Ananda stood at the open door of the little room looking out at the
view. The earth was smiling under the tropical sun. Birds and flowers
responded to its tempered heat; and song and sweet odours were lavishly
spent upon the soft air. An oleander bush with its willow foliage
tossed trusses of almond-scented, pink blossom, at the entrance of the
yard. The luxuriant vine of a gourd spread its thick leafage over a
part of the ground enclosed. Just outside a rose bush, laden with
clusters of blossoms and buds, threw its thorny branches over the warm,
sunbaked, mud wall. A pair of tawny fritillary butterflies fluttered
over the petals of the rose, and a blue roller bird flew across the
sky, a living streak of brilliant azure upon the ethereal blue haze.
Crested hoopoes ran along the base of the wall seeking ants and cooing
softly in their contentment.
Above foliage, flower and building rose the noble mountain mass in the
distance, with its sholahs of virgin forest, its glades and slopes of
green grass and peaks of bare grey rock. Ananda's spirit stirred
within him as his eye followed the familiar outline of the beautiful
spur of the Western Ghats. How often he had watched it under its
different aspects and learned to love it, whether it was shrouding
itself in a grey mantle of rain-laden vapour, or shining through a
transparent haze of blue.
He recalled the expeditions of his youth when his father had taken him
to the hill for the day and he had returned with the spoil of the
forest; ferns and orchids and long supple bamboos, strange leaves and
flowers that could not be made to grow in his own garden. He
remembered a tiger, caught and speared by the natives, which was
brought in by exulting herdsmen to be shown to his father. A hyaena was
also carried in in like manner slung upon a green bamboo cut from the
forest. He remembered how tightly he had clung to his father's hand in
his fear of the big beasts with their strong jaws hanging open and the
formidable teeth visible; and how his father reassured him each time,
bidding him be brave and behave like a man. Ananda sighed; ah, he
would show his own son the same sights, and teach him to be a man!
The thought of the child changed the current of his musings. Where was
the boy at the present moment? Where was the boy's mother? Only a
wall or two separated them. Why did they not come and greet him? It
was perfectly feasible. There was no fear of contamination in the open
air. An interview might take place in the little yard or in the
compound beyond without detriment to caste.
He listened for the sound of voices. The house was very silent. The
room apportioned to his use was remote from the kitchen and women's
quarters; but with that large family there were usually people moving
in all parts of the building.
Nearly an hour passed and he began to grow impatient. He went to the
entrance of the yard and stood at the open gateway. A man ran hastily
round the corner of the house, his body bent under the load he was
carrying. It was one of Ananda's portmanteaux. He approached the
gateway and stopped in front of it. Ananda looked him up and down and
recognised him as a pariah employed as a sweeper outside the house.
"What are you doing with my luggage?" he demanded angrily.
The man put down his load and prostrated himself, touching the ground
with his forehead.
"The master ordered me to bring the two leather boxes belonging to your
honour."
"It is not for men such as you are to touch anything belonging to a son
of the house."
The pariah put his hands together palm to palm in abject apology and
deprecation.
"This lump of mud, this poor worm had no choice but to do the master's
bidding. He held his stick over my unprotected body, and threatened to
beat me if I did not bring the boxes."
He scrambled to his feet and ran off thankful to escape punishment from
the owner of the trunks, and reappeared with the second. Ananda
directed him to leave them at the gateway. When the man had gone he
carried them into the room himself. The dust flew in clouds as he set
them down one after the other against the wall. The neat dark suit he
wore was stained and his fingers soiled. Involuntarily he glanced
round for the English washstand for means to rid himself of the
offending dust. He smiled at his own ridiculous expectations and
turned to the fresh air outside, sweet and pure and refreshing, and
cleansed his hands as well as he could on the coarse grass.
A figure approached and he recognised his uncle, Sooba Iyer. His face
cleared and he advanced with outstretched hand.
"It is good to see you again, my little father. You are the first to
greet me. Where are the rest?"
His uncle drew himself up with a gathering together of his muslin
garments and lifted his hand with a warning gesture to arrest further
advance. Ananda knew the gesture well. He had seen it often; aye, and
practised it himself in days gone by, when accident had brought him
near a pariah. No reply was vouchsafed to his question, and he soon
discovered the reason for the visit. In abject humility the sweeper
appeared, broom in hand.
"Sweep out the room, contemptible one!" said Sooba.
The pariah set to work at once to perform his task to the best of his
ability, and wielded his broom till the air was thick, and a large heap
of rubbish was accumulated. The elder man stood silently in the
enclosure, holding himself ready to avoid contamination by touch or
shadow. If there was relaxation at all it was towards the sweeper
rather than his nephew.
"I don't know why I should be treated in this way," protested Ananda.
