Peary Chand Mitra

“ Baburam lifted the bridegroom into his palanquin, and taking Thakchacha by the hand, walked by the side, with heavy gait, accompanied by his kinsmen and near friends. From the roof of the house the boy’s mother gazed down upon her son’s face, and the women of the household called out, Ah, mother of Mati! Ah, how beautiful is your child! The friends of the bridegroom were all with him: they amused themselves by taking torches to the rear of the crowd and setting people alight, and by letting off squibs and fireworks near the houses and in the thick of the crowd. ”

“ Our strength, what is it? Our learning, what is it? Every moment of our lives we are subject to error, evil thoughts and evil deeds: where then is the ground for pride? Such humility as this being implanted in the mind, passion, envy, malice, and pride, all are dwarfed, and the mind becomes simple and sincere. Where this is the case, we derive no pleasure from a display of our own learning or intelligence, our own pride of wealth or place, which can only anger others; neither is our envy excited by the sight of the prosperity of others. ”

“ However bad a husband may be, it is not for a woman to reproach him: I have never reproached my husband. It is my wretched destiny: where is his fault? I have only this much to say, that the hardships which I am now suffering would not appear hardships, if only my husband were with me. Matilall’s step-mother replied: Surely there are none so miserable as we are: my heart breaks at the thought of our misery: the only resource of the helpless and poor is the Lord of the poor. Men-servants and maid-servants will only remain in service with people as long as they are well off. ”

“ If a child who has caused her so much sorrow grows up good, she feels her work accomplished; but if the contrary be the case, a living death is hers: she takes no interest in anything in the world and cares not to show herself in the neighbourhood. The haughty face grows wan and pinched: in her inmost heart, like Sita, she gives expression to this wish: ‘Oh, Earth, Earth, open, and let me hide myself within thy bosom!’ The good God knows what trouble I have taken to make Matilall a man: my young one has now learned to fly, and heavy is my chastisement. ”

“ Thought Matilall to himself:— I have escaped from the hands of my old teacher; how am I to get rid of this rice-and-plantain-eating old Brahman? I am my father and mother’s darling, and whether I can write or not, they will say nothing to me. The only object of learning after all is to gain money, and my father has boundless wealth: what then is the good of my learning? It is quite enough for me to be able to sign my name; besides what will my intimate friends have left to do if I take to learning? their occupation in ministering to my pleasures will be gone! ”

“ Beni Babu was astounded on hearing these words, and Becharam Babu, after a short interval, looking towards Barada Babu, his eyes filling with tears of emotion, said to him, as he put his hand on his shoulder: Ah, my dear friend! you know what rectitude really is: as for us, we have spent our lives in vain: it is written in the Vedas and in the Puranas: ‘The man whose mind is pure and upright, he shall see God.’ What shall I say about your mind? I have never hitherto seen even the slightest taint of impurity in it. God keep you in happiness acceptable to yourself. ”

“ One day Ramlall remarked to Barada Babu: Sir, I have a great longing to travel: staying here, it is a constant grief to me to listen to the bad language of my elder brother and the evil counsel of Thakchacha, but my love for my parents and for my sister makes me disinclined to stir from home. I cannot decide what to do. Barada Babu replied;— Much benefit is to be derived from travel: breadth of vision is not to be had without it: the mind is enlarged by the sight of different countries, and different people. ”

“ Ah, learning and worth have nothing like the respect shown to them that is shown to wealth! Paying court to rich men is a very dangerous thing: there is a popular saying:— The friendship of the rich is an embankment made of sand. Their moods are capricious: a trifle will offend them just as a trifle will please them. People do not consider this: wealth has such magic in it that they will put up with any humiliation, any indignity from a rich man; they will even submit to a thrashing, and say to the rich man after it:— It is your honour’s good pleasure. ”

“ One day Thakchacha, with a deep sigh, said to his companion:— Our destiny is a very hard one: we have become mere lumps of earth: our trickery is of no further avail, and as for my stratagems, they have all escaped from my head. My house is ruined: I did not even have an interview with my wife before leaving: I am very much afraid that she will marry again. Bahulya replied: Friend, pluck all these matters out of your heart: life in the world is after all but a pilgrimage: we are here to-day, gone to-morrow: no one has anything he can call his own. ”

“ No feeling towards another but brotherly kindness arises in your mind. Ah, Barada Babu, many may talk of virtue, but never have I found any possessing such as you possess. Men are naturally base and corrupt; how then can they judge of your qualities? But as day and night are true, your qualities will be judged above.
Somewhat vexed by these remarks of Becharam Babu, Barada Babu bowed his head and said humbly: Sir, pray do not address me like this. I am but a very insignificant person: what is my knowledge or what my virtue after all? ”

“ Thakchacha rose up in great wrath when he heard this language, and said: Sir, if it is by the influence of these men that calamity has been averted from you, is all my trouble on your behalf to go for nothing? do my prayers count for nothing? The Brahmans at once humbly acquiesced saying: Ah sir, just as the divine Krishna was once Arjuna’s charioteer, so you have been the master’s! all has happened by the might of your intelligence: you are a special incarnation: calamity flies far away from anyplace where you are, as from any place where we are. ”

“ Be that as it may, it is Becharam who has been the chief gainer. Bakreswar has got nothing by all his importunities. No school-master has ever been seen with an equal capacity for flattering the children of the rich: the education he was supposed to give was all a sham: his thoughts day and night were directed solely to getting gain, while appearing still to the outside world to be doing a great work. Anyhow the Vaishnava’s hopes of making a good thing out of Matilall were never extinguished; like the little chátak bird, he rent the heavens with his cry: Give me water! ”

