Gaya

“ Modern Gaya, the Sahibs' market, is an orderly new town with broad thoroughfares and busy bazaars, the whitewashed houses, the tidy streets and drains betraying the infallible signs of model British rule, prosperity, and eternal sanitation. It is distinct from the more ancient Brahm-Gaya, where huddled houses cut by narrow streets crowd around the great Brahman temple of the Vishnupad by the river bank, to which more than one hundred thousand Hindu pilgrims come to bathe and pray each year—a temple crowded with Buddhist sculptures and wreck from older temples. ”

“ Gaya answered. "Can he expect you to remain forever in your father's house?"
Croft's smile was very tender as he turned away. Time and those "dreams" of hers were fighting his battle for him in Naia's soul. And had he need of other assistance in winning the one woman he desired in a million worlds or years, Gaya was his lieutenant. He blessed her as he returned to Himyra, for that propinquity of Naia and himself in the future, that feminine endeavor at match-making, for which he now knew that she schemed. ”

“ And gratified with the excellent viands and drinks that the illustrious Gaya provided, men, O bull of the Bharata race, went about singing these verses. In Gaya’s great sacrifice, who is there today, amongst creatures, that still desireth to eat? There are yet twenty-five mountains of food there after all have been fed! What the royal sage Gaya of immense splendour hath achieved in his sacrifice was never achieved by men before, nor will be by any in future. The gods have been so surfeited by Gaya with clarified butter that they are not able to take anything that anybody else may offer. ”

“ LALLOO, THE MONEY-LENDER
It had come to be an accepted fact in Gaya that the old bungalow lying on the outskirts was haunted and therefore undesirable. Not that Gaya feared ghosts or anything else in heaven or earth. The average Anglo-Indian's nerve, strained by the subtle but immediate juxtaposition of frivolity and danger which shade so imperceptibly into each other, that the border-line can be crossed unconsciously and in an instant, cannot indulge in emotionalism or fancies. He has to close his mind both to the fascination and the veiled menace of Indian life, or be lost. ”

“ Aye, now I see. One must forget all, save only it, alone to attain it. It must be so great that nothing else save only it remains—as great as the love you have wakened in me—as your desire for me. Ah, beloved, when first Gaya told me of your seeking me from earth, I thought it madness, though even then the thought itself set me aflame. And then"—she threw out her arms and stood before him glorious in her soul's surrender—"then you come to me, in what at first I called—a dream."
"Naia!" Croft stammered, lost in the glory of her. "Naia, what have you in your mind?" ”

“ May I speak with her concerning these things if she mentions to me her dreams?"
Croft smiled. On Palos, or on earth, woman he thought was the same. And Gaya, happy beyond question in the arms of the man of her choice, stood ready to lead or drive Naia, a sister-woman to a mating if she could. And, smiling, he nodded assent, but added a caution. "Yet speak not of it save as of a dream—wife of my true friend. For the growth of the soul must be as the growth of a flower, which the light of truth expands." ”

“ Then Gaya had begun to whisper, and those whisperings had been more than she could bear. She had meant only to seek the truth—instead she had poured out her overladen heart to the woman she most hated.
Sigrid got up slowly and went to the verandah. She stood for a minute with her raised hand resting on the lintel, gazing out into the rain-soaked gardens. The moist air was full of fragrance and reviving life. When she turned at last there was a splash of colour in her pale cheeks.
"Mrs. Tristram, send for your husband—go to him. He is the sort of man who doesn't need to forgive." ”

“ He looked up at her with a wistful smile.
"I don't know about that—I don't know what I have done. I do know that I have grown frightened for you. I've been thinking of infection and cheetahs on the home road and all the horrors I don't believe in. I wish I could go with you to Gaya."
"There is nothing to fear, Tristram Tristram. And you will come to Gaya tomorrow or the next day or next week and I shall play to you Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms—all the most wonderful music in the world. I shall open new doors for you and new worlds——"
He shook his head.
"There's cholera out in Bjura." ”

“ Have you the power——?"
"I have the power. Ayeshi will consent to anything I suggest. Remember—I have to trust you, too——" He hesitated, and then added slowly: "I do trust you."
She made a groping, uncertain gesture.
"Tristram——"
But he threw back his head in defiance.
"It can't be. Gaya wouldn't be saved at such a cost."
"It isn't what Gaya would want—it's what we've got to do—we ourselves don't count."
"Your honour——" he burst out.
"What is honour?" she retorted finely. "By your own creed, Tristram—what other honour is there but our duty towards others?" ”

