UTTARA
THE
Legend of the Turquoise
Illustrations and Text by
CARLO DE FORNARO
Published by MARCUS & CO.
Jewelers
544 Fifth Avenue
New York
Copyright, 1902, by
Carlo de Fornaro
To
Mrs. M. B. Train
Surya
When the Immortals created the two eyes of
heaven, they placed fair splendor in Him.
—Rig Veda
GREAT commotion reigned amongthe Immortals, as a most unprecedentedevent had convulsedand shaken the inhabitantsof the city of Swarga inthe heaven of Indra.
Three of the most powerful and most beautifulof all the gods, Indra, Surya and Soma, had fallenfoolishly, hopelessly in love with a mortal woman.She was the daughter of a Brahmin priest, a twice-bornman, and so fair was she that the King ofBenares described her as a morsel fit for thegods.
[7]The court poet had sung her beauty in a songwhich ran thus:
“Thou canst behold her beauty but once andnevermore, for like the splendor of Surya it blindsthee for thy daring.
“Thus I, from the profound depth of my blindnesswill describe to thee in words as poor as myfancy is rich, what I saw.
“Her countenance is pale and sad as the whitelotus in full bloom when it is kissed by the raysof the love-lorn moon.
“Her hair is black as the thoughts of Yama,and it is so delicate and sensitive that it reflects allher moods, her most intimate thoughts, and thoucanst observe her hair if thou darest not glance ather face. Her eyes are as deep as the BottomlessWell, and when she gazes at thee for a while thoufeelest that she could absorb thee as thou dostthe perfume of a flower. But if thou couldstonly read in her eyes thou wouldst find there thesource of all the Blessings.
[9]“When her eyelids close and open slowly theyseem to yawn indifference or contempt, and theeyebrows are arches which keep the eyes fromirradiating the Universe.
“Her mouth is sometimes paler than the palestcoral, at other times darker than a bloody wound,and it is more flexible than the thoughts of a courtier.
“When her lips smile at thee thou art certainthat thou has