite surprise that it continues erect. 
 On the terrace behind the temple a peepul tree is growing, which 
 the Hindus suppose to have been planted by Brahma. It is sup- 
 posed by the Buddhists to be exactly in the center of the earth. 
 In 1812, this tree was in fall vigor, and appeared to be about one 
 hundred years of age; a familiar one may have been in the place when 
 the temple was entire.* Miss Brittain gives an account of an old 
 stone pillar which is said to be of Buddhist origin, and to have 
 been built by Asoka, 240 B.C., for the purpose of inscribing upon 
 it his edicts with regard to spreading the Buddhist religion. It 
 was formerly the custom to place in front of these monuments a 
 peepul tree. 
 
 This pillar had at one time such a tree beside it, but many years 
 ago the tree was removed, and placed in an old temple near by. 
 " You enter this temple, which is now only a dark cave, or grotto, 
 and are led down a long, dark, narrov/ passage by a Br/ihrniu 
 priest carrying a torch, the smell and smoke of which, combined 
 with the damp fumes of the place, render a long visit impossible. 
 At the end of the dark passage is a large square, which must 
 formerly have been a court-yard ; further on is the principal 
 chamber of tlie temple. Here is the peepul tree. It is just the 
 trunk of a tree separated near the ground into two large limbs or 
 arms. These limbs are cut ofO short, so that the whole length of 
 the tree is probably only ten or twelve feet. From this body and 
 
 * ]\iauiial of Buddhism. 
 
— *— ■ 
 
 NOTES. 225 
 
 arms there proceed a great many young sprouts ; tliese, however, 
 are prevented from ever becoming- larger by the number of X"iil- 
 grims visithig this holy spot, who each carry away a leaf or twig. 
 Tlie leaves are perfectly white. It is a wonderful thing, this tree, 
 thus living and growing for hundreds of years, under ground, 
 and in utter darkness. 
 33. The koil sang her hymn : — The cuckoo. 
 
 33. Voices of earth and car joined in one song: — Oriental writers 
 with glowing descriptions always represent all nature, celestial 
 and terrestrial, as cognizant of, and acting in accord with, spiritual 
 manifestations. When the Hindu King Bijala, iu a moment of 
 wickedness, commanded the eyes of two holy men to he put out, 
 his fortune left him, and grievous signs followed : the crows 
 crowed in the night, jackals howled by day, the sun was eclipsed, 
 storms of wind and rain came on, the earth shook, di'.rkness over- 
 spread the heavens, and the inliabitants of the ciiy were filled 
 v.'ith terror. In Persian writings the idea that nature is " 'wa,re and 
 glad" though men, by the hardness of their hearts, may not per- 
 ceive it, is constantly presented. The following is from the 
 Gulistan, by Sheikh Sadi in the 13th century. 
 
 " Once I traveled to Hejaz along with some young men of virtuous 
 disposition, who had been my intimate friends and constant com- 
 panions. Frequently, in their mirth, they recited spiritual verses. 
 There liappened to be in the party an Abid, who thought un- 
 favorably of the morals of Durweshes, being" ignorant of their 
 sufferings. At length we arrived at tlie grove of palm trees of 
 Beni Hullal, when a boy of a dark complexion came out of one of 
 the Arab families, and sung in such a strain as arrested the birds 
 in their flight through the air. I beheld the Abid's camel danc- 
 ing, and after flinging his rider, he took the road of the desert. I 
 said : ' O Sheikh, those strains delighted the brutes, but made no 
 impression on you ; knowest thou what the nightingale of the 
 morning said to me? What kind of a man art thou, who art 
 ignorant of love ? The camel is thrown into ecstasy b5' the Arabic 
 verses, for which, if thou hast no relish, thou art a cross-grained 
 brute. . When the camel is captivated v/ith ecstatic frenzy, that 
 man who can be insensible is an ass. The wind blowing over the 
 plains causes the tender branches of the fan-tree to bend before it, 
 but affects not the hard stone. Everything that you behold is ex- 
 claiming the praises of God, as is well known to the understand- 
 ing heart ; not only the nightingale and the rose bush are chant- 
 ing praises to God, but every thorn is a tongue to extol him.' " 
 
 34. But he irho is the Prince 
 Of Darkness, Mara. 
 
 The legend says that Mara came to Siddartha as he was leaving 
 his home and besought him toiemainand enjoy life as a chakravar- 
 8 
 
226 NOTES. 
 
 tin, but tlie Prince answered in a miglity voice : " A thousand or 
 a hundred thousand honors such as these to which you refer would 
 have no power to charm nie to-day. I seek the Buddhaship. I want 
 not the seven treasures of the chakravartin ; therefore, begone, 
 hinder me not." Mara, perceiving that his kingdom would eventual- 
 lybeoome depopulated through Buddha's merit, left him, angrily de- 
 claring that he should not cease to tempt him by every device iu 
 his po\ver. He kept his word, but on the day when the Prince 
 should become Buddha, he assembled his hosts for the final battle. 
 This is described in the curious, but tedious, extravagance of 
 Buddhist writers in the legends, of which but a hint can be given. 
 It is said that Mara mounted on an elephant one thousand miles 
 high, and marched to the assault with an attendant army one hun- 
 dred and sixty-four miles long, each warrior in the shape of some 
 horrid monstrosity. He sent a mighty wind against Buddha, which 
 hurled rocks thirty miles high, but it could not lift a hair of his 
 head. He poured a rain whose drops were as big as palm trees, 
 but their scattering spray could not touch Buddha. One hundred 
 thousand burning mountains were transformed by the gentleness 
 of the Buddhist spirit into flowers that fell at his feet. The 
 result of the temptation was that one hundred and thirty-six 
 burning hells opened, scattering the hosts of evil, when the ele- 
 phant, with his trunk in his mouth and his tail between his legs, 
 ran away. All this extravagant story was probably first given as 
 an allegorical description of an enlightened mind struggling with 
 the power of evil, 
 85. Arati : — Pain. 
 
 36. Trishnd : — Avarice, desire, or thirst. 
 
 37. Raga : — Passion. 
 
 38. Kama : — The Indian Cupid, whose history bears much re- 
 semblance to the Cupid of Grecian mythology. In Shakespeare's 
 "Hindustani Dictionary" the story is given as follows : Kama 
 was consumed by the fiery rage of Maliadeva for interrupting him 
 in his devotion*?, and Rati, Kfima's wife and Venus of the Hindus, 
 being disconsolate for the loss of her husband, was informed by 
 Parvati, the wife of the enraged Mahadeva, that he would be 
 born in the house of Krishna, and would have the name of Prady- 
 umna ; but that Raja Sambara would steal him av/ay and cast him 
 into the sea ; that theuce he would be taken in the belly of a fish 
 to the kitchen of Sambara, and she must go and wait for him 
 there. Following this advice, she remained in the kitchen of the 
 Rcija till it happened that a large fish, on being opened by the 
 cook, was found to contain another fish, and when this was opened 
 a child issued from its belly. Rati, by command of the Kiija,, 
 reared this child. When Kama was grown she made him ac- 
 quainted with what Parvati had told her, and advised him to kill 
 
NOTES. 227 
 
 gambara and return with her to the house of Krishna where he 
 was born. This was accomplished, and Rati was married to him 
 on his return to his parents. Hence Rati is considered as botli 
 wife and mother of Kama. 
 
 39. Sammcb Sanibuddh : — To perceive thoroughly, with calm 
 peace of mind. 
 
 40. Te7i great Virtues : — or Dasa sil, are ten obligations bind- 
 ing upon a priest. They forbid : 1. The taking of life. 2. The 
 taking of that which is not given. 3. Sexual intercourse. 4. The 
 saj'ing of that which is not true. 5. The use of intoxicating 
 drinks. 6. The eating of solid food afier midday. 7. Attendance 
 upon dancing, singing, music and masks. 8. The adorning of the 
 body with iiowers and the use of perfumes and ungaents. 9. The 
 use of seats or couches above the prescribed height. 10. The re- 
 ceiving of gold and silver. 
 
 41. AbJiidjtia : — The line of all his lives in all the worlds. 
 Many volumes of Buddhist literature are given to the ante-natal 
 life of Buddha. According to one author his ^retrospect of past 
 lives extended through ten millions of millions and one thousand 
 kalpas, the shortest of which was sixteen millions of years, the 
 longest thirty-two millions. 
 
 42. Kalpas — Malialcalpas : — See Note 64, Book the First. 
 
 43. Sakical : — "There are innumerable systems of worlds, each 
 system having its own earth, sun, moon, etc. The space to which 
 the light of the sun or moon extends is called a sakwala. Each 
 sakv.'ala includes an earth, with its continents, islands and oceans, 
 and a mountain in the center called Maha Meru, as well as a series 
 of hells and heavens. The sakwalas are scattered throughout 
 space, in sections of three and three. All the sakwalas in one 
 section touch each other, and in the space between is the Lokimta- 
 rika hell. Each sakwala is surrounded by a wall of rock called a 
 sakwala-gala." * These sakwalas are innumerable, but were all 
 Visible to Buddha and under the power of his teaching. 
 
 44. Dukhya-satya : — The power of sorrow. 
 
 45. Noble Truths : — Mr. Gogerly gives one of the most intelli- 
 gible translations of these truths. They are ; " 1. That every ex- 
 istent thing is a source of sorrow. 2. That continued sorrow re- 
 sults from a continued attachment to existing objects, 3. That a 
 freedom from this attachment liberates from existence. 4. The 
 path leading to this state containing eight sections." 
 
 46. Karmd : — is that which controls the destiny of all things, 
 and includes both merit and demerit. This doctrine of Karma 
 constantly appears in both Buddhist and Brahminical writings, 
 with many shades of meaning and endless explanation. Buddha's 
 
 ^Manual of Buddhism. 
 
228 NOTES. 
 
 own definition is : " All sentient beings have tlieir own individual 
 Karmti, or tlie most essentia] property of all beings is Ivarma ; 8 
 karma comes by inheritance, or tliat wliicli is inlierited — not from | 
 parentage, but from previous birtlis, is karma ; karma is the f 
 cause of all good and evil, or they come by means of karma, or on | 
 account of karma ; karma is a kinsman ; karma is an assistant, or i 
 that which promotes the prosperity of any one is his good karma ; | 
 it is the difference in the karma, as to whether it be good or evil, j 
 that causes the difference in the lot of men, so that some are mean, 3 
 and others are exalted, some are miserable and others happy." | 
 The listening disciple still found himself like a man with a ban- 1 
 dage over his eyes, and unable to see the point, so he asked expla- | 
 nation at length ; after which he perceived that the d fferences in i 
 the lot of men, as at present seen, are produced by the karma of | 
 different births. . I 
 
 47. Skandhas : — Elements of sentient existence. t? 
 
 48. Upadanas : — Subordinate duties, or the cleaving to existing 
 objects. 
 
 49. Nirvana : — Buddhism, in common with all other religions, is 
 divided into many sects, each holding their peculiar shades of doc- 
 trine and belief. The great subject with them for debate and 
 speculation is Nirvana. Not more continuous or prolix are our 
 disquisitions, or wordy and heated are our debates on the subject 
 of future punishment, than are the treatises and discussions in 
 bazar and temple, by Brahmins as well as Buddiiists, on Nirvana. 
 The most generally accepted idea among Brahmins is that of re- 
 union with original spirit, Brahm. The Vedas say of the soul ; 
 ** The soul is a portion of the Supreme Ruler, as a spark is of fire. 
 The relation between them is not that of master and servant, ruler 
 and subject, but both that of whole and part." Among some this 
 idea prevails : " The living soul, at the death of the body, attended 
 with all its faculties, retires within a rudiment body composed of 
 light, with the rest of the five elements in a subtile state. In that 
 condition the soul, united to a subtile elementary frame, conjoined 
 with the vital faculties, remains till the dissolution of the world, 
 when it merges in the Supreme Deity. That frame is impercep- 
 tible to those who see the death of the body. It is not injured by 
 the burning of the body or anything else. It can be known by its 
 heat as long as it remains in the gross body." The following ex- 
 tracts represent a few shades of opinion respecting Nirvana among 
 Buddhists. 
 
 " Spence Hardy and Bigandet find in the modern Singhalese 
 and Burmese books the same opinion concerning Nirvana as Alvia 
 Gogerly, and especially Childers, have found in the more ancient 
 authorities ; and though the modern books of the Northern Bud- 
 dhists are doubtful, Eugene Burnouf has clearly proved that their 
 
NOTES. 229 
 
 older texts contain only the same doctrines as that held in the 
 south. Buddhism does not acknowledge the existence of a soul as 
 distinct from the parts and powers of man which are dissolved at 
 death, and the Nirvana of Buddhism is simply extinction." * 
 
 * ' Nirvana is not extinction or going out of the soul, but it is 
 the going out in the heart of the three fires of lust, anger and de- 
 lusion, and the craving from which they come." f 
 
 The Buddhists of Burmah define Nirvana or Nigban as freedom 
 from old age, disease and death. 
 
 Professor Max Miiller says: ''According to the metaphysical 
 tenets, if not of Buddha himself, at least of his sect, there is no 
 reality anywhere, neither in the past nor in the future. True wis- 
 dom consists in perceiving the nothingness of all things, and in a 
 desire to beer me nothing, to be blown out, to enter into Nirvana. 
 Emancipation is obtained by total extinction, not by absorption 
 into Brahm, or by a recovery of the soul's true state. If to he is 
 misery, not to be must be felicity ; and this felicity is the highest 
 reward which Buddha promised his disciples. 
 
 " One school believes that Nirvritti or Nirvana is nature or sub- 
 Stance in repose, another claims that it is annihilation. The earli- 
 est written works which we possess on Buddliism were composed 
 by Buddha's pupils and friends; these teach that Nirvana is anni- 
 hilation, not absorption." X 
 
 Professor Wilson says that in the Saddharma Lankavatarva, 
 Sakya is represented as confuting all the Brahminical notions of 
 Nirvana, and concludes by expounding it to be the complete anni- 
 hilation of the thinking principle, illustrating his doctrine by the 
 comparison generally employed, of the exhaustion of the light of 
 a lamp which goes out of itself. In the Brahma jala, or Pali Sutra, 
 where again Sakya is made to confute sixty-two Brahminical here- 
 sies, he winds up by saying: " Existence is a tree; the merit or 
 demerit of the actions of men is the fruit of that tree, and the seed 
 of future trees ; death is the withering away of the old tree from 
 which others have sprung ; wisdom and virtue take away the ger- 
 'minating principle, so that when the tree dies there is no repro- 
 duction. This is Nirvana." 
 
 50. Koil: — Cuckoo. 
 
 51. BulbuL : — Nightingale. 
 
 52. Myna: — Indian robin. 
 
 53. Frets: — Evil spirits. 
 
 54. ^M^« .-—Ghosts. 
 
 55. Ban : — Wilderness. 
 
 56. Jungle : — Wild country. 
 
 * Cyclopedia Brittanica. 
 
 t T. W, Rhys Davids, in Fortnightly Review. 
 
 j Chips from a German Workshop. 
 
230 NOTES. 
 
 57. Cheetahs : — Small hunting leopards. 
 
 58. BodkUree ;— See Note 81, Book the Sixth. 
 
 59. Many a House of Life, etc, : — These stanzas are thus trans- 
 lated by Turnoui* : "Performing my pilgrimage through the 
 eternity of countless existence, in sorrow have I unremittingly 
 sought in vain the abode of the passions {i. e., the human frame). 
 Now, O, artificer ! art thou found. Henceforth no receptacle of 
 sinshalt thou form, thy frames broken; tliy ridge-pole shattered; 
 tliy soul — or mind — emancipated from liability to regenerati9n — by 
 transmls^ration — has annihilated the dominion of the passions.'' 
 
 Mr. Gogerly translates thus: 
 
 *' Through various transmigrationa 
 I must travel if I do not discover 
 The builder whom I seel?:; — 
 Painful are repeated transmigrations. 
 I have seen the architect — and said — 
 'Thou Shalt not build me another house ; 
 Thy rafters are broken, 
 Thy roof timbers scattered, 
 My mind is detached from all existing objects; 
 I have attained to the extinction 01 desire.' '^ 
 
 Mr. Hardy gives still another translation : 
 
 ' ' Through many different births 
 I have run (to me not having found) 
 Seeking the architect of the desire resembling house. 
 Painful arerepeited births 1 
 
 house-builder ! I have seen thee— 
 Again a hou -e thou canst not build for me. 
 
 1 nave broken thy rafters, 
 
 Thy central support is destroyed ; 
 
 To Nirvana my mind is gone. 
 
 I have arrive i at the extinction of evil-desire." 
 
 Our minds, trained to the idea of a creating Deity, and the need 
 of a knowledge of Him, naturally suppose that this architect, this 
 " Builder of this Tabernacle," must refer to some divine person ; 
 but in so doing we make the mistake of putting " Christian ideas 
 into Buddhist expressions." Mr. Gogerly's and Mr. Hardy's 
 translations indicate that desire is the occasion of recreation, and 
 in overcoming this, in blotting out desires, good or evil, the end 
 is attained. Mr. Arnold in his translation says: "'Delusion 
 fashioned it." This interpretation would bring Buddha's mean- 
 ing of architect in accord with the doctrine of Maya, Illusion, or 
 Delusion, one of the most ancient ?md popular doctrines of India. 
 Maya is personified in Hindu scriptures as the wife of Brahm. 
 Bi-ahm, after seventy-two ages of silence, desired to renew the 
 world ; his desire became manifest in a female form — Maya, 
 from whom all the mistaken notions current among mankind 
 originate. The Hindu triad — Brahma, Vishnu and Shiv — were the 
 offspring of Brahm and Maya ; Brahm disappears, and Maya, de- 
 
NOTES. 231 
 
 ceiving" her own sons, becomes by them the mother of Saraswati, 
 Lakshmi and Uma, whom she weds to her sons, and, establishing 
 lierself at Jwala mukhi, leaves the three wedded pairs to frame 
 the universe and give currency to the errors of practice and belief 
 she has taught them. In the schools of philosophy it is asserted 
 that "the illusive power of ignorance produces the universe 
 from the eggs of Brahni." It is also affirmed that matter exists 
 not independent of perception, and that substances are indebted 
 for their seeming reality to the ideas of the mind. Our intellects 
 are purified by abstraction, and until we have attained a just ap- 
 preciation of our own nature, and of that of universal spirit, our 
 ideas are all wrong. Until the day of true knowledge dawns 
 upon us we are asleep — in a dream ; we misconceive of all we 
 perceive, we take a rope for a snake ; an oyster-shell for mother- 
 of-pearl, mirage for real water. All that we see in our unillumi- 
 nated condition is Maya, deception, illusion. There are no two 
 tilings in existence ; there is but one in all. There is no second, 
 no matter ; there is spirit alone. The world is not God ; there is 
 nothing but God in the world. Nature is compelled to assume 
 the corporeal form that the ends of Spirit may be fulfilled, namely, 
 that it may be embodied, until by a series of transmigrations it 
 has no longer need of such a state ; it has attained knowledge, 
 which is the cause of its liberation, and its connection with matter 
 ceases."* 
 
 " Soul desists," says the Sankhya Rarika, " because he has 
 seen — or fully understood — nature. Nature ceases, or withdraws, 
 because she has been seen." 
 
 "The union of spirit and matter, as the receiver and received, 
 is without beginning. The origin of this tmion is Maya. The 
 perfection of spirit is to be attributed to liberation from this 
 union, and this is sought in the acquisition of discriminating wis- 
 dom. Actions performed under the influence of Maya are fol- 
 lowed by eight millions of births in connection with some caste, 
 with an appointed period of life, and subjection to the fruit of 
 actions. This illusion, from whence arise the effects of actions, 
 is to be destroyed by discriminating wisdom in reference to the 
 Divine nature, leading to the reception of truth — God — and de- 
 liverance from the sorrows of transmigration." Another class of 
 Hindu philosophers, in their subdivision of Sakti, or Maya, into 
 four qualities — knowledge, desire, energy and deception — show 
 even more plainly what we are to understand by " the architect 
 of the desire resembling house." They claim that the first Sakti, 
 or knowledge, by its partial extension, produces pain and sleep ; 
 but the Sakti of Desire unfortunately obscures that of knowledge. 
 
L 
 
 232 NOTES. 
 
 and liinders it from perceiving that there is no other deity but the 
 material body, propagation, life and death. From this ignorant 
 deviation, occasioned by Desire, the inclinations of men are de- 
 rived. The truly wise man, who would acquire knowledge of 
 truth and nature, must therefore renounce desire. 
 
 "But," asks a new proselyte of a sage, " as all individuals are so 
 many deities, or rather modifications of the same god, why are 
 they not all endowed with the same talents and equal penetration ; 
 why are the greater part devoid of sublime intelligence?" The 
 sage answered, "The evil proceeds entirely from the fourth Sakti 
 Maya, or Illusion. It is the cause of all deception, and makes men 
 take what is false for what is true. It has misled men into the 
 belief that there are gods; that there are such vicissitudes as living 
 and dying pollution and purification. The only means of shunning 
 the errors of Maya is to cliug to the doctrine of Buddhism." 
 
 BOOK THE SEVENTH. 
 
 1. Wasania-time : — A festival held in the spring in honor of 
 Kamadeva, the god of love. 
 
 2. Hastinpilr: — Ancient Delhi, the remains of which still exist 
 about fifty-seven miles north-east of the modern city, on the banks 
 of the old channel of the Ganges. 
 
 3. Purdah; — Curtain. 
 
 4. With naked feet: — The people of India never wear shoes in 
 the house. They always slip them off on the verandah. 
 
 5. When they came uithout the purdah's folds: — The women of 
 India who are of high rank and caste are not allowed to go outside 
 of their own apartments except they are closely veiled and attended, 
 neither may any man sa\e husband, father or brothers, go behind 
 the curtains separating the women's rooms from the r^st of the 
 house. The curtains are made of long, fine splints of bamboo, and 
 lined with gauze. The women can look through these into the 
 lighter outer apartments, but those outside cacnot look within. 
 These merchants standing outside the curtain displayed their goods 
 and told their news, but saw not Yasodhara. 
 
 6. Budhi-tree: — See Note 31, Book the Sixth. 
 
 7. Tchirika: — A tree, Pinus Longifolia. 
 
 8. Mara's wrath: — See Note 34, Book the Sixth. 
 
 9. Twelve Middnas: — Twelve treasures, or the eleven degrees of 
 contemplation that lead to Nirvana the last and twelfth degree. 
 
 10. lie taught the Five: — The five ascetics who were Buddha's 
 companions during the six years he sought the truth. 
 
 11. Vaishya: — This month corresponds to half of April and May 
 
 12. Ihe iHsMs^'—rxefevs to the five ascetics, Buddha's former 
 companions. 
 
NOTES. 233 
 
 13. Four Truths .'—See Note 45, Book the Sixth. 
 
 14. Ydsad the Prince: — was the sou of Sajata, who gave to Bud- 
 dha the food that refreshed him for his mighty conflict with Mara. 
 Yasad went to Buddha by night to inquire the way ; he became a 
 priest and entered the first path. His fifty-fcur companions went to 
 the monastery to induce him to return and play with them as usual, 
 but when they saw his changed appearance they resolved to be- 
 come priests also, and shortly entered the paths. 
 
 15. Gdthd ; — A hymn not from the Vedas. 
 
 16. Yojans : — About ten miles. 
 
 17. Soiia : — River Golden. 
 
 18. Kos : — A kos is two miles, 
 
 19. Rahula's mother : — A Hindu never calls his wife by name : 
 before she becomes a mother she is known as "that one/' or 
 " admi," a person ; afterward the husband always speaks of his 
 wife as such a boy's mother. The woman also speaks of her hus- 
 band as the son's father. 
 
 20. As the night-Uoicing moon-floicer' s swelling heart : — The 
 moon-plant is a climber. The leaves, in shape, are like 
 those of the convolvulus major, but much larger, and on the 
 under side are covered with a silvery down. The flowers are 
 white and like huge morning-glories, each one measuring from 
 four to five inches across. They open only by moonlight. 
 
 21. as pale asdka buds 
 
 Wait for a icoman'sfoot. 
 
 The blossoms of the asoka tree (see Note 2, Book the Fourth^ 
 emit a delightful fragrance when wet with the dew just after sun- 
 set and before sunrise, or at the time when women step forth for 
 air and exercise. 
 
 22. MogrdS' : — Double Arabian jasmine. 
 
 23. Udayi : — Named for the great Eastern mountain behind 
 which the sun is supposed first to rise. Udayi was born at the 
 same time as Buddha, and his part in the renunciation was fore- 
 ordained. 
 
 24. Tree-icool : — The cotton from the sembhal, or cotton tree. 
 Not all men were so profoundly impressed with Buddha's teach- 
 ing. An old hymn of the Northern Buddhists tells how Buddha 
 met, full of his newly-discovered mission, an acquaintance on the 
 way as he was going to the Deer Forest the day after his attain- 
 ment of Buddhahood to preach his doctrine to his old friends. 
 He was struck with Buddha's appearance, and asked him what 
 religion made him so glad and yet so calm. Buddha told him that 
 he had now become free from all desires. His acquaintance appar- 
 ently cared little for this, and asked him where he was going. 
 The reply is striking. Buddha said: "I am now going to the 
 city of Benares, to establish there a kingdom of righteousness, to 
 
234 NOTES. 
 
 give liglit to those enshrouded in darkness, to open the gate of 
 immoitality to men." His acquaintance sneered at liis high-flown 
 pretensions, and asked what lie meant. Buddha replied : " I have 
 completely conquered all evil passions, and am not tied down to 
 material existence, I only live to be the prophet of perfect truth." 
 "In that case," answered the man, "venerable Gotama, your 
 way lies yonder, mine opposite," and leftbim. Probably most of 
 us would have had the same feeling, if not the same words. 
 
 25. Nirvana : — See Note 49, Book the Sixth. 
 
 26. Nee^n : — See Note 33, Book the Second. 
 
 27. Mango .-—See Note 80, Book the First. 
 
 28. Masakhs : — Goat-skins in which Muhamedan water-carriers 
 bear water, 
 
 29. With silver lioicdalis : — Chairs of state, made purposely to 
 strap on the elephant's back, 
 
 30. Nigrodha : — Landscape garden. 
 81. Bel-trees : — Thorny Bengal quince. 
 
 33, Kshatriya : — Soldier caste. 
 
 38, Chares : — A nearly obsolete English word, signifying 
 labors. The same word in India, used adjectively, has nearly tlie 
 same meaning. 
 
 34, Lingain : — See Note 20, Book the Sixth. 
 
 35, Pdshi : — Saint. 
 
 36, Nohle Paths .-—See page 227 of the poem. 
 
 37, BodJiisats : — Candidates for the Buddahood. 
 
 38, Lanka : — Ceylon. 
 
 89, Three seers : — Six pounds. 
 
 40. Iwelve Niddnas : — See Note 9, Book the Seventh. 
 
 41. Meru : — Same as Mount Sumeru. See Note 17, Book the 
 First. 
 
 42. And so the feet of sweet Tasodhara 
 Passed into peace and bliss, being softly led. 
 
 The story of Yasodhara's attainment of Nirvana is very beauti- 
 ful, as a few outlines will indicate. " When Siddartha became an 
 ascetic the Princess resolved upon following his example, but 
 Suddhodana, in order to prevent it, placed, guards around the city, 
 declaring to her that the Prince would return ; he was also fearful 
 that, as she was so extremely beautiful, unless she was w^ell pro- 
 tected the Princes of other countries might hear of her situation 
 and come and take her away by force. But although she was 
 thus prevented from going to the forest, she resolved to keep the 
 ordinances of the recluse in the palace ; and for this purpose she 
 had her head shaved, put on a yellow robe, and ate her food out 
 of an earthen bowl. When Buddha visited Kapilavastu, after the 
 attainment of his office, and on the second day after his ar- 
 rival, she requested permissiou to become a priestess, but it 
 
NOTES. 
 
 -OJ 
 
 ^vag not granted, as Baddlia saw tliat tlie rig-lit of entrance 
 into the order of tlie female priesthood belonged to the queen- 
 mother Mahaprajc'ipati. . . . In due time Yasodhara bo- 
 came the rightful inheritor of all that had belonged to tSuddho- 
 dana, Mahamaya, Maliaprajapati, Siddartha, Nanda, Rahula, 
 Devadatta, and Suprabudha, but she regarded the whole with 
 aversion, even as if it had been a dead snake tied round her neck. 
 She walked with her attendant princesses nearly five hundred 
 miles to reside near Buddha, refusing all offers of assistance on the 
 journey, as all the l?ixuries of the world had been renounced. 
 While at Sewet, she sometimes went to hear Buddha preach, and 
 sometimes to inquire after the health of Rahula. On the evening 
 of a certain day, as Yasodhara was sitting alone, she thought of all 
 her friends who had already entered Nirvana. ' I was born on the 
 same day as Buddha, and in regular order ought to enter the city 
 of peace upon the same day ; but this would not be decorous to the 
 great teacher. I am now seventy-eight years of age. In two 
 years from this time Buddha will attain Nirvana. I will there- 
 fore request permission to obtain this privilege from Buddha.' 
 Accompanied by her attendants, slie went to the monastery of 
 Buddha, and asked forgiveness for the faults she might at any 
 time Lave committed, and then presented her request. Buddha 
 said, 'You are the most vhtuous of women; but from the time 
 you became an ascetic ycu ha-e not performed any miracle, so that 
 s-jme. persons have doubted wliether you. are a rahat or not,' A 
 great company assembled, but the Princess Thought that on account 
 of the extreme beauty of her person it would not be proper to per- 
 form a miracle in the same way as others, lest evil should nrise in 
 the minds of such of the faithful as were not yet free from evil desire. 
 IShe therefore related tlie history of her former births, then rose in 
 the air and worshiped Buddha. The discourse that she delivered 
 was upon the seven kinds of wives there are in the world of men. 
 When all this Avas concluded, she retired to l;er own residence, 
 and in the same night, while passing from contemplation to con- 
 templation, saw the city of peace." 
 
 43. MaMsammat : — the first monarch of the world, of the race 
 of the sun, received existence by the apparitional birth. The ances- 
 try of Buddha is traced through individuals all of royal dignity, 
 by Buddhist historians back to this monarch ; these have evident- 
 ly borrowed names or invented them, determined to shed all honor 
 possible upon Ids name. 
 
 44. Four noUe Truths .-—See Note 45, Book the Sixth. 
 
 45. Those eight right Rules :—R\g\\.t views, high aims, kindly 
 speech, upright conduct, harmless livelihood, perseverance in 
 well-doing, intellectual activity, earnest thought. 
 
 46. Stages i''(?iir;— Professor Mas Muller thus describes the 
 
236 NOTESL 
 
 effects of each staofe : "Entering the first ensures freedom from 
 sin, a knowledge of tlie nature of tilings, and leaves no desire ex- 
 cept for Nirvana. Pleasurable feelings and reasoning and dis- 
 criminating powers remain. In tlie second stage these cease, leav- 
 ing satisfaction arising from intellectual perfection, which is lost 
 in the third stage ; but self-consciousness remains. In the fourth 
 stage this also vanishes, and Nirvana is open. The Buddha now 
 enters the infinity of space, then into the infinity of intelligence, 
 and thence into the region of nothing. But even here there is no 
 rest. There is still something left, the idea of nothing in which 
 he rejoices. That also must be destroyed, and it is destroyed in 
 the fourth and last region, where there is complete rest undis- 
 turbed by nothing, or what is not nothing." 
 
 47. Precepts Eight : — These precepts are most clearly expressed 
 in the Buddhist Beatitudes. "Not to serve the foolish, but to 
 serve the wise, to honor those worthy of love, this is the greatest 
 blessing. To dwell in a pleasant land, good works done in a for- 
 mer birth, right desires in the heart, this is the greatest blessing. 
 Much insight and education, self-control and pleasant speech^ 
 and whatever word be well-spoken, this is the greatest blessing. 
 To bestow alms and live righteously, to give help to kindred, 
 deeds which cannot be blamed, this is the greatest blessing. To 
 support father and mother, and to cherish wife and child ; to fol- 
 low a peaceful calling, this is the greatest blessing. To abhor and 
 cease from sin, abstinence from strong drink, not to be weary in 
 well-doing, this is the greatest blessing. Reverence, lowliness, 
 contentment and gratitude, the hearing of the Law at due seasons, 
 this is the greatest blessing. Beneath the stroke of life's changes, 
 the mind that shaketh not, without grief and passion. On every 
 side are invincible those who do acts like these, on every side they 
 walk in safety, and this is the greatest blessing." 
 
 BOOK THE EIGHTH. 
 
 1. At Nagara : — A town lying about eighty miles almost direct- 
 ly north of Benares. 
 
 2. Li ox-icain : — Sixteen miles is an average day's journey for an 
 ox-cart. 
 
 3. Four hundred crors : — According to all authorities a cror is 
 ten millions ; this would bring the number of living Buddhists to 
 forty billions, an evident mistake. The values of weights, meas- 
 ures and stated quantities differs so greatly in different parts of 
 India that it is possible that cror may have been used, where 
 Mr. Arnold resided, to indicate a million, making his calculation of 
 four hundred million living Buddhists corrrect, 
 
 4. Lakhs : — One hundred thousand. 
 
NOTES. 237 
 
 5. MlecJi : — A barbarian, not speaking Sanskrit, nor subject to 
 Hindu institutions. 
 
 6. T/ie hircls and beasts and creeping things : — In all these listen- 
 ing animals were human souls in the progress of transmigration, 
 awaiting the death of the animal, when possiMy they might again 
 be born in human form, and tlierein find Nirvana attainable. One 
 of the principal reasons the Hindus give for not killing any crea- 
 ture, however dangerous or loathsome, is that possibly the soul of 
 some deceased friend or relative may be in the creature's body. 
 
 7. Om : — Tliis sacred syllable occupies a distinguished place 
 among the objects of careful and special meditation. The student 
 must devoutly repeat it again and again, and fix his mind in in- 
 tensest degree upon its several meanings. The Mandukya Upan- 
 ishad declares them to be four in number. The A in it denotes 
 Brahma in the form of Vaishwanar, the human soul in its waking 
 state. The U refers to him as Taijasa, in the state of dreaming. 
 The M represents him as Prajna, in the state of deep sleep. The 
 combined syllable Om, i.e., AUM, denotes him at once as the Su- 
 preme invisible, blissful, wdthout a second. The Sutras attribute 
 to the syllable three elements of meaning, and declare the eflBcacy 
 of its repetition to depend upon the sense in which it is viewed by 
 the devotee. "He who meditates on all three, like a serpent 
 which casts its skin, ascends at once to Brahma. After sharpening 
 the arrow by devotion, fix to it that great weapon, the bow found 
 in the Upanishad, and after drawing it, and carefully aiming at 
 thy mark, pierce him, oh beloved, w^ho is the imperishable." It is 
 said that Om is the bow, the soul the arrow, and Brahma the 
 mark. 
 
 8. Amitaya : — Immeasurable. 
 
 9. Brahm .-—See Note 17, Book the Fifth. 
 
 10. Pray not ! the Darkness loill not brighten! Ask 
 Nought from the &ilence,for it cannot speak! 
 Vex not your mournful, minds icith pious pains ! 
 Ah ! Brothers^ Sisters ! seek 
 
 Nought from the helpless gods by gift and hyrnriy 
 
 Nor bribe icith blood, nor feed with fruit and cakes; 
 Within yourselves deliverance must be sought ; 
 Each man his prison makes. 
 These stanzas against prayer are the saddest of all Buddha's 
 teachings, and that with which his followers are the least able to 
 comply. All passions, all desires they may subdue, but ever and 
 ever the heart seeks in prayer some light, some release. No reli- 
 gionists pray so much, with so many repetitions, or by so many de- 
 vices of rosaries, bells, wheels, machinery, or substitutes, as the 
 Buddhists. 
 

 r~ 
 
 230 NOTES. 
 
 U. Indrd ;— See Note 17, Book the Third. 
 
 12. Dharma : — Law, the " Power divine." 
 
 13. JSesamum : — was created on the 11th of February by Yama. 
 the god of the lower regions, hence the day and plant are consid- 
 ered sacred. The oil of the sesamum seeds is very largely used in 
 India for religious service, cooking and lights. 
 
 14. Mrvdna .-—See Note 49, Book the Sixth. 
 
 15. Om .-—See Note 7, Book the Eighth. 
 
 16. Mani : — Sage. 
 
 17. Paclme ; — Lotus or Golden Lotus. 
 
 18. the DeiDclrop slips 
 
 Into the shining sea. 
 
 This is a Brahminical, not a Buddhist, idea of Nirvana, and is a 
 favorite form of expression among them. The Buddhist phrase- 
 ology is, that the soul is blown out like a lamp, or as blowing out 
 is applied to a fire, or to a sage." * 
 
 19. Kar7nd: — See Note 4G, Book the Sixth. 
 
 20. Kalpas; — See Note 04, Book the First. 
 
 21. Birdn-weed: — Foreign weed. 
 
 22. If any teach Nirvana is to cease. 
 
 Say unto such they lie. 
 If any teach Nirvdna is to live, 
 
 Say unto such they err. 
 If anyone hopes to arrive at a full understanding of this subiect, 
 let them be well forewarned of its impossibility. Mr. Hardy states 
 that there are forty-four Buddhist sects, each holding different 
 views of the future. 1 — 16. Those Avho hold a future state of con- 
 scious existence, and that it is either material, immaterial, a mixed 
 state, or neither material or immaterial ; that it is either finite, in- 
 definitely extended, a mixture of both states, or neither one nor the 
 other; or that its perceptions are either simple, discursive, limit- 
 ed, unlimited, happy, miserable, mixed or insensible. 17 — 24. Those 
 who hold a future state of unconscious existence. 2o — 32. Those 
 who hold a state between consciousness and unconsciousness. 83-— 
 89. Tliosi^ who hold that death, at once, or ultimately, is annihilation. 
 40 — 44. Those who reason on tlie mode in wdiich perfect liappiness 
 is to be obtained. 
 
 According to Buddha, the pure unmixed truth is not to be found 
 anywhere but in his own preaching. To other teachers the truth 
 may appear partially; but to him alone does it appear in unshroud- 
 ed clearness and in its utmost amplitudt^. In him it is not acqui- 
 sition gained by meo.ns of some mental process, nor is it a lesson 
 taught by another. It is an intuitive underived power; a self-gen- 
 erated effulgence. By this unerring sage it is declared that none 
 
 * Chips from a German Workshop. 
 
NOTES. 239 
 
 of the above opinions are consistent witli the truth. And yet death 
 is not annihilation. We exist, and we do not eyist. We die and 
 we do not die. Tliere will be a future sta.te of existence, but not 
 of the individuality that now exists; and thouo:li death is the dis 
 solution of that which now exists, it is not annihilation of a poten- 
 tiality inherent in that existence. * 
 
 23. Soma juice : — See Note 29, Book the Fifth. 
 
 24. wMle he threw 
 
 Rice, red and loMte, from hoth hands. 
 
 It is the duty of every Hindu householder to offer certain prayers 
 with food and water each morning-. Having bathed and put on 
 clean clothes, he must devoutly offer libations, scattering water 
 thrice for gods, also thrice for risliis, progenitors, friends and rel- 
 atives and many others, accompanied by a lengthy prayer address- 
 ed to all manner of gods, men, animals, plants "and all creatures." 
 After this, having rinsed his mouth, he makes offerings to the sun, 
 household gods, residents of earth, air, heaven and hell, to parents, 
 teachers, family, kinsmen near and remote, to the cardinal points, 
 atmosphere, twilight etc., etc. Then taking other rice, let the 
 householder at pleasure cast it upon a clean spot of ground, as 
 an offering to all beings, repeating with collected mind this prayer; 
 "May gbds, men, animals, birds, saints, yakshas, serpents, demons, 
 ghosts, goblins, trees, all that aesire food given by me; may ants, 
 worms, moths and other insects, hungered and bound in the bends 
 of acts, may all obtain satisfaction from the food left them by me, 
 and enjoy happiness; may they who have neither father nor mother, 
 nor relations, nor food, nor means of preparing it, be satisfied and 
 pleased with the food presented for their contentment; may all 
 beings that are comprehended in the fourteen orders of existent 
 things be satisfied with the food bestowed by me for their gratifi- 
 cation, and be delighted.'' Having uttered tins prayer, let the de- 
 vout believer cast the food upon the ground for the nourishment 
 of all kinds of beings, for tbe householder is thus the supporter of 
 them all. Let him scatter food upon the ground for dogs, outcasts, 
 birds and all fallen and degraded persons. 
 
 25. Dasa sil : — See Note 40, Book the Sixth. 
 
 26. Three Doors : — There are three entrances, whence proceed 
 thai; which is good, and that which is evil : 1. The body. 2. The 
 speech. 3. The mind. 
 
 27. Triple Thoughts : — There are three stibjects upon which the 
 mind of the ascetic ought constantly to dwell : 1. Impermanency. 
 2. Sorrow. 3. Unreality. 
 
 28. The Sixfold States of Mind .'—1. Evil desire. 2. Anger, 
 8. Ignorance. 4. Purity. 5. Budhi. 6. Attention. 
 
240 NOTES. 
 
 29. FiTiefold Powers : — 1. Purity. 2. Persevering action. 3. 
 Ascertainment of truth. 4. Tranquillity. 6. Wisdom. 
 
 30. Eight High Gates of Purity: — 1. Correct ideas upon religious 
 subjects. 2. Correct thoughts. 3. Correct words. 4. Correct 
 works. 5. Correct life. 6. Correct endeavors. 7. Correct judg- 
 ment. 8. Correct tranquillity. 
 
 31. Modes of Understanding : — 1. The meaning of any matter, 
 in its separate divisions. 2. The doctrines of Buddha. 3. The 
 power of the Buddhas to perceive all truth intuitively, without 
 study and without the teaching of another. 4. The power of the 
 ascetics to know the roots and the properties of things. 
 
 32. Iddhi : — The power of working miracles. 
 
 33. UpeksJm : — is freedom from all kinds of desire. 
 
 34. Five Great Meditations : — 1. Purity. 2. Persevering action. 
 3. The ascertainment of truth. 4. Tranquillity. 5. Wisdom. 
 
 35. Amrit : — The food of the gods that gives immortality. Tlie 
 lower people sometimes drink the water in which eminent Brah- 
 mins have bathed their feet, calling it amrit. 
 
 36. Jhdnas : Wisdom. 
 
 37. The Three Gliief Refuges ;— 1. The benefits of the world of 
 men. 2. The enjoyment of the dewa and brahma-lokas. 3. Nir- 
 vana. 
 
 38. Strainer : — A thin piece of cloth for straining water before 
 it is drank. Some sects in India, particularly the Tains, still use 
 a strainer, lest unknowingly they should swallow some insect, and 
 thus take life. The mysteries revealed to them by the microscope 
 amaze and perplex them greatly. 
 
 39. Bangha : — Society or community. 
 I 40. Tathdgato : — Teacher. 
 
 I 41. Om mard padme hum : — is generally translated " Glory 
 
 } to the Lotus bearer. Hum." Hum is not here ussd with its origi- 
 
 1 nal Sanskrit meaning, but has come to be used in the sense of 
 
 i praise. Among some of the Buddhists, the ascription is under- 
 
 l stood as *' Om praise to the Golden Lotus Saint.'* 
 
 THE END. 
 
—- 
 
 THE INDIAN 
 
 so:^G OF so:Nas 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWIN ARNOLD, C. S. I. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 " TJw Light of Asia;' '' PearU of the Faith;' ett. 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 BeatTTifitl flowers please, whatever their name and 
 country ; and so far as any brightness or fragrance may 
 have been preserved from the Aryan original in this 
 paraphrase, it will no doubt be recognized by the reader 
 of intelligence. Tet being so exotic, the poem demands 
 a word or two of introduction. 
 
