Ben-Hur; a tale of the Christ Read online

  CHAPTER IV

  The Egyptian and the Hindoo looked at each other; the former wavedhis hand; the latter bowed, and began:

  "Our brother has spoken well. May my words be as wise."

  He broke off, reflected a moment, then resumed:

  "You may know me, brethren, by the name of Melchior. I speak toyou in a language which, if not the oldest in the world, was atleast the soonest to be reduced to letters--I mean the Sanscritof India. I am a Hindoo by birth. My people were the first towalk in the fields of knowledge, first to divide them, first tomake them beautiful. Whatever may hereafter befall, the fourVedas must live, for they are the primal fountains of religion anduseful intelligence. From them were derived the Upa-Vedas, which,delivered by Brahma, treat of medicine, archery, architecture,music, and the four-and-sixty mechanical arts; the Ved-Angas,revealed by inspired saints, and devoted to astronomy, grammar,prosody, pronunciation, charms and incantations, religious ritesand ceremonies; the Up-Angas, written by the sage Vyasa, and givento cosmogony, chronology, and geography; therein also are theRamayana and the Mahabharata, heroic poems, designed for theperpetuation of our gods and demi-gods. Such, O brethren, are theGreat Shastras, or books of sacred ordinances. They are dead to menow; yet through all time they will serve to illustrate the buddinggenius of my race. They were promises of quick perfection. Ask youwhy the promises failed? Alas! the books themselves closed allthe gates of progress. Under pretext of care for the creature,their authors imposed the fatal principle that a man must notaddress himself to discovery or invention, as Heaven had providedhim all things needful. When that condition became a sacred law,the lamp of Hindoo genius was let down a well, where ever sinceit has lighted narrow walls and bitter waters.

  "These allusions, brethren, are not from pride, as you willunderstand when I tell you that the Shastras teach a SupremeGod called Brahm; also, that the Puranas, or sacred poems ofthe Up-Angas, tell us of Virtue and Good Works, and of the Soul.So, if my brother will permit the saying"--the speaker boweddeferentially to the Greek--"ages before his people were known,the two great ideas, God and the Soul, had absorbed all the forcesof the Hindoo mind. In further explanation let me say that Brahmis taught, by the same sacred books, as a Triad--Brahma, Vishnu,and Shiva. Of these, Brahma is said to have been the author of ourrace; which, in course of creation, he divided into four castes.First, he peopled the worlds below and the heavens above; next,he made the earth ready for terrestrial spirits; then from hismouth proceeded the Brahman caste, nearest in likeness to himself,highest and noblest, sole teachers of the Vedas, which at the same timeflowed from his lips in finished state, perfect in all useful knowledge.From his arms next issued the Kshatriya, or warriors; from his breast,the seat of life, came the Vaisya, or producers--shepherds, farmers,merchants; from his foot, in sign of degradation, sprang the Sudra,or serviles, doomed to menial duties for the other classes--serfs,domestics, laborers, artisans. Take notice, further, that the law,so born with them, forbade a man of one caste becoming a member ofanother; the Brahman could not enter a lower order; if he violatedthe laws of his own grade, he became an outcast, lost to all butoutcasts like himself."

  At this point, the imagination of the Greek, flashing forwardupon all the consequences of such a degradation, overcame hiseager attention, and he exclaimed, "In such a state, O brethren,what mighty need of a loving God!"

  "Yes," added the Egyptian, "of a loving God like ours."

  The brows of the Hindoo knit painfully; when the emotion was spent,he proceeded, in a softened voice.

  "I was born a Brahman. My life, consequently, was ordered down toits least act, its last hour. My first draught of nourishment;the giving me my compound name; taking me out the first time tosee the sun; investing me with the triple thread by which I becameone of the twice-born; my induction into the first order--were allcelebrated with sacred texts and rigid ceremonies. I might not walk,eat, drink, or sleep without danger of violating a rule. And thepenalty, O brethren, the penalty was to my soul! According to thedegrees of omission, my soul went to one of the heavens--Indra's thelowest, Brahma's the highest; or it was driven back to become thelife of a worm, a fly, a fish, or a brute. The reward for perfectobservance was Beatitude, or absorption into the being of Brahm,which was not existence as much as absolute rest."

