Page:Anandamath, The Abbey of Bliss - Chatterjee.djvu/140



The dreaded year '76 came to an end at last, thank God ! After having despatched to the abode of Death over a third of the population of Bengal — nobody knows what that was at that period — the year itself passed away into eternity. In the year '77, Heaven smiled on the people of Bengal. There was good rain, the earth groaned with crops, and those who survived the famine fed themselves to their heart's content. Man)' people had contracted disease by starving, and a full meal proved fatal to many of them. The crops were full but men were few. In every village desolate and deserted houses became dreaded haunts of beasts and ghosts. Lots of fertile land in every village were left uncultivated and lay fallow or were over- grown with jungle. The country all over was covered with woods. On the very spots where a green har- vest smiled before innumerable cattle now grazed ; the gardens which were the pleasure-resorts of the youths of the village slowly changed into dense jungles. Years passed by and the jungles went on growing. In the happy haunts of men, man-eaters hunted deers and other prey. Where a bevy of fair ladies walked before, resounding the streets with the jingle oinupurs on their crimson-painted feet and with the sound of raillery with friends and merry peals of laughter, the bear now nursed her child and made it