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<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:center;line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><font size="4">Deoghar</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>THE scene was Deoghar,
though not exactly the town itself. About five miles before you reach the town,
there is the Jesidih Junction on the main railway line. Nearly a mile from
there, close to the railway line there was a house with only a ground floor and
quite neat and clean on the whole. <span style='mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>All<b>
</b></span>around were open fields – not the green meadows of Bengal but the
barren red moorlands of Bihar. Not entirely unpleasant scenery though, for it
breathed an atmosphere of purity and peace and silence. A little farther away
there stood a larger two-storeyed mansion, perhaps the comfortable holiday
retreat of some rich man.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
time was towards the end of 1907 and the beginning of 1908. I was about seventeen
or eighteen and had just finished with my college life.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
<i>dramatis personae </i>were (1) Barindra Kumar Ghose, (2) Ullaskar Dutt, (3)
Prafulla Kumar Chakravarti, (4) Bibhuti Bhushan Sarkar, and (5) Nolini Kanta
Gupta.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
plot was to manufacture bombs. Hitherto, there had been only preliminary
investigations and initial experiments and efforts. Now Ullaskar came out with
his Eureka. &quot;All is ready,&quot; he said, &quot;now there is going to be a
real test. We have to demonstrate with a live bomb in action.&quot;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>But
here I must add that, although we had made the preparation of bombs our first
object when we chose this lonely and out of the way place, we were not entirely
heartless men, that is, atheistic and given wholly to a materialistic philosophy.
It had been part of our plan to devote some time to<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 348<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>the cultivation of an
inner life too in that solitude. I remember how we would get up an hour before
sunrise and sitting down in that calm atmosphere in a meditative pose we would
recite aloud with deep fervour and joy the <i>mantra </i>of the Upanishad:</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i>tilesu tailam dadhiniva
sarpir <o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i>apah srotahsu aranisu
cagnih <o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i>evam atma atmani
grhyate asau <o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i>saryena enam tapasa yo
anupasyati.<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&quot;As
one gets oil out of oilseeds, as one gets butter out of curds, as one gets water
out of the stream, as one gets fire out of wood, even so one seizes the self
out of the self, one who pursues it in truth and <i>tapasya.&quot;<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Who
could say at that hour that this was a place for the manufacture of bombs? It
would not have been far out to call it an Ashram, &quot;the abode of quiet
joy&quot;, in the Kalidasian phrase, <i>santa-rasaspadam asramam idam.<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And
it was precisely because of this that Barin got Lele Maharaj down here for our
initiation and training in <i>sadhana, </i>the discipline of yoga, the same Lele
who had been of particular help to Sri Aurobindo at a certain stage of his own
<i>sadhana. </i>But it was our bad luck that the whole thing misfired.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>When
Lele Maharaj came to know that we had accepted the cult of the bomb, he raised
an objection. Sadhana and the bomb, he said, did not go well together and the
kind of violent rajasic action we had in view was not at all conducive to the 
purification of the heart. Besides, he added, although the freedom of India was 
a desirable thing, was indeed desirable and necessary for all, it would come 
about by an</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>other method, it would
come inevitably and in a peaceful way, there would be no need for bloodshed. We
got irritated and smiled at him with incredulity and even<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 349<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:13.4pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>perhaps
in derision. Englishmen would pack up their belongings and leave of their own
accord without as much as a grumble, like thorough gentlemen, – this looked
rather like a fairy tale if not &quot;a tale told by an idiot&quot;. We were no Vaishnava devotee. We were Tantriks, worshippers of Kali. Our chosen deity was
the Goddess of Death with her garland of skulls. Ours was the heroes' worship
of strength.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:-9.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We had
long been singing the proud refrain:</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:-9.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:-9.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Have the hero-sons, O men, </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:-9.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Adorned the Mother's forehead </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:-9.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>With the blood-red mark?</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>There was also a time when
we had been proclaiming loudly at meetings and shouting to the four quarters:</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Counting the beads and
doing austerities,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>All your yoga and prayers
and worship,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Oblations and sacrifice
and honouring the images of gods, –</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Nothing of
this will now avail in the least.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Make of the arrow's sheath
and the sword thy cult, </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-bidi-font-style:
italic'>For<i> </i></span>the olden days are no more.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>India will not be saved,
it cannot,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Through the worship of the
gods.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Unsheath now the sword,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>For these demons are not
as of yore,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Lele
Maharaj threatened us with another warning, &quot;If you do not give up this,
you wilt hot only not succeed but are bound to meet with danger, if not
catastrophe.&quot; How true his prophecy was we all know from the concrete evidence
of what came to pass.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>However,
we did not confine our studies to religious books alone; we had with us some
secular literature as well.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 350<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>It was precisely at this
period that a collection of Matthew Arnold's poems came to my hands. The book
belonged to Sri Aurobindo and must have been brought along by Barin. That Sri
Aurobindo had studied it minutely was evident from the book itself, for he had
marked in red the passages or lines which he had particularly liked. I still
remember a couple of lines that had the good luck to get a red mark:</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Strew on her roses, roses,
</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And never a spray of yew!</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The simplicity of feeling,
the deep pathos, the fine felicity of rhythm in these lines had stirred my
young heart too a great deal. That was my first introduction to Matthew Arnold.
