Page:Anandamath, The Abbey of Bliss - Chatterjee.djvu/38

 

Within this wood there stood a large monastery on a large piece of land with broken stones all around. Antiquarians would perhaps say that it was a Buddhist monastery in old days and was subsequently converted into a Hindu one. The buildings were two-storied. Within them were many temples and in front was a canopied yard. Most of the buildings were surrounded by walls and so shaded by trees outside that one would not think there was a building here, even if one looked in the daylight and from close quarters. The buildings were broken at many places but you could see by daylight that those places had been repaired of late. From the very sight of those buildings you could at once infer that there was human habitation within this deep inaccessible forest. In one of the rooms of this abbey a big log was burning, and as Kalyani first regained her consciousness in it, she saw before her, the great man of hoary hue, with milk-white garments on! Kalyani looked again with surprise, for she could not recollect things yet. Then the great man said, "Mother, this is a place of the gods, you need not be afraid. There is a little milk there, drink that and then I shall speak to you."

Kalyani understood nothing at first. Then as she grew a little steady, she took the skirt of her cloth round her neck and bowed herself before the great man.