New Delhi, Nov. 6 -- In death, Dharma's husband had moved to the centre of the family stage in a way he had never managed to do in life. Her father-in-law, who collapsed and followed his son within hours, was spoken of only as a faint comma in the long sentence of calamity that the family feared.

'Even his death on a Saturday was inauspicious,' the brothers complained in a chorus of dread. 'He has already taken the father with him. This is only the beginning. More misfortunes will come,' they panicked..

So, they sharpened the austerities to the point of self-punishment. When liquids alone were permitted before the morning rites, they denied themselves even water. When they were required to wash and dry their own clothes, they chose to w...