Anandamath (The Abbey of Bliss)/Part 1/Chapter 5
Within this wood there stood a large monastery on a large piece of land with broken stones all around. Antiquarians would perhaps say that it was a Buddhist monastery in old days and was subsequently converted into a Hindu one. The buildings were two-storied. Within them were many temples and in front was a canopied yard. Most of the buildings were surrounded by walls and so shaded by trees outside that one would not think there was a building here, even if one looked in the daylight and from close quarters. The buildings were broken at many places but you could see by daylight that those places had been repaired of late. From the very sight of those buildings you could at once infer that there was human habitation within this deep inaccessible forest. In one of the rooms of this abbey a big log was burning, and as Kalyani first regained her consciousness in it, she saw before her, the great man of hoary hue, with milk-white garments on! Kalyani looked again with surprise, for she could not recollect things yet. Then the great man said, "Mother, this is a place of the gods, you need not be afraid. There is a little milk there, drink that and then I shall speak to you."
Kalyani understood nothing at first. Then as she grew a little steady, she took the skirt of her cloth round her neck and bowed herself before the great man. He blessed her, and, getting a fragrant earthen pot from another room, boiled the milk on the fire that was burning. When the milk was ready, he gave it to Kalyani and said "Mother, give some to your daughter and take the rest yourself—you may talk to me later on." Kalyani joyfully began to feed her child. Then the saint walked out,[1] saying, "You need have no fear till I come back."
Coming back presently, he found that Kalyani had fed her child but had taken nothing herself. There was now almost as much milk as he left, only a little having been used. "Mother," said he, "You have not taken the milk; I am going out again; I wont come back till you have taken it."
With this, the saintly man was going out again when Kalyani bowed to him and folded her arms as if she would speak.
The anchorite asked, "What do you want to say?" Kalyani said, "Do not bid me take the milk, there is some bar to it; I will not take anything now."
Then the anchorite feelingly said, "Tell me what bar there is. I am an anchorite and a celebate. You are as a daughter to me. What can there be that you may not like to tell me? When I brought you senseless from the woods, you seemed to be very much pulled down with hunger and thirst How can you live without food?"
Kalyani's eyes grew wet as she said: "You are a god, and I will tell you. My husband is yet unfed. How can I eat or drink till I meet him or learn that he has had some food?"[2]
The monk asked "Where is your husband?"
"That," said Kalyani, "I do not know. The outlaws brought me away when he had gone out to look for some milk." Then the anchorite asked her question after question and obtained every information about Kalyani and her husband. Kalyani did not give him her husband's name, in fact she could not do so[3];—but from other clues the monk came to recognise her and said "You are Mahendra's wife?" Kalyani did not answer; she looked down modestly and threw a splinter of wood on the fire on which the milk was warming. Then the anchorite said: "You do as I bid you; drink the milk, and I shall get news of your husband. I won't go till you have done it."
Kalyani inquired if there was any water in the house. The monk pointed to the pitcher. Kalyani put on the palms of her hands together in the shape of a cup and the anchorite filled it with water. She brought it to his feet and asked him to sanctify it with the dust of his feet. The monk touched it with his toe, and Kalyani drank away the water and said, "I have drunk nectar, pray bid me not take anything more. I will take nothing more till I hear of my husband." The monk urged no more. "You are safe in this temple," said he, "stay here while I go in search of your husband."
- ↑ This and what follows refers to a point of etiequette in Bengali Hindu Society where a lady does not consider it consistent with her modesty to take food before males or strangers.
- ↑ A Hindu wife would never partake of food till her husband has had it.
- ↑ It is considered indelicate, nay, even a sin, in orthodox Hindu Society for a wife to utter her husband's name.