Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

“ Gajapati looked attentively at the way.
"Yes, I see the hoof-marks of many horses."
Bimala. "That's like a sensible man! Do you understand anything from it?"
Diggaja. "No."
Bimala. "Yonder a dead horse, there a soldier's turban, here the hoof-marks of so many horses;—can't you understand anything from all these? But to whom am I speaking!"
Diggaja. "What's the matter, I pray?"
Bimala. "Just now many soldiers have passed this way."
"Let us then walk a little slow" said Gajapati with fear, "to allow them time to get far ahead of us."
"Numskull!" exclaimed Bimala, laughing. ”

“ That Tilottama whose image has been enshrined in his heart of hearts—that Tilottama is now an inmate of the Pathan's—aye,—that very Tilottama is now the concubine of Katlu Khan!
Can a Rajpoot pay his devotions to such an image any more? Is a Rajput worthy of his race who hesitates with his own hands to tear that image from his mind for ever?
That image has rooted itself deep in the mind of Jagat Singha; and to uproot it is to rend the heart itself. Ah! how shall he banish that lovely image for ever? Is it possible? ”

“ Partly for want of leisure, and partly to allow our grief to subside, the villain has spared us so long. I have ere this told you, to-day ends our freedom. I don't know what danger will befall us, should he miss us at the dancing saloon."
"What more danger can possibly befall us?"—said Tilottama.
"Tilottama," said Bimala rather calmly, "why do you at once despair? Still we have life—still we have innocence. So long as we have life—so long we will keep our innocence intact."
"Why then, mother?" Tilottama then said, "Fling off those ornaments; they are an eye-sore to see." ”

“ Youth only passes away with beauty and love: she that has no beauty, is old in the very flower of youth; she who has it, is blessed with a perpetual youth; she whose mind is unknown to love and joy, is never young; she who has experienced them, never old. To that day, Bimala's body seemed filled with genial humors, and her mind overflowed with love and the ideas and desires which love inspires. Moreover, advance of age serves but to mellow beauty—a remark the truth of which the reader will be all the readier to allow, if he happen to be a little advanced in age. ”

“ Below the rampart in front, on the other side, and the wall of the castle down Aesha's chamber, lay the moat filled with water, holding silently and still the image of the sky.
Sitting at the window, Aesha reflected long. She took out a ring from her finger. The gem which graced it was the home of poison. Once she thought,
"I can at once quench my thirst for good, by sucking this gem." Again she thought,
"And is it for this that God has sent me into the world? If I am not equal to this trial, why was I born a woman? And what would Jagat Singha say, on hearing it?" ”

“ Pray, forget that such a one as Tilottama ever breathed on earth."
Having read the letter through, Osman said, "Mother you have saved my life. I will requite you."
"Alas! what can you do for me now?" said Bimala with a sigh. "What can you do for me? Still one thing—."
"I will do that." said Osman. Bimala's eyes sparkled; she said, "Osman, what do you say? Why do you decieve this burnt heart?"
Osman took out a ring from his finger and said,
"Take this ring. Nothing can be done in a day or two. Katlu Khan's birth-day is about to come; there will be joy and revelry that day. ”

“ What impossibilities have not taken place in this world?
Yes, the Prince listened to Hope.
"To-day my mind is exceedingly restless;—I am incapacitated quite to judge the right course. What Fate has decreed must happen afterwards, for who can control Fate? Now I can only express my mind. Here, before the holy presence of Saileshwara, I vow never to accept the hand of any one save Tilottama's. I implore you to speak to your companion all that I have said. Pray, tell her that I long to see her once more only. I swear never to ask for this boon again."
Bimala's countenance beamed with joy. ”

“ Bimala went on,
"Our shāstras declare that when one person places her garland on another person's neck,—this constitutes marriage."
The guard's teeth stared as he laughed.
"Ha! then we have been married sure," exclaimed he.
"To be sure," said Bimala, and seemed plunged in thought.
"What are you thinking about, eh?" enquired the guard.
Bimala. "No, I am not destined for happiness—meseems your people will never be able to take the castle."
"Never doubt it; by this time the castle is almost ours."
"Oh no"—said Bimala; "there's a very particular secret about this matter." ”

“ Do you ask where Tilottama and Bimala are? Search the seraglio of Katlu Khan and you will find them.
'Tis the way of the world! Such is the inexorable turning of Fortune's wheel! Youth, beauty, sincerity, purity—all, all are crushed out by its relentless pressure.
Katlu Khan had made a rule that whenever any beautiful woman should be taken captive in the capture of any village or fort, she should be sent for his pleasure. ”

