Cemented stones! Grass running all over! Without speech or movement! The slightest motion is the reciprocation of the grass to the gentle breeze. A home for worms and other creatures. Monuments to waste money and occupy space depriving those that can live in their place. This was the vivid picture that I had in my mind about sepulchers, and I considered them to be useless and most unwanted and haunted blocks of bones.
It was that Sunday evening that I met in my life, which weakened my lethal idea of death and graves. A book on thanatology altered my views about death - even gave me a realization that death is a sign of obedience to the call of Providence and one can find solace in joy of this inevitable experience. Turning the pages of the book most reluctantly, I came across the momentous monument that stood as a mute witness unto the love and affection between two mortals, Major General John Pater and Arabella Robinson.
This is the legend between Major General John Pater and Arabella Robinson.
John Pater was appointed as Major General to Machilipatnam fort in the early 1800s. Machilipatnam was a flourishing trade centre in those days and the British troops were stationed in the fort there. A church of St.John, The Divine was newly built. a small Christian community, mostly of the East India Company officials and workers, worshiped in that church there. One among the prominent members of the community was Captain Robinson.
Captain Robinson had a beautiful daughter named Arabella. Fair-complexioned, tall-stature and wealthy English lady, Arabella, was liked and admired by everyone of the community. As days passed by, the General fell in love with Arabella and wa,s modestly attracted to her beauty. The General expressed his love for her and Arabella reciprocated passionately.
The General and Arabella have longed to get married but there was an obstacle for their legal union. The obstacle that was generally believed was that the General had left a legally married wife behind him in England. Therefore, the intended marriage between the General and Arabella was an anathema in the sight of the Church as well as the law of the land.
They were intensely filled with love, that they could not live apart. One day, to the utter astonishment of all the community living in the fort and to the heart-breaking of the Robinsons, Arabella left her father's house and went away to live with the man of her choice. It was known as a big scandal in Machilipatnam since such events were never known or heard in the Indian cultural setting.
Both, the General and Arabella were good at heart and were looking for the day when the obstacle for their legal union would be cleared off. The General brought a wedding gown and a ring for his lady love, which he kept for the day of their holy matrimony - when she would stand as his beloved and legally wedded wife.
But Providence willed it otherwise.
On November 6, 1809 Arabella suddenly died, much before her dreams came true. The General in his deep sorrow prepared her body for burial in the bridal dress, which Arabella wished to wear one day and become the General's spouse. Then the General went to the Anglican priest of the church of St.John, The Divine with a view to bury Arabella in the cemetery attached to the church. But the Anglican priest refused to give the burial space. Therefore the General turned to the Goan priest, who was ministering to the little Roman community in the Fort, for her burial. The Roman priest also declined on the grounds that they were living in sin.
As such the General was filled with great disappointment and had no other way except to bury her in a private ground in the outskirts of Machilipatnam with military honours, sans prayers and priest. That was not the end of their love.
Major General John Pater's love for Arabella was so great that he got her embalmed with perfumes, said to have been brought from Egypt, to preserve her body for long time and got a tombstone erected over her grave. The epitaph on the tombstone read:
This monument sacred to the memory of
ARABELLA ROBINSON
(Daughter of Captain William Robinson of the
Honorable Company's Military Service)
Who died on the 6th November 1809
Was erected by her Ever
Grateful and Affectionate Friend
Major General John Pater
The General got a vault built for keeping the coffin intact. he arranged it in such a way that at the slightest twist of a dove like knob fixed at the top of the tombstone, the cover stone on the vault would slide and the body of his beloved could be seen. The General made this arrangement to see his sleeping beauty whenever he wished to.
In the depth of the winter night, he sought her radiant presence passionately and his heart broke out -
Behold, you are fair, my love!
Behold, you are fair!
Fair as the sun,
Clear as the moon,
Bestowed with dove's eyes,
Sustain me, for I am lovesick.
My dove, my perfect one!
My head is covered with dew,
My locks with the drops of the night,
Let the fragrance of your garments,
Soothe my yearning soul,
Awake, O my beloved!
O, my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
In the secret places of this cliff,
Let me see your countenance,
Let me hear your voice,
Let me feel your presence,
Awake, O my beloved!
The brave -hearted General at last stooped at her grave, kissed his inanimate dove, and questioned in an ineffable tone:
"O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?"
How great was the love of Major General John Pater! How lovely was the grave of Arabella!
After reading the book keenly, I realized that graves are shelters for those that rest in them and inevitable, silent signs for those who are yet to enter them. They are truly the immortalized living monuments on the earth to remind us of life and life unto the eternal awakening.
