object:1f.lovecraft - The Doom That Came to Sarnath
author class:H P Lovecraft
subject class:Fiction
genre class:Horror
class:chapter
There is in the land of Mnar a vast still lake that is fed by no stream
and out of which no stream flows. Ten thousand years ago there stood by
its shore the mighty city of Sarnath, but Sarnath stands there no more.
It is told that in the immemorial years when the world was young,
before ever the men of Sarnath came to the land of Mnar, another city
stood beside the lake; the grey stone city of Ib, which was old as the
lake itself, and peopled with beings not pleasing to behold. Very odd
and ugly were these beings, as indeed are most beings of a world yet
inchoate and rudely fashioned. It is written on the brick cylinders of
Kadatheron that the beings of Ib were in hue as green as the lake and
the mists that rise above it; that they had bulging eyes, pouting,
flabby lips, and curious ears, and were without voice. It is also
written that they descended one night from the moon in a mist; they and
the vast still lake and grey stone city Ib. However this may be, it is
certain that they worshipped a sea-green stone idol chiselled in the
likeness of Bokrug, the great water-lizard; before which they danced
horribly when the moon was gibbous. And it is written in the papyrus of
Ilarnek, that they one day discovered fire, and thereafter kindled
flames on many ceremonial occasions. But not much is written of these
beings, because they lived in very ancient times, and man is young, and
knows little of the very ancient living things.
After many aeons men came to the land of Mnar; dark shepherd folk with
their fleecy flocks, who built Thraa, Ilarnek, and Kadatheron on the
winding river Ai. And certain tribes, more hardy than the rest, pushed
on to the border of the lake and built Sarnath at a spot where precious
metals were found in the earth.
Not far from the grey city of Ib did the wandering tribes lay the first
stones of Sarnath, and at the beings of Ib they marvelled greatly. But
with their marvelling was mixed hate, for they thought it not meet that
beings of such aspect should walk about the world of men at dusk. Nor
did they like the strange sculptures upon the grey monoliths of Ib, for
those sculptures were terrible with great antiquity. Why the beings and
the sculptures lingered so late in the world, even until the coming of
men, none can tell; unless it was because the land of Mnar is very
still, and remote from most other lands both of waking and of dream.
As the men of Sarnath beheld more of the beings of Ib their hate grew,
and it was not less because they found the beings weak, and soft as
jelly to the touch of stones and spears and arrows. So one day the
young warriors, the slingers and the spearmen and the bowmen, marched
against Ib and slew all the inhabitants thereof, pushing the queer
bodies into the lake with long spears, because they did not wish to
touch them. And because they did not like the grey sculptured monoliths
of Ib they cast these also into the lake; wondering from the greatness
of the labour how ever the stones were brought from afar, as they must
have been, since there is naught like them in all the land of Mnar or
in the lands adjacent.
Thus of the very ancient city of Ib was nothing spared save the
sea-green stone idol chiselled in the likeness of Bokrug, the
water-lizard. This the young warriors took back with them to Sarnath as
a symbol of conquest over the old gods and beings of Ib, and a sign of
leadership in Mnar. But on the night after it was set up in the temple
a terrible thing must have happened, for weird lights were seen over
the lake, and in the morning the people found the idol gone, and the
high-priest Taran-Ish lying dead, as from some fear unspeakable. And
before he died, Taran-Ish had scrawled upon the altar of chrysolite
with coarse shaky strokes the sign of DOOM.
After Taran-Ish there were many high-priests in Sarnath, but never was
the sea-green stone idol found. And many centuries came and went,
wherein Sarnath prospered exceedingly, so that only priests and old
women remembered what Taran-Ish had scrawled upon the altar of
chrysolite. Betwixt Sarnath and the city of Ilarnek arose a caravan
route, and the precious metals from the earth were exchanged for other
metals and rare cloths and jewels and books and tools for artificers
and all things of luxury that are known to the people who dwell along
the winding river Ai and beyond. So Sarnath waxed mighty and learned
and beautiful, and sent forth conquering armies to subdue the
neighbouring cities; and in time there sate upon a throne in Sarnath
the kings of all the land of Mnar and of many lands adjacent.
