Page:Sketches of some distinguished Indian women.djvu/40

28 journey they halted for a day or two, to rest, in a town on the banks of the Godavery. In the early morning the father went down to bathe in the sacred river, and while he was there he perceived another pilgrim who came down to perform the same duty. After the conclusion of their ablutions, and of the devotions which followed, the two men entered into conversation.

The father inquired of the stranger, who was a striking-looking man, who he was and whence he came. Having learned that he was a Brahman, of a very high class, and that he was a widower, he without any further preliminaries offered him his daughter in marriage. The offer was accepted, and the very next day the marriage ceremonies were performed, and the little girl of nine years old was handed over to her husband, and departed with him to his distant home, never seeing her parents again. Happily for the child bride, she had fallen into good hands. Her husband was a Brahman pundit, Ananta Shastri by name, a man of good family, of high character and of great learning, and what was more remarkable, he was a man who believed in women, and held the opinion that they ought to be allowed to share with men in some at least of the advantages of education, and to cultivate their intellects and their talents. Such a doctrine was totally opposed to the received tenets of the Hindus, and