The Doom That Came to Sarnath

The Doom That Came to Sarnath
by H.P. Lovecraft

There is in the land of Mnar a vast still lake that is fed by no stream, and
out of which no stream flows. Ten thousand years ago there stood by its shore
the mighty city of Sarnath, but Sarnath stands there no more.
It is told that in the immemorial years when the world was young, before
ever the men of Sarnath came to the land of Mnar, another city stood beside the
lake; the gray stone city of Ib, which was old as the lake itseli, and peopled
with beings not pleasing to behold. Very odd and ugly were these beings, as
indeed are most beings of a world yet inchoate and rudely fashioned. It is
written on the brick cylinders of Kadatheron that the beings of lb were in hue
as green as the lake and the mists that rise above it; that they had bulging
eyes, pouting, flabby lips, and curious ears, and were without voice. It is also
written that they descended one night from the moon in a mist; they and the vast
still lake and gray stone city lb. However this may be, it is certain that they
worshipped a sea-green stone idol chiseled in the likeness of Bokrug, the great
water-lizard; before which they danced horribly when the moon was gibbous. And
it is written in the papyrus of Ilarnek, that they one day discovered fire, and
thereafter kindled flames on many ceremonial occasions. But not much is written
of these beings, because they lived in very ancient times, and man is young, and
knows but little of the very ancient living things.
After many eons men came to the land of Mnar, dark shepherd folk with their
fleecy flocks, who built Thraa, Ilarnek, and Kadatheron on the winding river Ai.
And certain tribes, more hardy than the rest, pushed on to the border of the
lake and built Sarnath at a spot where precious metals were found in the earth.
Not far from the gray city of lb did the wandering tribes lay the first
stones of Sarnath, and at the beings of lb they marveled greatly. But with their
marveling was mixed hate, for they thought it not meet that beings of such
aspect should walk about the world of men at dusk. Nor did they like the strange
sculptures upon the gray monoliths of Ib, for why those sculptures lingered so
late in the world, even until the coming men, none can tell; unless it was
because the land of Mnar is very still, and remote from most other lands, both
of waking and of dream.
As the men of Sarnath beheld more of the beings of lb their hate grew, and
it was not less because they found the beings weak, and soft as jelly to the
touch of stones and arrows. So one day the young warriors, the slingers and the
spearmen and the bowmen, marched against lb and slew all the inhabitants
thereof, pushing the queer bodies into the lake with long spears, because they
did not wish to touch them. And because they did not like the gray sculptured
monoliths of lb they cast these also into the lake; wondering from the greatness
of the labor how ever the stones were brought from afar, as they must have been,
since there is naught like them in the land of Mnar or in the lands adjacent.
Thus of the very ancient city of lb was nothing spared, save the sea-green
stone idol chiseled in the likeness of Bokrug, the water-lizard. This the young
warriors took back with them as a symbol of conquest over the old gods and
beings of Th, and as a sign of leadership in Mnar. But on the night after it was
set up in the temple, a terrible thing must have happened, for weird lights were
seen over the lake, and in the morning the people found the idol gone and the
high-priest Taran-Ish lying dead, as from some fear unspeakable. And before he
died, Taran-Ish had scrawled upon the altar of chrysolite with coarse shaky
strokes the sign of DOOM.
After Taran-Ish there were many high-priests in Sarnath but never was the
sea-green stone idol found. And many centuries came and went, wherein Sarnath
prospered exceedingly, so that only priests and old women remembered what
Taran-Ish had scrawled upon the altar of chrysolite. Betwixt Sarnath and the
city of flarnek arose a caravan route, and the precious metals from the earth
were exchanged for other metals and rare cloths and jewels and books and tools
for artificers and all things of luxury that are known to the people who dwell
along the winding river Ai and beyond. So Sarnath waxed mighty and learned and
beautiful, and sent forth conquering armies to subdue the neighboring cities;
and in time there sate upon a throne in Sarnath the kings of all the land of
Mnar and of many lands adjacent.
