The Moghul Part 82

After the women had finished their task, Allaudin turned to face the a.s.sembled men wearing a vaguely sheepish expression. Hawksworth had caught himself laughing out loud at the preposterous figure Allaudin struck, standing before them with hands and feet dripping red with henna.

Then he noticed a group of veiled women filing out from behind the screen and approaching. They carried a silver chalice filled with red henna paste. The women stopped in front of Arangbar, bowed with the _teslim_, and began to anoint his fingers with henna. Then they tied each reddened finger with a small, goId-embroidered handkerchief. He smiled widely and signaled a eunuch to bring him a ball of opium. Next the women proceeded to Zainul Beg and reddened his fingers also, then Nadir Sharif, then all the other family members. Finally they stopped in front of Hawksworth.

A robust woman from the _zenana _seized his fingers and began to daub them with henna paste. It was thick and smelled of saffron. He watched helplessly as his fingers disappeared into the red, after which they too were swathed in the small kerchiefs of silk and gold.

"It will make you virile too, Inglish. This is a great omen for your good fortune," Arangbar observed wryly, delighted by the confused look on Hawksworth's face.

The women disappeared back into the _zenana _and the music began again, now with more dancers. Hawksworth recognized among them the young women Sangeeta, who had danced Kathak for Arangbar that first night in the _Diwan-i-Khas_. She was resplendent, and her face announced her pride in being selected for the first night of the wedding celebrations.

After she had finished her dance, the veiled women again emerged from the _zenana_, carrying a large silver vessel, and saluted Allaudin. He was brought to the center of the square, where they began to remove the red bindings on his hands and feet. His hands, then his feet, were bathed in rosewater. After they were dried, he was taken back to the _Diwan-i-Khas _and attired in yet another of the new suits of clothes given to him by the bride. He returned to the general cheers of the a.s.sembled guests, whose hands had also been washed while he was gone.

As the formal ceremonies drew to a close, Arangbar produced heavy brocade waist sashes for all the male guests. Hawksworth was last, and when he received his from Arangbar's hand, he bowed in thanks and examined it quizzically.

"It is a _kamar-band_, Inglish, for you to wear tomorrow night at the wedding." Arangbar took Hawksworth's red-stained fingers and examined them for a moment. "If you can get the rest of the henna off your fingers by then."

He roared with delight and signaled the musicians to start again.

Allaudin was escorted from the square by a number of young men in foppish cloaks--Hawksworth a.s.sumed they were his friends--and then, as midnight approached, servants appeared with the evening's meal.

While the men drank and dined, Sangeeta entertained them with more Kathak dance. When she was near exhaustion, other dancers were brought out, and the music and dance continued undiminished through the short hours remaining before dawn. Only when the eastern sky began to lighten did Arangbar rise and bid the guests farewell. The courtyard cleared in moments.

As the crowd dispersed, Hawksworth watched the Moghul down another ball of opium and call for Sangeeta to accompany him into the palace. She was escorted by the eunuchs, her smile brighter than the rising sun.

Hawksworth was momentarily startled as a fanfare of trumpets announced to the guests in Zainul Beg's hall that Arangbar was approaching. The center of the hall cleared, leaving a pathway from the entrance to a low platform at the opposite end, on which were two large cushions fashioned from gold cloth. On some unseen command musicians in an adjacent room began to play, and then the doors of the hall opened wide.

Women from Arangbar's _zenana _entered first, sweeping past the guests in a glitter of silks and jewels unlike anything Hawksworth had ever seen. The women displayed heavy gold necklaces and multiple strands of pearls. Their arms were scarcely visible beneath their wide gold bracelets. For this evening, all wore a headdress of silver cloth and a veil.

More trumpets sounded as Arangbar himself entered, Queen Janahara striding imperiously behind him. Hawksworth examined her hard features with curiosity for a moment before the significance of the scene registered. She was not wearing a veil.

He looked about him and realized that the other guests had noticed as well.

Nadir Sharif trailed behind the royal couple, and after him came a few select officials of the court, including the _qazi _who would perform the ceremony and officially record the marriage.

