Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

“ I have done well to die. Give me this blessing that when I have gone to that luminous world, I may again see you." With the words Kalyani again took the dust of her husband's feet and placed it on her head. Mohendra made no reply, but once more began to weep. Kalyani again spoke;—her voice was very soft, very sweet, very tender, as she again said, "Consider who has the strength to transgress what God has willed. He has laid his command on me to go; could I stay, if I would? If I had not died of my own will, inevitably someone else would have slain me. I do well to die. ”

“ Mahendra and Kalyani sat quietly for a long time.
'What are you thinking of?' Kalyani broke this silence.
'I am wondering what I should do,' Mahendra said. A dream is but an illusion. It rises and disappears only in the human mind. It has no reality, it is only a bubble of imagination. Let us go home.'
'Please go where duty calls you.' And Kalyani transferred the child to the lap of her husband. ”

“ Then Mohendra in the wretchedness of his grief said to the Brahmacharin Satyananda, "If only you had helped me a little, I would have slain these five miscreants."
"What strength is there" answered Satyananda, "in this aged body of mine,—except Him on whom I was calling, I have no other strength. Do not struggle against the inevitable. We shall not be able to overpower these five men. Come, let us see where they will take us. The Lord will be our protection in all things." ”

“ But the pill must have tasted bitter, for Sukumari soon opened her mouth, and the mother pulled the pill out. The pill fell to the ground and the child began to cry.
Kalyani rushed to the river, soaked the border of her sari and rushed back to her daughter to wipe her tongue. While she was doing so she asked Mahendra: 'Do you think any amount of the poison has reached her stomach?' Parents think of danger to their children rather than of their own safety. Wherever true love exists, fear, too, is ever present. Mahendra had not noticed how large the pill originally had been. ”

“ There was no human being there, only luminous forms, no noise, only a sound as if of sweet song and music at a great distance. Myriads of flowers seemed to be ever newly in bloom, for the scent of them was there, jasmines of many kinds and other sweet-smelling blossoms. There in a place high over all, the cynosure of all, one seemed to be sitting, like a dark blue hill that has grown bright as fire and burns softly from within. ”

“ It is for her sake that Mahendra hesitates to take refuge unto me."
Just then a flute struck a beautiful tune for a moment; and the supreme form of light said to me; "You had better leave your husband and come unto me. This woman veiled in darkness is the mother of you both. ”

“ Your husband must serve her wholeheartedly. He cannot serve her properly as long as you stay with him. So come — come unto me." I cried and said: "How can I leave my husband?" Then the flute sang again and seemed to say: "I am your husband, I am your mother, I am your father, I am your son, and I am your daughter — so come, do come unto me."
I forget what I said in reply; and I woke up from sleep.' Kalyani became silent.
Mahendra too was silent with surprise, wonder and fear. Birds sang overhead; nightingales flooded the forest with their intoxicating music ”

“ That forest was inaccessible to ordinary men. Wherever there was a tree with fruit upon it, famishing men stripped it of what it bore, but none other than the Children had access to the fruit of the trees in this impenetrable wilderness. For this reason the ascetic's followers had been able to bring for Kalyani plenty of forest fruits and some milk. In the property of the Sannyasin were included a number of cows. At Kalyani's request, Mohendra first took some food, afterwards Kalyani sat apart and ate something of what he had left. ”

“ The fragrance of the flowers wafted on the wings of gentle winds.
Here and there sunbeams played hide-and-seek with the dark waters of the river. Palm leaves murmured against the winds. Ranges of blue mountains could be seen in the distance. ”

“ But now they could not find the way out of the wood itself. After long wandering in the thickets, their circlings began to bring them round to the monastery once more, no way of exit could be found. In front of them they saw an unknown ascetic in the dress of a Vaishnav Gosain, who stood in the path and laughed at them. Mohendra, in some irritation, said to him, "What are you laughing at, Gosain?"
"How did you enter the forest?" asked the Gosain. ”

“ It is the worst that comes first to a parent's mind,—the greater the love, the greater the fear. Mohendra had not seen how large the pill was before, but now, after taking the pill into his hand and scrutinising it for some time, he said, "I think she has sucked in a good deal of it."
Necessarily, Kalyani adopted Mohendra's belief. For a long time she too held the pill in her hand and examined it. Meanwhile the child, owing to the little she had swallowed, became a little indisposed; she grew restless, cried, at last grew a little dull and feeble. Then Kalyani said to her husband, "What more? ”

“ Forthwith he put his hand on Satyananda's throat and said, "Here is a rascal of a Sannyasin." Immediately another seized Mohendra; for a man who consorts with Sannyasins, must necessarily be a Sannyasin. A third hero was about to arrest the dead body of Kalyani where it lay at length on the grass. Then he saw that it was the corpse of a woman and very possibly might not be a Sannyasin, and did not proceed with the arrest. ”