  The Hindoo gave himself a moment's thought; proceeding, he said:"The part of a Brahman's life called the first order is his studentlife. When I was ready to enter the second order--that is to say,when I was ready to marry and become a householder--I questionedeverything, even Brahm; I was a heretic. From the depths of the wellI had discovered a light above, and yearned to go up and see whatall it shone upon. At last--ah, with what years of toil!--I stoodin the perfect day, and beheld the principle of life, the elementof religion, the link between the soul and God--Love!"

  The shrunken face of the good man kindled visibly, and he claspedhis hands with force. A silence ensued, during which the otherslooked at him, the Greek through tears. At length he resumed:

  "The happiness of love is in action; its test is what one iswilling to do for others. I could not rest. Brahm had filledthe world with so much wretchedness. The Sudra appealed to me,so did the countless devotees and victims. The island of GangaLagor lies where the sacred waters of the Ganges disappear inthe Indian Ocean. Thither I betook myself. In the shade of thetemple built there to the sage Kapila, in a union of prayerswith the disciples whom the sanctified memory of the holy mankeeps around his house, I thought to find rest. But twice everyyear came pilgrimages of Hindoos seeking the purification of thewaters. Their misery strengthened my love. Against its impulse tospeak I clenched my jaws; for one word against Brahm or the Triador the Shastras would doom me; one act of kindness to the outcastBrahmans who now and then dragged themselves to die on the burningsands--a blessing said, a cup of water given--and I became one of them,lost to family, country, privileges, caste. The love conquered! Ispoke to the disciples in the temple; they drove me out. I spoketo the pilgrims; they stoned me from the island. On the highwaysI attempted to preach; my hearers fled from me, or sought my life.In all India, finally, there was not a place in which I could findpeace or safety--not even among the outcasts, for, though fallen,they were still believers in Brahm. In my extremity, I looked fora solitude in which to hide from all but God. I followed the Gangesto its source, far up in the Himalayas. When I entered the pass atHurdwar, where the river, in unstained purity, leaps to its coursethrough the muddy lowlands, I prayed for my race, and thought myselflost to them forever. Through gorges, over cliffs, across glaciers,by peaks that seemed star-high, I made my way to the Lang Tso, alake of marvellous beauty, asleep at the feet of the Tise Gangri,the Gurla, and the Kailas Parbot, giants which flaunt their crownsof snow everlastingly in the face of the sun. There, in the centreof the earth, where the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmapootra rise to runtheir different courses; where mankind took up their first abode,and separated to replete the world, leaving Balk, the mother ofcities, to attest the great fact; where Nature, gone back to itsprimeval condition, and secure in its immensities, invites the sageand the exile, with promise of safety to the one and solitude tothe other--there I went to abide alone with God, praying, fasting,waiting for death."

  Again the voice fell, and the bony hands met in a fervent clasp.

  "One night I walked by the shores of the lake, and spoke to thelistening silence, 'When will God come and claim his own? Is thereto be no redemption?' Suddenly a light began to glow tremulouslyout on the water; soon a star arose, and moved towards me,and stood overhead. The brightness stunned me. While I lay uponthe ground, I heard a voice of infinite sweetness say, 'Thy lovehath conquered. Blessed art thou, O son of India! The redemptionis at hand. With two others, from far quarters of the earth,thou shalt see the Redeemer, and be a witness that he hath come.In the morning arise, and go meet them; and put all thy trust inthe Spirit which shall guide thee.'

  "And from that time the light has stayed with me; so I knew itwas the visible pres
ence of the Spirit. In the morning I startedto the world by the way I had come. In a cleft of the mountain Ifound a stone of vast worth, which I sold in Hurdwar. By Lahore,and Cabool, and Yezd, I came to Ispahan. There I bought thecamel, and thence was led to Bagdad, not waiting for caravans.Alone I traveled, fearless, for the Spirit was with me, and iswith me yet. What glory is ours, O brethren! We are to see theRedeemer--to speak to him--to worship him! I am done."