Krishna Afterwards Takes 16,100 Wives, And Always At Early Dawn,
One Would Wash His Face, Another Would Apply A
Fragrant paste to
his body, another would prepare for him and give him to eat food of
six flavours, another
Would make nice betel, with cloves, cardamums,
mace, and nutmegs, for her beloved. "Each produced a daughter fair as
Rukminee; each ten sons, brave sons were they! 161,000 and all alike,
such were the sons of Krishna!"
Such is part of the history of the favourite divinity of the benighted
Hindoo as related in the flowery pages of the "Ocean of Love," and
the history may be, more or less, read in the every-day scenes of
Indian life which pass around one.
The description of Rukminee, strange as it is, corresponds with many
other fair portraits in the Hindee; witness that of "Oonmadinee,"
the daughter of "Rutundutt": -
"Her beauty was like a light in a dark house - her eyes were those
of a deer, her curls like female snakes, her eyebrows like a bow,
her nose like a parrot's, her teeth like a string of pearls, her
lips like the red gourds, her neck like a pigeon's, her waist like
a leopard's, her hands and feet like a soft lotus, her face like the
moon, with the gait of a goose, and the voice of a cuckoo!"
More apparent even than in the earthly nature of the Hindoo's
conception of the Divine attributes, the falsity and the human
origin of his Faith may be seen in the effect it produces wherever
it is allowed to obtain undivided sway. Combining dirt, idleness,
and religion together, the Hindoo Fukeer, attired in the minutest
rag of raiment, at times in none at all, wanders from place to place,
and with long and matted hair, blood-shot haggard eyes, and scowling
visage, fancies himself upon the path which leads direct to Paradise.
Attenuated to the last degree, he suffers all extremes of heat and
cold, sleeps upon a bed of ashes, and sits moodily beneath the burning
mid-day sun, lives on charity while scorning usually to ask for alms,
and bears the reputation of a saint while reducing himself to the
very level of the beasts that perish.
Something of the cheerful feelings which actuate these religious
mendicants may be found in the following passage: - "He may be
called a wise 'Jogee,' or 'Fukeer,' who has dried up the reservoir
of hope with the fire of austere devotion, and who has subdued his
mind, and kept the organs of sense in their proper place; and this
is the condition of persons in this world, that their bodies undergo
dissolution, their heads shake, and their teeth fall out. When men
become old, they walk about with sticks, and it is thus that time
passes away. Night succeeds day, and year succeeds month, and old
age succeeds childhood, and we know not who we are ourselves, and
who others are; one comes and another departs; and at last all living
creatures must depart.
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