THE BRAHMIN

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8, 10 September 1913, Page 7

THE BRAHMIN

(r.abindranath' Tagore in the "Nation," July 12.) The sun had set on the western marpin of the river among the .tangle of th"- forest.

The hermit boys have brought hack Uu> cattle,.honied: and the firo to listen to'the master/'Gautama. Just then a strange became, ami greeted him with fruits and flowers, and, bowing low at his feet, spoke in a bi'rd-like' voice : '"Lord; I'hSve'cbnie 1 to thee to lie taken into the path of the supreme Truth; My name is Siuyakama?/. n \ \ y ' •'..,. " ti 7. , ~. "Blessings be on thine liead/' s.yd the master. "Wwhat ,clan art,'thou, w'y .child- It i ? ,,only fyj% a Brahmin to'aspire, to the highest, wisdom." "Master,"-,' answered the hoy, "1 know not of what clan I am. I will gQ and ask my mother." T'uis saying, Satyakama took leave, and wading across the shadow stream, came hack to his mother's hut, which stnrd.at the edge- of the sandy wast.' at the end of the sleeping„yillage. . 'Lie lamp burned dimly in the room, ami the mother stood at the door in the dark waiting for her son's coming. S'lo clasped him to her bosom, kissed i;im-on his hair, and asked him of his errand to the master. "What is the name of my father, den:' mother:''' asked the boy. "It is only fit for a Brahmin to aspire tc the highest wisdom, said Lord Gautama to me." The woman lowered her eyes, and spoko in a whisper. '\iu my youth 1 was poor, and had many masters, fhou hadst come to thy mother Jabale/s arms, my darling, who had no husband." The early rays of the sun, glistened in the tree-tops of the forest hermitage, 'i no students, with their tangled hair still wet with their morning | bath, sat under the ancient tree, before the master. There cama Satyakama. He bowed low at the feet of the Sage, and stood silent. "Tell me," the great teacher asked him, "of what clan art thou?" "My lord," he answered. "I knew lit not. My mother said when I asked 'her, 'I had served many masters ir Imy youth, and thou hadst come to-thy mother Jabala's arms, who had no husband.' " Then rose a murmur like the angry imv'.i of bees disturbed in their hive.: :\r i- the students muttered their wrath at the shameless insolence of the outcast, waif. Master Gautama rose from his seal. stretched out his amis, took the boy to his bosom, and said, "Best of all Brdnnins art thou, my child. Thou lm ;t the noblest heritage of truth."