“ Thus hath the sage, skilled in loud singers' duties, desiring riches, yearning after treasure, Gaya, the priestly singer, with his praises and hymns contented the Celestial people. 17. Thus hath the thoughtful sage the son of Plati, praised you, O Aaiti and all Adityas. Men are made rich by those who are Immortal: the Heavenly Folk have been extolled by Gaya. ”

“ Gaya faltered. "In these days since Zitu's mouthpiece came among us, Aphur and all Tamarizia have witnessed wondrous sights, have dreamed of undreamed truths."
"Mouthpiece of Zitu," Naia repeated, turning to face her companion. "I like not the name. Jason, he calls himself to me in my dreams, and as Jason I prefer to think of him—as Jason, a man, and—and—my lover. Ah, Gaya, should I blush for such a thought?"
"Nay—thou art a woman, ripe for loving," Gaya reassured her quickly. "And to women, be they fit, I think that Ga herself sends dreams." ”

“ Tristram ruffled his shock of reddish hair in a fit of angry humour. "What the rest of your victims feel about it doesn't matter, of course. Martyrs you'd call them. They wouldn't be martyrs. If a horde of infuriated fanatics descend on Gaya, it will be a slaughter stage-managed and engineered by yourself. You and your like would be chucked out of India, and serve you right. Gaya doesn't want to testify to its faith. I doubt if it knows what its faith is." He stalked over to the open door with his back to Meredith. ”

“ Why didn't you return to Gaya at once?"
"He sent me," she said simply, like a child that has been reproached.
"He knew that Anne was here," he muttered. His eyes returned to the white, still face of his wife, as though he saw her for the first time. Sigrid's answer seemed to him no more than the whisper of his own thoughts.
"Perhaps I should have come anyhow."
"You won't be strong enough to ride back."
"Oh—yes—I am quite strong. It's as you said, Major Tristram—I think I shall live to be quite old." ”

“ Thus Sigrid Fersen rode out of Gaya. Her horse slipped and fretted over the treacherous descent, but her hand was as strong and steady as her thought. She had the quality common to all vitally living things—the love of physical, friendly warfare with the elements. She lifted her glowing face to the warm rain. She felt at peace and happy. She could look with clear eyes into the future. Tristram had said that with care she might live to be very old. ”

“ A perfect body is worth more than a perfect nose."
"Yes," he agreed. His voice sounded suddenly thick and tired and he looked away from her. "You're not alone, are you?" he asked.
"I have been. I've a faithful syce waiting at the bridge-head five miles up. He wouldn't come any farther. Perhaps——" She studied his hard-set profile with amused eyes. "Perhaps you're wishing I hadn't burst in upon you, or perhaps you share Gaya's dismay."
"Was Gaya dismayed?"
"Very. One or two are still. They thought I was an adventuress, partly on account of the Rajah and partly on account of my profession. ”

“ There was something almost winning in his wide smile of pleasure, as after the first chukka he came over to the select group under the awning and received feminine Gaya's congratulations. Had he not played such a daring game he would have cut rather a comic figure. His riding-clothes, taken in juxtaposition with his dark chubby face, were wonderfully and terribly English, and his brown boots, very new and very brown, shone almost too beautifully. Between him and the turbaned soldiery crowded against the ropes there was a gulf of false Europeanism of which the latter seemed curiously conscious. ”

“ Gaya told him softly. "Love brought Milidhur and Aphur together. But—this—this is of—of other design." And suddenly she knit her well-formed brows. "Jasor," said she speaking very quickly; "you are strong—you have thoughts above other men, and something tells me the maid would lie happy in your arms."
Croft sprang to his feet. "You would approve it, Gaya, my sweet friend?" he exclaimed with flashing eyes.
"I am a woman," she replied in almost breathless fashion. "Naia loathes this Cathurian prince."
"And a cycle lies before us, ere he claims her for his own," Croft smiled. ”

