‘”Swami,” I said, “how can you accept the help of a foreign Government? Do not the dharma sastras themselves call the foreigners mlechas, Untouchables?” and the Swami said, “Governments are sent by the divine will and we may not question it,” and he added, “And I may say the Government has promised to help us morally and materially,” and at this I got so angry that I rose to go, but the Swami held me by the two hands and said, “Do take your seat!” but I said, “No, I cannot, I cannot,” and it was on that very day I took the vow to open our temple to the Pariahs, and that is why I opened it to them. ’ There was a long ovation—’And therefore, brothers, know for sure what religion is wearing behind its saffron robes. Choose between a saint like Mahatma Gandhi who has given up land and lust and honours and comfort and has dedicated his life to the country, and these fattened Brahmins who want to frighten us with their excommunications, once the Government has paid them well.’
At this the police inspector comes up and says, ‘I put you under arrest!’ and Advocate Ranganna answers, ‘Well, on what authority?’ and the police inspector shows him a magistrate’s order, and Ranganna offers himself up to the police, and there is a huge, hoarse cry, and ovation after ovation rises— ‘Gandhi Mahatma ki jai!’—’Vande Mataram!’—and processions immediately form themselves, and with Volunteers on either side they march through bazaar and street and lane, and women rush to the veranda, and children follow them still muttering the multiplication tables, and as dusk falls and lights flash from house to house, so shrill rises the cry of ‘Mahatma Gandhi ki jai!’ that by the Imperial Bank buildings police cars are already waiting, and the crowd is violently dispersed.
And when the morning came the papers were full of it, and Rangamma’s blue paper brought it all to us, and that is how we knew it all. And then we looked at each other and said, ‘So that is how it is with Bhatta,’ and everybody said, ‘And so it is!’ and Rangamma said, ‘That is why Badè Khan was so often seen with him,’ and Nanjamma said, ‘Do you remember, sister, he was nowhere to be seen on that awful night?’ and everybody said, ‘Yes, surely, and fools we were not to have seen it earlier,’ and we all felt the kernel of our hearts burn, for Bhatta had walked our streets with a copper pot in hand and we had fed him. Only Ramakrishnayya said, ‘There is still many a good heart in this world, else the sun would not rise as he does nor the Himavathy flow by the Kenchamma hill,’ and all looked at the stars and said, ‘Yea, the stars of the seven sages hang above us,’ and as a wall lizard clucked propitiously, we all beat our knuckles upon the floor and named the holy name, and there came with it such peace into our hearts that we walked back home with the light in our souls. And somewhere beyond the Bebbur mound, somewhere beyond the Bebbur mound and the Kenchamma hill, out against the sky that rises over Karwar, out over the river, there seemed to stand, as one might have said, the supple, firm figure of Moorthy, a Gandhi cap upon his head and a northern shirt flowing down his waist to the knees. And there was something in his eyes that shone and showed that he had grown even more sorrowful and calm.
And week after week passed, and Rangamma’s blue paper brought us this news and that news, and Pandit Venkateshia said, ‘Why should I not make it come?’ and he too began to receive it every Saturday evening, and Rangè Gowda came and said, ‘Rangamma, Rangamma, I do not know how to read, but my little mosquito goes to school and, if he is worth the milk he has drunk, he will read it out to us,’ and he too began to get the paper through Postman Subbayya, and evening after evening we gathered on Rangamma’s veranda, and when Ramakrishnayya had explained to us a chapter from the Vedanta sutras, kneading vermicelli or shaping wicks for the festivals, we began to speak about Moorthy, while our men sat at the village gate, rubbing the snuff or chewing the tobacco leaf, and it seems they said many wicked things about the Government.
Then Seenu would sometimes go to Karwar with a Friday cart and come back with a Tuesday-morning cart, and he would tell us about Sankar and Advocate Ranganna and Seetharamu; and Vasudev, too, would sometimes go in a Skeffington Estate lorry, and he would sometimes slip through the evening and tell us about Moorthy and the case, and everybody said, ‘The Goddess will free him. She will appear before the judges and free him.’ And Rangamma vowed she would offer a Kanchi sari to Kenchamma if he were released, and Ratna said she would have a thousand-and-eight-flames ceremony performed, and Nanjamma said she would give the Goddess a silver belt, and Pariah Rachanna said he would walk the holy fire, and all said, ‘The Goddess will never fail us — she will free him from the clutches of the Red-man.’ But Vasudev, who was a city boy, said, ‘No sister, they will give him a good six months,’ and we all said, ‘No, no, never!’ and Vasudev said, ‘Well, think what you will, I know these people,’ and Rangamma then suddenly said, ‘Let me go to the city and see cousin Seetharamu; he is an advocate and he can tell me something about it,’ and Nanjamma said, ‘I too will come with you, sister, for I have to go to my daughter’s confinement, and now or in three weeks is all the same to me,’ and that is why one Pushya night Kitta put the bulls to the cart, and Rangamma and Nanjamma went down to Karwar to see Moorthy.
And when they had bathed and said their prayers, Rangamma said to Seetharamu, ‘Seetharamu, who is looking after Moorthy’s affair?’ and Seetharamu said, ‘Why, Sankar!’ and she said, ‘Why not go and see him?’ and he said, ‘Of course!’ and he put on the turban and the coat and they went straight to Sankar, and when Sankar saw Rangamma he said, ‘Aunt, it is a long time since I saw you — how are things with you?’ and Rangamma answered, ‘Everything is safe — but I have come to speak about Moorthy,’ and Sankar said, ‘I love him like a brother, and I have found no better Gandhist,’ and Rangamma said, ‘Why, he is the saint of our village,’ and Sankar said, ‘Some day he will do holy deeds,’ and Rangamma said, ‘Is there nothing to be done to free him from prison?’ and Sankar said, ‘We have done all we can but the police say it is he who arranged the assault, the assault of the Pariahs on the police,’ and Rangamma said, ‘Siva! Siva! Never such a thing would our Moorthy do,’ and Sankar said, ‘Of course of course, Aunt,’ and Rangamma said, ‘Is there nothing I can do here?’ and Sankar said, ‘Nothing for the moment. But stay and wait for the results,’ and Rangamma said, ‘So be it,’ and that is why she did not come back even for the harvest reapings.