“ How can true sorrow possibly affect the mind of the man who has never given any happiness to those whom he should hold most sacred— his father and his mother— but on the contrary untold pain and misery? The feeling, if it does arise, passes away like a shadow, and the natural consequence is that such a man can never have any veneration for the memory of his father, and his mind is never inclined to do anything to keep him in remembrance. Matilall’s eager desire to know the extent of the property which his father had left, very soon overshadowed his grief. ”

“ I am very wicked: when I think of what my behaviour has been towards my father, my mother, my brother, my sister, and others, I sometimes think that no place can be found for me even in hell. The old man would console him by saying, My child, devote yourself to virtue at any cost: men are constantly sinning in thought, in word, and in deed: our only hope of salvation is the mercy of Him who is all mercy: the man who displays heartfelt grief for his sins, and who is sincerely zealous for the purification of his soul, can never be destroyed. ”

“ Becharam.— From observation of Baburam Babu’s general behaviour, I am inclined to think that his affairs are not prospering. Alas, alas, what counsellors he has got! That wretched Mahomedan, Thakchacha, a prince of rogues! there is an evil magic in him. Then Bancharam, the attorney’s clerk! he is like a fine mango, fair outside but rotten at the core. Well-practised in all the arts of chicanery, like a cat treading stealthily along in the wet, he simulates innocence while all the while exercising his wiles to entrap his prey. ”

“ To have to mourn for a husband is the greatest affliction that a faithful wife is called on to endure. It is some alleviation to her in her trouble, if she have good children; but if on the contrary they disappoint her it adds intensity to the bitterness of her grief, as melted butter thrown upon fire. Matilall’s evil behaviour was a terrible grief to his mother, but she never spoke openly of it. ”

“ The visitor had been more or less in a bad temper since the affair of the police court, but a courteous and kind address has a great effect in turning a man’s wrath away; and Becharam Babu, mollified by the courteous welcome so unanimously accorded him, sat down with a smile close to Beni Babu. Baburam Babu thereupon said to him: Sir, the seat you have taken is not a good one: come and sit with me on my couch. Men after each other’s hearts are as inseparable as cranes, and notwithstanding the pressing invitation of Baburam Babu, Becharam Babu would not give up his seat near Beni Babu. ”

“ When a man of sound sense attains to a high position or to great wealth, he is not liable to be lightly swayed hither and thither; whereas a man who lacks solidity of character, should he attain to a higher position than he is accustomed to, is as unstable as the waters of a flood. And so it proved with Matilall. Day and night, unceasing as a torrent, arose the hubbub of boisterous amusement. ”

“ THE SHRADDHA CEREMONY.
ON the death of his father, Matilall succeeded to the guddee, and became the head of the house. His former companions never left his side for a moment, and he grew as proud as a turkey-cock, rejoicing in the thought that at last after so long a time he might give his extravagance its full bent. When Matilall displayed a little grief on his father’s account, his companions said to him: Why are you so depressed? who expects to live for ever with his father and mother? You are now lord and master. A fool’s grief is a mere empty name. ”

“ A night of happiness passes away in the twinkling of an eye, but how slowly drag the hours when the mind is sunk in an abyss of painful thought! It may be close to dawn, and the day may be every moment drawing nearer, but yet it seems to tarry. Ways and means occupied the whole of Baburam Babu’s thoughts throughout the night: he could no longer remain quietly in the house, and long before the morning came was in a boat with Thakchacha and his companions. As the tide was running strong, the boat soon reached the Bagbazaar Ghât. ”

“ It is always the case that when a man has a sudden accession of wealth there is a rush of people to him, just as the shop of a sweetmeat seller will become full of flies as long as there are sweetmeats to be had. At whatever time you might visit Baburam Babu’s house you would always find people with him: rich and poor, they would all sit round and flatter him, the more intelligent among them in indirect fashion only, the lesser folk outright and unblushingly, agreeing with everything he said. ”

“ Our thoughts are directed solely to the purification of our own minds, or to other’s welfare. But much harsh self-discipline is necessary before this result can be attained. It is wonderful, the pride that springs up in the mind of the man possessed of but a modicum of wit: his own words, his own deeds, stand forth, in the estimation of such a man, as superior to those of all others; nothing that others may say or do is worthy of the slightest attention on his part.
Becharam.— Ah, my dear friend, how it refreshes me to hear you talk! ”

“ Some women had come to the riverside to draw water: as soon as they saw the master, they veiled their faces slightly and began to chatter hard to each other, laughing quietly the while. ‘Ha what a lovely bridegroom!’ they cried, ‘what a sweet champac flower for a lucky girl to fondle in her braided hair!’ Said one of them: ‘Old or young, whichever he may be, the girl will have no difficulty in seeing him with her eyes: that of itself is something. May the wretched lot that has befallen me befall no one else: married at the age of six, I have never even set eyes on my husband. ”

“ I will clear all the difficulties away. Fighting is one of the necessities of man’s existence: what cause then is there for alarm?
Becharam.— Ah, Thakchacha, how grand is the heroism you have always exhibited! What a magnificent display of courage you made when the boat was swamped! Why it was all on your account that we suffered so on the occasion of the marriage. You displayed great bravery, I must say, in getting up that false charge against Barada Babu. Not one of the affairs of Baburam Babu in which you have meddled but has turned out most prosperously! ”