Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer/Chapter 11

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Ramtanu’s pecuniary position now was not at all enviable. The drain on his purse during Navakumar’s and Indu’s illnesses had almost emptied it, and when there were no former savings for him to fall back upon the small pension of seventy-five rupees a month hardly enabled him to make both ends meet. But he was not helpless. Many a friend sympathised with him and came forward to relieve his wants. Among the first to do so was his old pupil, Kali Charan Ghosh, who had before this regularly aided him in various ways. Navakumar had been sent to Bhagalpur and Arrah at Kali Babu’s cost; and this gentleman now hired the house for Mr Lahiri and his family at Champatola. Their daily wants, too, were largely provided for by him. We shall give some account of this benevolent friend in the Appendix.

Mr Lahiri’s second son, Sharat Kumar, having read for the First Examination in Arts of the Calcutta University, thought at this time of giving up his studies and earning something for the family. This became the more necessary as business called Babu Kali Charan Ghosh away from Calcutta, and prevented him from supplying the wants of the Lahiri family as he had hitherto been accustomed to do. Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagara, to lighten to some extent Mr Lahiri’s burden, appointed Sharat as the Librarian of the Metropolitan Institution. This gave the young man a good opportunity for in​creasing the stock of his knowledge from the rich library in his charge, and for fitting himself in this way for the battle of life.

One of the most important events in the history of the Brahmo Samaj at the time was the secession of the majority of its members from the communion of Kesava Chandra Sen. This was the immediate result of the latter having married his daughter to the Maharaja of Kuch Behar, in circumstances which occasioned much controversy. The Sadharan Brahmo Samaj was founded in 1878 as a consequence of this friction. Ramtanu was strongly opposed to the marriage.

He loved and practised truth in thought, word, and deed, and warmly deprecated the least violation of it. From the following dialogue between him and a visitor the reader will find that he was even over-scrupulous on this point: —

Visitor. Well, sir, you seem to be rather disturbed and excited in mind; may I know the cause of this excitement?

Mr Lahiri. For some time a thought has troubled me a good deal. I see our Brahman cook preparing for the sick members of our family dishes which his religion tells him not to touch, without the least reluctance. But I am afraid he makes a denial of all this when interrogated by the public. Don’t you think that we are in a way teaching him falsehoods, and therefore murdering truth indirectly, and committing sin?

Visitor. Your fears are groundless. The public would not bother their heads with what your cook does in your house. And again, you can extricate yourself from this delicate position by dismissing the Brahman and employing a man of a lower caste as your cook.

​Mr Lahiri. I have many times thought as much, but my wife does not like it.

There are several anecdotes current in Bengal as illustrating Ramtanu’s uncommonly strict adherence to truth, even in small matters. We give two of them here. Once the servant who looked after Navakumar when he was a baby, finding him in a bad humour, tried to cure him of it by promising some sweetmeats. Mr Lahiri, over-hearing the promise made, and wishing that it should be fulfilled, so that the boy might not learn to make false promises, ran up to the servant, and putting some pice in his hands said to him, “When you have promised to give my son sweatmeats you must buy some from the bazaar and redeem your word, or you would teach him to deal falsely.”

Again, during his stay at Bhagalpur, Mr Lahiri, going to Babu Atul Chandra Mullick’s house, saw that the servant of the latter had prepared a hooka for his master, and was about to place it before him; and that Atul Babu, seeing Mr Lahiri approach, beckoned the servant to remove it. This did not please the visitor; so, calling his friend aside, he said to him, “If smoking tobacco be a vice, and you do not dare indulge in it in my presence, do not smoke at all, but if otherwise you need not be ashamed of your hooka. You must not do anything on the sly. Your present conduct may be construed as an attempt to impose upon me.”

Next let me give an anecdote which illustrates his regard for justice, and his readiness to acknowledge his own errors. One day, when working in the Krishnagar College, he found some money missing from his drawers. His suspicion fell on a servant named Madhu, and he communicated it to others, and began looking upon Madhu with distrust. The lost money, however, was discovered in a few days; so ​then Mr Lahiri, finding that he had wronged the servant by suspecting him of a crime he had never committed, made a public apology to him.

We now return to Sharat Kumar. The post of librarian failing to bring him enough income, he, in 1883, set himself up as a publisher and bookseller. He was backed in the business by an old pupil of his father, a well-to-do gentleman of Konnagar, Babu Khetra Mohan Bose. Sharat’s business prospered; and the main secret of this was his father’s name and influence. Hearing that the worthy son was working so hard to place his father beyond the reach of privation, people from all sides, acquaintances and strangers, gave him plenty of work. When he found, two years afterwards, that his connection with the Metropolitan Institution interfered with his duties in the publishing house, he took leave of Vidyasagara, with his consent and approval, not without expressions of deep thankfulness to his benefactor.

For want of sufficient funds young Sharat had at first taken Khetra Babu’s nephew. Purna Chandra, as his partner, but in 1887 he was able to buy up Purna Babu’s share, and to carry on the business as the sole proprietor.

From a pecuniary point of view Ramtanu’s family fared well now. But the hand of death, which had snatched away two of its brightest jewels, was still heavy upon it. His youngest son, Bijai, died on the 23rd of August 1885, at the age of fifteen, of malarious fever, at Krishnagar, where the family had gone for a change.

On Mr Lahiri’s return to Calcutta, some friends, on a visit of condolence, said to him, “It is a sad thing, indeed, that so many of your children have died so early.” He replied, “Why do you say so? Rather thank God that He has kept so many of my children alive. A wretched ​sinner, such as I am, can hare no claims on Him, and I should have no right to murmur even if He were to deprive me of these also.”

