Page:Rabindranath Tagore - A Biographical Study.djvu/126

 We find him returning home, full of honours, after many months, and catching a delighted first glimpse of the place girdled by the Ganges, its temples rising above the tree-tops. He had married before he left home; and now, as some friends met him half-way and with a touch of his old mischief he mimicked for them the accent of East Bengal, they disappeared mysteriously when he got near his mother's door. On reaching it, he found her in tears, and learnt that his young wife, Laksmī, was dead from a snake-bite. Therewith began the great change that came over him. He was still only twenty-one years old, but the gaiety of his youth had gone.

We hear of him then at the great temple of Gaya, bringing his offerings to the lotus-feet of Vishnu, where the Pandas sang, "These feet, O pilgrims, lead to heaven. From these feet flows the sacred stream of the Ganges. The great saints in their vision desire to catch a glimpse of these feet. Their glory is sung by the god Siva and are made into divine music by Narada. They lead to heaven, these divine feet. There is no other way."

Nimāi appeared to be listening to the song, but in fact heard nothing, for he had fallen into