THE waving of lamps and the loud clanging of bells showed
the worship of the goddess Nistarini[21] to be in full swing in
Sheoraphuli. Becharam Babu looked into the shrine of the goddess as
he went by on foot: lining both sides of the road were shops: in
some of them heaps of potatoes, grown at Bandipore and Gopalpore,
were exposed for sale: in others, the shopkeepers were hard at
work selling parched rice and sweetmeats, grain and _dal_. Here
in one part were oil-merchants sitting near their mills, (which
were simply the hollowed out trunks of trees,) and reading the
_Ramayan_ in the vulgar tongue: now and then they would urge on
their cattle, as they went circling round, with a click of the
tongue, and when the circle was completed, would shriek out the
passage: "Oh Ram! we are monkeys, Ram, we are monkeys!" Women
were busily engaged in cutting up fish for sale by the light of
their lamps, and calling out: "Buy our fish, buy our fish!" while
cloth merchants, reciting some passage from the _Mahabharata_
were murdering its unhappy author[22]. All this, as he passed
through the Bazaar, Becharam Babu was closely observing. When a
man is taking a solitary walk, anything that has recently occupied
his attention keeps recurring to his mind. Now, Becharam Babu was
very fond in those days of processional singing; and as he went
along an unfrequented path, after leaving his dwelling, one of his
favourite songs came into his mind. The night was dark and there
was hardly a soul about: only a few bullock-carts, their wheels
creaking as they lumbered along, were on their way home: dogs
were barking here and there. So Becharam Babu began to put all his
lung-power into the song he was chanting in the monotone peculiar
to processional music. The village women hearing his nasal twang,
screamed aloud in their terror, for it is the rooted conviction
of the country folk that only ghosts adopt this peculiar vocal
style. Hearing the commotion Becharam was somewhat disconcerted,
so he took to his heels and soon reached the Vaidyabati house.
Baburam Babu had a big gathering. Beni Babu of Bally, Bakreswar
Babu of Batalata, Bancharam Babu of Outer Simla and many others
were present. Thakchacha sat on a chair near the master. Several
pandits were there discussing the _Shástras_; some had taken up
passages of the treatises concerning logic and metaphysics for
discussion: others were hotly discussing the dates that would
be auspicious or otherwise for the annual festivals: others were
giving their interpretation of the _slokas_ out of a particular
portion of the _Bhagavad Gita_: others were holding a great
argument on grammatical niceties. One of the pandits, a man
with an Assamese designation and a resident of Kamikhya, who was
sitting near the master, said to him as he pulled away at his pipe:
"You are a very fortunate man, sir, to possess two sons and two
daughters. This year is a somewhat unpropitious one, but if you
offer up a sacrifice, the stars may all be favourable again, and
you can use their influence on your behalf." In the midst of the
discussion Becharam Babu arrived, and the whole company rose to
their feet as he entered, and welcomed him most cordially. 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.
After some time spent in conversation on different topics, Becharam
Babu asked: "What about Matilall's marriage contract? Where has
it been arranged?"
_Baburam_.-- A good many proposals for a contract of marriage
have come in: Haridas Babu of Guptipara, Shyma Charan Babu
of Nakashipur, Ram Hari Babu of Kanchrapara, and many others
belonging to different districts have sent in proposals. These
have all been passed over, and a marriage has been arranged with
the daughter of Madhav Babu of Manirampur. He is a man possessed
of considerable property; we shall, moreover, make a good deal
out of the connection.
_Becharam_.-- Beni, my friend, what do you think about this? Come,
tell me plainly and openly your opinion.
_Beni_. -- Becharam, my dear friend, it is no easy matter to
tell you plainly: you know the proverb: "A dumb man makes no
enemies." Besides what is the use of discussing, a thing that
has been settled?
_Becharam_.-- Oh, but you must tell me: I like to know the ins
and outs of every marriage.
_Beni_.-- Listen then: Madhav Babu of Manirampur is a very
quarrelsome sort of person, -- has not even the manners of a
gentleman. He has a reputation amongst Brahmans for orthodoxy,
only gained by making presents to them, but he is an utterly
unscrupulous man. True, he may be able to make handsome presents of
money and other things on the occasion of his daughter's marriage;
but is money the only thing worth taking into consideration
when a marriage is in question? Surely the first requisite is a
respectable family, and the next a good girl; and then if there
is wealth as well, so much the better, but it does not very much
matter. Now Ram Hari Babu of Kanchrapara is a very excellent
person: he lives cheerfully and contentedly on the income he
derives from his own exertions, and never casts a longing eye on
another man's wealth. He may not be in very good circumstances,
I allow, but he has always been very careful to have his children
well educated, and the one object of his thoughts has been the
happiness and moral well-being of his family. To be connected
with such a man as this would be a source of entire happiness.
