DEVENDRANATH TAGORE 27
the bank of the Ganges, and lastly in Calcutta. For some time my father lived in a separate house in Park Street, but he finally settled down in his ancestral home at Jorasanko.
In the latter part of 1902 the Maharshi s health gave way, and after this he was constantly ailing. During the last few months his life was often despaired of, but his wonderful constitution repeatedly conquered death. During his last days, a favourite stanza of Hafiz was always on his lips:
The bell is tolling. I have heard the call, and am ready to depart with all my luggage.
At last he heard the call, and on Thursday the 19th January 1905, at 1.55 P.M., quietly passed away at his family residence in Calcutta ; conscious almost till the last moment, and surrounded by his sorrowing children and grandchildren. My late lamented friend, Ananda Mohan Bose, in a letter written on receipt of the news of his death, says of him:
Son of Dwarkanath Tagore, and the first Secretary, I believe, of the British Indian Association, he might have been a Maharaja long before this. But he chose the better part. Maharajas die but Maharshis live live in the grateful hearts of unborn generations.
In conclusion, I wish to advert to one or two other matters bearing on the history and progress of the Brâhma-Samaj, which have not found a place in the foregoing sketch.