The greatness of the poet-laureate Tennyson had already reached the ears of
even the ordinary student at college, but Matthew Arnold and Browning were
still unknown.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>All this is however quite
beside the point. Let me come back to the story.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
bomb was ready, I said, a real live bomb. It was mainly Ullaskar's handiwork,
we others had acted as assistants. It was now decided that the testing would
be done on top of a hill known as Dighiriya – it was not much of a hill but
only a low range of hillocks – across the railway line, beyond the level
crossing. (There was an amusing incident in the Sessions Court in connection
with the man at this level crossing about which I may say something another
day.) Of an afternoon, the five of us made for the hill. It fell to my lot to
carry the bomb. I carried it along with due care no doubt, but I had no idea of
the risks I carried. We were quite ignorant and inexperienced at the time. It
was nothing short of a miracle that we had no accident, the way I carried the
thing; I realised that only a little later.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:9.8pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We
broke through the thickets and chose a spot right on top of the hill. There we
came across a huge boulder rising<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 351<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>steep and straight on one
side about breast-high and on the other sloping gradually to a distance of some
ten or twelve yards. The plan was that Prafulla would take his shelter behind
the steep and abrupt side as he threw the bomb at the sloping rock and sit down
behind the slab as soon as he made the throw, so that no splinters might hit
him after the explosion, as the bomb was to explode only on the slope by
friction of the impact. Ullas was to stand by Prafulla to see that everything
got on well and both were to duck behind the slab right after the throw. I
climbed up a tree a little farther away so as to have a clear view of the whole
scene. Barin and Bibhuti took their positions around. As we lay in wait, – my
eyes were glued to the boulder, – suddenly I saw a spark of fire flash out over
there with a puff of smoke and such a terrific noise! The whole sky seemed to
be getting broken up into bits, and waves of sound went echoing forth from one
end to the other as if in a hundred simultaneous claps of thunder. Never again
have I heard a noise like that. I was of course beside myself with excitement
and joy. With great glee I climbed down the tree and ran towards the boulder,
shouting at the top of my voice, &quot;Successful, successful!&quot;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>But
how is this? What is this! What a gruesome spectacle! Prafulla lay limp on
Ullas's chest, Ullas held him in his arms. Slowly the body was laid down. One
side of the forehead was broken through and a portion of the brain coming out. <span
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>It<b> </b></span>was an unbearable sight. We
sat around and no one spoke a word. At last Barin said, &quot;It's all over,
there is not a hope.&quot; The body lay motionless, showed no signs of life.
The eyes were closed, the face looked serene.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.7pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>This
is how it happened. We had thought that the explosive would catch fire only
after the bomb touched the ground and rubbed against a hard surface. But instead
of that, the explosive had been so powerful, that is, so easily inflammable
that it caught fire as soon as it came into contact with air on being thrown
up. I said I had been carrying it in my<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 352<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>hands: it might have
caught fire and exploded even by that slight swing. That it did not was my
sheer good luck.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Now
the problem was what to do next. What was to be done with the body? Burn it? or
give it a burial? To bury it was out of the question, for to dig a hole in that
hard stone was impossible. Give it cremation by lighting a fire in the bush?
