Dinabandhu Mitra

“ O my Mother Earth! separate yourself that I may enter into you. In my life I never suffered such an insult. O, oh!
Gopi. Babu Nobin, better go home, no use of making fuss.
Nobin. Sadhu, call on God, He is the only support of the helpless.
(Nobin Madhab goes away.) Wood. Thou slave of the slave. Take him to the Factory, Dewan, and give him the advance according to rule.
(Wood goes away.) Gopi. Sadhu, come along to the Factory. Does the Saheb forget his words?
Now ashes have fallen on your ready-made rice; the Yama [7] of Indigo has attacked you, and you have no safety. ”

“ Wood. You are afraid. Did I not tell you at first, you are very ignorant? No work is to be done through you.
Gopi. Saheb, what signs of fear hast thou seen in me? When I have entered on this Indigo profession, I have thrown off all fear, shame, and honor; and the destroying of cows, of Brahmins, of women, and the burning down of houses are become my ornaments, and I now lie down in bed keeping the jail as my pillow (thinking of it) .
Wood. I do not want words, but works.
Sadhu Ray, the Amin, and the two Servants enter, making salams. Why are this wicked fool’s hands bound with cords? ”

“ I do not see a single person in this large house; but a person of a different caste and of another village, is weeping near the Babu. Ah! the poor man is a day-laborer, and his very hand is cut off. Why is his face all daubed over with blood?
Sadhu. When the young Saheb struck his hand with the sword, like an ichneumon making a noise when its tail is cut off, he in agony from the pain of his hand flew off after seizing with a bite the nose of the elder Saheb. ”

“ Sadhu. Sir, do you call this giving advances for Indigo; would it not be better to call it the cramming down Indigo? [5] Oh! my Ill-fortune, you are still with me. That very blow through fear of which I fled, I have to bear again. This land was as the Kingdom of Rama before Indigo was established; but the ignorant fool is become a beggar, and famine has come upon the land.
Amin. (To himself observing Khetromani.) This young woman is not bad-looking; if our younger Saheb can get her, he will, with his whole heart, take her. ”

“ Having brought one of a strange caste, I am become unable to preserve propriety. My eldest Babu! preserve me; my life is on the point of bursting out. Bring me Khetromani; bring me my puppet of gold.
Sabitri. These destroyers can do all things. Ye are taking by force the pieces of ground of men, their grain, their kine and calves. By the force of clubs, ye are cultivating Indigo, and the people are doing your work with cries and sobbings.
Reboti. My mother! I am preparing the Indigo, taking only half the food. Those bigahs which they had marked, on them I worked. ”

“ Bindu Madhab brought the Inspector with him, and it is his desire, that all with one mind try to establish the school. But observing the unfortunate state of the country, he was obliged to keep his design to himself; how very mild, quiet, good-natured, and wise is he become now! Wisdom in younger years is as beautiful as the fruits in a small plant. In reading of the sorrow which my brother has expressed in his letter even the hard stone is melted and the heart of the Indigo Planter would become soft. ”

“ Reboti. I cannot leave my Laksmi of gold to float on the water. Where shall I go? Had she lived with the Saheb, that would have been better. I would have remained at rest by seeing her face. My daughter, ho! ho! ho! (Goes behind Khetra, slapping herself) .
Physician. I die! I die! I die! What pains does the mother bear! It is good not to have a child. ”

“ Ah! the face of my son, like unto that of gold, is blackened; what great troubles for the collection of money! Wandering about without rest, his brain is become like a whirl-pool. Lest I give away the ornaments of the Bous, my son encourages me, saying, My mother, what want of money? What large sum will be necessary for this case? How shall my child grieve, if my ornaments be given in mortgage for our suit on small portions of land! He says, as soon as I get a small sum of money, I shall immediately bring back the 55ornaments. My son has courage in his tongue and tears in his eyes. ”

“ Sabitri. What anarchy is this! Did you inform Sadhu of this?this?
Reboti. No, my mother. He is already become mad on account of the Indigo; again, if he hear this, will he keep quiet? Through excessive anger he will rather smite his head with the axe.
Sabitri. Very well, I shall make this known to Sadhu, through my husband; you need not say anything. What misfortune is this! The Indigo Planters can do anything. Then why do I hear it generally said, that the Sahebs are strict in dispensing justice. Again, my son Bindu Madhab speaks much in praise of them. ”

“ Is your desire for money so very powerful, that through the instigation of that vain wealth, you are engaged in making holes like rust in the long acquired and pure fame of the British people? Abstain now from that unjust conduct through which you are raising immense sums as your profits; and then the poor people, with their families, will be able to spend their days in ease. You are now-a-days purchasing things worth a hundred rupees by expending only ten;—and you well know what great trouble the ryots are suffering from that. ”

“ Sabitri. Rama! Rama! Rama! who allows that nasty fool to enter his house? What is left of her virtue? She has only to write her name in the public notices.
Reboti. My mother, but what shall I do! My house is not an enclosed one. When our males go to take dinner outside, the house is no more a house; but you may call it a mart. That strumpet says (I do shrink at the thought) , she says, that the young Saheb is become, as it were, mad at seeing Khetromani; and wants to see her in the Factory.
Aduri. Fye! fye! fye! bad smell of the onion! Can we go to the Saheb. ”

“ Reboti. But, my mother, is not the virtue of the poor actual virtue? That fool [15] says, he will give money, give grants of lands for the cultivation of rice; and also give some employment to our son-in-law. Fie! fie! to money. Is virtue something to be sold? Has it any price? What can I say? That fool was an agent of the Saheb, or else I would have broken her mouth with one kick. My daughter is become thunder-struck from yesterday; and now and then, she is starting with fear.
Aduri. Oh, the Beard! When he speaks, it is like a he-goat twisting about its mouth. ”

