Page:The Slave Girl of Agra.djvu/71



rains are now over, and the autumn sky is clear and blue. Washed and nourished by the rains the villages wear a fresher mantle of green. Rivers which flooded their banks in the rains have subsided into their channels. Round every hamlet and town the autumn harvest has commenced.

All over India, there is an Autumn Festival sacred to the Goddess Uma riding a lion. The idea is taken from the astronomical fact that the sun passes at this season from the sign of the Lion to the sign of the Virgin. But the people know little of this astronomical signification; they worship Uma as the bounteous Mother who gives them copious harvests. Among the Rajputs, the Mahrattas and other martial races the sword was worshipped at this festival, and soldiers were reviewed as a preparation for winter expeditions. All over Northern India the festival is attended with general rejoicing, with music and feasting and illumination.

The last day of the Autumn Festival had dawned, and a bright sun poured its radiance on the town of Birnagar. Gokul Das was the first to step into the Zemindari House to offer his salutations of the season.

"Thou hast laboured long and faithfully, Gokul Das," said his master, returning his salutation, "but thy object still eludes thy grasp."