chambers below.
Light, bom not of torches but of the generators of
Yama, filled the cavern. The bed, set upon a platform,
was closed about on three sides by screens. Most of the
machinery was also masked by screens and hangings.
The saffron-robed monks who were in attendance
moved silently about the great chamber. Yama, master
artificer, stood at the bedside.
As they approached, several of the well-disciplined,
imperturbable monks uttered brief exclamations. Tak
then turned to the woman at his side and drew back a
pace, his breath catching in his throat.
She was no longer the dumpy little matron with
whom he had spoken. Once again did he stand at the
side of Night immortal, of whom it has been written,
"The goddess has filled wide space, to its depths and its
heights. Her radiance drives out the dark."
He looked but a moment and covered his eyes. She
still had this trace of her distant Aspect about her.
"Goddess..." he began.
"To the sleeper," she stated. "He stirs."
They advanced to the bedstead.
Thereafter to be portrayed in murals at the ends of
countless corridors, carved upon the walls of Temples
and painted onto the ceilings of numerous palaces,
came the awakening of he who was variously known as
Mahasamatman, Kalkin, Manjusri, Siddhartha, Ta-
thagatha, Binder, Maitreya, the Enlightened One, Bud-
dha and Sam. At his left was the goddess of Night; to
LORD OF LIGHT 17
his right stood Death; Tak, the ape, was crouched at
the foot of the bed, eternal comment upon the coexist-
ence of the animal and the divine.
He wore an ordinary, darkish body of medium
height and age; his features were regular and undistin-
guished; when his eyes opened, they were dark.
