Page:The Autobiography of an Indian Princess.djvu/22

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MY CHILDHOOD


of great strength. I always thought of him as an immortal; his eyes were "homes of silent prayer." Lord Dufferin once remarked to me: "I did not know you were Mr. Sen's daughter. I've travelled far and seen many handsome men, but never one so handsome." Sir A. A. Chowdhuri's father once said: "Mr. Keshub is no ordinary man, as you can tell by the perfect shape of his feet and the pink sole." And my dear husband often said, "A sculptor would give anything to have your father's foot as a model." The expression of his face, people said, was like that of Buddha, calm and quiet. His voice was gentle, yet clear, and even by a large crowd every word could be distinctly heard. He had wavy hair and wonderfully white even teeth, and there was always a smile on his face. My father was quite indifferent to caste, although the Brahmo creed as first practised by Maharshi Debendra Nath Tagore and his followers included it, and this caused a split between my father and his old friend. They disagreed on this point, and finally my father left the Maharshi Tagore, first because of the question of caste, and secondly, because of the Maharshi's jealousy of my father's influence with his followers. I remember hearing people talk of the powerful influence of my father's teachings. Even men with large families gave up their occupations to follow him. They looked upon him as almost a divinity, and I myself believe he was gifted with extraordinary powers, as the following strange incident seems to prove.