The wonder of the world and the pride of all mankind was Sarnath the
magnificent. Of polished desert-quarried marble were its walls, in height three
hundred cubits and in breadth seventy-five, so that chariots might pass each
other as men drove them along the top. For full five hundred stadia did they
run, being open only on the side toward the lake where a green stone sea-wall
kept back the waves that rose oddly once a year at the festival of the
`destroying of lb. In Sarnath were fifty streets from the lake to the gates of
the caravans, and fifty more intersecting them. With onyx were they paved, save
those whereon the horses and camels and elephants trod, which were paved with
granite. And the gates of Sarnath were as many as the landward ends of the
streets, each of bronze, and flanked by the figures of lions and elephants
carven from some stone no longer known among men. The houses of Sarnath were of
glazed brick and chalcedony, each having its walled garden and crystal lakelet.
With strange art were they builded, for no other city had houses like them; and
travelers from Thraa and Ilarnek and Kadatheron marveled at the shining domes
wherewith they were surmounted.
But more marvelous still were the palaces and the temples, and the gardens
made by Zokkar the olden king. There were many palaces, the last of which were
mightier than any in Thraa or Ilarnek or Kadatheron. So high were they that one
within might sometimes fancy himself beneath only the sky; yet when lighted with
torches dipt in the oil of Dother their walls showed vast paintings of kings and
armies, of a splendor at once inspiring and stupefying to the beholder. Many
were the pillars of the palaces, all of tinted marble, and carven into designs
of surpassing beauty. And in most of the palaces the floors were mosaics of
beryl and lapis lazuli and sardonyx and carbuncle and other choice materials, so
disposed that the beholder might fancy himself walking over beds of the rarest
flowers. And there were likewise fountains, which cast scented waters about in
pleasing jets arranged with cunning art. Outshining all others was the palace of
the kings of Mnar and of the lands adjacent. On a pair of golden crouching lions
rested the throne, many steps above the gleaming floor. And it was wrought of
one piece of ivory, though no man lives who knows whence so vast a piece could
have come. In that palace there were also many galleries, and many amphitheaters
where lions and men and elephants battled at the pleasure of the kings.
Sometimes the amphitheaters were flooded with water conveyed from the lake in
mighty aqueducts, and then were enacted stirring sea-fights, or combats betwixt
swimmers and deadly marine things.
Lofty and amazing were the seventeen tower-like temples of Sarnath,
fashioned of a bright multi-colored stone not known elsewhere. A full thousand
cubits high stood the greatest among them, wherein the high-priests dwelt with a
magnificence scarce less than that of the kings. On the ground were halls as
vast and splendid as those of the palaces; where gathered throngs in worship of
Zo-Kalar and Tamash and Lobon, the chief gods of Sarnath, whose
incense-enveloped shrines were as the thrones of monarchs. Not like the eikons
of other gods were those of Zo-Kalar and Tamash and Lobon. For so close to life
were they that one might swear the graceful bearded gods themselves sate on the
ivory thrones. And up unending steps of zircon was the tower-chamber, wherefrom
the high-priests looked out over the city and the plains and the lake by day;
and at the cryptic moon and significant stars and planets, and their reflections
in the lake, at night. Here was done the very secret and ancient rite in
detestation of Bokrug, the water-lizard, and here rested the altar of chrysolite
which bore the Doom-scrawl of Taran-Ish.
Wonderful likewise were the gardens made by Zokkar the olden king. In the
center of Sarnath they lay, covering a great space and encircled by a high wall.
And they were surmounted by a mighty dome of glass, through which shone the sun
and moon and planets when it was clear, and from which were hung fulgent images
of the sun and moon and stars and planets when it was not clear. In summer the
gardens were cooled with fresh odorous breezes skilfully wafted by fans, and in
winter they were heated with concealed fires, so that in those gardens it was
always spring. There ran little streams over bright pebbles, dividing meads of
green and gardens of many hues, and spanned by a multitude of bridges. Many were
the waterfalls in their courses, and many were the hued lakelets into which they
expanded. Over the streams and lakelets rode white swans, whilst the music of
rare birds chimed in with the melody of the waters. In ordered terraces rose the
green banks, adorned here and there with bowers of vines and sweet blossoms, and
seats and benches of marble and porphyry. And there were many small shrines and
temples where one might rest or pray to small gods.
Each year there was celebrated in Sarnath the feast of the destroying of lb,
at which time wine, song, dancing, and merriment of every kind abounded. Great
honors were then paid to the shades of those who had annihilated the odd ancient
beings, and the memory of those beings and of their elder gods was derided by
dancers and lutanists crowned with roses from the gardens of Zokkar. And the
kings would look out over the lake and curse the bones of the dead that lay
beneath it.
