Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay

“ Are you a ghost?'
'Of course I am,' said Piari. 'Those that die and yet are not dead, are ghosts, to be sure. Didn't you mean the same thing?' She paused for an instant, and then continued, 'In one sense it is true that I am dead. But whether that is false or true, it was not I who spread the report of my death. My mother got her brother to circulate the rumour. Will you hear the whole story?'
At the mention of her 'death', all my doubts vanished: I recognised without a shadow of doubt that she was Rajlakshmi. ”

“ When Indra had dragged me outside the enclosure we heard from behind us Shahji shouting in clear Bengali, 'Tell me, Indranath, what is all this?' It was the first time that I had heard him speak Bengali.
Indra turned back, and said, 'You pretend you don't know anything. Will you tell me why you have tricked me so long and taken so much money for nothing?'
'Who says for nothing?' he asked.
Indra pointed at Didi who was sitting silent with bent head, and said, 'She has told us that you know nothing of the black art. What you do know is to fool other people and cheat them of their money. ”

“ How often they had come down this flight of steps to bathe, to wash their clothes, to take water. To what invisible lake did they now resort for these daily wants of theirs? They would come about this time of the evening, and sit on these steps; and many a song and story would soothe and enliven their weariness after the labour of the day. And then, when all on a sudden death came in the guise of the great plague and snatched away the whole village from life, many dying souls, perhaps, had come with hurrying feet, impelled by thirst, to breathe their last on these steps. ”

“ For the first time in my life I realized that night has a form and features of its own, apart from the forms and features of trees and hills, earth and water, field and jungle. I saw night, deep, dark, colossal, seated on the widespread world, under the limitless, black sky of midnight, with eyes closed as in mystic meditation, while the whole universe, with closed lips and bated breath, preserved the inviolate calm. Suddenly my eyes saw a flash of palpitating beauty. What liar, I thought, declared that light alone had beauty, and darkness none? ”

“ After a few moments' silence Didi suddenly said, 'Indranath, I had thought of telling you my whole story to-day, but I realize that the time has not yet come. Only believe me when I say that everything about us is a fraud. Do not follow Shahji about, deluded by a vain hope. We know nothing of mantras, nor can we revive the dead, nor catch snakes by passing the cowrie-shell. VVe do not know whether others can, but we ourselves have no such power.'
Though I could not exactly tell why, I believed every word she said, in spite of my short acquaintance with her. But Indra remained incredulous. ”

“ I had a conviction in those days as solid and massive as the Himalayas, that there certainly never existed in this world, and could hardly exist in any other world, the woman who could win my heart. 'If I ever meet any one,' so ran my dreams, 'who speaks with her soft voice, whose lips possess the cool sweetness of her smile, whose brow like hers is radiant with angelic light, whose eyes have her tender appeal, I shall know that she is the one destined to share my life. May she be as loving and as devoted as my Didi! ”

“ Indra glanced at me, and then, going up to the sorrow-stricken woman, he took her head on his lap and said, in a voice of infinite grief, 'Didi, come to my home. My mother is alive, and she will take you to her heart and not keep you at a distance. You do not know how kind she is. Come to her: that is all I ask, Didi. You are a Hindu's daughter, Didi, and not a Musalman.'
Didi did not speak. For some time she lay as if unconscious. ”

“ All at once there was a growl, like 'Hoom', close to my back, and simultaneously deafening cries arose from Chhotda and Jatinda, uttered in unison in voices full of alarm, 'My God, I am killed!' Before I could turn my head round and see who or what it was that was killing them, Mejda raised his head, and all at once, with a terrible unearthly sound, shot out his legs with lightning rapidity, overturning the lamp-stand. Then in the darkness began a reign of terror and chaos. ”

“ The beauty of darkness belonged to the divine form [1] that dazzled the eyes of Radha and that flooded the world with the fragrance of love. And He who was the support of the universe, the source of light and movement, the Life of all life, and the Soul of beauty, was He not an impenetrable darkness to the eyes of men? Was that because in reality He was dark, or was darkness a synonym for anything incomprehensible, unknowable, and impenetrable? Was that why death and the other world appeared to man's vision as mysterious, black, and unfathomable? ”

“ I can see that in this land, famous for ideal wives, sufferings heighten the glory of wifely constancy and love. I can also see how the sorrows of all such wives become transmuted into the eternal halo which makes their memory a constant inspiration and ideal of duty to the women of this country. But why didst Thou ordain such an ironical destiny for my Didi? Why should she, who had been faithful to her husband till his death, have her pure brow branded with the taint of infidelity? Why should she be banished from all society? ”

