Yashoda

Yashoda is the eldest daughter in Bhuvan Chowdhury’s family, Mahendra’s younger sister, and a married woman living in her husband’s home. Her return to Hatipota brings the family’s unease about Parvati Chakravarty’s arrival into focus, but Parvati’s welcome transforms an anticipated quarrel into a reconciliation.

Identity and Family Position

When Parvati arrives at Bhuvan Chowdhury’s large household, Mahendra presents himself as her eldest son and explains that his elder sister, Yashoda, is away in her husband’s home. He has written to her, but she has not come. The household has already lost its former mother: Mahendra says their mother died two years earlier, making Parvati’s arrival a change in the family’s intimate as well as domestic arrangements.

Mahendra cannot say whether Yashoda was unable to visit or did not wish to. Later, however, he expects that she will refuse to come, and suggests that their father should fetch her. The text does not explain the cause of her anger or reluctance. It presents her absence as a strain within a family whose new relationships are still taking shape.

Return to Hatipota

Parvati asks Mahendra to bring Yashoda home. When he hesitates, Parvati says her pride should not prevent her from going if her presence could bring Yashoda back or soothe her hurt. The following day Mahendra goes alone; the means by which he persuades his sister are left unstated. Four days later, Yashoda arrives at Hatipota.

She has rehearsed words of accusation and anger for the journey. But Parvati’s appearance unsettles that preparation. On the day of Yashoda’s arrival, Parvati is wearing the many valuable jewels Bhuvan Chowdhury had brought from Calcutta. Yashoda is so taken aback by the sight of the new bride that she barely manages a greeting, and the bitter speech she had planned slips from her mind.

Reconciliation with Parvati

Parvati leads Yashoda into her own room, seats her, and fans her while gently acknowledging that Yashoda may be angry with her. Then she removes her jewels one by one and places them on Yashoda. The gesture gives material form to Parvati’s effort to welcome rather than challenge the older woman, but her words are equally important: she presents herself as a dependent in Yashoda’s father’s house, one among the people sheltered there, rather than asserting authority as its new mistress.

Yashoda is overcome and falls at Parvati’s feet to ask forgiveness. Parvati quickly raises her. The encounter reverses the expectation of a new bride claiming precedence: although Parvati has been declared lady of the house, she uses deference and generosity to make room for Bhuvan’s daughter. Yashoda’s prepared anger gives way to an acknowledgment of that welcome, and her return becomes the beginning of a repaired family bond.