Cornelia Sorabji

“ And he sent men with pickaxes and shovels, who dug away the boy’s green mound. Deeper and deeper they went, till they came to a throne of black marble, resting on the backs of twenty-four beautiful carved eagles of marble. And the throne was taken to the palace of the King, and a great day of rejoicing was proclaimed, when the King would mount the throne.
On the great day the King came in state, with his mace bearers, and the men who called his titles, and the men who carried the State jewels, and the men who fanned him with great fans made of the green-blue eyes of a peacock’s tail. ”

“ And the men and women and beasts and birds and flower-people went to the great god and said: “We are weary, and there is no room for us on the Earth; we are the things that must pass. Send the King of Death to take us to the Kingdom of Peace and Forgetfulness and Quiet Sleep.” ”

“ But the King of Death did not forget. “No older than his thirteenth year,” had said Shiva, the great god. And Kamil, the perfect boy, was in his thirteenth year.
So, on his birthday, the King of Death sent his messengers, to bring Kamil away to the Kingdom of Death. “It is only another kind of life,” said the messengers; “do not be afraid, come with us. The King himself is waiting to receive you.”
But the boy said: “Why should I come? I want no other kind of life. This life I love. Why should I come? ”

“ And Ala-ud-din came walking carefully across this carpet of the dead, into a fortress of which the gates were wide. But no man nor woman nor child found he anywhere in Chittore. All was emptiness—palace and hut, and bathing-ghat, and council chamber, and garden and marble-latticed roof—empty, all empty.
Then at last did he realize that what was in his hands was not victory but defeat; and that the beauty and goodness of which we are not worthy, may not, in this life or the next, be taken by violence. ”

“ Will you have him perfect in every way, beautiful and good and clever, and loved by all the world, but doomed to be no older than his thirteenth year? Or will you have him just an ordinary boy, but living as long as the ordinary man, so that you may even see his children’s children? ”

“ How could they bear their son to die when he was thirteen. Yet how could they bear to have him just an ordinary boy, like any other that came into the world, and had trouble, and made mistakes, and died at last, leaving no name behind him? ”

“ And it was spring-time, and the leaves of the pipal tree were shining after a shower of rain, which had made [Pg 90] all the world smell sweet with the good earth-smell. And the birds were singing. And under the pipal tree stood the perfect boy beside the shrine of Shiva, the great god, playing a little tune of the gladness of the-things-that-pass. ”

“ She wore the dress of a man; but the peasant saw her jewels gleaming, as she slept unprotected in that lonely spot. He knew that she was a woman; and no more afraid of her, he killed her and buried her there, in a corner of a field outside the walls of that Delhi which she had ruled.
So Raziya lost her kingdom because she was not enough of a woman [Pg 53] to make her people love a woman ruler; and she died, because she was a woman, and without protection. ”

“ The brothers lived together on a crag of the mountains called the Home of Snow, which stretch across the north-east boundary of India.
They lived there because there was no higher spot in all the world that could be found for their home. And day after day Jattayu ranged the air, [Pg 6] marshalling his bird-armies, or settling disputes, or swooping down on the things which he sought for food—for all the bird-people belonged to Jattayu, and owed him allegiance even with their lives, if so he should desire. ”

“ For he was afraid that the low-caste man might become the equal of the high-born princes.
Then Ekalavya went away very sadly to the forest, and built a shrine to Drona, the Master-Archer. And he thought about him, and fasted and [Pg 24] prayed night and day for skill in shooting: and night and day he practised ceaselessly, shooting arrows into the distance—shooting and shooting. And he forgot the riches of his palace and all the pleasures of the world, in reaching out to his great desire.
One day Drona and the high-born princes were out shooting in the forest, and they had with them a dog. ”

“ And Jattayu consented; and they circled, Little-Eagle Sanpati and Big-Brother Jattayu, higher and higher, till they got so near to the sun that even Jattayu had had enough, and turned to fly back to the safe quiet [Pg 9] nest in the white earth mountains, taking Little-Eagle Sanpati with him.
“It is wonderful,” he kept saying, “that I got so near, and yet was not struck or burnt by the Sun-God and the fierceness of his rays. It is a tale of wonder for all the bird-people to hear. Well was it, Little-Eagle Sanpati, that I was there when you fell on my back in terror.” ”