“ She made a gesture, brief, impatient.
"My dear, can't you see? We live at the opposite poles of things—he, the unbelieving Christian, I, the believing Pagan. Look at his life—look at mine. Look at this room—these things. You have a flair for what is precious and beautiful—can't you see?"
Mary Compton continued to balance the spoon. Her bright hazel eyes were fixed thoughtfully on the other's face.
"Yes, I see. And I love you, Sigrid, as Gaya does, without caring who or what you are, or what you mean to do with us. ”

“ It was the Rajah's invitation which brought me to Gaya, but only a woman could have welcomed me. Any one in my position makes enemies automatically, and without you I should have had to face a whole army of prejudices. ”

“ Compton said, ruffling up her dark, curly hair with a distracted hand. "I don't know who it was talked about hope springing eternal in the something-something, but he must have lived in Gaya. If we hadn't hope and pegs in this withered desert——"
"My dear," her husband interposed, "in the first place, Gaya isn't a desert. It's the Garden of India. In the second place, no lady talks about pegs—certainly not in the tone of devout thankfulness which you have used. Pegs is—are masculine. They uphold us in our strenuous hours, of which you women appear to know nothing ”

“ It was at Gayasisa that the Exalted One uttered the great Fire teaching.
And the cause of it was this. As he and his disciples sat on the Elephant Rock near Gaya, with the wide and pleasant valley of Rajagriha outspread beneath them, a jungle fire broke out across the valley and they watched it, and thus spoke the World-Honoured; drawing a lesson as they looked.
“Everything about and within us, brethren, is on fire, and how? The senses are afire with passion, hate and illusion. ”

“ It's the penalty of greatness. You can't be hard on us poor mortals who take the sunshine when they can get it. Besides, I have only forestalled events. Sooner or later, I should have met you——"
"I have lived in Gaya for two months," she interrupted, "and I have neither met you nor heard of you, Mr. Barclay."
She closed the piano, sighing impatiently. Had she looked at him at that moment she might have repented her only half-intended cruelty, for his insolent ease had become a desperate and rather pitiable humiliation. ”

“ But—I shall make it my task to see her and explain the manner of your return tonight, and," her color deepened swiftly, "to assure her of your love."
"Thank you, sweet Gaya." Croft rose. "You are a blessed hypocrite—and a true woman."
He bent and gripped her hand.
And Gaya smiled upon him because he was a strong man and she was a woman indeed.
For the rest as the days and weeks dragged away, Croft sought to drown himself in attention to his work. All day he toiled and oftentimes far into the night. Jasor's splendid physique stood him in good stead during the months of preparation. ”

“ What said he else?"
"Strange things—things to madden the heart of a woman, as it seems to me," Gaya returned; "things to waken strange dreams in her soul, if true. To Robur he swore that to Palos he came because of you, because in you he knew the mate to whom his spirit cried out—that he remained on Palos to save you from Cathur and win you for himself, and to that end that he might claim you wholly, used Jasor's body when his spirit was drawn from his flesh."
"Zitu!" The word came from Naia's lips as a strangled exclamation. ”

“ But the promise to teach her she exacted that same morning after they had returned to the palace. Robur ran off to tell Gaya concerning the success of the trial flight, and Naia dared Croft to bathe. Afterward he was half inclined to think she adopted the time and place to a gaining of her point. Woman she would not have been had she not realized her beauty and its appeal. ”

“ And behind those simple things there was the same incalculable force awaiting the spark which should fire them to a ferocious heroism or headlong panic.
They came together in the broad curve of plain where the Ganges twisted in a horseshoe towards the foot of Gaya's hills. To the west, within half a mile of the encampment, the black impregnable barrier of the jungle followed the river's course past the bridge-head and the temple, forming lower down a crescent around the little plateau on which Heerut lay huddled.
There were close on two thousand of them, men of all ages, all castes. ”

“ Among the higher castes there is an unusually large proportion of Brahmans, a circumstance due to the number of sacred places which the district contains. The Gayawals, or priests in charge of the holy places, are held in high esteem by the pilgrims; but they are not pure Brahmans, and are looked down upon by those who are. They live an idle and dissolute life, but are very wealthy, from contributions extorted from the pilgrims. Buddh Gaya, about 6 m. S. of Gaya city, is one of the holiest sites of Buddhism, as containing the tree under which Sakyamuni attained enlightenment. ”