 The "Gtta Govinda," then, or "Song of Govind," is 
 a Sanskrit idyl, or little pastoral drama, in which — 
 under the form of Krishna, an incarnation of the 
 god Vishnoo — the human soul is displayed in its re- 
 lations alternately with earthly and celestial beauty. 
 Krishna — at once human and divine — is first seen at- 
 tracted by the pleasures of the senses (personiJQed by 
 the shepherdesses in the wood), and wasting his affec- 
 tions upon the delights of their illusory world. Radha, 
 the spirit of intellectual and moral beauty, comes to free 
 him from this error by enkindling in his heart a desire 
 for her own surpassing loveliness of form and character; 
 and under the parable of a human passion — too glow- 
 ingly depicted by the Indian poet for exact transcription 
 — the gradual emancipation of Krishna from sensuous 
 distractions, and his union with Radha in a high and 
 spiritualized happiness, are portrayed. This general in- 
 terpretation, at any rate, though disputed by certain au- 
 
4 TEE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 thorities, is maintained by Jones, Lassen, and others; 
 and has been followed, not without occasional diffi- 
 culty, in the subjoined version. 
 
 Lassen thus writes in his Latin prolegomena: **To 
 speak my opinion in one word, Krishna is here the 
 divinely-given soul manifested in humanity. . . . The 
 recollection of this celestial origin abides deep in the 
 mind, and even when it seems to slumber — drugged as 
 it were by the fair shows of the world, the pleasures of 
 visible things, and the intoxication of the senses — it now 
 and again awakes, . . . full of yearning to recover the 
 sweet serenity of its pristine condition. Then the soul be- 
 gins to discriminate and to perceive that the love, which 
 was its inmost principle, has been lavished on empty 
 and futile objects ; it grows a-wearied of things sensual, 
 false, and unenduring; it longs to fix its affection on 
 that which shall be stable, and the source of true and 
 eternal delight. Krishna — to use the imagery of this 
 poem — thrones Radha in his heart, as the sole and only 
 one who can really satisfy his aspirations. . . . 
 
 "Radha is supreme in beauty, with a loveliness which 
 is at once celestial, and yet enshrined in earthly mould. 
 Her charms lift the mind to heavenly contemplations, 
 and the God of Love, Kama, borrows his best weapons 
 from them. She is forgiving and pitiful even towards 
 her erring and lingering lover; she would meet him in 
 returning if she could ; she grieves more than she blames ; 
 and once reconciled, is beyond measure tender. . . . The 
 remedy for the illusions of sense — sansdra — is placed by 
 all Hindoo philosophers in the understanding of true 
 existence, and Radha, in my judgment, represents this 
 remedy — being the personified contemplation of the 
 divine beauty and goodness. . . . Such contemplation 
 flies from and disowns the mind possessed by sensual 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 6 
 
 objects, but goes to meet and gladly inhabit that which 
 consecrates itself, as Krishna's does, to the higher love. 
 ... It bewails its separation from the soul, as that 
 which was its natural dwelling-place before the change- 
 ful shows of mortal life banished it ; and this is the mys- 
 tery of mutual attraction between the mind and mental 
 beauty, that the memory of the divine happiness does 
 not die, but is revived by the recognition of truth, and 
 returns to the perception of what things in love are 
 worthless, and what are real and worthy. The affec- 
 tion of Radha is jealous, and grants not the full sight 
 of her charms, until the soul of its own accord abandons 
 its preoccupations, and becomes filled with the desire of 
 the true love. But upon the soul thus returning she 
 lavishes her utmost tenderness; whereof to be the re- 
 cipient is to have all wishes fulfilled and nothing lack- 
 ing — to be tnpta — ' well-contented.' Such, in my opin- 
 ion, is the recondite significance of this poem, hidden 
 under imagery but too luxuriant. The Indian poet 
 seems, indeed, to have spent rather more labor in de- 
 picting the phases of earthly passion than of that intel- 
 lectual yearning by which the mind is lifted to the con- 
 templation of divine things ; . . . but the fable of the 
 loves of Govinda and Radha existing from antiquity, 
 and being universally accepted, philosophy had to affix 
 its doctrines to the story in such a way as that the vul- 
 gar amours of those popular deities might present them- 
 selves in a nobler aspect. " 
 
 Nothing in the way of exposition needs to be added 
 to these words. 
 
 The great variety of measure in the original has been 
 indicated by frequently varying the metre of this para- 
 phrase, without meanwhile attempting to imitate the 
 many very fanciful alliterations, assonances, and recur- 
 
6 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 ring choruses; of which last, however, two examples 
 have been iutroduced. The " Gita Govinda," with these 
 refrains and the musical accompaniments named and 
 prescribed by the directions embodied in the text, must 
 have been a species of Oriental opera. This raises tlie 
 difficult and little-studied subject of ancient Hindoo 
 music, upon which a passing word or two may not ap- 
 pear impertinent. Sir William Jones says, " When I 
 first read the songs of Jayadeva, who has prefixed to 
 each the name of the mode in which it was to be sung, 
 I had hopes of procuring the original music; but the 
 Pundits of the South referred me to those of the West, 
 and the Brahmans of the West would have sent me to 
 those of the Korth, while they of Nepal and Cashmere 
 declared that they had no ancient music, but imagined 
 that the notes of the ' Gita Govinda ' must exist, if any- 
 where, where the poet was born " (Sir W. Jones, vol. i. 
 p. 440). 
 
 ISTow the reason why this illustrious scholar could not 
 find the score of the " Gita," was that music was always 
 taught orally by the Hindoos, and therefore did not pass 
 down from the old minstrels in any noted form. Yet 
 there existed an elaborate science of melody among the 
 ancient Indians; although, like the. Greeks, they under- 
 stood little or nothing of harmony. The distinguishing 
 feature of Hindoo airs was, and still is, an extremely 
 fine gradation of notes; the semitone could be accurately 
 divided into demi-semitoues by the ear and voice of a 
 practised "Guudharb" or " Goonee." This even now 
 imparts a delicacy to the otherwise monotonous temple- 
 singing, which all musicians would recognize; and they 
 might find in such treatises as the "Sungeet Durpun," 
 "Eagavibodha," and " RSg-mala," or " Chaplet of Mel- 
 odies," complete and curious explanations of the Hindoo 
 
 ■P^teVQ^IPIIBM 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 7 
 
 orchestra. In that fantastic system the old Aryan com- 
 posers established six ragas, or divine fundamental airs, 
 having each five wives or raginees, and each of these 
 producing eight melodious children; so that the ortho- 
 dox repertory contained two hundred and forty separate 
 songs. These songs had their fixed occasion, subject, 
 and season; all to be reverently observed; otherwise the 
 deity presiding over each was not thought likely to at- 
 tend and give perfect effect to the music. These lyric 
 divinities are personified and described in such works 
 as the "Ratnamala:" thus "Gurjjarl" — a melody fre- 
 quently indicated here by Jayadeva — is represented as 
 a feminine minstrel of engaging mien, dressed in yellow 
 bodice and red saree, richly bedecked with jewels and 
 enthroned in a golden swing, as the third wife of the 
 Baga MegJi. Musical science was divided into seven 
 hrancYiQS—SurudTiyaya or sol-fa-ing, rag or melody, tal 
 or time, nrit or rhythmical dancing, aurth or poetry, 
 Ihav or expression, and Tiust, answering to method, 
 " touch." The gamut contained seven notes singularly 
 named — Su was suruj, the scream of the peacock; ri 
 was rikhiib, the cry of the parrot; gu was gundhur, the 
 bleat of the sheep; mu was muddhun, the call of the 
 crane; pu stood for puncJmm, and the note of the Koil; 
 dhti for dhymt, the neigh of the horse; and ni for ni- 
 TcJiad, the trumpeting of the elephant. Endless subtle- 
 ties characterized their musical terms — thus tal or 
 "time," is a word made up of the first letters from 
 tand, the dance of Mahadeo, and las, the dance of Par- 
 vati, his consort; but these are mere etymological nice- 
 ties, characteristic of the hard language in which one 
 single word may be written in a hundred and eight 
 ways. Enough has been said to show, from sources 
 which are perhaps somewhat out of general reach, that 
 
8 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 a special accompaniment of music was prescribed for 
 the "Gita Govinda" when composed, which, could it 
 be recovered, would add immensely to the interest of 
 the Sanskrit Canticle; and indeed, even at present, any 
 competent inquirer into the existing melodies of India, 
 popular and sacred, might be rewarded by many ex- 
 quisite airs worth the ear of European maestri them- 
 selves. The Indians of to-day have still their dhoorpuds^ 
 or heroic ballads; their kheals, ghuzuls, and rekhtahs, 
 love-songs of Mogul derivation ; their dadras and nuktas, 
 serenades of Hindoo origin; the tuppah, hummed by 
 Hindi and Punjabi camel-drivers; the terana, or "song 
 without words;" ihQpalna, or cradle-song; the sohla, or 
 marriage-strain; the stooti, or eulogistic chants; and the 
 zikri, which are hymns of morality. Probably among 
 these some echoes of the antique melodies of Jayadeva 
 may be preserved ; at any rate, such a list — and it might 
 be largely extended — shows that Indian music well mer- 
 its professional study. 
 
 Jayadeva, a native of Kinduvilva or Kendoli, in 
 Burdwan or Tirhoot (for the locality is doubtful), 
 wrote, according to Lassen, about 1150 a.d. The 
 theme of the Indian poet's musical mystery-play is 
 found in the tenth section of the BhSgavata, but Hin- 
 doo literature and daily talk are full of this half-divine, 
 half -human Krishna; and in turning into a religious 
 canticle the loves of "Govinda" and Radha, Jayadeva 
 might be sure that every native audience, present and 
 to come, would understand his matter. The " Glta " ia 
 to this hour very popular in India; but more so, doubt- 
 less, because of its melodious versification and its ardent 
 love-pictures than the profound and earnest meanings, 
 for the sake of which this imperfect attempt has been 
 hazarded. Extremely imperfect it is, and for exact 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 9 
 
 Sanskrit scholars (amoog whose honorable number the 
 Author has veiy slender claims to rank) of no account 
 at all ; yet something, however slight, may perhaps be 
 done towards the closer acquaintance of England and 
 India — an object always dear to the present writer — by 
 this his second effort to popularize Indian classics. 
 With the aid of Lassen (to whose labors and erudite 
 guidance every grateful acknowledgment is here due) 
 this "Song of Songs"' goes, for the most part, fairly 
 pace for pace with the Sanskrit text; although much 
 has had to be modified, and the last Sarga omitted, in 
 order to comply with the canons of Western propriety. 
 An English dress cannot — alas! — fail to destroy some- 
 thing of the Asiatic grace of Radha; but in her own she 
 is radiant, fascinating, and angelic, and seemed to teach 
 a lesson so well worth repeating, that this imitation of 
 Jayadeva has been ventured upon. 
 
10 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 OM! 
 
 REVERENCE TO GANESHAI 
 
 " The sky is clouded ; and the wood resembles 
 
 The sky, thick-arched with black Tamala boughs; 
 O Radha, Radha! take this soul that trembles 
 
 In life's deep midnight, to Thy golden house." 
 So Nanda spoke, — and, led by Radha's spirit, 
 
 The feet of Krishna found the road aright; 
 Wherefore in bliss which all high hearts inherit 
 
 Together taste they Love's divine delight. 
 
 He who wrote these tilings for thee. 
 Of the Son of Wassoodee, 
 Was the poet Jayadeva; 
 Him Saraswati gave ever 
 Fancies fair his mind to throng. 
 Like pictures palace-walls along; 
 Ever to his notes of love 
 LakshmVs mystic dancers move. 
 If thy spirit seeks to bi'ood 
 On Hari glorious, Hari good; 
 If it feeds on solemn numbers 
 Dim as dreams and soft as slumbers. 
 Lend thine ear to Jayadev, 
 Lord of all the spells that save 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 11 
 
 UmapatidJiara's strain 
 Glows like roses after rain; 
 Sharan's stream-like song is grand, 
 If its tide ye understand; 
 Bard more wise beneath the sun 
 Is notfoiind than Govardhun; 
 D/ioyi holds the listener still 
 With his shlokes of subtle skill; 
 But for sweet words suited well 
 Jayadeva doth excel. 
 
 {What follows is to the Music Malaya and the Mode 
 
 RUPAKA.) 
 
 HYMN TO VISHNU. 
 
 O THOU that held'st the blessed Yeda dry 
 When all things else beneath the floods were hurled; 
 
 Strong Fish-God! Ark of Men! Jai! Kan, jaif 
 Hail, Keshav, hail! thou Master of the world 1 
 
 The round world rested on thy spacious nape; 
 
 Upon thy neck, like a mere mole, it stood: 
 O thou that took'st for us the Tortoise-shape, 
 
 Hail, Keshav, hail! Ruler of wave and woodl- 
 
 The world upon thy curving tusk sate sure. 
 Like the Moon's dark disc in her crescent pale; 
 
 O thou who did'st for us assume the Boar, 
 Immortal Conqueror! hail, Keshav, hail I 
 
 When thou thy Giant-Foe didst seize and rend. 
 Fierce, fearful, long, and sharp were fang and nail; 
 
 Thou who the Lion and the Man didst blend, 
 Lord of the Universe! hail, Narsingh, haill 
 
13 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 Wonderful Dwarf! — wlio with a threefold stride 
 Cheated King Bali — where thy footsteps fall 
 
 Men's sins, O Wamuna! are set aside. 
 O Keshav, hail! thou Help and Hope of all I 
 
 The sins of this sad earth thou didst assoil, 
 The anguish of its creatures thou didst heal; 
 
 Freed are we from all terrors by thy toil : 
 Hail, Purshuram, hail! Lord of the biting steel! 
 
 To thee the fell Ten-Headed yielded life, 
 Thou in dread battle laid'st the monster low I 
 
 Ah, Rama! dear to Gods and men that strife; 
 We praise thee, Master of the matchless bowl 
 
 With clouds for garments glorious thou dost fare. 
 Veiling thy dazzling majesty and might, 
 
 As when Yamuna saw thee with the share, 
 A peasant— yet the King of Day and Night. 
 
 Merciful-hearted ! when thou camest as Boodh — 
 Albeit 'twas written in the Scriptures so — 
 
 Thou bad'st our altars be no more imbrued 
 With blood of victims: Keshav 1 bending low 
 
 We praise thee, Wielder of the sweeping sword, 
 Brilliant as curving comets in the gloom, 
 
 Whose edge shall smite the fierce barbarian horde; 
 Hail to thee. Keshav ! hail, and hear, and come, 
 
 And fill this song of Jayadev with thee, 
 And make it wise to teach, strong to redeem, 
 
 And sweet to living souls. Thou Mystery! 
 Thou Light of Life! Thou Dawn beyond the dream! 
 
 Fish ! that didst outswim the flood ; 
 Tortoise! whereon earth hath stood; 
 
-} 
 
 THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 13 
 
 Boar 1 who with thy tush held'st high 
 
 The world, that mortals might not die; 
 
 Lion ! who hast giants torn ; 
 
 Dwarf! who laugh'dst a liing to scorn; 
 
 Sole Subduer of the Dreaded I 
 
 Slayer of the many -headed ! 
 
 Mighty Ploughman 1 Teacher tender 1 
 
 Of thine own the sure Defender I 
 
 Under all thy ten disguises 
 
 Endless praise to thee arises. 
 
 (WTiat follows is to the Music GuRjJAKi and the Mode 
 
 NiHSARA.) 
 
 Endless praise arises, 
 O thou God that licst 
 Rapt, on Kumla's breast, 
 Happiest, holiest, highest 1 
 Planets are thy jewels. 
 Stars thy forehead-gems, 
 Set like sapphires gleaming 
 In kingliest anadems; 
 Even the great gold Sun-God, 
 Blazing through the sky, 
 Serves thee but for crest-stone, 
 Jai, jai ! Hari, jai ! 
 As that Lord of day 
 After night brings morrow. 
 Thou dost charm away 
 Life's long dream of sorrow. 
 As on Mansa's water 
 Brood the swans at rest. 
 So thy laws sit stately 
 On a holy breast. 
 
14 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 O, Drinker of tlie poison 1 
 
 Ah, high Delight of earth ! 
 
 What light is to the lotus-buds, 
 
 What singing is to mirth, 
 
 Art thou — art thou that slayedst 
 
 Madhou and Narak grim ; 
 
 That ridest on the King of Birds, 
 
 Making all glories dim. 
 
 With eyes like open lotus-flowers. 
 
 Bright in the morning rain. 
 
 Freeing by one swift piteous glance 
 
 The spirit from Life's pain : 
 
 Of all the three Worlds Treasure I 
 
 Of sin the Putter-by! 
 
 Of the Ten-Headed Victor! 
 
 Jai Hari ! Har i ! ja i ! 
 
 Thou Shaker of the Mountain! 
 
 Thou Shadow of the Storm! 
 
 Thou Cloud that unto Laksluni's face 
 
 Comes welcome, white, and warm! 
 
 O thou, — who to great Lakshmi 
 
 Art like the silvery beam 
 
 Which moon-sick chakors feed upon 
 
 By Jumna's silent stream, — 
 
 To thee this hymn ascendeth, 
 
 That Jayadev doth sing, 
 
 Of worship, love, and mystery; 
 
 High Lord and heavenly King! 
 
 And unto whoso hears it 
 
 Do thou a blessing bring — 
 
 Whose neck is gilt with yellow dust 
 
 From lilies that did cling 
 
 Beneath the breasts of Lakshmi, 
 
 A girdle soft and sweet. 
 
 ^■■M! F*^ 
 
THE IXDIAJV SONG OF SONGS. 15 
 
 When in divine embracing 
 The 4ips of Gods did meet ; 
 And the beating heart above 
 Of thee — Dread Lord of Heaven! — 
 She left that stamp of love — 
 By such deep sign be given 
 Prays Jayadev, the glory 
 And the secret and the spells 
 "Which close-hid in this story 
 Unto wise ears he tells. 
 
 End of Introduction. 
 
 8ARGA TEE FIRST. 
 
 SAMODADAMODARO. 
 
 THE SPORTS OF KRISHNA. 
 
 Beautiful Radha, jasmine-bosomed Rndha, 
 All in the Spring-tioie waited by the wood 
 For Krishna fair, Krishna the all-forgetful, — 
 Krishna with earthly love's false fire consuming — 
 And some one of her maidens sang this souir: — 
 
 {What follows is to the Music Vas.vnta and the Mode 
 Yati.) 
 
 I know where Krishna tarries in these early days of 
 
 Spring, 
 When every wind from warm Malay brings fragrance 
 
 on its wing; 
 
sjm fmoi 
 
 16 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 Brings fragrance stolen far away from thickets of the 
 
 clove, 
 In jungles where the bees hum and the Koil flutes her 
 
 love; 
 He dances with the dancers, of a merry morrice cue, 
 All in the budding Spring-time, for 'tis sad to be alone. 
 
 I know how Krishna passes these hours of blue and 
 
 gold, 
 When parted lovers sigh to meet and greet and closely 
 
 hold 
 Hand fast in band; and every branch upon the Vakul- 
 
 tree 
 Droops downward with a hundred blooms, in every 
 
 bloom a bee; 
 He is dancing wiih Llie dancers to a laughter-moving 
 
 tone. 
 In the soft awakening Spring-time, when 'tis hard to 
 
 live alone. 
 
 Where Kroona flowers, that open-^^at a lover's lightest 
 
 tread, 
 Break, and, for shame at what they hear, from wdiito 
 
 blush modest red ; * 
 
 And all the spears on all the boughs of all the Ketuk- 
 
 glades 
 Seem ready darts to pierce the hearts of wandering 
 
 youths and maids; 
 'Tis there thy Krishna dances till the merry drum is 
 
 done, 
 All in the sunny Spring-time, when who can live alone? 
 
 Where the breaking-forth of blossom on the yellow 
 
 Keshra-sprays 
 Dazzles like Kama's sceptre, whom all the world obeys; 
 
 » ■nai 
 
THE mniAJsr soug of so^^G^, 17 
 
 And Patal-buds fill drowsy bees from pink delicious 
 
 bowls, 
 As Kama's nectared goblet steeps in languor human 
 
 souls; 
 There he dances with the dancers, and of Eadha thmk- 
 
 eWi none, 
 All in the warm uew^ Spring-tide, when none will live 
 
 alone. 
 
 Where the breath of waving Madhvi pours incense 
 
 thi-ough the grove, 
 And silken Mogras lull the sense with essences of 
 
 love, — 
 The silken-soft pale Mogra, whose perfume fine and 
 
 faint 
 Can melt the coldness of a maid, the sternness of a 
 
 saint — - 
 There dances with those dancers thine other self, thine 
 
 Own, 
 All in the languorous Spring-time, 'v\'hen none will live 
 
 alone. 
 
 Where — as if warm lips touched scaled eyes and waked 
 
 them— all the bloom 
 Opens upon the mangoes to feel the sunshine come; 
 And Atimuktas wind their arms of softest green about, 
 Clasping the stems, while calm and clear great Jumna 
 
 spreadeth out; 
 There dances and there laughs thy Love, with damsels 
 
 many and one, 
 In the rosy days of Spring-time, for he will not live 
 
 alone. 
 
 Mark ihis song of Jayadev ! 
 Deep as pearl in ocean-wave 
 
18 THE ELZEVIR LIBBARY. 
 
 Lurketh in Us lines a wonder 
 WhicJi the wise alone will ponder : 
 Tlwiigh it scemeth of the earth, 
 Heavenly is the music's birth ; 
 Telling darkly of delights 
 Jn the wood, oficasted nights, 
 Of witless days, and fruitless love," 
 And false pleasures of the grove, 
 And rash passions of the prime, 
 And those dances of Spring-time ; 
 Time, which seems so subtle-sweet, 
 Time, which pipes to dancing feet. 
 Ah ! so softly — ah ! so sweetly — 
 That among those wood-maids featly 
 Krishna cannot choose hut dance. 
 Letting pass life's greater chance. 
 
 Yet tlic winds that sigh so 
 
 As they stir the rose, 
 Wake a sigh from Krishna 
 
 WistfuUer than those; 
 All their faint breaths swinging 
 
 Tlie creepers to and fro 
 Pass lilie rustling arrows 
 
 Shot from Kama's bow: 
 Tims among the dancers 
 
 What ilvose zephyrs bring 
 Strikes to Krishna's spirit 
 
 Like a darted sting. 
 
 And all as if — far wandered — 
 The traveller should hear 
 
 The bird of home, the Ko'il, 
 With nest-notes ricli and clear; 
 
TUE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 19 
 
 And there should come one moment 
 
 A blessed fleeting dream 
 Of the bees among the mangoes 
 
 Beside his native stream; 
 So flash those sudden 5''earuings, 
 
 That sense of a dearer thing. 
 The love and lack of Radha 
 
 Upon his soul in Spring, 
 
 Then she, the maid of Radha, spake again ; 
 And pointing far away between the leaves 
 Guided her lovely Mistress where to look. 
 And note how Krishna wantoned in the wood 
 Now with this one, now that; his heart, her prize, 
 Panting with foolish passions, and his eyes 
 Beaming with too much love for those fair girls- 
 Fair, but not so as Radha; and she sang 
 
 {What follows is to tJie 3Iusic Ramagiki -aTi^ tlie Mode 
 
 Yati.) 
 
 See, Lady! how thy Krishna passes these idle hours 
 Decked forth in fold of woven gold, and crowned with 
 
 forest-flowers; 
 And scented with the sandal, and gay with gems of 
 
 price — 
 Rubies to mate his laughing lips, and diamonds like his 
 
 eyes; — 
 In the company of damsels,* who dance and sing and 
 
 play, 
 
 Lies Krishna laughing, toying, dreaming his Spring 
 away. 
 
 * It will be observed that the "Gopis" here personify the five 
 senses. Lassen says, " Manifestum est puellis istis nil aliud 
 significari quain res sensiles.''' 
 
20 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 One, "with star-blossomed cbampS,k wreathed, woosliim 
 
 to rest bis bead 
 On tbe dark pillow of ber breast so tenderly outspread; 
 And o'er bis brow with roses blown sbe fans a fragrance 
 
 rare. 
 That falls on the encbanted sense like rain in tbirsty 
 
 air, 
 Wbile tbe company of damsels wave many an odorous 
 
 spray, 
 And Krishna laughing, toying, sighs tbe soft Spring 
 
 away. 
 
 Another, gazing in bis face, sits wistfully apart, 
 Searching it with those looks of love that leap from heart 
 
 to heart; 
 Her eyes— afire with shy desire, veiled by their lashes 
 
 black — 
 Speak so that Krishna cannot choose but send the mes- 
 sage back. 
 In the company of damsels whose bright eyes in a ring 
 Shine round bim with soft meanings in tbe merry light 
 of Spring. 
 
 Tbe third one of that dazzling band of dwellers in the 
 
 wood — 
 Body and bosom panting with tbe pulse of youthful 
 
 blood — 
 Leans over bim, as in bis ear a lightsome thing to 
 
 speak, 
 And then with leaf-soft lip imprints a kiss below bis 
 
 cheek ; 
 A kiss that thrills, and Krishna turns at tbe silken touch 
 To give it back — ah, Radha! forgetting thee too much. 
 
THE INDIAN 80NO OF SONQS. 21 
 
 And one with arch smile beckons him away from Jumna's 
 banks, 
 
 Where the tall bamboos bristle like Bpears in battle- 
 ranks, 
 
 And plucks his cloth to make liim come into the mango. 
 shade, 
 
 Where the fruit is ripe and golden, and the milk and 
 cakes are laid : 
 
 Oh! golden-red the mangoes, and glad the feasts of 
 Spring, 
 
 And fair the flowers to lie upon, and sweet the dancers 
 sing. 
 
 Sweetest of all that Temptress who dances for him now 
 With subtle feet which part and meet in the R^s-meas- 
 
 ure slow, 
 To the chime of silver bangles and the beat of rose-leaf 
 
 hands, 
 And pipe and lute and cymbal played by the woodland 
 
 bands; 
 So that wholly passion-laden — eye, ear, sense, soul o'er- 
 
 come — 
 Krishna is theirs in the forest; his heart forgets its home- 
 
 Krishna, made for heavenly things, 
 
 'Mid tliose woodland singers sings; 
 
 With those dancers dances featly, 
 
 Gives back soft embraces sweetly; 
 Smiles on that one, toys with this, 
 
 Glance for glance and kiss for kiss; 
 Meets the merry damsels fairly. 
 Plays the round of folly rarely. 
 Lapped in milk-warm spring-time weather, 
 He and those brown girls together. 
 
 ■~r-- 
 
23 TIIIJ] ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 And this shadowed earthly love 
 
 1)1 tJie twilight of the grove, 
 
 Dance and song and soft caresses, 
 
 Meeting looks and tangled tresses, 
 
 Jayadev the same hath wnt, 
 
 That ye might have gain of it. 
 
 Sagely its deep sense conceiving 
 
 And its inner light beliemng; 
 
 How that Love — the mighty Master, 
 
 Lord of all the stars that cluster 
 
 In the sky, swiftest and sloicest, 
 
 Lord of highest, Lord of lowest — 
 
 Manifests himself to mortals, 
 
 Winning them toicard the 2^ortals 
 
 Of his secret House, the gates 
 
 Of that bright Paradise ithich ivaits 
 
 The wise in love. Ah, human creatures ! 
 
 Even your phantasies are teachers. 
 
 Mighty Love makes sweet in seeming 
 
 Even Krishna's woodland dreaming; 
 
 Mighty I^ove sways all alike 
 
 From self to selflessness. Oh ! strike 
 
 From your eyes the veil, and see 
 
 What Love willeth him io be 
 
 Who in error, but in grace, 
 
 Sitteth with that lotusface. 
 
 And tliose eyes whose rays of heaven 
 
 Unto phantom-eyes are given; 
 
 Holding feasts of foolish mirth 
 
 Yiith these Visions of the earth; 
 
 Learning love, and love imparting; 
 
 Tci with sense of loss upstarting: — 
 
 For the cloud that veils the fountains 
 
 Underneath the Sandal mountains. 
 
 mt n 
 
« ' ! » ■ m «aa— ^M 
 
 THE INDIAIs^ S02{G OF SONGS. 23 
 
 Hou) — as if the sunshine drew 
 All its being to the blue — 
 It takes flight, and seeks to rise 
 High into tlie jmrer skies, 
 High into the snoio and frost, 
 On the shining summits lost ! 
 Ah ! and how the KoW strain 
 Smites the traveller with pain, — 
 When the mango blooms in spnng, 
 And '' KooJwo," '' Koolioo,'' they sing- 
 Pain of pleasures not yet won. 
 Pain of journeys not yet done. 
 Pain of toiling icithout gaining, 
 Pain, 'mid gladness, of still paining. 
 
 But may He guide us all to glory high 
 Who laughed when Eadha glided, hidden, hj, 
 And all among those damsels free and bold 
 Touched Krishna with a soft mouth, kind and cold; 
 And like the others, leaning on his breast. 
 Unlike the others, left there Love's unrest; 
 And like the others, joining in his song, 
 Unlike the others, made him silent long 
 
 {Here ends that Sarga of the GUa Govinda entitled 
 Samodadamodaro.) 
 
34 TEE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 SAROA TEE SECOND. 
 
 KLESIIAKESHAVO. 
 THE PENITENCE OF KRISHNA. 
 
 Thus lingered Krishna in the deep, green wood, 
 And gave himself, too prodigal, to those; 
 But Radha, heart-sick at his falling-off, 
 Seeing her heavenly beauty slighted so, 
 Withdrew; and, in a bower of Paradise — 
 Where nectarous blossoms wove a shrine of shade, 
 Haunted by birds and bees of unknown skies — 
 She sate deep-sorrowful, and sang this strain, 
 
 {What follows is to tlie music Gurjjar! ajid tlie Mode 
 
 Yati.) 
 
 Ah, my Beloved! taken with those glances, 
 Ah, my Beloved! dancing those rash dances, 
 Ah, Minstrel! playing wrongful strains so well; 
 
 Ah, Krishna! Krishna, with the honeyed lip! 
 
 Ah, Wanderer into foolish fellowship! 
 My Dancer, my Delight! — I love thee still. 
 
 O Dancer! strip thy peacock- crown away. 
 Rise! thou whose forehead is the star of day, 
 
 With beauty for its silver halo set; 
 Come! thou whose greatness gleams beneath its shroud 
 Like Indra's rainbow shining through the cloud — 
 
 Come, for I love thee, my Beloved 1 yet. 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 25 
 
 Must love thee — cannot choose but love thee ever, 
 My best Beloved—set on this endeavor, 
 
 To win thy tender heart and earnest eye 
 From lips but sadly sweet, from restless bosoms, 
 To mine, O Krishna with the mouth of blossoms! 
 
 To mine, thou soul of Krishna! yet I sigh 
 
 Half hopeless, thinking of myself forsaken, 
 And thee, dear Loiterer, in the wood overtaken 
 
 With passion for those bold and wanton ones, 
 Who knit thine arms as poison-plants gripe trees 
 With twining cords — their flowers the braveries 
 
 That flash in the green gloom, sparkling gauds and 
 stones. 
 
 My Prince! my Lotus-faced! my woe! my love! 
 Whose broad brow, with the tilka-spot above, 
 
 Shames the bright moon at full with fleck of cloud; 
 Thou to mistake so little for so much ! 
 Thou, Krishna, to be palm to palm with such! 
 
 O Soul made for my joys, pure, perfect, proud! 
 
 Ah, my Beloved! in thy darkness dear; 
 Ah, Dancer! with the jewels in thine ear, 
 Swinging to music of a loveless love; 
 
 my Beloved! in thy fall so high 
 That angels, sages, spirits of the sky 
 
 Linger about thee, watching in the grove. 
 
 1 will be patient still, and draw thee ever, 
 My one Beloved, sitting by the river 
 
 Under the thick Kadambas with that throng: 
 Will there not come an end to earthly madness? 
 Shall I not, past the sorrow, have the gladness? 
 
 Must not the love-light shine for him ere long? 
 
 UMB^ WKM 
 
26 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 Shine, thou Light hy Radlia given. 
 Shine, thou splendid star of heaven / 
 Be a lamp to Krishna' s feet. 
 Show to all hearts secrets sweet. 
 Of the wonder and the love 
 Jayadev hath writ above. 
 Be the quick Interpreter 
 Unto wisest ears of her 
 Who always sings to all, " I wait, 
 He loveth still who loveth late." 
 
 For (sang on that high Lady in the shade) 
 My soul for tenderness, not blame, was made; 
 
 Mine eyes look through his evil to his good; 
 My heart coins pleas for him; my fervent thought 
 Prevents what he will say when these are naught. 
 
 And that which I am shall be understood. 
 
 Then spake she to her maiden wistfully — 
 
 ( WJiat follmcs is to the Music Malayagauda and the Mot 
 EkatalI) 
 
 Go to liim, — win him hither, — whisper low 
 How he may find me if he searches well ; 
 
 Say, if he will — joys past his hope to know 
 Await him here; go now to him, and tell 
 
 Where Radha is, and that henceforth she charms 
 His spirit to her arms. 
 
 Yes, go! say, if he will, that he may come — 
 May come, my love, my longing, my desire; 
 
 May come forgiven, shriven, to me his home. 
 And make his happy peace; nay, and aspire 
 
 To uplift Radha's veil, and learn at length 
 
 What love is in its strength. 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 27 
 
 Lead him; say softly I shall chide bis bliadness, 
 And vex him with my angers; yet add this, 
 
 He shall not vainly sue for loving- kindness, 
 Nor miss to see me close, nor lose the bliss 
 
 That lives upon my lip, nor be denied 
 
 The rose-throne at my side. 
 
 Say that I — Radba — in my bower languish 
 All widowed, till he find the way to me; 
 
 Say that mine eyes are dim, my breast all anguish, 
 Until with gentle murmured shame I see 
 
 His steps come near, his anxious pleading face 
 
 Bend for my pardoning grace. 
 
 While I — what, did he deem light love so tender, 
 To tarry for them v/hen the vow was made 
 
 To yield him up my bosom's maiden splendor, 
 And fold him in my fragrance, and unbraid 
 
 My shining hair for him, and clasp him close 
 
 To the gold heart of Ins Rose, 
 
 And sing him strains which only spirits know. 
 And make him captive with the silk-soft chain 
 
 Of twinned- wings brooding round him, and bestow 
 Kisses of Paradise, as pure as rain; 
 
 My gems, my moonlight-pearls, my girdle-gold. 
 Cymbaling music bold? 
 
 While gained for ever, I shall dare to grow 
 Life to life with him, in the realms divine; 
 
 And — Love's lai-ge cup at happy overflow, 
 Yet ever to be filled — his eyes and mine 
 
 Shall meet in that glad look, when Tim.e's great gate 
 Closes and shuts out Fate. 
 
28 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 Listen to the unsaid things 
 . Of the song which Radha sings, 
 For the soul draws near to bliss. 
 As it comprehendeth this. 
 I am Jayadev, who lorite 
 All this subtle-rich delight 
 For your teaching. Ponder, then, 
 What it tells to Gods and men. 
 Err not, watching Krishna gay, 
 With those brown girls all at play; 
 Understand hoio Radha charms 
 Her wandering lover to her arms, 
 Waiting loith divinest love 
 Till his dream ends in the grove. 
 
 For even now (slie sang) I see him pause, 
 
 Heart-stricken with the waste of heart he makes 
 
 Amid them; — all the bows of their bent brows 
 Wound him no more: no more for all their sakes 
 
 Plays he one note upon his amorous lute, 
 
 But lets the strings lie mute. 
 
 PeDsive, as if his parted lips should say — 
 
 " My feet with the danees are weary, 
 
 The music has dropped from the song, 
 There is no more delight in the lute-strings, 
 
 Sweet Shadows! what thing has gone wrong? 
 The wings of the wind have left fanning 
 
 The palms of the glade; 
 They are dead, and the blossoms seem dying 
 
 In the place where we played. 
 
 " We will play no more, beautiful Shadowsl 
 A fancy came solemn and sad. 
 
fiStiSivAzitiLTsi^iPsaati 
 
 TEE INDIAJSf SONG OF SONGS. 29 
 
 More sweet, with unspeakable longings, 
 Than the best of the pleasures we had: 
 
 I am not now the Krishna who kissed you; 
 That exquisite dream, — 
 
 The Vision I saw in my dancing — 
 Has spoiled what you seem. 
 
 'Ah! delicate phantoms that cheated 
 
 With eyes that looked lasting and true, 
 I awake, — I have seen her, — my angel — 
 
 Farewell to the wood and to you ! 
 Oh, whisper of wonderful pity ! 
 
 Oh, fair face that shone! 
 Though thou be a vision, Divinest! 
 
 This vision is done." 
 
 {Here ends that Barga of the Gita Govinda entitled Klesh- 
 
 AKESHAVO.) 
 
 SARGA THE THIRD. 
 
 MUGDHAMADHUSUDAKO. 
 KRISHNA TROUBLED. 
 
 Thereat,— as one who welcomes to her throne 
 A new-made Queen, and brings before it bound 
 Her enemies,— so Krishna in his heart 
 Throned Radha; and— all treasonous follies chained 
 He played no more with those first play-fellows: 
 But, searching through the shadows of the grove 
 For loveliest Radha,— Vv'heu he found her not 
 
30 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY, 
 
 Faint with the quest, despairing, lonely, lorn. 
 And pierced with shame for wasted love and da3-s, 
 He sate by Jumna, where the canes are thick, 
 And sang to the wood-eciioes words like these: 
 
 ( What follows is to the Music Guejjari and tlie Modi 
 
 Yati.) 
 
 Radha, Enchantress ! Radlia, queen of all ! 
 
 Gone — lost, because she found me sinni-ng here; 
 And I so stricken with my foolish fall, 
 
 I could not stay her out of shame and fear; 
 Slie will not hear-. 
 In her disdain and grief vainly I call. 
 
 And if she heard, what would she do? what say ? 
 
 How could I make it good that I forgot? 
 What profit was it to me, night and day, 
 
 To live, love, dance, and dream, having her not? 
 Soul without spot ! 
 I wronged thy patience, till it sighed away. 
 
 Sadly I see the truth. Ah! even now 
 Remembering that one look beside the river, 
 
 Softer the vexed eyes seem, and the proud brow 
 Than lotus-leaves when the bees make them quiver. 
 My love forever! 
 
 Too late is Krishna wise — too far art thou! 
 
 Yet all day long in m}^ deep heart I woo thee, 
 And all night long witli thee my dreams are SAveet; 
 
 Why, then, so vainly must my steps pursue thee? 
 Why can I never reach thee to entreat, 
 Low at \\\y feet, 
 
 Dear vanished Splendor! till my tears subdiie thee? 
 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 31 
 
 Surpassing One! I knew thou didst not brook 
 Half-hearted worship, and a love that wavers; 
 
 Haho! there is the wisdom I mistook, 
 Therefore I seek with desperate endeavors; 
 That fault dissevers 
 
 Me from my heaven, astray— condemned— forsookl 
 
 And yet I seem to feel, to know, thee near me; 
 
 Thy steps make music, measured music, near; 
 Radha! my Radha! will not sorrow clear me? 
 
 Shine once! speak one word pitiful and dear! 
 Wilt thou not hear? 
 Canst thou— because I did forget— forsake me? 
 
 Forgive! the sin is sinned, is past, is over; 
 
 No thought I think shall do thee wrong again; 
 Turn thy dark ej'es again upon thy lover, 
 
 Bright Spirit! or I perish of this pain. 
 Loving again! 
 In dread of doom to love, but not recover. 
 
 So did Kruhna sing and sigh 
 
 By the river-hank; and I, 
 
 Jayadev of KinduTiha, 
 
 Besting— as the moon of silver 
 
 Sits upon the solemn ocean — 
 
 On full faith, in deep devotion; 
 
 Tell it that ye may perceive 
 
 How the heart must fret and grieve; 
 
 Bow the soul doth tire of earth, 
 
 When the love from Eeav'n hath Mrth. 
 
 For (sang he on) I am no foe of thine, 
 There is no black snake, Kama! in my hair: 
 
J- 
 
 82 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 Blue lotus-leaves, and not the poisoned brine. 
 Shadow my neck; what stains my bosom bare, 
 Thou God unfair! 
 Is sandal-dust, not ashes; nought of mine 
 
 Makes me like Shiva that thou, Lord of Lovel 
 Shouldst strain thy string at me and fit thy dart; 
 
 This world is thine — let me one breast thereof 
 Which bleeds already, wounded to the heart 
 With lasting smart, 
 
 Shot from those brows that did my sin reprove. 
 
 Thou gavest her those black brows for a bow 
 Arched like thine own, whose pointed arrows seem 
 
 Her glances, and the underlids that go — 
 
 So firm and fine — its string? Ah, fleeting gleam! 
 Beautiful dream! 
 
 Small need of Kama's help hast thou, I trow, 
 
 To smite me to the soul with love; — but set 
 Those arrows to their silken cord I enchain 
 
 My thoughts in that loose hair! let thy lips, wet 
 With dew of heaven as bimba-buds with rain. 
 Bloom precious pain 
 
 Of longing in my heart; and, keener yet, 
 
 The heaving of thy lovely, angry bosom, 
 Pant to my spirit things unseen, unsaid; 
 
 But if thy touch, thy tones, if the dark blossom 
 Of thy dear face, thy jasmine-odors shed 
 From feet to head. 
 
 If these be all with me, canst thou be far — be fled? 
 
 80 sang he, and I pray fhai whoso hears 
 The music of his burning hopes and fears, 
 
 ""~ 
 

 THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 33 
 
 That whoso sees this tision by the River 
 Of Krishna, Ilari, {can we name him ever?) 
 And marks his ear-ring rubies swinging slow, 
 As he sits still, unheedful, bending loio 
 To play this tune upon his lute, ichile all 
 ■ Listen to catch the sadness musical; 
 And Krishna icotteth nought, but, with set face 
 Turned full toward Radha's, plays on in that place; 
 May all such souls — prays Jayadev — be loise 
 To learn the wisdom lohich hereunder lies. 
 
 {Here ends that Sarga of the Geta Govinda entitled 
 
 MUGDHAMAD^I^SUDA:^^ o. ) 
 
 SARGA THE FOURTH. 
 
 SXIGDHAMADHUSUDAKO. 
 
 KRISHNA CHEERED. 
 
 Then slie whom Radha sent came to the canes — 
 The caues beside the river where he lay 
 "With listless limbs and spirit weak from love ; — 
 And she sang this to Krishna wistfully. 
 
 ( "What follows is to the Music Kabnata and the Mode 
 EkatalI) 
 
 Art thou sick for Radha? she is sad in turn, 
 Heaven foregoes its blessings, if it holds not thee; 
 
 All the cooling fragrance of sandal she doth spurn, 
 Moonlight makes her mournful with radiance silvery; 
 
34 TH^ ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 Even the soiuliern breeze blowu fresU from pearly seas, 
 
 Seems to her but laiuted by a dolorous briue; 
 And for thy sake discontented, with a great love over- 
 laden, 
 Her soul comes here beside thee, and sitteth down 
 with thine. 
 
 Her soul comes here beside thee, and tenderly and true 
 It weaves a subtle m.ail of proof to ward off sin and 
 pain; 
 A breastplate soft as lotus-leaf, with holy tears for dew, 
 To guard thee from the things that hurt; and then 'tis 
 gone again 
 To strew a blissful place with the richest buds that grace 
 Kama's sweet world, a meeting-spot with rose and jas- 
 mine fair. 
 For the hour when, well-contented, with a love no 
 
 longer troubled, 
 Thou shalt find the way to Radha, and finish sorrows 
 there. 
 
