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. 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. Acting on the advice of his companions, he put double locks
on the house-door and on the money-chest, and became more easy in
his mind when he had done so. He was in a perpetual state of alarm
lest his money should somehow or other fall into the hands of his
mother, stepmother, brother or sister, and be altogether lost to
him in consequence. His companions were continually saying to him:
"Money is a very important thing, sir! Where it is in question,
no confidence is to be reposed even in one's own father. Now there
is your younger brother always carrying a big bag of virtue about
with him wherever he goes, and with truth always on his tongue;
yet even his preceptor never shows indulgence to anyone, but
whenever he has the opportunity enforces his full claims. We
have seen a good many shams of that kind. Anyhow, Barada Babu
must know something of witchcraft: he must have lived some time
at Kamrup[39]. How otherwise is it possible to account for the great
influence he had over Baburam Babu at the time of his death?"
Not very long after this conversation, Matilall proceeded to
visit his relatives and kinsmen, to signify his accession to
his new position as master of the house. Busybodies are at
all times to be found, ready to interfere in other people's
concerns. Like the twists and turns of the _jelabhi_ sweetmeat,
their conversation touches on a variety of topics, but never goes
straight to the point: like air it wanders where it will, and it
is as difficult to get hold of, for it will generally be found
on close examination to have double meaning. Some of those he
visited said: "The master was a most worthy person: had it not been
for his great store of merit, he could not have had the children
he did. His death too,--why, it was characteristic of the man!
it was marvellous! Ah, sir, all this time you have been under the
shelter of a mountain, shielded and protected! You will now have
your own discretion to depend upon: the family all look to you:
you have the whole number of religious festivals to keep up: you
have, moreover, to perpetuate the name of your father and your
grandfather. First, of course you must perform the _shraddha_
with due regard to your property: you need not in this matter
dance to the tune of the world's opinion. Why Ram Chandra
himself offered a funeral cake of sand to his father's shade,
and if you have to abridge your expenditure in this respect,
it is idle to mourn over that: but to do nothing at all is not
good. Ah, sir, you must know that your father's name resounds
far and wide! by virtue of his name the tiger and the cow drink
at the same pool! can his _shraddha_ then be like the _shraddha_
of a poor and insignificant man? Even those encumbered with debt
must avoid the world's reproach." Matilall could not comprehend the
drift of all this talk. These men, while nominally manifesting
their bosom friendship as kinsmen for a kinsman, were really in
their inmost hearts eager to have a gorgeous _shraddha_ ceremony,
and themselves to get the management of it, so that they might
gain importance thereby; but they would never give a plain answer
to a plain question. One of them said: "It will never do not to
have the _shorash_, with the usual display of silver and other
presents" Another remarked: "You will find it very hard to keep
the world's respect, if you do not have a _dan-sagar_, with
costly presents of every kind for all comers." Another said:
"It will be a very poor sort of _shraddha_, if there is no
_dampati-baran_ for poor Brahmans." And another said: "It will
be a great disgrace if pandits are not invited to attend, and a
distribution of alms not made to the poor." There was a good deal
of wrangling over the affair. "Who wants your advice?" -- "Who
told you to argue?" -- "Who listens to your conclusions?" --
"Nobody respects you in the village: it is only in your own
opinion that you are the head-man," such remarks were freely
bandied about from one to the other. Each of those present indeed
was in his own estimation the most important man there, and each
man thought what he had to say the conclusion of the whole matter.
Three days after this discussion, Beni Babu, Becharam Babu,
Bancharam Babu, and Bakreswar Babu, arrived at Matilall's
house. Thakchacha was sitting near Matilall as melancholy
and spiritless as a snake with its jewelled crest lost:
with bead-rosary in his hand and with trembling lips, he was
muttering his prayers. His attention was not directed to the brisk
conversation that was going on around him: his eyes were rolling
about, their glance chiefly directed at the wall. When he saw Beni
Babu and the others, he rose hurriedly and saluted them. Such
humility on Thakchacha's part had never been witnessed before,
but the old proverb has it:-- "With the venom, goes the glamour."