As Arangbar and Janahara seated themselves on the cushioned platform, the guests all performed the _teslim_. Arangbar motioned for the crowd to be seated, and Hawksworth was already halfway to the carpet before he noticed that no one else had moved. Only after Arangbar had demanded three times that the guests seat themselves did those around Hawksworth accede to his request.

More trays of rolled betel leaves and _sharbat _were circulated, and the guests settled to listen to a lively raga performed on sitar and tabla drums by musicians who were seated on a small dais at the opposite end of the hall. The time was approaching eight o'clock when the musicians brought the music to a rousing finish.

Hawksworth found himself beginning to wonder where the bride and groom were. They were nowhere to be seen.

No sooner had the last notes of the raga melted into the tapestried walls than there came a knocking at the closed doors of the hall. There were sounds of a raucous, but not rancorous, argument. Everyone around Hawksworth fell silent to listen. There were more words, and he managed to grasp that the family of the bride was demanding a payment for entry, apparently a mock ritual. Finally there was the jingle of coins dropping into a cup. The money seemed to settle the dispute, for the doors of the hall suddenly burst open, to the sounds of a trumpet fanfare.

Hawksworth looked through the doorway to see a horse and rider, surrounded by a milling crowd.

In the lamplight he could see the horse was covered with a fine brocade tapestry, into which fresh flowers had been woven. Its legs, tail, and mane had been dyed red with henna, and all its body outside the tapestry was covered with glistening spangles. The rider's cloak and turban were heavy with gold thread, and his face was hidden behind a thick veil of silver cloth attached to the top of this turban and hanging to his waist. On either side of the horse two young men stood, each carrying a large paper umbrella, which they held over the rider's head. Behind them cl.u.s.tered singers, dancers, musicians, and a mob of tipsy young men in extravagant finery.

The crowd cheered the veiled rider and he saluted them. From the chatter of the guests, Hawksworth gathered that the horse had led a procession through the streets of Agra for the past two hours in preparation for this grand entrance.

The rider, whom Hawksworth a.s.sumed to be Prince Allaudin, was helped onto the back of one of the young men. He was then carried to the dais where Arangbar and Janahara sat and gently lowered to the ground. The silver veil was removed and he performed the _teslim_, the fatigue in his face beginning to show.

Arangbar beckoned him to rise, and two eunuchs who had been part of the Moghul's train stepped forward and placed two large silver boxes beside him on the dais. Arangbar opened the first and drew out a string of large pearls. He admired them for a moment, showed them to Janahara, then looped them around Allaudin's neck. Next he opened the other box and drew out a crown of silver trimmed in gold. He rose to his feet and held it aloft.

"Two months past I presented a _sachaq_, a marriage present, of two _lakhs _of silver rupees to honor the bride. And tonight I bestow on my son the same _sehra_, the same bridegroom's crown, that was placed on my head the night I wed Her Majesty, Queen Janahara."

Allaudin slipped off his turban and knelt before Arangbar. After the crown was fitted, he stood erect to acknowledge the cheers of the crowd.

Without further ceremony, Arangbar turned and spoke to Zainul Beg. The old _wazir _beckoned two eunuchs forward and pa.s.sed an order. There were shouts, and torches were lighted in the upper balcony of the hall.

Then, as Hawksworth watched in amazement, the tapestries at the far end of the hall were drawn away, opening the pavilion to the riverfront.

Arangbar and Janahara revolved on their cushions to face the water, which was now a sea of floating candles and lamps. The guests surged forward toward the opening, and as Hawksworth pa.s.sed near the royal dais, Arangbar's voice cut through the din.

"Inglish, come and join us. There will be no henna on your fingers tonight." He gestured toward the carpet near his feet. "Sit here. I would have your opinion of this."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Hawksworth sensed that Arangbar was already partly drunk. "What will happen now?"

