AMRA. 103 



his spiritual office and sublime speculations, he would have had 

 neither leisure nor penetration to discover the cause, if the suspici- 

 ons of the careful Gautami had not awakened his attention. She 

 ventured to suggest the propriety of hastening the return of his daugh- 

 ter's betrothed husband ; and the Brahman, having taken her advice 

 in this particular, rested satisfied ; persuading himself, that the arri- 

 val of Adhar would be a certain and all-sufficient remedy for the 

 dreaded evil, which in his simplicity he had never contemplated, and 

 could scarcely be made to comprehend. 



A month had thus passed away, and again that appointed day 

 came round, on which Govinda was wont to meet his brother's emis- 

 sary : even on ordinary occasions he could never anticipate it without 

 a thrill of anxiety, now every feeling was wrought up to agony ; 

 yet it was necessary to control the slightest sign of impatience, and 

 wear the same external guise of calm, subdued self-possession, 

 though every vein was burning with the fever of suspense. 



It was the hour when Sarma, having risen from his mid-day 

 sleep, was accustomed to listen to Govinda while he read some ap- 

 pointed text. Accordingly Govinda opened his book, and standing 

 before his preceptor in an attitude of profound humility, he read 

 thus : 



" Garuna asked of the Crow Bushanda, ' What is the most excel- 

 lent of natural forms ? the highest good ? the chief pain? the dear- 

 est pleasure ? the greatest wickedness ? the severest punishment?' 



" And the Crow Bushanda answered him : ( In the three worlds, 

 empyreal, terrestrial, and infernal, no form excels the human form. 



" ' Supreme felicity, on earth, is found in the conversation of a 

 virtuous friend. 



" ' The keenest pain is inflicted by extreme poverty. 



" i The worst of sins is uncharitableness ; and to the uncharitable 

 is awarded the severest punishment : for while the despisers of their 

 spiritual guides shall live for a thousand centuries as frogs, and 

 those who contemn the Brahmans as ravens, and those who scorn 

 other men as blinking bats, the uncharitable alone shall be condemn- 

 ed to the profoundest hell, and their punishment shall last for ever/ " 



Govinda closed his book ; and the old Brahman was proceeding 

 to make an elaborate comment on this venerable text, when, looking 

 up in the face of his pupil, he perceived, that he was pale, abstract- 

 ed, and apparently unconscious that he was speaking. He stopped : 

 he was about to rebuke him, but he restrained himself; and after re- 

 flecting for a few moments, he commanded the youth to prepare 

 for the evening sacrifice : but first he desired him to summon Amra 

 to her father's presence. 



