Tags: Widow remarriage, Reform, Zemindars, Property/inheritance, Melodrama, threatened sexual assault, suicide, dramatic mouth-to-mouth resucitation!, asceticism, murder, Benares (Varanasi)

"Krishnakanta's Will" is set in the author's present-day in a fictional village called Haridagram. The narrative centers on the family of Krishnakanta Roy, a wealthy zemindar whose estate was built alongside his younger brother, Ramkanta. Upon Ramkanta’s death, Krishnakanta raises his nephew, Govindalal, with his own children, Haralal and Benodelal, intending to leave Govindalal his father’s rightful half-share of the property. That decision is described early in the novel as follows: 

Now, Krishnakanta, who had the whole property in his name, could, if he had been so inclined, have deprived his late brother's son of his right; but he was not the man to do wrong. He brought up his nephew along with his own sons, taking good care of him and providing for his education. And in his mind he had resolved that he would leave him by will his brother's half share of the property.

Krishnakanta had two sons, Haralal and Benodelal, the latter being the younger of the two. Besides he had one daughter, who was called Soilabati. Now, the old man had recently made a will in which he had mentioned that after his death Govindalal should get his father's half share of the property, while each of his two sons should have three-sixteenths, and his wife and daughter one-sixteenth each, of his own half share. Haralal was a pert and rather refractory son of his father. When he heard how the property had been disposed of he was greatly exasperated. "What's this!" said he, hurrying to his father. "Our cousin has one-half of the property, and you give us only three-sixteenths each!"

The central conflict begins when Krishnakanta’s eldest son, Haralal, becomes incensed that his cousin is to receive half the estate while he receives only a fraction. After a heated argument with his father, Haralal is partially disinherited. In retaliation, Haralal marries a widow—an act forbidden by his father—and conspires to forge a will that would grant him three-fourths of the property. The decision to marry a widow is described here: 

When Haralal came to know what his share was in the fresh will made by his father he left the house in a huff and went off to Calcutta. From there he wrote a letter to his father, the purport of which was as follows:—

"I purpose to marry a widow. The pundits here say that widow marriage is not forbidden by the shastras. However, I know you will be dead set against my marrying a widow. But if you will let me have one-half of the property and get the will registered at once I will give up my intention, otherwise not."

Though reform politics are not a big part of the novel as a whole, the reference to "widow remarriage" here suggests an engagement with the social reform discourse of the time, where this was a live issue. In other novels by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay from this time-period, he expresses doubts about this social reform. 

Haralal bribes Brahmananda Ghose, a local scribe, and enlists the help of Brahmananda’s niece, Rohini, to switch the real will with his forgery.

Rohini, a young widow herself, initially refuses but eventually steals the will out of a sense of gratitude to Haralal, who once saved her from a sexual assault:

"Rohini," he said again, fixing his eyes on her, "do you remember when you took a journey to the Ganges to bathe? It was on a memorable occasion; and it happened that on your way back you were separated from the people with whom you went."

"Yes," said Rohini with her eyes still fixed on the ground.

"You lost your way," he went on; "and you got into a field where you came in the way of some bad characters. You remember it well of course?"

"Oh yes, I do."

"Why were they after you? They had a bad motive. It was I who delivered you from their hands."

"You happened at that time to be riding across," said Rohini. "Oh, I can never forget it. How I wish I could do something to show my gratitude to you."

"Yes you can do something for me, Rohini, if you wish to. There cannot be a more opportune time for it than the present. I am sure you can do it, for it is not a difficult thing to do. Now, will you do it for me? Say, will you?"

"Yes, I will," said Rohini. "I can even lay down my life, if necessary, to do you service."

However, after Haralal insults her and refuses to marry her despite her efforts, Rohini feels immense guilt. Her conscience is further pricked when she falls in love with the virtuous and handsome Govindalal, who treats her with kindness. In an attempt to right her wrong, Rohini tries to return the original will to Krishnakanta’s drawer but is caught by the old man. Govindalal intercedes on her behalf, saving her from a humiliating public punishment.

Despondent because she believes Govindalal can never love her, Rohini attempts to drown herself in the Baruni tank. Govindalal rescues and resuscitates her, but in the process, he finds himself overcome by a "guilty passion" for her beauty.

Without losing a moment Gobindalal plunged in, swam, dived down and brought her up to the surface. He then bore her out of the water and placed her on the landing. Outwardly she showed no signs of life, for she was quite unconscious, and there was a full suspension of her breath.

