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 the shraddha! have no father now to get money from by a mere look." So he agreed to their proposal.

Great were the preparations for the shraddha ceremony of Baburam Babu. What with the noise of arranging the shorash and the silver presents to be given to the pandits, the smell of the sweetmeats, the buzzing of hornets, the pungent smoke from wet wood, and the continual stream of things arriving for use on the occasion, the whole house was full of confusion and bustle. Brahmans of the poorer classes, whether connected with family worship, or with shop or bazar accounts, all wearing silk clothes, and with Ganges clay on their foreheads, were continually crowding in for invitations to the shraddha ceremony. Of the Tarkavagishas, Vidyaratnas, Nyayalankars, Bachaspatis, and Vidyasagars, all learned and celebrated pandits, there was no end. Sages and gurus were continually arriving. It was like the festival of the village leather-seller, on the death of a cow.

The day of the ceremony arrived. Pandits from all parts of the country had come for the assembly usual on such occasions[40], and seated near them were their relatives, kinsmen and friends. Before them were arranged presents of every description and for all comers; horses, palkis, brass dishes, broadcloth, oil vessels, and hard cash. On one side of them the processional singing was in progress, and in the midst of the singers was Becharam Babu enthusiastically absorbed in the music. Outside the house were collected together Brahmans of lesser degree, pedigree reciters, mendicants, sannyasis and beggars. Thakchacha, not having sufficient effrontery to sit down in the assembly, was roaming about in the crowd.

The venerable Pandits were taking snuff and conversing together on subjects connected with the shástras. One of their characteristics is the difficulty they find in carrying on