Ghatak. "Ráma! Ráma! do you think I am joking with you? Mádhava is a second Kártikeya, the handsomest young man in all Durgánagar. As for his property, his father, old Keśava, has two maráis (granaries of paddy); of his brass vessels there is no reckoning. Besides the lands for which he pays rent, he has ten bighás of lákhráj (rent-free) land."

Alanga. "What ornaments have they agreed to give to Málati ?"

Ghatak. "Old Kesava will cover his daughterin-law's body with ornaments from head to foot. He has ordered one chaudrahár, a pair of mals, a pair of painchhás, one báuți, a pair of palákánțis, one tabij, a pair of jhumkos and pásás, a pair of bálás, and one nath. Did you, old lady, get so many ornaments at your wedding?"

Alanga. 'Why, when I got married, ghaṭak, people were not so fond of ornaments as they are now. Those days were days of simplicity, of thick clothes and coarse rice; but the present days are days. of luxury."

Badan. "What is Mádhava's exact age?"

Ghatak. "He is nineteen years, ten months, and five days old; I saw his horoscope."

Badan. "I hope his gotra (the name of his tribe), is different from ours."

Ghatak. "Well done! Do you, Badan, take me for a fool? I have become grey in ghaṭkáli, (that is, the profession of a ghaṭak), and you teach me my trade!"

Alanga. "We have no objection to the marriage. Let measures be immediately taken. Málati has evidently put rice in the handi of Mádhava. It seems to be the tying of Prajápati. Who can prevent the union ?”

The ghatak, delighted with the result of the conversation, took some refreshment, laid himself down on a mat on the verandah of the big room, and, as he had become tired by the day's walk, soon fell asleep.

CHAPTER XIV.

MALATI'S MARRIAGE.

Here Sítá stands, my daughter fair,
The duties of thy life to share ;
Take from her father, take thy bride,
Join hand to hand, and bliss betide.
A faithful wife, most blest is she,
And as thy shade will follow thee.

GRIFFITH'S Rámáyana.

EARLY next morning the ghatak rose from his bed before crow-cawing, and started on his journey to Durgánagar, which was about twenty miles distant. The way was long and tedious, but the prospect of a substantial reward considerably lightened the fatigue of the journey. He did not stop in the way, except a minute or two here and there for the purpose of smoking; and the only considerable halt he made was on the banks of the brook Máyá,

where he bathed, ate the muḍi and treacle which Alanga with thoughtful kindness had put into his bundle, and drank from the stream, the water of which is so wholesome that it is said to possess the rare quality of dissolving even iron shots if they are taken into the stomach. "The lowing herds wind slowly over the lea," kicking up as they went a cloud of dust, and the ploughman was plodding homeward his weary way, when the ghatak reached Durgánagar. Keśava Sen and his wife rejoiced at the success of the match maker, and looked forward to their son's marriage with great pleasure.

Two days after, Keśava set out for Kánchanpur with a distant relation, who carried with him a pair of sáḍis and a hándi of the best sweetmeats manufactured at Durgánagar. Badan received the guests with joy. Kesava was delighted with the beauty and sweet simplicity of Málati, and vágdán, or betrothal, was consummated. As the parents of both bride and bridegroom were anxious that the marriage should be soon celebrated, Dhumketu, the astrologer, was requested to fix a day for the purpose. After a world of calculations he fixed

upon the 24th of Phálgun, which he represented to be eminently auspicious, as the solar, lunar, planetary, and stellar influences on that day were all benignant. After two days Kesava and his friend returned to Durgánagar.

Two weeks before the wedding, the sound of festivity and the din of preparations were heard both at Kánchanpur and Durgánagar. The relations of Badan, whether near or distant, whether residing in the village or elsewhere, all flocked to his house to mingle their gratulations with his; and those near relations who had come from distant villages, stayed till the solemnities were all over. Preparations were made for feeding a large number of persons, consisting of Badan's own relations and friends, and of those of the bridegroom. The pedal was incessantly active, husking away large quantities of paddy; the hand-mill was always in motion, splitting kalái, arhar, and other sorts of pulse; advances of money were given to the fishermen of the village for a good supply of the only animal food used by the Hindu peasantry-the fish of Badan's own tank being insufficient for the purpose; and con