Saubhagya Devi’s Auspicious Death The problems of a household are as complex as that of a state. Sundargauri says that if Kusum had not been educated, she would never have aspired to remain unmarried! Traditional Hindu social wisdom says a girl should not be left unmarried. The new wisdom says that our children, even when young, are individuals; and even the thought of marriage, by force or otherwise, before they attain the age of consent is a sin. Kusum has ascetic aspirations. For Hindu women the life of an ascetic is possible only after widowhood! If she is allowed her way, given our country and our customs, she will face lifelong misery. Should one consider what is just, or what possible outcome an action might have? On one hand there is the grave injustice of robbing a daughter of her independence; on the other hand are the fearsome possibilities determined by Hindu social customs for a spinster! Like a nut-cracker, wisdom new and old crushes me! One afternoon, post-lunch, Vidya Chatura slumped into an easy chair with these troubling thoughts crowding his mind, and dozed off. When he woke up, he saw Gunasundari seated in front of him. She had with her some letters delivered by that day’s post. She was weeping, but tried to compose herself as her husband woke up. She handed him the bunch of letters and said, ‘Saubhagya Devi has gone to heaven.’ ‘What! What happened?’ Vidya Chatura was shocked. He took the letters from her, his face both eager and sad. ‘The son turned out to be depraved and died. Kumud also died, and only because of Pramaddhan. Surrounded by pain, grief and suffering from every direction, Devi’s soft, affectionate heart gave up! Buddhidhan is now faced with every conceivable loss. They made such a virtuous and affectionate pair; it is now broken. It is God’s will. Our grief cannot be compared with his. God has done something for them—before Devi died, she gave birth to a premature child, a boy. Hopes of his survival hang on a thread,’ said Gunasundari. Vidya Chatura put the letters on a table and sank into the chair; tears filled his eyes. ‘Gunial, this is indeed very sad. One can overcome such a wound when one is young, but as one gets older the wound festers. As husband and wife grow older they desire togetherness and mutual support. Maharaj Mallaraj’s last illness became somewhat bearable only because of Mena Rani’s untiring service. Bhavabhuti has said: Happy is that fortunate man who, somehow, obtains that one thing which is the same in happiness or misery, which adapts itself to all conditions, where the heart finds its solace, the flavour of which is unaffected by old age, and which matures, as the time removes the veil, into permanent deep affection.²⁰⁵ ‘Oh God! This is the worst form of suffering.’ Gunasundari: ‘A man thinks only of another man’s pain, but both walls do not collapse together. Saubhagya Devi died an auspicious death;