restrained. The over-sensuousness of beauty disappears. The next step is yet sublime. Everything, and even the stocks and stones are visible manifestations of the eternal joy and beauty immanent in the universe. This is the highest realisation of the poet. To find unity in multiplicity, to discover that everything is lighted by true beauty from within and that there is nothing ugly in the world of God and to be "cheated with a thick intoxicating portion" of Beauty is most dangerous;-all these ideas develop step by step to "such abstracted sublimities" might worthily place him side by side with the greatest master minds of the world and as might be the guiding star to many bewildering way— farers in the journey of life. When the great day of reckoning comes, Rabindranath will find place among "the laureate fraternity of poets."

as

In 1913 Rabindranath was honoured with the Nobel Prize amounting to Rs. 1,20,000 in cash. This is a recognition of true genius and a triumph no less in importance than the victory of the Japanese over the Russians on the eve of the 20th century. It is the conquest of the East over the too much materialistic Europe which has already begun to question the genuineness of that civilization which regards material advancement as a test of national greatness.

RABINDRANATH'S PROSE WORKS. Rabindranath, every now and then, plunges into prose with his swinging robes around him and his prose works extend over a variety of subjects Literary criticism, pamphlets, essays, etc. Their style is the style of a poet. It is expressive and rises sometimes to the height of grandeur. But with his short stories he strikes a new note-the introduction of a new element in Bengali literature. Rabindranath. is still the acknowledged master of this branch of literature. His prose idylls and his lyrics are the sweetest wrote. In short stories, he has even surpassed Bankim Chander whose Kadharani, Indira, Jugulanguriya fall below in sweetness, beauty and grace. But his genius is not in longer stories like Chokher Bali or the Eye-sore. There he is diffuse and we do not find that skill which makes his small stories artistic wholesthat power which unites and combines the different parts into a fine piece. Both in prose and poetry his is "a genius that carves heads on cherry-stones but cannot how colossus out of a rock."

that he ever

RABINDRANATH'S POETRY.

Rabindranath's genius in poetry is pre-eminently lyric. But he is sometimes dramatic. Some of his poems such has Kaja O Rani are dramatic in essence and not merely in form. This gives him an advantage over all other lyrists. He has been called a mystic, but it is not mysticism but transcendentalism that is apparent in him. In various stages of his life, Rabindranath was agitated by different emotions. Sometimes he was attracted to the betwitching glamour of love. Sometimes deeds of heroism appealed to him. Sometimes the spirit of Indian chivalry or knighthood kindled his poetic inspiration. Sometimes he wrote patriotic verses which will ever occupy a very high place in our national anthology. His style and rhythm are musical. He often sweeps the reader away by the very impetuosity of his thoughts and by the rapid succession of imageries from the limpid well of his imagination. So many of his poems have received such a large meed of praise that no other living poet can be compared with him in this respect.

Rabindranath's merits are many and his faults are few. Much of his subsequent work is philosophical and ethical rather than artistic. Philosophy cannot be happily expressed under artistic forms without damage both to art and philosophy. In proportion as he expounds philosophy, he casts off art. This we find in Rabindranath's later work. Throughout his career Rabindranath is hopelessly wanting in realism. This makes some of his poems obscure. Besides, he drags a dangerous mass of impediments. The Mr Mohitebandra Sen did a good service to the poet in making a selection of his best poems and in disencumbering him of the ponderous burden he carries on his back.

late

RABINDRANATH'S PLACE IN BENGALI LITERATURE.

His ultimate place in the hierarchy of letters is undoubtedly high. There are many poems in which beauty of style is joined to profundity of thought. He has melody; he is lucid in expression; he has artistic finish; so he is sure to find readers. He will be perennial. He belongs to the blessed company of Bankim and Michel. It is his style that will immortalise him and he will march on through futurity and shine in his glory, whatever adverse critics may say to the contrary.

4

HE hour of Victory was not one of unalloyed bliss to the British Empire. Death stepped in and removed General Botha, one of the Empire's greatest men. And it is the more deplorable as his work of ungermanising' and consolidating South Africa is not yet complete. His was a remarkable career. Born a shephered boy, he died a Prime-Minister, after having been South In the Africa's greatest military leader as well. prime of life, he was an implacable enemy of Britain; but the genius of Sir Henry CampbellBannerman turned him into a steadfast ally after the treaty of Vereeniging. He thereafter entered into the spirit of the British Empire, taking with him his gallant people. The last war gave him an opportunity to give proofs of his steadfast faith and sincerity and what proof it was that he gave! Writing of him in December 1914 when he marched against German SouthWest Africa, we had occasion to remark :

