A Journal of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

I burst forth, ‘‘Aha, Niuniya!’’ 'Niuniya,
is the Prakrit name of Nipunika. I had
been more familiar with her natural features.
With her big, lustrous eyes Nipunlka
reprimanded me, ‘‘Why make a noise, speak
softly. ’’ And then sliding a suitable seat
she asked thus, ‘‘sit down gentleman; do
take some betel.’’ I did sit.
Nipunika here needs a brief
introduction. She descends from one of
those castes today that were once regarded
as untouchables but whose forefathers had
fortunately got some employment under
the Gupta rulers. By virtue of securing
service their social status acquired some
uplift. Nowadays they have been counting
themselves among the holy Vaishya clan
and are emulating the customs prevalent
among the Brahmins and Kshatriyas. Only
lately has their practice of widow marriage
been given the go-by. Nipunika was married
to a baker Vaishya who had become affluent
(Seth) by raising himself from the position
of a parcher of grains. Scarcely had even
a year passed after nuptials when Nipunika
was widowed. I was unaware of what pain
or pleasure she had sailed through after
widowhood, but she escaped from home.
She had not revealed to me anything more
about her previous life, but the story since
is by and large my familiarity. When
Nipunika had first approached me, I was
in Ujjaini. There I was the manager of
a dramatic company and chief interlocutor
in the prologue to a play. She expressed
her desire to join the company and I
agreed. She was admittedly no vision. No
doubt her complexion vied with the colour
of tubular stalk of ‘shephali’ [a flower that
drops down before morning; but her most
valued wealth of beauty was her eyes and
fingers. I regard fingers as very significant
ingredients of comeliness. Slender and
tapering fingers effect a wonderful
impression while making successful the
reverential salutation of the actress
rendered through the joining of hollowed
palms and enacted through other
emblematic episodes. So, I accorded
permission to Nipunika for an entry into
the company. Women in my dramatic
entourage were better off than men. From
my very infancy I have known how to
revere womankind. Ordinarily, those of
the softer sex who are dubbed fickle,
forward, and fallen from the family have
nevertheless divine stamina; this is lost
sight of. I do not sink into oblivion. I
take the feminine body for an equivalent
of God's temple. I cannot bear with adverse
comments on it. For this alone I had
framed such stringent codes for my
company that none could even speak to
those women against their wishes. It was
well-known to the public that Baanbhatt's
danseuse lived under constraint and duress.
But its upshot was fine. People began loving
my dramatic company. Gradually I put
Nipunika onto the stage, but not without
her approval. One day in Ujjaini my own
composition, a dramatic poem was to be
enacted. There was much probability of
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