The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c14.s6.14

c14.s6.14

The movements and activities in which Mukunda-rāma is interested in this *Chaṇḍi* are not all confined to the home and the village. He knows the larger world too,—the cities, the merchants, law courts, battles, pilgrimages, boat life, social intrigues and what not. Nay, a considerable part of his poetry is given over to foreign lands, trade with distant countries,—Ceylon, for instance, and the exchange of goods (p. 814). The result of all this "world-sense," of wear and tear among diverse men and movements is noteworthy. His merchant, Dhanapati, is quite a reasonable man in whom sobriety has been engendered because of the experiences of life. While his wife Khullanā's character is being publicly impeached in his own gild he knows how to keep his head high. He is realistic enough to remember the stories of the *Mahābhārata* in which the morals such as can be questioned by the conventional standard have even been glorified. Nay, he tries to dissuade Khullanā herself from the determination to submit to the fire-test, famous in the Sītā-story of the *Rāmāyaṇa* (pp. 582-585).