เวตาล(ภาษาอังกฤษ)

Conclusion. 230 which he held, threw open the cloth, and exposed to —Shanta-Shil's ghttering eyes the corpse, which had now recovered its proper form that of a young child Seeing it, the devotee was highly pleased, and thanked Vikram the Brave, extolling his courage and daring above any monarch that had yet hved. After which he repeated certain charms facing towards the south, awakened the dead body, and placed it in a sitting position. He then in its presence sacrificed to his goddess, the White One,' —all that he had ready by his side betel leaf and flowers, sandal wood and unbroken rice, fruits, perfumes, and the flesh of man untouched by steel. Lastly, he half filled . his skull with burning embers, blew upon them till they shot forth tongues of crimson light, serving as a lamp, and motioning the Raja and his son to follow him, led the way to a little fane of the Destroying Deity erected in a dark clump of wood, outside and close to the burning- ground. They passed through the quadrangular outer court of the temple whose piazza was hung with deep shade.^ In silence they circumambulated the small central shrine, and whenever Shanta-Shil directed, Raja Vikram entered the Sabha, or vestibule, and struck three times upon the gong, which gave forth a loud and warning sound. They then passed over the threshold, and looked into the gloomy inner depths. There stood Smashana-Kali,' 1 Shiva is always painted white, no one knows why. His wife Gauri has also a European complexion. Hence it is generally said that the sect popularly called \" Thugs,\" who were worshippers of these murderous gods, spared Englishmen, the latter being supposed to have some rapport with their deities. 2 The Hindu shrine is mostly a small building, with two inner compartments, the vestibule and the Garbagriha, or adytum, in which stands the image. 3 Meaning Kali of the cemetery (Smashana) another form of ; Durga.

240 Vikram and the Vampire. the goddess, in her most horrid form. She was a naked and very black woman, with half-severed head, partly cut and partly painted, resting on her shoulder ; and her tongue lolled out from her wide yawning mouth'; her eyes were red like those of a drunkard ; and her eyebrows were of the same colour : her thick coarse hair hung like a mantle to her heels. She was robed in an elephant's hide, dried and withered, confined at the waist with a belt composed of the hands of the giants whom she had slain in war : two dead bodies formed her earrings, and her necklace was of bleached skulls. Her four arms supported a scimitar, a noose, a trident, and a ponder- ous mace. She stood with one leg on the breast of her husband, Shiva, and she rested the other on his thigh. Before the idol lay the utensils of worship, namely, dishes for the offerings, lamps, jugs, incense, copper cups, conches and gongs ; and all of them smelt of blood. As Raja Vikram and his son stood gazing upon the hideous spectacle, the devotee stooped down to place his skull-lamp upon the ground, and drew from out his ochre- coloured cloth a sharp sword which he hid behind his back. \" Prosperity to thine and thy son's for ever and ever, O mighty Vikram ! \" exclaimed Shanta-Shil, after he had muttered a prayer before the image. \" Verily thou hast right royally redeemed thy pledge, and by the virtue of thy presence all my wishes shall presently be accom- plished. Behold ! the Sun is about to drive his car over the eastern hills, and our task now ends. Do thou reverence before this my deity, worshipping the earth I Not being able to find victims, this pleasant deity, to satisfy her thirst for the curious juice, cut her own throat that the blood might spout up into her mouth. She once found herself dancing on her husband, and was so shocked that in surprise she put out her tongue to a great length, and remained motionless. She is often represented in this form.