Time healed the wound inflicted by Bijai’s death. Happier days were in store for the Lahiri family, and the auspicious marriage of young Sharat Kumar shortly followed. The marriage was in 1889 blessed with a daughter, and greatly did Mrs Lahiri rejoice in the birth of a grandchild. But by the Divine will she was not destined long to enjoy this happiness: she passed peacefully away only a fortnight after her granddaughter’s birth.

The partner of his joys and sorrows, his helpmeet in this world of trouble, being no longer by his side, Ramtanu was utterly desolate. He resolved to devote the remainder of his life to meditation and prayer, so as to prepare for a peaceful end. But this was not to be, and many a sword was still to pierce his heart. The first wound he received was from the death of Vidyasagara, on 28th July 1891. Next came the death of his younger brother, Dr Kali Charan Lahiri, on the 7th of October in that year. Great was the blow he received from this; and we all feared that his shattered body would not withstand it. But he received it apparently unmoved. His heart was no doubt lacerated, but not a word of anguish escaped his lips. There was now the same calm resignation, the same trust in the Divine mercy that had made his heart proof against earlier griefs. He felt that the departure of his brother was a prelude to his own, and he awaited his end patiently.

The last and most overwhelming blow at length came from the death of his old pupil, friend, and benefactor. Kali Charan Ghosh, who all along loved him as his own son, and served him as a faithful servant. Ramtanu’s soul after the departure of this dear friend must have yearned ​to follow him, and indications of speedy decay became apparent.

His son, Sharat Kumar, had, in the meantime, attained an ample competence in Calcutta. He had built for himself a fine house in Harrison Road, and there Mr Lahiri lived till his death, surrounded by all possible comforts. His sons, and his widowed daughter, Lilavati, were unremitting in their attentions to him. But the earth seemed to have lost all its attractions for him; and as a bird, in spite of its comforts in the cage, hankers after the companionship of its mate outside, so his soul, in the midst of the affectionate care of his children, longed to join his loved ones in the regions above.

Men are sometimes inclined, in advanced age, to complain of being neglected by their friends and relations, on imaginary grounds. But Ramtanu was not one of these. On the contrary, he feared lest his failure, through infirmity, to call on those who cared to see him might be construed into wilful neglect; and that was the reason why, even when it was not thought wise for him to quit the house, he tottered to the houses of his relatives and friends, to make kind inquiries about them. Let me give an instance in my own case. Pressure of business had once prevented me, for a few days, from calling on him. One day, however, I found time to seek his society. While at the threshold of his house I was rather abashed to make my appearance after such delay, and thought out a suitable apology; but as soon as I had made the customary obeisance to my Guru I found that I had been anticipated. He broke forth into words of self-accusation for having allowed so much time to pass without coming to our house. He said, “Oh, Shibnath, of what omissions of duty I have been guilty of late! The ladies of your family are so fond of me, and I have not been to see them ​for so long! You are always busy, and so you cannot be expected to come to see me. I should go to you.” I was quite surprised to hear him talk in this strain. I had expected to be taxed with neglect, but instead of that, he was making an apology for a fancied omission of duty. It is the sign of a lofty soul to overlook the shortcomings of others and to be over-strict in judging itself.

Mr Lahiri, even when almost bedridden, was not unmindful of the claims of his departed friends. As an instance, we may refer to the complaints he often made of nothing being done in honour of the memory of David Hare since he had been unable to take an active part in observing the anniversary of that great man’s death. It was at length at Mr Lahiri’s instance that Babu Umes Chandra Dutt, Principal of the City College, called a meeting, to be held in College Square on the 1st of June every year, to pay the tribute due to Hare’s memory. To show his full sympathy with the movement, Ramtanu used to have himself carried in a palanquin to the meeting, where he showed himself absorbed in the contemplation of the virtues of the noble educationist and reformer in whose honour it had been convened.

In 1898 an accident happened which made Mr Lahiri quite helpless. By some means he chanced to fall out of bed, and his leg was broken. This made him quite helpless, and most probably accelerated his death. His mind became weak as well as his body, and his memory showed signs of failing him. The dire event, which we had for years dreaded, at length became a reality; and he passed away quietly on the 18th of August 1898.

When the news of his departure from this world spread ​through the town people thronged to poor Sharat’s house on Harrison Road. Its gates were crowded. Language fails to describe our feelings at the time, when we looked at that face, which had ever glowed with devotion or flashed with anger at anything done or said amiss, now placid in death. A long funeral procession attended the remains on the road to the place of cremation; and all all along the route we continually heard the bystanders reverently say, “Alas! a saint has gone to his eternal rest.”

In course of time his Shradh was performed by Sharat and Basanta according to the Brahmo ceremonial. Many friends were invited, among whom were Raja Peari Mohan Mukerji, Dr Mahendra Lal Sirkar, and Mr K. P. Gupta.

Thus closed this eventful life—a long life dedicated to the glory of its Maker, and to the service of the world at large. Ramtanu Lahiri has left an imperishable name in the annals of the world’s moral heroes. His footsteps are worthy of being followed by all, and many a bruised heart will find a balm in the contemplation of his placid and resigned character. Even when removed beyond our ken he tells us the blessedness of those who can trust in God and tutor their souls to a perfect submission to His will. May his sons and all others that were under his influence, with God’s help ever follow his bright example! It was not his to achieve any uncommon distinction in the rich and rugged domains of learning. He had neither the opportunity nor the desire to take any prominent part in the political arena. Wealth or power had no charms for him. But far better than all this, he had true manliness, a bold heart to fight for truth, a determination to advance the cause of virtue, and courage to repress everything that was immoral. He was a giant in true Godliness. He ​fulfilled his great mission, he fought the good fight, and is now in the enjoyment of his reward. May it be our lot to live and die like him, that so we may share with him that great reward in the eternal Hereafter! Amen.