“ What a surprising power of attraction silver has? The detestable Judas gave the great Preacher of the Christian religion, Jesus, into the hands of odious Pilate for the sake of thirty rupees; what wonder then, if the proprietors of two newspapers, becoming enslaved by the hope of gaining one thousand rupees, throw the poor helpless people of this land into the terrible grasp of your mouths. But misery and happiness revolve like a wheel, and that the sun of happiness is about to shed his light on the people of this country, is becoming very probable. ”

“ Priest. (To Soirindri.) My daughter, thou art a great lover of thy husband, a woman of constancy; the frame of thy body was created in a good moment. For one who is so entirely devoted to her husband, and who has every thing good on her part, Fortune may give life to her husband again; he is moving his eyes, serve him without fear. Sadhu, remain here till our madam be in her senses.
(Exit Priest.) Sadhu. Just see and place your hand on her nose. The body is become stiffer than that of a dead body.
Saralota. (Speaking slowly to Reboti, after placing the hand on the nose.) ”

“ How very beautiful are the banks, the fields covered over with new grass, most pleasant to the view, the trees full of branches newly coming out; in some places the cottages of fishermen; in others the kine feeding with their young ones. To walk about in such a place enjoying the sweet songs of the beautiful birds, and the charming gale full of the sweet smell of flowers, only wraps the mind in the contemplation of that Being who is full of pleasure. ”

“ Where is Sadhu now?
Reboti. He is sitting outside, and is weeping.
Nobin. To a woman of good family, constancy in faithfulness to her husband is, as it were, the loadstone; and how very beautiful does she appear (ramaniki ramaniyá) when she is decorated with that ornament. Is a woman of a good family carried off, when the Bhima-like Svaropur of my father is still in existence? At this very moment shall I go. I shall see what manner of injustice this is. The Indigo frog can never sit on the white waterlily-like constancy of a woman.
(Exit Nobin Madhab.) ”

“ What misery can the country suffer if those who are to carry out the Act, do it with impartiality? Ah, 50by this Act how many persons are suffering in prison-houses without a fault! It bursts the heart to see the miseries of their wives and children; the pots for boiling rice on the hearths are remaining as they are; the several kinds of grain in their yards are being dried up; their kine in the rooms are all remaining bound in their places; the cultivation of the fields is not fully carried out, the seeds are not sown, and the wild grass in the rice fields is not cut off. ”

“ Statistics have proved that in France, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Saxony, the education of the peasant, along with the security of tenure he enjoys on his small farms, has encouraged industrious, temperate, virtuous, and cleanly habits, fostered a respect for property, increased social comforts, cherished a spirit of healthy and active independence, improved the cultivation of the land, lessened pauperism, and has rendered the people averse to revolution, and friends of order. Even Russia is carrying out a grand scheme of serf-emancipation in this spirit. ”

“ My dear Moyrani, where is your Indigo?
My dear Moyrani, where is your Indigo?
Enter Nobin Madhab. Podi. What a shame is this, that I exposed my face to the elder Babu.
(Exit Podi, covering herself with a veil.) Nobin. Wicked and profligate woman. (To the children) You are playing on the road still; it is now too late, go home now.
(Exit four boys.) Ah! I can within five days establish a school for these boys, if only the tyranny of the Indigo be once stopped. The Inspector of this part of the country is a very good man. How very good a man becomes, if only learning be acquired. He is young ”

“ My Lord, when thou shalt prove successful, every thing shall be preserved; if I am to see your face disquieted, all sides will be dark unto me. O my restless mind, wilt thou be not quieted? If you remain unquiet, that can be suffered. ”

“ What great troubles the husband is to undergo in order to dress his wife: he has to swim in the rapid stream, to throw himself into the deep ocean, engage in battles, to climb mountains, to live in the wilderness, and to go before the mouth of the tiger. ”

“ Sadhu. But your eldest Babu has very great courage. On the day the Saheb said, “If you don’t hear the Amin, and don’t plant the Indigo within the ground marked off, then shall we throw your houses into the river Betraboti, and shall make you eat your rice in the factory godown;“ the eldest Babu replied, “As long as we shall not get the price for the fifty bigahs of land sown with Indigo last year, we will not give one bigah this year for Indigo. What do we care for our house? We shall even risk (pawn) our lives.” ”

“ Saheb, it is your own favour. My desire is, that advances should be increased every year. But that cannot be done by me alone; some confident Amin and Khalasis are necessary. Can the Indigo cultivation be improved by those who, for the sake of two rupees, occasioned the loss of the produce of three bigahs of land? ”

“ Ah! ah! thou shalt no more call me, sister (cries) . Mother-in-law, thou art gone to your Rama, but did’st not let me go there. Oh my mother-in-law, when I got thee, I did not for a moment remember my mother.
Enter Aduri. Aduri. Oh eldest Haldarni, come soon; thy young Bipin is afraid.
Soirindri. Why did you not call me thence? You left him there alone. (Goes out hastily with Aduri) .
101Bindu. My Bipin is now the pole-star in the ocean of dangers! (with deep sigh) . In this world of short existence, human life is as the bank of a river which has a most violent course and the greatest depth. ”

“ According to 18the hair, the hair-string is made. Oh! how beautiful the hair is; it is like unto that of the Goddess Kali. The face is as the lotus, always smiling. People may say whatever they choose to one whom they do not like. I don’t attend to that. For my part, I feel pleasure when I see the face of the youngest Bou. I consider the youngest Bou in the same light, as I do Bipin. The youngest Bou loves me as her own mother.
Saralota enters with a braid in her hand.
Saralota. My sister, just see whether I have been able to make the under part of this braid? Is it not made?
Soirindri. ”