Page:Eyesore - Rabindranath Tagore.pdf/72

Rh community and assisted them most liberally. He early saw the utility of Boarding Houses if education was to spread, and his long purse was always opened to plan out and build Hostels in several towns in and out of the Bombay Presidency. In Bombay proper, he would best be remembered by the splendid pile of buildings which he has erected in that part of the town which is most thickly inhabited by Hindus, and called the Hirabag. It is used as a Dharmashala for all Hindu pilgrims, where they get accommodation of the best class and as an appanage of which is a fine lecture hall, which is used as a Town Hall of the locality. A mere perusal of the list of his donations is enough to engender feelings of admiration for a man, who in raising himself from poverty to wealth, never forgot the uses to which his enormous wealth could be put, and consequently gave them a practical and enduring shape. Even on his death bed he has made a trust of Rupees two lacs and a half, all to be utilised for (sectarian) charitable purposes.

He gave away ₨. 8,000 for repairing a Jain temple at Surat; ₨. 25,000 for building a Dharmashala at Surat; ₨. 2,100 for repairing a Dharmashala at Palitana; ₨. 80,000 for a Jain Boarding House in Bombay; ₨. 22,000 for a Jain Boarding House at Kolhapur; ₨. 40,000 for a similar institution at Ahmedabad; ₨. 1,25,000 for a Dharmshala (Hirabag) in Bombay; ₨. 50,000 for a boarding house at Jabbalpore; ₨. 15,000 for a dispensary at Ahmedabad. Various small sums between 6,000 to 10,000 for charitable purposes, such as founding schools for girls, scholarships, preparing Jain Directories, have not been included in the list. Government rewarded him with a justiceship of the peace.

It is no small wonder if the Digambar Jain community is mourning his loss as they would mourn the loss of a king.

K. M. J.

INODINI had heard that anyone invoked in single-minded meditation could not help responding to the call. So with closed eyes and clasped hands she called upon Vihari: "My life is empty, my heart is empty, emptiness surrounds me—come into this emptiness, come even for a moment, come you must, for I'll take no refusal."

As she repeated this with all her strength Binodini seemed to really feel stronger. She felt that her call, her love, could not be in vain. Passive memories which serve only to feed false hopes with the heart's blood, are merely exhausting. But a supreme effort of will is a true ally, it really draws nearer the object which it singles out from all the world as its quest.

When, for Binodini, the darkness of the unlit room thus became intensely filled with the thought of Vihari, and social conventions, neighbourly bickerings and the rest of her world faded away into distant nothingness, she suddenly heard a knock at the door. She jumped up from her seat on the floor, saying with simple, perfect conviction as she flung open the door: "Have you come, my Master?" How at such a moment could any one else in the world come to her door?

"I have come, Binod!" Mahendra replied.

With infinite loathing and scathing contempt Binodini repulsed him, saying: "Oh get away, get away from here, get away at once!"

Mahendra was struck stiff dumb.

"Bindi, my girl, when is your old granny—" Here an elderly neighbour who was coming to Binodini to make the inquiry