SCENE OF THE GOBLINS.

39

hyænas bark at them; jackals and dogs follow them. They are near. May Siva protect us!'

NAKSHATRA. How dreadful! Harischandra, what is this? Look! evil demons stare at me-I tremble for my life. Protect me now, and I ask you no more for the gold.

HARISCHANDRA. Have no fear, Nakshatra. Come, place thyself in the midst of us.

CHIEF OF THE GOBLINS. Men! little men! human vermin intrude ye thus into my presence? Know that, save only the Bráhman standing in the midst of you, you are all my prey to-night.

HARISCHANDRA. Goblin! certainly thou art not an evil-doer, for thou hast excepted this holy Bráhman. As for ourselves, we know that the bodies which begin to exist upon earth must also cease to exist on it. What matters it when death comes? If he spares us now he reserves us only for another season. Good, kind demon! destroy us then together; here we await our doom.

NAKSHATRA. Harischandra! before you thus desert me, make the goblin promise you that he will not hurt me. HARISCHANDRA. Thou hast no cause for alarm; thou

art safe.

CHIEF OF THE GOBLINS. Listen! I find that all four of you are very thin; it is not worth my while to kill you. On examining closely, I perceive that the young Bráhman is plump and fat as a wild boar. Give him up to me—I want not the rest.

NAKSHATRA. O Gods! O Harischandra! you are a great monarch! Have mercy on me! Save me, save me! I will never trouble you for the gold, but treat you considerately hereafter.

HARISCHANDRA. Sir, thy life is safe, stand still.

NAKSHATRA. Allow me, sirs, to come closer to you, and to hold you by the hand (He grasps their hands.)

HARISCHANDRA. King of the Goblins! I address thee in all sincerity; thou wilt confer on us a great favour indeed by despatching us speedily to the Judgment Hall of the God of Death. The Bráhman must not be touched; devour us.

THE GOBLIN (grinding his teeth in great fury). What! dare you disobey me? Will you not deliver the Brahman? HARISCHANDRA. No, we cannot. We alone are thy

victims.

[Day breaks, and the goblins disappear.]

Having thus withstood all temptation to harm his enemy, or to break a promise he had given to treat him kindly, Harischandra is again pressed for the gold or the lie, and, still holding out, an ordeal of fire follows. Trusting the God of Fire will cease to afflict if one is sacrificed, Harischandra prepares to enter the conflagration first, and a pathetic contention occurs between him and his wife and son as to which shall be sacrificed. In the end Harischandra rushes in, but does not perish.

Harischandra is hoping to reach the temple of Vis Wanàth1 at Kasi and invoke his aid to pay the gold. To the temple he comes only to plead in vain, and Nakshatra tortures him with instruments. Finally Harischandra, his wife and child, are sold as slaves to pay the debt. But Viswamitra, invisibly present, only redoubles his persecutions. Harischandra is subjected to the peculiar degradation of having to burn dead bodies in a cemetery. Chandravatí and her son are are subjected to cruelties. The boy is one day sent to the forest, is bitten by a snake, and dies. Chandravatí goes out in the night to

1 Siva; the lord of the world,' and of wealth. Cf. Pluto, Dis, Dives.

THE MARTYR OF TRUTH.

4I

find the body. She repairs with it to the cemetery. In the darkness she does not recognise her husband, the burner of the bodies, nor he his wife. He has strictly promised his master that every fee shall be paid, and reproaches the woman for coming in the darkness to avoid. payment. Chandravatí offers in payment a sacred chain which Siva had thrown round her neck at birth, invisible to all but a perfect man. Harischandra alone has ever seen it, and now recognises his wife. But even now he will not perform the last rites over his dead child unless the fee can be obtained as promised. Chandravatí goes out into the city to beg the money, leaving Harischandra seated beside the dead body of Devaráta. In the street she stumbles over the corpse of another child, and takes it up; it proves to be the infant Prince, who has been murdered. Chandravatí-arrested and dragged before the king-in a state of frenzy declares she has killed the child. She is condemned to death, and her husband must be her executioner. But the last scene must be quoted nearly in full.