 But now her lovely face is shadowed by her fears; 
 Her glorious eyes are veiled and dim like moonlight in 
 eclipse 
 By breaking rain-clouds, Krishna! yet she paints you in 
 her tears 
 With tender thoughts — not Krishna, but brow and 
 breast and lips 
 And form and mien a King, a great and god like thing; 
 And then with bended head she asks grace from the 
 Love Divine, 
 To keep thee discontented with the phantoms thou for- 
 swcarest, 
 Till she may win her glory, and thou be raised to thine. 
 
 I 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 35 
 
 Softly now she saj'-etli, 
 
 " Krislma, Krishna, come!" 
 Lovingly she prayeth, 
 
 " Fair moon, light him home." 
 Yet if Hari helps not, 
 
 Moonlight cannot aid ; 
 Ah! the woeful Radha! 
 
 Ah! the forest shade 1 
 
 Ah ! if Ilari guide not. 
 
 Moonlight is as gloom; 
 Ah! if moonlight help not, 
 
 How shall Krishna come? 
 Sad for Krishna grieving 
 
 In the darkened grove; 
 Sad for Radha weaving 
 
 Dreams of fruitless love! 
 
 Strike soft strings to tlds soft measure. 
 If thine ear would catch its treasure; 
 Sloioly dance to this deep song, 
 Let its meaning float along 
 With grave paces, since it tells 
 Of a love that sweetly dicells 
 ' In a tender distant glory, 
 Fast all faults of mortal story. 
 
 ( What foll&iDs is to the Music Deshaga and the Mode 
 EkatalI.) 
 
 Krishna, till thou come unto her, faint she lies with love 
 
 and fear! 
 Even the jewels of her necklet seem a load too great to 
 
 bear. 
 
— "jU 
 
 36 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 Krishna, till tbou come iiuto her, nil the sandal and the 
 
 flowers 
 Yex her with their pure perfection though they grow in 
 
 heavenly bowers. 
 
 ft 
 Krishna, till thou come unto her, fair albeit those bowers 
 
 may be, 
 Pcission burns her, and love's fire fevers her for lack of 
 
 thee. 
 
 Krishna, till thou come unto her, those divine lids, dark 
 
 and tender, 
 Droop like lotus-leaves in rain-storms, dashed and heavy 
 
 in their splendor. 
 
 Krishna, till thou come unto her, that rose-couch which 
 
 she hath spread 
 Saddens with its empty place, its double pillow for one 
 
 head. 
 
 Krishna, till thou come unto her, from her palms she will 
 
 not lift 
 The dark face hidden deep within them like the moon in 
 
 cloudy rift. 
 
 Krishna, till thou come unto her, angel though- she be, 
 
 thy Love 
 Sighs and suffers, waits and watches— joyless 'mid those 
 
 joys above. 
 
 Krishna, till thou come unto her, with the comfort of thy 
 
 kiss 
 Deeper than thy loss, O Krishna! must be loss of Radha's 
 
 bliss. 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 37 
 
 Krishna, while thou didst forget her— her, tliy life, tliy 
 
 gentle fate — 
 Wonderful her waiting was, her pity sweet, her patience 
 
 great. 
 
 Krishna, come! 'tis grief untold to grieve her — shame to 
 
 let her sigh; 
 Come, for she is sick with love, and thou her only 
 
 remedy. 
 
 So she sang, and Jayadeva 
 
 Prays for all, and prays far ever, 
 
 TJiat Great Hari may bestow 
 
 Utmost bliss of loving so 
 
 On us all; — that one loho woi'e 
 
 IJie herdsman's form, and heretofore, 
 
 To save the shepherd's threatened fiocTc, 
 
 Up from the earth reared the huge rock — 
 
 BesioiD it with a gracious hand. 
 
 Albeit, amid the icoodland band, 
 
 Clinging close in fond caresses 
 
 Krishna gave them ardent kisses. 
 
 Taking on his lips divine 
 
 Earthly stamp and woodland sign. 
 
 (Here ends that Sarga of the Gita Govinda entitled 
 Snigdhamadhusudaxo. 
 
 T 
 
38 THE ELZEVm LIBRARY. 
 
 SARGA TEE FIFTH 
 
 SAKANDKSHAPUNDARIKAKSHO. 
 
 THE LONGINGS OF KRISHNA. 
 
 " Say I am herel oh, if slie pardons me, 
 Say wliere I am, and win lier softly liither," 
 So Krishna to the maid; and willingly 
 She came again to Radha, and she sang 
 
 (What follows is to Hie Music Deshivaradi and the Mode 
 
 RUPAKA.) 
 
 Low whispers the wind from Malaya 
 
 Overladen with love; 
 On tlie hills all the grass is burned yellow; 
 
 And the trees in the grove 
 Droop with tendrils that mock by their clinging 
 
 The thoughts of the parted; 
 And there lies, sore-sighing for thee, 
 
 Thy love, altered-hearted. 
 
 To him the moon's icy-chill silver 
 
 Is a sun at midday; 
 The fever he burns with is deeper 
 
 Than starlight can stay: 
 Like one who falls stricken by arrows, 
 
 With the color departed 
 From all but his red wounds, so lies 
 
 Thy love, bleeding-hearted. 
 
 ^■^Wftftil-iUI-IJli W- IJii 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 39 
 
 To the music the banded bees make liim 
 
 He closeth his ear; 
 lu the blossoms their small horns are blowing 
 
 The honey-song clear; 
 But as if every sting to his bosom 
 
 Its smart had imparted, 
 Low lies by the edge of the river, 
 
 Thy love, aching-hearted. 
 
 By the edge of the river, far wandered 
 
 From his once beloved bowers, 
 And the haunts of his beautiful playmates, 
 
 And the beds strewn with flowers; 
 Now thy name is his playmate— that only!— 
 
 And the hard rocks upstarted 
 From the sand make the couch where he lies, 
 
 Thy Krishna, sad-hearted. 
 
 Oh may Harifill each soul, 
 As these gentle verses roll 
 Telling of the anguish home 
 By kindred ones asunder torn ! 
 Oh may Hari unto each 
 All the love of loving teach. 
 All the pain and all the bliss; 
 Jayadeva prayeth this I 
 
 Yea, Lady! in the self-same spot he waits 
 Where with thy kiss thou taught'st him utmost love, 
 And drew him, as none else draws, with thy look; 
 And all day long, and all night long, his cry 
 Is "Radha, Radha," like a spell said o'er; 
 And in his heart there lives no wish nor hope 
 Save only this, to slake his spirit's thirst 
 For Radha's love on Radha's lips; and find 
 Peace in the immortal beauty of thy brow. 
 
40 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 ( ^VJlat follows is to the Music Guejjar! and the Mode 
 Ekatal!.) 
 
 Mistress, sweet and bright and holy! 
 
 Meet him in that place; 
 Change his cheerless melancholy 
 
 Into joy and grace; 
 If thou hast forgiven, vex not; 
 
 If thou lovest, go; 
 Watching ever by the river, 
 
 Krishna listens low: 
 
 Listens low, and on his reed there 
 
 Softl}'- sounds by name, 
 Making even mute things plead there 
 
 For his hope: 'tis shame 
 That, while winds are welcome to him, 
 
 If from thee they blow, 
 Mournful ever by the river 
 
 Krishna waits thee so ! 
 
 When a bird's wing stirs the roses, 
 
 When a leaf falls dead, 
 Twenty times he recomposes 
 
 The flower-seat he has spread: 
 Twenty times, with anxious glances 
 
 Seeking thee in vain, 
 Sighing ever by the river, 
 
 Krishna droops again. 
 
 Loosen from thy foot the bangle, 
 
 Lest its golden bell, 
 AVilh a tiny, tattling jangle, 
 
 Any false tale tell; 
 
i 
 
 f- 
 
 THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 41 
 
 If thou fearest that the moonlight 
 
 Will thy glad face know, 
 Draw tliose dark braids lower. Lady I 
 
 But to Krishna go. 
 
 Swift and still as lightning's splendor 
 
 Let thy beauty come, 
 Sudden, gracious, dazzling, tender. 
 
 To his arms — its home: 
 Swift as Indra's yellow lightning. 
 
 Shining through the night, 
 Glide to Krislma'slonely bosom, 
 
 Take him love and light. 
 
 Grant, at last, love's utmost measure, 
 
 Giving, give the whole; 
 Keep back nothing of the treasure 
 
 Of thy priceless soul: 
 Hold with both hands out unto him 
 
 Thy chalice, let him drain 
 The nectar of its dearest draught. 
 
 Till not a wish remain. 
 
 Only go — the stars are setting, 
 
 And thy Krishna grieves; 
 Doubt and anger quite forgetting. 
 
 Hasten through the leaves: 
 Wlierefore didst thou lead him heav'nward 
 
 But for this thing's sake? 
 Comfort him with pity, Radhal 
 
 Or his heart must break. 
 
 But while Jayadeva writes 
 
 This rare tale of deep delights — 
 Jayadev, whose heart is given 
 
 Unto Ilari, Lord in, Ueaxen— 
 
42 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 See thai ye too, as ye read, 
 With a. glad and humble heed, 
 Bend your brows before His face. 
 That ye may have bliss and grace. 
 
 And then the Maid, compassionate, sang on — 
 
 Lady, most sweet! 
 
 For til}'' coming feet 
 He listens in the wood, with love sore-tried; 
 
 Faintly sighing, 
 
 Lilie one a-dying, 
 He sends his thoughts afoot to meet his bride. 
 
 Ah, silent one! 
 
 Sunk is the sun, 
 Tlie darkness falls as deep as Krishna's sorrow; 
 
 The chakor's strain 
 
 Is not more vain 
 Than mine, and soon gray dawn will bring white 
 morrow. 
 
 And thine own bliss 
 
 Delays by this; 
 The utmost of thy heaven comes only so 
 
 When, with hearts beating 
 
 And passionate greeting, 
 Parting is over, and the parted grow 
 
 One — one for ever! 
 
 And tlie old endeavor 
 To be so blended is assuaged at last ; 
 
 And tlie glad tears raining 
 
 Have nought remaining 
 Of doubt or 'plaining; and the dread has passed 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 43 
 
 Out of each face, 
 
 In tlie close embrace, 
 That by-and-by embracing will be over; 
 
 The ache that causes 
 
 Those mournful pauses 
 In bowers of earth between lover and lover: 
 
 To be no more felt, 
 
 To fade, to melt 
 In the strong certainty of joys immortal; 
 
 In the glad meeting, 
 
 And quick sweet greeting 
 Of lips that close beyond Time's shadowy portal. 
 
 And to thee is given. 
 
 Angel of Heaven ! 
 This glory and this joy with Krishna. Gol 
 
 Let him attain. 
 
 For his long pain. 
 The prize it promised, — see thee coming slow. 
 
 A vision firsts but then — 
 
 By glade and glen — 
 A lovely, loving soul, true to its home; 
 
 His Queen — his Crown — his All, 
 
 Hast'ning at last to fall 
 Upon his breast, and live there. Radha, come! 
 
 Come! and come thou, Lord of all, 
 Zfnio whom the Three Worlds call; 
 Thou, that didst in angry might, 
 Kansa, like a comet, smite ; 
 Thou, that in thy passion tender. 
 An incarnate spell and splendor. 
 Hung on Radha' s glorious face — 
 In the garb of Krishna's grace — 
 
8 
 
 44 THE ELZE'Vm LIBBABY. 
 
 As above the Jjloom the bee. 
 When the honeyed revelry 
 Is too subtle-sweet an one 
 Not to hang and dally on ; 
 Thou that art the Three Worlds' glory 
 Of life the light, of every story 
 The meaning and the mark, of love 
 The root andfloicer, d the sky above 
 The blue, of bliss the heart, of those, 
 The lovers, that which did impose 
 Ihe gentle law, that each should be 
 The other s Heav'n and harmony. 
 {Here ends that Sarga of the Gita Govinda entitled 
 
 SAKANDKSHAPUIS'DARIK AKsno. ) 
 
 SARGA THE SIXTH. 
 
 DHKISHTAVAIKUNTO. 
 
 KRISHNA MADE BOLDER. 
 
 But seeing that, for all her loYing will, 
 Tiie flower-soft feet of Radha had not power 
 To leave their place and go, she sped again — 
 That maiden — and to Krishna's eager ears 
 Told how it fared with his sweet mistress there. 
 
 {What follows is to the Jf?mc Gokdakiri and the Mode 
 
 RUPAKA.) • 
 
 Krishna! 'tis thou must come, (she sang) 
 Ever she v.-aits thee in heavenly bower; 
 
 The lotus seeks not the wandering bee, 
 The bee must find the flower. 
 
 t 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 45 
 
 All the wood over Iier deep ej^es roam, 
 
 Marvelliug sore where tarries the bee, 
 Who leaves such lips of nectar unsought 
 
 As those that blossom for thee. 
 
 Her steps would fail if she tried to come, 
 Would falter and fail, with yearning weak; 
 
 At the first of the road they would falter and pause, 
 And the way is strange to seek. 
 
 Find her where she is sitting, then, 
 
 With lotus-blossom on ankle and arm 
 Wearing thine emblems, and musing of nought 
 
 But the meeting to be— glad, warm. 
 
 To be—" but wherefore tarrieth he?" 
 
 " What can stay or delay him? — go! 
 See if the soul of Krishna comes," 
 
 Ten times she sayelh to me so; 
 
 Ten times lost in a languorous swoon, 
 
 " Now he Cometh— he cometh," she cries; 
 
 And a love-look lights her eyes in the gloom. 
 And the darkness is sweet with her sighs. 
 
 Till, watching in vain, she sinks again 
 Under the shade of the whispering leaves. 
 
 With a heart too full of its love at last 
 To heed how her bosom heaves. 
 
 Shall not these fav" verses sicell 
 The number of the tcise icJio dwell 
 In the realm of Kama's bliss f 
 Jayadev prayeth this, 
 Jayadci\ the hard of Love, 
 Servant of the Gods above. 
 
48 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 For all so strong in Heaven itself 
 
 Is Love, that Radha sits drooping there. 
 
 Her beautiful bosoms panting with thought, 
 And the braids drawn back from her ear. 
 
 And — angel albeit — her rich lips breathe 
 Sighs, if sighs were ever so sweet; 
 
 And — if spirits can tremble — she trembles now 
 From forehead to jewelled feet, 
 
 And her voice of music sinks to a sob, 
 And her eyes, like eyes of a mated roe. 
 
 Are tender with looks of yielded love, 
 With dreams dreamed long ago; 
 
 Long — ^long ago, but soon to grow truth, 
 To end, and be waking and certain and true ; 
 
 Of which dear surety murmur her lips, 
 As the lips of sleepers do: 
 
 And, dreaming, she loosens her girdle-pearls. 
 And opens her arms to the empty air, 
 
 Then starts, if a leaf of the champ^k falls, 
 Sighing, " O leaf! is he there?" 
 
 Why dost thou linger in this dull spot, 
 Haunted by serpents and evil for thee? 
 
 Why not hasten to Nanda's House? 
 It is plain, if thine eyes could see. 
 
 May these icords of high endeavoi' — 
 Fall of grace and gentle favor — 
 Find out those whose hearts can fed 
 What the message did reveal, 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 47 
 
 Words that Radha's messenger 
 
 Unto Krishna took from her, 
 
 Slowly guiding him to come 
 
 Through the forest to Ms home. 
 
 Guiding him to find the road 
 
 Which led — though long — to Love's abode. 
 
 {Here ends that Sarga of the Gita Govinda entitled 
 Dhrishtavaiku]s;to. ) 
 
 SARGA THE SEVENTH. 
 
 VIPRALABDHAVARNANE 
 NAGAEANARAYANO. 
 
 KRISHNA SUPPOSED FALSE. 
 
 Meantime the moon, the rolling moon, clomb high, 
 And over all Yriud5,vaua it shone; 
 The moon which on the front of gentle night 
 Gleams like the chundun-mark on beauty's brow; 
 The conscious moon which hath its silver face 
 Marred with the shame of lighting earthly loves: 
 
 And while the round white lamp of earth rose higher, 
 And still he tarried, Radha, petulant, 
 Sang soft impatience and half-earnest fears. 
 
 {What fellows is to the Music Malava and the 3Iode Yati.) 
 'Tis time! — he comes not! — will he conic? 
 
 Can he leave me thus to pine? 
 Yami hS kam sharanam / 
 Ah! what refuge then is mine? 
 
48 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 For his sake I sought the wood, 
 Threaded dark and devious ways; 
 
 Tami he kam sharanam ! 
 Can it be Krishna betrays? 
 
 Let me die then, and forget 
 Anguish, patience, hope, and fear; 
 
 Yami he Team sharanam ! 
 Ah, why have I lield him dear? 
 
 Ah, this soft night torments me, 
 Tliinking that his faitliless arms— 
 
 Yami he ham sharanam ! — 
 Clasp some shadow of my charms. 
 
 Fatal shadow — foolish mock! 
 
 When the great love shone confessed ;- 
 Yami he kam sharanam ! 
 
 Krishna's lotus loads my breast; 
 
 *Tis too heavy, lacking him ; 
 
 Like a broken flower I am — 
 Necklets, jewels, what are ye? 
 
 Yami he kam sharanam! 
 
 Yami he kam sharanam ! 
 
 The sky is still, the forest sleeps; 
 Krishna forgets — he loves no more; 
 
 He fails in faith, and Radha weeps. 
 
 But the poet Jayadev — 
 He icho is great HarVs slam. 
 He who finds asylum sweet 
 Only at great HarVsfeet; 
 He who for your comfort sings 
 AU this to the Vina's strings — 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 49 
 
 Prays that Badha's tender moan 
 In your hearts be thought upon, 
 And that all her holy grace 
 Live there like the loxed one's face. 
 
 Yet, if I wrong him (sang she)— can he fail? 
 
 Could any in the wood win back his kisses? 
 Could any softest lips of earth prevail 
 
 To hold him from my arms? any love-blisses 
 
 Blind him once more to mine? O Soul, my prize! 
 
 Art thou not merely hindered at this hour? 
 Sore-wearied, wandering, lost? how otherwise 
 
 Shouldst thou not hasten to the bridal-bower? 
 
 But seeing far away that Maiden come 
 
 Alone, with e3^es cast down and lingering steps, 
 
 Again a little while she feared to hear 
 
 Of Krishna false ; and her quick thoughts took shape 
 
 In a fine jealousy, with words like these — 
 
 Something then of earth has held him 
 
 From his home above, 
 Some one of those slight deceivers — 
 
 Ah, my foolish love ! 
 
 Some new face, some winsome playmate, 
 
 With her hair untied, 
 And the blossoms tangled in it, 
 
 "Woos him to her side. 
 
 On the dark orbs of her bosom — 
 
 Passionately heaved — 
 Sink and rise the warm, white pearl-strings. 
 
 Oh, my love deceived! 
 
50 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 Fair? yes, yes! the rippled shadow 
 
 Of that midnight hair 
 Shows above her brow — as clouds do 
 
 O'er the moon — most fair: 
 
 And she knows, with wilful paces, 
 
 How to make her zone 
 Gleam and please him; and her ear-rings 
 
 Tinkle love; and grown 
 
 Coy as he grows fond, she meets him 
 
 With a modest show; 
 Shaming truth wnlh truthful seeming, 
 
 While her laugh — light, low — 
 
 And her subtle mouth that murmurs. 
 
 And her silken cheek, 
 And her eyes, say she dissembles 
 
 Plain as speech could speak. 
 
 Till at length, a fatal victress, 
 
 Of her triumph vain, 
 On his neck she lies and smiles there: — 
 
 Ah, my Jo}'! — m}" Pain! 
 
 But may Radha'sfond annoy, 
 And may Krishna's daimiiny joy ^ 
 
 Warm and icaken love more fit — 
 
 Jayadeva prayeth ii — 
 
 And the griefs and sins assuage 
 
 Of this blind and evil age. 
 
 O Moon! (she sang) that art so pure and pale, 
 Is Krishna wan like thee with loneh' w'aiting? 
 
 O lamp of love! art thou the lover's friend, 
 
 And wilt not bring liim, my long pain abating? 
 
TEE mniAN SONG OF SONGS. 51 
 
 O fruitless moon! thou dost increjise my pain; 
 O faithless Krishna! I have striven in vain. 
 
 And then, lost in her fancies sad, she moaned— 
 
 ( What follows is to the Music Guiujar! and the Mode 
 Ekatali.) 
 
 In vain, in vain! 
 Earth will of earth! I mourn more than I blame; 
 
 If he had known, he would not sit and paint 
 The tilka on her smooth black brow, nor claim 
 
 Quick kisses from her yielded lips— false, faint— 
 False, fragrant, fatal! Krishna's quest is o'er 
 By Jumna's shore ! 
 
 Vain — it was vain ! 
 The temptress was too near, the heav'n too far; 
 
 I can but weep because he sits and ties 
 Garlands of fire-flowers for her loosened hair. 
 
 And in its silken shadow veils his eyes 
 And buries his fond face. Yet I forgave 
 By Jumna's wave! 
 
 Vaiuly! all vain! 
 Make then the most of that whereto thou'rt given. 
 
 Feign her thy Paradise— thy Love of loves; 
 Say that her eyes are stars, her face the heaven, 
 
 Her bosoms the two worlds, with sandal croves 
 Famt-sceuted, and the kiss-marks— ah, thy dream 
 By Jumna's stream! 
 
 It shall be vain! 
 And vain to string the emeralds on her arm 
 And hang the milky pearls upon her neck, 
 
53 THE ELZEVm LIBRABY. 
 
 Saying tliey are not jewels, but a swarm 
 
 Of crowded, glossy bees, come there to suck 
 The rosebuds of lier breast, the sweetest flowers 
 Of Jumna's bowers. 
 
 That shall be vain ! 
 Nor wilt thou so believe thine own blind wooing, 
 
 Nor slake thy heart's thirst even with the cup 
 Which at the last she brims for thee, undoing 
 Her girdle of carved gold, and yielding up. 
 Love's uttermost: brief the poor gain and pride 
 By Jumna's tide 
 
 Because still vain 
 Is love that feeds on shadow; vain, as thou dost, 
 
 To look so deep into the phantom eyes 
 For that which lives not there ; and vain, as thou must, 
 
 To marvel why thy painted pleasure flies, 
 When the fair, false wings seemed folded for ever 
 By Jumna's river. 
 
 And vain ! yes, vain ! 
 For me too is it, having so much striven, 
 
 To see this fine snare take thee, and thy soul 
 Which should have climbed to mine, and shared my 
 heaven, 
 Spent on a lower loveliness, whose whole 
 Passion of love were but a parody 
 
 Of that kept here for thee. 
 
 Ahaha! vain! 
 For on some isle of Jumna's silver stream 
 
 He gives all that they ask to those dull eyes, 
 While mine which are his angel's, mine which gleam 
 
 With light that might have led him to the skies— 
 That almost led him — are eclipsed with tears 
 Wailing my fruitless prayers. 
 
THE INDIAN SOJS'G OF SONGS. 53 
 
 But thou, good Friend, 
 Hang not thy head for shame, nor come so slowly, 
 
 As one whose message is too hard to tell ; 
 If tliou must say Krishna is forfeit wholly — 
 
 Wholly forsworn and lost — let the grief dwell 
 Where the sin doth, — except in this sad heart, 
 Which cannot shun its part. 
 
 great Hari ! purge from wrong 
 The soul of him who writes this song; 
 Purge the souls of those that read 
 From every fault of thought and deed; 
 With thy blessed light assuage 
 TJie darkness of this evil age ! 
 Jayadev the hard of love. 
 Servant of tlie Qods above, 
 Prays it for himself and you — 
 Gentle hearts who listen ! — too. 
 
 Then m this other strain she wailed his loss — 
 {WJiatfolhws is to iJis Music BEBHAYABADt and the Mode 
 
 RUPAKA.) 
 
 She, not Radha, wins the crowa 
 
 Whose false lips were dearest; 
 What was distant gain to him 
 
 When sweet loss stood nearest? 
 Love her, therefore, lulled to loss 
 
 On her fatal bosom ; 
 Love her with such love as she 
 
 Can give back in the blossom. 
 
 Love her, O thou rash lost soul! 
 
 With thy thousand graces; 
 Coin rare thoughts into fair words 
 
 For her face of faces; 
 
54 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 Praise it, fling away for it 
 
 Life's purpose in a sigh, 
 All for those lips like flower-leaves, 
 
 And lotus-dark deep eye. 
 
 Nay, and thou shalt be happy too 
 
 Till the fond dream is over; 
 And she shall taste delight to hear 
 
 The wooing of her lover; 
 The breeze that brings the sandal up 
 
 From distant green Malay, 
 Shall seem all fragrance in the night, 
 
 All coolness in the day. 
 
 The crescent moon shall seem to swim 
 
 Only that she may see 
 The glad eyes of my Krishna gleam. 
 
 And her soft glances he; 
 It shall be as a silver lamp 
 
 Set in the sky to show 
 The rose-leaf palms that cling and clasp, 
 
 And the breast that beats below. 
 
 The thought of parting shall not lie 
 
 Cold on their throbbing lives, 
 The dread of ending shall not chill 
 
 The glow beginning gives; 
 She in her beauty dark shall look — 
 
 As long as clouds can be — 
 As gracious as the rain-time cloud 
 
 Kissing the shining sea. 
 
 And he, amid his playmates old, 
 
 At least a little while, 
 Shall not breathe forth again the sigh 
 
 That spoils the song and smile ; 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 55 
 
 Shall be left wnolly to his choice, 
 
 Free for his pleasant sin, 
 Wilh the golden-girdled damsels 
 
 Of the bowers I found him in. 
 
 For me, his Angel, only 
 
 The sorrow and the smart, 
 The pale grief sitting on the brow 
 
 The dead hope in the heart; 
 For me the loss of losing, 
 
 For me the ache and dearth ; 
 My king crowned with the wood-flowers! 
 
 My fairest upon earth ! 
 
 ITari, Lord and King of love / 
 From thy throne of light above 
 Stoop to help us, deign to take 
 Our spirits to thee for the sake 
 OftJiissong, lohich speaks the fears 
 Of all who tceep icith Radha's tears. 
 
 But love is strong to pardon, slow to part, 
 And still the Lady, in her fancies, sang — 
 
 Wind of the Indian stream! 
 A little — oh! a little — breathe once more 
 The fragrance like his mouth's! blow from thy shore 
 A last word as he fades into a dream; 
 
 Bodiless Lord of love! 
 Show liim once more to me a minute's space. 
 My Krishna, with the love-look in his face, 
 And then I come to my own place above; 
 
 I will depart nnd give 
 All bnck to Fate and her : I will submit 
 To thy stern will, and bow m3'self to it. 
 Enduring still, though desolate, to live : 
 
56 THE ELZEVIB LIBRARY. 
 
 If it indeed be life, 
 Even so resigning, to sit patience-mad, 
 To feel the zepliyrsburn, the sunlight sad, 
 The peace of holy heaven, a restless strife. 
 
 Haho! what words are these? 
 How can I live and lose him? how not go 
 Whither love draws me for a soul loved so? 
 How yet endure such sorrow? — or how cease? 
 
 Wind of the Indian wave! 
 If that thou canst, blow poison here, not nard; 
 God of the five sliafts! shoot thy sharpest hard, 
 And kill me, Radha, — Radha who forgave! 
 
 Or, bitter River, 
 Yamiin! be Yama's sister! be Death's kin! 
 Swell thy wave up to me and gulf me in. 
 Cooling this cruel, burning pain forever. 
 
 Ah ! if only visions stir 
 
 Grief so 'passionate in her, 
 
 Wltat dimne grief will not take, 
 
 Spirits in heaven for the sake 
 
 Of those who miss love f Oh, be wise ! 
 
 Mark this storij of the skies; 
 
 Meditate Govinda ever, 
 
 Sitting by the sacred river, 
 
 The mystic stream, which o'er his feet 
 
 Glides slow, with murmurs low and sweet, 
 
 Till none can tell whether those be 
 
 Blue lotus-blooms, seen veiledly 
 
 Under the wave, or mirrored gems 
 
 Reflected from the diadems 
 
TEE mniAN soNa of songs. 
 
 Bound on the brotcs of mighty Gods, 
 Who lean from out their pure abodes, 
 And leave their bright felicities 
 To guide great Krishna to his skies. 
 
 {Here ends that Sarga of the Giat Govinda entitled 
 
 YlPBALABDHAVARNANE NaGARANARAYANO.) 
 
 SABGA THE EIGHTH. 
 
 KH AND IT AV ARN ANE 
 VILAKSHALAKSHMIPATI. 
 
 THE REBUKING OF KRISHNA. 
 
 For when the weary night had worn away 
 In these vain fears, and the clear morning broke, 
 Lo, Krishna! lo, the longed-for of her soul 
 Came too! — in the glad light he came, and bent 
 His knees, and clasped his hands; on his dumb lips 
 Fear, wonder, joy, passion, and reverence 
 Strove for the trembling words, and Radha knew 
 Joy won for him and her; yet none the less 
 A little time she chided him, and sang, 
 
 {What follows is to the Music Bhairavi and the Mode 
 Yati.) 
 
 Krishna! — then thou hast found me! — and thine eyes 
 Heavy and sad and stained, as if with weeping! 
 
 Ah! is it not that those which were thy prize 
 So radiant seemed that all night thou wert keeping 
 
;S THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 Vigils of tender wooing? — have thy Love! 
 
 Here is no place for vows broken in making; 
 Thou Lotus-eyed! thou soul for whom I strove! 
 
 Go! ere I listen, my just mind forsaking. 
 
 Krishna! my Krishna with the woodland-wreath! 
 
 lleturn, or I shall soften as I blame; 
 The while thy very lips are dark to the teeth 
 
 With dye that from her lids and lashes came, 
 Left on the mouth I touched. Fair traitor! go! 
 
 Say not they darkened, lacking food and sleep 
 Long waiting for my face ; I turn it — so — 
 
 Go! ere I half believe thee, pleading deep; 
 
 But wilt thou plead, when, like a love-verse printed 
 
 On the smooth polish of an emerald, 
 I see the marks she stamped, the kisses dinted 
 
 Large lettered, by her lips? thy speech withheld 
 Speaks all too plainly; go, — abide thy choice! 
 
 If thou dost stay, I shall more greatly grieve thee; 
 Not records of her victory? — peace, dear voice! 
 
 Hence with that godlike brow, lest I believe thee. 
 
 For dar'st thou feign the saffron on thy bosom 
 Was not implanted in disloyal embrace? 
 
 Or that this many-colored love-tree blossom 
 Shone not, but yesternight, above her face? 
 
 Comest thou here, so late, to be forgiven, 
 O thou, in whose eyes Truth was made to live? 
 
 O thou, so worthy else of grace and heaven? 
 
 thou, so nearly won? Ere I forgive, 
 
 Go, Krishna ! go ! — lest I should think, unwise, 
 
 Thy heart not false, as thy long lingering seems, 
 Lest, seeing myself so imaged in thine eyes, 
 
 1 shame the name of Pity — turn to dreams 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 59 
 
 Ths shcred sound of vows; make Virtue grudge 
 Her praise to Mercy, calling thy sins light; 
 
 Go therefore, dear offender! go! thy Judge 
 Had best not see thee to give sentence right.* 
 
 But may lie grant us peace at last and bliss 
 
 Who heard, — and smiled to hear, — delays like this, 
 
 Delays that dallied with a dream come true, 
 
 Fond wilful angers; for the maid laughed too 
 
 To see, as Radha ended, her hand take 
 
 His dark robe for her teil, and Krishna make 
 
 The icord she spoke for parting kindliest sign 
 
 He should not go, hut stay. grace divine. 
 
 Be ours too ! Jayadev, the Poet of love 
 
 Prays it from Hari, lordliest above. 
 
 {Here ends that Sarga of the Gita Govinda entitled 
 
 EnANDITAVARNANE ViLAKSHALAKSHMIPATI. ) 
 
 SARGA THE NINTH 
 
 KALAHANTARITAVARNANE 
 MUGDHAMUKUNDO. 
 
 THE END OF KRISHNA'S TRIAL. 
 
 Yet not quite did the doubts of Radha die, 
 Nor her sweet brows unbend; but she, the Maid- 
 Knowing her heart so tender, her soft arms 
 Aching to take him in, her rich mouth sad 
 For the coming of his kiss, and these fears false— 
 Spake yet a little in fair words like these. 
 
 * The text hei-e is uot closely followed. 
 
60 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 ( What follows is to iTie Music Gurjjari and the Mode 
 
 Yati.) 
 
 The lesson thai thy faithful love has taught him 
 
 He has heard ; 
 The wind of spring, obeying thee, hath brought him 
 
 At thy word ; 
 What joy in all the three worlds was so precious 
 
 To thy mind? 
 Md kooroo mdnini mdnamaye,^ 
 
 Ah, be kind! 
 
 No longer from his earnest eyes conceal 
 
 Thy delights; 
 Lift thy face, and let the jealous veil reveal 
 
 All his rights: 
 The glory of thy beauty was but given 
 
 For content; 
 Md kooroo mdiiini nidnamay^, 
 
 Oh, relent! 
 
 Remember, being distant, how he bore thee 
 
 In his heart ; 
 Look on him sadly turning from before thee 
 
 To depart; 
 Is he not the soul thou lovedst, sitting lonely 
 
 In the wood? 
 Md kooroo mdnini mdnamaye, 
 
 'Tis not good! 
 
 He who grants thee high delight in bridal-bower 
 
 Pardons long; 
 What the gods do love may do at such an hour 
 
 Without wrong; 
 
 * My proud one ! do not indulge in scorn. 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 61 
 
 Why weepest thou? why keepest thou in anger 
 
 Thy lashes down? 
 Md kooTOo mdnini mdnamay}. 
 
 Do not frown ! 
 
 Lift thine eyes now, and look on him, bestowing, 
 
 Without speech; 
 Let him pluck at last the flower so sweetly growing 
 
 In his reach ; 
 The fruit of lips, of loving tones, of glances 
 
 That forgive ; 
 Md kooroo mdnini mdnamay e. 
 
 Let him live! 
 
 Let him speak with thee, and pray to thee, and prove 
 thee 
 
 All his truth ; 
 Let his silent loving lamentation move thee 
 
 Asking ruth ; 
 How knowest thou? Ah, listen, dearest Lady, 
 
 He is there; 
 Md kooroo mdnini mdnamay e. 
 
 Thou must hear I 
 
 rare voice, voMch is a spell 
 Unto all on sarth who dwell ! 
 O rich voice of rapturous love. 
 Making melody above ! 
 Krishna's, HarVs—one in two, 
 Sound these mortal verses through ! 
 Sound like thai soft flute which made 
 Such a magic in tJie shade — 
 Calling deer-eyed maidens nigh. 
 Waking wish and stirring sigh. 
 
62 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 Thrilling blood and melting hreasts. 
 Whispering love's divine unrests. 
 Winning blessings to descend, 
 Bringing earthly ills to end; — 
 Be thou heard in this song note 
 Thou, the great Enchantment, thou ! 
 
 {Here ends thai Sarga of the Gita Govinda entitled 
 Kalahantaritayarnane Mugdhamukundo. ) 
 
 SARGA THE TENTH. 
 
 MANINIVARNANE 
 CHATUEACHATUEBHUJO. 
 
 KRISHNA IN PARADISE. 
 
 But she, abasing still her glorious eyes, 
 Aud still not yieldiug all her face to him, 
 Relented, till with softer upturned look 
 She smiled, while the Maid pleaded; so thereat 
 Came Krishna nearer, and his eager lips 
 Mixed sighs with words in this fond song he sang, | 
 
 i 
 {What follows is to the Music Deshiyavaradi and the 
 
 Mode ASHTATALI.) 
 
 O angel of my hope! O my heart's home! 
 
 My fear is lost in love, m}'- love in fear ; 
 This bids me trust my burning wish, and come, 
 
 That checks me with its memories, drawing near: 
 Lift up thy look, and let the thing it saith 
 End fear with grace, or darken love to death. 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 63 
 
 Or only speak once more, for though thou slay me, 
 Thy heavenly mouth must move, and I shall hear 
 
 Dulcet delights of perfect music sway me 
 Again — again that voice so blest and dear; 
 
 Sweet Judge! the prisoner prayeth for his doom 
 
 That he may hear his fate divinely come. « 
 
 Speak once more! then thou canst not choose but show 
 Thy mouth's unparalleled and honeyed wonder 
 
 Where, like pearls hid in red lipped shells, the row 
 Of pearly teeth thy rose-red lips lie under; 
 
 Ah me! I am that bird that woos the moon. 
 
 And pipes — poor fool! to make it glitter soon. 
 
 Yet hear me on — because I cannot stay 
 The passion of my soul, because my gladness 
 
 Will pour forth from my heart, — since that far day 
 When through the mist of all my sin and sadness 
 
 Thou didst vouchsafe — Surpassing One! — to break, 
 
 All else I slighted for thy noblest sake. 
 
 Thou, thou hast been my blood, my breath, my being; 
 
 The pearl to plunge for in the sea of life ; 
 The sight to strain for, past the bounds of seeing; 
 
 The victory to win through longest strife; 
 My Queen! my crowned Mistress! my sphered bride! 
 Take this for truth, that what I say beside 
 
 Of bold love — grown full-orbed at sight of thee — 
 May be forgiven with a quick remission; 
 
 For, thou divine fulfilment of all hope! 
 
 Thou all-undreamed completion of the vision! 
 
 I gaze upon th}^ beauty, and my fear 
 
 Passes as clouds do, when the moon shines clear. 
 
64 TEE ELZEVIR LIBRAUY. 
 
 So if tbou'rt angry still, this shall avail, 
 
 Look straight at me, aud let thy bright glance wound 
 me; 
 Fetter me! gyve me! lock me in the gaol 
 
 Of thy delicious arms; make fast around me 
 The silk-soft manacles of wrists and hands, 
 Then kill me ! I shall never break those bands. 
 
 The starlight jewels flashing on thy breast 
 Have not my right to hear thy beating heart; 
 
 The happy jasmine-buds that clasp thy waist 
 Are soft usurpers of my place and part; 
 
 If that fair girdle only there must shine, 
 
 Give me the girdle's life — the girdle mine! 
 
 Thy brow like smooth Bandhtika-leaves; thy cheek 
 Which the dark-tinted Madhuk's velvet shows; 
 
 Thy long-lashed Lotus eyes, lustrous and meek; 
 Thy nose a Tila-bud; thy teeth like rows 
 
 Of Kunda-petals! he who pierceth hearts 
 
 Points with thy loveliness all five darts. 
 
 But Eadiant, Perfect, Sweet, Supreme, forgive! 
 
 My heart is wise — my tongue is foolish still: 
 I know where I am come — I know I live — 
 
 I know that thou art Radha — that this will 
 Last and be heaven: that I have leave to rise 
 Up from thy feet, and look into thine eyes! 
 
 And, nearer coming, I ask for grace 
 Now that the blest eyes turn to mine; 
 
 Faithful I stand in this sacred place 
 Since first I saw them shine: 
 
 Dearest glory that stills my voice, 
 
 Beauty unseen, unknown, unthought*. 
 
 Splendor of love, in whose sweet light 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 65 
 
 Darkness is past and nought; 
 Ah, beyond words that sound on earth, 
 
 Golden bloom of the garden of heaven I 
 Radha, enchantress! Radha, the queen! 
 
 Be this trespass forgiven — 
 In that 1 dare, with courage too much 
 
 And a heart afraid, — so bold it is grown — 
 To hold thy hand with a bridegroom's touch, 
 
 And take thee for mine, mine own.* 
 
 So they met and so they ended 
 Pain and parting, being blended 
 Life with life — made one for ever 
 In high love ; and Jayadeva 
 Hasteneth on to close the story 
 Of their bridal grace and glory. 
 
 {Here ends that Sarga of the GUa Oovinda entitled 
 Maninivaemane Chatur achaturbhu jo. ) 
 
 SABGA THE ELEVENTH. 
 
 RADHIKAMILANE 
 SANANDADAMODARO. 
 
 THE UNION OF RADHA AND KRISHNA. 
 
 Thus followed soft and lasting peace, and griefs 
 
 Died while she listened to his tender tongue. 
 
 Her eyes of antelope alight with love ; 
 
 And while he led the way to the bride-bower 
 
 The maidens of her train adorned her fair 
 
 With golden marriage-cloths, and sang this song, 
 
 * Much here also is necessarily paraphrased. 
 
THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 ( What follows is to the Music Vasanta and the Mode 
 
 Yati.) 
 
 Follow, happy Radha! follow, — 
 
 In the quiet falling twilight — 
 The steps of him who followed thee 
 
 So steadfastly and far; 
 Let us bring thee where the Banjulas 
 
 Have spread a roof of crimson, 
 Lit up by many a marriage- lamp 
 
 Of planet, sun, and star: 
 For the hours of doubt are over. 
 
 And thy glad and faithful lover 
 Hath found the road by tears and prayers 
 
 To thy divinest side; 
 And thou wilt not now deny him 
 
 One delight of all thy beauty, 
 But yield up open-hearted 
 
 His pearl, his prize, his bride. 
 
 Oh, follow! while we fill the air 
 
 With songs and softest music; 
 Lauding thy wedded loveliness, 
 
 Dear Mistress past compare I 
 For there is not any splendor 
 
 Of Apsarasas immortal — 
 No glory of their beauty rich — 
 
 But Radha has a share; 
 Oh, follow ! while we sing the song 
 
 That fills the worlds with longing. 
 The music of the Lord of love 
 
 "Who melts all hearts with bliss; 
 
TEE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 
 
 For now is born the gladness 
 That springs from mortal sadness, 
 
 And all soft thoughts and things and hopes 
 Were presages of this. 
 
 Then, follow, happiest Lady ! 
 
 Follow him thou lovest wholly; 
 The hour is come to follow now 
 
 The soul thy spells have led; 
 His are thy breasts like jasper-cups, 
 
 And his thine eyes like planets; 
 Thy fragrant hair, thy stately neck, 
 
 Thy queenly sumptuous head; 
 Thy soft small feet, thy perfect lips, 
 
 Thy teeth like jasmine petals, 
 Thy gleaming rounded shoulders, 
 
 And long caressing arms, 
 Being thine to give, are his; and his 
 
 The twin strings of thy girdle. 
 And his the priceless treasure 
 
 Of thine utter-sweetest charms. 
 
 So follow ! while the flowers break forth 
 
 In white and amber clusters, 
 At the breath of thy pure presence. 
 
 And the radiance on thy brow; 
 Oh, follow where the Asokas wave 
 
 Their sprays of gold and purple, 
 As if to beckon thee the way 
 
 That Krishna passed but now; 
 He is gone a little forward! 
 
 Though thy steps are faint for pleasure. 
 Let him hear the tattling ripple 
 
68 THE ELZEVIR LIBRARY. 
 
 Of the bangles round thy feet; 
 Moving slowly o'er the blossoms 
 
 On the path which he has shown thee, 
 That when he turns to listen 
 
 It may make his fond heart beat. 
 
 And loose thy jewelled girdle 
 I A little, that its rubies 
 
 May tinkle softest music too, 
 
 And whisper thou art near; 
 Though now, if in the forest 
 
 Thou should'st bend one blade of Kusha 
 With silken touch of passing foot, 
 
 His heart w^ould know and hear; 
 Would hear the wood-buds saying, 
 
 " It is Radha's foot that passes;" 
 Would hear the wind sigh love-sick, 
 
 " It is Radha's fragrance, this;" 
 Would hear thine own heart beating 
 
 Within thy panting bosom, 
 And know thee coming, coming, 
 
 His — ever, — ever — his ! 
 
 " Mine/" — hark! we are near enough for hearing- 
 
 " Soon she icill come — sJie will smile — she will say 
 Honey-sweet words of heawnly endearing ; 
 soul ! listen ; my Bride is on her wayP' 
 
 Hear'st him not, my Radha? 
 
 Lo, night bendeth o'er thee — 
 Darker than dark Tamala-leaves — 
 
 To list thy marriage-song; 
 Dark as the touchstone that tries gold. 
 
