Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/681

634 Ramesh Chandra Dutt, a covenanted Indian Civil Servant (now retired), and translator of the Rig-Veda. He was then engaged in the act of editing the work. Vidyasagar was, at that time, unwell, and Mr. Dutt often called at his residence to see him. One day, in course of conversation, Vidyasagar said to him,—'My dear, you have engaged yourself in a very good work; please, finish it. Should I feel myself a little better, I will help you, if I can.' But he was not destined to carry out his wishes. Mr. Rames Chandra Dutt is said to have admitted it in the Nabyabharat, a Bengali monthly.

Our hero had now to encounter a most heartrending misfortune in the bereavement of his beloved wife, Dinamayi Devi, who breathed her last on the 13th August, 1888. She had been suffering for some time from acute Dysentery of a very severe type. A few minutes before her death, she began striking her forehead with her fist. Her eldest daughter, Hemlata, who was by her bedside, tending her with watchful care, called out to her father, saying,—'Papa, mother wishes to speak to you. Would you, please, hear her?' Vidyasagar replied.—'O yes, I see, what it is; her wishes shall be satisfied; no fear for that.' Babu Bihari Lal Sarkar says that the striking of the fist against her forehead was simply to ask forgiveness for her dear son, and that when she was given hopes, she departed from this world happily. But we are