Chapter 21: The Temple of Love

Next morning Nathan set off for Shangri La with most of the supplies and the six African girls. Lillian, Mimi, and I, in a cart hired from the hostelry, drove eastwards off the main track along a narrow but well-used trail towards the temple Lillian wanted to show me.

“I hope you have your sketching pad handy,” Lillian said to Mimi.

“I never go anywhere without it,” Mimi replied.

As we travelled the twisting, rutted track I realised where we were bound.

“Is the temple we are about to view the one where you saw the symbols that are on my amulet, Lillian?”

“Yes, and there are also some interesting statues there that Mimi might like to sketch,” she said, and then smiled broadly.

We reached the temple after a jolting three-hour journey. A bullock cart is not the most luxurious or comfortable mode of transport, and by the time we arrived at our destination my buttocks were as sore as after receiving a beating from Shavey Huggins, Headmaster of the King’s School, Grantham.

“This temple is dedicated to the dual gods Kamadeva and Rati. Kamadeva is the god of human love; Rati is the goddess of carnal desire, lust, passion, and sexual pleasure. As you can imagine the temple is very popular with pilgrims and employs many devadasis to entertain the visitors.” Lillian said.

“You mean the temple employs harlots,” I said in disgust.

“No, Jack. These devadasis are priestesses who have dedicated their lives to the temple gods, Kamadeva and Rati. They dance for, and copulate with, pilgrims to worship and glorify the two gods. When conjoined with a priestess a pilgrim becomes one with the gods. In appreciation of the brief moment of being elevated to that of a god the pilgrim donates to the temple.” She grinned. “One cannot imagine the Church of England following the practice and have nuns as devadasis!“

To my mind, being a devadasi in the Temple of Love was no different than being a whore. However, I was in a foreign and mysterious oriental land, and perhaps I should have left my preconceived ideas concerning religion, and the workings of society, back in England.

As we dismounted from the cart and stretched our aching limbs Lillian pointed to our right.

“The wall with the inscriptions and symbols is that way.”

I noticed a well-defined path heading in the opposite direction.

“That seems to be of a more well-worn track; surely the inscriptions are that way?”

Lillian smiled and shook her head. “No, that path leads to a different attraction that we will visit after seeing the symbols.” She set off along the faint path to our right, Mimi and I could do naught else but follow her

“The first temple on this site was built some three thousand years ago, but only one wall of the original building remains. The current temple was built about eight hundred years ago,” Lillian informed us.

After ten minutes of walking, pushing past overhanging boughs and bushes, we reached the wall. It stood no more than six feet high and was festooned with vines and creepers from the multitude of trees and bushes growing about and indeed on it. An area of wall had been cleared of foliage. I peered at the inscriptions carved into the wall and recognised many of the symbols that were on my amulet; the ankh, the Star of David, and those characters on the amulet I took to be Hebrew. There were other characters inscribed into the wall which I supposed were Sanskrit, the holy script of the Hindu religion. I pointed to a character that resembled the head of a trident, three upward pointing barbs.

“That symbol is also on my amulet, but neither Shadrack of Naples nor the Rothsteins in London could say what it was, other than it was not Hebrew or Aramaic,” I said to Mimi. She had set up her easel and was making a copy of all the characters and symbols inscribed on the wall.

“I believe the symbol you refer to is a stylized interpretation of fire, and represents the Zoroastrian religion,” said a voice behind me.

I spun around to see an Indian dressed in a bright yellow kaftan type garment that reached to his mid-calf. His hair grew down to his shoulders, and his full, luxuriant, beard was as dark as his hair. He was barefooted.

Lillian cried out in delight. “Maharishi! I did not expect to see you here.”

She made the namaste, which the Maharishi returned.

“Nor I to see you, Lillian,” he replied. “Where is Ramakrishna, and who are your two European companions?”

“Krish, Ramakrishna, is at Shangri La, and these are two friends of ours from England, Colonel Sir Elijah and Lady Mimi Greenaway.”

