Sabitri.-What, what do you say? Bindu.-Mother, I can no longer keep my life, becoming mad by the death of my father bound by a rope, and the death of my elder brother; thou hast destroyed my Saralota, and thus hast applied salt to my wounded heart. Sabitri.-What! Is my Nobin dead! Is my Nobin dead! Ah, my dear sir, my dear Bindu Madhab! Have I killed your Saralota! Have I killed my young Bou by becoming mad, (embracing the dead body of Saralota). I would have remained alive, although deprived of my husband and my son. Ah, but on murdering you by my own hands, my heart is on the point of being burnt. Ho! ho! mother, (embracing Saralota, she falls down dead on the ground). Bindu. (Placing his hand on Sabitri's body.) What I said took place quickly. My mother died on recovering her understanding. What affliction! My mother will no more take me on her lap, and kiss me. Oh! mother! The word mama will no more come out of my mouth, (weeps). Let me place the dust of her feet on my head, (takes the dust from her feet and places that on his own head). Let me also purify my body by eating that dust, (eats the dust of her feet). Enter SOIRINDRI. Soirindri.-I am going to die with my husband; do not oppose me, my brother-in-law? My bipin shall live happily with Saralota. What's this,-what's this? Why are our mother-in-law and Bou both lying in this manner. Bindu.-Oh eldest Bou! our mother first killed Saralota, then getting her understanding again, she fell into such excesses of sorrow, that she also died. Soirindri.-Now! in what manner? What loss! What is this! What is this! Ah! ah! my sister, thou hast not yet worn that most pleasant lock of hair of the head which I prepared for thee! Ah! ah! thou shalt no more call me sister (cries). Mother-in-law, thou art going to your Rama, but did'st not let me go there. Oh my mother-in-law, when I got thee, I did not for a moment remember my mother. Enter ADURI. Aduri.-Oh eldest Haldarni, come soon; thy young bipin is afraid. Soirindri.-Why did you not call me thence? You left him there alone. (Goes out hastily with Aduri.) Bindhu.-My bipin is now the pole-star in the ocean of dangers! (With a deep sigh.) In this world of short existence, human life is as the bank of a river which has a most violent course, and the greatest depth. How very beautiful are the banks, the fields covered over with new grass most pleasant to the view, the trees full of branches newly coming out; in some places the cottages of fishermen ; in others the kine feeding with their young ones. To walk about in such a place, enjoying the sweet songs of the beautiful birds, and the charming gale, full of the sweet smell of flowers, only wraps the mind in the contemplation of that Being who is full of pleasure. Accidentally, a hole, small as a line, is observed in the field, and immediately that most pleasant bank falls down into the stream. How very sorrowful! The Bose family of Svaropur is destroyed by indigo, the great destroyer of honour. How very terrible are the arms of indigo! The cobra de capello, like the indigo planters, with mouths full of poison, threw all happiness into the flame of fire. The father through injustice, died in the prison; the elder brother in the indigo-field, and the mother, being insane through grief for her husband and son, murdered with her own hands the most honest woman. Getting her understanding again, and observing my sorrow, the ocean of grief again swelled in her. With that disease of sorrow, came the poison of want; and thus, without attending to consolation, she also departed this life. Incessantly do I call, where is my father? Where is my father? Embrace me once more with a smiling face. Crying out, oh mother! oh mother! I look on all sides; but that countenance of joy do I find nowhere. When I used to call mama, she immediately took me on her breast, and rubbed my mouth. Who knows the greatness of maternal affection? The cry of mama, mama, mama, mama, do I make in the battle-field and the wilderness whenever fear arises in the mind. Oh my mother, dear unto the heart, in the place of whom there is not one, as a friend in this world. Thy Bindu Madhab is come! open thine eyes once more and see. Ah! ah! it bursts my heart, not to know where my heart's Sarala is gone to. The most beautiful, wise, and entirely devoted to me; she walked as the swan,* and her eyes were handsome as those of the deer. With a smiling face and with the sweetest voice, thou did'st read to me the Batal. The mind was charmed by thy sweet reading, which was as the singing of the bird in the forest. Thou, Sarala, had'st the most beauteous face, and did'st brighten the lake of my heart. Who did take away my lotus with a cruel heart? The beautiful lake became dark. The world I look upon is as a desert full of corpses; while I have lost my father, my mother, my brother, and my wife. Ah! ah! are they gone too in search of the dead body of my father? I am to prepare for going to the Ganges as soon as they come. Ah! how very terrible, the last scene of the drama of the lion-like Nobin Madhab is? (Sits down, taking hold of Sabitri's feet.) [The Curtain fulls down. Heart Religion or Living Belief in the Truth. By the Rev. ALEXANDER LEITCH, author of "The Unity of the Faith," "Christian Errors Infidel Arguments,' ," "The Gospel and the Great Apostacy." Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot, 15 Princes Street. ABOUT eighteen months ago we commended to our readers Mr Leitch's masterly disquisition on "The Unity of the Faith;" while we attested the great merits of his two earlier treatises, entitled respectively, "The The gait of the swan is considered, in this country, the most beautiful model of the motion of the feet. gets salvation, if on his death the widow still wears ornaments; although I wept with such loud cries, still they made me wear the Shanka.* I have burnt it by the lamp, still it is in my hands, (cuts off the robe with her teeth). For the widow to wear ornaments does not look good, and is not tolerable. On my hands they are raising a blister, (cries.) Whoever has stopt me wearing the Shanka, let her Shanka be taken off within three days.t (Snaps the joints of her fingers on the ground.) Let me prepare the bed myself, (prepares the bed in fancy). The mat was not washed, (extends her hands a little). I cannot reach to the pillow; the coat of shreds is become dirty, (rubs the floor with her hands). Let me make the child lie down, (placing the dead body slowly on the ground). My son, what fear near the mother? You lie down peacefully. I shall spit here, (spits on its breast). If that Englishman's lady comes here this day, I shall kill her by pressing down her neck. I shall never have any child out of my sight. Let me place the bow round it, (gives a mark with her finger round the floor while reading a certain phrase as a sacred formula read to a god). "The froth of the serpent, the tiger's nose, the fire prepared by Sala's resin, the whirling of the swinging machine, the white hairs of seven co-wives,|| bhanti§ leaves, the flowers of the dhuturá, the seeds of the indigo, the burnt pepper, the head of the corpse, the root of the madder, the mad dog, thieves ridding of a churdis, these together make the arrow to be directed against the gnashing teeth of Yama." Enter SARALOTA. Saralota.-Where are these going to? Ah! she is turning round the dead body. I think my husband, tired with excessive travelling, has given himself up to sleep, that goddess who is the destroyer of all sorrows and pains. Oh sleep! how very miraculous is thy greatness, thou makest the widow to be with her husband in this world, thou bringest the traveller to his country, at thy touch, the prisoner's chain breaks; thou art the Dhannantari¶ of the sick; thou hast no distinction of castes in thy dominions; and thy laws are never different on account of the difference of nations or castes; thou must have made my husband a subject of thy impartial power; or else, how is it, that the insane mother brings away the dead son from him. My husband has become quite distracted by being deprived of his father and his brother. The beauty of his countenance has faded by and bye, as the full moon decreases day by day. My mother, when hast thou come up? I have left all food and sleep, and am looking after thee continually; and did I fall into so much insensibility; I promised that I shall bring thy husband from yama (invisible), in order to cure thee, and therefore thou remainest quiet for sometime. In this formidable night, so full of darkness, like unto that which shall take place on the destruction of the universe; when the skies are spread over *An ornament made of shell for the wrists of women. That is, let her become a widow within three days, who has made me so. The wives of the same husband. Dhannantari is the physician of the gods. 2 Volkmeria Odorata. with terrors of clouds; the flashes of lightning are giving momentary light, like the arrows of fire, and the rest of living creatures are giving up, as it were, to the sleep of death; all are silent; when the only sound is the cry of jackall in the wilderness, and the loud noise of the dogs, the great band of enemies and thieves. My mother, how is it possible, that in such a night as this, thou was't able to bring thy dead son from outside the house, (goes near the corpse). Sabitri.-I have placed the circling, and how do you come within it? Saralota.-Ah! my husband can never be able to live on seeing the death of this his heart conquering and most dear brother. (Weeps). Sabitri.-You are envying my child, you all-destroying wretch, the daughter of a wretch! Let your husband die. Go out, just now; be out; or else, I shall place my foot on your throat, take out your tongue, and kill you immediately. Saralota.