Chapter One. Bimala's Story. Ii : II My husband was very eager to take me out of "purdah". 6 One day I said to him: "What do I want with the outside world?" "The outside world may want you," he replied. "If the outside world has got on so long without me, it may go on for some time longer. It need not pine to death for want of me."...
Chapter Nine. Bimala's Story. Xvii : XVII When my husband nowadays comes in for his meals I feel I cannot sit before him; and yet it is such a shame not to be near him that I feel I cannot do that either. So I seat myself where we cannot look at each other's face. That was how I was sitting the other day when the Bara Rani came...
Chapter Ten. Nikhil's Story. Xiii : XIII What is this? Our Chakua sub-treasury looted! A remittance of seven thousand five hundred rupees was due from there to headquarters. The local cashier had changed the cash at the Government Treasury into small currency notes for convenience in carrying, and had kept them ready in bundles...
Chapter Two. Bimala's Story. Iv : CHAPTER TWO BIMALA'S STORY IV This was the time when Sandip Babu with his followers came to our neighbourhood to preach "Swadeshi". There is to be a big meeting in our temple pavilion. We women are sitting there, on one side, behind a screen. Triumphant shouts of "Bande Mataram" come nearer:...
Chapter Four. Nikhil's Story. Iii : CHAPTER FOUR NIKHIL'S STORY III I was never self-conscious. But nowadays I often try to take an outside view--to see myself as Bimal sees me. What a dismally solemn picture it makes, my habit of taking things too seriously! Better, surely, to laugh away the world than flood it with tears. That is...
Chapter Nine. Bimala's Story. Xvi : XVI "The money, Queen?" said Sandip with his keen glance full on my face. Amulya also fixed his gaze on me. Though not my own mother's child, yet the dear lad is brother to me; for mother is mother all the world over. With his guileless face, his gentle eyes, his innocent youth, he looked at me...
Sandip's Story. Vi : VI Then again there is Nikhil. Crank though he be, laugh at him as I may, I cannot get rid of the idea that he is my friend. At first I gave no thought to his point of view, but of late it has begun to shame and hurt me. Therefore I have been trying to talk and argue with him in the same...
Chapter Three. Bimala's Story. Vi : CHAPTER THREE BIMALA'S STORY VI I wonder what could have happened to my feeling of shame. The fact is, I had no time to think about myself. My days and nights were passing in a whirl, like an eddy with myself in the centre. No gap was left for hesitation or delicacy to enter. One day my...
Chapter Twelve. Nikhil's Story. Xv : CHAPTER TWELVE NIKHIL'S STORY XV Today we are going to Calcutta. Our joys and sorrows lie heavy on us if we merely go on accumulating them. Keeping them and accumulating them alike are false. As master of the house I am in an artificial position--in reality I am a wayfarer on the path of life. Th...
Sandip's Story. V : V A question has been worrying me the last few days. Why am I allowing my life to become entangled with Bimala's? Am I a drifting log to be caught up at any and every obstacle? Not that I have any false shame at Bimala becoming an object of my desire. It is only too clear how she wants me, and so I...
Chapter Eight. Nikhil's Story. Xi : XI I am worried over Panchu's sham aunt. It will be difficult to disprove her, for though witnesses of a real event may be few or even wanting, innumerable proofs of a thing that has not happened can always be marshalled. The object of this move is, evidently, to get the sale of Panchu's holding...
Title Page : THE HOME AND THE WORLD by Rabindranath Tagore [1861-1941] Translated [from Bengali to English] by Surendranath Tagore London: Macmillan, 1919 [published in India, 1915, 1916] Redacted By Chetan K Jain, BharatLiterature, 2002
Sandip's Story. Ii : SANDIP'S STORY II I can see that something has gone wrong. I got an inkling of it the other day. Ever since my arrival, Nikhil's sitting-room had become a thing amphibious--half women's apartment, half men's: Bimala had access to it from the zenana, it was not barred to me from the outer side. If...
Chapter Seven. Sandip's Story. Ix : IX Our work proceeds apace. But though we have shouted ourselves hoarse, proclaiming the Mussulmans to be our brethren, we have come to realize that we shall never be able to bring them wholly round to our side. So they must be suppressed altogether and made to understand that we are the masters...
Bimala's Story. Vii : BIMALA'S STORY VII At first I suspected nothing, feared nothing; I simply felt dedicated to my country. What a stupendous joy there was in this unquestioning surrender. Verily had I realized how, in thoroughness of self-destruction, man can find supreme bliss. For aught I know, this frenzy of mine...
Sandip's Story. Vii : SANDIP'S STORY VII Bimala sent for me that day, but for a time she could not utter a word; her eyes kept brimming up to the verge of overflowing. I could see at once that she had been unsuccessful with Nikhil. She had been so proudly confident that she would have her own way--but I had never shared...