 And see now — on before thee — 
 Those lines of tender light that creep 
 
 The clouded sky along: 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SON(^S. 69 
 
 O night! that trieth gold of love, 
 
 This love is proven perfect! 
 O lines that streak the touchstone sky. 
 
 Flash forth true shining gold ! 
 O rose-leaf feet, go boldly ! 
 
 O night!— that lovest lovers — 
 Thy softest robe of silence 
 
 About these bridals fold! 
 
 See'st thou not, my Radha? 
 
 Lo, the night, thy bridesmaid. 
 Comes! — her eyes thick-painted 
 
 With soorma of the gloom — 
 The night that binds the planet- worlds 
 
 For jewels on her forehead, 
 And for emblem and for garland 
 
 Loves the blue-black lotus-bloom ; 
 The night that scents her breath so sweet 
 
 With cool and musky odors, 
 That joys to spread her veil of shad^ 
 
 Over the limbs of love; 
 And when, with loving weary, 
 
 Yet dreaming love, they slumber. 
 Sets the far stars for silver lamps 
 
 To light them from above. 
 
 So came she where he stood, awaiting her 
 
 At the bower's entry, like a god to see. 
 
 With marriage-gladness and the grace of heaven. 
 
 The gr«at pearl set upon his glorious head 
 
 Shone like a moon among the leaves, and shone 
 
 Like stars the gems that kept her gold gown close: 
 
 But still a little while she paused — abashed 
 
 At her delight, of her deep joy afraid — 
 
 And they that tended her sang once more Hub, 
 
70 THE ELZEVIB LIBRARY. 
 
 {What follows is to the Music Varadi and the Mode 
 
 RUPAKA.) 
 
 Enter, thrice-happy! enter, thrice-desired! 
 And let the gates of Hari shut thee in 
 With the soul destined to thee from of old. 
 
 Tremble not! lay thy lovely shame aside; 
 
 Lay it aside with thine unfastened zone, 
 
 And love him with the love that knows not fear; 
 
 Because it fears not change; enter thou in, 
 Flower of all sweet and stainless womanhood I 
 For ever to grow bright, for ever new; 
 
 Enter beneath the flowers, O flower-fair! 
 
 Beneath these tendrils, Loveliest! that entwine 
 
 And clasp, and wreathe and|;ling, with kissing stems; 
 
 Enter, with tender-blowing airs of heaven 
 Soft as love's breatb and gentle as the tones 
 Of lover's w^hispers, when the lips come close: 
 
 Enter the house of Love, O loveliest! 
 Enter the marriage-bower, most beautiful! 
 And take and give the joy that Hari grants. 
 
 Thy heart has entered, let thy feet go too! 
 Lo, Krishna! lo, the one that thirsts for thee! 
 Give him the drink of amrit from thy lips. 
 
 Then she, no more delaying, entered straight; 
 
 Her step a little faltered, but her face 
 
 Shone with unutterable quick love ; and — while 
 
THE INDIAN SONG OF SONGS. 
 
 The music of ber bangles passed the porch — 
 Shame, which had lingered iu her downcast eyes, 
 Departed shamed * . . . and like the mighty deep, 
 Which sees the moon and rises, all his life 
 Uprose to drink her beams. 
 
 {Here ends that Sarga of the Gita Govinda entitled 
 Radhikamilane Sanandadamodaro.) 
 
 Hari keep you! He whose might, 
 
 On the King of Serpents seated, 
 Flashes forth in dazzling hght 
 
 From the Great Snake's gems repeated : 
 Hari keep you! He whose graces, 
 
 Manifold in majesty, — 
 Multiplied in heavenly places — 
 
 Multiply on earth — to see 
 Better witli a hundred eyes 
 
 Her bright charms who by him lies. 
 
 What skill may be in singing, 
 
 What worsJiip sound in song, 
 What lore he taught in loving, 
 
 What right divined from wrong : 
 Such things hath Jayadeva — 
 
 In this his Hymn of Love, 
 Which lauds Govinda ever, — 
 
 Displayed; may all approve! 
 
 * This complete anticipation {salajjd lajjdpi) of the line — 
 
 " Upon whose brow shame is ashamed to sit " 
 
 — occurs at the close of the Sarga, part of which is here perforce 
 omitted, along with the whole of the last one. 
 
PEAELS OF THE FAITH 
 
 OR 
 
 ISLAM'S ROSAET 
 
 BEING 
 
 THE XIMTY-mXE BEAUTIFUL NAMES OF ALLAH 
 (asma-el-husna) 
 
 With Comments in Verse from various Oriental Sources 
 
 (as MADK by an INDIAN MUSSULMAN) 
 BY 
 
 EDWIN ARNOLD, C.SL 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE LIGHT OF ASIA"; "THE INDIAN 
 SONG OF songs"; ETC, 
 
 'Allah hath most excellent names, therefore call upon Him by 
 the same." Kordn, oh. vii. ''Al Aardf " 
 
PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It is a custom of many pious Muslims to employ in 
 their devotions a three-stringed chaplet, eacli string con- 
 taining thirty-three beads, and each bead representing 
 one of the "ninety- nine beautiful names of Allah," 
 whenever this — among many other religious uses — is 
 made of it. The Koran bids them "celebrate Allah 
 with an abundant celebration," and on certain occasions 
 — such as during the intervals of the Tarawih night 
 service in Ramadhan — the Faithful pass these ninety- 
 nine beads of the rosary through their fingers, repeating 
 with each " Name of God " an ejaculation of praise and 
 worship. Such an exercise is called Ziki\ or " remem- 
 brance," and the rosary Masba'Jiah. 
 
 In the following pages of varied verse I have enumer- 
 ated these ninety-nine " beautiful names," and appended 
 to each — from the point of view of an Indian Moham- 
 medan — some illustrative legend, tradition, record, or 
 comment, drawn from diverse Oriental sources; occa- 
 sionally paraphrasing (as closely as possible) from the 
 text of the Kordn itself, any particular passage contain- 
 ing the sacred Title, or casting light upon it. In this 
 way it seemed possible to present the general spirit of 
 IslSm under a new and not unacceptable form; since 
 almost every religious idea of the Kor^n comes up in. 
 
4 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 the long catalogue of attributives. Tender, as well aa 
 terrible; lofty in morality, albeit grim and stern in 
 dogma, the "Perspicuous Book" is still, and must al- 
 ways be, replete with interest for Christendom, since, if 
 Islam was born in the Desert, with Arab Saboeanism for 
 its mother and Judaism for its father, its foster-nurse 
 was Eastern Christianity, and Muhammad's attitude to- 
 wards Christ, and towards the religion which bears His 
 name, is ever one of profound reverence and grateful 
 recognition. Nor are the differences between the older 
 and younger creed really so great as their similitudes in 
 certain aspects. The soul of Islam is its declaration of 
 the unity of God : its heart is the inculcation of an ab- 
 solute resignation to His will. Not more sublime, there- 
 fore, in religious history appears the figure of Paul the 
 tent-maker, proclaiming the "Unknown God " at Athens, 
 than that of the camel- driver Muhammad, son of Abdal- 
 lah and Amtnah, abolishing all the idols of the Arabian 
 Pantheon, except their chief— Allah Ta'Alah, "God 
 the Most High" — and under that ancient and well- 
 received appellation establishing the oneness of the 
 origin, government, and life of the universe. Thereby 
 that marvellous and gifted Teacher created a vast 
 empire of new belief and new civilization, and prepared 
 a sixth part of humanity for the developments and rec- 
 onciliations which later times will bring. For Islam 
 must be conciliated; it cannot be thrust scornfully aside 
 or rooted out. It shares the task of the education of 
 the world with its sister religions, and it will contribute 
 its eventual portion to 
 
 " that far-off divine event, 
 Towards which the whole ci-eation moves." 
 
 Composed amid Scotch mountains during a brief 
 
PREFACE. 5 
 
 summer-rest from politics, and with no library near at 
 hand for references, my book has need to ask indul- 
 gence from the learned. It does but aim, however, to 
 suggest (in poetic form) juster thoughts than sometimes 
 prevail of Islam, of its founder, and of its votaries; em- 
 ploying the language of one among them, and thiukuig 
 with his thoughts, since this alone permits the necessary 
 sympathy. 
 
 I have thus at length finished the Oriental Trilogy 
 which I designed. In my " Indian Song of Songs " I 
 sought to transfer to English poetry a subtle and lovely 
 Sanskrit idyll of the Hindoo theology. In my ''Light 
 of Asia" I related the story and displaj^ed the gentle and 
 far-reaching doctrines of that great Hindoo prince who 
 founded Buddhism. I have tried to present here, in the 
 simple, familiar, and credulous, but earnest spirit and 
 manner of Isl^m — and from its own points of view — 
 some of the thoughts and beliefs of the followers of the 
 noble Prophet of Arabia, 
 
 EDwm Aknold, C.S.I. 
 
 Glengtle, Perthshire, Scotland, 
 September^ 1883. 
 
OOlsTTENTS. 
 
 NO. PAGE 
 
 1. ALLAH 13 
 
 2. Ar-Eahmdn " The Merciful" 15 
 
 (The Sinful Angels.) 
 
 3. Ar-Baheem " The Compassionate' ' 17 
 
 (Solomon and the Ant.) 
 
 4. Al-Mdlik " The King of Kings" 19 
 
 (The Sultan and the Potter.) 
 
 5. Al-Kuddiis "TheHolyOne" 22 
 
 (God's Name in Heaven.) 
 
 6. As-Saldm " The Peace" 24 
 
 (The Peace of Paradise.) 
 
 7. Al-Maumin " The Faithful " 27 
 
 (The Verity of Sayid.) 
 %. Al-Muhaimin " The Help in Peril " 30 
 
 (The Spider and the Dove.) 
 9. Al-Hathim "The Mighty" 32 
 
 (The Throne- Verse.) 
 
 10. Al-Jabbdr "The AH- Compelling" 33 
 
 (Sura 59.) 
 
 11. Al-MutakahUr " The Majestic" 34 
 
 (Azar and Abraham.) 
 
 12. Al-KJialik "The Creator" 35 
 
 (Signs of the Lord.) 
 
 13. Al-Bari "The Artificer" 37 
 
 (Angels' Wings.) 
 
 14. Al-Mibzawwir " The Fashioner" 38 
 
 (The Making of Man.) 
 
 15. Al-Ghaffdr " The Forgiver" 40 
 
 (Abraham's Offence.) 
 
 16. Al-Kahhdr "The Dominant" 42 
 
 (Sura "Of the Cattle.") 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 NO. PAGE 
 
 17. Al-WahhAb " The Bestower" 44 
 
 (AJi and the Angels.) 
 
 18. Al-Razzdk " The Provider" 49 
 
 (Sura " Of the Forenoon.") 
 
 19. Al-FAtta'h " The Opener" 50 
 
 (Mulianimad's.Iourney to Heaven.) 
 
 ^. Al-'Alim "The All-Kiiower" 55 
 
 (The Moakkib&t.) 
 
 21. Al-Kabiz "TheCloser" 57 
 
 (Evil Deeds.) 
 
 22. Al-Bdsit "The Uacloser" 59 
 
 (Ciood Deeds.) 
 
 OS. Al-Khdfiz "TheAbaser" 62 
 
 (Nimrud and the Gnat.) 
 
 24. Ar-Rafi "TheExalter" 63 
 
 (Allah's Prophets.) 
 
 25. Al-Muhizz " The Honourer' 65 
 
 (Sura " Of Imran's Family.") 
 
 26. Al-Muzil " The Leader Astray" 66 
 
 (God's Will and Free-will.) 
 
 27. As-SamV/t " The All-Hearing ' 68 
 
 (A Shepherd's Prayer ) 
 
 28. Al-Bazir " The All-Seeing" 71 
 
 (Azrael and the Indian Prince.) 
 
 29. AlHdkim "The Judge of All " 73 
 
 (The Last Day.) 
 
 30. AlHddil " The Equitable" 75 
 
 (Sura " Of Jonas.") 
 
 31. Al-Latif " The Gracious One" 76 
 
 (Sura " Of Counsel.") 
 
 32. AlKhablr "He who is Aware" 77 
 
 (Muhammad in the Cemetery.) 
 3.3. AlH/llim " The Clement " 78 
 
 (The Dharra and the Date-stone.) 
 M. Al-'Aziz "TheStrong" 79 
 
 (Sura " Of Al-Akh&f.") 
 
 35. Al-Ghdfir " The Pardoner" 80 
 
 (Hassan's Slave.) 
 
 36. A$hSMkir "ITie Thankful " 88 
 
 (Sura " Of Al-K&uthar.") 
 
CONTENTS. 9 
 
 NO. PAGE 
 
 87. Al-'Alee " The Exalted " &4 
 
 (Sura "Of the Bee.") 
 
 38. Al-Kahtr "The Verj- Great " 85 
 
 (The Seven Heavens.) 
 
 89. Al-Hdfiz "Tlie Preserver" 87 
 
 (Sura " Of tlie Night Star.") 
 
 40. Al-Mukxt " The Maintainer" 88 
 
 (Sura " Of the Inevitable.") 
 
 41. Al-Hasib "The Reckoner" 90 
 
 (Sura " Of Women.") 
 
 42. Al-Jamil "The Beneficent " 91 
 
 (The Rose-Garden.) 
 AZ. Al-Karxm "The Bountiful" 93 
 
 (Sura " Of Cleaving Asunder.") 
 U. Al-Rakib " The Watchful " 94 
 
 (The Books of Good and Evil.) 
 
 45. Al-Mujib " The Hearer of Prayer" 96 
 
 (Ali and the Jew.) 
 
 46. Al-Was'ih "The All-Compreliending" 100 
 
 (Turning to Mecca.) 
 
 47. Al-Hdkim al Mutlak. . " The Judge of Judges" 101 
 
 (The Angels of the Scales.) 
 
 i8. Al-Wadood "The Loving" 103 
 
 (Tasmin and Salsabil.) 
 
 49. Al-Majid " The All Glorious" 106 
 
 (Sura "Of the Cow.") 
 
 50. Al-Bdhith "The Raiser from Death" 107 
 
 (Iblis and Abraham.) 
 
 51. Ash-Shahtd "The Witness" 110 
 
 (Poets and Prophets.) 
 
 52. AlHakk " The Truth" Ill 
 
 (The Sin of Sins.) 
 
 53. Al-Wakil " The Guardian" 1J2 
 
 (Sura "Of the Cow.") 
 
 54. Al-Kawi " The Almighty' ' 113 
 
 (The Fly and the False Gods.) 
 
 55. AlMateen "The Firm" 114 
 
 (The Tent-Pole.) 
 66. AlWali " The Nearest Friend " 115 
 
 (Abraham's Bread.) 
 yr. Al-IIamid " The All-Praiseworthy" 119 
 
 (The Garden and the Rock.) 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 NO. PAGE 
 
 58. Al-MUhsi. . . , "The Accountant" 120 
 
 (Sura " Of the Earthquake.") 
 
 59. Al-Mubdi " The Beginner" 121 
 
 (The Light of Life.) 
 
 60. Al-Mu'htd " The Restorer" 122 
 
 (A Message from the Dead.) 
 
 61. Al-Mo'hyi " The Quickener" 135 
 
 (Sura "Of the Signs.") 
 m. Al-Mumtt "The Slayer" 120 
 
 (The Angel of Death.) 
 m. Al-Haiy " Tlie Ever-Living" 1>9 
 
 (The Life Beyond.) 
 U. Al-Kaiijum " The Self-Subsisting" 130 
 
 (The Trumpet.) 
 65. Al-Wdjid " The All-Perceiving" 131 
 
 (Sura " Of Daybreak.") 
 GO. Al-Wdhid " The One" 133 
 
 (Al-I'hlas.) 
 or. As-Samad ." The Eternal " 134 
 
 (Ozair the Jew.) 
 08. Al-Kadar "Providence" 138 
 
 (Kismat.) 
 
 69. Al-Muktadir " The All-Powerf ul " 139 
 
 (Sura " Of the Moon.") 
 
 70. Al-Mukaddim { "The Fore war ner' ' j . . _ 
 
 71. Al-Muivakhir > " The Fulfiller" f 
 
 (Sura "Of K.") 
 
 72. Al-Aivwal \ " The First " ^ 
 
 73. Al-Akhir ( " The Last " f .^ 
 
 74. Ath-Thdhir f "The Manifest" C 
 
 75. Al-Bdtin J " The Hidden" ) 
 
 (The " Mothers of the Names.") 
 73. Al-Wdli " The All-Governing" 114 
 
 (Solomon's Signet.) 
 77. Al-Mutdhdli " The One above E-eproach" 149 
 
 (Moses and the Angel.) 
 73. Al-Barr "The Good" 151 
 
 (The Adulteress.) 
 7^. Al-Taivwdb " The Relenting" 154 
 
 (Adam quitting Eden.) 
 
 S3. Al-Muntakim { "The Avenger" I 
 
 Si. Al-Ghafoor I " The Rewarder" '' ' 
 
 (Hell and Heaven.) 
 
 156 
 
CONTENTS. 11 
 
 NO. PAGra: 
 
 82. Al-RaivHf " The Ever-Indulgent " 160 
 
 (Sura " Of the Star.") 
 
 83. Mdlik-ul-Mulki " King of the Kingdom" 162 
 
 (Sura "Of the Enaigration." 
 
 84. DhuHjaldl wa Ikrdm.^^ Lord of Splendid Power" 163 
 
 (Sura " Of the Merciful.") 
 
 85. AhMuksit " The Equitable" 164 
 
 (The Last Sermon of the Prophet.) 
 
 86. Al-JamVh " The Gatherer" 167 
 
 (Sura "Of Women.") 
 
 87. Al-Ghant "The All-Suflficing" 168 
 
 (Sura "Of Troops.") 
 
 88. Al-Mughnt " The Sufficer" 170 
 
 (Sura " Of the Afternoon.") 
 
 89. Al-Mii'hti I " The Provider" 
 
 90. Al-Mdni' 
 
 (The Two Gateways.) 
 
 91. An-Ndfi'h " The Propitious" 173 
 
 (The Dove.) 
 
 92. Az-Zarr " The Harmful " 175 
 
 (King Sheddad's Paradise.) 
 m. An-Noor "The Light" 181 
 
 (Sura " Of Light.") 
 9i. Al-Hddi "The Guide" 182 
 
 (The Four Travellers.) 
 
 95. Al-Azali ) " Eternal in the Past 
 
 96. AlBdkt ) " Eternal in the Future' 
 
 (Sura " Of Ya Sin.") 
 
 97. Al-Warith "The Inheritor" 186 
 
 (The Rose and the Dewdrop.) 
 
 98. Al-Raschtd " The Unerring" 188 
 
 (The Prophet's Oath.) 
 
 99. Az-Zaboor "The Patient" 190 
 
 (Islam.) 
 Notes V 
 
 it i " The Provider" \ 
 
 i'JO " The Withholder" i 
 
 ire" i 
 
 184 
 
''Allah! " Bi-'smi-'llah1 Say that God is One, 
 Living, Eternal; and besides Him none. 
 
Say Ar-Rahmdn ! " The Merciful " Him call ; 
 For He is full of mercy unto all. 
 
 Once on a day, in Paradise, 
 
 Discourse indignant did arise 
 
 Amongst the Angels, seeing how 
 
 The sons of Adam sinned below; 
 
 Albeit Allah's grace had sent 
 
 Prophets with much admonishment. 
 
 " Heedless and guilty race," they cried, 
 
 " Whose penitence is set aside 
 
 At each temptation ! Truth and Right 
 
 Ye know not!" Then a wondrous light 
 
 Fell on their brows — a mighty word 
 
 Sounded — the Presence of the Lord 
 
 Spake: " Of your number choose ye two 
 
 To go among mankind and do 
 
 ' Justice and Right,' teaching them these." 
 
 Tiierewith, from those bright companies, 
 
 Ilariit went and Marut went down 
 
 On earth, laying aside llieir crown 
 
 Of rays, and plumes of rainbow feather; 
 
 And on the judgment-seat together 
 
 Many long years tliey sate, and wrought 
 
 Just judgment upon each cause brought. 
 
16 PEABLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Until, before that justice-seat 
 There came a woman, fair and sweet, 
 So ravishing of form and mien 
 That great Soharah, who is queen 
 Of the third planet, hath not eyes 
 As soft, nor mouth made in sucli wise, 
 A£-r;;:^one wliom slie did wrong, besought 
 Sentence against her: she had nought 
 Of plea, but in her dazzling grace 
 Stood fearless in the audience-place; 
 Consuming hearts with hot desire 
 By subtle Beauty's searching fire. 
 Then said Harut, forgetting Heaven, 
 " Pardon to such must, sure, be given." 
 Whispered Marut, " If thou wilt be 
 Leman of mine, thou shalt go free." 
 And for her love those two contended, 
 Till the false scene was sorely ended 
 With earthquake, and with lightning-flash, 
 And rolling thunder's wrathful crash, 
 *' Midst which the city and the folk 
 Passed from their ken, and a Voice spoke : 
 *' Come unto judgment, ye who called 
 Allah too merciful !" 
 
 Appalled 
 Harut lay and Marut lay prone 
 In Paradise, before the Throne; 
 Hearing that doom of God, which said: 
 " Until My trumpet calls the dead. 
 Dwell on the earth, where ye have learned 
 The just may unto sin be turned." 
 
 Merciful One and just ! we bless 
 Thy name, and crave forgiveness. 
 
4 
 
 SOLOMON AND THE ANT. 17 
 
 3 
 
 Say Ar-Raheem! call Him '*Compasmnate,** 
 For He is pitiful to small and great. 
 
 ' Tis written that tlie serving-angels stand 
 Beside God's throne, ten myriads on each hand. 
 Waiting, with wings outstretched and watchful eyes, 
 To do their Master's heavenly embassies. 
 Quicker than thought His high commands they read, 
 Swifter than light to execute them speed; 
 Bearing the word of power from star to star 
 Some hither and some thither, near and far. 
 And unto these nought is too high or low, 
 To mean or mighty, if He wills it so; 
 Neither is any creature, great or small. 
 Beyond His pity; which embrace th all, 
 Because His eye beholdeth all which are; 
 Sees without search, and counteth without care, 
 Nor lies the babe nearer the nursing-place 
 Than Allah's smallest child to Allaii's grace; 
 Nor any ocean roll so vast that He 
 Forgets one wave of all that restless sea. 
 
 Thus it is written ; and moreover told 
 
 How Gabriel, watching by the Gates of gold, 
 
 Heard from the Voice Ineffable this word 
 
 Of two-fold mandate uttered by the Lord: 
 
 " Go earthward! pass where Solomon hath made 
 
 His pleasure-house, and sitteth there arrayed. 
 
18 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Goodly and splendid — whom I crowned the king — 
 For at this hour My servant doth a thing 
 Unfitting: out of Nisibis there came 
 A thousand steeds with nostrils all a-flame 
 And limbs of swiftness, prizes of the fight; 
 Lo! these are led, for Solomon's delight, 
 Before the palace, where he gazeth now 
 Filling his heart with pride at that brave show; 
 So taken with the snorting and the tramp 
 Of his war-horses, that Our silver lamp 
 Of eve is swung in vain, Our warning Sun 
 Will sink before his sunset- prayer's begun; 
 So shall the people say, ' This king, our lord. 
 Loves more the long-maned trophies of his sword 
 Than the remembrance of his God? ' Go in! 
 Save thou My faithful servant from such sin." 
 
 " Also, upon the slope of Arafat, 
 Beneath a lote-tree which is fallen flat, 
 Toileth a yellow ant who carrieth home 
 Food for her nest, but so far hath she come 
 Her worn feet fail, and she will perish, caught 
 In the falling rain ; but thou, make the way naught, 
 And help her to her people in the cleft 
 Of the black rock." 
 
 Silently Gabriel left 
 The Presence, and prevented the king's sin, 
 And holp the little ant at entering in. 
 
 Thou loliose love is wide and great. 
 We praise Thee, " The Compassionate,'^ 
 
THE SULTAN AND THE POTTER. 19 
 
 Call Him " Al-Mdlik," King of all the Icings, 
 Maker and Master of created tilings. 
 
 The Sultan of Damascus found asleep 
 
 The potter Ebn Solul, 
 And bore him to the palace, where he waked 
 
 In garments beautiful. 
 
 Consider! if a king should call thee " friend," 
 
 And lead thee to his court, 
 Roofed large with lazulite, and pavemented 
 
 With flow'rs, on green floors wrought; 
 
 If he should bid thee sit at meat; and spread 
 
 A table, served so fine 
 There lacked not any pleasant food or fruit 
 
 But came at call of thine; 
 
 If he hung high a glorious golden lamp 
 
 To shine where thy feet tread; 
 And stretched black 'broidered hangings, sown with 
 gems, 
 
 For curtains to thy bed ; 
 
 If for thy heats he bade soft zephj^rs blow; 
 
 Sent, at thy thirst, sweet rains; 
 And filled the groves with minstrels, gayly garbed, 
 
 To charm thee with their strains i 
 
20 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 If, past the confines of his palace-grounds, 
 
 He showed thee spacious seas, 
 Where, wafted o'er the dancing foam, might sail 
 
 Thou and thine argosies; 
 
 If, for society in that fair place, 
 
 He gave glad companies, 
 Kinsmen and friends and helpmates, and the bliss 
 
 Of beauty's lips and eyes ; 
 
 With wisdom's scroll to study, and the ways 
 
 Of wondrous living things ; 
 And lovely pleasure of all ornaments 
 
 That Nature's treasure brings, 
 
 Coral and pearl ; turkis, and agate stones 
 
 Milk-white or rosy-veined; 
 Amber and ivory; jade; shawls wove with gold, 
 
 Scarves with sea-purple stained; 
 
 If the king gave thee these, and only wrote 
 
 Upon his inner door: 
 " Serve me and honor me and keep my laws, 
 
 And thus live evermore 
 
 In belter bliss, when ye shall pass hereby, — 
 
 As surely pass ye must: — " 
 Who is there would not praise that monarch's name 
 
 With forehead in the dust? 
 
 Lo! but He doeth this— Allah our King, 
 
 His sky is lazulite; 
 His earth is paved with emerald-work ; its stores 
 
 Are spread for man's delight; 
 
THE SULTAN AND TEE POTTER. 21 
 
 His sun by day, His silver stars by night, 
 
 Sliine for our sakes, His breeze 
 Cools us and wafts our ships ; His pleasant lands 
 
 Are girdled with the seas 
 
 Which send the rain, and make the crj^stal bridge 
 
 "Whereby man roams at will 
 From court to court of Allah's pleasure-house; 
 
 Seeing that writing still 
 
 Upon the inner gate— which all must pass— 
 
 "Love me and keep my laws 
 That ye may live, since there is greater life 
 
 Beyond these darkened doors." 
 
 If Ebn Sohil, the potter, loved Him not 
 Whose kindness was so strong; 
 
 If Ebn Soldi kept not the palace laws. 
 Had not that Sultan wromr? 
 
 Sovereign Giver of good things, 
 
 We praise Thee, " Malik,'' King of kings. 
 
22 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Allah-al-Kuddds — the *' Iloly One'* He is; 
 But purify thy speech, pronouncing this; 
 
 For even Israfil, 
 
 Who waits in Heaven still 
 Nearest the Throne, and hath the voice of sweetness, 
 
 Before his face doth fold 
 
 The wings of feathered gold, 
 Saying " AI-Kuddils;" and in supreme completeness 
 
 Of lowly reverence stands, 
 
 Laying his angel-hands 
 Over his lips, lest Allah's holiest name 
 
 Be lightly breathed on high ; 
 
 And that white mystery 
 Pass, as if that and others were the same. 
 
 *Iblis — 'tis written — when 
 
 He heareth among men 
 The name of "Allah" spoken, shrinks and flies; 
 
 But at the sound of this. 
 
 Uttered in realms of bliss. 
 The Djins and Angels, in their ranks, arise. 
 
 And what believer dares 
 Begin his morning prayers 
 
 *Cf. Koran, cxiv. chapter " Of men." 
 
GOD'S NAME IN HEAVEN. 23 
 
 "Without '* wuzu'h" — th' ablution? who is seen 
 
 His Koran to rehearse 
 
 But hath in mind, its verse, 
 *' Let none me touch, save such as are made clean?" 
 
 Lo! if with streams or sands 
 
 Ye lave the earnest hands 
 Lifted in prayer ; and if ye wasli the mouth 
 
 Which reads the sacred scroll, 
 
 Dare ye with sullied soul 
 Meditate this dread word, that shrines the truth 
 
 Of Allah's purity? 
 
 Bethink! His great eyes see 
 The hearts of men unto their inmost core ! 
 
 Make clean your hearts within; 
 
 Cast forth each inmost sin; 
 Then with bowed brows, say this name, and adore. 
 
 Forgive, Tlioiu Pure One! — Wliom we blesi—' 
 Of our good deeds the sinfulness. 
 
24 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Ihou Who art '' Peace, "^ and unto 'peace dost bring, 
 AUah-as-Saldm ! we praise Thee, Judge and King ! 
 
 When th* unshunned Day arriveth, none of men shall 
 
 doubt it come; 
 Into Hell some it will lower, and exalt to Heaven 
 
 some. 
 
 When the earth with qnakenings quaketh, and the 
 
 mountains crumble flat, 
 Quick and dead shall be divided threefold ; on this side, 
 
 and that, 
 
 The Companions of the right hand (ah! how joyful 
 
 they will be !) 
 The Companions of the left hand (oh! what misery to 
 
 see!) 
 
 Such, moreover, as of old time, loved the truth and 
 
 taught it well, 
 First in faith, they shall be foremost in reward: the 
 
 rest to Hell! 
 
 But those souls attaining Allah, — ah, the Gardens of 
 
 good cheer 
 Kept to lodge them! yea, besides the "Faithful," 
 
 many will be there. 
 
THE PEACE OF PARADISE. 25 
 
 Lightly lying on soft couches, beautiful with broidered 
 
 gold, 
 Friends with friends, they shall be served by youths 
 
 immortal, who will hold 
 
 Akwab, dbareek — cups and goblets — brimming wilh ce- 
 lestial wine — 
 
 Wine which hurts nor head nor stomach — this and 
 fruits of Heaven which shine 
 
 Bright, desirable; and rich flesh of what birds they rel- 
 ish best; 
 
 Yea, and feasted, there shall soothe them damsels fair- 
 est, stateliest — 
 
 Damsels having eyes of wonder, large black ej^es like 
 
 hidden pearls, 
 Lulu-l-maknun, Allah grants them, for sweet love, 
 
 those matchless girls. 
 
 Kever in that Garden hear they speech of folly, sin, or 
 
 dread; 
 Only "Peace" — As-Scddm only — that one word for ever 
 
 said, 
 
 "Peace! Peace! Peace!" and the Companions of the 
 
 right hand (ah! those bowers !) 
 They shall roam in thornless lote-groves, under mawz- 
 
 trees hung with flowers; 
 
 Shaded, fed by flowing waters; near to fruits which 
 never cloy. 
 
 Hanging always ripe for plucking; and at hand the ten- 
 der joy 
 
26 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Of those maids of Heaven, the Houris: lo! to them We 
 
 gave a birth 
 Specially creating, lo! they are not as the wives of 
 
 earth ; 
 
 Ever virginal and stainless, how so often they embrace, 
 Always young and loved and loving these are; neither 
 is there grace 
 
 Like the grace and bliss the Black-eyed keep for you in 
 
 Paradise, 
 O Companions of the right hand! O ye others that were 
 
 wise ! * 
 
 Giver of peace ! when comes that day, 
 Set us within Thy sight, tee pray. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, Ivi. chapter " Of the Inevitable.' 
 
 4- 
 
THE VERITY OF SAYID. 27 
 
 Al-Maumin ! " Faithful,'' fast, and just is He, 
 And loveth such as live in mrity. 
 
 Ibn Sawa, Lord of Bahrein, in the field 
 
 Captured a Sheilih, an Arab of the hills, 
 
 Sayid-bin-Taj^f ; and the king's oath was passed 
 
 That each tenth man of all tlie captives die 
 
 Together with their chieftains, for the war 
 
 Waxed fierce, and hearts of men were turned to flame. 
 
 So led they Sayid forth before the camp 
 
 At Azau ; and a eunuch of the guard. 
 
 Savage and black, stood with his haick uprolled 
 
 Back to the armpit, and the scimetar's edge 
 
 Naked to strike. 
 
 But suddenly the king 
 Inquired, " Art thou not he gave me to drink, 
 Hunting gazelles, before the war began?" 
 " Yea, I am he!" said Sayid. 
 
 Quoth the king, 
 " Ask not thy life, but ask some other boon, 
 That I may pay my debt." 
 
 Sayid replied, 
 " Death is not terrible to me who die 
 Red with tliis unbelieving blood of thine; 
 But there hath come a first-born in my tent; 
 
38 PEARLS OF THE FAITH 
 
 Fain would I see my son's face for a day, 
 Before mine eyes are sealed. Lend me my life. 
 To hold as something borrowed from thy hand. 
 Which I will bring again." 
 
 " Ayl" laughed the king, 
 " If one should answer for it with his own. 
 Show me thy hostage 1" 
 
 " Let me stand his bond," 
 Spake one on whom the lot of mercy fell — 
 Ishak of Tayf, a gallant youth and fair — 
 " I am his sister's son; bind ye. my arras, 
 And set free Sayid, that he ride at speed, 
 And see his first-born's face, and come again." 
 
 So Sayid went free again, seeking his home. 
 But in the camp they mocked that faithful friend, 
 Saying, " Lol as a fool thou diest now. 
 Staking thy life upon an Arab's word. 
 Why should he haste, to abide the bitter blade? 
 Will the scared jackal try the trap again; 
 The hawk once limed return unto the snare? 
 Cry to the desert-wind to turn and come. 
 But call not Sayid." 
 
 Ish^k only smiled. 
 And said, " He is a Muslim, he will comel" 
 
 The days passed, Sayid came not, and they led 
 The hostage forth, for Ishak now must die; 
 But still he smiled, saying, " Till sunset's hour 
 Slay me not, for at sunset he will come." 
 
 So fell it, for the sun had touched the palms. 
 And that black swordsman stood again in act 
 
THE VERITY OF SAYID, 29 
 
 To strike, when Sayid's white mare, galloping in, 
 Drew steaming breath before the royal tent; 
 And Sayid, leaping from the saddle, kissed 
 His kinsman's eyes, and gently spake to all, 
 *' Labhayki! I am here." 
 
 Then said the king, 
 " Never before was known a deed like this 
 That one should stake his life upon a word; 
 The other ride to death as to a bride. 
 Live, and be friends of Ibn S^wa, but speak! 
 AVhence learned ye these high lessons?" 
 
 Ishak spake, 
 " We are believers in the book which saith, 
 'Fulfil your covenants, if ye covenant; 
 For God is witness! break no word with men 
 Which God hath heard; and surely he hears all.' "* 
 
 That verse the king bade write in golden script 
 Over the palace gate; and he and his 
 Followed the Faith. 
 
 Ya! Allah al-Maumin ! 
 hi trutJifulness of act he our faith seen. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, xvi. chapter *' Of the Bee." 
 
30 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 8 
 
 Call Him Muhaimin, " Help in danger's hour,** 
 Protector of the true wlw trust His power. 
 
 The spicier and the dove! — what thing is weak 
 
 If Allah makes it strong? 
 The spider and the dove ! — if He protect, 
 
 Fear thou not foeman's wrong. 
 
 From Mecca to Medina fled our Lord, 
 
 The horsemen followed fast; 
 Into a cave to shun their murderous rage, 
 
 Muhammad, weary, passed. 
 
 Quoth Abu Bekr, " If they see, we die!" 
 
 Quoth Ebn Foheir, "Away!" 
 The guide Abdallah said, " The sand is deep, 
 
 Those footmarks will betray." 
 
 Then spake our Lord, "We are not four, but Five; 
 
 ' He who protects ' is here. 
 Come! Al-Muhaimin now will blind their eyes; 
 
 Enter, and have no fear." 
 
 The band drew nigh; one of the Koreish cried, 
 
 " Search ye out yonder cleft, 
 1 see the print of sandalled feet which turn 
 
 Thither, upon the left!" 
 
I 
 
 THE SPIDER AND THE DOVE. 81 
 
 But when they drew unto the cavern's mouth, 
 
 Lo I at its entering-in, 
 A ring-necked desert dove sate on her eggs ; 
 
 The mate cooed soft within. 
 
 And right athwart the shadow of the cave 
 
 A spider's web was spread; 
 The creature hung upon her net at watch; 
 
 Unbrolien was each thread. 
 
 "By Thammuz' blood," the unbelievers cried, 
 
 "Our toil and time are lost; 
 Where doves hatch and the spider spins her snare 
 
 No foot of man hath crossed 1" 
 
 Thus did a desert bird and spider guard 
 
 The blessed Prophet then ; 
 For all things serve their Maker and their God 
 
 Better than thankless men. 
 
 AUah-al-Muhaimin ! shield and save 
 Us, for his sake within that cave. 
 
82 PEARLS OF TEE FAITH, 
 
 9 
 
 Say Al-Hatliim ! He is the Miglity One ! 
 
 Praise Him, and hear the great ''Verse of the Throne.'* 
 
 "Allah! there is none other God but He, 
 
 The Living God, the Self-subsistent One; 
 Weariness cometh not to Him. nor sleep; 
 
 And whatso is belongs to Him alone 
 In heaven and earth; who is it intercedes 
 
 With Him, save if He please? He is aware 
 What is before them and what after them. 
 
 And they of all His knowledge nothing share 
 Save what He will vouchsafe. His throne's foundation 
 
 Sits splendid, high above the earth and sky. 
 Which to sustain gives Him no meditation: 
 
 Mightiest He is, Supreme in Majesty." 
 
 Ayatu-l-Koorsiy ! this loe Muslims grave 
 On polished gem and j^ainfed architrave; 
 But thou, torite its great letters on thy heart. 
 Lauding the Mighty One, whose work thou art. 
 
SUBA FIFTY-NINE. 83 
 
 10 
 
 The ''All-Compelling !" golden is that verse, 
 Which doth Ilis title — Al-Jabbdr — rehearse. 
 
 Sura tlie nine and fiftieth: " Fear ye God, 
 
 O true believers! and let every soul 
 
 Heed what it doth to-day, because to-morrow 
 
 The same thing it shall find gone forward there 
 
 To meet and make and judge it. Fear }'e God, 
 
 For He knows whatsoever deeds ye do. 
 
 Be not as those who have forgotten Him, 
 
 For they are those who have forgot themselves ; 
 
 They an; the evil-doers: not for such, 
 
 And for the heritors of Paradise, 
 
 Shall it be equal; Paradise is kept 
 
 For those thrice blessed who have ears to hear. 
 
 Lo! had we sent "the Book" unto Our hills, 
 Our hills had bowed their crests in reverence, 
 And opened to the heart their breasts of rock 
 To take Heaven's message. Fear jq Him who knows 
 Present, and Past, and Future: ft-ur ye Him 
 Who is the Only, Holy, Faithful Lord, 
 Glorious and good, compelling to His mMU 
 All things, for all things He hath made and rules. 
 
 So rule, Al-Jabbdr; make our irAlls 
 Bend, though more stubborn than the hills. 
 
34 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 11 
 
 Al-Mutakahbir ! all the heavens declare 
 His majesty, Who makes them what they are. 
 
 AzAR, of Abraham the father, spake 
 
 Unto his son, '* Come! and thine offerings make 
 
 Before the gods whose images divine 
 
 In Nimrud's carved and painted temple shine. 
 
 Pay worship to the sun's great orb of gold; 
 
 Adore the queen-moon's silver state; behold 
 
 Otared, Moshtari, Sohayl, in their might, 
 
 Those stars of glory, those high lords of light. 
 
 These have we wrought, as fitteth gods alone, 
 
 In bronze and ivory and chiselled stone. 
 
 Obey, as did thy sires, these powers of Heaven 
 
 Which rule the world, throned in the circles seven." 
 
 But Abraham said, " Did they not see the sun 
 Sink and grow darkened, when the days were done; 
 Did not the moon for them, too, wax and wane, 
 That they should pay her worship, false and vain? 
 Lo ! all these stars have laws to rise and set — 
 Otared, Moshtari, Sohayl — wilt thou yet 
 Bid me praise gods who humbly come and go, 
 Lights that a Greater Light hath kindled? No I 
 I dare not bow the knee to one of these; 
 My Lord is He who (past the sky man sees) 
 Waxeth and waneth not, Unchanged of all, 
 Him only ' God,' Him only 'Great,' I call." 
 
 Well spah'st thou, Friend of Allah ! none 
 Is ''great " except the Greatest One. 
 
mows OF THE LORD. 35 
 
 13 
 
 Praise the " Creator T He who made us live, 
 Life everlasting unto us can give. 
 
 By the glorious Book We have sent ! do they wonder a 
 Warner is come 
 Out from among themselves? do the misbelievers say 
 "This is a marvellous thing! what! when we are dead 
 and dust 
 To live! to arise! see now, this hope is a hope far 
 away!" 
 
 But what the grave shall consume, and what of the 
 man it shall leave, 
 "We know, for a roll is with Us where each soul's 
 order is set. 
 Will they call the truth a lie when it cometh to them, 
 and dwell 
 Wrangling and foolish and fearful, confounding the 
 matter? But yet 
 
 The heaven is above them to see how fair We have 
 builded its arch, 
 Painted it golden and blue, finished it perfect and 
 clear; 
 And the earth how We spread it forth, and planted the 
 mountains thereon; 
 And made all the manifold trees and the beautiful 
 blossoms appear. 
 
36 PEARLS OF TEE FAITH. 
 
 Memorials are these to the wise, and a message to him 
 who repents; 
 Moreover We drop from the clouds the blessing of 
 water, the rain, 
 Whereby the cool gardens do grow, and the palms 
 soaring up to the sky 
 With their date-laden branches and boughs, one over 
 the other; and grain 
 
 To nourish the children of men. Lo! thus We have 
 quicliened dead clay 
 On the bosom of earth, and beneath her so, too, shall 
 a quickening be. 
 
 Wliat! deem they it wearied God to create? — that His 
 power was spent? 
 They are fools, and they darken their eyes to that 
 which He willeth them see. 
 
 We have fashioned man, and we know the thoughts of 
 his innermcfst heart; 
 We are closer to him than his blood, more near than 
 the vein of his throat; 
 At the right of ye all sits a watcher, a watcher sits at 
 your left ; 
 And whatso each speaketh or thinketh, those two 
 have known it and note. 
 
 AUKhdlik ! Fashioner Divine ! 
 Finish Thy work and make us Thine ! 
 
ANGELS' WINGS. 37 
 
 13 
 
 Al-Bdri! Moulder of each form and frame, 
 Pots praise the Potter, when we speak tJiis name. 
 
 Praise "be to God, the Designer, Builder of earth and 
 of Heaven! 
 Fashioned His Angels He hath, making them mes- 
 sengers still; 
 Two wings to some and four wings to some, and to 
 some He hath given 
 Six and eight silver wings, making what marvels 
 He will. 
 
 Verily mighty is He, and what He bestoweth of 
 blessing 
 None can withhold; and none what He withholdeth 
 can send; 
 Children of men ! remember the mercies of Allah to- 
 wards ye, 
 Is there a Maker save this, is there another such 
 Friend? 
 
 Nowhere another one, we see. 
 Wondrous *' Artificer J'' like Thee. 
 
38 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 U 
 
 Al-Muzawwir ! ths " FasMoner!" say thus 
 Still lauding Him who hath compounded us. 
 
 When the Lord would fasliion men, 
 Spake He in the Angels' hearing, 
 
 "Lo! Our will is there shall be 
 On the earth a creature bearing 
 
 Rule and royalty. To-day 
 
 We will shape a man from clay." 
 
 Spake the Angels, " Wilt Thou make 
 Man who must forget his Maker, 
 
 Working evil, shedding blood, 
 Of Thy precepts the forsaker? 
 