-Ah! such Shoranam* (six-mouthed) of gold, whom our father-in-law and mother-in-law had, is now gone to the water. Sabitri.-Don't look on my child; I forbid you-you destroyer of your husband. I see, your death is very near, (goes a little towards her). Saralota.-Ah! how very cruel are the formidable arms of death? Ah Yama, you gave so much pain to my honest mother-in-law. Sabitri. Calling again! calling again! (takes hold of Saralota's neck by her two hands and throws her down on the ground). Thou stupid, beloved of Yama. Now will I kill thee, (stands upon her neck). Thou hast devoured my husband; again, thou art calling your paramour to swallow my dear infant. Die, die, die, now. (Begins to skip upon the neck.) Saralota.-Gab, a, a, (death of Saralota). Bindu.-Oh! she is lying flat here. Oh mother, what is that? Thou hast killed my Saralota, (taking hold of Saralota's head). My dear Sarala has left this sinful world. (After weeping, kisses Saralota.) Sabitri.-Gnaw the wretch and destroy her. She was calling Yama to devour my infant; and now I killed her. (Standing on her neck.) Bindu.-As the mother, having destroyed the child whom she was fondling for making it sleep on her lap, on awaking, will go to destroy herself, so wilt thou, oh my mother! go to kill thyself, if, thine insanity passing off, thou can'st understand, that thy most beloved Saralota was murdered by thee. It will be good if that lamp no more give its light to thee. Ah! how very pleasant it is for a woman to be mad, who has lost her husband and son! The deer-like mind being enclosed within the stone-walls of madness, can never be attacked by the great tiger sorrow. I am thy Bindu Madhab. *Shoranam is one of the names of Kartikeya. In this place it refers to Nobin Madhab, on account of the great honour which he had acquired from the people of the country; and he is compared with Katrikeya, because he had much honour among the gods. Sabitri.-What, what do you say? Bindu.-Mother, I can no longer keep my life, becoming mad by the death of my father bound by a rope, and the death of my elder brother; thou hast destroyed my Saralota, and thus hast applied salt to my wounded heart. Sabitri.-What! Is my Nobin dead! Is my Nobin dead! Ah, my dear sir, my dear Bindu Madhab! Have I killed your Saralota! Have I killed my young Bou by becoming mad, (embracing the dead body of Saralota). I would have remained alive, although deprived of my husband and my son. Ah, but on murdering you by my own hands, my heart is on the point of being burnt. Ho! ho! mother, (embracing Saralota, she falls down dead on the ground). Bindu. (Placing his hand on Sabitri's body.) What I said took place quickly. My mother died on recovering her understanding. What affliction! My mother will no more take me on her lap, and kiss me. Oh! mother! The word mama will no more come out of my mouth, (weeps). Let me place the dust of her feet on my head, (takes the dust from her feet and places that on his own head). Let me also purify my body by eating that dust, (eats the dust of her feet). Enter SOIRINDRI. Soirindri.-I am going to die with my husband; do not oppose me, my brother-in-law? My bipin shall live happily with Saralota. What's this, what's this? Why are our mother-in-law and Bou both lying in this manner. Bindu.-Oh eldest Bou! our mother first killed Saralota, then getting her understanding again, she fell into such excesses of sorrow, that she also died. Soirindri.-Now! in what manner? What loss! What is this! What is this! Ah! ah! my sister, thou hast not yet worn that most pleasant lock of hair of the head which I prepared for thee! Ah! ah! thou shalt no more call me sister (cries). Mother-in-law, thou art going to your Rama, but did'st not let me go there. Oh my mother-in-law, when I got thee, I did not for a moment remember my mother. Enter ADURI. Aduri.-Oh eldest Haldarni, come soon; thy young bipin is afraid. Soirindri.-Why did you not call me thence? You left him there (Goes out hastily with Aduri.) alone. Bindhu.-My bipin is now the pole-star in the ocean of dangers! (With a deep sigh.) In this world of short existence, human life is as the bank of a river which has a most violent course, and the greatest depth. How very beautiful are the banks, the fields covered over with new grass most pleasant to the view, the trees full of branches newly coming out; in some places the cottages of fishermen ; in others the kine feeding with their young ones. To walk about in such a place, enjoying the sweet songs of the beautiful birds, and the charming gale, full of the sweet smell of flowers, only wraps the mind in the contemplation of that Being who is full of pleasure. Accidentally, a hole, small as a line, is observed in the field, and immediately that |