Beni Babu took hold of Thakchacha's hand, and said to him: "Why,
what are you doing? How is it that you, a venerable old Moulvi
as you are, honour us like this?"
Bancharam Babu said: "We must waste no more time: our leisure
is very limited. Nothing is as yet arranged; come, tell us what
should be done."
_Becharam_.-- Baburam's affairs are in great confusion: some of
the property will have to be sold to clear off debts. It would
not be right to celebrate the _shraddha_ on a magnificent scale
and incur more debt by so doing.
_Bancharam_.-- What is this I hear? Surely the very first
requisite is to avoid the censure of the world: the property may
be looked after later on. Shall honour and reputation be allowed
to float away on the waters of this flood?
_Becharam_.-- That is very bad advice, and I will never assent
to it myself. How now, friend Beni, what do you say?
_Beni_.-- To incur debt again in any case where there is already
a good deal, and where it is doubtful whether it can be cleared
off even by a sale of property, is really a species of theft;
for how can the new debt incurred be cleared off?
_Bancharam_.-- Bah! that is only an English idea. As a matter of
fact the rich always live on credit: they incur debts here only
to pay them off there. A respectable man like you should not be
a marplot; or put obstacles in the way of a good action. I have
no property to give way myself, but if any one else is prepared
to make presents to all the pandits, am I bound to offer any
opposition? We all of us have pandits more or less dependent
upon us, and they will all want to receive invitations. It is
only natural they should: they must live.
_Bakreswar_.-- Very well said, sir! There is an old saying:
"Death before dishonour."
_Becharam_.-- Baburam Babu's family are in the centre of a
conflagration: as far as I can see they will soon be utterly
ruined. We must try and find a remedy to prevent this. A curse
on this method of purchasing renown at the expense of debt! I do
not consider Brahman followers to have such a claim upon me that
I should sacrifice others to fill their maws: a pretty business
that would be! Come, my friend Beni, let us be off.
As soon as Beni Babu and Becharam Babu had gone, Bancharam said
"A good riddance! these two gentlemen understand nothing about
the matter: they only talk. How refreshing it is to speak with
a man of real intelligence. Thakchacha, come and sit by me:
what is your opinion in this matter?"
"It is a great pleasure to me also," Thakchacha replied, "to
have a talk with a man like you: those two gentlemen are daft:
I am afraid to go near them. All that you have said is very true:
a man's life is practically thrown away if his honour and power
are lost. You and I will look well after the particulars and get
rid of all the difficulties. Is there any cause for alarm then?"
Matilall was naturally very extravagant, and fond of display:
he had no knowledge of money matters at all, and knew nothing of
business. He put full confidence in Bancharam and Thakchacha:
for apart from the fact that they were always frequenting the
courts and had the law at their fingers' ends, they had managed
to win an influence over him, exactly hitting off his wishes by
their clever ingenuity.
"Do you undertake the entire management of this business," said he,
"I will sign my name to anything you require."
"Let me have the master's will out of the box," Bancharam Babu
said. "Under the terms of the will, you are the only heir: your
brother is a lunatic, consequently his name has been omitted. If
you take the will and hand it into court, you will have letters of
administration granted you, and the property may then be mortgaged,
or sold upon your signature only." Matilall at once opened the box,
and took the will out.
When Bancharam had done all that was necessary in the courts,
he made arrangements with a money-lender, and returned to the
Vaidyabati house with the papers and the money. Matilall signed
the papers the moment he caught sight of the money, and putting
his hands on the bag of rupees was on the point of placing it in
the box, when Bancharam and Thakchacha said to him, "Ah, sir!
if the money remains with you, it will soon be all spent: it
will be safer, we think, in our charge. You are so good-natured
you know, so tender-hearted, that you cannot deny anything even
to a look: we, knowing people better, will be able to drive all
suppliants away."
Matilall thought to himself: "This is very excellent advice:
besides, how am I to get any money to spend after the _shraddha_!
have no father now to get money from by a mere look." So he agreed
to their proposal.
