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(From The Curse of Kehama)
JOY in the city of great Jaga-Naut! | |
| Joy in the seven-headed Idol’s shrine! | |
| A virgin-bride his ministers have brought, | |
| A mortal maid, in form and face divine, | |
| Peerless among all daughters of mankind; | 5 |
| Searched they the world again from east to west, | |
| In endless quest, | |
| Seeking the fairest and the best, | |
| No maid so lovely might they hope to find; | |
| For she hath breathed celestial air, | 10 |
| And heavenly food hath been her fare, | |
| And heavenly thoughts and feelings give her face | |
| That heavenly grace. | |
| Joy in the city of great Jaga-Naut, | |
| Joy in the seven-headed idol’s shrine! | 15 |
| The fairest maid his Yoguees sought, | |
| A fairer than the fairest have they brought, | |
| A maid of charms surpassing human thought, | |
| A maid divine. | |
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| Now bring ye forth the chariot of the god! | 20 |
| Bring him abroad, | |
| That through the swarming city he may ride; | |
| And by his side | |
| Place ye the maid of more than mortal grace, | |
| The maid of perfect form and heavenly face; | 25 |
| Set her aloft in triumph, like a bride | |
| Upon the bridal car, | |
| And spread the joyful tidings wide and far, | |
| Spread it with trump and voice | |
| That all may hear, and all who hear rejoice, | 30 |
| Great Jaga-Naut hath found his mate! the god | |
| Will ride abroad! | |
| To-night will he go forth from his abode! | |
| Ye myriads who adore him, | |
| Prepare the way before him! | 35 |
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| Upreared on twenty wheels elate, | |
| Huge as a ship, the bridal car appeared; | |
| Loud creak its ponderous wheels, as through the gate | |
| A thousand Bramins drag the enormous load. | |
| There throned aloft in state, | 40 |
| The image of the seven-headed god | |
| Came forth from his abode; and at his side | |
| Sate Kailyal like a bride. | |
| A bridal statue rather might she seem, | |
| For she regarded all things like a dream, | 45 |
| Having no thought, nor fear, nor will, nor aught | |
| Save hope and faith, that lived within her still. | |
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| O silent night, how have they startled thee | |
| With the brazen trumpet’s blare! | |
| And thou, O moon! whose quiet light serene | 50 |
| Filleth wide heaven, and bathing hill and wood, | |
| Spreads o’er the peaceful valley like a flood, | |
| How have they dimmed thee with the torches’ glare, | |
| Which round yon moving pageant flame and flare, | |
| As the wild rout, with deafening song and shout, | 55 |
| Fling their long flashes out, | |
| That, like infernal lightnings, fire the air. | |
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| A thousand pilgrims strain | |
| Arm, shoulder, breast and thigh, with might and main, | |
| To drag that sacred wain, | 60 |
| And scarce can draw along the enormous load. | |
| Prone fall the frantic votaries in its road, | |
| And calling on the god, | |
| Their self-devoted bodies there they lay | |
| To pave his chariot-way. | 65 |
| On Jaga-Naut they call, | |
| The ponderous car rolls on, and crushes all. | |
| Through flesh and bones it ploughs its dreadful path. | |
| Groans rise unheard; the dying cry, | |
| And death and agony | 70 |
| Are trodden underfoot by yon mad throng, | |
| Who follow close, and thrust the deadly wheels along. | |
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