 But Thou knowest all, and we 
 
 Celebrate Thy majesty." 
 
 Answered Allah, "Yea! I know 
 What ye know not of this making; 
 
 Gabriel ! Michael ! Israfil I 
 Go down to the earth, and taking 
 
 Seven clods of colors seven. 
 
 Bring them unto Me in Heaven." 
 
 Then those holy Angels three 
 
 Spread their pinions and descended; 
 
 Seeking clods of diverse clay, 
 That all colors might be blended ; 
 
TEE MAKING OF MAN. 39 
 
 Yellow, tawny, dun, black, brown, 
 White and red, as men are known. 
 
 But the earth spake, sore afraid, 
 
 "Angels ! of my substance take not; 
 
 Give me back my dust, and pray 
 That the dread Creator make not 
 
 Man, for he will sin, and briug 
 
 Wrath on me and suffering." 
 
 Therefore empty-handed came 
 
 Gabriel. Michael. Israfil, 
 Saying, "Lord ! Thy earth imploreth 
 
 Man may never on her dwell; 
 ' Tie will sin and anger thee. 
 Give me back my cla}^! ' cried she." 
 
 Spake the Lord to Azrael, 
 
 "Go thou, who of wing art surest. 
 
 Tell my earth this sliall be well; 
 
 Bring those clods, which thou procurest 
 
 From her bosom, unto Me; 
 
 Shape them as I order thee." 
 
 Thus 'tis written how the Lord 
 
 Fashioned Adam for His glory. 
 Whom the Angels worshipped, 
 
 All save Iblis ; and this story 
 Teacheth wherefore Azrael saith, 
 " Come thou!" at man's hour of death. 
 
 Allah! when he doth call us. take! 
 We are such clay as Thou dld'st make. 
 
40 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 15 
 
 Al-Ohaff&r, tJie " Forgivei^" praise thereby. 
 Thy Lord who is so fall of clemency. 
 
 Once, it is written, Abraham, " God's Friend," 
 
 Angered his Lord; for there had ridden in 
 
 Across the burning yellow desert-flats 
 
 An aged man, haggard with two days' drouth. 
 
 The water-skin swung from his saddle-fork 
 
 Wrinkled and dry; the dust clove to his lids, 
 
 And clogged his beard; his parched tongue and black 
 
 lips 
 Moved to say, " Give me drink," yet uttered nought; 
 And that gaunt camel which he rode upon, 
 Sank to the earth at entering of the camp, 
 Too spent except to lay its neck along 
 The sand, and moan. 
 
 To whom when the}^ had given 
 The cool wet jar, asweat with diamond-drops 
 Of sparkling life, that way-worn Arab laved 
 The muzzle of his beast, and filled her mouth ; 
 Then westward turned with blood-shot, worshipping 
 
 eyes. 
 Pouring forth water to the setting orb: 
 Next, would have drunk, but Abraham saw, and said, 
 "Let not this unbeliever drink, who pours 
 God's gift of water forth unto the sun, 
 Which is but creature of the living Lord." 
 
ABEAIIAM'S OFFENCE. 41 
 
 But while the man still clutched the precious jar, 
 Striving to quaff, a form of grace drew nigh, 
 Beauteous, majestic. If he came afoot, 
 None knew, or if he glided from the sky. 
 With genlle air he filled a gourd and gave 
 The man to drink, and Abraham — in wrath 
 That one should disobey him in his tents — 
 Made to forbid; when full upon him smote 
 Eyes of divine light, eyes of high rebuke — 
 For this was Michael, Allah's messenger — 
 **Lo ! God reproveth thee, thou Friend of G-od! 
 Forbiddest thou gift of the common stream 
 To this idolater, spent with the heat. 
 Who, in his utmost need, watered his beast, 
 And bowed the knee in reverence, ere he drank? 
 Allah hath borne with him these threescore years, 
 Bestowed upon him corn and wine, and made 
 His household fruitful and his herds increase; 
 And find'st thou not patience to pity him 
 Whom God hath pitied, waiting for the end, 
 Since none save He wotteth what end will come, 
 Or who shall find the light. Thou art rebuked! 
 Seek pardon! for thou hast much need to seek." 
 
 Thereat the Angel vanished, as he came; 
 But Abraham, with humbled countenance, 
 Kissed reverently the heathen's hand, and spake — 
 Leading him to tlie chief seat in the tent — 
 "God panlon me, as He dotli pardon thee!" 
 
 Long-suffering Lord I ah, who should he 
 Forgiven, if Thou loert as wef 
 
43 PEARLS OF TEE FAITH. 
 
 16 
 
 Al-Kahhdr call Eiim — " Dominant,^' the King, 
 Who maketh, knowethy ruleth everything. 
 
 The " Chapter of the Cattle :"* Heaven is whose, 
 And whose is eartli ? Say Allah's, That did choose 
 
 On His own miglit to lay the law of mercy. 
 He, at the Resurrection, will not lose 
 
 Oue of His own. What falleth, night or day, 
 Falleth by His Almighty word alway. 
 
 Wilt thou have any other Lord than Allah, 
 Who is not fed, but feedeth all flesh? Say! 
 
 For if He visit thee with woe, none makes 
 The woe to cease save He; and if He takes 
 
 Pleasure to send thee pleasure, He is Master 
 Over all gifts; nor doth His thought forsake 
 
 The creatures of the field, nor fowls that fly; 
 They are *'a people" also: "These, too, I 
 
 Have set," the Lord saith, "in My book of record; 
 These shall be gathered to Me by and by." 
 
 With Him of all things secret are the keys; 
 None other hath them, but He hath; and sees 
 
 Whatever is in land, or air, or water, 
 Each bloom that blows, each foam-bell on the seas, 
 
 * Cf. KorSji, vi. chapter " Of the Cattle." 
 
SITE. 4. " OF THE CATTLE." 43 
 
 Nor is {here nny little hidden grain 
 Swelling benc;itli the sod, nor in the main 
 Any small fish or shell, nor of the earth 
 Green things or dry things upon hill or plain, 
 
 But these are written in th' unerring Book : 
 And what ye did by day, and when ye took 
 
 Your slumbers, and the last sleep ; then to Him. 
 Is your return, and the account's there! — lookl 
 
 Al-Kahhcir ! All-embracing One! 
 Our trust is fixed on Thee alone. 
 
44 PEARLS OF THE FAITH, 
 
 17 
 
 Praise " the Bestower:'' unto all that live 
 He giveth, and He loveth those who give. 
 
 The Imam Ali, Lion of tbe Faith, 
 
 Have ye not heard his giving? what he had 
 
 The poor had, for he held his gold and goods 
 
 As Allah's almoner. Ali it was 
 
 Who in the Mecca mosque at evening prayer — 
 
 Being entreated by some needy one — 
 
 Would not break off, yet would not let the man 
 
 Ask him in vaiu for what he asked of God, 
 
 Favor and aid; wherefore — amid the words — 
 
 He drew his emerald, carved with Allah's praise. 
 
 From his third finger, giving it; and pra3^ed 
 
 With face unturned. 
 
 If he had pieces ten, 
 He succored five score; if one dinar, then 
 Into ten dirhems he divided that, 
 And fed ten " people of the bench." Our Lord 
 (On whom be peace!) in all men's hearing said, 
 "This is the Prince of Givers P' 
 
 Once it fell, 
 Being sore hungered in his house, he cried, 
 " Fatmehl thou daughter of the Prophet of God, 
 Find me to eat, if thou hast any food." 
 
All AND THE ANGELS. 45 
 
 And Fatraeli said, " Father of Hassan! here 
 
 Not a dry date is left— not one — I swear 
 
 By Him besides Whom is none other God; 
 
 But in the corner of the tomb I laid 
 
 Six silver akchas: take them, if thou wilt. 
 
 And buy thee in the market food, and bring 
 
 Fruits for our boys, Hassan and Hussain." Thus 
 
 Ali departed. On his way lie spied 
 
 Two Mussulmans, of whom one rudely haled 
 
 The other, crying, " Pay thy debt, or come 
 
 Unto the prison where the smiter w-aits." 
 
 And he who owed had nought, and wept amain. 
 
 Sighing, " Alas the day!" But Ali asked, 
 
 " What is thy debt, my brother?" Then he moaned, 
 
 " Six akchas, for the lack of which the chains 
 
 Must load me." " Nay!" spake Ali, "they are here; 
 
 Take them and pay the man, and go in peace." 
 
 So went that debtor free, but Ali came 
 
 Empty in hand and belly home again 
 
 Unto his door, where Fatmeh and the sons, 
 
 Hassan and Hussain, seeing him approach, 
 
 Ran joyous forth, crying, *' He bringeth us 
 
 Dates now, and honey, and new camels' milk; 
 
 Soon shall we feast." But when they saw his cloth 
 
 Hang void, and troubled eyes, and heard him say, 
 
 " Upon my road I met a poorer man 
 
 Who, for six akchas, should have borne the chains; 
 
 To him I gave them, and I bring ye nought," 
 
 Then the lads wept; but Fatmeh smiled and spake: 
 
 "Well hast thou done, O servant of the Lord! 
 
 Weep not, ye sons of Ali, though we fast; 
 
 Who feedeth Allah's children, feasts His own: 
 
 He, the ' Bestower,' will provide for us." 
 
46 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 But Ali turned, heart-sore because the boys 
 Lacked meat, and Fatmeh's lovely eyes were sunk 
 Hollow with hunger. " I will go," thought he, 
 '• Unto the blessed Prophet, for, if one 
 Be burdened with a thousand woes, his word 
 Dismisses them and makes the sorrow joy." 
 So bent he mournful steps thither, to tell 
 The Lord Muhammad of this strait, when — lo! 
 An Arab in mid path encountered him, 
 Of noble bearing, with a chieftain's mien, 
 Leading a riding-camel by her string. 
 Black, with full teeth, the best beast ever foaled. 
 "Buy Wurdah! — buy my desert rose," quoth he; 
 "One hundred akchas make her thine, so thou 
 Shalt own the best in Hedjaz, or at choice 
 Sell her for double money." Ali said, 
 " The beast is excellent! fain would I buy. 
 But have not in my scrip thy price." " Go to," 
 The Sheikh replied; " lake her and bring th}' gold. 
 When Allah pleaseth, to the western gate; 
 I will await thee." 
 
 Ali nodded; took 
 The nose-string, turning to the left to seek 
 The camel-merchants that should buy the beast; 
 Wliom at the very entry of the Khan 
 Another Arab in the desert garb. 
 Lordly and gracious like his fellow, met. 
 And quick saluted, saying, " Peace with thee! 
 God send thee favor! wilt thou sell me now 
 Thy riding-camel with the great stag-eyes? 
 Here be three hundred akchas counted down. 
 Silver and gold, good money ! Such an one 
 
ALI AND THE ANOELS. 47 
 
 I sought, but found not, till I saw thee here." 
 
 " If thou wilt buy," quoth Ali, " be it so!" 
 
 And thereupon that Bedawee counted out 
 
 Dinars and dirhems — little suns and moons 
 
 Of glittering gold and silver — in his cloth, 
 
 And took the beast; but Ali, with one piece 
 
 Bouglit food and fruits, and, hastening home again, 
 
 Heard his lads laugh with joy to see the store 
 
 Poured fortli ; — white cakes and dates and amber 
 
 grapes — 
 And snuled himself to mark Fatmeh's soft eyes 
 Gladden; then, having eaten, blessed the Lord, 
 Giver of gifts, "Bestower." 
 
 So, once more 
 Made he to go unto the western gate 
 To pay his seller; but upon the street 
 The Prophet met him. Lightly smiled our Lord, 
 (On whom be comfort!) lightly questioned he, 
 Saying, " O Ali! who was he did sell 
 Thy riding-camel, and to whom didst thou 
 Sell her again?" Quoth Ali, "Only God 
 Knoweth, except thou knowest!" Spake our Lord, 
 " Yea, but I know! that was great Gabriel, 
 Chief messenger of Heaven, from whom thou bought'st; 
 And he to whom thou sold'st was Israfil, 
 Hi3 heavenly fellow; and that beast did come 
 Forth from the pleasure-fields of Paradise, 
 And thither back is gone; for — look! my son, 
 Allah hath recompensed thee fifty times 
 Tlie goodly deed thou didst, giving thine all 
 To free the weeping debtor. Oh, He sees 
 And measures and bestows; but what is kept, 
 
48 PEARLS OF THE FAITU. 
 
 Beyoud gifts here, for kindly hearts that love, 
 God only wotteth, and the Eternal Peace." 
 
 Bestower ! grant us grace to see 
 Oar gain is wJuat we lose for Thee. 
 
SURA ''OF TEE FORENOON." 49 
 
 18 
 
 Al-Razzdk ! the " Pi'onder /" iJius again 
 Praise Him who, liamng formed ihee, doth sustain. 
 
 By the Ligli dawn, 
 When the light of the sun is strong! 
 
 B}^ tlie thick night, 
 When the darkness is deep and long! 
 He hath not forsook thee, nor hated! 
 
 By his mercies. I say. 
 The life which will come shall be better 
 
 Than the life of to-day. 
 
 In the latter days 
 The Lord thy " Provider" shall give; 
 
 When thou knowest His gift 
 Thou wilt not ask rather to live; 
 Look back 1 thou wert friendless and frameless. 
 
 He made thee from nought ; 
 Look back! thou wert blinded and wandering, 
 
 To the light thou art brought! 
 Consider! shall Allah forego thee 
 
 Since thus He hath wrought? * 
 
 Thefator of thy Lord perpend, 
 And praise His mercies without end. 
 
 *Cf. Koran, xciii. chapter '\0f the Forenoon. 
 
50 PEABLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 19 
 
 Al-Fattd'h! praise the " Opener!*^ and red'c, 
 The marcels of that " Journey of the Night. " * 
 
 Our Lord Muhammad lay upon the hill 
 Safai, whereby the holy city stands, 
 Asleep, wrapped in a robe of camels' wool. 
 Dark was the night — that Night of grace — and still; 
 When all the seven spheres, by God's commands, 
 Opened unto him, splendid and wonderful! 
 
 For Gabriel, softly lighting, touched his side, 
 Sayiug, "Rise, thou enwrapped one! come and see 
 The things which be beyond. Lo! I have brought 
 Borak, the horse of swiftness; mount and ride!" 
 Milk-white that steed was, with embroidery 
 Of pearls and emeralds in his long hair wrought. 
 
 Hooved like a mule he was, with a man's face; 
 His eyes gleamed from his forelock, each a star 
 Of lucent hyacinth; the saddle-cloth 
 Was woven gald, which priceless work did gracel 
 The lightuiug goeth not so fast or far 
 As those broad pinions which he fluttered forth. 
 
 One heel he smote on Safa, and one heel 
 On Sinai — where the dint is to this day. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, xvii. chapter " Of the Night Journey." 
 
MUHAMMAD'S JOURNEY TO HEAVEN. 51 
 
 Kext at Jerusalem he neighed. Our Lord, 
 Descending with th' Archangel there, did kneel 
 Making the midnight prayer ; afterwards they 
 Tethered him to the Temple by a cord. 
 
 " Ascend!" spake Gabriel; and behold! there fell 
 Out of the sky a ladder bright and great, 
 Whereby, with easy steps, on radiant stairs, 
 They mounted — past our earth and heaven and hell — 
 To the first sphere, where Adam kept the gate, 
 Which was of vaporous gold and silvery squares. 
 
 Here thronged the lesser Angels: some took charge 
 To fill the clouds with rain and speed them round. 
 And some to tend live creatures; for what's born 
 Hath guardians there in its own shape : a large 
 Beauteous white cock crowed matins, at the sound 
 Cocks in a thousand planets hailed the morn. 
 
 Unto the second sphere by that white slope 
 Ascended they, whereof Noah held the key; 
 And two-fold was the throng of Angels here; 
 But all so dazzling glowed its fretted cope, 
 Burning with beams, Muhammad could not see 
 What manner of celestial folk were there. 
 
 The third sphere lay a thousand years beyond 
 If thou should'st journey as the sun-ray doth, 
 But in one FdtiJiah clomb they thitherward. 
 David and Solomon in union fond 
 
 Ruled at the entrance, keeping Sabaoth 
 Of ceaseless joy. The void was paven hard 
 
 With paven work of rubies— if there be 
 Jewels on earth to liken unto them 
 
53 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Which had such color as no goldsmith knows — 
 And here a vast Archangel they did see, 
 "Faithful of God " his name, whose diadem 
 Was set with peopled stars; wherefrom arose 
 
 Lauds to the glory of God, filling the blue 
 With lovely music, as rose-gardens fill 
 A land with essences; and young stars, shaking 
 Tresses of lovely light, gathered and grew 
 Under his mighty plumes, departing still 
 Like ships with crews and treasure, voyage-making. 
 
 So came they to the fourth sphere, where there sate 
 Enoch, who never tasted death; and there 
 Behind its portal awful Azrael writes; 
 The shadow of his brows compassionate 
 Made night across all worlds; our Lord felt fear, 
 Marking the stern eyes and the hand which smites. 
 
 For always on a scroll he sets the names 
 
 Of new-born beings, and from off the scroll 
 
 He blotteth who must die; and holy tears 
 
 Roll down his cheeks, recording all our shames 
 
 And sins and penalties; while of each soul 
 
 Monker and Nakir reckon the arrears. 
 
 Next, at the fifth sphere's entry, they were 'ware 
 Of a door built in sapphire, having graven 
 Letters of flashing fire, the faith unfolding, 
 " Theke is no God save God." Aaron sate there 
 Guarding the " region of the wrath of Heaven;" 
 And Israfil behind, his trumpet holding. 
 
 His trumpet holding — which shall wake the dead 
 And slay the living — all his check puffed out, 
 
MUHAMMAD'S JOURNEY TO HEAVEN. 53 
 
 Bursting to blow; for none knows Allah's time, 
 Nor when the word of judgment shall be said: 
 And darts, and chains of flame, lay all around, 
 Terrible tortures for th' ungodly's crime. 
 
 When to the sixth sphere passed they, Moses sped 
 Its bars of chrysoprase, and kissed our Lord, 
 And spake full sweet, "Prophet of Allah! thou 
 More souls of Ismael's tribes to truth hast led. 
 Than I of Isaak's." Here the crystal sword 
 
 Of Michael gave the light they journeyed through. 
 
 But at the seventh sphere that light which shone 
 Hath not an earthly name, nor any voice 
 Can tell its splendor, nay, nor any ear 
 Learn, if it listened ; only he alone 
 Who saw it, knows how there th' elect rejoice, 
 Isa, and Ibrahim, and the souls most dear. 
 
 And he, the glorious regent of that sphere, 
 Had sevent}' thousand heads ; and every head 
 As many countenances; and each face 
 As many mouths ; and in each mouth there were 
 Tongues seventy thousand, whereof each tongue said. 
 Ever and ever, "Praise to Allah! praise!" 
 
 Here, at the bound, is fixed that lotus tree 
 Sedra, which none among the Angels pass; 
 And not great Gabriel's self might farther wend: 
 Yet, led by presences too bright to see, 
 
 Too high to name, on paths like purple glass 
 Our Lord Muhammad journeyed to the end. 
 
 Alone! alone! through hosts of Cherubim 
 Crowding the infinite void with whispering vans, 
 
54 PEAELS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 From splendor unto splendor still he sped; 
 Across the "Lake of Gloom'' they ferried him, 
 And then the *' Sea of Glory:" mortal man's 
 Heart cannot hold tiie wonders witnessed. 
 
 So to the "Redon of the Veils" he came, 
 "VThich shut all times off from eternity. 
 The bars of being where thought cannot reach : 
 Ten thousand thousand are tbey. walls of flame 
 Lambent with loveliness and mystery. 
 
 Ramparts of utmost heaven, having no breach. 
 
 Then he saw God! our Prophet saw the Throxe! — 
 O Allah I let these weak words be forgiven! — 
 Thou, the Supreme, "the Opener," spake at last; 
 The Throne! the Throne! he saw; — our Lord alone! 
 Saw it and heard! — but the verse falls from heaven 
 Like a poised eagle, whom the lightnings blast. 
 
 And Gabriel waiting b}' the tree he found : 
 And Borak. tethered to the Temple porch : 
 He loosed the horse, and 'twixt its wings ascended. 
 One hoof it smote on Zion's hallowed ground, 
 One upon Sinai: and the day-star's torch 
 "Was not yet fading when the journey ended. 
 
 Al-Fdttd'hf " Opener/" we say 
 Thy name, and toorshzp Thee alway. 
 
THE MOAKKIBAT. 55 
 
 20 
 
 Al^'AUm! the " All-Knower !" by this word 
 
 Praise Him Who sees th' unseen, and Tiears th' unheard. 
 
 If ye keep hidden your mind, if ye declare it aloud. 
 Equally God hath perceived, equally known is each 
 
 thought: 
 If on your housetops ye sin, if in dark chambers ye 
 sliroud, 
 Equally God hath beheld, equal!}' judgment is 
 wrought. 
 
 He, without listing, doth know how many breathings 
 ye make ; 
 Kumbereth the hairs of your heads, wotteth the beats 
 of your blood; 
 Heareth the feet of the ant when she wanders by night 
 in the brake; 
 Counteth the eggs of the snake and the cubs of the 
 wolf in the wood. 
 
 Mute the Moakkibat* sit this side and that side of men. 
 One on the right noting good, and one on the left 
 .noting ill; 
 Each hath those Angels beside him who write with in- 
 visible pen 
 Whatso he doeth. or sayeth, or thinketh. recording it 
 still, 
 
 * These are the " Successors," or Angels of Record, who relieve 
 each other in the duty of registering human axitions, etc. 
 
56 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Vast is the mercy of God, and when a man doeth aright, 
 Glad is the right-hand Angel, and setteth it quick on 
 the roll ; 
 Ten times he setteth it down in letters of heavenly 
 light, 
 For one good deed ten deeds, and a hundred for ten 
 on the scroll. 
 
 But when one doeth amiss the right-hand Angel doth 
 lay 
 His palm on the left hand Angel and whispers, "For- 
 bear thy pen! 
 Perad venture in seven hours the man may repent him 
 and pray ; 
 At the end of the seventh hour, if it must be, witness 
 it then."* 
 
 Al-'Alim! Thou Who knowest all, 
 With hearts unveiled on Thee we call. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, xiii. chapter "Of thunder." 
 
EVIL DEEDS. 57 
 
 21 
 
 Takbuzu tea Tahsutu! heaven and hell 
 He closeth and undoseth — and doth well ! * 
 
 In gold and silk and robes of pride 
 
 An evil-hearted monarch died ; 
 
 Pampered and arrogant his soul 
 
 Quitted the grave. His eyes did roll 
 
 Hither and thither, deeming some 
 
 In that new world should surely come 
 
 To lead his spirit to a seat 
 
 Of state, for kingly merit meet. 
 
 What saw he? 'tAvas a hag so foul 
 
 There is no Afrit, Djin, or Ghoul 
 
 With countenance as vile, or mien 
 
 As fearful, and such terrors seen 
 
 In the fierce voice and hideous air, 
 
 Blood-dripping hands and matted hair. 
 
 "Allah have mercy!" cried the king, 
 
 " Whence and what art thou, hateful thing?" 
 
 "Dost thou not know — who gav'st me birth?" 
 
 Replied the form; "thy sins on earth 
 
 In me embodied thus behold, 
 
 I am thy wicked work ! unfold 
 
 Thine arms and clasp me, for we two 
 
 In hell must live thy sentence through." 
 
 * Cf. Koran, ii. chapter " Of the Cow." 
 
58 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Then with a bitter cry, 'tis writ, 
 The Iting's soul passed unto the pit. 
 
 Al-KaUz! so He bars the gate 
 Against the unregenerate. 
 
GOOD DEEDS, 59 
 
 22 
 
 Tet He wlio shuts the gate, just wrath to wreaks 
 Unbars it, full of mercy, to the meek. 
 
 There died upon the Miraj night, 
 
 A man of Mecca, Amru height; 
 
 Faithful and true, patient and pure, 
 
 Had been his years; he did endure 
 
 In war five spear-wounds, and in peace 
 
 Long journeying for his tribe's increase; 
 
 And ever of his gains lie gave 
 
 Unto poor brethren — kind as brave: 
 
 But these forsook, and age and toil 
 
 Drained the strong heart as flames drink oil; 
 
 Till, lone and friendless, gray and spent — 
 
 A thorn-tree's shadow for his tent, 
 
 And desert sand for dying-bed — 
 
 Amru the camel-man lay dead. 
 
 "What is it that the 'Hadith saith? 
 
 Even while the true eyes glazed in death, 
 
 And the warm heart wearied, and beat 
 
 The last drum of its long defeat, 
 
 An Angel, lighting on the sand, 
 
 Took Amru's spirit by the hand, 
 
 And gently spake, "Dear brother, come I 
 
 A sore road thou didst journey home; 
 
60 PEARLS OF THE FAITH, 
 
 But life's dry desert thou hast passed, 
 And Zem-Zem sparkles nigh at last." 
 Then with swift flight those twain did rise 
 Unto the gates of Paradise, 
 Whicli opened, and the Angel gave 
 A golden granate, saying, " Cleave 
 This fruit, my brother!" But its scent 
 So heavenly seemed, and so intent, 
 So rapt was Amru, to behold 
 The great fruit's rind of blushing gold 
 And emerald leaves — he dared not touch, 
 Murmuring, "O Malik! 'tis too much 
 That I am here, with eyes so dim, 
 And grace all fled." Then bade they him 
 Gaze in the stream which glided stilly, 
 'Mid water-roses and white lily, 
 Under those lawns and smiling skies 
 That make delight in Paradise; 
 When, lo! the presence imaged there 
 Was of such comeliness, no peer 
 Among those glorious Angels stood 
 To Amru, mirrored in the flood. 
 
 "I ! is it I?" he cried in gladness, 
 "Am I so changed from toil and sadness?'* 
 " This was thy hidden self," replied 
 The Angels. "So shalt thou abide 
 By our bright river evermore ; 
 And in that fair fruit's secret core — 
 Which on the Tree of Life hath grown — 
 Another marvel shall be shown. 
 Ah, happy Amru! cleave!" He clove: — 
 Sweet miracle of bliss and love! 
 
 i 
 
GOOD DEEDS. 61 
 
 Forth from the pomegranate there grew, 
 
 As from its bud a rose breaks through, 
 
 A lovely, stately, lustrous maid. 
 
 Whose black orbs long silk lashes shade. 
 
 Whose beauty was so rich to see 
 
 No verse can tell it worthily ; 
 
 Kor is there found in any place 
 
 One like her for the perfect grace 
 
 Of soft arms wreathed and ripe lips moving 
 
 In accents musical and loving; 
 
 For thus she spake: " Peace be to thee, 
 
 My Amru!" Then, with quick cry, he: 
 
 "Who art thou, blessed one? what name 
 
 Wearest thou? teach my tongue to frame 
 
 This worship of my heart. " Said she, 
 
 *' Thy good deeds gave me being: see. 
 
 If in my beauty thou hast pleasure. 
 
 How the Most High doth truly treasure 
 
 Joy for his servants. Murzieh I — 
 
 She that doth love and satisfy — 
 
 And I am made by Allah's hand 
 
 Of ambergris and musk, to stand 
 
 Beside thee, soothing thee, and tending 
 
 In comfort and in peace unending." 
 
 So hand in hand, 'tis writ, they went 
 To those bright bowers of high content. 
 
 Al-BdsU ! thus He opens wide 
 His mercies io the justified. 
 
 m -«« 
 
62 PEARLS OF THE FAITK 
 
 23 
 
 AlrKhdjiz! the *'Ahaser!" praise hereby 
 Him Who doth mock at earthly majesty. 
 
 Heakd ye of Nimriid? Cities fell before him; 
 
 Sliinar, from Accad to the Indian Sea, 
 His garden was; as God, men did adore him; 
 
 Queens were his slaves, and kings his vassalry. 
 
 Eminent on his car of carven brass, 
 
 Through f oeman's blood nave-deep he drave his wheel ; 
 And not a lion in the river-grass 
 
 Could keep its shaggy fell from Nimriid's steel. 
 
 But he scorned Allah, schemed a tower to invade Him; 
 
 Dreamed to scale Heaven, and measure might with 
 God; 
 Heaped high the foolish clay wherefrom We made him, 
 
 And built thereon his seven-fold house of the clod. 
 
 Therefore, the least Our messengers among, 
 We sent; — a gray gnat dancing in the reeds: 
 
 Into his ear she crept, buzzing, — and stung. 
 So perished mighty Nimriid and his deeds. 
 
 Thou Ahaser of all pride ! 
 Mighty Thou ai'i, and none beside. 
 
ALLAH'S PROPHETS. 68 
 
 24 
 
 Ar-Bdfif the "Emlferf" lay d Him so 
 Who loves the humble and lifts up the low. 
 
 Whom hath He chosen for His priests and preachers. 
 Lords who were eminent, or men of might? 
 
 Nay, but consider how He seeks His teachers. 
 Hidden, like rubies unaware of light. 
 
 Ur of the Chaldees! what chance to discover 
 Th' elect of Heaven in Azar's leathern tent? 
 
 But Allah saw his child, and friend, and lover, 
 And Abraham was born, and sealed, and sent. 
 
 The babe committed to th' Egyptian water! 
 
 Knew any that the tide of Nilus laved 
 The hope of Israel there? yet Pharaoh's daughter 
 
 Found the frail ark, and so was Moses saved. 
 
 Low lies the Syrian town behind the mountain 
 Where Mary, meek and spotless, knelt that mom, 
 
 And saw the splendid Angel by the fountain, 
 And heard his voice, "Lord Isa shall be born!" 
 
 Nay, and Muhammad (blessed may he be I), 
 
 Abdallah's and Aminah's holy son, 
 Whom black Halimah nursed, the Bedawee, 
 
 Where lived a lonelier or a humbler one? 
 
64 
 
 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Think how he led the camels of Khadijah, 
 Poor, but illumined by the light of Heaven ; 
 
 Mightier than Noah, or Enoch, or Elijah, 
 Our holy Prophet to Arabia given. 
 
 Man knew him not, wrapped in his cloth, and weeping 
 Lonely on Hir^ all that wondrous night; 
 
 But Allah for his own our Lord was keeping:— 
 
 "Pise, thou enwrapped one!" Gabriel spake, "and 
 write." 
 
 Save God there is none liigh at all, 
 Nor any low wJiom lie doth call. 
 
SURA "OF IMRAN'S FAMILY:' 65 
 
 25 
 
 Al-Muliizz I by this title celebrate 
 
 The " Honorer" Whose favor makeih great. 
 
 Say "God," say "Lord of all! 
 Kingdoms and kings Thou makest and unmakest, 
 This one Thou takest, that one Thou forsakest; 
 
 Alike are great and small; 
 
 Into Thy hand they fall." 
 
 " In Thy dread hand they rest; 
 Their nights and days, their waking and their sleeping, 
 Their birth, and life, and death lie in Thy keeping; 
 
 ' Be thus ' to each Thou say'st, 
 
 And thus to be is best, 
 
 "Though it seem good or ill. 
 IslSm! — to Thee our souls we do resign, 
 Turning our faces to the blessed shrine; 
 
 Seeking no honor still 
 
 Save from Thy win."* 
 
 Al-MuMzz! only this we pray 
 To learn Thy will and to obey. 
 
 Cf. Koran, iii. chapter " Of Imran's Family.' 
 
 namwan^ 
 
66 J'EARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 26 
 
 0, Al-Muzil ! ichat if it be Thy icill, 
 Having made man, to lead him into ill? 
 
 Saith the Perspicuous Book: " All things which be are 
 of God; 
 Neither, except by His word, falleth a leaf to the 
 ground ; 
 If He will open He openeth, and whom He hath blinded 
 He blindeth, 
 Leading, misleading; to none liable, blamable, 
 bound."* 
 
 Saith the Perspicuous Book: "Tied on the neck of a 
 man 
 Hangeth the scroll of his fate, not a line to be gain- 
 said or grudged ; 
 When the trumpet of Israfil thunders, the Angels will 
 show it and say. 
 Read there what thine own deeds Lave written; 
 thyself by thyself shall be judged." f 
 
 Wilt thou be wiser than God Who knoweth beginning 
 
 and end? 
 Wilt thou be juster than He whose balance is turned 
 
 by a sigh? 
 
 ■■ ■ ■ ■ ■ 
 
 ♦Cf. Koran, lii. chapter " Of Imran's Family." 
 
 t Cf . Kor&n, xvii. chapter " Of the Night Journey." 
 
GOD\S WILL AND FREE-WILL. 67 
 
 He sayeth, " It shall not be equal for the doers of right 
 and of wrong." 
 
 "It shall not be equal," He sayeth, " for them that 
 accept and deny." * 
 
 Al'Muzil! lead us not astray ! 
 Teach us to find the perfect way. 
 
68 PEARLS OF TEE FAITH. 
 
 27 
 
 As-Sami'hf Thou Hearer! none can be 
 So far ^ his crying doth not come to TJiee. 
 
 Writes iu his Mesnevl, Jelalu-'d-deen: 
 
 There came a man of Yaman, poor and old. 
 
 To Mecca, making pilgrimage ; untaught, 
 
 A shepherd of the hills. Humble he trod 
 
 The six mikat, the stages of the Had j ; 
 
 Humbly indued the ihr^m, garb of faith 
 
 Which hath no seam; made due ablutions, kissed 
 
 The black stone ; then three times with hastening feet 
 
 Circled the Kaabah, and four times paced 
 
 With slackened gate the tawaf, as is due, 
 
 (For such observances the Mollah taught). 
 
 But, when he bowed before the Holy Place, 
 
 Thus brake his soul from him, knowing no prayer, 
 
 Full of God's love, though ignorant of God: 
 
 " O Master! O my Sheikh! where tarriest Thou? 
 
 Show me Thy face that I may worship Thee, 
 
 May toil Thy servant, which I am in heart: 
 
 Ah ! let me sew Thy shoes, anoint Thine hair, 
 
 Wash Thy soiled robes, and serve Thee daily up 
 
 My she-goats' freshest milk — I love thee so! 
 
 Where hidest Thou, that I may kiss Thine hand, 
 
 Chafe Thy dear feet, and ere Thou takest rest — 
 
 In the gold sky, beside Thy sun, belike, 
 
A SHEPHEItD'S PRAYER. 69 
 
 Among the soft-spread fleeces of Thy clouds- 
 Sweep out Thy chamber, my joy, my Kiug!" 
 
 Which hearing, they who kept the shrine, incensed, 
 Had haled him to the gateway, crying, "Dogl 
 What blasphemy is this thou utterest, 
 Saying such things of Him That hath no needs 
 Of nourishment, nor clothing, nor repose. 
 Nor hands, nor feet, nor any form or frame; 
 That thou, base keeper of the silly herd, 
 Shouldst proffer service to the All-Powerful? 
 Meet were it that we stoned thee dead with stones, 
 Who art accursed and injurious. 
 Beyond! these holy walls are not for thee." 
 
 So, sore abashed, that shepherd made to go, 
 Silent and weeping; but our Prophet marked, 
 And with mild ej'es smiled on the man ; then spake 
 To those that drave him forth: "Ye, when ye pray 
 Outside this holy place, in distant lands, 
 Whither turn ye your faces?" Each one said, 
 "Unto the Kaabah." "And wlien ye pray. 
 Within the blessed precincts, pilgrims here, 
 Which way lies Mecca?" " All is f^acred here," 
 They answered, "and it matters nought which way." 
 "Lo! now ye reason well," replied our Lord; 
 *' Inside the Kaabah it matters nought 
 Whither men turn; and in the secret place 
 Of perfect love for God, words are as breath 
 And will is all. This simple shepherd's prayer 
 Came unto Allah's ears clearer than yours. 
 Nathless his ignorance, because his heart — 
 Not tongue, not understanding— uttered it. 
 
 ■~f" 
 
70 PEARLS OF THE FAITJl 
 
 Make room for God's poor lover nigliest me ; 
 Good fellowship hath any man with him 
 To whom Heaven's ear as quick inclines it.self 
 As doth a mother's when her babe lisps love." 
 
 Then were they sore ashamed in that hour. 
 
 Hearer of hearts! As-Sami'h! so 
 Our love inspire, and Thine bestow. 
 
AZBAEL AND THE INDIAN PRINCE. 71 
 
 28 
 
 Al-Bazir f TJwu Seer! great and small 
 Live in Thy vision, which embraceth all. 
 
 Were it one wasted seed of water-grass, 
 Blown by the wind, or buried in the sand. 
 He seeth and ordaineth if it live; 
 Were it a wild bee questing honey-buds, 
 He seeth if she find, and how she comes 
 On busy winglets to her hollow tree. 
 The seeing of His eyes should not be told. 
 Though all the reeds in all the earth were cut 
 To writing-sticks, and all the seven seas 
 Were seven times multiplied, flowing with ink, 
 And seventy angels wrote. He beholds all 
 Which was, or is, or will be: yea, with Him 
 Is present vision of five secret things: 
 The day of Judgment; and the times of rain; 
 The child hid in the womb — is quickenring. 
 And whether male or female ; — what will fall 
 To-morrow (as ye know what did befall 
 Yesterday); and where every man shall die.* 
 
 " Where every man shall die." Al Beidhawi 
 Presenteth how there sate with Solomon 
 A prince of India, and there passed them by 
 Azrael, Angel of Death, on shadowy plumes; 
 
 * Cf. Koran, xzxi. chapter *' Of Lokman." 
 
72 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 With great eyes gazing earnestly, as one 
 
 Who wonders, gazing. And, because the prince 
 
 Sate with the king, he saw what the king saw, 
 
 The Djins and Angels, and saw Azrael 
 
 Fixing on him those awful searching eyes. 
 
 " What name, I pray thee, wears yon messenger?" 
 
 So asked he of the king; and Solomon 
 
 Made answer, " It is Azrael, who calls 
 
 The souls of men." "He seemed," whispered the 
 
 prince, 
 " To have an errand unto me; — bid now 
 That one among thy demon ministers 
 Waft me, upon the swiftest wing that beats. 
 To India, for I fear him." Solomon 
 Issued command, and a swift Djin sprang forth 
 Bearing the prince aloft, so that he came 
 To Coromandel, ere the fruit — which fell 
 Out of the fig — had touched the marble floor. 
 
 Thereupon Azrael said to Solomon, 
 
 " I looked thus earnestly upon the man 
 
 In wonder, for my Lord spake, ' Take his soul 
 
 In India; ' yet behold he talked with thee 
 
 Here in Judaea! Now, see! he hath gone 
 
 There where it was commanded he should die." 
 
 Then followed Azrael. In that hour the prince 
 Died of a hurt, sitting in India. 
 
 With Thee, Lord, he the time and place, 
 So that we die in Thy dear grace. 
 
TEE LAST DAY, 73 
 
 29 
 
 Al-Hdkim / think upon the Day of Doom, 
 
 And fear " the Judge" before Whom all must come. 
 
 When the sun is withered up, 
 
 And the stars from Heaven roll; 
 
 When the mountains quake, 
 
 And ye let stray your she-camels, gone ten months in foal ; 
 
 When wild beasts flock 
 
 With the people and the cattle 
 
 In terror, in amazement, 
 
 And the seas boil and rattle ; 
 
 And the dead souls 
 
 For their bodies seek; 
 
 And the child vilely slain 
 
 Is bid to speak. 
 
 Being asked, "Who killed thee, little maid? 
 
 Tell us his name!" 
 
 While the books are unsealed. 
 
 And crimson flame 
 
 Flayeth the skin of the skies. 
 
 And Hell breaks ablaze; 
 
 And Paradise 
 
 Opens her beautiful gates to the gaze ; — 
 
 Then shall each soul 
 
 Know the issues of the whole. 
 
 And the balance of its scroll.* 
 
 * Cf. Koran, Ixxxi. chapter " Of the folding? Up.' 
 
74 PEARLS OW THE FAITH, 
 
 Shall We swear by the stars 
 
 "Which fade away? 
 
 By the Night drowned in darkness. 
 
 By the dead Day? 
 
 We swear not! a true thing is this; 
 
 It standeth sure, 
 
 He saw it and he heard, and Our word 
 
 Will endure ! 
 
 When the sky cleaves asunder, 
 
 And the stars 
 
 Are scattered; and in thunder 
 
 All the bars 
 
 Of the seas burst, and all the graves are emptied 
 
 Like chests upturned, 
 
 Each soul shall see her doings, done and undone, 
 
 And what is earned. 
 
 The smiting, the smiting 
 
 Of that Day! 
 
 The horror, the splendor, 
 
 Who shall say? * 
 
 The Day when none shall answer for his brother; 
 
 The Day which is with God, and with none other. 
 
 Al-Hdkim ! Judge ! Save by Tliy 'power. 
 Who might abide that awful hour ? 
 
 *Cf. Koran, Izzxii. chapter " Of Cleaving Asunder." 
 
SURA ♦* OF JONAS:* 75 
 
 30 
 
 Al-HddU! 0'' Just Lord r we magnify 
 
 Thy righteous Law, which shall the whole world try. 
 
 God will roll up, when this world's end approacheth, 
 The broad blue spangled hangings of the sky, 
 
 Even as As-Sigill * rolleth up his record, 
 And seals and binds it when a man doth die. 
 
 Then the false worshippers, and what they follow. 
 
 Will to the pit, like "stones of hell," descend; 
 But true believers shall hear Angels saying, 
 '* This is your day; be joyous without end." f 
 
 In that hour dust shall lie on many faces, 
 And may faces shall be glad and bright; % 
 
 Ye who believe, trust and be patient always. 
 Until God judges, for He judges right. § 
 
 Give us to pass hefore Thy throne 
 Among the number of Thine own! 
 
 * A name of the Angel of Registration, 
 t Cf. Koran, xxi. chapter " Of the Prophets." 
 X Cf. Koran, Ixxx. chapter " Of the Frown." 
 § Cf. Koran, x. chapter " Of Jonas." 
 
76 PEAULS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 81 
 
 Dread is His wrath, but boundless is His grace, 
 Al-Latif! Lord! show us Thy "favoring" face/ 
 
 Most quick to pardon sins is He: 
 
 Who unto God draws near 
 One forward step, God taketli three 
 
 To meet, and quit his fear. 
 
 If ye will have of this world's show, 
 God grants, while Angels weep; 
 
 If ye for Paradise will sow, 
 Eight noble crops ye reap.* 
 
 Ah, Gracious One, we toil to reap : 
 The soil is hard, the way is steep I 
 
 * Cf. Koran, xlii. chapter " Of Counsel." 
 
MUHAMMAD IN THE CEMETEMY. 77 
 
 32 
 
 Al-EhaUr! Thou Who art ''aware" of all, 
 By this name also for Thy grace we call. 
 
 One morning in Medina walked our Lord 
 Among the tombs: glad was the dawn, and broad 
 On headstones and on footstones sunshine lay; 
 Earth seemed so fair, 'twas hard to be away. 
 •' O people of the graves!" Muhammad said, 
 " Peace be with you! Your caravan of dead 
 Hath passed ttie defile, and we living ones 
 Forget what men ye were, of whom tbe sons, 
 And what your merchandise and where ye went ) 
 But Allah knows these things! Be ye content 
 Since Allah is • aware.' Ah! God forgive 
 Those that are dead, and us who briefly live." 
 
 Yea ! pardon. Lord, since Thou dost know 
 To-morrow, nmo, and long ago. 
 
78 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 33 
 
 Al'Hdlim ! " Clemenf is our Lord a^ove ; 
 Magnify Allah by this name of love. 
 
 Te know the ant that creeps upon the fig, 
 
 The dharra, made so small, 
 Until she moveth in the purple seeds 
 
 She is not seen at all. 
 
 If, on the judgment-day, holding the scales — 
 
 When all the trial's done — 
 The Angel of the Balance crieth, '* Lordl 
 
 The good deeds of this one 
 
 Outweigh his evil deeds, justly assessed, 
 
 By half one dharra' s weight;" 
 Allah will say, " Multiply good to him. 
 