The wonder of the world and the pride of all mankind was Sarnath the
magnificent. Of polished desert-quarried marble were its walls, in
height 300 cubits and in breadth 75, so that chariots might pass each
other as men drave them along the top. For full 500 stadia did they
run, being open only on the side toward the lake; where a green stone
sea-wall kept back the waves that rose oddly once a year at the
festival of the destroying of Ib. In Sarnath were fifty streets from
the lake to the gates of the caravans, and fifty more intersecting
them. With onyx were they paved, save those whereon the horses and
camels and elephants trod, which were paved with granite. And the gates
of Sarnath were as many as the landward ends of the streets, each of
bronze, and flanked by the figures of lions and elephants carven from
some stone no longer known among men. The houses of Sarnath were of
glazed brick and chalcedony, each having its walled garden and crystal
lakelet. With strange art were they builded, for no other city had
houses like them; and travellers from Thraa and Ilarnek and Kadatheron
marvelled at the shining domes wherewith they were surmounted.
But more marvellous still were the palaces and the temples, and the
gardens made by Zokkar the olden king. There were many palaces, the
least of which were mightier than any in Thraa or Ilarnek or
Kadatheron. So high were they that one within might sometimes fancy
himself beneath only the sky; yet when lighted with torches dipt in the
oil of Dothur their walls shewed vast paintings of kings and armies, of
a splendour at once inspiring and stupefying to the beholder. Many were
the pillars of the palaces, all of tinted marble, and carven into
designs of surpassing beauty. And in most of the palaces the floors
were mosaics of beryl and lapis-lazuli and sardonyx and carbuncle and
other choice materials, so disposed that the beholder might fancy
himself walking over beds of the rarest flowers. And there were
likewise fountains, which cast scented waters about in pleasing jets
arranged with cunning art. Outshining all others was the palace of the
kings of Mnar and of the lands adjacent. On a pair of golden crouching
lions rested the throne, many steps above the gleaming floor. And it
was wrought of one piece of ivory, though no man lives who knows whence
so vast a piece could have come. In that palace there were also many
galleries, and many amphitheatres where lions and men and elephants
battled at the pleasure of the kings. Sometimes the amphitheatres were
flooded with water conveyed from the lake in mighty aqueducts, and then
were enacted stirring sea-fights, or combats betwixt swimmers and
deadly marine things.
Lofty and amazing were the seventeen tower-like temples of Sarnath,
fashioned of a bright multi-coloured stone not known elsewhere. A full
thousand cubits high stood the greatest among them, wherein the
high-priests dwelt with a magnificence scarce less than that of the
kings. On the ground were halls as vast and splendid as those of the
palaces; where gathered throngs in worship of Zo-Kalar and Tamash and
Lobon, the chief gods of Sarnath, whose incense-enveloped shrines were
as the thrones of monarchs. Not like the eikons of other gods were
those of Zo-Kalar and Tamash and Lobon, for so close to life were they
that one might swear the graceful bearded gods themselves sate on the
ivory thrones. And up unending steps of shining zircon was the
tower-chamber, wherefrom the high-priests looked out over the city and
the plains and the lake by day; and at the cryptic moon and significant
stars and planets, and their reflections in the lake, by night. Here
was done the very secret and ancient rite in detestation of Bokrug, the
water-lizard, and here rested the altar of chrysolite which bore the
DOOM-scrawl of Taran-Ish.
Wonderful likewise were the gardens made by Zokkar the olden king. In
the centre of Sarnath they lay, covering a great space and encircled by
a high wall. And they were surmounted by a mighty dome of glass,
through which shone the sun and moon and stars and planets when it was
clear, and from which were hung fulgent images of the sun and moon and
stars and planets when it was not clear. In summer the gardens were
cooled with fresh odorous breezes skilfully wafted by fans, and in
winter they were heated with concealed fires, so that in those gardens
it was always spring. There ran little streams over bright pebbles,
dividing meads of green and gardens of many hues, and spanned by a
multitude of bridges. Many were the waterfalls in their courses, and
many were the lilied lakelets into which they expanded. Over the
streams and lakelets rode white swans, whilst the music of rare birds
chimed in with the melody of the waters. In ordered terraces rose the
green banks, adorned here and there with bowers of vines and sweet
blossoms, and seats and benches of marble and porphyry. And there were
many small shrines and temples where one might rest or pray to small
gods.
