AMRA. 59 



I have for fourteen years eluded the command of the sultan, and in 

 placing him under thy protection, O most venerable Sarma ! I have 

 at length discharged my conscience, and fulfilled the last wishes of 

 the Brahman Mitra. Peace be with him ! If it seem good in thy 

 sight, let this remain for ever a secret between me and thee. I have 

 successfully thrown dust in the eyes of the Sultan, and caused it to 

 be reported, that the youth is dead of a sudden and grievous disease. 

 Should he discover that he has been deceived by his slave should 

 the truth reach his mighty ears the head of Abul Fazil would as- 

 suredly pay the forfeit of his disobedience." 



The old Brahman replied with many expressions of gratitude and 

 inviolable discretion ; and, wholly unsuspicious of the cruel artifice, 

 received the youth with joy. He carried him to Benares, where, 

 some months afterwards, he publicly adopted him as his son, and 

 gave him the name of Govinda, " the Beloved," one of the titles 

 under which the Indian women adore their beautiful and favourite 

 idol, the god Crishna. 



Govinda, so we must now call him, was set to study the sacred 

 language, and the theology of the Brahmans as it is revealed in their 

 Vedas and Sastras. In both he made quick and extraordinary pro- 

 gress ; and his singular talents did not more endear him to his pre- 

 ceptor, than his docility, and the pensive, and even melancholy 

 sweetness of his temper and manner. His new duties were not 

 unpleasing or unsuited to one of his indolent and contemplative 

 temper. He possibly felt, at first, a holy horror at the pagan sacri- 

 fices, in which he was obliged to assist, and some reluctance to 

 feeding consecrated cows, gathering flowers, cooking rice, and draw- 

 ing water for offerings and libations : but by degrees he reconciled 

 his conscience to these occupations, and became attached to his 

 Gooroo, and interested in his philosophical studies. He would 

 have been happy, in short, but for certain uneasy sensations of fear 

 and self-reproach, which he vainly endeavoured to forget or reason 

 down. 



Abul Fazil, who dreaded, not his indiscretion or his tyranny, but 

 his natural sense of rectitude, which had yielded reluctantly, even 

 to the command of Akbar, maintained a constant intercourse with 

 him by means of an intelligent mute, who, hovering in the vicinity 

 of Benares, sometimes in the disguise of a fisherman, sometimes as 

 a coolie, was a continual spy upon all his movements ; and once in 

 every month, when the moon was in her dark quarter, Govinda met 

 him secretly, and exchanged communications with his brother. 



The Brahman Sarma was rich ; he was proud of his higli caste, 

 his spiritual office, and his learning; he was of the tribe of Narayna, 