Bimala's Story. Xii : XII In Bengal the machinery of time being thus suddenly run at full pressure, things which were difficult became easy, one following soon after another. Nothing could be held back any more, even in our corner of the country. In the beginning our district was backward, for my husband was unwilling...
Chapter Ten. Nikhil's Story. Xiv : XIV On returning home I asked my master to come over. He shook his head gravely. "I see no good in this," said he--"this setting aside of conscience and putting the country in its place. All the sins of the country will now break out, hideous and unashamed." "Who do you think could have..." "Don't...
Chapter Five. Nikhil's Story. Iv : CHAPTER FIVE NIKHIL'S STORY IV Everything is rippling and waving with the flood of August. The young shoots of rice have the sheen of an infant's limbs. The water has invaded the garden next to our house. The morning light, like the love of the blue sky, is lavished upon the earth... Why cannot I...
Sandip's Story. Iii : III I was aware that it is unsafe suddenly to awake a sleep-walker. But I am so impetuous by nature, a halting gait does not suit me. I knew I was overbold that day. I knew that the first shock of such ideas is apt to be almost intolerable. But with women it is always audacity that wins. Just as we...
Chapter Seven. Sandip's Story. Viii : CHAPTER SEVEN SANDIP'S STORY VIII We are men, we are kings, we must have our tribute. Ever since we have come upon the Earth we have been plundering her; and the more we claimed, the more she submitted. From primeval days have we men been plucking fruits, cutting down trees, digging up the soil...
Chapter Nine. Bimala's Story. Xv : CHAPTER NINE BIMALA'S STORY XV For a time I was utterly at a loss to think of any way of getting that money. Then, the other day, in the light of intense excitement, suddenly the whole picture stood out clear before me. Every year my husband makes a reverence-offering of six thousand rupees to my...
Chapter Six. Nikhil's Story. Ix : IX One afternoon, when I happened to be specially busy, word came to my office room that Bimala had sent for me. I was startled. "Who did you say had sent for me?" I asked the messenger. "The Rani Mother." "The Bara Rani?" "No, sir, the Chota Rani Mother." The Chota Rani! It seemed a century since...
Chapter Eleven. Bimala's Story. Xx : CHAPTER ELEVEN BIMALA'S STORY XX With Amulya's departure my heart sank within me. On what perilous adventure had I sent this only son of his mother? O God, why need my expiation have such pomp and circumstance? Could I not be allowed to suffer alone without inviting all this multitude to share my...
Nikhil's Story. I : NIKHIL'S STORY I One day I had the faith to believe that I should be able to bear whatever came from my God. I never had the trial. Now I think it has come. I used to test my strength of mind by imagining all kinds of evil which might happen to me--poverty, imprisonment, dishonour, death--even...
Nikhil's Story. Vii : VII It was vacation time, and many youths of our village and its neighbourhood had come home from their schools and colleges. They attached themselves to Sandip's leadership with enthusiasm, and some, in their excess of zeal, gave up their studies altogether. Many of the boys had been free pupils...
Chapter One. Bimala's Story. I : CHAPTER ONE BIMALA'S STORY I Mother, today there comes back to mind the vermilion mark 1 at the parting of your hair, the "sari" 2 which you used to wear, with its wide red border, and those wonderful eyes of yours, full of depth and peace. They came at the start of my life's journey, like...
Bimala's Story. Xix : XIX "I have had no peace of mind, Amulya," I said to him, "ever since I sent you off to sell my jewels." "Why, Sister Rani?" "I was afraid lest you should get into trouble with them, lest they should suspect you for a thief. I would rather go without that six thousand. You must now do another thing...
Nikhil's Story. Ii : II I have known my master these thirty years. Neither calumny, nor disaster, nor death itself has any terrors for him. Nothing could have saved me, born as I was into the traditions of this family of ours, but that he has established his own life in the centre of mine, with its peace and truth...
Chapter Eight. Nikhil's Story. X : CHAPTER EIGHT NIKHIL'S STORY X Paragraphs and letters against me have begun to come out in the local papers; cartoons and lampoons are to follow, I am told. Jets of wit and humour are being splashed about, and the lies thus scattered are convulsing the whole country. They know that the monopoly...
Bimala's Story. Xiii : XIII Suksar, within our estates, is one of the biggest trade centres in the district. On one side of a stretch of water there is held a daily bazar; on the other, a weekly market. During the rains when this piece of water gets connected with the river, and boats can come through, great quantities...
Sandip's Story. Iv : SANDIP'S STORY IV When I read these pages of the story of my life I seriously question myself: Is this Sandip? Am I made of words? Am I merely a book with a covering of flesh and blood? The earth is not a dead thing like the moon. She breathes. Her rivers and oceans send up vapours in which she is...
Bimala's Story. Viii : VIII For some time all talk of the country's cause has been dropped. Our conversation nowadays has become full of modern sex-problems, and various other matters, with a sprinkling of poetry, both old Vaishnava and modern English, accompanied by a running undertone of melody, low down in the bass...
