Soirindri. I think God has turned his face towards us; now, let me go, and give this information to our youngest Bou.
(Exit Soirindri.)
Nobin. (Aside.) My life is, as it were, the idol of sincerity; it is a piece of a straw in a rapid stream. Let me take my father now to Indrabad, depending on this; as to the future it shall be according to Fate. With me I have one hundred and fifty Rupis. As to the tobacco, if I had kept it for a month more, I would have sold that for the sum of five hundred Rupis; but what can I do? I am obliged to give it for three hundred and fifty Rupis, since I have to pay much for the Officers of the Court; and also heavy expenses for going to and returning from the place. If on account of this false case, there be a delay, then am I certain that the destruction of this land is very near. What a brutal Act is passed? But, what is the fault of the Act; or of those who passed the Act? What misery can the country suffer if those who are to carry out the Act, do it with impartiality? Ah, by this Act how many persons are suffering in prison-houses without a fault! It bursts the heart to see the miseries of their wives and children; the pots for boiling rice on the hearths are remaining as they are; the several kinds of grain in their yards are being dried up; their kine in the rooms are all remaining bound in their places; the cultivation of the fields is not fully carried out, the seeds are not sown, and the wild grass in the rice fields is not cut off. What further prospects are there in the present year? All are crying aloud, with the exclamation, Where is my lord? Where is my father? Some Magistrates are dispensing justice with proper consideration; in their hands this Act is not become the rod of death. Ah! Had all Magistrates been as just as the Magistrate of Amaranagara is, then could the harrow fall on the ripe grain and the locusts destroy the fields? Had that been the case, would I ever have been thrown into so many dangers? O, thou Lieutenant-Governor! had’st thou engaged men of the same good character as thou had’st enacted laws, then the country would never have been miserable. O, thou Governor of the land! had’st thou made such a regulation, that every plaintiff, when his case is proved false, shall be put in prison, then the jail of Amaranagara would have been crowded with Indigo Planters; and they would never have been so very powerful. Our Magistrate is transferred, but our case is to continue here to the end; and that will occasion our ruin.
(Enter Sabitri.)
Sabitri. If you are to give up all the ploughs, is it that even then you are to take the advance-money? Sell all your ploughs and kine, and engage in trade; we shall enjoy ourselves with the profits that shall accrue from that. We can no longer endure this.
Nobin. Mother, I, also, have the same desire. Only, I wait till Bindu is engaged in some service. If we leave off ploughing the land, it will be impossible for us to maintain the family; and it is for this reason, that we have still, with so much trouble, kept these ploughs.
Sabitri. How shalt thou go with this headache? Oh oh! was such Indigo produced in this land! (Places her hand on Nobin’s head).
(Enter Reboti.)
Reboti. My mother! Where shall I go? What shall I do? They have done what! Why is it that through ill-fortune I brought her? Having brought one of a strange caste, I am become unable to preserve propriety. My eldest Babu! preserve me; my life is on the point of bursting out. Bring me Khetromani; bring me my puppet of gold.
Sabitri. These destroyers can do all things. Ye are taking by force the pieces of ground of men, their grain, their kine and calves. By the force of clubs, ye are cultivating Indigo, and the people are doing your work with cries and sobbings.