HURDWAR. 
223 
shall she daily take her place, and with the tiny mea- 
sure of her soft hand deal forth a religious quittance of 
my vow. A single maund of fine meal will thus sup- 
ply tenfold as many as now demand my charity in the 
course of the wdioleday. Ten thousand blessings wait 
upon the propitious genius who granted me that saving 
thought.” And immediately on this ingenious conceit 
the exulting Purwatti arose, and constructed a seat for 
his daughter in the narrow doorway, where she might 
without inconvenience distribute her handful of meal 
to each applicant. “ There will I leave her, while my 
wealth is again accumulating in the hands of Bikhari, 
and on my return with the pearl-merchant, there shall 
I find her still seated, performing her father’s vow to 
the gods.” 
When the day dawned, having given his daughter 
instructions regarding her duties, the father disengaged 
himself from her tearful embrace, and the pearl-mer- 
chant took an affectionate but respectful leave; and 
thus the travellers departed on their laborious journey, 
which at the nearest calculation must he no less a dis- 
tance than four thousand miles to travel over ere they 
could return, and this they hoped to accomplish in a 
year. 
Immediately on her father’s departure, the beautiful 
Vanadosini, although bathed in tears and overwhelmed 
with anxious apprehensions for those whom she loved 
so tenderly, found it necessary to enter upon her 
new duties; and as each successive Brahmin arrived 
