The Cook County news-herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Cook County, Minn.) 1909-current, 1915-06-24
The Stormins of Seringapatam
(l799).
Extracted From a Family Paper.

Extracted From a Family Paper.
ADDRESS these lines, written in
India, to my relatives in Eng
land
My object Is to explain the mo-
tive which has induced me to refuse
the right hand Of friendship to my
cousin, John Herncastle.
The private difference between my
cousin and me took it's rise in a great
public event in which we were both
concentrating storming Of Seringapa-
tam, under General Baird, on the 18th
Of May, 1900.
In order that the circumstances may
be clearly understood, must revert
for moment to the period before the
assault and to the stories current in
our camp of the treasure in jewels and
gold stored up in the palace Of Serin-
gapatam.
One Of the widest Of these stories
related to yellow diamond, famous
gem in the native annals Of India.
The earliest known traditions de-
scribe the stone as having been set in
the forehead of the four handed Indian
god who typifies the moon. Partly
from its peculiar color, partly from a
superstition which represented 1t as
partaking Of the nature Of the deity
whom it adorned, and growing and
lessening in luster with the waxing
and waning Of the moon, it first gained
the name by which it continues to be
known in India to this day-the name
of the moonstone.
The adventures of the yellow dia-
mond begin with the eleventh century
of the Christian era. At that date the
AIohammedan conqueror, Mahmud Of
Ghazni, crossed India, seized on the
toly city Of Somnath and stripped Of
It's treasures the famous temple which
had stood for centuries, the shrine of
Hindu pilgrimage and the wonder Of
the eastern world.
OF all the deities worshiped in the
temple the moon god alone escaped the
rapacity Of the conquering Mohamme-
dams. Preserved by three Brahmans,
the lnviolate deity, bearing the yellow
diamond in its forehead, was removed
by night and was transported to the
second Of the sacred cities of India,
the city Of Benares.
Here, in a new shrine-in hall in
laid with precious stones under roof
supported by pillars of gold-the moon
god was set up and worshiped. Here,
on the night when the shrine was COM
pleted, Vishnu the Preserver appeared
to the three Brahmans in dream.
The deity breathed the breath Of his
divinity on the diamond In the fore
head Of the god. And the Brahmans
robes. The deity commanded that the
moonstone should be watched from
that time forth by three priests in turn
night and day to the end of the gen.
erations Of men. And the Brahmans
heard und bowed before his will. The
deity predicted certain disaster to the
rresumptuous mortal who laid hands
house and name who received it after
him. And the Brahmans caused the
prophecy to be written over the gates
Of the shrine In letters Of gold.
One age followed another, and still,
generation after generation, the sue
cessors Of the three Brahmans watch
cd their priceless moonstone night and
day. One age followed another until
the first years Of the eighteenth Chris
tian century saw the reign Of Aurung-
Zeb, emperor Of the Moguls. At his
command havoc and rapine were let
loose once more among the temples OF
the worship of Brahmah. The shrine
Of the four handed god was polluted
by the slaughter of sacred animals.
The images Of the deities were broken
In pieces, and the moonstone was seiz-
ed by an officer of rank in the army Of
Aurung-Zeb.
Powerless to recover their lost treas
ure by open force, the three guardian
priests followed and watched it in dis
guise. The generations succeeded each
other. The warrior who had commit
ted the sacrilege persisted miserably.
The moonstone passed carrying its
curse with IT. from one lawless Mo-
hammedan hand to another, and still,
through all chances and changes, the
successors Of the three guardian priests
kept their watch, waiting the day when
the will Of Yishnu the Preserver should
u restore tos them their sacred gem. Time
rolled ~ the rst tos the Inst years