The Missionary: An Indian Tale; vol. I Read online

  CHAPTER III.

  On the evening of the day in which the apostolic Nuncio arrived atTatta, he embarked on the Indus, in a bungalow of twelve oars, forLahore. He beheld, not without emotion, the second mightiest stream ofthe East; sacred in the religious traditions of the regions throughwhich it flows, and memorable from its connexion with the most strikingevents in the history of the world; whose course became a guide to thespirit of fearless enterprise, and first opened to the conqueror of Asiaa glimpse of those climes which have since been so intimately connectedwith the interests of Europe, which have so materially contributed tothe wealth and luxury of modern states, and so obviously influenced themanners and habits of western nations. The scenery of the shores of theIndus changed its character with each succeeding day; its devious watersbathed, in their progress, the trackless deserts of Sivii, whose burningwinds are never refreshed by the dews of happier regions; or fertilizedthe mango-groves of the Moultan; or poured through the wild unprofitablejungle, glittering amidst its long and verdant tresses, which so oftenshelter the wary tiger, or give asylum to the wild boar, when pursued toits entangled grass by the spear of the Indian huntsman. Sometimes itsexpansive bosom reflected images of rural beauty, or warlike splendour;and Hindu villages, surrounded by luxuriant sugar-canes andrice-grounds, rich in plenteous harvest, and diversified by all thebrilliant hues of a florid vegetation, were frequently succeeded by thelofty towers of a Mogul fortress, or the mouldering ramparts of a Rajahcastle; by the minarets of a mosque, peering amidst the shades of themourning cypress; or the cupolas of a pagoda, shining through theluxurious foliage of the maringo, or plantain-tree; while the porpoise,tossing on the surface of the stream, basked in the setting sun-beam; orthe hideous gurreal, voracious after prey, chased the affrightedfisherman, who, urging his canoe before the terrific monster, gave to ascene, wrapt in the solemn stillness of evening, an awful animation.Sometimes, when the innoxious shores awakened confidence, groups ofsimple Indians were seen, in the cool of those delicious evenings whichsucceed to burning days, offering their devotions on the banks of thestream, or plunging eagerly into its wave; the refreshing pleasurederived from the act, communicating itself to the soul and the frame,and both, in the belief of the enthusiast votarist, becoming purified bythe immersion.

  As the vessel glided down that branch of the Indus called the Ravii,every object, to the imagination of the Missionary, became consecratedto the memory of the enterprise of Alexander; and, while the samescenes, the same forms, habits, dress, and manners, met his view, ashad two thousand years before struck the minds of the Macedonians withamazement, his historic knowledge enabled him to trace, with accuracy,and his reflecting mind, with interest, those particular spots, whereAlexander fought, where Alexander conquered!

  Arrived at Lahore, he entered one of the most magnificent cities of theEast, at a period when the unfortunate and royal Dara had sought it asan asylum, while he waited for the forces, led by his heroic son,Solyman, previously to the renewal of their exertions for the recoveryof an empire, wrested from them by the successful genius ofAurengzebe[4].

  Lahore, at that period, formed the boundary of Christian enterprise inIndia; and the Jesuits had not only founded a convent there, but werepermitted, by the tolerant Gentiles, publicly to perform their sacredfunctions, and to enjoy, with unrestrained freedom, the exercises oftheir religion[5]. The Missionary was received by the order, with therespect due to his sacred diploma and royal briefs; but neither hisprinciples, nor the rigid discipline of his life, would permit him toreside with men, whose relaxed manners, and disorderly conduct, flung anodium on the purity of the religion, to which they were supposed to havedevoted themselves. It was his ambition to make for himself a distinctand distinguished character; and, like the missionaries of old, or thosepious sancassees so highly venerated in India, he pitched his tent onthe skirts of a neighbouring forest, and interested the attentions ofthe Indians, by the purity of a life, which shocked neither theirancient usages nor popular opinions; and which, from its self-denial andabstemious virtue; harmonized with their best and highest ideas ofhuman excellence[6].

  At Lahore he was determined to remain until he had made himself masterof the dialects of Upper India, where the pure Hindu was deemedprimeval; and his previous knowledge of the Hebrew and Arabic tongues,soon enabled him to conquer the difficulties of the task to which hedevoted himself, with an ardour, proportioned to the enthusiasm of hisgenius and the zeal of his enterprise. He had placed himself under thetuition of a learned Pundit, who was devoted to secular business, andhad travelled into various countries of the East, as a secretary andinterpreter. A follower of the Musnavi sect, or “worship of theInvisible,” the religion of the philosophers of Hindostan, he yet gavehis public sanction to doctrines which he secretly despised. To him, thewildest fictions and most rational tenets of the Brahminical theologyappeared equally puerile; but the apprehension of “loss of cast” (anexcommunication which involves every worldly evil) restrained theavowal of his sentiments, and secured his attention to forms andceremonies, which were the objects of his secret derision. A Cashmirianby birth, he was endowed with all the acuteness of mind which peculiarlydistinguishes his country; and equally indifferent to all religions, hewas yet anxious to forward the Christian’s views, whose doctrines heestimated, by the character of him who preached them.