But that might' attract people and the news might spread in the neighbouring
villages. Barin said, &quot;We need not do anything, let us go away leaving it
as it is. This is a field of battle. Our first soldier has given up his body in
the battle-field, this is our first casualty.&quot;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>So
far, our eyes had all been rivetted on the corpse. And now, suddenly, someone
cried, &quot;Ullas too has Been wounded.&quot; His clothing was riddled with
holes and covered with marks' of blood all over. We removed the clothing and
examined him as far as we could. Barin said, &quot;Our first task now is to
look after him. Who is gone is gone. Now he must be saved. We must therefore
hurry back. There is no time now to discuss what is to be done with the dead
body. We have to return to Calcutta this very evening and consult the
doctor.&quot; There was a special doctor, the renowned Indu Mallick so far as I
remember, who looked after us terrorists.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:9.6pt 153.1pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We started down the hill, with not a word on our lips, our
throats all choked with emotion, our minds stunned. The image of the English
poet came to mind: &quot;Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note...&quot; I
once blurted out with a suppressed feeling, &quot;We were five when we came,
only four are now returning.&quot; Barin gave me a rebuke, &quot;No
sentimentality, please.&quot;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>As
we walked down, I wondered if the frightful noise had not reached the people
around. There was of course nothing like a human habitation anywhere in the
neighbourhood. But people did come from the surrounding country to gather fuel
in the thickets. However, nothing untoward happened and we returned safely.
Barin and Ullas left for Calcutta that very night.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 353<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Early
next morning I looked towards Dighiriya and seemed to see some kites and
vultures flying over the hill. That evening, or it was perhaps the next
morning, Upen arrived with Barin. Ullas was all right, they said, there was
nothing to fear about his wounds. Upen wanted to have a look at the place. We
started again for that holy spot and arrived on the scene. Even from a distance
we could see the body lying exactly as we had left it, dressed exactly in the
same way, there was no change whatever. Nor was there any sign of
decomposition, on this the third day. We came back just as we had gone; leaving
the body as it was.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>It
was decided to end this particular chapter here. Lest the police should get
scent, it would be wiser to break up camp and get away. Whatever materials we
had in our possession for the manufacture of bombs were packed up in a couple
of trunks and dispatched to the shop of a friend in Deoghar. The trunks were
left hidden among other things in the god own at the back of the shop. What
happened to them afterwards I do not know. </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Before
leaving for good, we felt a desire to have a last look at Dighiriya hill. It
was the fourth day after the event. We climbed to the spot. But how strange!
Where was the body? There was not a trace of it anywhere. We searched about
here and there but did not find even a shred of clothing. Could it have been
carried away by beasts? But without leaving the slightest trace? The whole
thing remained a mystery. </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.7pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Afterwards,
many kinds of rumours got afloat. Some, they said, had seen him in the streets
of Calcutta, a Sannyasin was supposed to have come across the dead body and revived
it, and so on. To set my doubts at rest, I once asked Sri Aurobindo if there
could be any truth in these stories, and what exactly had happened to Prafulla.
Sri Aurobindo said, &quot;All that is sheer myth. Prafulla is really
dead.&quot;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Let
me end this Deoghar episode with a little picture that still sticks in my
memory. Within about a mile from our<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

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mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 354<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

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</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:10.05pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>camp there
was a village called Rohini. There in a garden house – it was almost covered with
jungle when we saw the place – still lived Sri Aurobindo's mother, Swarnalata
Devi. The garden was full of various kinds of trees and shrubs. The house was a
large-sized cottage, though the walls and flooring were of masonry work; it
had an old dilapidated look for want of repairs. The local people called it the
Memsahib's Kothi, the Lady's House. Everybody called Sri Aurobindo's mother a
Memsahib. At that time, she was out of her mind and always remained shut up in
her rooms. We passed several times through the gardens by the house, but she
could not be seen.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:9.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
holy legend of sacred Deoghar would not be complete if I were not to mention
in this context the name of Sri Aurobindo's maternal grandfather, Rishi
Rajnarayan, who is also called the Grandfather of Indian Nationalism. We saw
the house where he once lived, where Sri Aurobindo used to come often. It stood
in an open compound – may be the compound had been a bed of flowers once. The
house as it looked now was a white mansion where no one lived, left lonely as a
dream.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

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mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 355<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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