"Broken caste is broken caste. I am in no worse case as a Christian
than I was as a Hindu with my broken caste. The only difference is
that one state is temporary; the other is permanent. Surely my mother
has some better accommodation to give me than this."
The last words were said with a touch of indignation; but they had no
more effect in producing a reply than what had gone before. The
sweeper finished his work with the broom and was directed to fetch the
things set apart for Ananda's use. A couple of chairs, an old camp
table, a cot laced with rope and furnished with coarse bedding. These
and a few other trifles were placed in the room by willing but awkward
hands. The pariah had had no experience in dealing with bedroom
furniture.
Two or three times Ananda addressed himself to his uncle but his
remarks were received in stolid silence. His relative might have been
deaf. Neither by look nor speech was there any sign of reply. By this
time the noon was passed, and although Ananda was too much disturbed in
his mind to feel hungry he was conscious of thirst. As his uncle was
about to leave after having completed the arrangement of the room, he
said--
"It is some time since I had anything to drink. I am thirsty. Let the
waterman bring me a pot of water and a cup."
A few minutes later the sweeper returned bearing an earthen pot of
water and a tin mug. He approached the door with manifest reluctance,
well aware of the gross insult he was offering. His touch was
pollution, unspeakable pollution. Sooner would a caste man allow his
drinking vessel to come into contact with a plague-stricken corpse than
have it touched by a pariah.
"My lord! this is not my doing. With heavy blows has this slave been
driven here----"
He was not permitted to finish the apology. Furiously angry, Ananda
yielded to the instinct implanted by generations of caste ancestors.
He rushed at him, knocked the earthen vessel out of his hands and with
a blow sent him backwards into the foliage of the gourd. The pot broke
and the mug rolled aside.
"How dare a loathsome pariah like this son of a jackal offer me such an
insult! Go! get out of my sight! Don't let me see your face again."
The unfortunate sweeper fled; and the outraged man sank upon a chair.
He leaned his arms upon the ricketty table and bowed his head. His
lips trembled and the fingers of both hands slowly clenched over his
palms in his effort to control himself; for the last act had unnerved
and shaken him. What had he done to merit such unnecessary and
gratuitous insult? The caste waterman of the establishment might have
brought the water pot and mug. He could have entered the room without
detriment to his own caste. In fact, all the duties recently performed
by the sweeper could have been done without any difficulty by the
servants of the house, and would have been performed by them if the
intentional degradation had not been designed expressly for his
humiliation.
Ananda suffered keenly, as much from the unkindness and cruelty shown
as from the insult. It could not have happened without the consent of
his parents. A feeling of resentment at its injustice roused his
indignation, and he lifted his head in angry pride. He would not
submit without protest. His anger served as a tonic to his wounded
spirit and pricked his courage. The shining eyes hardened and the
mouth grew firm.
The day wore on without incident. As no one appeared he determined to
seek an interview with his father or mother or some other member of the
family, and remonstrate against the outrageous treatment he was
receiving.
Memory served him well; he had forgotten nothing of the geography of
the place and he found nothing altered. Walking slowly round to the
front of the house he arrived at the stone steps that led up to the
verandah. Three or four men were seated on the masonry bench; they
were talking together; but as soon as they caught sight of him they
became silent.
Ananda recognised two of them as relatives and he greeted them by name
as he mounted the steps.
"I wish to see my father," he said with a new dignity and authority.
"Will one of you go and say that his son awaits him in the verandah."
The request called forth no reply. They stared at him and rose one by
one, retiring through the big door which stood open. He was alone,
standing on the top step, not daring to enter the house. Too well he
knew all that would be involved by such an action. The inner courtyard
was exposed to view. His eager eyes searched every corner for a sight
of the figure he longed to see. A child toddled out from the women's
quarters. The boy's curiosity was roused. With the delightful absence
of shyness and self-consciousness peculiar to Indian children the
little fellow began to run towards him fearlessly, limping slightly.
It needed no words to tell the eager father who it was. Ananda's heart
leaped within him, flooded with a warm wave of paternal love. That
beautiful boy with his rounded limbs, his smooth olive skin, his
regular features could be none other than his son. Pride, tenderness,
joy rose at the thought, and he opened his arms. Swiftly the child
approached with growing confidence. Swifter still followed a form that
caused Ananda's heart to beat quicker and the blood to race through his
veins.
It was his wife. If the boy was beautiful what was she in the first
flush of her womanhood? From his lips fell the one word that no other
man had a right to call her. "Wife!"
Did she hear him? He felt that she must have caught the word. A pair
of startled eyes met his as she snatched away the child. The great
door slammed in his face, and the vision was gone. Was it her hand
that struck the cruel blow? Or had some member of the family crept up
unseen and swung the door into its socket.