Chapter Six. Nikhil's Story. Viii : CHAPTER SIX NIKHIL'S STORY VIII A few days later, my master brought Panchu round to me. His "zamindar", it appeared, had fined him a hundred rupees, and was threatening him with ejectment. "For what fault?" I enquired. "Because," I was told, "he has been found selling foreign cloths. He begged...
Chapter Five. Nikhil's Story. V : V I had just made the discovery that it was useless to keep up a pretence of reading in my room outside, and also that it was equally beyond me to busy myself attending to anything at all--so that all the days of my future bid fair to congeal into one solid mass and settle heavily on my breast...
Bimala's Story. X : X My sister-in-law was absorbed in her betel-nuts, the suspicion of a smile playing about her lips, as if nothing untoward had happened. She was still humming the same song. "Why has your Thako been calling poor Khema names?" I burst out. "Indeed? The wretch! I will have her broomed out...
Chapter One. Bimala's Story. Iii : III If one had to fill in, little by little, the gap between day and night, it would take an eternity to do it. But the sun rises and the darkness is dispelled--a moment is sufficient to overcome an infinite distance. One day there came the new era of "Swadeshi" 8 in Bengal; but as to how it...
Bimala's Story. Ix : IX When I was about to enter the sitting-room, I saw Sandip immersed in an illustrated catalogue of British Academy pictures, with his back to the door. He has a great notion of himself as an expert in matters of Art. One day my husband said to him: "If the artists ever want a teacher, they need...
Bimala's Story. Xiv : BIMALA'S STORY XIV Who could have thought that so much would happen in this one life? I feel as if I have passed through a whole series of births, time has been flying so fast, I did not feel it move at all, till the shock came the other day. I knew there would be words between us when I made up my...
Chapter Ten. Nikhil's Story. Xii : CHAPTER TEN NIKHIL'S STORY XII I learnt from my master that Sandip had joined forces with Harish Kundu, and there was to be a grand celebration of the worship of the demon-destroying Goddess. Harish Kundu was extorting the expenses from his tenantry. Pandits Kaviratna and Vidyavagish had been...
Bimala's Story. Xi : BIMALA'S STORY XI The change which had, in a moment, come over the mind of Bengal was tremendous. It was as if the Ganges had touched the ashes of the sixty thousand sons of Sagar 18 which no fire could enkindle, no other water knead again into living clay. The ashes of lifeless Bengal suddenly...
Chapter Seven. Sandip's Story. X : X When I next saw Bimala I pitched my key high without further ado. "Have we been able," I began, "to believe with all our heart in the god for whose worship we have been born all these millions of years, until he actually made himself visible to us? "How often have I told you," I continued, "th...
Chapter Twelve. Nikhil's Story. Xvi : XVI I returned slowly towards the inner apartments. The Bara Rani's room must have been drawing me again. It had become an absolute necessity for me, that day, to feel that this life of mine had been able to strike some real, some responsive chord in some other harp of life. One cannot realize...
Chapter Two. Bimala's Story. V : V When I returned, Sandip Babu was tenderly apologetic. "I am afraid we have spoilt your appetite," he said. I felt greatly ashamed. Indeed, I had been too indecently quick over my dinner. With a little calculation, it would become quite evident that my non-eating had surpassed the eating. But I...
Bimala's Story. Xxiii : BIMALA'S STORY XXIII Come, come! Now is the time to set sail towards that great confluence, where the river of love meets the sea of worship. In that pure blue all the weight of its muddiness sinks and disappears. I now fear nothing--neither myself, nor anybody else. I have passed through fire...
Sandip's Story. I : SANDIP'S STORY I The impotent man says: "That which has come to my share is mine." And the weak man assents. But the lesson of the whole world is: "That is really mine which I can snatch away." My country does not become mine simply because it is the country of my birth. It becomes mine on the day...
Chapter Eleven. Bimala's Story. Xxii : XXII Rumour became busy on every side. The police were continually in and out. The servants of the house were in a great flurry. Khema, my maid, came up to me and said: "Oh, Rani Mother! for goodness" sake put away my gold necklace and armlets in your iron safe." To whom was I to explain th...
Bimala's Story. Xviii : BIMALA'S STORY XVIII Amulya is due to return from Calcutta this morning. I told the servants to let me know as soon as he arrived, but could not keep still. At last I went outside to await him in the sitting-room. When I sent him off to sell the jewels I must have been thinking only of myself. It...
Chapter Eleven. Bimala's Story. Xxi : XXI I had just sat down to make some cakes for Amulya when the Bara Rani came upon the scene. "Oh dear," she exclaimed, "has it come to this that you must make cakes for your own birthday?" "Is there no one else for whom I could be making them?" I asked. "But this is not the day when you should...
