83, 628 (II)System of training and probation.—As regards probation and training, Educational officers should first win a reputation as good teachers before the appointment is confirmed as they are transferred to important colleges.
83, 629 (IV)Conditions of Salary.—As regards conditions of Salary, the pay should be moderately high, but not extravagant, and settled once for all under some simple and well-defined rules. It is not only very humiliating but degrading to a true scholar to be scrambling for money. The difference between the pay of the higher and lower services should be minimised.
83, 630 (VI)Conditions of pension.—With reference to pension, I think it is very unfair that more favourable terms are offered, when the pensioner elects to retire in England.
83, 631 (VII)Such limitations as exist in the employment of non-Europeans.—Passing on to the question of limitations that exist in the employment of Indians in the higher service, I should like to give expression to an injustice which is very keenly felt. It isunfortunate that Indian graduates of European Universities who have distinguished themselves in a remarkable manner do not for one reason or other find facilities for entering the higher Educational Service.
As teachers and workers it is an incontestable fact that Indian officers have distinguished themselves very highly, and anything which discriminates between Europeans and Indians in the way of pay and prospects is most undesirable. A sense of injustice is ill-calculated to bring about that harmony which is so necessary among all the members of an educational institution, professors and students alike.
83, 632 (VIII)Relations of the service with the Indian Civil Service and with other services.—As regards the relations with the Indian Civil Service, I am under the impression that they are somewhat strained, but of this I have no personal experience.
83, 633 (IX)Other points.—I have endeavoured to give my opinion on the definite questions which have been asked. There is another aspect of educational work in India which I think of the highest importance, though I am not exactly sure whether it falls within the terms of reference to the Royal Commission. I think that all the machinery to improve the higher education in India would be altogether ineffectual unless India enters the worldmovement for the advancement of knowledge. And for this it is absolutely necessary to touch the imagination of the people so as to rouse them to give their best energies to the work of research and discovery, in which all the nations of the world are now engaged. To aim at anything less will only end in a lifeless and mechanical system from which the soul of reality has passed away. On this subject I could have said much, but I will confine myself to one point which I think at the present juncture to be of importance. The Government of Bengal has been foremost in a tentative way in encouraging research. What is necessary is the extension and continuity of this enlightened policy.
83, 634.Supplementary Note.—I would like to add a few remarks to make the meaning of paragraphs 83, 627 and 83, 631 in my note more explicit.
At the present recruitment in the Indian Educational Service is made in England and is practically confined to Englishmen. Such racial preference is in my opinion, prejudicial to the interest of education. The best man available, English or Indian should be selected impartially, and high scholarship should be the only test.
It has been said that the present standard of Indian Universities is not as high as that of British Universities, and that the work done by the former is more like that of a sixth form of public schools inEngland. It is therefore urged that what is required for an Educational officer is the capacity to manage classes rather than high scholarship. I do not agree with these views: (1) there are Universities in Great Britain whose standards are not higher than ours; I do not think that the Pass Degree even of Oxford or Cambridge is higher than the corresponding degree here; (2) the standard of the Indian Universities is being steadily raised; (3) the standard will depend upon what the men entrusted with Educational work will make it. For these reasons it is necessary that the level of scholarship represented by the Indian Educational Service should be maintained very high.
In paragraph 83,631 I have stated that even these Indians who have distinguished themselves in European Universities have little chance of entering the higher Educational Service. I should like to add that these highly qualified Indians need only opportunities to render service which would greatly advance the cause of higher education. As regards graduates of Indian Universities, I have known men among them whose works have been highly appreciated. If promising Indian graduates are given the opportunity of visiting foreign Universities, I have no doubt that they would stand comparison with the best recruits that can be obtained from the West.
DR.J. C. BOSE CALLED AND EXAMINED
83,635. (Chairman). The witness favoured an arrangement by which Indians would enter the higher ranks of the service, either through the Provincial Service or by direct recruitment in India. The latter class of officers, after completing their education in India, should ordinarily go to Europe with a view to widening their experience. By this he did not wish to decry the training given in the Indian Universities, which produced some of the very best men, and he would not make the rule absolute. It was not necessary for men of exceptional ability to go to England in order to occupy a high chair. Unfortunately, on account of there being no openings for men of genius in the Educational Service, distinguished men were driven to the profession of Law. In the present condition of India a larger number of distinguished men were needed to give their lives to the education of the people.
