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INTRODUCTION
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instead of at Banaras under advice of the Collector of Banaras and Smith, who had at that time proceeded to England on short leave, with a view to evading further delay and untoward incidents. When in 18+9 N returned to Banaras after spending about a year at Jaunpur, the Collector along with other Englishmen and Indian Christians went forth to accord a warm reception to N.
To his society N was a closed chapter since the
... day of his baptism. His family actuFates of his Father and Wife
ally performed the ghațasphuţa rite to
formally break its link with him. The entire affair was a terrible shock to his father, who since then abdicated all worldly contacts, left Banaras for other places of pilgrimage and ultimately died at Hardwar in 1861. Before he left Banaras, he had been preached upon many times by N to embrace Christianity.
N's wife Lakşmi Bai has a still more woeful story to tell. She was quite opposed to N’s conversion and, though a girl of fourteen, had exerted her mite to prevent N from acting per his resolve. Subsequently, she was living mostly at her father's house which, too, was at Banaras. N, on his return from Jaunpur, sent repeated calls to her to join him at his new residence, but she persistently refused. Then he tried through a law court, but failed. The Collector of Banaras one day took N along with some English missionaries to her residence and tried to prevail upon her parents to agree to the reunion, but to no purpose. In the presence of all those Englishmen, Lakşmi Bai
vehemently rebuked N for what he had done and refuShree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
