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INDIA. PART III.

blessings and praises. He hastened to the Hall, and there HISTORY OF he saw Chandrahasa and his own daughter, Bikya, sitting on the couch with their garments tied together as bridegroom and bride; and a trembling seized him, and he could not say a word, but could only suppose that his son must be mad. He went out, and seeing Madan, he cried out:"O fool, what have you been doing? I sent you a man with orders to kill him, and you have given him my daughter in marriage, and thrown away all my money in presents to the people." Madan then produced the letter which had The Minister been brought to him by Chandrahasa; and as the Minister letter. was unable to perceive the alterations which had been made, he was compelled to accept the orders as his own, and could only wonder at the greatness of his own blunder.

sees his own

ister to slay

in the temple of

The Minister then began to reflect, and to perceive the Plot of the Minimportance of concealing his feelings; for he knew full well Chandrahasa that if he began a quarrel at such a moment, or spoke evil Durgá, of his new son-in-law, he would be condemned by all men. Accordingly, he returned to the newly-married pair, and endeavoured to conciliate his son-in-law by such excuses as he could invent for the occasion, and kissed his daughter and wished her joy. All the time, however, he was SO vexed that he could have murdered every one in the house, but he was compelled to permit the wedding night to pass by without working out any scheme of revenge. Early next morning he sent for some Chandálas, and engaged them by the promise of large rewards to secrete themselves in the temple of the goddess Durgá, which was without the city, and to murder the man who should come at evening time to present a golden pot of incense to the goddess. He then summoned Chandrahasa, and informed him that it was the fixed rule for every man who married into his family to offer a golden cup of incense at the temple of Durga; and Chandrahasa readily promised to comply with the custom that same evening.

6. The Raj given to Chandrahasa.

Sudden abdication of the Raja in favour of

But this very day, being the day after the marriage, a Chandrahasa.

INDIA.

PART III.

HISTORY OF Sudden resolution had seized the mind of the Raja. On the previous night he had dreamed a dream which in the opinion of the wise men of his Court betokened a speedy death; and he had also seen his own shadow without a head to it, which is an apparition that always betokens death within seven days. Accordingly, the Raja resolved upon retiring immediately from the Raj, and devoting the remainder of his days to solemn preparations for his coming end. Being ignorant of the return of his Minister he sent for Madan, and told him that he meant that day to resign his Raj, and said that he had heard so much of the virtue and piety of Chandrahasa that he was determined to make that young man his successor. He therefore desired Madan to bring his new brother-in-law to the palace with all speed, in order that the Raj might be conferred upon him without a moment's delay.

The Minister's son proceeds to the temple of Durga.

His death.

Chandrahasa crowned Raja and married to the Raja's daughter.

Madan, overjoyed at the good fortune of his new brother-in-law, immediately set out in search of Chandrahasa, and presently found him on the road to the temple of Durga, with the golden cup in his hand; and having briefly explained to him the urgent necessity for his immediate presence at the palace, he took the cup from his hand and promised to present it himself to the goddess. Madan thus sent back Chandrahasa to the palace of the Raja, and proceeded alone with the golden cup to the temple of Durgá. Darkness was now fast closing in, and Madan to his horror beheld many evil omens; an owl suddenly perched upon his head, and two cats fought each other in the middle of his path, whilst blood dripped from his eyes without any apparent cause. But it seemed to him that these omens pointed at Chandrahasa rather than at himself, and he fervently prayed that any evil which might be impending over so excellent a brother-in-law might be transferred to himself. At last he opened the door of the temple and went in, and was at once cut down by the swords of the assassins and slaughtered upon the spot.

Meantime, Chandrahasa had reached the palace where the Raja was holding a Council with his Chieftains.

INDIA. PART III.

Raja then took the diadem from his own head and placed it HISTORY OF upon the head of Chandrahasa; and sending for his own. daughter, the same who had sported and jested with Bikya in the garden, he married her to the young hero. He then turned to his Council and said :-"I constitute this young man to be Raja over you: may he, and you, and all his subjects, be happy." The Chieftains burst into tears, and pledged themselves to accept Chandrahasa as their new Raja with all their heart and soul. The old Raja then stripped himself of his royal robes, and placed them upon Chandrahasa, and left the palace with only his cloth around him, and went off into the jungle and was heard of no

more.

7. Fatal end of the Minister.

pays a visit to

The royal drums proclaiming the succession of a new Chandrahasa Raja were then beaten throughout the city, and the Minister the Minister. hearing the sound immediately inquired the cause, in the fond hope that it betokened the abdication of the Raja, which he had been long expecting, and the accession of his own son Madan to the Raj. The servant of the Minister told his master the truth, namely, that the Raja had given the Raj to Chandrahasa; but the Minister was so enraged at these words that he refused to believe them, and ordered that the tongue of the man who had spoken them should be cut out. Presently, a royal cavalcade appeared in sight, for Chandrahasa still believed that he owed all his good fortune to the Minister, and therefore had determined to pay him a visit that very evening, accompanied by the Raja's daughter, to whom he had been that day married. The Minister now more than ever comforted himself with the idea that his own son Madan had succeeded to the Raj, and was coming to receive his father's congratulations; but he was soon undeceived by the appearance of Chandrahasa, and for a while he was speechless with rage. Suddenly he inquired for Madan, and was told that he had gone in the place of Chandrahasa to offer the cup of incense in the

INDIA.

HISTORY OF temple of Durgá. At these words he uttered a loud cry, and ran with all haste to the temple, but only to find the slaughtered remains of his son; and maddened to desperation at the sight, he dashed out his own brains against a pillar and expired upon the spot.

PART III. Tragic end of the Minister.

Review of the foregoing story

and Bikya.

Bikya in accord

ideas.

The foregoing story of Chandrahasa and Bikya of Chandrahasa is one which throws considerable light upon the Hindú belief in astrology and good fortune; whilst even from a European point of view the plot will be regarded as ingenious and pleasing. Perhaps Proceedings of European taste may be slightly outraged by the ance with Hindú steps taken by Bikya to secure for herself a handsome husband, but still her proceedings are not altogether unfeminine; nor ; nor are they foreign to Hindú ideas, which permits a young lady to choose a husband for herself on arriving at a marriageable age, unless one has previously been selected for her by her father or guardian. In like manner the two marriages of Chandrahasa, first to the daughter of the Minister and afterwards to the daughter of the Raja, is foreign to European sentiments although in accordance with Oriental institutions. Again, the rapid and forcible manner in which the good fortune of Chandrahasa, and the unlucky destiny of the Minister, are developed in the story, may be reIllustration of garded as somewhat artificial or romantic; but still the whole may be accepted as a pleasing picture of Hindú life during the historical period, when the Mussulmans may already have established themselves at Delhi, but when the Dekhan was as yet undisturbed by their influence or sway.

Hindú life in the historical pe

riod.

END OF VOL. I.

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