Summary

Chapter 7 begins with the backstory of Baboo Nob Kissin, Mr. Burnham’s employee who is in charge of transporting indentured servants. In his youth, Nob Kissin lived in a temple where he was being trained to be a spiritual leader and devotee of Sri Krishna. He had been in line to succeed his uncle as the guardian of his family’s temple, but his uncle died and then asked Nob Kissin to take his young widow to an ashram. Although Nob Kissin made a vow of celibacy, he falls in love with his uncle’s wife, who is a spiritual teacher in her own right and a devotee of Sri Krishna. They move to Calcutta together, but keep their vows of celibacy. He wants to become her disciple, but she tells him he must go out into the world to make money for the...