"Just more tradition, Inglish, but the part I always enjoy most." He pointed toward the river, where servants were carrying torches in the direction of three decorated wheels, each several feet across, mounted atop what appeared to be small-gauge cannon. "Tell me if your king has anything to equal this."

As he spoke the servants touched the torches to the center of each wheel. Lines of burning sulfur traced their spokes, then ignited the squibs attached around their perimeter. At that instant, other servants stepped forward and thrust a burning taper to the touchhole of each cannon. The cannon spewed flame, lofting the wheels upward over the river. They suddenly began to rotate, creating a whirling circle of colored flame tips in the night sky. Just as they reached the top of their trajectory, they began to explode one by one, showering sparks and fire across the face of the Jamuna.

The turbaned crowd scarcely had time to exclaim its delight before a blue flame suddenly appeared from behind where the wheels had been, illuminating the palace walls in a shimmering, ghostly light. As it grew, Hawksworth realized it was an artificial tree whose branches were saturated with black powder and brimstone. Next more flames spewed from the tops of five towers that had been erected near the riverfront.

There were sharp reports, as though a musket had been fired, and dense streaks of red billowed into the sky. All around powder pots began to explode, hurtling lightning, dazzling white with camphor, and writhing serpents of flame into the smoky night air.

"Well, Inglish, what do you think?' Arangbar turned to Hawksworth with a delighted smile. "Have you ever seen anything to compare?"

"We have fireworks in England too, Your Majesty, particularly on the eve of St. John's Day, when we have barges of fireworks on the Thames.

And sometimes they're used in plays and pageants. And at the wedding of His Majesty's daughter, four of King James's gunners gave a show with a fiery castle, a dragon, a damsel, and St. George. But English fireworks generally make more noise than these." Hawksworth paused, wondering how much to tell. "And some countries in Europe use fireworks in battle, Majesty. Helmets that throw fire, swords and lances with fiery points, and bucklers that give out flames when struck."

Arangbar gave him a puzzled glance. "But what good are those, Inglish?

In battle the most important use of flame is the fire lance. What use are sparking swords? Watch and you will see what I mean."

Arangbar pointed to a line of Rajput marksmen, carrying horn bows and heavy spears, who had a.s.sembled at one side of the clearing. While they fell into a formation perpendicular to the river, servants were placing clay pots on small stands at the opposite side, perhaps seventy yards away. The Rajputs watched impa.s.sively as the arrows in their bows were lighted, and then on the shout of their commander they lifted their bows and fired in unison.

Ten streaks of flame shot across the riverfront, and the crowd fell expectantly silent. All the arrows seemed to reach their target at precisely the same instant. Each had been aimed at a separate pot, and as they impacted, the silence was rent by what sounded like a single explosion. The pots, Hawksworth realized, had been primed with powder, ready to detonate.

The smoke was still drifting across the grounds when torch carriers with large flambeaux moved to the center, illuminating scaffolding that had been hastily erected. More clay pots, painted white, hung suspended from the scaffolds on long ropes. The servants set the pots swinging and then fell back, while the Rajputs ignited the tips of their spears.

Again flame streaked across the clearing and again there was a simultaneous explosion as the spears caught the swinging pots.

Arangbar joined the cheers, then turned and slapped Hawksworth on the shoulder. "That, Inglish, is how you use fire in battle. You must put it where you want it. No soldier of India would be daunted by trick swords and bucklers."

"My king agrees with you, Majesty. He leaves such toys to the Germans."

The display continued for almost an hour, as one exotic device after another was carried next to the riverfront. The water became littered with burning paper and the air so dense with smoke that Queen Janahara finally started to cough. Arangbar immediately ordered an end to the fireworks, and as the crowd filed back into the hall, the tapestries were lowered to again conceal the smoky view of the river.

Now the music began, and the dancing, as musicians and women moved to the center of the hall. Servants circulated with more betel leaves and _sharbat_, and Arangbar took his first ball of opium.

Hawksworth glanced guardedly at the queen. Her manner was imperious, regal, everything a sovereign should be. Everything Allaudin was not.

And, he thought, probably a lot Arangbar himself is not.