Chapter 14

Hori's entire harvest had become an offering to the fine. Baisakh somehow passed, but by the time Jeth set in, not a single grain of corn remained in the house. Five mouths to eat, and not a grain in the house. Two meals were not to be had — at least one meal there must surely be. A full belly was not to be had — at least half a belly there must be. How many days can anyone go fasting! If he were to borrow, from whom? From the small and great moneylenders of the village he had to hide his face. And even if he laboured for hire, for whom? In Jeth there was plenty of his own work. The watering of the sugarcane was upon him, but how can hard work be done on an empty belly!

Evening had fallen. The little child was crying. If the mother gets no food, from where is milk to come? Sona understood the situation, but what could Rupa understand? She was crying out again and again, "Bread, bread." All day she had beguiled herself with raw mangoes, but now she needed something solid. Hori had gone to Dulari Sahuain to borrow grain, but she had shut up shop and gone to the market. Mangru Sah not only refused, he scolded too. "Come to borrow, have you — for three years not a half-pice of interest, and on top of that you would have me lend more. We will give it in the next world. When the disposition turns dishonest, this is the state of things. Even God cannot bear to look on such injustice. When the karkun scolded, how quietly you coughed up the money. My money is no money, and his wife — her temper is never to be matched."

He sat there, dejected and ready to weep, when Punni came to fetch fire. Going to the door of the kitchen, she saw that it lay in darkness. She said, "Are you not cooking bread today, Bhabhi-ji? It is past time now."

Ever since Gobar had fled, Punni and Dhaniya had begun speaking again. She had even begun to acknowledge Hori's kindness. Now she abused Hira — "Murderer, killing a cow and fleeing. His face is blackened with soot — how can he come home? And even if he comes, I would not let him set foot inside the house. He felt no shame even committing cow-slaughter. It would have been very good if the police had bound him and taken him off and made him grind at the mill!"

Dhaniya could make no excuse. She said, "How is bread to be made — there is no grain in the house at all. Your menfolk's master has filled the belly of the brotherhood — let the children die or live. Now the brotherhood does not even peep in."

Punia's harvest had turned out well, and she admitted that this was Hori's industry. With Hira there had never been such abundance.

She said, "Why did you not send for grain from my house? That too is your menfolk's earning, or someone else's? When days of comfort come, you may quarrel — sorrow is got through only by weeping together. Am I so blind that I do not recognize a man's heart? Had your menfolk not supported me, where would I have found shelter today?"

She turned straight back and took Sona along with her too. In a moment she had brought two basketfuls of grain and set them down in the courtyard. There were no fewer than two maunds of barley. Dhaniya had not yet been able to say anything when she set off again and in a moment brought a large basket filled with arhar dal, set it down, and said, "Come, let me light the fire for you."

When Dhaniya looked, on top of the barley, in a small basket, there were four or five seers of flour too. Today, for the first time in her life, she was vanquished. Filling her eyes with the pearls of love and gratitude, she said, "You have brought the whole lot — did you leave anything in the house? Was anyone running off with it?"

In the courtyard the child lay crying on the little cot. Punia took him into her lap and, fondling him, said, "By your grace there is still plenty, Bhabhi-ji! There is fifteen maunds of barley and ten maunds of wheat. There is five maunds of peas — what is there to hide from you. The work of both households will be carried on. In two or three months the maize will be ready again. Beyond that God is the master."

Jhuniya came and touched the feet of her younger mother-in-law with the hem of her sari. Punia gave a blessing. Sona went to light the fire, Rupa lifted the pitcher for water. The stalled cart began to roll. The whirling and foam and noise and the swift force of the current that the water had had because of the obstruction — all of it, now that the obstruction was removed, began to flow on in a calm, sweet-sounding, level, slow, even stream.

Punia said, "What was the great hurry the master had to pay the fine?"

Dhaniya said, "How else were we to keep our face clean in the brotherhood?"

"Bhabhi, if you will not take it ill, may I say something?"

"Say it — why should I take it ill?"

"I will not say it — somewhere you may begin to be vexed."

"I tell you, I will say nothing — speak, then."

"You ought not to have kept Jhuniya in the house!"

"What was I to do then? She would have drowned herself."

"You should have kept her in my house. Then no one would have said anything."

"This you say today. Had you sent for her that day, you would have run at her with a broom!"