Conclusion, 241 through thy nose, and so prostrating thyself that thy eight limbs may touch the ground.'^ Thus shall thy glory and splendour be great ; the Eight Powers^ and the Nine Treasures shall be thine, and prosperity shall ever re- main under thy roof-tree.\" Raja Vikram, hearing these words, recalled suddenly to mind all that the Vampire had whispered to him. He brought his joined hands open up to his forehead, caused his two thumbs to touch his brow several times, and replied with the greatest humility, \" O pious person ! I am a king ignorant of the way to do such obeisance. Thou art a spiritual preceptor : be pleased to teach me and I will do even as thou desirest.\" Then the Jogi, being a cunning man, fell into his own net. As he bent him down to salute the goddess, Vikram, drawing his sword, struck him upon the neck so violent a blow, that his head rolled from his body upon the ground. At the same moment Dharma Dhwaj, seizing his father's arm, pulled him out of the way in time to escape being crushed by the image, which fell with the sound of thunder upon the floor of the temple. A small thin voice in the upper air was heard to cry, A\" man is justified in killing one who has the desire to kill him.\" Then glad shouts of triumph and victory were heard in all directions. They proceeded from the celestial choristers, the heavenly dancers, the mistresses of the gods, and the nymphs of Indra's Paradise, who left their beds of gold and precious- stones, their seats glorious as the meridian sun, their canals of crystal water, their per- fumed groves, and their gardens where the wind ever 1 This ashtanga, the most ceremonious of the five forms of Hindu salutation, consists of prostrating and of making the eight parts of the body^—namely, the temples, nose and chin, knees and —hands touch the ground. 2 \" Sidhis,\" the personified Powers of Nature. At least, so we explain them ; but people do not worship abstract powers. 16

242 Vikram and the Vampire. blows in softest breezes, to applaud the valour and good fortune of the warrior king. At last the brilliant god, Tndra himself, with the thousand eyes, rising from the shade of the Parigat tree, the fragrance of whose flowers fills the heavens, appeared in his car drawn by yellow steeds and cleaving the thick —vapours which surround the earth whilst his attendants sounded the heavenly drums and rained a shower of As he bent him down to salute the goddess. blossoms and perfumes—bade the Vikramajit the Brave ask a boon. The Raja joined his hands and respectfully replied, \"O mighty ruler of the lower firmament, let this my history become famous throughout the world ! \" \" It is well,'' rejoined the god. \" As long as the sun and moon endure, and the sky looks down upon the ground, so long shall this thy adventure be remembered over all the earth. Meanwhile rule thou mankind.\"

Conclusion. 243 Thus saying, Indra retired to the delicious Amrawati.i Vikram took up the corpses and threw them into the caul- dron which Shanta-Shil had been tending. At once two heroes started into life, and Vikram said to them, \" When I call you, come ! \" With these mysterious words the king, followed by his son, returned to the palace unmolested. As the Vampire had predicted, everything was prosperous to him, and he presently obtained the remarkable titles, Sakaro, or foe of the Sakas, and Sakadhipati-Vikramaditya. And when, after a long and happy life spent in bring- ing the world under the shadow of one umbrella, and in ruling it free from care, the warrior king Vikram entered the gloomy realms of Yama, from whom for mortals there is no escape, he left behind him a name that endured amongst men like the odour of the flower whose memory remains long after its form has mingled with the dust.'' 1 The residence of Indra, king of heaven, built by Wishwa- Karma, the architect of the gods. 2 In other words, to the present day, whenever a Hindu novelist, romancer, or tale writer seeks a peg upon which to suspend the texture of his story, he invariably pitches upon the glorious, pious, and immortal memory of that Eastern King Arthur, Vikram- aditya, shortly called Vikram.

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—— — — By THE SAME AUTHOR. \"A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al- Madinah AND Meccah.\" Memorial Edition. Complete: carefully revised from the Author's own Copy, and con- taining all the original coloured Illustrations, and Maps, and Plans, and also the Wood-cuts from the later Editions. In 2 vols. Price Twelve Shillings, net. Opinions of the Press. We\" The brilliant narrative reads as vividly as ever..,. are glad to see his books revived in a form worthy of their intrinsic merit.\" A thenaum. \" As a mere book of travel and adventure it is excellent, and it is besides shot through vpith humour.\" Manchester Guardian. \"Few stories of adventure have the interest of Sir Richard Burton's vigorous narrative, and fewer still have its literary and ethnographic value.. ..One of the most marvellous records of daring Weever penned.... heartily recommend the Memorial Edition of the Pilgrimage. ' ' Publishers' Circular. \" Every credit is due to the publishers for what they have done towards making paper, printing, binding, and those dozen matters which are included in the one term 'get-up,' worthy of the book and worthy of the author.\" Graphic. \"Two most fascinating volumes; the richness and magic of which it is only possible to realise by reading them^as every one —must, who once takes them up, from beginning to end.\" Star. \"The book is one of extraordinary interest, and well repays purchase and perusal.\" Manchester Courier. \"It is a fascinating story, not only picturesquely told, but revealing on every page a personality more interesting than anything that the said personality ever wrote.\" Daily Graphic.