 And open Heaven's gate!" 
 
 Not if thy work be worth a date-stone's skin 
 
 Shall it be overpast ; 
 Thus it is written in the Sacred Book,* 
 
 Thus will it be at last. 
 
 Faithful and just, Al-Hdlim ! we 
 Take refuge in Thy clemency. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, iy. chapter " Of Women." 
 
SVRA ** OF AL-AKHAF." 79 
 
 34 
 
 Al-'Aziz! ** Strong and Sovereign" Ood, Thy hand 
 Is over all Thy works, holding command. 
 
 Maker of all ye truly call the Strong and Sovereign 
 
 One, 
 Yet have ye read that verse •which saith -whereto His 
 
 work was done? 
 Open "the Book," and, heedful, look what weighty 
 
 words are given 
 (The Chapter of Al-Akh^f) concerning Earth and 
 
 Heaven. 
 
 "The Heavens and earth," Al-AkhSf saith, "and 
 
 whatso is between, 
 Think ye that We made these to be, and then — not to 
 
 have been? 
 Think ye We fashioned them in jest, without their 
 
 times, and plan, 
 And purpose? Nay! accurst are they who judge of 
 
 God by man."* 
 
 Higher, Wiser, than we know, 
 Let not Ihy creatures judge Ihee so. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, xlvi. chapter " Of Al-Akh&f." 
 
80 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 35 
 
 He is the " Pardoner,'' and Ids Scripture hath— 
 *' Paradise is for tliem that check their wrath, 
 And pardon sins; so Allah doth with souls; 
 He loveth best him loho himself controls." * 
 
 Know ye of Hassan's slave? Hassan the son 
 
 Of Ali. In the camp at Ras-al-hadd 
 
 He made a banquet uuto sheikhs and lords, 
 
 Rich dressed and joyous; and a slave bore round, 
 
 Smoking with new-cooked pillaw, Badhan's dish 
 
 Carved from rock-crystal, with the feet in gold, 
 
 And garnets round the rim ; but the boy slipped 
 
 Against the tent-rope, and the precious dish 
 
 Broke into shards of beauty on the board, 
 
 Scalding the son of Ali. One guest cried, 
 
 "Dog! wert thou mine, for this thing thou shouldst 
 
 howl!" 
 Another, " Wretch! thou meritest to die." 
 And yet another, ' ' Hassan ! give me leave 
 To smite away this swine's head with my sword!" 
 Even Hassan's self was moved; but the boy fell 
 Face to the earth and cried, "My lord! 'tis writ, 
 'Paradise is for them that check tJieir wrafJi.' " 
 " 'Tis writ so," Hassan said; " I am not wroth." 
 " My lord!" the boy sobbed on, "also 'tis writ, 
 ' Pardon the trespasser.' " Hassan replied, 
 
 * Cf . Koran, iii. chapter " Of Imran's Family." 
 
HASSAIi'S SLAVE. 81 
 
 *"Tis written — I remember — I forgive." 
 
 " Now is the blessing of the Most High God 
 
 On thee, dear master!" cried the happy slave, 
 
 '•' For He — 'tis writ — ' loves the heneficenV" 
 
 "Yea! I remember, and I thank thee, slave," 
 
 Quoth Hassan; — " better is one noble verse 
 
 Fetched from ' the Book,' than gold and crystal brought 
 
 From Yaman's hills. Lords 1 he hath marred the dish, 
 
 But mended fault with wisdom. See, my slave ! 
 
 I give thee freedom, and this purse to buy 
 
 The robe and turban of a Muslim freed." 
 
 Al-Gliafir ! pardon us, as we 
 forgive a brotlwr's injury. 
 
82 PEARLS OF THE FAITH, 
 
 86 
 
 ** Grateful" — AsTi-Shdkir — is He; praise Him so 
 Who thanketh men for that He did bestow. 
 
 So mucli hast thou of thy hoard 
 As thou gavest to thy Lord; 
 Only this will bring thee in 
 Usance rich and free from sin: 
 Send thy silver on before, 
 Lending to His sick and poor. 
 Every dirhem dropped in alms 
 Touches Allah's open palms, 
 Ere it fall into the hands 
 Of thy brother. Allah stands 
 Begging of thee, when thy brother 
 Asketh help. Ah! if another 
 Proffered thee, for meat and drink, 
 Food upon Al-K^uthar's brink,* 
 Shining Kauthar which doth flow 
 Sweet as honey, cool as snow, 
 White as milk, and smooth as cream, 
 Underneath its banks, which gleam — 
 Green and golden chrysolite, 
 In the Gardens of delight, 
 Whence who drinks never again 
 Tasteth sorrow, age, or pain — 
 
 * Cf. Kor§,n, cviii. 
 
SURA '* OF AL-EAUTEAR.'* 
 
 Who would not make merchandise, 
 Buying bliss in Paradise, 
 Laying up his treasure where 
 Stores are safe and profits clear? 
 But ye lend at lower cost, 
 Whilst Ash-ShSkir offers most, 
 Good returning seven times seven, 
 Paying gifts of earth with Heaven. 
 
 83 
 
 Allah, Who dost reward so well, 
 What maketh man in sin to dwett? 
 
84 PEARLS OF TEE FAITH. 
 
 37 
 
 Al-'Halif believers, magnify 
 
 By this great name, Allah, our Lord " Most High.'* 
 
 He willed, and Heaven's blue arch vaulted the air ; 
 
 "Be!" said He — Earth!* and the round earth was 
 made; 
 See! at the hour of late and early prayer 
 
 The very shadows worship Him, low laid. 
 
 Most High ! the lengthening shadows teach 
 Morning and evening prayer to each. 
 
 * Cf. Kor&n, xvi. chapter " Of the Bee." 
 
THE SEVEN HEAVENS, 85 
 
 38 
 
 Praise Him, Al-KaUr, seated on "the Throne,'* 
 The "Very Great" the High-exalted One. 
 
 Seven Heavens Allah made: 
 First "Paradise," the Jennat-al- Fir dans ; 
 
 The next, Al Huld, "Gate of Eternitj^;" 
 The third, JDar-as-Saldm, the * * Peaceful House ;'* 
 
 The fourth, Dar-al-Eurdr, ' ' Felicity ;" 
 The fifth was Aidenn, " Home of Golden Light;" 
 
 The sixth, Al Na'him, " Garden of Delight;" 
 The seventh, Al-Hilliyun, "Footstool of the Throne;" 
 And, each and every one. 
 Sphere above sphere, and treasure over treasure, 
 The great decree of God made for reward and pleasure. 
 
 Saith the Perspicuous Book:* 
 
 "Look up to Heaven! look! 
 
 Dost thou see flaw or fault 
 
 In that vast vault, 
 Spangled with silvery lamps of night, 
 Or gilded with glad light 
 Of sunrise, or of sunset, or warm noon? 
 
 Rounded He well the moon? 
 Kindled He wisely the red Lord of Day? 
 
 Look twice! look thrice, and say!" 
 
 * Cf. Koran, Ixvii, chapter " Of the Kingdom." 
 
86 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Thy weak gaze fails; 
 Eyesight is drowned in yon abyss of blue; 
 Ye see the glory, but ye see not through: 
 
 God's greatness veils 
 Its greatness by its greatness — all that wonder 
 Lieth the lowest of those Heavens under, 
 
 Beyond which Angels view 
 Allah, and Allah's mighty works, asunder; 
 The thronged clouds whisper of it when they thunder. 
 
 Allah Kahir ! in silence we 
 Meditate on Thy majesty. 
 
SUHA " OF THE NIGHT STAE." 
 
 87 
 
 39 
 
 Al-Hdfiz ! ''Preserver!" succor us 
 Who humbly trustful, cry unto Thee thus. 
 
 By the Sky and the Night star! 
 By Al-TSrek the white star! 
 
 Shining clear — 
 When darkness covers man and beast — 
 
 To proclaim dawn near, 
 And the gold sun hastening from the east, 
 We have set a guard upon you, every one; 
 
 Be ye not afraid 1 
 Of seed from loins, and milk from bosom-bone, 
 
 Ye were made : 
 We are able to remake you, when ye die, 
 
 For cold death 
 Cometh forth from Us, as warm life cometh 
 
 And gift of breath. 
 Do the darkness and the terror plot against you? 
 
 We also plan ; 
 They that love you are stronger than your haters. 
 
 Trust God, O man ! * 
 
 " Ya Hdfiz f " on your doors ye grave , 
 In your hearts, too, these scriptures have ! 
 
 * Cf. Koran Ixxxvi. chapter " Of the Night Star," 
 
B8 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 40 
 
 Praise AUMukit, the great " Maintainer /" He 
 Made us, and makes our sustenance to be. 
 
 The chapter of the "Inevitable:"* We gave 
 The life ye live; why doubt ye We can save 
 
 What once hath been from wasting — if We will — 
 When, like dry corn, man lieth in his grave? 
 
 Did ye cause seed to grow, or was it We, — 
 Wherefrom spring all the many lives that be? 
 
 Who stirred the pulse which couples man and maid, 
 And in the fruit hid that which forms the tree? 
 
 Ye go afield to scatter grain, and then 
 
 Sleep, while We change it into bread for men; 
 
 Have ye bethought why seed should shoot, not sand, 
 Granite, or gravel? Why the gentle rain 
 
 Falleth so clean and sweet from out Our sky, 
 Which might be salt and black and bitter? Why 
 
 The soft clouds gather it from off the seas 
 To spread it o'er the pastures by and by ? 
 
 The flame ye strike rubbing Afar and Markh,f 
 Have ye considered that strange yellow spark? 
 
 Did ye conceive such marvel, or did We 
 Grant it, to warm and cheer men in the dark? 
 
 * Koran, Ivi. 
 
 t The woods used by the ancient Arabs to kindle fire. 
 
SURA " OF THE INEVITABLE:' 
 
 Not now, but when the soul comes to the neck. 
 The meaning of those mercies each shall reck. 
 Then are We nearest, though ye see it not ; 
 Can ye that summoned spirit order back? 
 
 Nay, Al-Mukit ! in life and death 
 Thine are we : Truth Thy Scripture saith. 
 
90 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 41 
 
 Taud Him as " Reckoner,^* casting up tTC account^ 
 And makiny little merits largely mount. 
 
 Give more than thou takest : 
 
 If one shall salute thee, 
 
 Saying, *' Peace be upon thee," 
 The salute which thou makest, 
 
 Speak it friendlier still, 
 
 As beseemeth goodwill; 
 Saying, "Peace, too, and love 
 From Allah above 
 
 Be with thee :" — for heard 
 
 Is each brotherly word; 
 And it shall not be lost 
 That thou gavest him most. * 
 
 Ya Hasib / praise to Thee ; for all 
 Our good deeds needs must he so small. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, iv. chapter " Of Women." 
 
H^n iMin 
 
 THE ROSE-QARDEN. 91 
 
 42 
 
 Al- Jamil ! " the Benign y" a7i, name most dear. 
 Which bids us love and worship without fear. 
 
 Too much ye tremble, too much fear to feel 
 That yearning love which Allah's laws reveal ; 
 Too oft forget — your troubled journey through — 
 He who is Power, is Grace and Beauty too, 
 And Clemency, and Pity, and Pure Rest, 
 The Highest and the Uttermost and Best; 
 Sweeter than honey, and more dear to see 
 Than any loveliness on land or sea 
 By bard or lover praised, or famed in story; 
 For these were shadows of His perfect glory; 
 Which is not told, because, who sees God near 
 Loseth the speech to speak, in loving fear, 
 So joyous is he, so astonished. 
 
 Hath there come to ye what the Dervish said 
 A'; Kaisareya, in the marble shrine, 
 "Who woke from vision of the love divine? 
 " I have seen Allah!" quoth he — all aglow 
 With splendor of the dream which filled him so — 
 "Yeal I have paced the Garden of Delight, 
 And heard and known!" 
 
 ** Impart to us thy light," 
 His fellows cried. 
 
 He paused, and smiled, and spake: 
 "Fain would I say it, brothers, for your sake 
 
93 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 For I have wandered in a sphere so bright, 
 
 Have heard such things, and witnessed such a sight, 
 
 That now I Icnow whither all nature turns. 
 
 And what the love celestial is which burns, 
 
 At the great heart of all the world, ensuring 
 
 That griefs shall pass and joy be all enduring. 
 
 Yet ask me not! I am as one who came 
 
 Where, among roses, one bush, all aflame 
 
 By fragrant crimson blossoms, charged the air 
 
 With loveliness and perfume past compare. 
 
 Then had I thought to load my skirt with roses. 
 
 That ye might judge what wealth that land discloses; 
 
 And filled my robe, plucking the peerless blooms; 
 
 But ah! the scent so rich, so heavenly, comes; 
 
 So were my senses melted into bliss 
 
 With the intoxicating breath of this; 
 
 I let the border of my mantle fall — 
 
 The roses slipped! I bring ye none at all." 
 
 Brothers ! with other eyes must we 
 Behold the Roses on that jCree. 
 
SURA ''OF CLEAVING ASU^'DEB." 93 
 
 43 
 
 Allah- al-Karim / Bountiful Lord ! we bless 
 By this good name Thy loving kindnesses. 
 
 O man! what hath beguiled, 
 
 That thou shouldst stray 
 
 From the plain easy way 
 Of Allah's service, being Allah's child? 
 
 When thou w^ert not, 
 
 And when thou wast a clot, 
 He did foresee thee, and did fashion thee 
 
 From heel to nape, 
 
 Giving thee this fair shape, 
 Composing thee in wondrous symmetry — 
 More than thy mother — in the form thou wearest; 
 Nearer to thee than what on earth is nearest. 
 
 Kinder than kin is He — 
 
 Wilt thou forgetful be? * 
 
 Ya Karim / since Thou lovest thus. 
 Quicken, ah, quicken love in us. 
 
 * Cf, Koran, Ixxxii. chapter " Of Cleaving Asunder." 
 
94 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 I 
 
 44 
 
 AllaJi-al-RaMb ! praise ye ''the Waicliful One,** 
 Who noteth what men do and leave undone. 
 
 The book of the wicked is in Sijjin, 
 
 A close-writ book : 
 A book to be unfolded on tbe Awful Day, 
 
 The day whereto men would not look. 
 
 What Sijjin is 
 Who shall make thee know? 
 The Black Gaol. Under Jehannum, 
 Under Lathd, the " red glow," 
 Under Hutamah, " the fires which split;" 
 Beneath Sa'hir, the " Yellow Hell," 
 And scorching Sakar, lieth it, 
 And JaMm, where devils dwell: 
 Lower from light and bliss 
 Than Hdwiyeh, " the abyss:" 
 Sijjin is this. 
 
 But the books of the righteous are in Hilliytin, 
 
 And what shall make thee see 
 The glory of that region, nigh to God, 
 
 Where those records be? 
 Joy shall make their portion : they shall lie 
 
 With the light of delight upon their faces, 
 On soft seats reclining 
 
 In peaceful places; 
 
THE BOOKS OF GOOD AND EVIL. 
 
 DrinkiDg wine, pure wine, sealed wine, 
 
 Whose seal is musk and rose; 
 Allayed by the crystal waves that shine 
 
 In Tasmln, which flows 
 From the golden throne of God:— at its brink 
 
 Angels drink.* 
 
 95 
 
 " WatcTierT grant our names may he 
 In that Book lying near to Thee. 
 
96 PEARLS OF THE FAITH, 
 
 45 
 
 Allah-al-Mujih, Wlio Uddest men to pray^ 
 And hearest prayer; thus praise we Thee alway. 
 
 Our Lord the Prophet (peace to him!) doth write— 
 Sura the seventeenth, intituled " Night:" — 
 " Pray at the noon, pray at the sinking sun, 
 In night-time pray; but most when night is done, 
 For daybreak's prayer is surely borne on high 
 By Angels changing guard within the sky." 
 And in another verse, " Dawn's prayer is more 
 Than the wide world with all its treasured store." 
 
 Therefore the Faithful, when the growing light. 
 Gives to discern a black hair from a white. 
 Haste to the mosque, and, bending Mecca-way, 
 Recite Al-Fdtihah while 'tis scarce yet day: 
 Praise he to Allah, Lord of all that live. 
 Merciful King and Judge, to Thee we give 
 Worship and honor ! Succor us and guide 
 Where those ham walked who rest Thy Throne beside; 
 The icay of peace, the way of truthful speech. 
 The way of righteousness. So we beseech." 
 He who saith this, before the east is red, 
 A hundred pra3'ers of Azan hath he said. 
 
 Hear now this story of it — told, I ween, 
 For your soul's comfort by Jelalu-'d-deea 
 
ALI AND THE JEW. 97 
 
 In the great pages of the Mesnevi ; 
 
 For therein, plain and certain, shall ye see 
 
 How precious is the prayer at break of day 
 
 In Allah's ears, and in His sight alway 
 
 How sweet are reverence and gentleness 
 
 Done to His creatures: — "Ali" (whom I bless!), 
 
 The son of Abu Talib — he, surnamed 
 
 "Lion of God," in many battles famed. 
 
 The cousin of our Lord the Prophet (grace 
 
 Be his!), uprose betimes one morn, to pace, 
 
 As he was wont, unto the mosque, wherein 
 
 Our Lord (bliss live with him!) watched to begin 
 
 Al-FdWiah. Darkling was the sky, and strait 
 
 The lane between the city and mosque-gate, 
 
 By rough stones broken and deep pools of rain ; 
 
 And therethrough toilfull)^, with steps of pain, 
 
 Leaning upon his staff an old Jew went 
 
 To synagogue, on pious errand bent; 
 
 For those be " People of the Book," and some 
 
 Are chos:eu of Allah's will who have not come 
 
 Unto full light of knowledge; therefore, he, 
 
 Ali, the Caliph of proud daj'^s to be — 
 
 Knowing this good old man, and why he stirred 
 
 Thus early, ere the morning mills were heard — 
 
 Out of his nobleness and grace of soul 
 
 Would not thrust past, though the Jew blocked the 
 
 whole 
 Breadth of the lane, slow hobbling. So they went, 
 That ancient first; and, in soft discontent. 
 After him Ali, noting how the sun 
 Flared near, and fearing prayer might be begun; 
 Yet no command upraising, no harsh cry 
 To stand aside, because the dignity 
 
98 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Of silver hairs is much, and morning praise 
 Was precious to the Jew, too. Thus their ways 
 Wended the pair; great Ali, sad and slow, 
 Following the graybeard, while the east, a-glow, 
 Blazed with bright spears of gold athwart the blue, 
 And the Muezzin's call came, " Illahu! 
 Allah-il- Allah /" 
 
 In the mosque, our Lord 
 (On whom be peace) stood by the mimbar-board, 
 In act to bow and Fdtihali forth to say. 
 But, while his lips moved, some strong hand did lay 
 Over his mouth a palm invisible, 
 So that no voice on the assembly fell. 
 Ta ! Babbi 'lalamina — thrice he tried 
 To read, and thrice the sound of reading died, 
 Stayed by this unseen touch. Thereat amazed, 
 Our Lord Muhammad turned, arose, and gazed, 
 And saw — alone of all within the shrine — 
 A splendid Presence, with large eyes divine 
 Beaming, and golden pinions folded down, 
 Their speed still tokened by the fluttered gown: 
 Gabriel he knew, the Spirit who doth stand 
 Chief of the Sons of Heav'n, at God's right hand; 
 "Gabriel! why stay'st thou me?" the Prophet said, 
 " Since at this hour the Fdtihah should be read." 
 But the bright Presence, smiling, pointed where 
 Ali towards the outer gate drew near, 
 Upon the threshold shaking off his shoes, 
 And giving "alms of entry," as men use. 
 "Yea!" spake th' Archangel, "sacred is the sound 
 Of morning praise, and worth the world's great round, 
 Though earth were pearl and silver; therefore I 
 Stayed thee, Muhammad, in the act to cry. 
 
ALI AND THE JEW. 
 
 Lest Ali, tarrying in the lane, should miss, 
 For his good deed, its blessing and its bliss. " 
 Thereat the Archangel vanished, and our Lord 
 Read Fdtihah forth beneath the mimbar-board. 
 
 Us, too, Mvjib ! in Tiearing keep; 
 Better is prayer than food or sleep/ 
 
K ^U. 
 
 100 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 46. 
 
 '* All- Comprehending One," Al-Wasi'hf we 
 By this name also praise and honor Thee. 
 
 Turn, wheresoe'er ye be, to Mecca's stone, 
 For this is holy, and your Lord doth hear; 
 
 Thitherwards turn! — so hath all Islam one 
 Heart to its thought and harbor of its prayer. 
 
 But Allah's house eastwards and westwards lies, 
 Northwards and southwards. He is everywhere: 
 
 Whithersoever way ye bend your eyes, 
 Face to face are ye with Al-Wasi'h there. 
 
 It is not righteousness to kneel aright 
 Fronting the Kihlah; but to rightly hold 
 
 Of God, and of His judgment, and the bright 
 Bands of His Angels ; and what truth is told 
 
 In the sure Kor^n by God's holy Prophet ; 
 
 To succor orphans, strangers, suppliants, kin; 
 Your gold and worldly treasure — to give of it 
 
 Ransom for captives, alms which mercy win : 
 
 To keep your covenants when ye covenant; 
 
 Your woes and sufferings patiently to bear, 
 Being the will of God : — this is to front 
 
 Straight for the Eiblah : this is faith and fear.* 
 
 Abounding Lord! in every place 
 Is built the Mecca of Thy grace. 
 
 * Cf. Kor&n, ii. chapter "Of the Cow.' 
 
THE ANGELS OF TEE SCALES. 101 
 
 47 
 
 Al- Hakim! Judge of allihe judges ! show 
 Mercy to us and make us justice know. 
 
 Only one Judge is just, for only One 
 Knoweth the hearts of men ; and hearts alone 
 Are guilty or are guiltless. That which lied 
 Was not the tongue — he is a red dog tied. 
 
 And that which slew was not the hand ye saw 
 Grasping the knife — she is a slave whose law 
 The master gives, seated within the tent; 
 The hand was handle to the instrument; 
 
 The dark heart murdered. O believers! leave 
 Judgment to Heav'n — except ye do receive 
 Office and order to accomplish this; 
 Then honorable, and terrible, it is. 
 
 The Prophet said: * " At the great day of doom 
 Such fear on the most upright judge shall come 
 That he shall moan, ' Ah! would to God that I 
 Had stood for trial, and not sate to try!' " 
 
 He said: "The Angels of the Scales will bring 
 Just and unjust who judged before Heav'n's King, 
 Grasping them by the neck; and, if it be. 
 One hath adjudged his fellows wickedly, 
 
 * Cf . the Mishkat-al-Masabih. 
 
102 PEARLS OF TEE FAITH. 
 
 " He shall be hurled to hell so vast a height 
 'Tis forty years' fierce journey ere he light; 
 But if one righteously hath borne the rod. 
 The Angels kiss those lips which spake for God.' 
 
 Lord! make us just, that we may be 
 A little justijied with Thee, 
 
TASMIN AND SALSABIL. 103 
 
 48 
 
 " The Loving" — Al-Wadoodf ah, title dear, 
 Whei'eby Thy children praise Thee, free of fear. 
 
 Sweet seem your wedded days ; and dear and tender 
 Your children's talk ; brave 'tis to hear the tramp 
 
 Of pastured horses ; and to see the splendor 
 Of gold and silver plunder; and to camp 
 
 With goats and camels by the bubbling fountain; 
 
 And to drink fragrance from the desert wind, 
 And to sit silent on the mighty mountain; 
 
 And all the ]oy& which make life bright and kind. 
 
 But ye have heard of streams more brightly flowing 
 Than those whereby ye wander; of a life 
 
 Glorious and glad and pure beyond earth's knowing; 
 Love without loss, and wealth without the strife. 
 
 Lo! we have told you of the golden Garden 
 Kept for the Faithful, where the soil is still 
 
 Wheat-flour and musk and camphire, and fruits harden 
 To what delicious savor each man will 
 
 Upon the Tooba tree; which bends its cluster 
 To him that doth desire, bearing all meat; 
 
 And of the sparkling fountains which out-lustre 
 Diamonds and emeralds, running clear and sweet, 
 
104 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Tasmin aDcl SalsabJl, whose lucent waters 
 
 Are rich, delicious, undistracting wine; 
 And of the Hoiiris, pleasure's perfect daughters, 
 
 Yirgins of Paradise, whose black eyes shine 
 
 Soul-deep with love and languor, having tresses 
 Night-dark, with scents of the gold-blooming date 
 
 And scarlet roses ; lavishing caresses 
 That satisfy, but never satiate ; 
 
 Whose looks refrain from any save their lover, 
 Whose peerless limbs and bosoms' ivory swell 
 
 Are like the ostrich egg which feathers cover 
 From stain and dust, so white and rounded well: 
 
 Dwelling in marvellous pavilions, builded 
 
 Of hollow pearls, wherethrough a great light shines- 
 Cooled by soft breezes and by glad suns gilded — 
 On the green pillows where the Blest reclines, 
 
 A rich reward it shall be, a full payment 
 For life's brief trials and sad virtue's stress. 
 
 When friends with friends, clad all in festal raiment. 
 Share in deep Heaven the Angels' happiness; 
 
 Nay, and full payment, though ye give those pleasures 
 Which make life dear, to fight and die for faith, 
 
 Keudering to God your wives and flocks and treasures, 
 That He may pay you tenfold after death. 
 
 For, if the bliss of Paradise, transcending 
 Delights of earth, should win ye to be bold, 
 
 Yet know, this glory hath its crown and ending 
 In Allah's grace, which is the Joy untold, 
 
TASMIN AND SALSABIL 105 
 
 The Utmost Bliss. Beyond the Happy River 
 The justified shall see God's face in Heaven, 
 
 Live in His sweet goodwill,* and taste for ever 
 Al-Wadood'sf love, unto His children given. 
 
 Tea! for high Heaven's felicity 
 Is hut the shadow, Lord, of Thee. 
 
 *Cf. Koran, ix. chapter " Of Eepentance." 
 
 t Cf. Koran, Ixxxv, chapter " Of Zodiacal Signs." 
 
 ■I 
 
106 PEARLS OF TEE FAITH. 
 
 49 
 Al-Majidf Glorious Lord upon the Throne* 
 With this great name we praise Tliee, Sovereign One 1 
 
 By the Heavens, walled with silver signs and towerd! 
 
 By the Promised Dayl 
 By the Witness and the Witnessed ; and the Way 
 Of righteousness ! — this glorious Book of ours 
 
 Lieth treasured up in Heaven, 
 
 As 'twas given 
 On the mighty " Night of Powers;" 
 
 And its easy bond is this, 
 
 The which to keep is bliss; 
 
 • * None save Glorious Allah serve; 
 
 Never from His precepts swerve; 
 
 Honor teacher, father, mother; 
 
 Unto him who is thy brother, 
 
 Unto kindred, friends also. 
 
 Orphans, suppliants, sad ones, show 
 
 GentlcTiess and help; to each 
 
 Speak with kind and courteous speech. 
 
 Give in alms that thou may'st spare. 
 
 And he constant in thy prayer.'^ * 
 
 Allah al-Majid ! Thy favor grant, 
 That we may keep this covenant. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, Ixxxv. chapter " Of Celestial Signs.,' 
 + Cf. Koran, ii. chapter " Of the Heifer." 
 
IBLIS AND ABBAHAM. 107 
 
 50 
 
 Al-BdMth ! Opener of the Tombs ! we praise 
 Thy power, which unto life the dead can raise. 
 
 Iblis spake to Abraham : 
 
 " What is this thy Lord hath told thee? 
 
 Shall the Resurrection be 
 
 When the mouldering clods enfold thee? 
 
 Nay ! and if a man might rise. 
 
 Buried whole, in heedful wise. 
 
 See yon carcase, tempest-beaten — 
 
 Part the wandering fox hath eaten, 
 
 Part by fishes hath been torn, 
 
 Part the sea-fowl hence have borne; 
 
 Never back those fragments can 
 
 Come to him who was a man." 
 
 Abraham spake unto his Lord : * 
 " Show me how is wrought this wonder; 
 Can Thy resurrection be 
 When a man's dust lies asunder?" 
 
 " Art thou therefore not believing," 
 Allah said, " because deceiving 
 Iblis fills with lies thy heart?" 
 "Na}^" he answered, "but impart 
 Knowledge, Mightiest One and Bestl 
 That my heart may be at rest." 
 
 * Cf. Koran, ii. chapter " Of the Heifer." 
 
108 PEARLS OF TUE FAITH. 
 
 God said: " Take, thou doubting one! 
 Four birds frorfi among My creatures; 
 Sever each bird's head, and so 
 Mingle feathers, forms, and features, 
 That the fragments shall not be 
 Knowable to such as ye. 
 Into four divide the mass, 
 Then upon the mountains pass, 
 On four peaks a portion lay, 
 And, returning homeward, say, 
 • By the name and power of God— » 
 Who hath made men of the clod. 
 And hath said the dead shall rise — 
 Birds! fly hither in such wise 
 As ye lived.' And they shall come, 
 Perfect, whole, and living, home." 
 
 Thereupon Al-Khalil took 
 A raven, eagle, dove, and cock; 
 From their bodies shore the heads. 
 Cut the four fowl into shreds, 
 Mingled all their mass together, 
 Blood and bone, and flesh and feather; 
 Then dividing this four-wise, 
 Laid it where four peaks did rise 
 Two to south and two to north. 
 Then the dove's head held he forth, 
 Crying, "Come!" Lo! at the word 
 Cooed at his feet the slaughtered bird. 
 "Come, raven!" spake he: as he spoke, 
 On glossy wing, with eager croak. 
 Flew round the raven. Then he said, 
 "Return! thou cock:" the cock obeyed. 
 
IBLIS AND ABRAHAM. 109 
 
 Lastly the eagle summoned he, 
 Which circling came, on pinions free, 
 Restored and soaring to the sky. 
 With perfect plumes and undimmed eye. 
 
 So in the Holy Book 'tis writ 
 How Abraham's heart at rest was set. 
 
 Why sTiould we fear to yield our breath. 
 To TJiee That art the Lord of Death? 
 
no PEARLS OF TEE FAITH, 
 
 51 
 
 Ash-Shahid / God is * ' Witness /" and He took, 
 Witness of its, ye People of the Book ! 
 
 The spirits of the Prophets came at morn 
 
 To Sinai, summoned by their Lord's command, 
 
 Singers and seers ; — those born and those unborn, 
 The chosen souls of men, a solemn baud. 
 
 The noble army ranged, in viewless might. 
 Around that mountain peak which pierces heaven; 
 
 Greater and lesser teachers, sons of light; 
 
 Their number was ten thousand score and seven. 
 
 Then Allah took a covenant with His own. 
 Saying, "My wisdom and My word receive; 
 
 Speak of Me unto men, known or unknown, ^ 
 Heard or unheard; bid such as will, believe." 
 
 *• And there shall come apostles, guiding ye, 
 Jesus, Muhammad: follow them and aid! 
 
 Are you resolved, and will you war for Me?" 
 " We are resolved, O Lord of all!" they said. 
 
 " Bear witness then!" spake Allah, "souls most dear, 
 I am your Lord and ye heralds of Mine." 
 
 Thenceforward through all lands His Prophets bear 
 The message of the mystery divine.* 
 
 Allah-ash- ShaJdd ! make us to hear 
 The errand that Thy children hear. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, iii. chapter "Of Imran's Family." 
 
SURA ''OF THE COW." Ill 
 
 53 
 
 Thou, the Truth ! when so Thy name we call, 
 All's said that need be said, sith TJiou art all. 
 
 Truth and all truth He is! serve Him alone 
 "Who hath none other by nor near His Throne; 
 Unto all sins is Allah's pardon given 
 Except what giveth Him partners in Heaven,* 
 Being Apart, Exalted, Truth and Light, 
 Only and "wholly — hold thou this aright ! 
 
 Ta HaTck / true God / newr with Thee 
 Can other or can equal be. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, iv. chapter " 0/ '^omen." 
 
113 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 53 
 
 Alai kul shay Wakil ! * Ouardian of all ! 
 By this name trustfully on Thee we call. 
 
 Verily God is guard! 
 What other hath created you, and made 
 Men gone before, and earth's foundations laid 
 
 So broad and hard, 
 To be your dwelling-place; 
 And Heaven's star-jewelled face 
 Arched for your roof-top; and the tender rain 
 Sent down at the due season, whereby grain 
 
 Groweth, and clustered gold 
 
 Of dates, and grapes that hold 
 The purple and the amber honey -juice? 
 
 These for your use 
 
 Your Lord and "Agent" gave. 
 Make Him no peers, nor other guardian have. 
 
 Allah-al- Wakil ! Thy wards are we; 
 Have us in Thy fidelity. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, ii. chapter " Of the Heifer." 
 
THE FLY AND THE FALSE GODS. 113 
 
 54 
 
 Thou mighty One ! Wfwse mercy hath upraised 
 Mankind to praise Thee, be Thou hereby praised! 
 
 Consider them that serve 
 The false gods, how they lay in golden dishes 
 Honey and fruits and fishes 
 Before their idols ; and the green fly comes, 
 Shoots through the guarded gates, and hums 
 Scorn of their offering, stealing what she will; 
 And none of these great gods the thief can kill, 
 
 So swift she is and small: 
 
 And none of all 
 Can make one little fly, for all their state; 
 So feeble are they, and so falsely great.* 
 Ye people of the stocks and stones! herein 
 A parable is set against your sin. 
 But Allah high doth rule 
 Whose hand made all things, being " Powerful. 
 
 AlKawi ! King of power and might! 
 Be Thy hand o'er us day and night ! 
 
 * Cf. Koran, xxii. chapter " Of Believers." 
 
114 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 55 
 
 AUah-al-Mateen / " Firm^' is our Lord and fast ; 
 Praise Him Who doth uphold Thee to the last. 
 
 By the Angels ranged in ranks, 
 
 And the Rain-cloud Drivers, 
 And the Reciters of the word, " Thy God is one," 
 
 Firm is our Lord ! 
 
 Of the heavens the tent-pole, 
 
 Al- Watad ; and of earth 
 
 Hahl-al-Mateen, the sure Cord:* 
 
 By this thy soul 
 
 Holdeth, from birth: 
 Fast is the cord, and sure; 
 They only shall endure 
 
 Wlio dwell beneath the mighty tent upholden 
 By Al-Watad,\ the Golden. 
 
 Stay of Thy ser'Gants, Al-Mateen! 
 In Thee is strong deliverance seen. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, iii. chapter " Of the Family of Imran." 
 t Cf. Koran, Ixxviii, chapter " Of the Information." 
 
ABEAHAM'S BREAD. 115 
 
 56 
 
 Al- Wall ! Nearest of all friends, and Best, 
 So praise your Lord, Whose help is mightiest. 
 
 Close is He always to His faithful ones, 
 
 But closer dwelt they in the times of old. 
 
 Hath it come to ye what Al-BaidhSwi . 
 
 Presenteth of the days of Abraham, 
 
 "Whom Allah called His " Friend," and like a friend 
 
 Softly entreated,* stooping out of Heaven 
 
 To help and comfort him so dear to God ? 
 
 Ofttimes the Angels of his Lord would light 
 
 Familiarly, with folded wings, before 
 
 The curtain of his tent, conversing there; 
 
 Ofttimes, on thorny flats of wilderness, 
 
 Or in the parched pass, or the echoing cave, 
 
 The very voice of God would thrill his ears; 
 
 And he might answer, as a man with man, 
 
 Hearing and speaking things unspeakable. 
 
 "Wherefore, no marvel that he gave his son 
 
 At Allah's bidding, and had back his son — 
 
 Patient and safe — when the wild goat cime down 
 
 And hung amid the nebbuk by his horns, 
 
 On Thabir, nigh to Mecca, in the vale 
 
 Of Mina;f and the knife of Abraham 
 
 Reddened with unwept blood. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, iv. chapter " Of Women." 
 
 t Cf. Koran, xxxvii. chapter " Of the Ranged." 
 
116 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 There had fall'n drought 
 Upon the land, and all the mouths he fed 
 Hungered for meal ; therefore Al-Khalil sent 
 Messengers unto Egypt — to a lord 
 Wealthy and favorable, having store 
 Of grain and cattle by the banks of Nile. 
 " Give unto Abraham," the message said, 
 ' ' A little part for gold, yet more for love— 
 (As he had given, if the strait were thine) 
 Meal of the millet, lentil, wheat, and bean. 
 That he and his may live ; for drought hath comer 
 Upon our fields and pastures, and we pine." 
 Spake the Egyptian lord, " Lo! now ye ask 
 O'ermuch of me for friendliness, and more 
 Than gold can buy, since dearth hath also come 
 Over our fields, and nothing is to spare. 
 Yet had it been to succor Abraham, 
 And them that dwell beneath his tent, the half 
 Of all we hold had filled your empty sacks. 
 But he will feed people we wot not of, 
 Poor folk, and hungry wanderers of the waste: 
 The which are nought to us, who have of such, 
 If there were surplusage. Therefore return; 
 Find food elsewhere 1" 
 
 Then said the messengers 
 One to another, " If we shall return 
 With empty sacks, our master's name, so great 
 For worship in the world, will suffer shame, 
 And men will say he asked and was denied." 
 Therefore they filled their sacks with white sea-sand 
 Gathered by Gaza's wave, and sorrowfully 
 Journeyed to Kedar, where lay Abraham, 
 To whom full privately they told this thing, 
 
ABBAHAiWS BREAD. 117 
 
 Saying, "We filled the sacks with snow-white sand. 
 
 Lest thy great name be lessened 'mongst the folk, 
 
 Seeing us empty-handed ; for the man 
 
 Denied thee corn; since thou wouldst give, quoth he, 
 
 To poor folk and to wanderers of the waste. 
 
 And there are hungry mouths enough by Nile." 
 
 Then was the heart of Abraham sore, because 
 The people of his tribe drew round to share 
 The good food brought, and all the desert trooped 
 With large-eyed mothers and their pining babes, 
 Certain of succor if the sheikh could help. 
 So did the spirit of Al-Khalil sink 
 That into swoon he fell, and lay as one 
 Who hath not life. But Sarai, his wife — 
 That knew not — bade her maidens bring a sack, 
 Open its mouth, and knead some meal for cakes. 
 And when the sack was opened, there showed flour. 
 Fine, three times bolted, whiter than sea-sand; 
 Which in the trough they kneaded, rolling cakes, 
 And baking them over the crackling thorns; 
 So that the savor spread throughout the camp 
 Of new bread smoking, and the people drew 
 Closer and thicker, as ye see the herds 
 Throng — horn, and wool, and hoof — at watering-time, 
 When after fiery leagues, the wells are reached. 
 
 But Abraham, awaking, smelled the bread: 
 "Whence," spake he unto Sarai, " hast thou meal, 
 Wife of my bosom? for the smell of bread 
 Riseth, and lo! I see the cakes are baked." 
 " By God! Who is the only One," she said, 
 "Whence should it come save from thy friend who 
 
 sent, 
 The lord of Egypt?" "Nay!" quoth Abraham. 
 
118 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 And fell upon his face, low-worshipping, 
 
 *' But this hath come from the dear mighty hands 
 
 Of Allah— of the Lord of Egypt's lords— 
 
 My ' Friend,' and King, and Helper: now my folk 
 
 Shall live and die not. Glory be to God!" 
 
 He that hath Allah for a friend. 
 To want and woe hath put the end. 
 
 -i 
 
saam 
 
 THE GARDEJS^ AND THE ROCK. 119 
 
 57 
 
 Rich to reward your Lord is; oh, do ye 
 Praise Al-Hamid, the '' Ecer-praiseicorthy T 
 
 Praise him by alms; and when ye help believers, 
 Mar not your gifts with grudging word or will; 
 
 Since ye at Allah's hands are free receivers, 
 Freely bestow. A garden on a hill 
 
 Is as a likeness of that fair compassion 
 Shown for the sake of God: the heavy rain 
 
 Descendcth, and the dew; and every fashion 
 Of good seed springs tenfold in fruit and grain. 
 
 The likeness of the evil heart, bestowing 
 That men may praise, is as the thin-clad peak, 
 
 Wherefrom the rain washes all soil for growing, 
 Leaving the hard rock naked, fruitless, bleak. 
 
 Say, will ye plant on rock or plenteous garden? 
 
 Grow nought, or grow green vines that shade afford? — 
 Forgive your brethren as ye ask for pardon; , 
 
 Give as ye have received, and praise your Lord!* 
 
 AVah-al-Haraid ! what tongue can tell 
 Thy goodness, ever-laudable? 
 
 *Cf. Koran ii. chapter " Of the Heifer." 
 
120 PEARLS OF TEE FAITB. 
 
 58 
 
 Al-Mushi! The ^'Accountants laud Him so 
 Who reckoneth up the deeds men do below, 
 
 "in god's name, MEKcrpuL, compassionate!" 
 
 When Earth shall quake -with quaking,* 
 
 And cast her burden forth 
 
 Of corpses ; and live men 
 
 Shall ask — with terror shaking — 
 
 " What aileth Earth?" that day 
 
 She shall reply, and say 
 
 That which her Lord commands : 
 
 And men shall come in bands, 
 This side and that side, ranged to show 
 Their works, and the account to know. 
 And he that wrought of good a red ant's weight 
 
 Shall see it writ : 
 And who did evil, aye! as the skin of a date, 
 
 Shall witness it. 
 
 Al-Muhsi[ dread Accountant ! look 
 In mercy on our judgment-hook. 
 
 *Cf. Koran, xcix. chapter " Of the Earthquake." 
 
THE LIGHT OF LIFE. 121 
 
 59 
 
 At-Muhdi ! praise Him by this holy name, 
 Who gave to all the spark which lights life's jlame. 
 
 "Whence came ye; and the people of the groves; 
 
 The streams, the seas, the wilderness, the ah'; 
 Beasts, fishes, fowl; each with their lives and loves, 
 
 Each glad to be, each in its kind so fair? 
 
 "Begotten of their like?" Yea! but "their like," 
 Who did devise that, and the hidden charm 
 
 Whereby — as flame from torch to torch doth strike — 
 The light of life shines on, bright, joyous, warm? 
 
 Al-Mubdi hath devised it! His decree 
 In the beginning shaped and ordered each, 
 
 Saying to all these things foreseen, " So be!" 
 And so they were, obeying Allah's speech. 
 
 Al-Mubdi ! " Great Beginner/" take 
 Our praises, for life's pleasant sake ! 
 
123 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 60 
 
 He made life — and He takes it — hut instead 
 Gives more ; praise the Bestorer, Al-Mu'Md! 
 
 He who died at Azan sends 
 This to comfort faithful friends. 
 
 Faithful friends ! it lies, I know, 
 Pale and white and cold as snow; 
 And ye say, " Abdullah's dead!" 
 Weeping at my feet and head; 
 I can see your falling tears, 
 I can hear your cries and prayers ; 
 Yet I smile, and whisper this — 
 "I am not that thing you kiss; 
 Cease your tears, and let it lie ; 
 It was mine, it is not I." 
 
 Sweet friends ! what the women lave. 
 For its last bed in the grave, 
 Is a tent which I am quitting. 
 Is a garment no more fitting, 
 Is a cage from which , at last, 
 Like a hawk ray soul hath passed. 
 Love the inmate, not the room; 
 The wearer, not the garb; the plume 
 Of the falcon, not the bars 
 Which kept him from the splendid stars. 
 
A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAD. 133 
 
 Loving friends ! be wise, and dry 
 Straightway every weeping eye ; 
 "What ye lift upon the bier 
 Is not worth a wistful tear. 
 'Tis an empty sea-shell, one 
 Out of which the pearl is gone; 
 The shell is broken, it lies there; 
 The pearl, and all, the soul, is here. 
 'Tis an earthen jar whose lid 
 Allah sealed, the while it hid 
 That treasure of His treasury, 
 A mind which loved Him; let it lie! 
 Let the shard be earth's once more. 
 Since the gold shines in His store! 
 
