lady, who was staying with the Holy Mother at Jayrambati, had a sudden attack of what looked like cholera. There was no medical aid available in the village and she died in a few hours, attended only by the Holy Mother. She left behind two very young girls, Nalini and Maku, who had thenceforth to be looked after by the Holy Mother. Along with Radhu they became the Holy Mother's charge, and we find them always as members of her household.
Crowning all these bereavements came the death of her own dear mother, Syamasundari Devi, endearingly called 'grandmother' by devotees. Aged about seventy, she had seen all the ups and downs of life, and had played her part heroically even when faced with utter poverty and destitution. She had lived to see her daughter Sarada rising in people's estimation, from the wife of an eccentric man to a goddess worshipped by people occupying the highest positions in life. From the head of an unknown village family, she (Syamasundari) was now the mistress of what she called 'a household of God and godly people,' and the 'grandmother' of the innumerable spiritual children of her divine daughter. Simple, diligent, hardworking and kindly, she engaged herself all through the day, in spite of age, in every kind of household work - tending cattle, feeding labourers, husking paddy and entertaining the many devotees who either visited, or camped in, their house to meet the Holy Mother. Even on the last day of her life, sometime in February 1906, she had helped in husking paddy and had made some purchases for the house. After that she felt very weak, lay down in the verandah, and called