The Rajpoot Marriage.
CHAPTER I.
The beautiful Jaya was on her way to join the relatives of her father, who had lately been made prisoner by the sovereign of Delhi. She was in a close hackery, accompanied by a numerous guard and several female attendants, being the daughter of Ray Ruttun Sein, Rajah of Chittore. The captivity of her father rendered her silent and thoughtful. The tear stood in her eye, and filled the cavity in which it had gathered, but fell not over the fringed boundary that confined it. She was a Rajpoot, and would not for the world have allowed the gush of sorrow to stream over her cheek in the sight of her women. It was repelled therefore at the source, but her heart was big with grief, and struck with a dull heavy throb against the walls of its beautiful prison.
Jaya was a young Rajpootni now only in her fifteenth year; but, though so young, she had attained the perfect maturity of womanhood. Her form was slight, her every muscle had its due and exquisite proportion, and the whole compact was harmonized to the perfect roundness and undulations of beauty. Her limbs were small, but exquisitely moulded; and whenever she spoke, every member appeared to exhibit a sympathetic energy, which made the gazer admire with how many modes of expression, both silent and vocal, nature had gifted this rare Hindoo. Her eyes were of the deepest black, but so soft amid their radiance, that it seemed as if they had looked upon the things of paradise, and borrowed the celestial blandness which everywhere reigns in that region of supernal repose. Her skin had the rich blooming brown of the ripe hazel-nut, and under it the sanguine streams circulated with a healthy freedom, that carried life in its free young impulses through ten thousand channels, over every part of her exquisite frame. The mouth appeared as if it had been kissed by the lips of a cherub, and had stolen its gentle delicate bloom, over which her breath came like an exhalation. She was beautiful and tender as the mother dove, yet inheriting all the firmness of her race, which could both endure and act when the energies requisite for endurance and action were demanded.
All with whom she came in contact loved her for her gentleness as much as they admired her for her beauty, and she was the idol of her father’s heart. Her mother died in giving her birth, and he reared her with a care proportioned to the fondness which she inspired. She had been for some time affianced to a youth of her own tribe, son of the Rajah of Moultan; between him and Jaya there existed a strong and abiding affection. Her prospects had been all blighted, for the moment at least, by the captivity of her father, who had been removed by the conqueror to Delhi. Under the impressions which her reflections upon these unhappy events caused, she was silent and absorbed. Two of her women rode in the hackery with her, but they did not presume to interrupt the sacred silence of her sorrow, which she could not conceal, though she forebore to express it. It was deep and bitter.
As the cavalcade proceeded, a violent storm came on, and there was no village or hamlet near. The covering of the hackery was very slight, and therefore afforded but an imperfect protection against such a mischance. The rain began to fall heavily, and the distant lightning to gleam, followed by the low muttering thunder which rapidly approached. A ponderous mass of vapour, of a dull slate colour, rolled heavily onward, and very soon excluded the sun, producing a gloom as deep as twilight, and investing every object with the same dusky tint. The rain at length fell in torrents, and the cloud above poured from its dark womb a stream of fire, which burst through the shower, and was reflected by the large falling drops in ten thousand vivid scintillations. At every flash the whole region round was flooded with a blaze of ghastly light.
By this time the tremendous crashings of the thunder were awful in the extreme; and these blending with the loud hissing of the rain, produced a din which, though it was the music of the spheres, proved anything but “a concord of sweet sounds” to the ears of our travellers.
The beautiful Jaya heeded not the storm; but her women crowded more closely towards their mistress, hid their heads in their hands, and gave expression to fearful lamentations. The tempest heeded not their terrors, but raged with redoubled fury. The frail covering of the vehicle in which they rode was soon soaked through, and the rain was beginning to drip upon the heads of those within. Palampores were spread over it, which seemed for a time to keep out the intruding water; but they soon became saturated, and the rain at length forced its way so copiously into the hackery, that it was found expedient to stop and seek shelter somewhere from its pitiless fury.
It fortunately happened that not far from the spot, at the foot of a small hill, there was a cavern known to one of the escort, who conducted the party thither with some reluctance, as the place was reported to be infested by noxious reptiles of all kinds, and the resort of wild beasts and desperate bands of robbers. The party however taking courage from their numbers, proceeded to the cavern, thinking that any change of situation must be for the better, as the conflict of elements was still maintained with unabated fury.
The entrance to the cave was lofty and rugged, the sides having been broken away, and the angles splintered, as if great manual violence had been employed to disfigure what the severe labour of man had originally executed with no little attention to nicety of proportion and simplicity of effect. Dilapidated as it was, the portal was not devoid of beauty; but without staying to enjoy the pleasure of admiration, the whole party passed anxiously into the cavern. Fires were immediately kindled, and many noxious reptiles and large bats ejected, before the place was considered safe, even as a temporary refuge from the storm, which continued to rage with undiminished violence.