— —— — — —— — — opinions of the Press. \" It will be impossible in a paragraph or two to give any adequate idea of the mass of information and entertainment it contains.\" Saturday Review. \" Every episode is so vividly described that the reader is com- pelled to follow the story with increasing interest, and cannot fail to obtain, almost unconsciously, a vast amount of valuable informa- tion.\" Dundee Advertiser. \" Burton never wrote anything more captivating. Those who excite and incite like him, and make a ceiling and stone walls a prison while you read, are rare, just as rare as he was himself.\" Sketch. \" This is one of those books which, when once read, are never forgotten, and are always re-read with pleasure.\" St. James's Budget. \" Even Burton never wrote anything better than his ' Pilgrimage to Mecca.' After years one's appetite returns to it, and on a second reading one is more than ever struck by the amount of marvel and of peril which he takes for granted, and mentions as mere circum- stance. It is a great book of travels.\" Bookman. \" The narrative is one of absorbing interest.... Those who know the book of old will welcome the present handsome edition, and those who do not know it may be congratulated, on the pleasure in store for them.\" Glasgow Herald. —II. A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome.\" Memorial Edition. Complete in 2 vols. Price Twelve Shil- lings, net. Opinions of the Prkss. \" Of all Burton's books this account of his hazardous mission to Dahomey is one of the least known ; it brings out, in a. very marked manner, the writer's unfailing tact and resource in dealing with savage peoples.\" Daily Graphic. \" Carefully edited and excellently got up.\" Glasgow Herald. \" The style is more colloquial than that of the ' Pilgrimage to Mecca,' but it is none the less readable and attractive. The effect produced by the book is that of a clever man talking over his adventures after dinner, or in a club smoking-room.\" Manchester Guardian. \" An uncompromising account of a race which has, perhaps, been sentimentalised over more than any other. Star.

—— —— opinions of the Press. \" The republication of Sir R. Burton's ' Mission to Gelele, King of Dahomy,' is seasonable, seeing that public interest in that —country has been revived by the recent operation of French troops.\"- Manchester Examiner and Times. \" Among the multifarious works of Sir Richard Burton, this monograph on the kingdom of Dahomey holds its place as a proof of the author's inveterate love of travelling, of his searching insight into native habits, of his capabilities as a public servant, and of' his frank and uncompromising expression of his own opinions regard- less of the prejudices of others.\" Publishers' Circular. \" In view of the French projects these volumes appear very oppprtunely, and are in themselves, as a record of an embassy to a very unconventional potentate, among the most interesting of Sir Richard's strange and varied experiences.\" The Literary World. \" His expedition may be regarded as the first opening up of the interior of this part of Africa to European enterprise.\" Dundee Advertiser. \"Now that the affairs of Dahomey are frequently attracting Howattention, these volumes are very timely. exceedingly inter- esting they are, our extracts will have sufficed to show.\" St. James' Budget. —III. \" ViKRAM AND THE VaMPIRE : TaLES OF HiNDU Devilry.\" With 33 Illustrations by Ernest Griset. Memorial Edition. Complete in 1 vol. Price Six Shillings, net. There is also a large paper edition of this book, limited to 200 copies, which, in addition, contains a new photogravure Frontispiece by Albert Letchford, and the sixteen full page plates are printed on special China paper. Price Twenty-five Shillings, net. Each Work is Sold Separately. MESSRS. TYLSTON AND EDWARDS, Publishers, 13, CLIFFORD'S INN, LONDON, W.C.