“ She seemed to me to be making an effort to collect herself. 'Cheats and humbugs!' cried Indra harshly. 'All right, I'll teach you a lesson, I will.'
A kerosene lamp was burning quite near: by its light I could see Didi's face became white in an instant with a death-like pallor. 'We are only snake-charmers, dear,' she said, timid and hesitant; 'deceit is our daily trade—'
'I will teach you your daily trade. Come, Srikanta, we shouldn't have touched the shadow of these rascally swindlers. Knaves and humbugs!' Indra seized my hand with sudden force and started up dragging me along with him. ”

“ While we were in this predicament Indra appeared suddenly, Heaven knows from where. Perhaps he was passing along the road in front, and had come in on hearing the hubbub. In an instant a hundred voices cried, 'Look out! there's a tiger! Come away at once, you foolish boy!'
Startled at first, he ran into the verandah. But when, shortly after, he had heard everything, he took a lantern and went down, nothing daunted, to look for the tiger. ”

“ However strong her desires and untamed passions might be in urging her on the downward path, could she forget that a boy now called her his own mother, and could she in any way dishonour the mother whom he revered and loved and who stood before him in the full glory and purity of their mutual relations? I did not know who in the first flush of her ardent and passionate youth had been inspired by love to call her his 'Piari' or Beloved, but I remembered how she had wanted to conceal the very name from the boy whom she called her son. ”

“ When I had left the house and was about to get into the palanquin, I looked up and caught sight of Piari who stood watching my departure from the upper verandah. She did not move or speak and, looking into her face, I could not guess what emotions lay behind her clear, calm gaze.
A sigh escaped me as I got into the palanquin. I was learning that a great love not only binds, it separates. ”

“ One can count human skulls by the thousand there. Every night the dread goddess, Bhairavi, whose name means the Terrible One, comes with her ghostly attendants and plays with the skulls. And many a time have the resounding peals of their grim laughter stopped the heart-beats of unbelieving Englishmen and of white magistrates and judges.' He went on recounting his awful stories with such consummate art that many of us felt our flesh turn cold, though it was broad daylight and the tent was full of people. ”

“ O thou infinite beauty wiping away all my sorrow and fear and pain by thy magic touch! fill all my body and soul with primeval nescience, and when I have greeted Death with a heart purged of all fear at this gateway of his temple, so dark, austere, and solemn, let me follow him with triumphal gladness to the end.' And then I thought suddenly, 'Why did I not obey the silent call of my guide? ”

“ I put my gun down on the ground. The baiji's taunt had already made my mind uneasy and now the scene of our sport aroused my profound disgust.
'What a dull fellow you are to-day, Kanta, to be sure,' said the prince. 'What are you doing? Why do you put your gun down?'
'I don't kill birds.'
'What's that? But why, why don't you?'
'I haven't handled a shot-gun since I grew a moustache: I have forgotten how to use it.'
His highness the prince was convulsed with laughter. How much of his glee was due to drink is hard to say. ”

“ Soon the baiji brightened up. It is possible of course to do almost anything when it is adequately paid for. But I could see that in this assembly of dolts it was really painful for her to give an exhibition of her art. She seemed quite relieved to get one person who could appreciate it at last. From then on until late that night she seemed to be employing all her art, her exquisite voice, her flowerlike beauty for my sake alone, keeping down with her liquid melodies the foul atmosphere of crude and ugly animalism that surrounded me. ”

“ As soon as the night was over, Indra dug a grave in the place Didi had indicated and we three took Shahji's body there and buried it. It was a place just above the Ganges, formed by the breaking of the gravelly bank and well fitted for a grave. The river flowed past, some forty feet below, and overhead was a screen of branches and wild creepers, a fit place in which to conceal one's treasure. With heavy hearts we three sat side by side. A fourth person had lain down to sleep for ever, his silent heart so near our beating hearts, in the bosom of the earth. ”

“ It wasn't a tiger, but a huge bear. It came out of the room at a single bound.'
'It wasn't a bear, father,' said Chhotda and Jatinda again and again. 'It was a wolf. It growled 'Hoom' and sat on the doormat on its curled tail.'
When Mejda revived sufficiently, he heaved a deep sigh, with his eyes still closed, and ejaculated, 'The royal Bengal tiger!'
But where was it? Whether royal Bengal tiger or wolf or bear, how could it have come into the house, and where had it gone? When so many people had seen it, there must certainly have been something. ”

