Part 12 (1/2)

The order of the procession behind the golden sedan in which the prince was borne, was nearly as follows:--

Next after the chair of state came four young damsels of the highest rank, bearing the prince's betel-box, spittoon, fan, and swords. Then followed seventy other maidens, carrying reverently in both hands the vessels of pure gold, and all the insignia of rank and office proper to a prince of the blood royal; and yet more, holding over their right shoulders golden fans.

In the train of these tripped troops of children, daughters of the n.o.bility, dressed and decorated with fantastic splendor.

Then the maids of honor, personal attendants, and concubines of the king, chastely dressed, though crowned with gold, and decorated with ma.s.sive gold chains and rings of great price and beauty.

A crowd of Siamese women, painted and rouged, in European costume.

Troops of children in corresponding attire.

Ladies in Chinese costume.

j.a.panese ladies in rich robes.

Malay women in their national dress.

Women of Hindostan.

Then the Kariens.

And, last of all, the female slaves and dependants of the prince.

At the foot of the hill a most extraordinary spectacle was presented.

On the east appeared a number of hideous monsters, riding on gigantic eagles. These nondescripts, whose heads reached almost to their knees, and whose hands grasped indescribable weapons, are called Yaks. They are appointed to guard the Sacred Mount from all vulgar approach.

A little farther on, around a pair of stuffed peac.o.c.ks, were a number of youthful warriors, representing kings, governors, and chiefs of the several dependencies of Siam.

Desirous of witnessing the sublime ceremony of hair-cutting, they cautiously approach the Yaks, performing a sort of war dance, and chanting in chorus:--

_Orah Pho, cha pai Kra Laat_. ”Let us go to the Sacred Mount!”

Whereupon the Yaks, or evil angels, point their wonderful weapons at them, chanting in the same strain:--

_Orah Pho, salope thang pooang_. ”Let us slay them all!”

They then make a show of striking and thrusting, and princes, rajahs, and governors drop as if wounded.

The princ.i.p.al parts in the drama were a.s.sumed by his Majesty, and their excellencies the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The king was dressed for the character of P'hra Inn Suen, the Hindoo Indra, or Lord of the Sky, who has also the attributes of the Roman Genius; but most of his epithets in Sanskrit are identical with those of the Olympian Jove. He was attended by the Prime Minister, personating the Sanskrit Sache, but called in Siamese ”Vis Summo Kam,” and the Minister of Foreign Affairs as his charioteer, Ma Talee. His imperial elephant, called Aisarat, caparisoned in velvet and gold, and bearing the supernatural weapons,--_Vagra_, the thunderbolts,--was led by allegorical personages, representing winds and showers, lightning and thunder. The hill, Khoa Kra Laat, is the Sanskrit Meru, described as a mountain of gold and gems.

His Majesty received the prince from the hands of his n.o.bles, set him on his right hand, and presented him to the people, who offered homage.

Afterward, two ladies of the court led him down the flight of marble steps, where two maidens washed his feet with pure water in a gold basin, and wiped them with fine linen.

On his way to the Maha Phrasat he was met by a group of girls in charming attire, who held before him tufts of palm and branches of gold and silver. Thus he was conducted to an inner chamber of the temple, and seated on a costly carpet heavily fringed with gold, before an altar on which were lighted tapers and offerings of all descriptions. In his hand was placed a strip of palmyra leaf, on which were inscribed these mystic words: ”Even I was, even from the first, and not any other thing: that which existed unperceived, supreme. Afterwards, I am that which is, and He that was, and He who must remain am I.”

”Know that except Me, who am the First Cause, nothing that appears or does not appear in the mind can be trusted; it is the mind's Maya or delusion,--as Light is to Darkness.”

On the reverse was inscribed this sentence:--