“ And at one of these Fairs, Prince Salim, the Emperor’s son, lost his way in an empty part of the garden, where he could see no one but a small girl at play. He had in his hands his two favourite doves, and, wanting to fly kites with the boys at the fair, he told the little girl, who was our “Sun of Womankind”, to hold the doves till he should return. “Take care,” he said; “don’t let them fly.”
When he came back Mihr-un-Nisa had only one dove in her hands. ”

“ And Ala-ud-din fled in haste to Delhi.
But Ala-ud-din never forgot this second disgrace. Nor, it is said, could he forget the face of the Lotus-Lady.
He must have been a bad man indeed, and no knight at all, in that even [Pg 72] the vision of Perfect Beauty had not the power to kill in him that which was base and self-seeking. So yet once more, he sallied forth against Chittore long years afterwards, when the Baby-King was full grown, and with his twelve brave sons, and Bhimsi, and the other brave Rajput princes, kept faithful guard over the honour of knighthood in Rajputana. ”

“ But he knew that the last eagle had solved the mystery of the green mound of grass. The throne of Vikramaditya, where the shepherd boy did justice, was denied to him, the great and mighty King.
For he who would be perfectly just, must have the heart of a little child.
[Pg 16]
Samyukta, or The Story of the Own-choosing.
Samyukta, daughter of the King of Kanauj, was the most beautiful Princess in all India. And Prithi Raja, the King of Delhi, wanted to marry her. ”

“ And Ala-ud-din took with him mighty armies and great engines of war, and by sheer force of numbers and deadly weapons he bore down the brave little body of knights fighting on the walls of their beloved city.
Then again the knights sat in council. “Our weak and defenceless ones shall not,” they said, “fall into the hands of a coward enemy.” ”

“ I deceived the crow. Let a sheep be killed: and place some meat in the lions’ mouths, that the crow may find its meal.”
So did even the least of his subjects get justice and bounty at the hands of Anangapal the Just.
[Pg 48]
Raziya, Queen of Delhi
Raziya was the daughter of Altamish, one of the Moghul slave-kings of Delhi who lived in the thirteenth century. She is the only woman besides our own Queen Victoria who has ruled Delhi.
Altamish had sons also; but when he was dying he said: “You will find no one better fitted to rule the kingdom than my daughter Raziya.” ”

“ And the dog ran howling to his masters. And they were very angry; for said they, “Someone who can shoot has sent this arrow into the dog’s [Pg 25] mouth.” And they made the dog show them the way to the shrine, and there was Ekalavya shooting ceaselessly.
Ekalavya at the shrine
“Who are you,” said the princes, “who have skill in shooting even as ourselves?”
“I am Ekalavya,” said he, “a pupil of the great Master-Archer Drona.”
[Pg 26]
So the princes went and told Drona, and he came back with them to the shrine in the forest.
“How say you,” said Drona, “that you are my pupil?” ”

“ Here also he married the lady whom he called “Maham”—“my Moon”—of whom we know only because of Baber’s great love for her. It was the “Moon-Lady” who was the mother of Humayun.
But the land beyond the hills was calling Baber; and soon there came a chance to try once more for the throne of Delhi.
The people of Hindustan were fighting [Pg 58] among themselves, and asked Baber’s help. Of the great battle that Baber won on the field of Paniput near Delhi, there are many stories. ”

“ So Ala-ud-din waged war on Chittore in order to capture the lovely Lotus-Lady. But the Rajput warriors laughed him to scorn, and defeated [Pg 67] him, and kept safe their beauteous Lady of the Lotus.
Then Ala-ud-din pretended to be very much ashamed that he had ever even imagined that Prince Bhimsi would let the Princess be taken captive by an enemy.
“But,” he added, “I have come a long way and have fought hard, and you have conquered. ”