The Maharishi made the namaste gesture that Mimi returned. I had held out my hand but quickly withdrew it when I saw Mimi return the Maharishi’s greeting. I made a stab at the namaste, and saw a slight smile on the face of the Indian.

“I am Kutra Vishwaritra, and it is a great honour and pleasure to meet you, Sir Elijah and Lady Mimi.” He glanced at the sketch Mimi had made of the inscriptions on the wall. “You have a good eye, Lady Mimi, and an exceptionally fine hand. This wall is all that remains of the original temple. It was built before the Hindu religion was introduced into this area of India, and was probably used by a cult of snake worshippers. Naga is the Tamil word for snake, and was employed by the incoming Dravidian people from the North when referring to the indigenous population. A Hindu temple was built incorporating the original building some fifteen hundred years ago, and extensively enlarged about eight hundred years ago.” He indicated the ankh symbol carved into the wall. “Stonemasons believe this symbol was among the first to be inscribed on the wall, along with the Star of David and the fire symbol of the Zoroastrians.” He pointed to some characters inscribed on the wall that were not echoed on my amulet. “These are Sanskrit and Vedic characters, and these,” he pointed to a row of characters underneath the Sanskrit text, “are Hebrew and or Aramaic. The sign of the crescent of Islam and the fish symbol of Christianity were added much later, and the cross even later, probably by the Portuguese.”

I showed the Maharishi my amulet and gave him a brief account of the search for Akhenaten’s House of Fools in Egypt.

“Do you think the ankh hieroglyph may have been inscribed here by a missionary from Egypt, Sir Elijah?”

“It is possible, and would substantiate Professor Crudwright’s theory, but the hieroglyph had been in use in Egypt long before Akhenaten appropriated it as the symbol of his new religion.”

The Maharishi nodded in agreement. “However, seeing that symbol alongside other religions’ symbols gives the impression there was a meeting of people representing those religions here at the temple.” He smiled at the look of stupefaction that must have been showing on my face. “Perhaps that is rather a far-fetched flight of fancy on my part, but what is interesting is that all the monotheistic religions are represented but only one polytheistic, Hinduism.”

He turned to Lillian. “I must get back to the temple, I have devadasis awaiting me. I hope to visit Shangri La later this week and pay my respects at the shrine of Maharishi Acharya Vijadit. Hopefully, Sir Elijah and Lady Mimi will still be with you?”

“We look forward to your visit, Maharishi, and yes, Elijah and Mimi will still be with us as Elijah is awaiting a letter from the Governor of Coimbatore and...”

“No doubt the letter will be concerning Corbinn sahib, the deputy- governor,” the maharishi said. He saw my astonishment and smiled. “Not much happens in Coimbatore, or indeed in Kerala, that I am not soon made aware of, especially the actions of the Honourable East India Company. My informants tell me a messenger has been dispatched and should reach Calcutta within ten days, so you can plan to stay for some time with the Armityges. I look forward to renewing our acquaintance in a few days.” We all exchanged Namaste, and then he turned on his heel and strode away.

“An interesting fellow,” I said to Lillian.

“He is a most wonderful man, and has been a great help to Krish and me and the hospital. He has an ashram near Bangalore, but visits this temple, and Shangri La, once a year.”

Mimi sat back from her easel. “I have enough sketches of this wall, Lillian. Where are these statues you want to show us?”

“Follow me, and be prepared to be amazed,” Lilian said and moved off along the faint foot-path back to the well-worn track. We followed the track for about a hundred yards, which brought us to the collonaded entrance of the temple. A terrace of wide steps led up to the main portal, where a pair of huge wooden doors were wide open. I heard chanting and caught a whiff of incense. Lillian turned to the right and we walked alongside a head-high wall for another fifty yards until we entered a courtyard encircled by the wall we had been following. I stopped in astonishment. On the wall at the end of the courtyard were life-sized statues depicting men and women engaged in sexual congress!

Whoever carved the figures had been a master artist. The statues were so lifelike it was if real people had been frozen in the act of copulation. The sculptor must have also possessed the knowledge of female and male anatomy that a surgeon would envy. Looking at the frieze of carnal activity caused John Thomas to stir, and I noticed Mimi’s tongue sweep over her glistening lips.

