"The Garden of Adompha" by Clark Ashton Smith

"Lord of the sultry, red parterres
And orchards sunned by hell's unsetting flame!
Amid thy garden blooms the Tree which bears
Unnumbered heads of demons for its fruit;
And, like a slithering serpeat, runs the root
That is called Baaras;
And there the forky, pale mandragoras,
Self-torn from out the soil, go to and fro,
Calling upon thy name:
Till man new-damned will deem that devils pass,
Crying in wrathful frenzy and strange woe."
-Ludar's Litany to Thasaidon

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We've heard the name Sotar come up a couple times before now, but this is the first story actually set on the island. That said, we don't get any good idea of the people or the land, just this one king. Pity.

drupe: a fleshy fruit with thin skin and a central stone containing the seed, e.g., a plum, cherry, almond, or olive

suppliance: supplication

muffled and hodded: this is likely an error in my text - the online version below uses 'hooded'. I'm not convinced hooded makes great sense either, but more sense than hodded. Hod is a word, and can be a noun, but none of the myriad definitions makes even a slight hint of sense for this scenario. But since 'hooded' is only marginally better, I left it as 'hodded' despite the near certainty it is an error. Perhaps there is a more obscure definition for it that I could not uncover? I don't know. If you do know, leave a comment below.

Ironically, near the end there where my book says "a hushed and hooded aspect", the online text says hodded. HA! Now what?

bayadère: (known as devadasi in India) a female Hindu dancer, especially one at a southern Indian temple

The picture used is an illustration by Jayem Wilcox from the story as published in Weird Tales.

To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/76/the-garden-of-adompha

The casual cruelty of Adompha reminds me a good deal of Emperor Cartagia of Babylon 5. I wonder if JMS ever read CAS?