Twin Sisters: The Spinster and the Widow The husbandless woman exists in two shapes. She is either a spinster or a widow. Most nations permit both institutions to grow up side by side with each other with the result that the reciprocal proportions of the numbers of the two classes undergo fluctuations on principles very similar to those of the two metals of a double currency under the guidance of economic laws. Social science is interested in noting how these fluctuations tell upon the general welfare of the nation. The poet of domestic charms falls in love with the different features of the lights and shades of the twin sisters—the spinster and the widow. There is also a cynical way of subjecting both creatures to a camera observation and comparing the shadow of the two reflected upon its plate. This is especially useful in a country like India where the Hindus have chosen and contrived to escape the fluctuations of a domestic double currency by keeping the widow a permanent coin and excluding the spinster altogether from their mint. The propounders of justice and of the equality of the two sexes may well protest against this gross injustice to the weaker sex. But apart from that, no small interest gathers round the questions whether India, with this monometallism for her social economics, is really a loser on the whole, and whether the world of bimetallists has gained anything substantial, or to be more serious and less offensive to the fastidious moralist, whether the world has gained on the whole by its submission to the ordinary laws of nature, and India has suffered by working out this artificial system within its families.¹⁹⁷  —Anonymous Vidya Chatura’s family came together. Their elder Manchatura counselled them to give up hopes of finding Kumud. Buddhidhan’s letter brought news of Pramaddhan’s death. In one day they received the news of two deaths; their poor daughter and foolish son-in-law. Vidya Chatura’s ministerial palace was shrouded in gloom; it was akin to the darkness of a moonless night with black, rain-laden clouds covering the sky. Before they could mourn Kumud’s loss and hurl accusations, abuses and curses on Pramaddhan, the news of his death reached them. The flow of abuses and curses dried up. Kumud came to be considered fortunate because she had died before becoming a widow; this thought worked as a balm and assuaged their grief somewhat. Maniraj grieved with them, consoled them. Friends, family, caste fellows, officers, the staff of the royal household, leading men of the state came to give solace and share in their grief. These customary visits for offering condolences dispersed and fragmented their grief a little. At the end of the day, tired and drained out, all of them took to their beds. When Vidya Chatura focused on God’s will, his sleep deepened. When he thought of Kumud’s virtues and her misfortune, sleep eluded him; at times his grief and tears poured out in his sleep. When he thought of