Again the first sensation was a sense of injury and unmerited wrong;
but the weakness passed more quickly this time, and it was followed by
a just wrath. The family had no right to treat him in this insulting
manner, he said to himself indignantly. He was being condemned
unheard. They were inhuman as well as unjust. He felt sure that this
treatment was not meted out with his parents' consent. It was the work
of his uncle, who was too fond of playing the master of the house. He
must see his father and have some explanation. When his parents had
heard the reason for the step he had taken, they would understand; they
would become interested; and when they learned the beautiful doctrines
of Christianity regarding the future life, they might possibly incline
towards the new faith themselves and find comfort in the hope it
taught. In their ignorance of the fundamental teaching of Christianity
his parents believed that there was an immeasurable gulf between the
two creeds. If they would only listen they would realise that in
Christ was to be found the ideal and perfect manifestation of God. His
teaching brought hope and comfort and a sure promise of progressive
happiness; whereas the creed of the Hindu presented nothing but a
stagnant circle of painful rebirths. At best it could only end in loss
of personality, which was nothing more nor less than a hideous
spiritual and intellectual death, more horrible to contemplate than the
physical death.
Ananda had not been received into the English Church without due
instruction. The duties of his adopted faith had been carefully
inculcated. He had been warned that if he met with any persecution he
would have to bear it in a Christ-like spirit, meekly and with patience.
As he stood before the closed door meekness and patience were
conspicuous by their absence. The old Adam boiled within him in the
full strength of oriental passion. In furious wrath he beat at the
closed door with his walking-stick. He called his father by name, and
other male relatives. He tried to wrench open the wooden shutters of
the windows; but door and windows alike resisted his efforts and left
him exhausted. No one answered his angry calls and impatient knocks.
He listened but could not hear a sound. He was opposed by a colossal
silence that did more to crush and subdue the chafing spirit than
torrents of abuse.
Tired out, and his wrath partly spent, he gave up the attempt to summon
a member of the household and went dejectedly down the steps, turning
his back upon the inhospitable door of his old home. He glanced up and
down the road. What should he do with himself during the remaining
hours of daylight? To the south-east the town clustered round the old
fort. He knew it well with its thronged streets and busy bazaars. To
the north-west stood the mountains purpling into rich shades as the sun
approached the horizon. A refreshing breeze blew in from the north.
It cooled his heated face and drew him in the direction of the open
country with a kindly welcome.
He walked towards the silent hills until the sun and its afterglow had
disappeared. Then he retraced his steps, his peace of mind somewhat
restored. He became conscious of a healthy appetite and of an
insistent thirst for a cup of tea or coffee or a glass of milk.
He regained his room. It was in darkness except for a small oil lamp,
too dim to be of any use for reading purposes, that stood upon the camp
table. In a corner near the door was another waterpot with a tin mug.
He did not know if the mug was the same that the pariah had defiled by
his touch; he preferred to think that the waterman had brought both the
pot and the mug, and under this persuasion he took a long drink.
Apparently his return was observed by the household. Ten minutes later
the same man, who had swept his room, appeared carrying a tray on which
were dishes of curry with chutney and rice. All were of the best and
most tempting quality. The mere smell whetted Ananda's appetite till
he was well nigh ravenous; but he turned resolutely away whilst the
pariah, not daring to enter the room, set the tray down on the
threshold and vanished before Ananda could throw him thanks or abuse.
If the truth must be told it was the latter that was on the tip of his
tongue; but something arrested the torrent of curses and made him pause.
He did not attempt to analyse the feeling. The just anger of an
injured man was still dominant; but something from outside, something
altogether new was working underneath his caste instincts. He stood at
the open door looking out at the starlit night, the much needed food at
his feet. A strange sense of detachment, of calm isolation, came over
him, bringing an unexpected stilling of the emotional storm; it was
almost peace. The quiet beauty of the night stirred the memory of St.
Paul's cathedral. He seemed to hear the wonderful cadences of the
organ echoing round him, pouring balm upon the senses and endowing the
wounded spirit with strength to rise to better things above the
passions of the soul. By the aid of that memory he climbed out of the
slough of despair into which he had been plunged; and a half articulate
prayer went up to the living God for pity and help.
The crescent moon following the sun to its setting shone in the
luminous grey-green sky. That same moon faintly silvered the big grey
dome of St. Paul's where the organ pealed and the choir sang the daily
evensong. He calculated the time. It was about the hour for the
service to begin. In spirit he was back again kneeling among the quiet
worshippers, unnoticed but not despised, repeating the wonderful prayer
to "Our Father" that all lips can utter no matter what the creed of the
worshipper may be.
How long he remained standing at the door he did not know. The smell
of the savoury curry reached his nostrils, and appealed to a part of
his nature that could not be ignored. There was no doubt but that he
was desperately hungry; and the curry was food he had not tasted for
some time past. It was one of the pleasures to which he was looking
forward on his return home, as the Englishman thinks of the beefsteak.
