THERE had been heavy rain in the night: the roads and _ghâts_
was all muddy and wet: the sky was still overcast, and there were
occasional distant rumblings of thunder: frogs croaked everywhere
in loud chorus. The shopkeepers in the bazaar had opened out
their awnings, and were now engaged in smoking. Owing to the rainy
weather very few people were moving about: only a few _gariwans_
passed along the road, singing at the top of their voices, and
some coolies bearing loads on their heads, absorbed in their
favourite melody, of which the refrain ran:--
"Oh yes, my darling Bisakha!
"Your friend's just off to Mathura."
A number of barbers lived on the west side of the Vaidyabati
Bazar. One of them was sitting in his verandah on account of the
rain, and as he sat there, every now and then looking up at the sky
or humming softly to himself, his wife brought her infant child
to him and said, "I have not yet got through all my house work:
just nurse this child for me a bit! the pots and pans have not yet
been scoured, and the floor has not been rubbed down with cow-dung;
and besides, I have a lot of cooking to do. I am the only woman in
the house: how can I possibly do all this myself? -- have I four
hands or four feet?"
The barber straightway tucked his shaving instruments under his
arm and got up to go, saying, "I have no time just now to nurse
the child. Baburam Babu is to be married to-morrow: I must be
off at once." His wife started back, saying: "Good heavens! what
next? what, that fat unwieldy old man going to marry again! Alas,
alas! And such an excellent housewife as he has already, a chaste
divinity, as pure as Lakshmi! What, he must go and tie a co-wife
to her neck! It is a crying shame! Why, there is a really
nothing that men will not do!" The barber was dumbfounded by
this eloquent outburst, but taking no notice of what his wife was
saying, stuck his hat of plaited leaves on his head and went off.
That day was a very cloudy one, but early next morning the sun
shone brightly. The trees and plants seemed all to have received
new life, and the joyous sounds of beast and bird, in field and
garden, were redoubled. Baburam Babu, Thakchacha, Bakreswar Babu,
and Bancharam Babu were just getting into one of the numerous
boats at the Vaidyabati Ghât, when suddenly Beni Babu and Becharam
Babu appeared. Thakchacha pretended not to see them, and shouted
to the boatmen to let the boat loose, while they remonstrated:
"But master, the ebb tide is still running! how shall we be able
to get along against it even if we punt with poles or haul with
ropes?" Baburam Babu received his two friends very courteously,
saying: "Your arrival is most opportune: come, let us all be
off." Becharam Babu then remonstrated: "Ah Baburam, who in the
world advised you to go and marry at your age?"
_Baburam_.-- Ah Becharam, my dear friend, am I so old as all
that? I am a good deal younger than you are: besides, if you say
that my hair is quite gray and that I have lost all my teeth,
that is the case with a good many others even at an early age:
it is not such a very great drawback. I have a good many things to
think of; one of my sons has gone to the bad, another has become
a lunatic: one of my daughters is no more, another is as good as
a widow. If I have children by this marriage, my family will be
preserved from extinction: I am, moreover, under an obligation
to marry: if I do not do so the girl's father will lose caste,
for they have no other family they can marry her into.
_Bakreswar_.-- That is indeed true: do you suppose that the
master has entered upon a matter of this importance without
taking everything into consideration? I know no one of a better
understanding.
_Bancharam_.-- We are Kulins: we must maintain the traditions
of our family at any cost, and where wealth is a recommendation
as well, why, there is nothing more to be said!
_Becharam_.-- Confound your family traditions and bad luck to
your wealth! Alas, how many persons have combined to overthrow
one house! What do you say, friend Beni?
_Beni_.-- What shall I say? our remonstrances are but as idle
words, as the tears of one weeping in a wilderness. But really
this matter is a cause of great grief to me. To marry again when
you already have one wife, is a grievous sin: no man who wished
to maintain his virtue could ever do such a thing. There may be a
_Shástra_ of an opposite opinion, it is true; but there is never
any necessity for following it: that such a _Shástra_ is not a
genuine one there can be no reasonable doubt, and should it be
taken as a guide in actual practice, the bonds of marriage would
thereby become much weakened. The feelings of the wife towards
her husband cannot remain as before, and the feelings of the
husband towards his wife will also be constantly changing. If
such a calamity as this befalls a family, it cannot possibly
prosper or be happy. If there is such a rule in the _Shástras_,
that rule should not be regarded as binding. Be that as it may,
it is very base of Baburam Baba to marry a second time, considering
what a wife he has still living. I know nothing about the details
of the matter: it has only just come to my ears.
_Thakchacha_.-- Ah, the man of books picks a hole in everything!
he seems to me to have nothing else to do. I am getting an old man
now, and my beard is gray. Must I be always arguing with such
children? Does the learned Babu know how much wealth this marriage
will bring to the family?
_Becharam_.-- Mercenary wretch that you are! do you recognise
money only? Have you no regard for anything else? You are a low
unprincipled scoundrel, that is all I can say. Ugh! friend Beni,
come, let us be off.
_Thakchacha_.-- I will have a talk with you some other day: we
cannot waste any more time now. You will have to hurry if you
want to reach the house in time.
Thereupon, Becharam caught hold of Beni Babu by the hand and
got up, saying: "We will never, as long as we live, go to such
a marriage; and if there be such a thing as virtue in the world,
may you not return in peace! Only ruin can attend your counsel:
you who are now enjoying yourself at Baburam Babu's expense! I
have nothing more to say to you. Ugh!"