 Allah Mu'hid, Allah most good! 
 Now thy grace is understood; 
 Now my heart no longer wonders 
 What Al-Barsakh * is, which sunders 
 Life from death, and death from Heaven ; 
 Nor the "Paradises Seven" 
 Which the happy dead inherit; 
 Nor those "birds" which bear each spirit 
 Towards the Throne, " green birds and white," 
 Radiant, glorious, swift their flight! 
 Now the long, long darkness ends. 
 Yet ye wail, my foolish friends, 
 While the man whom ye call "dead" 
 In unbroken bliss instead 
 Lives, andjoves you; lost, 'tis true 
 By any light which shines for you; 
 But in light ye cannot see 
 Of unfulfilled felicity, 
 
 * Cf. Korftn, xxiii. chapter " Of Believers." 
 
124 PEARLS OF TEE FAITH. 
 
 And enlarging Paradise, 
 Lives the life that never dies. 
 
 Farewell, friends! Yet not farewell; 
 Where I am, ye too shall dwell. 
 I am gone before your face 
 A heart-beat's time, a gray ant's pace. 
 When ye come where I have stepped, 
 Ye will marvel why ye wept, 
 Ye will know, by true love taught. 
 That here is all, and there is naught. 
 Weep awhile, if ye are fain. 
 Sunshine still must follow rain! 
 Only not at death, for death — 
 Kow I see — is that first breath 
 Which our souls draw when we enter 
 Life, that is of all life centre. 
 
 Know ye AHali's law is love, 
 Viewed from Allah's Throne above: 
 Be ye firm of trust, and come 
 Faithful onward to your home! 
 " La Allah ilia Allah ! Yea, 
 Mu'hid! Restorer! Sovereign!" say! 
 
 He who died at Azan gave 
 
 This to those that made his grave. 
 
SURA ''OF THE SIGNS." 12o 
 
 61 
 
 Al-Mo*hyi! tJie " QuickenerP' hereby 
 Praise Him Whom Angels praise eternally. 
 
 '•And of His signs is this,"* saitli the Great Book; 
 " Under the angry sun the slain earth— look!— 
 Dries up to dust; dies every growing thing; 
 Then blow we breaths of southern wind which bring 
 Rain-dropping clouds, and see! the dead earth lives. 
 And stirs, and swells; and every herb revives. 
 So shall the dead be quickened by His breath. 
 This is Al-Mo'hyi's sign," the Great Book saith. 
 
 thou heliex)er ! shall it he 
 
 He saves the green thing, and not thee ? 
 
 *.Cf. Koran, xU. chapter " Of Signs Explained. 
 
126 PEARLS OF THE FAITH, 
 
 63 
 
 He quickeneth, hut " He Mleth:" blessed they 
 Who may abide in trust that final day! 
 
 Yea! some have found right good to hear the summons 
 
 of their Lord, 
 And gone as glad as warriors proud, who take up spear 
 
 and sword 
 At sounding of the song of fight; as light of heart as 
 
 those 
 For whom the bride unveileth her mouth of pearl and 
 
 rose. 
 
 Jelalu-'d-'Din, Er-Rumi, the saint of Balkh, the son 
 Of him surnamed "Flower of the Faith," this was a 
 
 chosen one, 
 To whom Death softly showed himself. Heaven's gentle 
 
 call to give ; 
 For what word is it bids us die, save that which made 
 
 us live? 
 
 Sick lay he there in Konya; 'twas dawn; the golden 
 
 stream 
 Of light, new springing in the east, on liis thin lips did 
 
 gleam— 
 
 •n*>m*^i!PaPQ>B*9api>i!Pini«>^aa>iaBiW"K)BavnnB*<a 
 
THE ANOEL OF DEATH. 127 
 
 Those lips which spake the praise of God all through 
 
 his holy years. 
 And murmured now, with faith and hope unchanged, 
 
 the morning prayers. 
 
 Then one who watched beside his bed, heard at the 
 inner gate 
 
 A voice cry, "Aftah! 'open!' from far I come, and 
 wait 
 
 To speak my message to Jelal — a message that will 
 bring 
 
 Peace and reward to him who lies the Fdtihah mur- 
 muring. " 
 
 Thereat the watcher drew the bar which closed the 
 
 chamber-door. 
 Wondering and 'feared, for ne'er was heard upon this 
 
 earth before 
 Accents so sweet and comforting, nor ever eyes of men 
 Saw presence so majestical as his who entered then. 
 
 Entered with gliding footsteps a bright celestial youth, 
 Splendid and strange in beauty, past words to speak its 
 
 truth ; 
 Midnight is not so dark and deep as was his solemn 
 
 gaze. 
 By love and pity lighted, as the night with silvery 
 
 rays. 
 
 "What is thy name?" the watcher asked, " that I may 
 
 tell my lord, 
 Thou fair and dreadful messenger 1 whose glance is as 
 
 a sword; 
 
 t" 
 
i^t a cms KSKa 
 
 138 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Whose face is like the Heaven unveiled ; whose tender 
 
 searching voice 
 Maketh the heart cease beating, but bids the soul 
 
 rejoice." 
 
 "AzRAEL ANA," spake the shape, "lam the Spirit of 
 
 Death; 
 And I am sent from Allah's throne to stay thy master's 
 
 breath." 
 **Come in! come in! thou Bird of God," cried joyously 
 
 Jelal, 
 ** Fold down thy heavenly plumes and speak! — Isl^ml 
 
 what shall be, shall." 
 
 **Thou blessed one!" the Angel said, "I bring thy 
 
 time of peace ; 
 When I have touched thee on the eyes, life's latest ache 
 
 will cease ; 
 God bade me come as I am seen amid the heavenly 
 
 host, 
 No enemy of awful mould, but he who loveth most." 
 
 "Dear Angel! do what thou art bid," quoth Jel^l, 
 
 smilingly, 
 *' God willing, thou shalt find to-day a patient one in 
 
 me; 
 Sweet is the cup of bitterness which cometh in such 
 
 wise!" 
 With that he bowed his saintly brow, — and Azrael 
 
 kissed his eyes. 
 
 Al-Mwmt ! " Slayer !'' send Him tJius, 
 In love, not anger, unto us. 
 
TEE LIFE BEYOND, 129 
 
 63 
 
 Praise Him, Al-Haiy ! the " Ever-living" King, 
 Who to eternal life His own doth bring. 
 
 Saith the Book: " Count not as dead * 
 Such as for the Faith have bled; 
 Stark and red their bodies lie.. 
 But their souls are in the sky, 
 Resident with God, who grants 
 All for which the spirit pants. 
 Joyful are they, resting there 
 Free from sorrow, pain, or fear; 
 Watching us who, left in life, 
 Are not quit, as yet, of strife ; 
 But shall soon attain, to share 
 Allah's mercies, and declare — 
 Side by side with those — that He 
 Showeth grace eternally. 
 And withholdeth not the pay 
 At the ending of the day. 
 
 Ya-Haiy! Thou ever-living Lord, 
 Be ours such work and such reward. 
 
 ♦ Cf. Koran, iii. chapter " Of Imran's Family, 
 
4t 
 
 180 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 64 
 
 Magnify Him, Al-Kaiyum; and so call 
 The " Self -subsisting'' God Wliojudgeth all. 
 
 When the trumpet shall sound. 
 
 On that day,* 
 The wicked, slow-gathering, 
 
 Shall say, 
 " Is it long we have lain in our graves? 
 
 For it seems as an hour!" 
 Then will Israfil call them to judgment; 
 
 And none shall have power 
 To turn aside, this way or that; 
 
 And their voices will sink 
 To silence, except for the sounding 
 
 Of a noise, like the noise on the brink 
 Of the sea, when its stones 
 
 Are dragged with a clatter and hiss 
 Down the shore, in the wild breakers' roar: 
 
 The sound of their woe shall be this! 
 
 Then they wlio denied 
 
 That He liveth Eternal, "Self-made," 
 Shall call to tlie mountains to crush them; 
 
 Amazed and affrayed. 
 
 Thou Self-suhsistent, Living Lord! 
 Tl\y grace against that day afford. 
 
 Cf. Koran, xx. chapter " Of T. H." 
 
SURA ''OF DAYBREAK." 181 
 
 65 
 
 Al-Wdjid/ praise Tierebi/ that Wairhful One 
 Whose eyes see all things underneath the sun. 
 
 By the Ten holy eves and the Dawns of gold ! * 
 
 By the One and the Manifold ! 
 
 By the deepening of the Darkness of the night! 
 
 (And these be oaths of might :) 
 
 Hast thou considered what with Ad God wrought, 
 
 And whereunto He brought 
 
 Proud Irani of the pillared throne, 
 
 Whose like no other laud did own; 
 
 And Thamud's race, which hewed houses of rocks; 
 
 And Pharaoh, strong for shocks 
 
 As is a tent with tent-pegs driven deep?f 
 
 Lol these their haughty state did keep, 
 
 And multiply their wickedness; 
 
 Till Allah, who long-suffering hath, 
 
 Laid upon them the scourges of His wrath. 
 
 Verily, as a " watch-tower" is your Lord- 
 Lo I if ye knew this, would ye shut your hoard 
 When the poor cr}- ; devour the weak ; and love 
 Your riches more than treasures stored above? 
 
 * Cf. Koran, Ixxxix. chapter " Of Daybreak." 
 
 t The Arabic word Watad bears this signification. 
 
132 PEABL8 OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Ho ! when the earth's bones crack. 
 
 And, rank on rank, the angels gather. 
 
 And hell's black gates fly back, 
 
 How will each say, ** Would God in life's fair weather, 
 
 I had bethought me of this storm of hell!" 
 
 But then it shall be well 
 For thee, thou soul! to-day uncomforted, 
 Who know'st that Allah sees; 
 And patiently awaitest till He please 
 Call thee to comfort, praising Him and praised. 
 Joyous thou Shalt be raised 
 To Paradise, hearing His angels say, 
 " Enter, and be exceeding glad to-day!" 
 
 Al- Wdjid / * * Watcher /" save by grace. 
 Who shall attain that happy place f 
 
1 
 
 L 
 
 ALI'HLAS. IG: 
 
 66 
 
 Wahid/ The "One/" ye faithful, say herein 
 Sura Al-rhlds,^ cleansing souls from sin. 
 
 m god's name, mekceful, compassionate!" 
 
 Sat: " He is God alone, 
 
 Eternal on the Throne. 
 Of none begotten, and begetting none, 
 Who hath not like unto Him any one !" f 
 
 Ya Wahid/ Holy/ Only/ we 
 Thus do declare Thy unity. 
 
 * This name is given to the Sura as "clearing oneself" frona 
 heresy, 
 t Cf . Koran, cxii, chapter " Of Unity." 
 
134 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 67. 
 
 As-Samad! the ^'Eternal P' hy this name 
 Laud Him Who will be, was, and is the same. 
 
 Of Heaven's prodigious years man wottetli nought; 
 Ttie "Everlasting!" — hast thou strained thy thought 
 Searching that depth, which numbs the seelcing miad 
 As too much light the eager gaze doth blind? 
 Tlie years of men are measured by the sun. 
 And were not, until he his course begun; 
 And will not be, when his gold dial dies: 
 But God lived while no sun shone in the skies; 
 And shall be living when all worlds are dead: 
 Yet hereof, though ye see the truth is said, 
 Ye take no more the meaning than one takes 
 Measure of ocean by the cup that slakes 
 His thirst, from rillet running to the sea. 
 
 Behind — before ye, shines Eternity, 
 Visible as the vault's fathomless blue, 
 Which is so deep the glance goes never through, 
 Though nothing stays save depth: so is it seen 
 That Allah must be ever, and hath been ; 
 Seen, but not comprehended — for man's wit 
 Knows this, yet knows — not understanding it. 
 
 Mete ye not Allah's times by man's: life gives 
 No measure of the Life Divine which lives 
 
OZAIR THE JEW. 135 
 
 Unending, uncommenced, having no stay 
 Of yesterday, to-morrow, or to-day; 
 Being forever one unbroken Now 
 "Where past and future come not, 
 
 Heard'st thou how, 
 What time fair Zion was given to sword and flame, 
 Ozair* the Jew upon his camel came 
 Over those hills which ring the sea of Lot,f 
 So that one footstep and — ye see her not, 
 And then another — and the city comes 
 Full upon view with all her milk-wliite domes. 
 But the Chaldean now had spoiled the place, 
 And desolate and waste was Zion's face, 
 Her proud abodes unpeopled, and her ways 
 Heaped with charred beams and lintels. Ozair says, 
 " O Lord! who promised to Jerusalem 
 Comfort and peace; and for her sons, to them 
 A glad return, how shall Thy word be kept 
 When fire and steel over these roofs have swept, 
 And she, that was a queen, lies dead and black, 
 A smoking ruin, where the jackals pack? 
 A hundred years were not enough to give 
 Life back to Zion! Can she ever live?" 
 
 But while he spake, the Angel of the Lord 
 Laid on his doubting front a fiery sword, 
 And Ozair in that lonely desert spot 
 Fell prone, and lay — breathing and moving not — 
 One hundred years, while the great world rolled on. 
 And Zion rose, and mighty deeds were done. 
 
 * Identiiied by some commentators with Ezra of Scripture 
 t The Dead Sea. 
 
136 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 And when the hundred years were flown, God said, 
 
 *' Awake, Ozair! how long hast tarried, 
 
 Thinkest thou, here?" Ozair replied, " A day, 
 
 Perchance, or half." The awful Voice said, " Nay I 
 
 But look upon thy camel." Of that beast 
 
 Nought save white bones was left : no sign, the least, 
 
 Of flesh, or hair, or hide: the desert grass 
 
 Was matted o'er its shanks, and roots did pass 
 
 From a gnarled fig-tree through the eye-pits twain, 
 
 And in and out its ribs grew the vervain. 
 
 But 'mid the moulderings of its saddle-bags 
 
 And crimson carpet, withered into rags, 
 
 A basket, full of new-picked dates, stood there 
 
 Beside a cruise of water, standing where 
 
 He set them fresh, twice fift}- years ago; 
 
 And all the dates were golden with the glow 
 
 Of yestreen's sunset, and the cruise's rim 
 
 Sparkled with water to the very brim. 
 
 " Ozair!" the awful Voice spake, " look on these! 
 
 He maketh and uamaketh what shall please; 
 
 Saves or destroys, restores or casts away; 
 
 And centuries to Him arc as a day; 
 
 And cities all as easy to revive 
 
 As this thy camel here, which now shall live." 
 
 Thereon the skull and bones together crept 
 From tangled weed and sand where they had slept; 
 The hide and hair came, and the flesh filled in. 
 The eyes returned their hollow pits within, 
 The saddle-bags upon its haunches hung, 
 The carpet on the saddle-horns was flung. 
 The nose-rope from the muzzle fell. The beast 
 Rose from its knees, and would have made to feast 
 
OZAIR THE JEW. 137 
 
 On the green herbage where its bones had lain, 
 
 But that it heard bells of a caravan 
 
 Coming from Kedron, and with glad cr}'' ronrcd. 
 
 Then Ozair looked, and saw — newly restored — 
 
 Zion's fair walls and temples, and a crowd 
 
 Of citizens; and traffic rich and loud 
 
 In her white streets; and knew time should not be 
 
 Reckoned 'gainst Him who hath eternity. 
 
 As-Samad! EverJ/isting One! 
 
 Thy times are good : Thy will be done. 
 
138 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 68 
 
 Al-Kadar! He is " Promdencer hereby 
 The Lord of all tilings living magnify. 
 
 When ye say Kismat, say it wittingly, 
 O true believers! under Allah's throne 
 
 Place is not left for those accursed three, 
 
 ' ' Destiny, " " Fortune, " ' ' Chance. " Allah alone 
 
 Ruleth His children : Kismat ye shall deem 
 Each man's " allotted portion," from of old 
 
 Fixed for his part in the Eternal scheme 
 
 By those great Hands which all the worlds enfold. 
 
 Sayeth " the Book:'-' " There passeth no man's soul 
 Except by God's permission, and tlie Speech 
 
 Writ in the scroll determining the whole, 
 The times of all men, and the times for each. " * 
 
 Also it sayeth : " If a man shall choose 
 This world's reward, to him it shall be given; 
 
 And if a man shall dare his life to lose 
 For Paradise, he shall be paid in Heaven. " f 
 
 Ya Kadar ! " Ruler r teach us still, 
 Islam, suhmission to Thy will. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, iii. chapter " Of Tmran's Fanailj%" 
 t Cf. Koran, ii. chapter " Of the Cow." 
 
iiURA " OF THE MOON," 130 
 
 69 
 
 Al-Muktadir ! the " Powerful T hy this 
 
 Praise we the Word, whence cometh woe and bliss. 
 
 Verily, all things — saith " the Book" * — We made, 
 Decreeiug; and Our bidding was one word, 
 Quick, as the twinkling of an eye; and all, 
 Whatever things men do, stands in the scrolls, 
 Where great and small alike are written down; 
 And then shall surely come the Hour — the Hourl 
 And bitter for the sinners it will be 
 When they are dragged, upon their faces, down 
 To hell, and taste the touch of fire; but sweet 
 Will it be for the pious — these shall sit 
 'Mid streams and gardens in the seat of truth, 
 Happ3% near Muktadir, the Mighty One. 
 
 Grant xis tliat seat of truth to see. 
 Almighty Allah ! nigh to Thee. 
 
 *Cf. Koran, liv. chapter " Of the Moon." 
 
140 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 70, 71 
 
 Mukaddlm ! Mmcakhir ! hy tlieae names still 
 Praise Him Who hatli forewarned, and dotfi fulfil. 
 
 When the trumpet shall be ringing, 
 Then the threatened Day hath come, 
 Every soul to judgment bringing.* 
 
 Each soul shall itself deliver 
 With two Angels, unto doom, 
 With a Witness and a Driver. 
 
 He that driveth shall say, "Vainly 
 Warned we thee, till this upholding 
 Of the veil: now thou seest plainly." 
 
 And the Witness by his side, 
 He shall say, a scroll unfolding, 
 " This is what I testified." 
 
 Loud shall sound th' award eternal: 
 *' Hurl to hell the misbelievers, 
 Sinners, liars; — let infernal 
 
 " Torments seize perverse transgressors I" 
 Then will speak the wan deceivers. 
 Seeking pleas and intercessors. 
 
 But the awful Voice shall thunder, 
 
 " Wrangle not in xVllah's hearing! 
 Many a sign and many a wonder 
 
 * Cf. Koran, 1. chapter " Of K." 
 
SURA " OF Er 141 
 
 "Did forewarn ye of repentance;* 
 Time is past for more forbearing; 
 Not with Us is change of sentence." 
 
 Heaven shall say to Hell that morning, 
 " Art thou full?" Hell shall inquire, 
 •• Hast thou others?" blackly yawning 
 
 With choked gullet. But believing 
 Souls will see, brought nigh and nigher, 
 Paradise's gates, receiving 
 
 Those to whom We promised Heaven. 
 "Patient ones! for ever striving 
 Towards the Merciful! forgiven 
 
 Are your falterings; enter ye 
 Into peace; now is arriving 
 The great Day of eternity." 
 
 Forewarrier and FuljUler ! we 
 Confess with dread Thine equity. 
 
 * The text is, "I put forth unto you the menace. 
 
142 FEARia OF TEE FAITH. 
 
 72, 73, 74, 75 
 
 Awwal! AkMr! Thdhir ! Batin! these four 
 Be ''Mothers of the Names f * thy Lord adore, 
 Speaking such icords as do Him truly call 
 Essence and Substance, First and Last in all. 
 
 Sura the seven and fiftieth :f there is writ 
 The holy verse which keeps the charge of it; 
 
 The verse which all the names of Allah hol(h,'th 
 As in one sky the silver stars all sit. 
 
 The chapter "of the Iron!" — and iliis script 
 Set on its forefront, as a hilt is tipped 
 
 With four-fold gold; or as a helm of sieel 
 By some far-sparkling crest-gem is equipped. 
 
 " He is the First and Last" — this scripture shows— 
 "Outer and Inner, That which doth disclose, 
 And That which hides Itself; the Manifest, 
 The Secret; and all things and thoughts He knows." 
 
 " In six days earth and heaven He made alone. 
 Then reascended the Eternal Throne; 
 
 What entereth earth and issueth thence He sees, 
 And what goes up and down the sky is known" 
 
 * These four divine titles are known by the technical appella- 
 tion of "The Mothers of the Names," being regarded as funda- 
 mental and all-comprehensive. 
 
 t Cf. KorSji, Ivii. chapter " Of Iron," v. 3. 
 
a 
 
 THE ''MOTHERS OF THE NAMES/' 143 
 
 "To Allah, Who is nigh where'er yQ be, 
 And whatsoever deeds ye do doth see; 
 His is the kingdom of the earth and heaven; 
 All things return to Allah finally." 
 
 Beginning! End! Without! Within! 
 We celebrate Tliy praise Jierein. 
 
s^'^iaemcsi 
 
 l44 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 76 
 
 Laud Him icho governs governors and kings, 
 Angels, and Djins, and men, and living things. 
 
 Wot ye of Solomon's signet, graved of a sapphire in 
 gold, 
 Graved with the great name of God, writ on the blue 
 of tlie stone? 
 Wisdom and riches and power had he who that treasure 
 did hold; 
 Safe in the strength of the signet he sate on his ivory 
 throne. 
 
 Only King Solomon knew how the dread letters did 
 flow, 
 What was the breathing of Aleph, where came the 
 whispering Tod; 
 When he spake the ineffable Word, the sea-winds at 
 bidding would blow; 
 And the hills yield their iron, and jewels, and gold, 
 at the naming of God. 
 
 And out of the void of the sky, and up from the gulfs 
 and the capes. 
 And forth from the caverns of earth, and down from 
 the mountains of flame. 
 Flocked Demons wdtli wonderful wings, and Ifreet of 
 horrible shape. 
 And Djins, with red eyes, made of fire; Divs, Peris, 
 and Giants, they came. 
 
SOLOMON'S SIGNET. 145 
 
 They came, at the call of the name, from KSf, that en- 
 girdles the seas; 
 From the gloom of the tombs iu the graveyard, from 
 ruins on desolate ground; 
 From the pool and the marsh and the forest ; from poi- 
 sonous blossoms and trees; — 
 Monstrous or dwarfish, — constrained, enchained, sub- 
 dued, by a sound; 
 
 The sound of the title of Allah, spoken so as the Angels 
 speak : — 
 Nor spirits uncomely only, and evil; ethereal bands 
 Thronged down from their heavenly houses, the Great 
 King's service to seek, 
 Hearing that nameless Name which all things living 
 commands. 
 
 And the fowl and the beasts were fain to gather, each 
 creature by each. 
 When Solomon summoned hereby, pronouncing the 
 mystical words. 
 Moreover, their dumb mouths opened, and the fly and 
 the bee had a speech; 
 And he knew the heart of the lions, and learned the 
 mind of the birds. 
 
 Thus is it writ how he marched by Tayf from the Syr- 
 ian land 
 Through the "Valley of Ants" and heard the crj'- of 
 that people of clay, 
 •'Hide ye! hide in the earth'! for there passeth Solo- 
 mon's band; 
 "We are many and wise, but we die, if the king's foot 
 Cometh this way." 
 
146 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 And he laiiglied, but leaped to the ground, and bowrd 
 his forehead and said, 
 " O Lord God! grant me to learn from the ant the 
 Avit to be meek. 
 I am many and strong, and a king; yet Thou canst in- 
 stantly tread 
 The pride of this earth to dust, and the strongest to 
 Thee are but weakl" 
 
 Then he viewed the birds, and cried, "I see not 
 amongst ye here 
 Al-Hudhud, the crested lapwing; what doth she to 
 linger away? 
 Ill shall it fall for her, who seeketh us water clear. 
 If she find not a fountain for prayers before the end- 
 ing of day ! 
 
 But they tarried not long until the whirr of her speckled 
 wings 
 Brought unto Solomon's feet the crested lapwing, 
 who spake, 
 " 1 have seen a queen that is greater than any save thee, 
 O Kingl 
 In Seba she reigneth majestic, and glorious kingship 
 doth make. 
 
 •' There hath she a marvellous throne of silver, figured 
 with gold, 
 And the head of the throne is a moon in a jasper and 
 emerald curve. 
 For her people worship the moon." And Solomon 
 answered, "Behold! 
 Little bird! if thou liest not, this queen shall the 
 Merciful serve!" 
 
SOLOMON'S 8I0NET. 147 
 
 Thereafter the message went from the servant of God, 
 the king: 
 "Solomon, son of David, to Balkis, queen of the 
 south: 
 Peace be to them that follow the Name upon Solomon's 
 ring; 
 Yield thee, and worship Allah; cursed is the idola- 
 trous mouth." 
 
 Then Balkis sent him gifts, of gold bricks, yellow and 
 
 red; 
 And beautiful slaves five hundred, with amber and 
 
 musk; and a gem 
 Drilled with a crooked hole, which never a goldsmith 
 
 could thread; 
 And a topaz of price, unpierced, and a diamond 
 
 diadem. 
 
 He bade the sea-worm eat a way through the unpierced 
 stone; 
 And the little ant carry a thread through the ruby's 
 crooked drill. 
 "Doth she offer to Solomon gifts?" quoth he, on his 
 ivory throne, 
 "We are richer than Seba's kingdom! By Allah!" 
 said he, "I will 
 
 "That one of my slaves bring hither Queen Balkis' 
 jewelled seat; 
 Thereby she shall learn that the glory is ours, and 
 the knowledge and might." 
 Then Asaf the wise commanded, and a Djin spread 
 his pinions fleet, 
 And brought the moon-throne thither, and set it be- 
 fore them aright. 
 
148 PEARLS OF THE FAITH, 
 
 In a guarded house she had shut it, which a thousand 
 bowmen kept, 
 But when she was come to Salem, lo! Solomon the 
 king 
 Sate there on her own gold seat, and Balkis bowed her 
 and wept. 
 Saying, " I pray thee, teach me the Name on thy 
 signet ring ! 
 
 "We have sinned against our souls, following lower 
 Lords ; 
 Our kingdom we give, and our goods, and our lives, 
 and our spirits to thine." 
 
 Such worship had he of old who knew Al- WdlVs words 
 Which rule the rulers, and knew the sound of the 
 Name Divine.* 
 
 Ta Wall ! Gracious Lord I imparl 
 True knowledge of Thee, as Thou art. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, xxvii. chapter *' Of the Ant." 
 
MOSES AND THE ANOEL, 119 
 
 77 
 
 Praise Him, Al-MutdMU ! WTwse decree 
 Is wiser than the wit of man can see. 
 
 'Tis written in the chapter " of the Cave," * 
 An Angel of the Lord, a minister, 
 Had errands upon earth, and Moses said, 
 " Grant me to wend with thee, that I may learn 
 God's ways with men." The Angel, answering, said, 
 " Thou canst not bear with me; thou wilt not have 
 Knowledge to judge; yet if thou folio west me, 
 Question me not, whatever I shall do, 
 Until I tell thee." 
 
 Then they found a ship 
 On the sea-shore, wherefrom the Angel struck 
 Her boards and brake them, Moses said, " Wilt drown 
 The mariners? this is a strange thing wrought?" 
 "Did I not say thou couldst not bear with me?" 
 The Angel answered — " be thou silent now!" 
 
 Yet farther, and they met an Arab boy : 
 Upon his eyes with mouth invisible 
 The Angel breathed; and ail his warm blood froze, 
 And, witli a moan, lie sank to earth and died. 
 Then Moses said, " Slayest thou the innocent 
 Who did no wrong? this is a hard thing seen!" 
 "Did I not tell thee," said the Minister, 
 Thou wouldst not bear with me? question nie ii<.! !" 
 
 * Cf. KorAn. x'v'iii 
 
150 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Then came they to a village, where there stood 
 A lowly hut; the garden-feuce thereof 
 Toppled to fall: the Angel thrust it down, 
 A ruin of gray stones, and lime, and tiles, 
 Crushing the lentils, melons, saffron, beans. 
 The little harvest of the cottage folk. 
 '* What hire," asked Moses, "hadst thou for this deed, 
 Seeming so evil?" 
 
 Then the Angel said, 
 " This is the parting betwixt me and thee; 
 Yet will I first make manifest the things 
 Thou couldst not bear, not knowing; that my Lord — 
 ' Exalted above all reproach ' — be praised. 
 The ship I broke serveth poor fisher-folk 
 Whose livelihood was lost, because there came 
 A king that way seizing all boats found whole; 
 Now have they peace. Touching the Arab boy 
 In two moons he had slain his mother's son, 
 Beiug perverse; but now his brother lives, 
 Whose life unto his tribe was more, and he 
 Dieth blood-guiltless. For the garden wall: 
 Two goodly youths dwell there, offspring of one 
 That loved his Lord, and underneath the stones 
 The father hid a treasure, which is theirs. 
 This shall they find, building their ruin up. 
 And joy will come upon their house! But thou, 
 Journey no more with me, because I do 
 Nought of myself, but all by Allah's will. 
 
 Al-MufdJidl ! Maker of men, 
 Exalted art Thou past our ken. 
 
THE ADULTERESS. 151 
 
 78 
 
 Praise Him, Al-Barr ! Whose goodness is so great; 
 Who is so loving and compassionate. 
 
 Pity! for He is Pitiful; — a king 
 
 Is likest Allah, not in triumphing 
 
 'Mid enemies o'erthrown, nor seated high 
 
 On stately gold, nor if the echoing sky 
 
 Rings with his name, but when sweet mercy sways 
 
 His words and deeds. The very best man prays 
 
 For Allah's help, since feeble are the best; 
 
 And never shall man reach th' angelic rest 
 
 Save by the vast compassion of Heaven's King. 
 
 Our Prophet once, Ayesha answering, 
 
 Spake this: "I shall not enter that pure place, 
 
 Even I, except through Allah's covering grace." 
 
 Even our Lord (on him be peace!); oh, see! 
 
 If he besought the Sovereign Clemency, 
 
 How must we supplicate ii? Trui\^ thus 
 
 Great need there is of Allah's grace for us, 
 
 And that we live compassionate! 
 
 Hast seen 
 The record written of Salah-ud-Deen 
 The Sultan? how he met, upon a day, 
 In his own city on the public way, 
 A woman whom they led to die. The veil 
 Was stripped from off her weeping face, and pale 
 Her shamed cheeks were, and wild her dark fixed eye, 
 And her lips drawn with terror at the cry 
 
152 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Of the harsh people, and the rugged stones 
 
 Borne in their hands to break her, flesh and bones; 
 
 For the law stood that sinners such as she 
 
 Perish by stoning, and this doom must be; 
 
 So went the wan adulteress to her death. 
 
 High noon it was, and the hot khamseeu's breath 
 
 Blew from the desert sands and parched the town. 
 
 The crows gasped, and the kine went up and down 
 
 With lolling tougues; the camels moaned; a crowd 
 
 Pressed with their pitchers, wrangling high and loud, 
 
 About the tank; and one dog by a well. 
 
 Nigh dead with thirst, lay where he yelped and fell, 
 
 Glaring upon the water out of reach. 
 
 And praying succor in a silent speech, 
 
 So piteous were its eyes. Which when she saw, 
 
 This woman from her foot her shoe did draw, 
 
 Albeit death-sorrowful, and looping up 
 
 The long silk of her girdle, made a cup 
 
 Of the heel's hollow, and thus let it sink 
 
 Until it touched the cool black water's brink; 
 
 So filled th' embroidered shoe, and gave a draught 
 
 To the spent beast, which whined, and fawned, and 
 
 quaffed 
 Her kind gift to the dregs; next licked her hand. 
 With such glad looks that aU might understand 
 He held his life from her; then, at her feet 
 He followed close, all down the cruel street. 
 Her one friend in that city. 
 
 But the king, 
 Riding within his litter, marked this thing, 
 And how the w«man, on her way to die. 
 Had such compassion for the misery 
 
THE ADULTERESS. 153 
 
 Of that parched hound: "Take off her chain, and 
 
 place 
 The veil once more above the sinner's face, 
 And lead her to her house in peace !" he said, 
 " The law is that the people stone thee dead 
 For that which thou hast wroiight; but there is come, 
 Fawning around thy feet, a witness dumb, 
 Not heard upon thy trial ; this brute beast 
 Testifies for thee, sister! whose weak breast 
 Death could not make ungentle. I hold rule 
 In Allah's stead, who is ' the Merciful,' 
 And hope for mercy; therefore go thou free — 
 I dare not show less pity unto thee !" 
 
 As we forgive — and more than we — 
 Ya Barr! good Ood! show clemency. 
 
154 PEARLS OF THE FAITK 
 
 79 
 
 Praise Him, Al- Taiowdh; if a soul repents. 
 Seven times and seventy times iky Lord relents. 
 
 At the gates of Paradise, 
 Whence the angry Angels drave him, 
 Adam heard in gentle wise 
 Allah's whisper, which forgave him: 
 " Go," it said, " from this fair place, 
 Ye that sinned; yet not despairing; 
 Haply there shall come a grace 
 And a guidance ; and in fearing 
 Me, and following My will, 
 Blessed shall your seed be still." * 
 
 Know ye not that God receives 
 Gladly back the soul which grieves? 
 Know ye not that He relents 
 Ere the sinner well repents? 
 Terribly His justice burns. 
 Easily His anger turns, f 
 
 Spake our Lord: "If one draw near 
 Unto God — with praise and prayer — 
 Half a cubit, God will go 
 Twenty leagues to meet him so. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, ii. chapter " Of the Heifer," v. 
 + Cf. Korftn, ix. chapter "Of Repentance." 
 
ADAM QUITTING EDEN 155 
 
 He who walketh unto God, 
 God will run upon the road, 
 All the quickller to forgive 
 One who learns at last to live." 
 
 Ta Tawwdb ! for Ihy mercy's sake. 
 Us to sweet peace and pity take. 
 
156 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 80,81 
 
 "Forgiverf" and "Avenger T worship Him 
 By these two names, Ghafoor and Muntakim. 
 
 * O Men, of dry clay moulded, as the potter moulds the 
 
 jars; 
 O Djins, that We have fashioned from the smokeless 
 
 fire of stars : 
 
 WJiat terror of the Lord will ye abide ? 
 
 He is Lord of east and west, He is Lord of south 
 and north; 
 
 And the seas obey the limits which He set them, pour- 
 ing forth : 
 
 What terror of the Lord will ye abide? 
 
 Their white pearls, large and small, are the handiwork 
 
 of Him ; 
 And the ships, with towering sails, by His winds and 
 
 waters swim: 
 
 Which terror of your Lord will ye abide f 
 
 But the earth and all her creatures shall die and be de- 
 cayed ; '■■ 
 Only the face of Allah will ne^^'er change nor fade : 
 Which terror of your Lord will ye abide ? 
 
 * C£. Koran, Iv. chapter " Of the Merciful" 
 
HELL AND HEAVEN. 157 
 
 The face of Allah ruling in glorious array; 
 For all things look unto Him, and He governs day by 
 day: 
 
 Which terror of your Lord will ye abide'? 
 
 Yet will He find good leisure, ye twain! ye Djins and 
 
 Men, 
 To judge you at the judgment, O Clay and Flame! what 
 
 then? 
 
 Wliich terror of your Lord will ye abide ? 
 
 If ye can pass His gateways, east, west, and south and 
 
 north — 
 Which shut in earth and heaven — hasten ye I pass yc 
 
 forth : 
 
 Which terroi' of your Lord will ye abide? 
 
 But Life and Death enclose ye; by no v.ay shall ye 
 
 pass ; 
 A fence of flame shall stay ye, and a moat of molten 
 
 brass: 
 
 Which terror of your Lord will ye abide? 
 
 And when the sky is reuded, red like a new-ripped 
 
 hide. 
 There shall be no accusing, admitted or denied: 
 
 Which terror of your Lord will ye abide ? 
 
 No yea nor nay! no questions! the sinner's brand is 
 
 sin; 
 Thereby shall he be known, and flung Hell's blazing 
 
 walls within: 
 
 Which terror of your Lord will ye abide f 
 
168 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Flung by the forelock and the feet: " ' This Hell existed 
 
 not,' 
 Ye said. Now broil ! and when ye thirst, drink sulphur 
 
 scalding hot:" 
 
 Which terror of your Lord will ye abide ? 
 
 But sweet for him who was faithful, and feared the 
 
 face of his God, 
 Are the Gardens of joy preparing, and the gates of the 
 
 Golden Abode : 
 
 Which bounty of his Lord mil he denyf 
 
 "With leafy branching fruit-trees are set those Gardens 
 
 twain, 
 And softly the streamlets warble, and brightly the 
 
 fountains rain: 
 
 Which bounty of his Lord will he deny ? 
 
 And the fruit of the Golden Gardens swings delicate, 
 
 near to reach. 
 Where they rest on their 'broidered couches, hearing 
 
 delightful speech: 
 
 Which bounty of their Lord will they deny ? 
 
 Therein are the shy-faced maidens, refraining their 
 night-black eyes 
 
 From any save that glad lover whose joy is their Para- 
 dise: 
 
 Which bounty of their Lord will they deny ? 
 
 From any but that glad lover, that happy lord for whom 
 Their months of pearl rain kisses, their lips of ruby 
 bloom : 
 
 Which bounty of their Loi'd will they deny ? 
 
EELL AND HEAVEN: 159 
 
 Shall the wages of righteous-doing be less than the 
 
 promise given? 
 Nay! but by God, the Glorious, the debt shall be paid 
 
 in heaven ! 
 
 What bounty of their Lord shall they deny ? 
 
 man! fear Him, magnify Him; 
 AlrQhafooT and Al-Muntakim, 
 
160 PEARLS OF TBE FAITH. 
 
 83 
 
 Praise Eim, Al-Raicuf, Just and Kind alway. 
 Who knoweth how He made us of the clay. 
 
 Say, " Lord of all, to Tliee 
 
 Goetli our road ; 
 Require not of our souls 
 
 Too much, dear God ! 
 Thou M'ilt not! what was earned 
 
 Thou dost defray; 
 And what was done amiss 
 
 That we must pay; 
 But ah! be not extreme 
 
 With what's forgot, 
 With error, or small sin. 
 
 And load us not 
 With burdens which we cannot carry, Lord! 
 But favor, help, forgiveness afford. " * 
 
 Tender His answers are: — 
 
 (The " Chapter of the Star."t 
 Ayat the Thirty- Third): "The heavens and earth 
 
 To Us pertain , and We 
 
 Will deal, assuredly, 
 Well with the good, but with the ill in wrath. 
 
 Yet not for each offence, 
 
 Errors of flesh or sense, 
 
 * Cf. Koran, ii. chapter " Of the Heifer." 
 + Cf . Koran, liii. 
 
^UBA ''OF THE STAB." 161 
 
 Shall there be judgment, children of the loam I 
 
 Our mercy reacheth far; 
 
 We know ye •vrhat ye are, 
 And knew ye while ye lay clots in the womb : 
 
 Sin, and be sorry, and amend: 
 Who seeketh God shall find Him in the end." 
 
 Ever-indulgent Maker ! we 
 
 Praise for these words Thy clemency. 
 
163 PEARLS OF TEE FAITH. 
 
 83 
 
 King of all kingdoms! only Tliou art crowned, 
 
 Whose throne is heaven, and earth Thy footstool's round, 
 
 Ta Malik! Ya Kuddus ! wa ya Saldm! 
 
 O King! O Holy One! O Peace-giver! 
 
 Ya Aziz ! Ya Muhaimin ! Ya Mumin ! 
 
 O Mighty! O Protector! Faithful ever! 
 
 Ya Jahbdr! O Thou Sovereign, All-compelling 1 
 
 Ya MutakahUr! O Thou Lord excelling! 
 Exalted art Thou over utmost praise ; 
 Accurst are those who graven idols raise 
 Beside Thee; unto them fall plagues and shames! 
 To Thee alone belong " the comely names."* 
 
 King of all kings ! we celebrate 
 
 With endless praise Thy glorious state. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, lix, chapter " Of the Emigration." 
 
SUBA "OF TEE MERCIFUL:' 163 
 
 84 
 
 " Lord ofaicfulness and Jionorf" we 
 Lack wit and words in fitly naming Thee, 
 
 All things shall die and decay, but the kingdom of 
 Allah endureth, 
 Changeless in honor and might, changeless in glory 
 and grace ; 
 Blessed be He who is Lord, possessed of all beauty and 
 greatness ; 
 All things die and decay; only endureth His face.* 
 
 Dhu'ljaldl wa'l ikrdm! thus ever 
 
 Praise we Thy Throne which fadeth nsver. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, Iv. chapter " Of the Merciful," vv. 26, 78. 
 
164 PEARLS OF THE FAITH, 
 
 85 
 
 ' Al-Miiksit ! *^ Equitable r maJce us know, 
 
 As men have wrought, they shall he wrought with so. 
 
 Three days before our Lord Muhammad passed, 
 They bore him to the mosque, where he uprose — 
 Painfully leaning upon Omar's neck — 
 The fever burning in his cheeks, his mouth 
 Dry with the wind of death, and that knit brow 
 Shadowed with Azrael's overhanging wings. 
 One thin hand on the mimbar-rail he laid, 
 Speaking sweet words of guidance, precious words. 
 The last which ever fell from those lit lips, 
 Teaching his Faithful. 
 
 Then he gazed around, 
 And said, "Ye men of Mecca, where I lived. 
 Going and coming, testifying God, 
 I shall die soon; I pray ye answer me, 
 Is there among ye here one I have wronged? 
 I have borne rule, Judging in Allah's name, 
 That am a man and sinful; have I judged 
 Unrighteously, or wratllfull3^ or pressed 
 Too hard in the amend? Let who saith ' Yea/ 
 Make his * Yea ' good before my people here, 
 And 1 will bare my back that he may smite. 
 I have borne testimony for the truth, 
 Not sparing sinners ; speak, if there be here 
 One visited unjustly; let him shame 
 
THE LAST SERMON OF THE PROPHET. 165 
 
 His Prophet now, telling the sin I wrought 
 Before the assembly, I have gathered dues ; 
 Declare if I defrauded any here 
 Buying or selling." 
 
 And no answer came, 
 Except the sound of sobs and falling tears 
 From stern breasts and the eyes of bearded men, 
 Because our Lord would pass. 
 
 But one arose, 
 A hamal, with his cord across his back 
 And porter's knot, who cried, " Abdallah's son! 
 Three drachms of silver owest thou to me 
 For wood I bore thee after * Ramadhan 1' " 
 
 "Good friend, I thank thee,'' softly said our Lord, 
 " Because thou didst demand thy money here. 
 And not before the judgment seat of God : 
 111 is it if men thither carry debts!" 
 Therewith he paid his debt, kissing the hand 
 Wherein the dirhems dropped; and so went home 
 To die upon the lap of Ayesha, 
 With glad face fixed on high, and holy lips 
 That murmured, "Allah! pardon me my sinsl" 
 
 O ye believers! if our Lord did thus, 
 Consider well! leave no unrighted wrongs 
 Against the ill time when the Angels come, 
 Monker and Nakir, gliding through the dark, 
 And set ye up for question in the grave; 
 AVhen Israfil his dreadful trumpet blows. 
 Summoning to judgment; when the skies roll back 
 Like a scorched scroll, and o'er the gulf of hell 
 Al-Sirat stretches, " thinner than a hair 
 
166 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 And sharper than a sword," and yet to cross 1 
 Ah, then! what good one wrought, he hath of help 
 Even to a date-stone; what of ill he wrought. 
 Of hindrance, to a date-stone; for your God 
 Is righteous, and the distribution just. 
 
 Ojust ''Distributor!" incline 
 Our hearts to keep Thy laws divine. 
 
