Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

“ Such was the healing power of the medicine administered by the holy healer that Jiban felt absolutely well.
'Shanti,' Jiban said very gently, 'how extraordinary is the effect of the medicine of the sage! I feel no more pain in my body. I am well. How strange that I am fully cured so soon! Where do you want to go now, Shanti? There, there, I hear the noise of our victorious army!'
'We shall go there no more,' Shanti said firmly. 'We have won the victory for Mother India. This part of the country now belongs to us. We want no reward for doing our duty. ”

“ Shanti opened her eyes to see a holy sage of majestic stature standing in the moonlight before her. She stood up reverently. The sage spoke: 'Mother, please do not cry. I shall find the body of Jiban for you. Please come with me.'
The sage led her to the centre of the battlefield. Countless corpses lay there in heaps. The holy man cleared a mound of corpses to unearth a human body. Shanti instantly knew who it was. It was Jiban. Numberless wounds covered his body, which was soaked in blood. Shanti began to cry aloud like any other woman. ”

“ But when she would discover that she had again failed to find the person she sought, she would take up her torch and gently walk on to the next. For several hours she carried on this quest. She looked into every face; but she did not find the face she was so anxiously seeking.
At last she cast the torch aside and threw herself on the bloodstained battleground, corpses all around her, and sobbed as if her heart would break. This was Shanti looking for the body of Jiban. ”