Page:Mashi and Other Stories.djvu/95



came to his father in a rage and said: "I am off this moment."

"Ungrateful wretch!" sneered the father, Jaganath Kundu. "When you have paid me back all that I have spent on your food and clothing, it will be time enough to give yourself these airs."

Such food and clothing as was customary in Jaganath's household could not have cost very much. Our rishis of old managed to feed and clothe themselves on an incredibly small outlay. Jaganath's behaviour showed that his ideal in these respects was equally high. That he could not fully live up to it was due partly to the bad influence of the degenerate society around him, and partly to certain unreasonable demands of Nature in her attempt to keep body and soul together.

So long as Brindaban was single, things went smoothly enough, but after his marriage he began to depart from the high and rarefied standard