Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/45

 filial veneration of his eldest brother. On receiving a letter from his father, he used first to reverentially place it on his head, and then to take it down, and read its contents. Besides this, as his descendants still say, he rendered divine homage to his mother during his stay at home. Installing her on the wooden seat of the gods, and placing her feet on the copper vessel sacred to them, he worshipped her as a goddess. Great were the lady’s fears at this. Trembling in every limb, she used to say, “Kesava, what are you about? I am afraid to receive such honours as are due to the gods alone.” Kesava’s reply to this was, “Holy mother, you are my adorable deity.”

Ramtanu Babu was the fifth son and seventh child of his parents. Kesava died when young. He had three brothers younger than he, and their names were Radhabilash, Sriprasad and Kali Charan. The first having finished his collegiate education went to work in Jessore as Kesava’s assistant. Here both the brothers died of malarious fever. Kali Charan Babu, having studied medicine and surgery in the Calcutta Medical College, set up as a doctor in Krishnagar, where he practised till a few years ago. Dewan Kartik Chandra Rai, in his “Memoir,” says of his childhood; “The boy Kali Charan was extremely fond of me. He brought me books from Calcutta; and when at home, would help me a great deal in my studies. Kali Charan was very nice in his selection of dress. With the scholarship he got in the Medical College, he bought very fine dhutis, chadars, and shoes. On coming home, he would force some of them on me, saying, ‘Cousin, you would look much better with these on than I.’”

Kali Charan always through life displayed the same warmth of hearts in boyhood. When, in after years,