At first the high-priests liked not these festivals, for there had descended
amongst them queer tales of how the sea-green eikon had vanished, and how
Taran-Ish had died from fear and left a warning. And they said that from their
high tower they sometimes saw lights beneath the waters of the lake. But as many
years passed without calamity even the priests laughed and cursed and joined in
the orgies of the feasters. Indeed, had they not themselves, in their high
tower, often performed the very ancient and secret rite in detestation of
Bokrug, the water-lizard? And a thousand years of riches and delight passed over
Sarnath, wonder of the world.
Gorgeous beyond thought was the feast of the thousandth year of the
destroying of lb. For a decade had it been talked of in the land of Mnar, and as
it drew nigh there came to Sarnath on horses and camels and elephants men from
Thraa, llarnek, and Kadetheron, and all the cities of Mnar and the lands beyond.
Before the marble walls on the appointed night were pitched the pavilions of
princes and the tents of travelers. Within his banquet-hall reclined Nargis-Hei,
the king, drunken with ancient wine from the vaults of conquered Pnoth, and
surrounded by feasting nobles and hurrying slaves. There were eaten many strange
delicacies at that feast; peacocks from the distant hills of linplan, heels of
camels from the Bnazic desert, nuts and spices from Sydathrian groves, and
pearls from wave-washed Mtal dissolved in the vinegar of Thraa. Of sauces there
were an untold number, prepared by the subtlest cooks in all Mnar, and suited to
the palate of every feaster. But most prized of all the viands were the great
fishes from the lake, each of vast size, and served upon golden platters set
with rubies and diamonds.
Whilst the king and his nobles feasted within the palace, and viewed the
crowning dish as it awaited them on golden platters, others feasted elsewhere.
In the tower of the great temple the priests held revels, and in pavilions
without the walls the princes of neighboring lands made merry. And it was the
high-priest Gnai-Kah who first saw the shadows that descended from the gibbous
moon into the lake, and the damnable green mists that arose from the lake to
meet the moon and to shroud in a sinister haze the towers and the domes of fated
Sarnath. Thereafter those in the towers and without the walls beheld strange
lights on the water, and saw that the gray rock Akurion, which was wont to rear
high above it near the shore, was almost submerged. And fear grew vaguely yet
swiftly, so that the princes of Ilarnek and of far Rokol took down and folded
their tents and pavilions and departed, though they scarce knew the reason for
their departing.
Then, close to the hour of midnight, all the bronze gates of Sarnath burst
open and emptied forth a frenzied throng that blackened the plain, so that all
the visiting princes and travelers fled away in fright. For on the faces of this
throng was writ a madness born of horror unendurable, and on their tongues were
words so terrible that no hearer paused for proof. Men whose eyes were wild with
fear shrieked aloud of the sight within the king's banquet-hall, where through
the windows were seen no longer the forms of Nargis-Hei and his nobles and
slaves, but a horde of indescribable green voiceless things with bulging eyes,
pouting, flabby lips, and curious ears; things which danced horribly, bearing in
their paws golden platters set with rubies and diamonds and containing uncouth
flames. And the princes and travelers, as they fled from the doomed city of
Sarnath on horses and camels and elephants, looked again upon the mist-begetting
lake and saw the gray rock Akurion was quite submerged. Through all the land of
Mnar and the land adjacent spread the tales of those who had fled from Sarnath,
and caravans sought that accursed city and its precious metals no more. It was
long ere any travelers went thither, and even then only the brave and
adventurous young men of yellow hair and blue eyes, who are no kin to the men of
Mnar. These men indeed went to the lake to view Sarnath; but though they found
the vast still lake itself, and the gray rock Akurion which rears high above it
near the shore, they beheld not the wonder of the world and pride of all
mankind. Where once had risen walls of three hundred cubits and towers yet
higher, now stretched only the marshy shore, and where once had dwelt fifty
million of men now crawled the detestable water-lizard. Not even the mines of
precious metal remained. DOOM had come to Sarnath.
But half buried in the rushes was spied a curious green idol; an exceedingly
ancient idol chiseled in the likeness of Bokrug, the great water-lizard. That
idol, enshrined in the high temple at llarnek, was subsequently worshipped
beneath the gibbous moon throughout the land of Mnar.