Fifteen

Mysore revealed Sarala Devi an altogether new and unique image of India. It was not the India that we know; it was the India that was depicted in our classical Sanskrit dramas and literature. At Mysore it struck her rather strongly that the educational institutions in Bengal neglected to teach students to speak in Sanskrit and that was a grave mistake. She began her Sanskrit studies with Vidyasagars book of grammar, Upakramanika. And the next fault is the use of Bengali script instead of the Devanagari script in all prescribed books by the University of Calcutta. The most serious fault is enunciation. The rulers of Mysore are Khatriyas by caste, but majority of their subjects are Shiva-devotee Lingayat Brahmins and Jains. There is a marked difference in the style of wearing saris by the women of these two classes, and in the sectarian symbolic marks painted on their foreheads. During the Diwali celebrations in Mysore she discovered thread of unity.