"And so this redoubtable fighter comes again to "take on the job" and add fresh lustre to a life filled with many an adventure. A soldier and a statesman he will once again give the Germans this time a new lesson in the art of war which will be unforgettable."

a fitting

We now know that he not only gave the Germans an unforgettable lesson, but also the whole of German Africa to the British Empire. But alas! This was destined to be the last of his achievements, but nevertheless memorial to a vigourous, fruitful life. Great men, it is said, leave foot-prints in the sands of time. What did the great Botha It is leave? an example of what sincerity, steadfastness of purpose, and untiring The series of guerilla energy can achieve. he had with the British engagements which the despair war the Boer troops in of the British commanders and it was that same fire of energy and splendid generalship which he brought to bare upon the German troops in this

war.

were

The result which he accomplished-the addition of a quarter of million square miles to the British Empire at a cost of but 140 lives-is á standing monument of his abilities on the fieldand a beacon fire to ambitious Bothas in the making.

bit closer at him, a figure of exLooking a us. Says the treme charm reveals itself to Times:

"It is a commonplace to say the mark of greatness; but, if

that modesty is it is a

common

place, Botha was a remarkable example of its truth. Botha as a political leader was diffident He had no and self-neglectful as few men are. personal ambition. In the South African Parliament the humblest member of his party was a brother and a friend to him, worthy of intercourse for his own sake. It was a lesson in Parliamentary leadership to see him in earnest talk with individuals on the back benches, and to know that this zeal of his to be familiar with the minds of all his followers was no disingenuous product of political tactics, but the fruit of a real conviction of the value of the advice of undis tinguished men. Botha had self-control, too, and patience inexhaustible, and a large tole. rance."

This is the man that is now lost to us. He was only fifty-seven when he died, a sacrifice to his sense of duty and the cares of state. Apparently he thought that the affairs of his nation and of the Empire could not wait for the health of an individual like him. The only consolation to us is that he died a noble death, in the cause of mankind and of civilisation.

Thus said General Smuts, his faithful friend, co-worker, and successor at his funeral :

"From his grave to-day Botha speaks more eloquently than ever to his people. His soul lives on as a nobler power and a lofty inspiration to our young Commonwealth. From this grave the ideal of one land, one people' shall grow ever stronger and greater. After the intimate friendship and unbroken co-operation of twentyone years, I have the right to call Botha the largest, most beautiful, and sweetest soul of all my land."

And if Botha gave all this to the Empire, who gave Botha to the Empire? It was the far seeing "C. B." The Westminster Gazette,' in its review of Botha's career, thus speaks eloquently of

"C. B.'s' services :

"We should be ungrateful if we did not remember Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman. He it was who by a great act of Liberal faith made possible the later career of service to the Empire of General Botha. To-day when the results are seen in a loyal South Africa, which has given the fullest proofs of its attachment to the Empire in the hour of trial, it is not easy to realise the courage and the trust required for the act which followed on the election of 1906."

EARLY LIFE.

BY

ENGAL and Brahmoism have suffered an irreparable loss in the death of Pandit Shivanath Sastri. He was the last of that noble band of religious reformers who virtually transformed superstitious, conseivative, exclusive Bengal into a land of reasoned and liberalised religion. Of him it can safely be said that he was the product of the age. His youth was spent in constant communion with like Ramkrishna sages Pandit Iswara Chandra Vidyasagar, Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and Keshab Chandra Sen and a character moulded by such men cannot fail to interest us.

He was born in a village near Calcutta in the year 1847. His father, who was a very orthodox Brahman, was a man of stern austerity and would brook nothing but truth in his presence. It was natural therefore that Shivanath should get that rare virtue deeply instilled into him early in his life. His grandfather was the great Sanskrit scholar, Pandit Harachandra Nyayaratna and his uncle was Babu Dwarkanath Vidyabushan, the friend and collaborator of Pandit Vidyasagar in his work of starting and editing the Somaprakash, a social reform journal. In his 9th year he was sent to the Calcutta Sanskrit College, then under Vidyasagar, where he stayed till 1872 when he took his M. A. degree in Sanskrit with honours. In his book 'Men J have seen', he has recorded a certain incident which happened when he was yet a young boy and which threw into marked relief his extraordinarily high spirits and sense of self-respect. His uncle had commissioned him to hand a letter over to a Mr. Woodrow, an Inspector of Schools. As usual with him, Shivanath had his slippers on when he entered the Inspector's office. That official chose to get insulted at this and refused to take delivery of the letter unless Shivanath divested himself of his foot gear at the gate. A spirited conversation followed but Shivanath would not budge an inch. He finally left the letter on Mr. Woodrow's table and went home to give an account of this to his uncle. Of course, the next issue of the Somaprakash contained a