VERAKVOO (Harischandra's master, leading on Chandravati). Slave! this woman has been sentenced by our king to be executed without delay. Draw your sword and cut her head off. (Exit.)

HARISCHANDRA. I obey, master. (Draws the sword and approaches her.)

CHANDRAVATI (coming to consciousness again). My husband! What! do I see thee again? I applaud thy resolution, my lord. Yes; let me die by thy sword. Be not unnerved, but be prompt, and perform thy duty unflinchingly.

HARISCHANDRA. My beloved wife! the days allotted to you in this world are numbered; you have run through

42

THE LAST SACRIFICE.

the span of your existence.

your existence. Convicted as you are of this crime, there is no hope for your life; I must presently fulfil my instructions. I can only allow you a few seconds; pray to your tutelary deities, prepare yourself to meet your doom.

VISWÁMITRA (who has suddenly appeared). Harischandra! what, are you going to slaughter this poor woman? Wicked man, spare her! Tell a lie even now and be restored to your former state!

HARISCHANDRA. I pray, my lord, attempt not to beguile me from the path of rectitude. Nothing shall shake my resolution; even though thou didst offer to me the throne of Indra I would not tell a lie. Pollute not thy sacred person by entering such unholy grounds. part! I dread not thy wrath; I no longer court thy favour. Depart. (VISWÁMITRA disappears.)

De

My love! lo I am thy executioner; come, lay thy head gently on this block with thy sweet face turned towards the east. Chandravatí, my wife, be firm, be happy! The last moment of our sufferings has at length come; for to sufferings too there is happily an end. Here cease our woes, our griefs, our pleasures. Mark! yet awhile, and thou wilt be as free as the vultures that now soar in the skies.

This keen sabre will do its duty. Thou dead, thy husband dies too—this self-same sword shall pierce my breast. First the child-then the wife-last the husband-all victims of a sage's wrath. I the martyr of Truth-thou and thy son martyrs for me, the martyr of Truth. Yes; let us die cheerfully and bear our ills meekly. Yes; let all men perish, let all gods cease to exist, let the stars that shine above grow dim, let all seas be dried up, let all mountains be levelled to the ground, let wars rage, blood flow in streams, let millions of millions of Harischandras be

VIRTUE TRIUMPHS OVER 'MERITS.

43

thus persecuted; yet let Truth be maintained-let Truth ride victorious over all-let Truth be the light-Truth the guide-Truth alone the lasting solace of mortals and immortals. Die, then, O goddess of Chastity! Die, at this the shrine of thy sister goddess of Truth!

[Strikes the neck of CHANDRAVATI with great force; the sword, instead of harming her, is transformed into a string of superb pearls, which winds itself around her: the gods of heaven, all sages, and all kings appear suddenly to the view of HARISCHANDRA.]

SIVA (the first of the gods). Harischandra, be ever blessed! You have borne your severe trials most heroically, and have proved to all men that virtue is of greater worth than all the vanities of a fleeting world. Be you the model of mortals. Return to your land, resume your authority, and rule your state. Devaráta, victim of Viswámitra's wrath, rise! (He is restored to life.)

Rise you, also, son of the King of Kasi, with whose murder you, Chandravatí, were charged through the machinations of Viswámitra. (He comes to life also.)

HARISCHANDRA. All my misfortunes are of little consequence, since thou, O God of gods, hast deigned to favour me with thy divine presence. No longer care I for kingdom, or power, or glory. I value not children, or wives, or relations. To thy service, to thy worship, to the redemption of my erring soul, I devote myself uninterruptedly hereafter. Let me not become the sport of men. The slave of a Pariah cannot become a king; the slavegirl of a Bráhman cannot become a queen. When once the milk has been drawn from the udder of a cow nothing can restore the self-same milk to it. Our degradation, O God, is now beyond redemption.

VISWÁMITRA. I pray, O Siva, that thou wouldst pardon my folly. Anxious to gain the wager laid by me