SUJiA "OF WOMEN." 1G7 
 
 Al-Jami'h! praise " the Gatherer,'' Wlio divides 
 Evil and good unto tlieir proper sides. 
 
 Ye who believe, stand ye steadfast in justice, 
 Witnessing true tliougli it be to displease; 
 
 Heed not your patrons, nor parents, nor kinsmen, 
 Allah is nearer and richer than these. 
 
 Sit ye not down in the seat of the scornful, 
 Hear not the tales which the hypocrites tell; 
 
 On the day when His children are folded together 
 Al-Jami'h shall scatter the sinners to hell.* 
 
 We take Thee for our Shepherd; keep 
 Safe in the fold Thy foolish sheep. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, iv. chapter "Of Women," v. 139. 
 
IGS PEARLS OF THE FAITH, 
 
 87 
 
 We praise Thee; but no need of praise Thou lioAty 
 AUOhani ! in Thy gloi'y bright and vast. 
 
 MiGHiT is He and forgivifJg.* 
 One soul did He first create, 
 Then He made tlierefrom a mate: 
 And to lielp man in his living, 
 Gave him herds, each with the other. 
 Camels, oxen, goats and sheep. 
 Think how Allah wakes from sleep 
 The babe, close folded in its mother! 
 In three darknesses He shrouds it; 
 Wonder upon wonder clouds it. 
 He is Maker: can ye see 
 All these tokens and still be 
 Thankless? Yet, if so ye are, 
 Not beholden to your care 
 Is Al-Ghani: self-sufficing 
 Lives high Allah, recognizing 
 Gladly all His creatures' love 
 In a changeless peace above. 
 Judge ye each for each ; with God 
 No man bears another's load. 
 Unto Him is your return, 
 Then shall every spirit learn 
 
 * Cf. Koran, xxxlx. chapter " Of Troops." 
 
SURA " OF TROOPS." 169 
 
 What it wrought, and what is due ; 
 For He knows the hearts of you. 
 
 Ah, Self-sufficing One ! we se^k 
 
 To praise Thee weU, but words are weak. 
 
170 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 He is sufficient, and He makes suffice; 
 Praise thus again thy Lord, mighty and wise. 
 
 God is enough! thou, who in hope and fear 
 Toilest through desert-sands of life, sore-tried, 
 
 Climb trustful over death's black ridge, for near 
 The bright wells shine: thou wilt be satisfied. 
 
 God doth suffice! O thou, the patient one. 
 Who puttest faith in Him, and none beside, 
 
 Bear yet thy load; under the setting sun 
 The glad tents gleam: thou wilt be satisfied. 
 
 By God's gold Afternoon! * peace ye shall have: 
 Man is in loss except he live aright, 
 
 And help his fellow to be firm and brave, 
 Faithful and patient : then the restful night I 
 
 Al-Mughni I best Rewarder ! we 
 Endure; putting our trust in Thee. 
 
 * Cf. KorS,n, ciii. chapter " Of the Afternoon." 
 
THE TWO GATEWAYS. 171 
 
 89, 90 
 
 Mu'hti and Mdni'h ! Heav'n TJwu mad'st, and Hell, 
 Pi'oviding and withholdmg — and didst well. 
 
 When God fashioned Paradise,* 
 
 Spake He unto Gabriel: 
 " See tliis place which We created, 
 
 Where the justified will dwell." 
 Gabriel said, "My Lord! I swear 
 
 By Thy glory, none of men 
 Ever of its joys shall hear 
 
 But will strive to enter in." 
 
 Round about His Paradise 
 
 God set sorrows and denials; 
 Laid the pathway steep and strait, 
 
 Hard to find and full of trials. 
 "Look again!" God said; and he 
 
 Looked, and came, and sadly spake: 
 " By Thy glorious majesty, 
 
 Not one man will entrance make!" 
 
 Then the Lord created Hell, 
 Set ablaze its ache and grieving; 
 
 Saying unto Gabriel, 
 
 " This is for the unbelieving." 
 
 * Cf. " The Miskat-al-Masabih." 
 
173 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Gabriel looked and said, "I swear, 
 By Thy splendor, not a mortal, 
 
 When of hell-fire he shall hear, 
 Ever will approach its portal." 
 
 Round about those awful gates 
 
 Allah set soft sins and pleasures; 
 Made the pathway broad and plain. 
 
 Rich with joys and gifts and treasures. 
 " Look again," said God; and he 
 
 Saw; and spake, " Save by Thy blessing, 
 O my Lord! there will not be 
 
 One that must not love transgressing." 
 
 Lord of the two-fold roads, ice pray 
 Lead us upon the rightful way. 
 
THE DOVE. 173 
 
 91 
 
 ** Propitious" is He unto tliose that show 
 Compassion to His creatures; praise Him so. 
 
 *• No beast of earth, no fowl that flies with wings," 
 Saith tlie great Book, " but is a people, too; 
 
 From Allah sprang their life, and unto Him 
 They shall return: with such heed what ye do!" 
 
 There came before our Lord a certain one 
 Who said, " O Prophet! as I passed the wood, 
 
 I heard the voice of youngling doves which cried, 
 While near the nest their pearl-necked mother 
 cooed." 
 
 ** Then in my cloth I tied those fledglings twain, 
 But all the way the mother fluttered nigh ; 
 
 See! she hath followed hither!" Spake our Lord: 
 "Open thy knotted cloth, and stand thou by." 
 
 But when she spied her nestlings, from the palm 
 Down flew the dove, of peril unafeared 
 
 So she might succor these. *' Seest thou not," 
 Our Lord said, " how the heart of this poor bird 
 
 " Grows, by her love, greater than his who rides 
 Full-face against the spear-blades? thinkest thou 
 
 Such fire divine was kindled to be quenched? 
 I tell ye nay! Put back upon the bough 
 
174 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 "The nest she claimeth thus. I tell ye nay! 
 
 From Allah's self cometh this wondrous love: 
 Yea! and I swear by Him who sent me here. 
 
 He is more tender than a nursing dove, 
 
 "More pitiful to men than she to these. 
 
 Therefore fear God in whatsoe'er ye deal 
 With the dumb peoples of the wing and hoof. 
 
 Yours are they; yet whene'er ye lift the steel 
 
 " To slay for meat, name first the name of God, 
 Saying ' Bi 'sm 'illah! God judge thee and me? 
 
 God give thee patience to endure to-day 
 The portion that He hath allotted thee. 
 
 " So shall ye eat and sin not; else the blood 
 Crieth against you," Thus our Prophet spake. 
 
 And Islam doeth it, naming God's name 
 Before the slaughter, — for that white dove's sake. 
 
 By those dumb moutlis he ye forgiven. 
 Ere ye are heard pleading with Heaven. 
 
KINO SHEDDAB'JS PARADISE. 175 
 
 92 
 
 Az-Zarr ! " Harmful " He is to tJiem that sin 
 Mocking the truth; man ! fear Him herein. 
 
 Sheddad, the son of Ad, of Hadramaut, 
 Idolater, lord of the land and sea, 
 Hath it come to ye how he mocked at Heaven, 
 Saying the idols of the coast were best — 
 Sdkia that makes the laiu, and Hafedha 
 The Thunderer, Razek who gives grain to men, 
 And Salema, lady of life and death? — 
 And how he sware an oath by those four gods, 
 Drinking the palm-wine deep at Hadramaut, 
 That he would build a better Paradise 
 Than Allah's, and be Lord and God therein; 
 With earthly Houris fairer than those maids 
 "Wrought of the musk and ambergris, who have 
 The great immortal breasts and black-pearl eyes; 
 With sweeter streams than Salsabil,* and trees 
 Richer in fruit than Tooba:f this he sware, 
 Abiding not the judgment, nor the blasts 
 Of Israfil, nor weighing of the scales. 
 Wherefore he gave command that there be built 
 In Akhaf, on the hills, beyond the sand^ 
 Within a hollow vale walled by wild peaks — 
 
 * A stream of Paradise. 
 
 t The Tree of Happiness, which grow^s from Muhammad's pa- 
 vilion in Paradise. 
 
176 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 A pleasure-house — beautiful with white courts 
 Of levelled marble, and in every court 
 A fountain, sparkling from a tank inlaid 
 With amber, nacre, coral; and around, 
 In every court, cloisters of columns carved 
 With reeded shafts and frontals, wonderful 
 For beast and bird and fish and leaf and flower. 
 And round about this pleasure-house he bade 
 A lovely garden bloom, terraced by lanes 
 Bosky with blossoming trees and rose-thickets, 
 Where hidden streamlets murmured and gold fruit 
 Loaded the boughs, and all the air was balm. 
 He gave command, moreover, that there rise 
 Hard by, with streets and markets, a fair town 
 Peopled by ministers of pleasure, and walled 
 With ramparts of the rose and pomegranate; 
 Wherethrough there led a double folding gate. 
 Fashioned of fragrant woods, and set with stars 
 Of silver, opening downwards to the vale, 
 Inscribed "The Paradise of King Sheddad." 
 
 And when the house was made, and all the courts 
 Were girdled with the carven shafts, and cooled 
 With leaping fountains; and the roses, blown, 
 Filled the green vale with sweetness; and the town 
 Was heaped with grain and wine, and people moved 
 Busy and glad about its new fair streets, 
 Sheddad set forth. A shining line of spears. 
 League-long, wound first upon the mountain-path; 
 And after them the camel-Utters, decked 
 With silk and gold, and poles of silver, came 
 Bearing the Houris of his Paradise; 
 And next the Prince amid his lords: so clomb 
 The gay march up the sandy steeps, or streamed 
 
KINO SHEDDAD'S PARADISE. 177 
 
 Down the gray wadis. At the head of all 
 Rode one who held a flag of yellow silk, 
 Which had for its device, " Amid Ids gods, 
 Shedddd, the son of Ad, of Hadramaut, 
 Unasked of Allah, wends to Paradise." 
 
 That night they entered at the silver gate, 
 Making bold cheer; and sweet the garden was. 
 And green the groves, and bright the pleasure-house 
 Lit with a thousaud scented lamps, and loud 
 With dance and cymbal and the beat of drum. 
 But when the golden horse-shoe of the moon 
 "Waned in the west, there came into the sky 
 Three clouds; and one was white and had the shape 
 Of a winged angel; one was red and burned 
 Across the planets like a blazing sword: 
 And one, thick black, gathered around the head 
 Of a bare hollow mountain, seamed with gaps 
 And caverns, wherefrom — full upon their feast — 
 Brake, of a sudden, flame and cataracts 
 Of blood-red molten rock, with pitchy smoke 
 Veiling the heavens, and rain of blinding dust. 
 All pierced by livid lightning-spears, and driven 
 By fierce winds, hotter than the breath of hell; 
 Which sucked the streams, and parched the trees, and 
 
 dried 
 Life from the body, as a furnace draws 
 The moisture from the potter's claj', while earth 
 Rocked, quaking; and the thunder's vengeful voice 
 Rolled horrible from crag to crag, and mocked 
 The d^ath-cry of those choked idolaters: 
 Whereof, when the sun rose, there breathed not one; 
 Nor any green thing lingered in the vale; 
 Nor road nor gate appeared; nor might a man 
 
178 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 Say where the garden of King SbeddSd stood: 
 So -were the ways iiptoru, and that fair sin 
 Blotted from vision by the wrath of God. 
 
 Yet to this day there lurketh — lost to view 
 Of all men, hardly found by wandering wolf, 
 Spied seldom by the vulture's hungry eye — 
 Tlie remnant of the garden of Iram. 
 Deep in the wilderness of Aden, hid 
 Behind wild peaks, and fenced with burning sands, 
 The perished relics of that pleasaunce lie 
 Which SheddM made, mocking the power of God : 
 And one who tended camels in the land, 
 Abdallah-Ebn-Keldbah, seeking there 
 A beast estrayed, followed her footmarks up 
 Into a gorge, which split a cliff in twain 
 From sky to sand, darii as the heart of night, 
 With thickets at its mouth and jutting rocks. 
 Therethrough he pushed, and when the light once more 
 Glimmered and grew, he spied a hollow, shut 
 In the gaunt barren peaks, with black dust strewn, 
 And piled with cindery crags and bladdered slag, 
 In midst of which la}' — plain to see — the bones 
 Of Slieddad's city and his pleasure-house; 
 All with their withered gardens, and the gate 
 Rusted and ruined; and the cloistered courts 
 Swathed in the death-drift, and the marble tanks 
 Choked to their brims; the carven columns fall'n 
 Or thrust awry; the bright pavilions foul 
 Witli ashes, and with remnants of the dead: 
 For Ebn-Kelabah passed into the place, 
 And saw the valley thronged with carcases 
 Of men and women and the townspeople — 
 Not mouldered, as is wont, to whitened bone, 
 
KING SE AD DAD' 8 PARADISE. 179 
 
 But dried, by the hot blasts of that dread night, 
 
 Unto a life in death; the skin and flesh 
 
 Yet clinging, and the robes of festival 
 
 Still gay of color; all those sinful ones 
 
 Slain in their sin even where the vs^hirlwind struck : 
 
 So that he saw the dancers as they fell 
 
 With dancing-dress and timbrels; and tlie ring 
 
 Of watchers round them ; and the slaves who made 
 
 Their music; and the bearers bringiug wine, 
 
 Each by his shrivelled wineskiu, dead and dry. 
 
 Also within the courts, lay corpses slim, 
 
 Rich-clad and delicate, with jewelled necks, 
 
 The Houris of that ruined Paradise. 
 
 The sunlien eyes stared, and the drawn lips grinned 
 
 Under dead rose-crowns, and the shapely limbs 
 
 Were grown too lean for the loose tarnished gold 
 
 Of armlet and of anklet; dusty lay 
 
 Strings of dulled jewels on their sjjruuken breasts; 
 
 And brimmed with dust the cups were which they clasped 
 
 In stiff discolored fingers. In their midst 
 
 Sate, all a-gape, King Sheddad, for a throne 
 
 Propped his dead form, and round the waist of it 
 
 A sword hung, in a belt of gold and silk, 
 
 Hilted with pearls and rubies. This he took — 
 
 The camel-man — and glided, terrified, 
 
 Back from that City of the Dead; and found 
 
 The night-black gorge, and groped his way, and 
 
 brouglit 
 The sword and sword-hilt into Hadramaut, 
 Telling tlie dread tilings seen of Allah's wrath 
 AVrought on the misbelievers; and their streets 
 Wrecked, and their painted courts, peopled with dead. 
 Such awful end came on the men of Ad, 
 Wiio made the House of Iram; and their lord. 
 
180 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 But no foot since hath found that road again, 
 Nor shall; till Israfil sets to his lips 
 The trumpet, and Az Zarr will bid him blow. 
 
 Harmful unto mockers ! we 
 Know and adore Thy majesty. 
 
SUBA " OF LIGHT.'* 181 
 
 93 
 
 An-Koor ! " The Light" that lightens all who live / 
 By this great name to Allah glory give. 
 
 Of earth and heaven God is the Light.* 
 
 As when a lamp upon a height 
 
 Is set within a niche, and gleams 
 
 From forth the glittering glass, and seems 
 
 A star, — wide fall the rays of it: — 
 
 So shines His glor}", and 'tis lit 
 
 With holy oil was never pressed 
 
 From olive tree in east or west. 
 
 It burneth without touch of flame, 
 
 A light beyond all light: the same 
 
 Guideth the feet of men, and still 
 
 He leadeth by it whom He will. 
 
 Light of the world! An-Noor ! illume 
 Our darkling 'pathway to the tomb. 
 
 * Cf. Koran, xxiv. chapter " Of Light. 
 
182 PEARLS OF THE FAITH, 
 
 94 
 
 Al-Hddi I Lord ! tJie way is "hard, and we. 
 
 Thy creatures, have none other " Guide" tJiaii TJiee 
 
 By many names and guides doth God 
 Lead men along the upward road; 
 He, unto each land under Heaven, 
 A prophet of its owu hath given: 
 Had, Idris, Eyoob, Moses,— all 
 Upon the self -same Lord did call; 
 Seeing there is no way besides 
 His way, the Guider of the guides; 
 Nor any light to mortals known 
 Except Al-Hadi — His alone. 
 
 'Tis told, nigh to a city-gate 
 Four fellow-travellers hungry sate, 
 An Arab, Persian, Turk, and Greek; 
 And one was chosen forth, to seek 
 Their evening meal, with dirhems thrown 
 Into a common scrip; but none 
 Could with his fellows there agree 
 What meat therewith should purchased be. 
 "Buy W2WTO," quoth the Turk, "which food 
 Is cheaper, sweeter, or so good?" 
 " Not so," the Arab cried, " I say 
 Buy aneh, and the most ye ma\'." 
 " Name not thy trash!" the Persian said, 
 " Who knoweth uzum or aneh f 
 
'~ 
 
 THE FOUR TRAVELLERS. 183 
 
 Bring anghur, for the country's store 
 Is ripe and rich." The Greek, who bore 
 Their dirhems, clamored, " "What ill thing 
 Is anghur ? Surely I will bring 
 Staphylion green, staphylion black, 
 And a fair meal we shall not lack." 
 Thus wrangled they, and set to try 
 With blows what provend he should buy, 
 When, lo! before their eye^ did pass, 
 Laden with grapes, a gardener's ass. 
 Sprang to his feet each man, and showed 
 With eager hand, that purple load. 
 " See xizumr said the Turk; and " See 
 Anghur!" the Persian; " what should be 
 Better .?' ' ' ' Nay, aneh ! aneh 'tis !" 
 The Arab cried. The Greek said, " This 
 Is my staphylion !'" Then they bought 
 Their grapes in peace. 
 
 Hence be ye taught! 
 
 But unto us TJiy changeless name 
 Is Allah— praised he the same. 
 
4 
 
 ■Ai^ 
 
 184 PEARLS OF THE FAITH 
 
 95. 96 
 
 Al-Azali! Al-Bdki ! praise to Thee 
 Who least before Beginning, and will he 
 After the Ending. From Thy mercy came 
 Man's breath, and unto Thee returns the same. 
 
 Al Aaraf* saitli— the sevenlh of " the Book:" — 
 
 In the Begin uiug God from Adam took 
 
 All who should be his seed, and bade them bear 
 
 Witness upon themselves, putting His fear 
 
 And knowledge in the hearts of all to be, 
 
 As salt is set in all the waves of the sea. 
 
 A countless, nameless, throng there gathered they, 
 
 That unborn multitude; and God did say, 
 
 " Testify! Am I not your Lord?" And those 
 
 Replied, "Yea, Lord! we testify!" Propose 
 
 Kever, then, Man! to say, "we did not have 
 
 Guidance;" it shall be answered, " Allah gave 
 
 With life that light which leadeth to the grave." 
 
 And in the chapter of " Ya Siu"f it saith— 
 Read in the Muslim's ear at hour of death : X — 
 A blast! and then another blast! and, lol 
 At summons of the trumpet, all shall go 
 
 * Cf. Koran, chapter vii. verse 172. 
 
 + Koran, chapter xxxvi. 
 
 X This Suva is recited at the death-beds of Miihammedana, 
 
SURA " OF TA sin:' is^^ 
 
 Forth fi'om their grave-beds, thronging once again 
 Unto their Lord; and some, in fear and pain, 
 Shall cry, " Woe," woe! what waketh us? Is this 
 God's word come true?" and some, in joy and bliss, 
 Shall say, " Now, praise to God! His prophets spake 
 Truth unto us." For all mankind shall wake 
 Together, at the trumpet; and shall wend 
 Together, to the Judgment, in the end. 
 
 And no soul shall be wronged in that dread place 
 For aught not wrought; nor any soul find grace 
 Except for what it wrought; and there shall fall 
 Endless delight in Paradise on all 
 Who kept that witness! happy they shall be 
 Reclining with sweet consorts, 'neath the Tree 
 Which bears all fruits, and groweth by the Throne. 
 And they siiall hear the Lord say to His own, 
 " Peace!"— they shall hear the Merciful say so. 
 
 But to the sinners shall be thundered, ** Go! 
 Divide herefrom! did not jq testify?" 
 •' Yea, dreadful Lord!" — thus shall they make reply, 
 Descendiuff into Hell. 
 
 TJiy mercy send. 
 Thou, tlie Beginning and the End! 
 
1^:^:0 PEARLS OF THE FAITIL 
 
 97 
 
 Inheritor ! all things proceed from Thee^ 
 And re-committed to Thy hands shall he. 
 
 The chapter of Al-Hajar:* There is nought 
 But from the treasury of God was brought; 
 
 Such and so much He lends them; winds and waters; 
 Have ye the store of these things, or of aught? 
 
 Did ye set in the sky the starry band, 
 
 Or pile the mountain peaks upon the land? 
 
 Verily He hath made and will unmake them, 
 And all these shall return into His hand. 
 
 "O Rose!" the Dewdrop said, "whence didst thou 
 
 spring, 
 That art so sweet and proud and fair a thing?" 
 
 " From dust I sprang," she said, " and ere to-morrow 
 Back to the dust I shall be mouldering." 
 
 " O Dewdrop!" said the Rose, " where didst thou gain 
 This light, that like a gem on me hath lain?" 
 
 " A cloud," he said, " uplifted me from ocean, 
 And I must trickle to the deep again," 
 
 The Bulbul heard; «' O Allah's rose!" it said, 
 •' The air is fragrant with thee, being dead; 
 
 O Allah's Dewdrop! ere the sea did suck thee, 
 She was the fairer; be thou comforted!" 
 
 * Cf. Koran, chapter xv, verse 21. 
 
TEE nOSE AM) THE DEWUMOR 387 
 
 For saith the chapter of Al-Hajar: " Tell 
 My servants I have made the heavens well, 
 
 And the earth well, and with a steadfast purpose; 
 And Paradise is Mine, and Mine is Hell."* 
 
 Inheritor ! all things are Thine ; 
 Al- Warith ! Thou might Divine ! 
 
 * Cf. Koran, xv. w. 49, 85. 
 
188 PEARLS OF THE FAITH. 
 
 98 
 
 Earth knows, Jieaven shows ; the, holy s^criptures say, 
 How righteous and " unernmf is Thy way. 
 
 " We sent it down upou the ' Night of Power,' * 
 
 Tiie Book which ' doth declare' 
 In all the year that night is best: one hour 
 
 Thereof, in praise and prayer, 
 
 "Is worth a thousand days of joy; for then 
 
 The Angels bear commands, 
 Bringing the will of Al-Kaschid to men; 
 
 Descending on all lands. 
 
 *' Peace rnleth till the rising of that dawn, 
 
 While Allali doth ordain 
 How many souls those twelve moons shall be born, 
 
 How many shall attain. 
 
 " His mercy; for the books are brought of these. 
 
 And each account i? cast; 
 And Allah raaketh 'the allowances,' 
 
 Accepting sov.ls nt last." 
 
 Thus spake our Lord, and Ayesha replied, f 
 
 " O Prophet! are there none 
 Accepted, save by mercy?" "None!" he cried, 
 
 By God! T say not one!" 
 
 * Cf. KorS,n, xcvii. chapter " Of Power." 
 t Cf. the Mishkat-el-Mfisfi-bih. 
 
THE PROPHETS OATH. 189 
 
 ** Not thou! — not even i\io\i\—thou not to go, 
 
 Unquestioned, into heaven, 
 Who walked with Allah's Angels, and belov» 
 
 Taught us the message given ?" — 
 
 He drew his cloth across his bended face 
 
 And thrice he spake to her: 
 " Except God's mercy cover me with grace, 
 
 I shall not enter there!" 
 
 Al-PascMd / and if not he. 
 Increase io us Thy clemency. 
 
190 islam: 
 
 99 
 
 lomng-Und, " long svffering'' Lord ! once more 
 We praise Ihee, magnifying Az-Zahoor, 
 
 Patient is Alluh, and He loveth well 
 
 The patient, saith " the Book,""* and such as dwell 
 
 In kindness, asking pardon of their sins 
 Each dawn, and pardoning the blamable. 
 
 Islam! this is the Faith I thyself resign, 
 Soul, mind, and body, to the will divine: 
 
 The kingdom and the glory and the power 
 Are God's, and God's the government,— not thinel 
 
 Thebe is no god but God! and He is All ; 
 And whatso doth befall ye doth befall 
 
 By His decree: therefore, with fear and love 
 UpcQ His glorious names devoutly call. 
 
 Allah ! His Iwly will he done! 
 Islam ! — we how hefore His tlirone. 
 
 Cf. Kor&n, iii. v. 15, chapter " Of Iinran's Family." 
 
 ■■a>«««CT>gni^ip« 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Page 15, line 17. — One version of tliis legend saj's that 
 Soluirah (or Zobarah) herself, the sphit of the planet 
 Venus, descended to tempt the two Angels. Harut and 
 Marut are fabled to be confiued still iu the vicinity of 
 Babel, where a man may go to learn sorcery of them, 
 hearing their voices, but never seeing their forms. 
 
 Page 17, line 20. — Gabriel, or Jibraii, is called in Ara- 
 bian theology Rii'li-el-Amin, "the Faithful Spirit," or 
 Ru'li-el-Kuddiis, " the Holy Spirit." It was he who de- 
 livered the Koran to Muhammad. 
 
 Page 18, line 3. — A conimentator on this legend writes: 
 " Some say tliat Solomon brought these horses, being 
 a thousand ia number, from Damascus and Nisibis, 
 ■which cities lie had taken; others say that they were left 
 him by his father, who took them from the Amalekites; 
 while others, who prefer the marvellous, pretend that 
 they came up out of the sea, and had wings. However, 
 Solomon, having one day a mind to view the horses, 
 ordered them to be brought before him, and was so 
 taken up with them that he spent the remainder of the 
 day, till after sunset, in looking on them; by which 
 means he almost neglected the prayer, which ought to 
 have been said at that time, till it was too late: but 
 when he perceived his omission, he was so greatly con- 
 cerned at it, that ordering the horses to be brought back, 
 
193 JVOTES. 
 
 he killed tliem all as an offering to God, except only a 
 hundred of the best of them. But God made him ample 
 amends for the loss, by giving him dominion over the 
 winds." 
 
 Page 18, line 17. — Arafat is a mountain near Mecca, so 
 named from the tradition that Adam, upon his repent" 
 ance, was reunited there to Eve, after a separation of 
 two hundred years. 
 
 Page 22, line 1. — Israfil is one of the Archangels, who 
 will sound the last trumpet at the resurrection. He has 
 " the sweetest voice of all God's creatures." 
 
 Page 22, line 13. — Iblis, " He who despairs," is ShaitEn, 
 or Satan, who fell from Heaven on account of arro- 
 gantly refusing to pay reverence to Adam at the creation, 
 when all the other Angels worshipped the first man. 
 
 Page 23, line 1. — Wuzu'/i, or washing (either with 
 actual water, or by imitating the process with sand, 
 etc.), must precede all those prayers which are farz, or 
 " incumbent." These arc commenced in a standing at- 
 titude, Kiydm, the thumbs touching the lobes of the 
 ears and the face turning towards Mecca. 
 
 Page 24, line 9 — Tiie " Companions of the right hand" 
 are so culled because thej^ will have the book of their 
 good deeds put into their right hands in token of salva- 
 tion; while evil-doers will have their scroll of condem- 
 nation, at the last day, thrust into their left hands. 
 
 Page 24, li)ie 13. — " Such, moreover, as of old time," 
 etc. These are the early prophets and holy teachers in 
 all nations. The text of the Koran calls them "the 
 leaders, the leaders!" that emphatic repetition denoting 
 their dignity, and the assurance of their prominence in 
 the final reward. 
 
JS'OTES. 
 
 193 
 
 Page 25, line 23.—" 3Iawz-trees. " The original word 
 taW may mean either Ibe plantain, or that acacia which 
 has small round golden blossoms. 
 
 Page 26, line 1.— Sale has :i citation upon these privi- 
 leged attributes of the Houris. "Allah has created 
 them purposely of finer materials than the females of 
 this vv(;!! !, : 1.(1 subject to none of those inconveniences 
 which are natural to the sex. Some understand this 
 passage of the beautiful women; who, though they died 
 old and ill-favored, shall yet all be restored to*^ their 
 youth and beauty in Paradise." 
 
 Page 211, line 8.— "At Azan." The time of the call 
 to prayer, and especially after the sun has begun to 
 decline. 
 
 Page 31, line 13.— " And spider." One of the Suras of 
 the Koritn, the 29th, is named after this insect. 
 
 Page 33.—" The Verse of the Throne." This (which 
 is often engraved on seal rings in the East) is so called 
 from the word Koorsiy, the " chair or throne" of Allah, 
 which occurs in the sublime passage cited. In the 
 judgment of Muhararaedans the " Throne- Yerse" is one 
 of the noblest portions of the Koran, surpassing in 
 majesty of diction all other human compositions. It is 
 taken from the 2d Sura, verse 256, and is rendered very 
 exactly, as below^ by Mr. Redhouse (to whose most 
 learned and laborious article in the "Journal of the 
 Royal Asiatic Society," January, 1880, my indebtedness 
 has been extremelj^ great) : 
 
 " God, save whom there is no God, is the Living, the 
 Self-existing One. Drowsiness overcometh Him not, 
 nor sleep. Unto Him belongeth wliatever i.s in the 
 heavens, and whatever is in the earth. Who is he that 
 
194 2\'0TE3. 
 
 shall make intercession with Him, save by His per- 
 mission? He knoweth whatever is before them, and 
 whatever is behind them; and they comprehend not a 
 single matter of His knowledge, save only that which 
 He hath willed. His firmament spans the heavens and 
 the earth, the preservation whereof doth not distress 
 Him. And He is the Most High, the Most Supreme." 
 
 N.B. — E;ich chapter of the Koran is called a Sura, a 
 term signifying a course of bricks in a wall; and the 
 Suras are divided into 'dydt, verses, or more literally 
 "signs." 
 
 Page 33. — This Siira, 59, is known as the chapter " Of 
 the Emigration." 
 
 Page 34, line 1. — The Muslim doctors call the scriptu- 
 ral Terah, the father of Abraham, by the name of Azar. 
 This was also the title of the god of the planet Mars. 
 Abraham's father is moreover styled Zarali in the Tal- 
 mud, and Athar also, by Eusebius. 
 
 Page 34, line 25.—" Friend of Allah." The Muslims 
 so denominate Abraham, Al-KJialU. 
 
 Page 37. — This is suggested from SQra 35, ihe chapter 
 "Of the Angels," or " Of the Originator." The Arch- 
 angel Gabriel is said to have appeared to Muhammad, 
 on the night of his journey to Heaven, having no less 
 than three hundred pairs of wings! 
 
 Page 38, line 15.— " Michael," or Mika'il. The Arch- 
 angel here named was especially the guardian of the 
 Jews. The Israelites of Mecca told Muhammad that 
 they would have received his Koran, if Michael instead 
 of Gabriel had revealed it. 
 
 Page 39, line 15.— " AzrSel." The Archangel of 
 Death. 
 
NOTES. 195 
 
 Page 40, line 1.—" God's Friend." Vide note on paire 
 85, Une 15. ^ 
 
 P^^'^ 44, ^m^ 16.—" People of the bench." This was 
 the name given to the poor persons whom the Prophet 
 sustained by alms every day, and who used to wait for 
 his gifts, sitting upon the bench outside Muhammad's 
 house at Medina. 
 
 Page 49.— The very rcmarliable Silra quoted here en- 
 titled sometimes " The Brightness," came to the prophet 
 thus: "It IS -elated that no revelation having been 
 vouchsafed to Muhammad for several davs in answer 
 to some questions put to him by the Korei^h.' because he 
 had confidently promised to resolve them the next day 
 without adding the exception, if it iilease God, or be- 
 cause he had repulsed an importunate bea-gar, or else 
 because a dead puppy lay under his seat, or for some 
 other reason; his enemies said that God had left him- 
 whereupon this chapter was sent down for his consola- 
 tion." 
 
 Pagem.—"ThQ Journey of the Night." "It is a 
 dispute," writes Sale, "among the Muhammedan di- 
 vines, whether their Prophet's nighf-journev was really 
 performed by him corporally, or whether it was only a 
 dream or vision. Some tliink the whole was no more than 
 a vision; ana allege an express tradition of Mo^wiyah 
 one of Muhammad's successors, to that purpose Others 
 suppose he was carried bodily to Jerusalem, but no far- 
 ther; and that he ascended thence to Heaven in spirit 
 only. But the received opinion is, that it was no vision, 
 but that he was actually transported in the body to his 
 journey's end; and if any impossibility be objected, 
 they think it a sufficient answer to say, that it might 
 easiljT be effected by an omnipotent agent." 
 
-+■ 
 
 196 NOTES. 
 
 Page 51, line 25 —"One FdtHiah.'" The name of the 
 opening pra3'^er of Muhammedans. 
 
 Page 52, line 22. — " Monker and Nakir" are the t^Yo 
 Angels who conduct "the exami;ialiou of the Tomb." 
 They come to a man dh-ectly he is laid in his grave, and 
 catecliise him as to his faith. If he repeats quickly and 
 gladly the formula of Islam, they cause huu to repose 
 in peace; but if he is uncertain or heterodox, liiey be- 
 labor him with iron clubs, till his cries are so bitter that 
 they are heard all through the earth, except by men and 
 Djins. Then the two black Ministers press the clay 
 down upon the corpse, and leave it to be wasted and 
 consumed till the time of resurrection. 
 
 Page 59, line 15. — " 'Hadith." The traditional sayings 
 which supplement the Kordn. 
 
 Page GO, line 2.—" Zem-Zcm." This is the holy well 
 at Mecca, within the sacred precincts, believed to be 
 that very spring which was revealed to Hagar when she 
 fled with Ishmael. 
 
 Page 62. — This legend of Nimrud is alluded to in 
 SHra 21 of the Kor^n, entitled the " Chapter of 
 Prophets." 
 
 Page 63, line 19.— "Black Halimah." The Prophet 
 was suckled by a Bedouin foster-nurse. 
 
 Page 64, line 6. — " Hira." A wild and solitary moun- 
 tain near Mecca. 
 
 Page 68, line 5. — " Mikdt." These are the last six 
 stag*€ on the journey to Mecca. The i'hrdm, or "garb 
 of sanctity," consists of two wrappers without seams, 
 one bound round the waist, the other passed over the 
 shoulders. The tawaf is the seven-fold circuit of the 
 
NOTES. 197 
 
 Kaabah, made three times quickly, and four times 
 slowly, by all pilgrims. 
 
 Page 73, line 4. — "Ye let stray your she camels." 
 Nothing is held more valuable among the goods of an 
 Arab than a she camel near to foaling. 
 
 Page 73, line 13.— "Who killed thee, little maid?" 
 This alludes to the ancient practice of infanticide among 
 the Arabs, which Muhammad strenuously denounced. 
 
 Page 74, line 7. — " He saw it and he heard." Allud- 
 ing to the Prophet and his journey to Heaven. 
 
 Page 79, line 7.—"Al-Ak7idf" is the plural of Eekf, 
 and signifies "lands which lie in a winding or narrow 
 boundary," specially applied to a district in the province 
 of Hddramaut. 
 
 Page 83, line 14. — "Al-Kduthar." This word signi- 
 fies abundance, especially of good, and thence the gift of 
 wisdom and 'projjhecy. Or it may mean abundance of 
 wealth, followers, and the like. It is here used of a river 
 iu Paradise, whence the water is derived into Muham- 
 mad's pond, of which the blessed are to drink before 
 their admission. According to a tradition of the 
 Prophet, this river, wherein his Lord promised him 
 abundant good, is sweeter than honey, whiter than 
 milk, cooler than snow, and smoother than cream ; its 
 banks are of chrysolites, and those who drink of it shall 
 never thirst. 
 
 Page 87, line 2.—"Al-Tdrek" is the "star that ap- 
 pears" by night, i.e., the morning star. 
 
 Page 89, line 1. — " AVhen the soul comes to the 
 neck." A Koranic phrase for the last gasp of death. 
 
198 NOTES. 
 
 Page ^2, ^me 20.— " The roses on that tree." In the 
 mystic language of the East, the rose is the symbol of 
 that Divine beauty which is the object of the soul's love. 
 
 PageM, line lQ.—"RilUj/un." This means literally 
 "exalted places." 
 
 Page 95, line 4:.—" Tasmin.*' A stream in Paradise, 
 so called because it waters the highest regions there. 
 
 Page 96, line 12.— " Al-Fdtihah." This is the 1st 
 chapter of the KorSn, which is also a prayer, and held 
 in great veneration by the Muhammedans, who give 
 it many honorable titles; as the chapter of prayer, of 
 praise, of thanksgiving, of treasure, etc. They regard 
 it as the quintessence of the whole Koran, and often re- 
 peat it in their devotions both public and private, as 
 Christians do the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 Page 96, line 24.— " The morning mills." At day- 
 break in Eastern countries almost the first sound of 
 awaking domestic life is the noise of the stones used to 
 grind meal. 
 
 Page 98, line 6. — "The time for prayer," says Pro- 
 fessor Palmer, "is called from the minarets of the 
 mosques by Muezzins or criers, in the following words: 
 'God is great' (4 times); 'I bear witness that there is 
 no God but God ' (twice); 'I bear witness that Muliam 
 mad is the apostle of God' (twice); 'Come hither to 
 prayers ' (twice) ; ' Come hither to salvation ' (twice) ; 
 ' God is just! ' ' There is no other God than God! ' In 
 the early morning the Muezzin adds, ' Praj'^er is better 
 than sleep I'" 
 
 Page 101 (no^).— " The Mishkat-al-MasdHJi." The 
 book of the conversations of the Prophet. 
 
NOTES. 199 
 
 Pa^e 106, line 7—Lailat-al-Kadr, "The Night of 
 Power," was that on which the Koran was declared to 
 have been revealed. 
 
 Page 123, line 18.—" Al-Barsakh" The Koran says, 
 "Behind them shall be a bar, until the day of resurrec- 
 tion." Upon this Sale writes: "The original word 
 harzakh, here translated ' bar,' primarily signifies any 
 partition, or interstice, v/hicli divides oue thing from 
 another; but is used by the Arabs not always in the 
 same, and sometimes in an obscure sense. Tliey seem 
 generally to express by it what the Greeks did by the 
 word Hades; one while using it for the place of the 
 dead, another while for the time of their continuance in 
 that state, and another while for the state it^ielf. It is 
 defined by their critics to be the interval or space be- 
 tween this world and the next, or between death and 
 the resurrection; every person who dies being said to 
 enter into Al-Barzakh. The commentators on this pas- 
 sage expound it as a barrier, or invincible obstacle, cut- 
 ting off all possibility of return into the world, after 
 death." 
 
 Page 1.23, line 22.— "Birds." If the departed person 
 was a believer, the Muslims say two Angels meet his 
 soul, and convey it to Heaven, that its place there may 
 be assigned, according to its merit and degree. They 
 distinguish the souls of the Faithful into three classes: 
 the first of prophets, whose souls are admitted into Par- 
 adise immediately; the second of martyrs, whose spirits, 
 according to a tradition of Muhammad, rest in the crops 
 of green birds which eat of the fruits and drink of the 
 rivers of Paradise; and the third of other believers, con- 
 earning the state of wliose souls before Ihe resurrection 
 there are various opinions. Some say they stay near 
 
Ti« rirrwmi* 
 
 200 NOTES. 
 
 the sepulchres, with liberty, however, of going wherever 
 they please; which they confirm from Muhammad's 
 manner of saluting the dead, alluded to elsewhere. 
 
 Page 131, line 1. — The "ten holy eves" are the first 
 ten nights of the sacred month of Dhiu'l Hcjjeh. 
 
 Page 131, line 7. — " Iram" was the name of the pal- 
 ace and pleasure-garden built by SheddM, son of Ad, 
 in the desert of Aden. The story is related on another 
 page. 
 
 Page 131, line 9. — The Thamudites of the Hadramaut 
 having killed their prophet, were utterly destroyed by 
 tempests, and their city depopulated. 
 
 Page 146, line 11.—" Al-Hudhud." The Arab histori- 
 ans. Sale says, tell us that Solomon, having finished the 
 temple of Jerusalem, went in pilgrimage to Mecca, 
 where, having stayed as long as he pleased, he pro- 
 ceeded towards Yaman; and leaving Mecca in the 
 morning, he arrived by noon at Sanaa, and being ex- 
 tremely delighted with the country, rested there; but 
 wanting water to make the ablution, he looked among 
 the birds for the lapwing, called by the Arabs Al-Hud^ 
 hud, whose business it was to find it; for it is pretended 
 she was sagacious or sharp-sighted enough to discovei 
 water underground, which the devils used to draw, af- 
 ter she had marked the place by digging with her bill; 
 they add, that this bird was then taking a tour in th« 
 air, whence, seeing one of her companions alighting, 
 she descended also, and having had a description given 
 her by the other of the city of Saba, whence she was 
 just arrived, they both went together to take a view of 
 the place, and returned soon after Solomorr nai^ made 
 the inquiry wliich occasioned what follov/s?. 
 
-.-^3«j C « ^^ i 
 
 n ■ " ■■ '■* ' ^"—" ' ■ ■'^' ^ ■ "■ r-TTi i T- i '-^ ii -irw iiw K MiiaMwi 
 
 ^OTES, 201 
 
 " It may be proper to mention Iierc what the Eastern 
 writers fable of the manner of Solomon's travelling. 
 They say that he had a carpet of green silk, on whicli 
 his throne was placed, being of a prodigious length and 
 breadth, and sufficient for all his forces to stand on, the 
 nien placing themselves on his riglit hand, and the spir- 
 its on his left; and that when all were in order, the 
 wind, at his command, took up the carpet, and trans- 
 ported it, with all that were upon it, wherever he 
 pleased; the army of birds at the same time flying over 
 their heads, and forming a kind of canopy, to°shade 
 them from the sun." 
 
 Page 147, lines 17-20.— "The sea-worm and the ant." 
 The legend is that Solomon used the Uredo to bore his 
 topaz, and, by filling the winding hole of the ruby with 
 sugar and water, tempted an ant to draw a silk thread 
 through it. 
 
 Page 165. line 26.— "Monker and Nakir." These are 
 the tu-o Angels who visit the dead immediately after 
 burial, and having set them upright in the grave, ques- 
 tion them as to their faith and actions, as before de- 
 scribed. 
 
 Page 165, line 31.— " Al-Sir^t." The narrow bridge 
 which all must cross from this to the next world, " finer 
 than a hair and sharper than a razor." 
 
 "This bridge," it is written, "is beset on each side 
 with briers and hooked thorns; which will, however 
 be no impediment to the good, for they shall pass with 
 wonderful ease and swiftness, like lightning or the wind, 
 Muhammad and his Muslims leading the way; whereas 
 the wicked, what with the slipperiness and extreme 
 narrowness of the path, the entangling of the thorns, 
 and the extinction of the light, which directed the for- 
 
I 
 
 202 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 mer to Paradise, will soon miss their footing, and fall 
 down headlong into hell, which is gaping beneath 
 them." 
 
 " Muhammad seems to have borrowed this from the 
 Magians, who teach that on the last day all mankind 
 will be obliged to pass a bridge called Pul Chinavad, 
 that is, tJie strait bridge, leading directly into the other 
 world; on the midst of which the Angels nppohited by 
 God will stand, who will require of every one a siricL 
 account of his actions. The Jews speak likewise of the 
 bridge of hell, which they say is no broader tliun a 
 thread." 
 
 Page 168, line 9. — "Three darknesses." The body, 
 the womb, and the amnion. 
 
 Page 174, line 15. — This is the origin of the Hallal, a 
 custom of Muslim hunters and butchers, who pronounce 
 the formula of excuse and pity before slaying any ani- 
 mal. 
 
 Page 184, line 1. — "Al-Aaraf." The partition be- 
 tween Heaven and Hell. The chapter quoted says, 
 " And betwixt the two there is a wall, and they shall 
 cry out to the companions of Paradise, ' Peace be upon 
 you,' but they cannot enter it, although thej'- so desire." 
 
W' 
 
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 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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