Shivanath joined it, a lofty spirit of liberality and breath of outlook pervaded the whole institution. The sturdy mind of Shivanath naturally imbibed this growing feeling and when Vidyasagar entered into his vigorous widow-remarriage propaganda, he carried his disciple as well. A classmate of his had lost his wife and sought his advice as to the course he should follow. Shivanath, a mere student though he was, took himself upon the responsibility of marrying his friend to a widow. He soon found a young widow and, with the help and co-operation of Vidyasagar, had the marriage duly celebrated. His enthusiasm did not end here. When the newly-married couple were subsequently boycotted and subjected to many hardships, he, at the risk of much displeasure from his parents, actually lived with them and saw them through much troublous times. The cause of female education received a great impetus at his hands; he was the founder of the Brahmo girls' school and took prominent part in many movements of female emancipation. He was also a vigorous temperance worker and was connected with the Metropolitan Temperance and Purity Association.

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES.

An orthodox Brahman by birth, yet he never fell in with the old established form of faith and worship. While yet a student, his vigorous mind was slowly and steadily attracted towards the more liberal and cosmopolitan faith of the Brahmo Samaj. His constant visits to Maharshi Devandranath Tagore had tended to increase his sympathy with Brahmoism and when Keshab Chandra Sen came into the field with his strong and magnetic personality, he could not

help openly declaring himself a convert. In 1869, he was publicly initiated into Brahmoism along with the famous Mr. A M. Bose, later on his faithful friend and co-worker. This change

of faith entailed severe hardship on Shivanath, for he was expelled and persecuted even by his father and uncle. The few remaining years of his student life were a period of severe pecuniary difficulties, he being compelled to maintain himself and his family out of his scholarships. The fact that he joined the new Brahmo Samaj of Keshab and not the Adi Brahma Samaj of Ram Mohan Roy was itself a cause in accentuating the ill-feeling against him. The latter was a Brahman ridden institution which did not quite satisfy the progressive Brahmos headed by Keshab. So a new organisation was started where caste had no footing whatever and into this naturally the thoroughgoing Shivanath was led. He was further made the editor of the Samadarshi, the organ of the new Samaj. Soon however, a split occurred in the new Samaj itself. Keshab Chandra Sen became guilty of an act of insincerity when he married his daughter-a tender girlto the Maharajah of Cooch Behar. The stern nature of Shivanath and others of his way of thinking could not brook this defection and another institution, the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, was the result. From thence up to the time of his death, he was its most venerated head and worker. He several times toured India on mission work and also visited England in 1888. He started and edited the 'Tattakaumudi ' and the Indian Messenger,' the two organs of Brahmoism. In 1892, the Sadhanasram' was started under his inspiration and guidance with the object of training a band of workers for the service of God and humanity. And this institution is now the chief force in the propogation of Brahmoism.

HIS POLITICAL ACTIVITIES.

Some part of his time and energy was spent also in directions other than other-worldly. The political conscience of Indians was slowly asserting itself. The British Indian Association had been formed under the auspices of Kristo Das Pal. But this was rather aristocratic and the need was felt for a middle class association. So Shivanath Shastri, along with Ananda Mohan Bose and Surendra Nath Bannerjea, founded the Indian Association,' which is still playing a large part in the politics of India. He also threw in the weight of his power and influence with his countrymen during the troublous times of the Partition agitation.

Yet no account of his life would be complete without an estimate of the qualities of Shivanath Sastri as he was. His untiring energy, sincere piety, spirit of self-sacrifice, and independence of thought and action shine through every act of his throughout his long and strenuous life and hold him out as a worthy example for others to follow. He was characterised by great openness of mind and soul and an all-pervading catholicity and breadth of outlook.

Sir Narayan Chandavarkar, in his article on Shivanath Sastri in the Social Reformer, ascribes his success as a preacher mainly to the charm of his manner and the human touch of his heart. "He met you," Sir Narayan says, "by a hearty shake of the hand as if he met a brother; and the hand shake was followed by as hearty a laughter, loud and lively, which was characteristic He never felt of the man · was always depressed and dispirited. He buoyed up with hope and faith. That, manifested by his life of cheery laughter that rang through you, whether he was well or ill, formed the sanctity of his character and he was a character to love and cherish."

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa: A Sketch of his Life and Teachings. Price As. 4.

Pundit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar: A Sketch of his Life and Teachings. Price As. 4.

G. A, Natesan & Co., Publishers, George Town, Madras