  Although Cashmire was the principal object of Hilarion’s mission, hiszeal, no longer impeded by his ignorance of the language of those whomhe was to address, already broke forth, accompanied by that brilliantenthusiasm, by that powerful eloquence, whose influence is invariableon popular feelings: he resorted to places of public meetings, toconsecrated tanks, and to the courts of a pagoda. The tolerance of thefollowers of Brahma evinced itself, in the indulgence with which theinnovating tenets of the Christian were received. They molested not aman, who thus daringly appeared among them, openly to dispute thedoctrines of a faith, interwoven with the very existence of itsprofessors: but a few of the lower casts only assembled around him, andeven they listened to him with less conviction than curiosity[7], andindolently rejected what they took not the trouble to examine or todispute.

  It was in vain, that the apostolic Nuncio sought an opportunity toconverse with the learned and distinguished Brahmins of the province:his Pundit, whose confirmed deism set all hope of conversion atdefiance, assured his pupil, that the highest class of that sacredorder, who always adopt the sacerdotal stole, were seldom to be seen byEuropeans, or by persons of any nation but their own. Acting ashigh-priests, devoted to religious discipline, in private families ofdistinction, or shut up in their colleges, when not engaged in theoffices of their religion, they gave themselves up, exclusively, to thecultivation of literature, and to the study of logic and metaphysics, soprevalent in their schools, resembling, in the simplicity and virtue oftheir lives, the ascetics of the middle ages; except when they becameelevated to some high dignity in their ancient and sacred hierarchy, andwere then called upon, during certain seasons, to appear in the world,with all the imposing splendour and religious pomp, which peculiarlybelongs to their distinguished rank and venerated profession.

  While he spoke, the Pundit drew from his breast a gazette of the courtof Delhi[8]; and read, from what might be deemed a literary curiosity,the following paragraph: “The holy and celebrated Brahmin, Rah-Singh,the incarnation of Brahma upon earth, and the light of all knowledge,has been lately engaged in performing the Upaseyda[9] through theprovinces of Agra and Delhi, from whence he returns by Lahore toCashmire, the resemblance of paradise, by the attraction of the favourof Heaven. The Guru is accompanied by the daughter of his daughter, whohas adopted the sacerdotal stole, and has become a Brachmachira. Thereputation of her holiness has spread itself over the earth, and herprophecies are rays of light from Heaven.”

  The Pundit, then putting aside the gazette, said, “This Guru, or bishop,who holds an high jurisdiction over all which relates to his cast, haslong survived those powers of intellect, from which his br
illiantreputation arose; and his influence must have wholly declined, had itnot been supported by the merited celebrity of his grand-daughter: hehas brought her up in the Vedanti sect, which he himself professes, thereligion of mystic love: a creed finely adapted to the warm imagination,the tender feelings, and pure principles of an Indian woman; and which,sublime and abstracted, harmonizes with every idea of human lovelinessand human grace.”

  “And what,” demanded the Missionary, “are its leading tenets?”

  “That matter has no essence, independent of mental perception: and thatexternal sensation would vanish into nothing, if the divine energy for amoment subsided: that the soul differs in degree, but not in kind, fromthe creative spirit of which it is a particle, and into which it will befinally absorbed: that nothing has a pure and absolute existence, butspirit: and that a passionate and exclusive love of Heaven is thatfeeling only, which offers no illusion to the soul, and secures itseternal felicity.”

  “This doctrine, so pure, and so sublime,” replied the Missionary, “wantsbut the holy impress of revelation, to stamp it as divine.”

  The Pundit answered: “The religion of Brahma, under all its varioussects and forms, is peculiarly distinguished by sublimity, and even theutmost extravagance of its apparent polytheism is resolvable into theunity of deity; while the mythological fables it offers to the credenceof the multitude are splendid and poetical, like the forms andceremonies of its religious duties. Of those you will be able to judgeto-morrow, as the Guru of Cashmire enters Lahore, to perform theceremony of the Upaseyda, in the Pagoda of Crishna; where, after havingdistributed the holy waters, he will hear the learned men of theprovince dispute on theological subjects. As this is considered thegrand field for acquiring distinguished reputation among the Brahminsand literati of India, it is at this period, that you may seize on anopportunity of advancing your doctrines, as, by throwing off yourEuropean habit, and undergoing purification in the consecrated tanks ofthe temple, you become qualified to enter its vestibule.”

  To this proposal, the Missionary made no reply. He seemed lost inprofound thought, but it was thought animated by some new and powerfulexcitement. His eye flashed fire, his countenance brightened, his wholeframe betrayed the agitations of a mind roused to extraordinaryexertion; the ambition of genius, and the enthusiasm of religious zeal,mingled in his look.

  The Pundit secretly observed the effects of his proposal, and withdrew.The Missionary, during the rest of the night, gave himself up tomeditation and to prayer. Visions of a victorious zeal poured on hismind, and pious supplications offered to Heaven, for theiraccomplishment, breathed on his lips.