His mother prided herself on the excellence of her chutneys. In the
dim light he could see that they had been dealt out with a liberal hand.
Suddenly he remembered who had brought the food. It was the despised
pariah. With a shudder he turned away as a European might have turned
from carrion. He understood why the food had been prepared so
carefully. It was not love but a refined cruelty that had prompted the
serving up of such a curry.
He flung himself into a chair and passed his hand over his eyes. The
mud walls, unrelieved by whitewash looked black and murky. The tiled
roof was open and without a ceiling. A fusty uncleanly scent of bats
and squirrels offended him; and the rough wooden cot with its coarse
black blankets was uninviting even to a weary man who longed for repose.
His portmanteaux and suit case remained untouched where he had thrown
them; he had not the heart to unpack and pull out the various little
luxuries which from long use in England were a necessity in his daily
routine. There was no dressing-table where brushes, combs, collar and
stud boxes could lie; no washstand with spotless towel and pretty
crockery to hold his sponge and soap. If he took off his coat, no
wardrobe nor chest of drawers was provided for its reception. It must
hang over the back of a chair until it was required again.
The food, hot and steaming when it was brought, grew cold and less
inviting. He could not leave it there all night; it must be moved if
only to allow of the door being closed when he slept. Once more he
went to the doorway, and this time called softly. Immediately the same
man appeared.
"Excellency! this slave is here."
"Take away the food. It has been defiled by the hand of a sweeper and
I cannot eat it."
The man obeyed without a word. He returned and fell to the ground
before Ananda.
"The great one knows that this is not the doing of this worm. The big
mistress commanded it, and this slave could not do otherwise. The
master's brother himself held the stick over my shoulders, and when I
protested he let it fall. See, even by the dim light of the lamp how
my skin is striped."
Ananda strode out past him into the night.
"Follow me; I have something to say."
He walked away from the building, keeping, however, within the
compound, which was walled in and private. When they were at a
sufficient distance to be secure from eavesdropping and observation
Ananda spoke.
"Tell me! who is it that gives orders? Is it my father?"
"The honourable master gives no orders. He sits silent in the front
room without speaking."
"It is my mother, then?"
The pariah wagged his head in assent.
"It is the big mistress aided by the excellency's brother. He tells
her what to say and she repeats his words to one of the kitchen women
who delivers the orders to me. I said to the kitchen woman that this
was not my work. I am paid to sweep round the house and carry away the
refuse. His honour's brother heard me and came towards me with his
stick raised. I was frightened and obeyed."
"Did you tell them that I broke the waterpot?"
The pariah again made a sign in the affirmative.
"What did they say?"
"The kitchen woman told me that the small master laughed, and the big
mistress said 'It is well.'"
"And his excellency? How did he receive the news?"
"He bowed his head and hid his face in his hands. 'It is hard on the
boy,' she heard him say, 'and there is no necessity.' My lord, I have
orders to go to-morrow morning early for the coffee and rice cakes
apportioned to your honour. What can I do? My lord must eat or he
will be sick. I am but a slave with no choice but to obey."
He put his hands together as though he prayed forgiveness. Ananda
paused before replying.
"Do as you are told," he said at last; and he spoke more gently to the
unfortunate outcaste than he had done before. "I can give the food to
the crows. They are not troubled with caste scruples," he added
bitterly.
"But the young master must not starve," said the pariah, with real
concern. "My lord must forgive his worthless servant for speaking.
This worm has a plan by which the master shall not starve. To-morrow
before it is light I will bring a herdsman with his cow and he shall
draw the milk and deliver it into your honour's hand. There are shops
in the town where food may be bought in tins. It is well known that
people of all castes eat European biscuits in peace without defilement
if they open the tins themselves. The master shall buy and open for
himself. I will bring charcoal so that the milk may be warmed by your
excellency and all will be well."
"Good; let it be so," replied Ananda.
He gave the man no thanks, but there was a softness in his voice that
satisfied him. Ananda turned back towards the little room that was to
serve as bedroom and sitting-room for the present, a den in which even
a dog would have moped and pined. A sound reached his ears causing him
to stop. It was a wail of grief such as the women raised on the death
of a member of the family. He called to the pariah.
"Who weeps in the house?"
"The big mistress and her women."
"Is any one of the family dead?"
"They weep because your excellency is not with them."
"It is enough; go."
It was indeed enough! At intervals during the night he heard the wail
as he lay on his uncomfortable bed. It spoke volumes. He was dead to
them from henceforth and worse than dead. He was an outcaste sunk to
the lowest depths of degradation, ranked with the "untouchables," and
regarded with loathing as unclean and abominable.