Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/188

 Hinduism; but what is this? You are engaged in your mother’s Shradh, with your Paita fully displayed! A real Brahman! A clever hand you are at hypocrisy, I see!” This taunt cut Ramtanu to the heart. He was forced to admit that the boy was right in his criticism; and from that time he thought seriously of casting off the Brahmanical thread. Then again, in October 1851, when, during the Puja holidays, he was on a pleasant voyage to Ghazipur, to meet his friend Ram Gopal there, this thought of his became matured into a determination; and the corresponding action followed instantaneously. The story runs thus. One day, when he and his friends were enjoying the savoury dishes cooked for them by the Muhammadan boatmen, one of the party humorously said: “See, we are eating the food cooked by a Muhammadan, yet we wear the Paita, the emblem of Brahmanical purity? What hypocrites we are!” The words, though used in a jesting spirit, entered deep into Ramtanu’s heart; and then and there he renounced the Paita for good.

Mr Lahiri remained in Burdwan only for a year. In 1852 he came to Uttarpara as headmaster of the English School there, where he worked till 1856. His son, Navakumar, was about two years old when he left Burdwan. His daughters, Lilavati and Indumati, were born at Uttarpara, Falgoon, in 1854 and in 1855.

He was an outcast here also; but through the assistance of his Calcutta friends he got on pretty comfortably, in spite of the persecution to which he was subject. Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagara sent him servant after servant. While here, he was advised by some of his friends to escape further persecution by taking again the Brahmanical thread; but he was determined not to yield. He said, “What I have done I have done.”

At the end of 1853, or the beginning of 1854,