Read Online The Ravi Lancers by John Masters - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: John Masters
Tags: Historical fiction
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help one lot of barbarians conquer another in a cold land across the forbidden Black Water? No, no!’
‘It will only last a couple of months,’ Krishna said. ‘The officers in Lahore all say it will be over by Christmas. If we don’t go at once we’ll be too late ... We have eaten their salt! ’ He leaned forward urgently. He knew that would tell, for trueness--not to the spoken or written word, but to hosts, to guests--was a cardinal principle of his grandfather’s view of life. Thunder crashed close, shaking the temple and making the dancing shadows waver on the curved ceiling.
‘I suppose so,’ the rajah said heavily. ‘When the Agent set me on the gaddi out there, on the very spot where I had seen my father killed, he looked into my face, and, as clear as any message written on parchment, I saw what he did not say, for it was written in his cold blue eyes, If you forswear this allegiance, the bayonets are ready for you, too. ’
‘The rajah is a man of peace,’ the Rawal said.
The rajah shook his head. ‘I am not. I am a man of fear. That is different. I am terrified of the British, as a man is terrified of rabies, more than of the rabid dog. They are to be feared for what they carry in their hearts and minds. What all Europe carries, I think. Blood. Hate. Something infectious, and fatal. It is not the war that I fear, but the exposure of my people to that fatal disease ... Rawal, what advice do you give us in this matter?’
The Rawal said, ‘The speech I quoted just now was made in Virata, when Yudisthir and his brothers were deciding whether to fight or to negotiate for the return of the kingdom which Duryodhan had usurped from them.’
Lightning lit up the outer room and glistened for a moment on the silent phallus. Krishna looked at the ceiling, trying to contain his patience. Why did Indians spend such time going circuitously round and round the point, bringing in old fables and legends that had no more truth than the Odyssey and the Iliad, and no more relevance to the questions which had to be answered, the decisions which had to be made?
The Rawal said, ‘They decided to send an envoy to Hastina, to the court of Duryodhan, to find out his intentions. Peace, or war. Destruction, or preservation.’
The nipples of an Apsaras seemed to move on the wall and Krishna’s young loins stirred.
‘That is our situation, lord rajah. The war that has been declared is not our war, and we have no need to take part in it. But there is a deeper struggle, between Christian, European ideals which have been imposed on us by force, and our own ancient ways and beliefs.’
‘Some of us do not need to be forced to accept the foreign way,’ the old Rajah said, with a half-smiling glance at Krishna.
‘True, sire,’ the Rawal said, ‘in any case, four methods are prescribed for us to follow in any such struggle or dispute. The first is sam , that is, dialogue, negotiation, discussion. We cannot hold the discussions necessary for sam here in India, for we are in a subordinate position and they are not their true selves. Let us therefore send an envoy to them. As the kings sent an envoy from Virata to Hastina, let us send an envoy to Europe. An envoy of the same name--Krishna.’
Krishna said, ‘You mean, you agree? That we should offer our Lancers for the Indian Expeditionary Force?’
After a pause and a suppressed sigh the Rawal said, ‘Yes, Highness ... but our motive will not be to help the British defeat the Germans, but to aid India in this other struggle I was talking about ... a struggle which is taking place inside you, particularly, Highness, every moment of every day.’ He turned back to the Rajah: ‘Sire, as I was saying, the first method tried should be sam . Let the Yuvraj, as India’s envoy, live among the Christians in the heart of their civilization, asking, seeing, observing, discussing, loving ... if he can. At the same time we will be carrying out the second method laid down in our
‘It will only last a couple of months,’ Krishna said. ‘The officers in Lahore all say it will be over by Christmas. If we don’t go at once we’ll be too late ... We have eaten their salt! ’ He leaned forward urgently. He knew that would tell, for trueness--not to the spoken or written word, but to hosts, to guests--was a cardinal principle of his grandfather’s view of life. Thunder crashed close, shaking the temple and making the dancing shadows waver on the curved ceiling.
‘I suppose so,’ the rajah said heavily. ‘When the Agent set me on the gaddi out there, on the very spot where I had seen my father killed, he looked into my face, and, as clear as any message written on parchment, I saw what he did not say, for it was written in his cold blue eyes, If you forswear this allegiance, the bayonets are ready for you, too. ’
‘The rajah is a man of peace,’ the Rawal said.
The rajah shook his head. ‘I am not. I am a man of fear. That is different. I am terrified of the British, as a man is terrified of rabies, more than of the rabid dog. They are to be feared for what they carry in their hearts and minds. What all Europe carries, I think. Blood. Hate. Something infectious, and fatal. It is not the war that I fear, but the exposure of my people to that fatal disease ... Rawal, what advice do you give us in this matter?’
The Rawal said, ‘The speech I quoted just now was made in Virata, when Yudisthir and his brothers were deciding whether to fight or to negotiate for the return of the kingdom which Duryodhan had usurped from them.’
Lightning lit up the outer room and glistened for a moment on the silent phallus. Krishna looked at the ceiling, trying to contain his patience. Why did Indians spend such time going circuitously round and round the point, bringing in old fables and legends that had no more truth than the Odyssey and the Iliad, and no more relevance to the questions which had to be answered, the decisions which had to be made?
The Rawal said, ‘They decided to send an envoy to Hastina, to the court of Duryodhan, to find out his intentions. Peace, or war. Destruction, or preservation.’
The nipples of an Apsaras seemed to move on the wall and Krishna’s young loins stirred.
‘That is our situation, lord rajah. The war that has been declared is not our war, and we have no need to take part in it. But there is a deeper struggle, between Christian, European ideals which have been imposed on us by force, and our own ancient ways and beliefs.’
‘Some of us do not need to be forced to accept the foreign way,’ the old Rajah said, with a half-smiling glance at Krishna.
‘True, sire,’ the Rawal said, ‘in any case, four methods are prescribed for us to follow in any such struggle or dispute. The first is sam , that is, dialogue, negotiation, discussion. We cannot hold the discussions necessary for sam here in India, for we are in a subordinate position and they are not their true selves. Let us therefore send an envoy to them. As the kings sent an envoy from Virata to Hastina, let us send an envoy to Europe. An envoy of the same name--Krishna.’
Krishna said, ‘You mean, you agree? That we should offer our Lancers for the Indian Expeditionary Force?’
After a pause and a suppressed sigh the Rawal said, ‘Yes, Highness ... but our motive will not be to help the British defeat the Germans, but to aid India in this other struggle I was talking about ... a struggle which is taking place inside you, particularly, Highness, every moment of every day.’ He turned back to the Rajah: ‘Sire, as I was saying, the first method tried should be sam . Let the Yuvraj, as India’s envoy, live among the Christians in the heart of their civilization, asking, seeing, observing, discussing, loving ... if he can. At the same time we will be carrying out the second method laid down in our
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