And as he spoke his voice gathered strength till it rang
through the hall like the voice of Indra when he thunders in the
heavens.
"Men of the Rajputs, this child shall not die. Are we become
jackals that we fall upon the weak and tear them? When have we
put our women and children in the forefront of the war? I - I
only am King of Chitor. Narayan shall save this child for the
time that will surely come. And for us - what shall we do? I die
for Chitor!"
And like the hollow waves of a great sea they answered him,-
"We will die for Chitor."
There was silence and Marwar spoke.
"The women?"
"Do they not know the duty of a Rajputni?" said the King. "My
household has demanded that the caves be prepared."
And the men clashed stew joy with their swords, and the council
dispersed.
Then that very great saint, the Twice-Born, put off the sacred
thread that is the very soul of the Brahman. In his turban he
wound it secretly, and he stained his noble Aryan body until it
resembled the Pariahs, foul for the pure to see, loathsome for
the pure to touch, and he put on him the rags of the lowest of
the earth, and taking the Prince, he removed from the body of the
child every trace of royal and Rajput birth, and he appeared like
a child of the Bhils - the vile forest wanderers that shame not
to defile their lips with carrion.
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