_Becharam_.-- Baburam Babu, who is the intelligent person who
has recommended this match to you? Avarice will be your ruin
yet. But what right have I to speak? It is after all our social
system that is at fault: whenever the topic of marriage comes to
the front, people always say: "How sir! will you give me a pot
of silver? will you give me a necklace of pearls?" It is only
an idiot who would think of saying; "Look first to see whether
your proposed relation be respectable or not: enquire whether
the girl be a good girl or otherwise." This is a mere trifle:
if only wealth is to be got, that is everything.
_Bancharam_.-- We want family, we want beauty, and we want
wealth as well: how can a family possibly get on if it professes
to despise wealth?
_Bakreswar_.-- True enough: we must keep up a proper respect
for wealth. What do we get by intercourse with a poor man? Are
our stomachs filled by it?
_Thakchacha [bending down from his chair]_.-- All this talk is
a reflection upon me: it was I that counselled this match. I
would have been ashamed to show my face in the world if I had
not succeeded in getting a girl of noble parentage. I took
immense pains to ascertain that Madhav Babu of Manirampur was a
good man. Why, he is a man at whose name the tiger and cow might
drink at the same pool together! besides, look at the advantage of
being able to get his _lathials_ whenever we need them in cases
of dispute. Then too everybody connected with the Law-Courts is
under his thumb: there are a thousand ways in which he can be of
assistance to us in any strait. Ram Hari Babu of Kanchrapara on the
other hand, is a feeble sort of person: he makes a very precarious
living: what would have been the good of an arrangement with him?
_Becharam_.-- A fine counsellor you have got Baburam! If you
listen to all such a counsellor has to advise, you are bound to
get to heaven, body and all. And what a son, too, you have! And
so he is actually about to be married? What do you think about
it all, Beni Babu!
_Beni_.-- I think that the man who will first thoroughly educate
his son, and who will take special pains that he shall grow up
thoroughly moral, will be best able to be of assistance to his
son when the time comes that he should marry. Many evils are
likely to arise if a boy is married at an unreasonable age.
On hearing all this, Baburam Babu rose in much irritation and
hurriedly retreated into the inner apartments of the house,
where his wife was engaged in discussing the match with some of
the women of the village. Going up to her, he informed her of
all that had been said outside, and as he stood there in some
perplexity, inquired: "Cannot we put off Matilall's marriage
for a few days?" His wife replied: "What is this that you are
saying? Plague take our enemies! By divine favour Matilall is now
sixteen: would it look well not to marry him now? If you upset
the arrangements now, the proper season for marriage will slip
away. You surely do not know what you are doing: is the caste of
a good man to be destroyed in this way? Go at once, and take the
bridegroom off with you."
At this advice from his wife, all the master's indecision
disappeared. He at once went outside and gave the order for the
lamps to be lit: the musical instruments all struck up at the
same time, and the English bands began to play. 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. None of the poor
people ventured to remonstrate, though they were sadly annoyed.
The bridegroom soon reached Manirampur, and got down from the
palanquin. Both sides of the road were crowded with people gazing
at the bridegroom. The women chattered away to each other about
him. "The boy has a certain amount of beauty," said one, "but if
his nose were a bit straighter, he would look better." Another
remarked, "His complexion, fair as it is, would look better
even fairer."
The marriage was to take place at a late hour, but it had not
struck ten when Madhav Babu, taking a _durwan_ with a lantern, came
out to meet the bridegroom and his guests. After he had joined the
marriage procession in the street, nearly half an hour was wasted
in the exchange of compliments, each man wishing to give precedence
to the other. While one said: "Pray sir! precede me!" the other
politely declined: "Nay sir! do you please go first." At last,
Beni Babu of Bally went forward and said: "Please one of you
gentlemen go on ahead. I cannot stand here in the street and catch
cold." An amicable arrangement being at last come to, the whole
company arrived at the house of the bride's father and entered.
The bridegroom took his seat in the assembly. Numbers of roughs
were standing about, ripe for mischief. The distribution of
money to the village, and other subjects, then came up for
discussion. Thakchacha was doing his best, but apparently without
avail, to effect some arrangement for his own profit. A rough
blustering sort of fellow came up to him and said: "Who is this
low Mahomedan? Get out of this! what has a Mahomedan to do with
Hindu concerns?" Thakchacha was furious, and shaking his head
fiercely, his eyes inflamed with passion, abused the man roundly.
This was the very opportunity Matilall's young friends, Haladhar,
Gadadhar, and the other young Babus, had been longing for. They saw
from the clouds that were gathering that a storm was imminent. One
set to work to tear the carpet into pieces, another to extinguish
the lamps: some set the chandeliers clashing and jingling, while
others threw missiles among the assembled company[23]. Some of the
people of the bride's father, seeing the confusion they were
creating, began to abuse them and strike them with their fists,
and Matilall seeing the quarrel in progress; thought to himself:
"I fancy I am not destined to get married. I may have to return
home after all, with the thread only on my wrist[24]."