Part 4 (1/2)

”Good-bye!” called out Chola and Mahala to him, from their seats in front beside the driver. The boys were perfectly happy to think of all the new, strange sights they were going to see along the road. They shouted greetings to their friend the potter as they pa.s.sed him, and also to the old ”_fakir_,” smeared all over with ashes, who sat in a little brick hut by the bridge and pretended to make wonderful cures.

”This is more fun than going to school,” said Chola, as the oxen plodded along through clouds of dust. The young folks did not mind this, however, for the road was very lively with people going into the city, some in bullock-carts, some in big wagons like their own, and there were many on foot carrying big baskets on their heads, while beside them trudged little solemn-faced, dark-skinned children.

At noontime they halted for a rest near an orchard full of flowering fruit-trees, where some beautiful peac.o.c.ks were sunning themselves on the garden walls, spreading out their great tails and strutting about.

These lovely birds are found nearly everywhere in India, and in some parts run quite wild.

”There is a 'Holy Man,'” said Mahala, pointing to a man who was sitting cross-legged by the roadside, with only a cloth wrapped around his waist. His long matted hair hung on his shoulders, and he was saying his prayers with the help of a rosary of beads which he continually pa.s.sed through his hands.

As the wagon came up, a young man who accompanied the ”Holy Man” ran up and held out a begging-bowl, saying: ”Give, oh, charitable people, to this Holy One.” Chola's mother threw some cakes into the bowl as the wagon stopped.

”We will become beggars ourselves before we reach the 'Sacred City' if we are going to give to every beggar on the road,” grumbled Harajar.

”They are as thick as flies in our country.”

”It is good to give to a 'Holy Man,'” said the gentle mother. ”Maybe he will pray that our babe be made well;” and she sighed as she looked down at the white face of the baby in her arms.

No country in the world has so many beggars as India. Many of them are called ”Holy Men” because they do nothing but make pilgrimages from one sacred place to another, living solely on the alms that are given to them.

When they had eaten their lunch, the young people went to explore the garden near them. ”Perhaps there are dogs,” said Mahala, a little fearfully, but they forgot about dogs when they saw a thicket of sugar-cane down by a stream. ”Perhaps we can buy some from the man; there he is now ploughing by the stream,” said Chola.

”I will give you some of the sweet cane, my little princelings,” said the man, ”if you will give a wreath of flowers to the Sacred River for me,” when he learned that the boys were on their way to Benares.

The farmer stopped his oxen in the shade,--for oxen also do all the ploughing,--and began to cut some of the long purple stalks of cane. All at once Mahala cried out, and pulled Chola back, and there, just at their feet, was a pure white snake crawling out from the roots of the cane. It flattened out its head in a most astonis.h.i.+ng fas.h.i.+on when it saw them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”FIRST THERE CAME A BIG ELEPHANT.”]

”Behold! a pure white cobra,” cried the farmer. ”It must mean good luck to you, my young masters. It is a rare sight now-a-days to see one of these white cobras.”

The children _salaamed_ to it very politely, though they were careful to keep at a good distance. ”It is looking for water,” said the farmer, as he took a long stalk of cane and gently guided it down to the stream.

The snake is another sacred animal of the Hindus, and they would not kill or injure one for anything.

”It may be a sign that the babe will be healed,” said the mother, hopefully, when the children came back with their sugar-cane and told about the wonderful cobra. As they were about to move on again, they saw a great cloud of dust down the road. ”It is an elephant and many men,”

said one of the servants. ”A great ruler, doubtless,” said another, as there came into sight a man on horseback carrying a silk banner or flag. It turned out that it _was_ a great and powerful Rajah going in state on a journey to visit another Rajah, or ruler, of one of the small kingdoms or states of which modern India was formerly made up. And did he not look imposing!

First there came a big elephant, all decorated with silk and gold and silver. On the elephant's back was a ”_howdah_,” which is like a big chair with a canopy over it, and in this, sitting cross-legged, was the Rajah,--a big, fat fellow dressed in coloured silks and jewels, with a great diamond-set plume in his turban. The fittings of this ”_howdah_”

were most luxurious. It was lined and carpeted with expensive silken rugs, for the making of which certain _castes_ are famous. There are many kinds of rugs in India; but those of woven silk, like the praying-rugs of the temples, and those upon which the great Rajahs sit in state, are the most beautiful and expensive. These rug-makers are mostly Mohammedans, a religious sect entirely different from the Hindus.

Behind the ”_howdah_” stood a servant holding a big umbrella of fine feathers over the Rajah's head. The driver sat on the neck of the elephant and guided the big beast by prodding him on one side or the other with an iron-shod stick or goad.

After the Rajah, followed many men on horseback, all in fine dress and carrying lances and banners of silk; then a whole troop of servants who guarded the wagons filled with the Rajah's baggage and the presents he was carrying to the other Rajah.

”Isn't it fine to ride like that on a big elephant!” whispered Mahala to Chola, as the children picked flowers by the roadside and threw them before the Rajah's elephant, which is a pretty way the Hindus have of welcoming a person of importance.

”How happy the Rajah must be,” said little Shriya, ”to be able to ride like that and wear such beautiful jewels!” And all the rest of the day the little folk talked of nothing but the great Rajah and his escort.

At sunset they came to a _parao_, where they were to camp for the night.

It was only a bare piece of ground under some trees, and a few stalls or little shops where one could buy food and fuel to make a fire.