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KOPAL-KUNDALA.
bowed low with reverence, she took an entire bael-leaf from a vessel of flowers, and placed it at the feet of the image, and intently watched it. The leaf fell down.
Kopal-Kundala was exceedingly superstitious. Seeing the bael-leaf fall down from the feet of the image she was alarmed, and told the Adhikari. He, too, was grieved, and said, "It is too late to go back; now your husband only is your religion. If your husband goes to the burying-ground,[1] you will have to go with him. So go quietly."
All went quietly. Very late they arrived at the Midnapur road, and there the Adhikari took leave of them. Kopal-Kundala began to cry. She was taking leave of the one good friend she had in the world.
- ↑ This refers to the practice of suttee, which was abolished by a law passed during the viceroyalty of Lord Bentinck. At the present time the Hindoos regard such a practice with horror, though at the time the opposition to the bill was most keen and determined, and it was said the measure was only the prelude to a systematic scheme for the destruction of the Hindoo religion. As Bentham has well remarked, "Morality and legislation have the same centre, though not the same circumference. Morality quickly follows in the footsteps of legislation."