"In that much expense Gobar's marriage could have been performed."

"Who can avert what is destined, you foolish thing! It is not from this alone that our throat has yet been freed; Bhola is now demanding the price of his cow. At the time he gave the cow on condition that I arrange your betrothal somewhere. Now he says — I do not want to make a match, give me my money. Both his sons go about with cudgels. Who is there of ours to fight with him? This accursed cow, having come, has wrecked the house."

Talking a little more, Punia took the fire and went off. Hori had been watching everything. Coming inside, he said, "Punia is clean of heart."

"And was Hira not clean of heart too?"

Dhaniya had kept the grain, but in her mind she was being shamed and humiliated. It was the turn of the times that today she had to suffer this humbling.

"You do not acknowledge anyone's kindness — that is the wickedness in you."

"Why should I acknowledge a kindness? Is my man not giving his life for the sake of her household? And besides, I have not taken charity. I will fill back her every single grain."

But Punia, even though she understood her sister-in-law's feelings, kept repaying Hori's kindness. When the grain ran out, she would bring a maund or two. But when the rainy months came and there was no rain, the problem grew extremely tangled. The month of Sawan had come, and dust-eddies were rising. The water of the wells too had dried up, and the cane was being burnt by the heat. A little water was got from the river, but over it cudgels came out daily. Things went so far that even the river gave up. In place after place thefts began, robberies were committed. A great outcry broke out through the whole province. By good fortune it so happened that in Bhadon rain fell and the lives of the peasants were freshened. How much eagerness there was that day! The thirsty earth seemed never to be sated, and the thirsty peasants leapt about as though it were not water but gold coins raining down. Gather them up, gather as much as you can. In the fields where dust-eddies had been rising, the plough began to move. Bands of children went out to inspect the tanks and ponds and pools. Oho! The tank is half full — and from there they ran off toward the pool.

But now however much rain fell, the cane had departed. It would remain stunted, a single hand's-length high. The rent will not be paid off with maize and millet and kodo; the moneylender's belly will not be filled. Yes, there was fodder for the cattle, and man survived.

When Magh had passed and Bhola's money had not been got, one day, fuming, he descended upon Hori's house and said, "Is this your word? Was it with this very mouth that you promised to give my money after pressing the cane? Now you have pressed the cane. Bring the money into my hand."

When Hori, having related his calamity and pleaded in every way, had lost the contest, and Bhola would not budge from the doorway, he said in vexation, "Then, master, at this time I have no money, nor can I get any anywhere on loan. From where shall I bring it? There is a scarcity of every single grain. If you do not believe me, come into the house and see. Whatever you find, carry it off."

Bhola said pitilessly, "Why should I go searching your house, and it is no concern of mine whether you have money or not. You said you would give the money after pressing the cane. You have pressed the cane. Now hand over the money to me."

"Then whatever you say, that I should do?"

"What should I say?"

"I leave it to you."

"I will untie both your bullocks and lead them away."

Hori looked at him with astonished eyes, as though he could not believe his own ears. Then, dumbfounded, he was left with his head bowed. Did Bhola wish to leave him a beggar? Once both bullocks were gone, then both his hands were as good as cut off.

In a piteous voice he said, "If you take both bullocks, my ruin is complete. If your dharma says this, then untie them and lead them away."

"I have no care for your making or marring. I want my money."

"And if I were to say I had paid the money?"

Bhola was struck dumb. He could not believe his ears. That Hori could commit so great a dishonesty was not possible.

Becoming fierce, he said, "If you take Ganges-water in your hand and say you have paid the money, then I will be content."

"My mind does wish to say it — when a man is dying, what does he not do — but I will not say it."

"You simply cannot say it."

"Yes, brother, I cannot say it. I was only jesting."

For a moment he stood in indecision. Then he said, "Why are you nursing so much enmity against me, brother Bhola! Because Jhuniya has come into my house, what heaven have I got? The boy is gone from my hands besides, two hundred rupees of fine I had to pay besides. I have been left nowhere, and now you too are digging at my roots. God knows, I had no knowledge at all of what the lad was doing. I thought he went to listen to songs. I came to know of it only that day when, at midnight, Jhuniya came into the house. Had I not kept her in the house at that time — think, where would she have gone? Whose would she have remained?"