Great were the preparations for the shraddha ceremony of Baburam
Babu. What with the noise of arranging the _shorash_ and the silver
presents to be given to the pandits, the smell of the sweetmeats,
the buzzing of hornets, the pungent smoke from wet wood, and the
continual stream of things arriving for use on the occasion,
the whole house was full of confusion and bustle. Brahmans of
the poorer classes, whether connected with family worship, or
with shop or bazar accounts, all wearing silk clothes, and with
Ganges clay on their foreheads, were continually crowding in
for invitations to the shraddha ceremony. Of the Tarkavagishas,
Vidyaratnas, Nyayalankars, Bachaspatis, and Vidyasagars, all
learned and celebrated pandits, there was no end. Sages and _gurus_
were continually arriving. It was like the festival of the village
leather-seller, on the death of a cow.
The day of the ceremony arrived. Pandits from all parts of the
country had come for the assembly usual on such occasions[40], and
seated near them were their relatives, kinsmen and friends. Before
them were arranged presents of every description and for all
comers; horses, _palkis_, brass dishes, broadcloth, oil vessels,
and hard cash. On one side of them the processional singing was
in progress, and in the midst of the singers was Becharam Babu
enthusiastically absorbed in the music. Outside the house were
collected together Brahmans of lesser degree, pedigree reciters,
mendicants, _sannyasis_ and beggars. Thakchacha, not having
sufficient effrontery to sit down in the assembly, was roaming
about in the crowd.
The venerable Pandits were taking snuff and conversing together on
subjects connected with the _shástras_. One of their characteristics
is the difficulty they find in carrying on a discussion at their
great meetings calmly and composedly: some element of discord
is always sure to arise. One of the pandits introduced a portion
of the _Nyaya shástras_ for discussion:-- "Smoke is the effect
of fire, and this is a different substance from a water-jar." A
pandit from Orissa thereupon remarked, "The water-jar is itself
distinct from a mountain." "What is this, my friend, that you
are saying?" asked a pandit from Kashigoya, "you surely have not
paid proper attention to the sentence: he who regards a water-jar,
clothes, and a mountain as the same as smoke from a fire, simply
murders the famous Siromani." A pandit from Eastern Bengal said:
"Smoke is an entirely different substance from a water-jar: smoke
is the effect of fire: how then can there be smoke when there is
no fire[41]?" And so the dispute went on, and at last, from simply
glaring at each other, they got to a hand-to-hand scrimmage.
Thakchacha thought matters were looking serious and that he had
better calm things down before they went any further; so going
quietly up to them, he said: "I say, gentlemen, why are you
making such minute enquiries about such trifles as a water-pot
or a lamp? I will make you a much more valuable present; I will
give you two water-pots apiece," A very sharp Brahman amongst the
pandits at once got up and said, "Who are you, you low fellow? An
infidel outcast present at the _shraddha_ of a Hindu? This is not
the _shraddha_ of a she-ghost, that an apparition like you should
be the superintendent of it." As he said this, everybody present
began abusing Thakchacha, thumping him with their fists, pushing
him about and beating him with sticks. Thereupon Bancharam Babu
hurried up and said: "If you make a disturbance and interfere with
the _shraddha_ in this way, I will know the reason why: I will
get a summons out against you at once from the High Court. I am
not a man to be trifled with I can tell you." Bakreswar Babu too
had his say. "That is right: besides, the boy who is performing
the _shraddha_ is no common boy, he is the very model of a boy."
Becharam Baba observed: "It is becoming a matter of notoriety
that nothing ever goes right where Thakchacha and Bancharam have
the management. Ugh! Ugh." The disturbance did not cease. The
rowdy vagrants who were present, and others, kept adding to the
confusion, and as blows from the canes continually rained on them,
they shouted out, "A fine shraddha indeed you have celebrated." At
length all the respectable gentlemen present, seeing the state
of affairs, exclaimed:--
"Friends! Call this a _shraddha_? Whose _shraddha_ I pray?
"Tis death to a Brahman to toil without pay."
"Come, we had better slip away at once: why should we run any
more risk when there is nothing to be gained by it?"