83,636. The witness himself had spent part of his career in Europe, and looking back he could say that this had been of great profit to him, not so much on account of the training he got, as by being brought into personal contact with eminent men whose influence extorted his admiration, and create in him a feeling of emulation. In this way he owed a great deal to Lord Rayleigh under whom heworked, but he did not see why that advantage should not eventually be secured by Indians in India under an Indian Lord Rayleigh.
83,637. There should be only one Educational Service, but men who were distinguished in any subject should not start from its very lowest rung but should be placed somewhere in the middle of it.
83,638. There were men in the Provincial Service who were very distinguished; it was all a question of genius. The Educational Service ought to be regarded not as a profession, but as a calling. Some men were born to be teachers. It was not a question of race, of course; in order to have an efficient educational system, there must be an efficient organisation, but this should not be allowed to become fossilised, and thus stand in the way of healthy growth.
83,639. In the Presidency College a young man fresh from an English university was at once appointed a Professor regardless of his lack of experience, whereas an Indian who passed in highest examination with honours in India was appointed as an Assistant Professor. This grounding often made him more efficient as a teacher than the Professor recruited from England. There were now several Professors in the college, in the Provincial Service, who were highly qualified, and who lectured to the highest classes with very great success.
83,640. In the Physics Department he had under his direction several Assistants who were so well qualified that they were allowed to give lectures to several classes. These Assistants, after their experience at the Presidency College, would be best fitted to become Professors in the mofussil at Colleges. He would like to see them promoted to the higher service after they had had experience. But before he gave them the highest positions, he would make it compulsory for them to go to Europe.
83,641. A proportion of Europeans in the service was needed, but only as experts and not as ordinary teachers. Only the very best men should be obtained from Europe, and for exceptional cases. The general educational work should be done entirely by Indians, who understood the difficulties of the country much better than any outsider.
83,642. He advocated the direct recruitment of Indians in India by the local government in consultation with the Secretary of State, rather than by the Secretary of State alone. Indians were under a great difficulty, in that they could not remain indefinitely in England after taking their degrees and being away from the place of recruitment their claims were overlooked.
83,643. There was no reason why a European should be paid a higher rate of salary than an Indian on account of the distance he came. AnIndian felt a sense of inferiority if a difference was made as regards pay. The very slight saving which government made by differentiating between the two did not compensate for the feeling of wrong done. This feeling would remain even if the pay was the same, but an additional grant in the shape of a foreign service allowance was made to Europeans. All workers in the field of education should feel a sense of solidarity, because they were all serving one great cause, namely, education.
83,644. The term "professor", as at present used in India, was undoubtedly a comprehensive one, but it was equally comprehensive in the West.
83,645. (Sir Murray Hammick). The witness did not wish to recruit definite proportions of the service in England and in India respectively. He would for various reasons prefer a large number of Indians engaged in education.
83,646. Even in Calcutta he would not make any difference between the pay of the Indian and the pay of the European.
83,647. (Sir Valentine Chirol). The witness attached great value to the influence of the teacher upon the student in the earlier stages of his education, and it was in these stages that that influence could best be exercised. At the same time he desired to limit the appointment of non-Indians to men of very great distinction.
83,648. If a foreign professor would not come and serve in India for the same remuneration as he obtained in his own country, the witness would certainly not force him to come.
83,649. (Mr. Abdur Rahim). Recruitment for the Educational Service should be made in the first place in India, if suitable men were available; but if not then he would allow the best outsiders to be brought in. In the present state of the country it would be very easy to fill up many of the chairs by selecting the best men in India.
83,650. The aim of the universities should be to promote two classes of work—first, research; and secondly, an all-round sound education. Men of different types would be required for these two duties.