Each year there was celebrated in Sarnath the feast of the destroying
of Ib, at which time wine, song, dancing, and merriment of every kind
abounded. Great honours were then paid to the shades of those who had
annihilated the odd ancient beings, and the memory of those beings and
of their elder gods was derided by dancers and lutanists crowned with
roses from the gardens of Zokkar. And the kings would look out over the
lake and curse the bones of the dead that lay beneath it. At first the
high-priests liked not these festivals, for there had descended amongst
them queer tales of how the sea-green eikon had vanished, and how
Taran-Ish had died from fear and left a warning. And they said that
from their high tower they sometimes saw lights beneath the waters of
the lake. But as many years passed without calamity even the priests
laughed and cursed and joined in the orgies of the feasters. Indeed,
had they not themselves, in their high tower, often performed the very
ancient and secret rite in detestation of Bokrug, the water-lizard? And
a thousand years of riches and delight passed over Sarnath, wonder of
the world and pride of all mankind.
Gorgeous beyond thought was the feast of the thousandth year of the
destroying of Ib. For a decade had it been talked of in the land of
Mnar, and as it drew nigh there came to Sarnath on horses and camels
and elephants men from Thraa, Ilarnek, and Kadatheron, and all the
cities of Mnar and the lands beyond. Before the marble walls on the
appointed night were pitched the pavilions of princes and the tents of
travellers, and all the shore resounded with the song of happy
revellers. Within his banquet-hall reclined Nargis-Hei, the king,
drunken with ancient wine from the vaults of conquered Pnath, and
surrounded by feasting nobles and hurrying slaves. There were eaten
many strange delicacies at that feast; peacocks from the isles of
Nariel in the Middle Ocean, young goats from the distant hills of
Implan, heels of camels from the Bnazic desert, nuts and spices from
Cydathrian groves, and pearls from wave-washed Mtal dissolved in the
vinegar of Thraa. Of sauces there were an untold number, prepared by
the subtlest cooks in all Mnar, and suited to the palate of every
feaster. But most prized of all the viands were the great fishes from
the lake, each of vast size, and served up on golden platters set with
rubies and diamonds.
Whilst the king and his nobles feasted within the palace, and viewed
the crowning dish as it awaited them on golden platters, others feasted
elsewhere. In the tower of the great temple the priests held revels,
and in pavilions without the walls the princes of neighbouring lands
made merry. And it was the high-priest Gnai-Kah who first saw the
shadows that descended from the gibbous moon into the lake, and the
damnable green mists that arose from the lake to meet the moon and to
shroud in a sinister haze the towers and the domes of fated Sarnath.
Thereafter those in the towers and without the walls beheld strange
lights on the water, and saw that the grey rock Akurion, which was wont
to rear high above it near the shore, was almost submerged. And fear
grew vaguely yet swiftly, so that the princes of Ilarnek and of far
Rokol took down and folded their tents and pavilions and departed for
the river Ai, though they scarce knew the reason for their departing.
Then, close to the hour of midnight, all the bronze gates of Sarnath
burst open and emptied forth a frenzied throng that blackened the
plain, so that all the visiting princes and travellers fled away in
fright. For on the faces of this throng was writ a madness born of
horror unendurable, and on their tongues were words so terrible that no
hearer paused for proof. Men whose eyes were wild with fear shrieked
aloud of the sight within the king’s banquet-hall, where through the
windows were seen no longer the forms of Nargis-Hei and his nobles and
slaves, but a horde of indescribable green voiceless things with
bulging eyes, pouting, flabby lips, and curious ears; things which
danced horribly, bearing in their paws golden platters set with rubies
and diamonds containing uncouth flames. And the princes and travellers,
as they fled from the doomed city of Sarnath on horses and camels and
elephants, looked again upon the mist-begetting lake and saw the grey
rock Akurion was quite submerged.
Through all the land of Mnar and the lands adjacent spread the tales of
those who had fled from Sarnath, and caravans sought that accursed city
and its precious metals no more. It was long ere any traveller went
thither, and even then only the brave and adventurous young men of
distant Falona dared make the journey; adventurous young men of yellow
hair and blue eyes, who are no kin to the men of Mnar. These men indeed
went to the lake to view Sarnath; but though they found the vast still
lake itself, and the grey rock Akurion which rears high above it near
the shore, they beheld not the wonder of the world and pride of all
mankind. Where once had risen walls of 300 cubits and towers yet
higher, now stretched only the marshy shore, and where once had dwelt
fifty millions of men now crawled only the detestable green
water-lizard. Not even the mines of precious metal remained, for DOOM
had come to Sarnath.
But half buried in the rushes was spied a curious green idol of stone;
an exceedingly ancient idol coated with seaweed and chiselled in the
likeness of Bokrug, the great water-lizard. That idol, enshrined in the
high temple at Ilarnek, was subsequently worshipped beneath the gibbous
moon throughout the land of Mnar.
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