The Doom That Came to Sarnath

The Doom That Came to Sarnath

by H. P. Lovecraft

Written 3 Dec 1919

Published June 1920 in The Scot, No. 44, p.
90-8.

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 itself, 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 Ilarnek 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 Ib. 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, Ilarnek, 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
Ilarnek, was subsequently worshipped beneath the gibbous moon
throughout the land of Mnar.