With the assistance of the man, however, who had the care of the garden Gobindalal removed her to a room in the garden-house and laid her on a couch. Her eyes were closed, the wet seeming to impart a much darker hue to the hairy arches above. Her fair gentle brow which now showed no signs of shame or fear, bespoke yet, as it seemed, some sorrow in her heart. This evening as she lay stretched on the couch before him, the light shining fitfully upon her, she looked so bewitching fascinating in Gobindalal's eye that he loved her. The beautiful and delicate cast of her face, the round supple limbs soaked in water, the long dishevelled hair hanging down in clusters at the bed's head, from which water was dripping—these made a deep impression on Gobindalal's mind. He felt such pity for her that he could hardly keep the tears out of his eyes. "O God," said he, "why didst Thou give her beauty if Thou wouldst make her unhappy!" His heart wrung to think that he was the unfortunate cause of this sad catastrophe.

Rohini departs after she is revived using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation: 

When she had gone Gobindalal felt he was no longer his own master. He was deeply in love with Rohini. His was a guilty passion, his conscience told him. Much as he wished to play the man and crush and trample it under foot he felt he was too weak. He sought help from on high to enable him to do so. But he had not the least restraint on his passion, and in his helplessness he threw himself on a bed and wept like a child.

To escape his feelings, he travels to a distant family estate, but rumors of his attachment to Rohini spread throughout Haridragram. His devoted wife, Bhramar, initially refuses to believe the gossip but eventually grows cold and suspicious, writing him a stinging letter that deeply wounds his pride:

Her letter we give below in a readable form.

"That day when you returned from the garden after eleven o'clock at night, I inquired what made you stay away till so late as that. You refused to tell me. When I insisted on knowing you said you would tell me, but not until a couple of years had passed. But I have got your secret. I wish I had never known it. Rohini called yesterday to show me the cloth and the ornaments you have given her. Such a wicked impudent woman she is. She did it to hurt and insult me, I know. But I bore with her and let her go unharmed.

"What will you say now? I had unbounded faith in you, you know I had. My heart is broken. I wish we should not meet when you come. Would you kindly drop a line to say when you are going to come home? I request this favour because I want to go to my father's house before your return home. I shall know how to get your uncle to consent to my going."

In due course Gobindalal received his wife's letter. When he had read it, he was as much pained as surprised. It was like a bolt from the blue. The language in which it was couched made him for a moment doubt that it was written by his wife. But there could be no question about it, for he well knew her hand.

When Govindalal returns, he finds a rift between himself and Bhramar. Feeling abandoned by his wife’s lack of faith, he fully surrenders to his obsession with Rohini. As Krishnakanta lies on his deathbed, he learns of his nephew’s infidelity and makes a final, drastic change to his will: he disinherits Govindalal entirely, leaving his half-share to Bhramar instead, hoping this might "disenchant" Govindalal and lead him back to the right path.

After Krishnakanta’s death, Govindalal remains defiant. Bhramar attempts to return the property to him through a legal deed, but he refuses the "gift" and abandons her to go live with his mother in Benares. Eventually, he disappears from Benares and settles in the secluded village of Prosadpur with Rohini, where they live under assumed names.

Back in Haridragram, Bhramar’s health deteriorates due to grief and a "cankerworm" of sorrow. Her father, Madhabinath, a shrewd and formidable man, resolves to track down Govindalal to save his daughter's life. Through clever detective work involving the local postmaster and a bribe to a constable, he discovers Govindalal and Rohini are in Prosadpur. Madhabinath enlists his friend Nishakar to sow seeds of discord. Nishakar flirts with Rohini and lures her to a secret midnight meeting by the riverbank. Govindalal, informed of the meeting by a disgruntled servant, catches them together. In a fit of jealous rage and profound remorse for the life he threw away, Govindalal shoots and kills Rohini.

Govindalal becomes a fugitive, eventually living as a mendicant in Brindaban before being arrested and brought to trial in Jessore. Bhramar, though dying, uses her fortune to help her father bribe the witnesses, ensuring Govindalal’s acquittal for lack of evidence. Following his release, Govindalal wanders in poverty for a year, eventually writing to Bhramar for financial help. Bhramar, realizing she is near death, invites him to return home so she can see him one last time.

In a final, poignant reunion, Govindalal arrives at Haridragram on a moonlit night to find Bhramar on her deathbed. He begs for her forgiveness, which she freely grants, stating she has "forgiven all". She dies in his arms, leaving him consumed by the "agony of remorse".

The story concludes years later. Govindalal, who vanished after Bhramar's death, returns to the village as an ascetic. He meets his nephew, Sachikanta, who has since inherited the estate. Govindalal reveals that after the "fearful storms" of his life, he has finally found a "haven" in God and is happy in his life of service. He refuses to stay and reclaim his old life, disappearing once more into the life of a wanderer.