Lillian gave a wide smile. “Most arresting, wouldn’t you say, Jack, and also most informative!”

She was correct on both counts. There were a dozen pairs of embracing figures engaged in sexual intercourse, all in differing sexual positions.

“The positions depicted here are the most popular of the sixty-four described in the Kama Sutra,” Lillian explained. “After viewing these statues a pilgrim will be filled with lust and desire, and eager to copulate with a devadasi.”

I could well believe that; after seeing this tableau of carnality a pilgrim would have gone hotfoot, and with a rigid John Thomas, to quench his ardour with a devadasi ready and willing to fulfil his wildest sexual fantasy in his favoured position. The statue I was looking at had a pair of lovers in a similar position to the one known in England as ‘the canine entry.’ However, instead of being on all fours the female was kneeling, forearms on the ground, head resting on her forearms, her rump stuck high in the air with her sari bunched well above her buttocks. The male, naked below the waist and his John Thomas part inserted in the female’s madge, was clutching his partner’s shapely hips in both hands, poised to ram himself fully home. The look of lechery and anticipation on their faces was as arousing as their pose. Many of the positions shown were not too dissimilar to those favoured in the West, although several would need a deal of dexterity and limberness, plus an amount of physical strength, for a consummation to be enjoyed.

“Statues depicting many other Kama Sutra positions are in the temple,” Lillian said. “Some temples with an open display of this type of statuary were desecrated by British missionaries. The statues were defaced or destroyed.”

“How is it these are still on view,” I asked her. “Are there no Christian missionaries in Coimbatore?”

“There are a few, but not as militant as the ones in Bengal, where most of the sacrilegious acts against Hindu temples take place. Even so, the High Priest of this temple is wary when Christians visit the site, and if Mimi wishes to sketch the rest of the collection I will need to speak to him on your behalf. I am a Hindu and have seen the statues inside the temple. Some of the more advanced positions will be difficult for those who have not practised yoga...”

“What is yoga?” I asked.

“Yoga is both a physical and mental exercise. Krish and I perform at least an hour of yoga each morning. Maharishi Vishwaritra is an expert, an Adept, and teaches advanced methods to temple devadasis and other interested persons.”

“Such as you and Krish?”

Lillian gave a wide grin of affirmance, and then nodded at Mimi, “And your wife now joins us in the practice.”

Mimi was too engrossed in her work to reply but I saw a broad smile on her face, which suggested yoga was not only beneficial but also enjoyable.

Mimi continued sketching. I watched in fascination as her deft strokes of pencil or charcoal stick formed images on the paper. It took her about an hour before she was satisfied she had captured the whole gamut of the paired statues.

“The statuary on display here is enough to frighten the horses,” she said, her pencil flying over her sketchpad. “I would be too embarrassed to show these to an English audience, and would probably have the church authorities denounce me from the pulpit. I dare not try reproducing the more advanced versions kept in the temple!”

As she packed up her easel and sketching equipment she murmured to me, “My monthly visitor will have left by this evening, Jacques. Tonight we could try out one or two of these Hindu positions?”

We did, and I was an abject failure!

I lay in Mimi’s arms with a face hot with shame and a John Thomas limp as wilted celery. I had been unable to rouse John enough to do his duty and make a priapic entry into the wet and willing madge of my equally wet and willing wife. Mimi, bless her, made light of my failure.

“You are still recovering from the time spent in Eloise de La Zouche’s clutches,” she breathed in my ear, “and are weak from loss of blood.”

That was true. My blood should have been pounding through my penis, but that organ remained a wrinkled and shrivelled object of shame and ridicule.

“Having Lillian sleeping just a few yards from us inhibited you from being your usual fervid self,” Mimi said, placing a soft kiss on my lips. Lillian’s nearness had not inhibited Mimi, who opened herself to me fully, sucking my tongue into her urgent mouth as soon as I joined her in bed.