“ Have a care, Katlu Khan! And what can Katlu Khan do? With what a glance Bimala is offering the glass! Ha! what's that sound? Who is singing? Does it proceed from human or from angelic lungs? Bimala is singing with the singers. What a voice! what strains! how fine the measure! Katlu Khan, what's this? Who has captivated your mind? What are you gazing at? She is smilingly casting her side-look at every cadence; she is piercing your heart with more than a dagger's sharpness. Do you see that? The glance alone is bewitching and it is accompanied by music! ”

“ Said Ashmani.
"Suppress your desire as best you can"—returned Bimala. "But what am I to do now?"
Bimala began to think. All of a sudden, Ashmani began to laugh in her sleeve.
"Ill betide thee!" said Bimala. "Why are you laughing without rhyme or reason?"
"A thought has struck me," answered Ashmani. "What if my darling Diggaja goes with you?"
?"Ah! well said," replied Bimala joyfully. "I'll take that gallant with me."
"Gracious me! but I was jesting," said Ashmani in surprise.
"No joke," replied Bimala. "I don't mistrust the numskull. Night and day are all one to the blind man. ”

“ Tilottama uttered a faint shriek and sank down senseless on the couch.
Jagat Singha turned pale. "Help, help! ho!" he exclaimed; "look to Tilottama."
Instantly Bimala took a vessel containing rose-water, and began to sprinkle it over Tilottama's mouth, neck and forehead;— as well as to fan her with a troubled heart. The uproar drew nearer and nearer.
"There they come, Prince," cried out Bimala. "How shall we save ourselves?"
"God of Heaven!" exclaimed Jagat Singha, his eyes flashing fire. "Is this thy will? Am I destined at such a moment of peril to remain cooped up here with women!" ”

“ The Prince came to her, and related all.
"Alas!" exclaimed she, "beshrew me if I would ever have fetched you the spears, Prince, had I known this. I am a great sinner, and shall hardly be able to expiate the deadly sin I have been guilty of to-night, for a long time to come."
"What room for regret," replied the Prince, "in destroying our enemies? Such an act is righteous."
"Let warriors think go," returned Bimala; "we are women."
"Prince," said she after a pause, "there's harm in further delay. Pray, come, let's enter the castle. I have left the door open." ”

“ Bimala and Tilottama were kept in seperate chambers. Reader, no use of casting a look where the tender, youthful, fatherless girl is rolling in the dust, her person covered with dust. What is the good of doing that? Who will now cast a glance at Tilottama? When decked in bud and blossom, the fresh shrub waves a welcome to the Spring, who does not court it for its fragrance? And in a summer-storm, when down it goes with the tree round which it has entwined its embraces, who goes to it, leaving the up-rooted trees? The woodman takes away the wood only, the shrub he tramples under foot. ”

“ I did not know before," replied Osman with a laugh, "that a Rajput officer feared to die. Fight on—I will slay you—I will never forgive; whilst you live, Aesha will never be mine."
"I am not for Aesha," said the Prince.
"No, you are not, but Aesha is for you," said Osman flourishing his sword, "fight on—no forgiving."
The Prince flung away his sword at a distance, and said,
"I will never fight. You have served me in my misfortune; and I will not fight with you." ”

“ Like the land-lotus in the grove, like the peacock among birds, a certain fair one, after having finished her toilette, was roving from room to room. One could go anywhere that night. Nature had made the woman the receptacle of her sweets; Katlu Khan had given her every member its appropriate ornament; yet her face did not show any marks of pride either for her beauty or for her ornaments. She knew no mirth, no laugh. Her face was grave—calm—her eyes showed the fire burning within.
After roving here and there, Bimala entered a handsome chamber. ”

“ From her countenance, she appeared to have been surpassingly fair in her youth—a ray of that beauty still lingered, like the setting moon in the 'sweet hour of prime.' Gajapati Vidyadiggaja, a disciple of Abhiram Swami, was an inmate of the castle. Whatever his attainments in Rhetoric, he had an inordinate thirst to display his wit and to pass for a wag. "The goodly maid-servant," he used to say, seeing Bimala, "is like a pail of clarified butter: as love's fire is cooling more and more, her frame is getting more and more compact." ”

“ Courteous reader, have you ever in your 'young days' seen, with a lover's eye, the fresh-budding loveliness of a calm, gentle, soft maiden, whose dear image has stamped itself indelibly on your memory and imagination—whose sylph-like form keeps aye gliding in and out as if in a dream—in your youth, manhood and old age; in your busy moments and in your repose; alike when you sleep and when you wake; yet which for all this, leaves not a tinge of impurity behind it—have you, gentle reader, seen such a maiden? If you have, then only you will be able to conceive what Tilottama was like. ”