Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/66

 on the twenty-first day, the day of the mother’s and the child’s purification.

The boy Ramtanu began to grow strong and healthy, to the great joy of his parents and brother, Kesava, who often congratulated his mother on the birth of such a beautiful and promising child. When five years old he was initiated into the mysteries of the Bengali alphabet. There was a patshala in Babu Debi Chaudhuri’s house; and it is probable that the boy was sent there to receive his first education. Here we find it necessary to say a few words about the constitution and management of patshalas, as they then existed. It usually happened that some of the Kayastas of the Burdwan District, pinched by poverty, left their homes in quest of bread, and failing to find other employments, established themselves as teachers for the young in different parts of the country. They were called Gurumahashais; and the apologies for our modern vernacular schools, which they started, were called patshalas. These were generally located in the outer halls in gentlemen’s houses, dedicated to the worship of the gods, and therefore called Poojar dalans (hall of worship) or chundimondops (houses for Durga). The former was roofed with bricks, and the latter thatched with straw. There were two periods of work in a patshala every day, excluding the generally recognised holy days, one of about three hours in the morning, and the other of as many hours in the afternoon. The Guru was the sole instructor, but he was assisted by the Sirdar porohs or senior students. He sat in the centre with his back against a pillar or a post, and always with a cane in his hand. Dozing during the hours of work was his favourite occupation, and if any of his pupils happened to read, talk, sneeze or cough so as to rouse him from his slumber, the terrible cane, after being for some time