Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/42

 his grandson, Kesava Chandra Lahiri, the eldest brother of Ramtanu, received a kick from him for being inattentive to his lessons; and the receiver of the kick would afterwards often refer to it as a successful corrective. Kesava Kanta had two wives and two sons; elder of whom, Thakurdas, served for some time as the chief agent of Raja Giris Chandra and was known as Lahiri Dewan. He passed most of his time in Calcutta, and would go to the Governor-General’s levees as his Raja’s representative. Ramkrishna, the younger, was of a very pious nature. He devoted the latter part of his life chiefly to religious exercises. He cooked his own food as long as he had strength to do so. Towards the close of his days on earth, he made it a rule to give a quarter-rupee to any Brahman, whom he met on quitting his bed; and after the customary ablutions of the morning he passed several hours in meditation and prayer. He then attended to only such domestic matters as were very urgent, and to the feeding of guests. He took his first meal of the day at four o’clock. In his last days, when almost helpless, he was attended upon, and assisted in his works of piety, by his widowed daughter, Bhola Sundari.

He had eight sons and two daughters. Kesava, his eldest son, having received a good education in English and Persian, was at first appointed by Government as a clerk in Alipur, and then promoted to the head clerkship or Sheristadarship, in the Judge’s Court in Jessore. It would not be saying too much in his favour, if one were to speak of him as a model Hindu, doing his duty to all having kinship with him. He employed all his honest earnings in contributing to the comfort of his old parents, and to the bringing up of his brothers and sisters. The subject of this biography would often talk of the uncommon