“ Indra went inside the room and brought out a small, cane box and a snake-charmer's bagpipe. The cane box he placed before him on the verandah, and, having unloosed its lid, played on the bagpipe. Petrified with fear, I shouted, 'Don't, please don't open the lid. There may be a cobra inside.' Indra made no reply, but, playing on the bagpipe and waving his head to and fro, he opened the lid of the box. In the twinkling of an eye an enormous cobra raised itself from the box. ”

“ My aunt sat up and addressing her eldest son, said, 'Nabin, is that the Rays' boy, Indra?'
Yes, all of them knew the player of the nocturnal music, and my cousin answered, 'Who but that scapegrace could play such music or would enter that jungle?'
'Then it is he. Is he really coming through the Gossains' garden?'
Nabin replied that he was. Perhaps my aunt felt a tremor of fear as she thought of the thick jungle in that impenetrable darkness. With fear in her voice, she asked, 'But doesn't his mother forbid him? Any number of people have been bitten by snakes in the Gossains' garden. ”

“ Spreading its hood, it stood up a foot and a half high. With a great sweep it struck savagely at the lid which was still in Indra's hand, and then jumped out of the box.
'Great God!' cried Indra in utter consternation as he leaped down from the verandah into the yard. I clambered up the fence again, while the enraged snake with another vicious bite at the bagpipe entered the room at lightning speed. Indra was livid with fright. ”

“ The whole reef had been inundated with water, above which, to a height of ten or twelve feet, rose crops of maize or jowari. Through the jungle of stalks we two thieves worked our way. The water was at some places chest-deep, and at others not deeper than the waist or knee. Above us there was pitch darkness, and on all sides of us impenetrable forest. The pushing poles began to stick in the mud, and the canoe could hardly move. From behind came indistinct sounds of the fishermen's talk. ”

“ But as soon as with an inward shrinking I said to Indra, 'You do not know what his caste is—will you touch the corpse?' he put one arm under the neck and the other below the knee of the body and said as he lifted it up lightly, 'If I don't, the jackals will tear him to shreds and devour him. Poor thing! there is still the smell of medicine on his lips.' And he put the corpse down on the plank on which I had just been lying. Giving the canoe a push, he jumped into it. 'Do you really think a dead body has any caste?' he asked. ”

“ What takes him there, I wonder, so late at night?'
'Well,' said my cousin with a laugh, 'that is the short cut between his part of the village and this: that's all. Do you think, mother, that he who has no fear and no care for his life will come by the roundabout way? All he wants is to come quickly; it matters little whether on the way he has to cross rivers or meet snakes or face tigers!'
'What a dare-devil boy!' said my aunt, and with a sigh lapsed into silence. The sound of the flute grew gradually clearer and then slowly faded and faded till it died away in the distance. ”

“ However much you insult me by calling me 'baiji', you know at the bottom of your heart that Rajlakshmi could never desert you if you wanted her help. It would have been a good thing, perhaps, if I could: I might have taught you a lesson. What a stupid race women are! If they've loved once, they are done for.'
'Piari,' I said, 'do you know why even the best sannyasis don't get alms?' [7]
'Yes,' said Piari, 'I know. But your joke is not pointed enough to wound me. My love is my treasure from the hand of God. ”

“ As I waited I thought of Piari's words, 'If you really don't believe in ghosts, why take the trouble to make this foolish trip? And if you are not sure whether they exist or not, I won't let you go.' She was right. What had I come out to see? It was useless to try to conceal my foolishness from my own mind. I had not come to see anything; I had merely come to show what a brave fellow I was; to prove to those that had said, 'Bengalis are cowards in action', that they were really a race of heroes. ”

“ Don't you?'
'Aren't you ever taken ill?'
'I taken ill?' Indra repeated in surprise. 'No, I'm never taken ill—never.' He seemed fired by a sudden enthusiasm and said, 'Look here, Srikanta, I'll teach you something. If you take the names of gods and goddesses morning and evening, they will come and stand before you, and you will see them plainly; and then you will never get ill. No one will be able to touch a hair of your head. You will find that it is so. You can go wherever you like, do what you like, just as I do; and nothing will ever happen to you. ”

“ When Ratan appeared in my room a few minutes later with eau-de—cologne, water, and other accessories, contrite and sorry, and began to express repeatedly his regrets for his neglect of me, I could not help laughing.
This put some heart into him and he said in a low voice, 'Do I not know, sir, that I am not to blame for this? But you don't surely expect one to tell her, sir, that when she is angry she finds fault with everyone in the house?'
'Why is she angry?' I asked.
'Who can tell, sir? It's my belief, sir, that big folk get into a temper for nothing, and get over it for nothing too. ”