Jhuniya stood hidden at the door of the outer room, listening to this talk. Her father she no longer regarded as a father but as an enemy. She feared lest Hori give away the bullocks. Going to Rupa, she said, "Quickly fetch Amma. Tell her there is great work, do not delay."

Dhaniya had gone to the field to scatter dung. Hearing her daughter-in-law's message, she came and said, "Why have you called me, daughter-in-law? I was alarmed."

"You have seen Kaka, haven't you?"

"Yes, I saw him, sitting at the door like a butcher. I did not even speak."

"He is asking for both our bullocks, from Dada."

The entrails in Dhaniya's belly drew together within.

"He is asking for both bullocks?"

"Yes — he says either give us our money, or we will untie both bullocks and lead them away."

"And what did your Dada say?"

"He said — if your dharma says so, then untie them and lead them away."

"Then let him untie and lead them off, but if he does not then come and beg at this very door, spit on my name. If your hearts are eased by our blood, then let them be eased."

In the same heat she came out and said to Hori, "The master is asking for both bullocks — why don't you give them? Let his belly be filled; God is our master. They will not cut off our hands, after all. Until now we laboured for ourselves; now we will labour for others. If God wills, then there will be bullocks again, and if we keep on labouring for hire, what wickedness is there in that? There will be no burden of drought and flood and rent and revenue. I did not know this man was our enemy, else why would I have taken the cow and brought calamity upon my own head! From the day that accursed cow's footstep entered, the house has been wrecked."

The weapon which Bhola had till now kept hidden — now the moment had come to draw it out. He had become convinced that, apart from the bullocks, these people had no support. To save the bullocks they would be ready to do anything. Like a good marksman, steadying his mind, he said, "If you wish that we be dishonoured and you sit at ease, that will not be. You weep over your hundred or two hundred. Here, honour worth a lakh of rupees has been ruined. Your welfare lies in this — that, just as you took Jhuniya into the house, so you turn her out of the house; then we will neither ask for the bullocks nor ask for the price of the cow. She has caused our nose to be cut off, so I too wish to see her eating kicks. That she should sit here enthroned like a queen, while we, our faces blackened with soot, weep over her name — that I cannot see. She is my daughter, I dandled her on my lap, and God is witness, I never reckoned her less than my sons — but to see her today begging and picking up grain from the rubbish-heap, my breast will be cooled. When, being her father, I have made my heart so hard, then think how great a blow must have fallen upon my heart. This shameless wretch has sunk the name of seven generations. And you keep her in your house — if this is not grinding lentils on my breast, then what is it!"

Dhaniya said, as though drawing a line in stone, "Then, master, hear me too. The thing you want will not happen. It will not happen in a hundred births. Jhuniya is bound up with our very life. You speak only of leading off the bullocks — lead them off. If by this your cut nose is mended, then mend it; if the honour of your forefathers is saved, then save it. Wrong was certainly done by Jhuniya. The day she set foot in my house, I rose with a broom to beat her — but when tears began to pour down from her eyes, pity for her came over me. You have grown old now, master! But even today the whim of matchmaking is mounted on you. Besides, she is still a child."

Bhola looked at Hori with appealing eyes. "Do you hear her words, Hori! Now it is no fault of mine. I will not go without taking the bullocks."

Hori said firmly, "Take them."

"Then do not weep afterwards that he untied my bullocks and led them away!"

"I will not weep."

Bhola was just untying the tether of the bullocks when Jhuniya came out, wearing a patched sari, the child in her lap, and said in a trembling voice, "Kaka, here, I am leaving this house, and as is your heart's desire, I will fill my own belly and my child's by begging, and when even alms are not to be had, I will go and drown myself somewhere."

Bhola said angrily, "Get out of my sight. May God not bring it about that I have to look upon your face again. Wretch of evil omen, disgrace of the family! Now it is fitting for you only to drown and die."

Jhuniya did not even glance at him. There was in her that anger which wishes to consume itself, in which there is no violence but self-surrender. If the earth were to open its mouth at this moment and swallow her, how blessed she would count herself. She lifted her foot to step forward.

But she had not gone even two steps when Dhaniya ran and caught her and said with a love full of violence, "Where are you going, daughter-in-law? Come, into the house. This is your home — while we live, and after we die too. May he drown and die who bears enmity against his own offspring. This good fellow is not ashamed to utter such words from his mouth. He bullies me, the base creature! Lead them off, drink the blood of the bullocks..."

