taking place. Nevertheless, even this was an irregularity
and, when entering the house, was of itself bad enough;
but to add to it I, for my own part, forgot to enter with the
right foot first. Fortunately the wedding guests, and espe‐
cially my father, were so nearly beside themselves at the
threatened contact with the threshold, that my false step
was all but entirely disregarded.
In the middle of the house I took my station to the
left of my wife, on a red bull’s hide that lay with the neck
towards the east, and with the hairy side uppermost. Now
my father had, after a long search, and with endless
trouble, come upon a male child that had only brothers
and no sisters — not even dead ones — and was the son
of a father who had been the same, having had brothers
only. Moreover, this was also actually true of his grand‐
father and, to the accuracy of the statements in each case,
legal testimony was forthcoming. This little boy was to be
placed on my bride’s knee. Already there stood at her side
the copper dish containing lotus flowers from the swamps,
which she was to lay in the folded hands of the child; and
everything was prepared, when... the hapless little urchin
was nowhere to be found! Not until afterwards, when it
was too late, did a manservant discover that the child had
found the sacrificial bed between the fires all too enticing
and had rolled himself in the soft grass until he was practi‐
cally buried in it. Now, of course, the sacrificial bed had to
be made up anew and fresh Kusa grass cut — which was
in itself reversing the due order of things as the grass
should have been cut at the rising of the sun.
We were finally obliged, as I have indicated, to do
without this crown of the whole function, and to content
ourselves with the hastily procured son of a mother who
had borne only sons. But my father was in such a state of
excitement at the failure of this precaution, on which he
had built his highest hopes, that I feared a fit of apoplexy
112
would suddenly put an end to his precious life. True, he
would under no circumstances have committed the indis‐
cretion of dying at that moment, in order not to interrupt
the ceremonies in the worst of all ossible ways, but this
comforting reflection did n
to me at the time.
Martyre
the most horrible fears, and in order that no
interval
waiting
tras without pause.
come
ter
h
id
tha if a man had one
have two. But alas, how sadly
ad I
p
ot occur
d by
might ensue, I was obliged to pass the time of
for the substitute by reciting some appropriate
man
That hour I solemnly promised myself that,
what may, I would never marry again.
Finally, after everything was ended, I was obliged
to spend twelve nights with my new wife — who, by the
way, was anything but the monster of ugliness my father’s
description had led me to expect — in absolute chastity,
g on the floor. This time it
fasting rigorously and sleepin
as t
w
welve nights because my father thought it was bet
to be on the safe side and do too much rather than too
little. But the doing was distinctly painful to me; particu‐
larly because I had to deprive myself, during the whole
time, of my favourite dishes — high seasonings and all.
However, this period of probation I also managed
g
to survive, and life ran on again on the old lines, thou
soon with a very substantial difference. Before long I was
to see how thoroughly warranted was my aversion to my
ther’s new marriage proposal. True, I had instantly
fa
comforted myself with the
ea
t,
ife, he might just as well
w
h
deceived myself!
My first wife, Sītā, was a sweet person and had
always seemed to possess a gentle demeanour, she cer‐
tainly leaned to the side of mellowness rather than to that
of irritable passion; and Savitrī was also quite loveable and
had always been praised for her genuine warmth and her
true womanly softness. In the same way, brother, that
113
water and fire both have truly beneficial qualities, when
they meet on the hearth, one must be prepared for noise
and steam. And from that unhappy day onward there was
n
orst
e
as
very devil’s dance of trium‐
hant
e
n: the boy – whom everybody knew by the
lf
mbs, Ambā and Tambā, were not sure of
eir l
uld
indeed the sound of hissing in my home. It was misery —
and I also chided myself for having brought this situation
about, where two good women were set up in competitio
with each other, and thus caused to bring out the very
w
in themselves.
But imagine to yourself, if you can, what becam
of the situation when Savitrī did indeed bear me the first of
those five heroic sons. Now Sītā accused me of not having
wanted sons by her, and of having refrained from offering
the fitting sacrifices in order that I might thus have an
excuse for marrying another; while Savitrī, when she w
irritated by Sīta, performed a
p
scorn. Then, between the two, there was a constant
wrangle as to precedence; my first wife laying claim to th
first position as having actually been the first, while the
second made the same demand as the mother of my son.
But worse was yet to come.
One day Savitrī dashed in to me, trembling from
head to foot in frenzied agitation, and demanded that
I should send Sītā away as she wished to poison my
belovèd so
nickname of ‘Krishna,’ on account of his unusually
dark coloration and mishevious nature – had merely
had an attack of colic from eating too many sweets,
a habit in which he also imitated his divine namesake.
I rebuked her severely, but had scarcely freed myse
from her presence when Sītā stood before me, clamouring
that our two la
th
ives so long as that vile woman remained in the
house:— Her rival wished to get both of my dear little
daughters out of the way in order that their dowries sho
not diminish the heritage of her son.
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