55 August Fifteen Well, yes, there was no entry in Mirra's diary under the date of 15 August 1914. Look, even with her limitless capacity to work, was she not liable that particular day not to have a single minute on her hand? A day, after all, has only so many minutes. That was the day when the first copies of the Arya were publicly released. We know Mirra's role, don't we? And ... it was Sri Aurobindo's birthday. He was to be forty-two years old. This was his fifth birth anniversary at Pondicherry. He had been a recluse at Shankar Chetty's house on his first birthday. His second and third birthdays in 1911 and 1912 were 'celebrated' quietly in the

43 The Clue It is Bharati who wrote: "All new knowledge is 'revealed,' " Suvrata1 reported. She repeated what Bharati had said: "A few days back I asked Sri Aurobindo how he got his new and wonderful theory of the interpretation of the Vedas: 'It was shown to me'—he replied and I knew that he was saying that in an absolutely literal sense." There is no doubt at all that Bharati was but stating a fact. Sri Aurobindo said as much in the undated letter to Motilal Roy from which we quoted some fragments in the last chapter. Here are some more parts from it. "I am now getting a clearer idea of that work and I may as well impart something of that idea to you; sin

47 Social Customs My brother Noren was telling us tales from his school days at Santiniketan. All my five brothers were students there. I was too young to join it. In those days there were no nursery schools for children. Besides, the then prevailing custom was that at the age of five, not before, ceremonies were performed on a Saraswati Puja day, and the child was initiated in the art of learning. Well, Noren told us that once a month, in the school kitchen, all the students and teachers too, even the day students like him, would be invited to have lunch there. That was a special day because the sweepers-cum-scavengers would do the cooking. Of course the

51 In Pondicherry the Election is Done Sri Aurobindo was there. This time he took an active part in the elections. Specially on behalf of Paul Richard. He kept Motilal Roy of Chandernagore—the French enclave in Bengal—abreast of the unfolding scenario. Some of those letters have survived. A few selected extracts from them will help the readers to draw their own conclusions. "Dear M." wrote Sri Aurobindo in April, 1914. "I send you today the electoral declaration of M. Paul Richard, one of the candidates at the approaching election for the French Chamber. This election is of some importance to us; for there are two of the can

31 The Anglo-Indian Press Such then was the fixed idea of all British Police, of the entire administration, I dare say, from top to bottom, that 'Aurobindo Ghose' was a dangerous man plotting terrorism against Europeans and their assassination. The Anglo-Indian press spread that idea with utmost enthusiasm, for, were those papers not the mouthpiece of the government? So, like a circle of foxes howling at the moon, those newspapers howled at the Nationalists. We shall never really measure the extent of influence the media wielded. On the one side were Nationalist papers like Kesari of Maharashtra, Bande Mataram and Yugantar of Bengal, India

MOTHER'S CHRONICLES Mother's Chronicles book two MIRRA THE ARTIST by Sujata Nahar INSTITUT DE RECHERCHES ÉVOLUTIVES 32, avenue de I'Observatoire, 75014 Paris Already published in the series: Book One: MIRRA To be published: Book Three: MIRRA THE OCCULTIST Book Four: MIRRA AND SRI AUROBINDO Book Five: MIRRA IN JAPAN Book Six: MIRRA THE MOTHER Mother's Chronicles - Book Two: MIRRA THE ARTIST. © 1986 by Sujata Nahar. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reprod

Prologue The Fish. Manu, the Father of men, opened his eyes and saw the little Fish. It was being chased by a very big fish. A faint sound had stirred Manu's deep meditation. It was the cry for help of the little Fish. Manu took the tiny little Fish in his palms and put it in a small pot. To Manu's astonishment, the next day, the little Fish had grown too big for the little pot. So he put it in a small pond. To Manu's amazement, the Fish grew too large for the small pond. Manu put the Fish in a great big lake. The Fish grew bigger than the big lake. Manu put it in the Ganges. The Fish outgrew the Ganges. So finally, Manu took the Fish to the Ocean.

Table of Illustrations Page Frontispiece Mirra at the turn of the century 45 Rabindranath Tagore; autographed in March, 1930 (courtesy Abhay Nahar) 48 Abanindranath Tagore, detail of a dry-point by Mukul Dey 55 A sketch by Nandalal Bose, from Abhay's autograph book 58 Nandalal Bose (courtesy Mrs Jamuna Sen) 67 Sujata, around four 74 From Abhay's autograph book 75 'Progress' bush (courtesy Patrice Marot) 81 Vasudha, a sketch by Mother 87 Rodin in 1906 (courtesy Musee Rodin, Paris) 124 A Brasier car in 1905 135 A mural in St James church at Pau (courtesy Patrice Marot) 138 Pavitra driving Mothe

To pull her out of that tomb was somehow our ambition. Sujata — Satprem April 30, 1984 A Word With You, Please! Greetings, friends! It is a pleasure to have you join me for another stretch of Mother's road. I imagine we have already met and you know me. But just in case this is our first meeting, let me say that I am now an 'elderberry' lady, as a friend of mine wants me known, with a score of sixty runs. Yet I was only nine when I first saw Sri Aurobindo and Mother. And I was but four years old when my father P.S. Nahar took his family to Santiniketan, the educational establishment of the Poet Tagore. The Nahars' a