Jhuniya said, weeping, "Amma, when my own father is reproaching me, then let me drown and die. It is on account of me, the luckless one, that you have got only sorrow. Ever since I came, your house has been ground into dust. The love with which you have kept me these many days — not even a mother would have kept me so. May God give me birth again, and may He give it from your womb — that is my one longing."

Dhaniya, drawing her toward herself, said, "This is not your father, he is your enemy, a murderer. Had he been a mother, the disgrace would certainly have stung him. Bring on the betrothal. If my wife does not beat you with shoes, then call me a liar!"

Jhuniya went into the house behind her mother-in-law. Out there Bhola went and untied both bullocks from their pegs and, driving them, set off home, like a man who, having gone to some feast, has got beatings with shoes instead of puris. Now do your farming and pipe away on your flute. They all want to insult me, working off some old grudge, Heaven knows of how long ago. No — what respectable man will keep such a girl in his house? They have all become shameless. It was for this very reason that the boy could not be married off anywhere. And see the impudence of this widow Jhuniya, that she came and stood before me. Any other girl would not have shown her face. The water of her eyes has dried up. They are all of them villains, and fools too. They think Jhuniya is now ours. They do not understand: she who did not stay in her own father's house will stay in no one's house. The times are bad, else right in the middle of the marketplace I would have caught this witch Dhaniya by the hair and dragged her. How many abuses she heaped on me.

Then he looked at the two bullocks — how fit they were. It is a good pair. Wherever I wish, I can sell them for a hundred rupees. My eighty rupees will be made good.

He had not yet even got out of the village when, from behind, Datadin, Pateshwari, Shobha, and ten or twenty more men were seen running after him. Bhola's blood ran cold. Now there would be an assault case, the bullocks too would be snatched away, beatings too would be got. He stopped, girding his loins. If he must die, he would die fighting.

Datadin came near and said, "What outrage is this you have done, Bhola, eh! You have led off his bullocks, and he said nothing — so you have grown bold. Everyone was busy with his own work, no one even got wind of it. Had Hori made the slightest signal, every single hair of yours would have been plucked out. If you wish your welfare, then lead the bullocks back — there is not the least decency in you."

Pateshwari said, "This is the fruit of his straightforwardness. If your money is owed by him, go and file a suit in the civil court, get a decree. What right have you to lead off his bullocks? Let him file a criminal suit right now, and you will go about in fetters."

Bhola said meekly, "Then, Lala Sahib, we did not lead them off by force. Hori himself gave them."

Pateshwari said to Bhola, "Bhola, you give back the bullocks! Would a peasant give away his bullocks with pleasure, when he could yoke them to the plough?"

Bhola stood in front of the bullocks. "Get me my money paid; what have I to do with leading off bullocks?"

"We are taking the bullocks away — file a suit for your money, or else you will be struck down. Did you give the money in cash? You saddled the poor man with one ill-omened cow, and now you are leading off his bullocks."

Bhola did not budge from before the bullocks. He stood there silent, firm, as though he would budge only by dying. By reasoning with the patwari, how could he win his case?

Datadin took a step forward, straightened his bent back, and called out, "Why do you all stand staring? Beat him and drive him off. He will lead bullocks away from our village."

Banshi was a sturdy youth. He gave Bhola a hard shove. Bhola could not steady himself, and fell. He was trying to rise when Banshi struck him a blow with his fist.

Hori was coming at a run. Bhola moved ten paces toward him and asked, "Tell me on your honour, Hori Mahto, did I untie the bullocks by force?"

Datadin interpreted this. "He says Hori gave me the bullocks of his own free will. He is making fools of us!"

Hori said with hesitation, "He said to me — either turn Jhuniya out of the house, or give me my money, otherwise I will untie the bullocks and lead them off. I said — I will not turn out the daughter-in-law, nor have I any money; if your dharma says so, then untie the bullocks. There — I left it to his dharma, and he untied the bullocks."

Pateshwari said, his face fallen, "When you left it to his dharma, then where is the force? His dharma said — he is taking them. Go, brother, the bullocks are yours."

Datadin supported him. "Yes, when the matter of dharma has come up, what can anyone say?" All of them, looking at Hori with eyes of contempt, turned back defeated, and the victorious Bhola, holding his neck high with grandeur, led off the bullocks.