83,651. (Mr. Madge). Any idea that the educational system of India was so far inferior to that of England, that Indians, who had made their mark, had done so, not because of the educational system of the country, but in spite of it, was quite unfounded. The standard of education prevailing in India was quite up to the mark of several British universities. It was as true of any other country in the world as of India that education was valued as a means for passing examinations, and not only for itself, and there was no more cramming in India than elsewhere.
83,652. The West certainly brought to the East a modern spirit, which was very valuable, but it would be dearly purchased by the loss of an honorable career for competent Indians in their own country.
83,653. The educational system in India had in the past been too mechanical, but a turn for the better was now taking place and the universities were recognising the importance of research work, and were willing to give their highest degrees to encourage it.
83,654. (Mr. Macdonald). The witness did not think it was necessary to have a non-Indian element in the service in order to stiffen it up, but he accepted the principle that there should be a certain small proportion of non-Indians.
83,655. The title of professor at a college or University should carry with it dignity and honour, and ought not to be so freely used as at present. All he asked was that it should not be abolished at the expense of such Indians as were doing as good work as their European colleagues.
83,656. If the Calcutta university continued to develop its teaching side, there would be no objection to recruiting University Professors from aided colleges. This would have certain advantages.
83,657. (Mr. Fisher). The witness desired to secure for India Europeans who had Europeanreputations in their different branches of study. If it was necessary to go outside India or England to procure good men, he would prefer to go to Germany. This was the practice in America where they were annexing all the great intellects of Europe.
83,658. The witness would like to see India entering the world movement in the advance and march of knowledge. It was of the highest importance that there should be an intellectual atmosphere in India. It would be of advantage if there were many Indians in the Educational Service. For they came more in contact with the people, and influenced their intellectual activity. Besides, on retirement they would live in India and their life experience would be at their countrymen's service.
83,659. There was very little in the complaint made in certain quarters that the work of the Professors in the colleges in India was hampered by the Government regulations as to curricula. A good teacher was not troubled by such matters.
83,660. (Mr. Sly). There was no scope for the employment of non-Indians in the high schools as apart from the colleges. It was in the professorial line that more help from the West was required.
83,661. (Mr. Gokhale). The witness knew of three instances in which the colonies had secured distinguished men on salaries which were lower than these given to officers of the Indian EducationalService. One was at Toronto, another was in New Zealand and the third at Yale university. The salaries on the two latter cases were £600 and £500 a year. The same held good as regards Japan. The facts there had been stated in a Government of India publication as follows: "Subsequent to 1895 there were 67 Professors recruited in Europe and America, of those, 20 came from Germany, 16 from England and 16 from the United States. The average pay was £384. In the highest Imperial University the average pay is £684. As soon as Japanese could be found to do the work, even tolerably well, the foreigner was dropped."
83,662. When the witness first started work in India, he found that there was no physical laboratory, or any grant made for a practical experimental course. He had to construct instruments with the help of local mechanics, whom he had to train. All this took him ten years. He then undertook original investigation at his own expense. The Royal Society became specially interested in his work and desired to give him a Parliamentary grant for its continuation. It was after this that the Government of Bengal came forward and offered him facilities for research.
83,663. In the Educational Service he would take men of achievement from anywhere; but men of promise he would take from his own country.
83,664. (Mr. Chaubal). He did not know whether the salaries he had mentioned as having been paid in Japan, New Zealand and Yale were on an incremental scale or not.
83,665. There was a difference of kind between the way in which students were taught in schools and the way in which they were taught in colleges. He did not agree with the witnesses who had said that during the first year or two years at college the instruction given was similar to that given in a school. It was very difficult to disprove or to prove such statements. There would be no advantage in keeping boys to a school course up the intermediate standard and making the colleges deal with only those students who had passed the intermediate examination.
83,666. (Sir Theodore Morison). There should be one scale of pay for all persons in the higher educational department. The rate of salary, Rs. 200 rising to Rs. 1,500 per month, was suitable, subject to the proviso that the man of great distinction, instead of beginning at the lowest rate of pay, should start some where in the middle of the list, say, at Rs. 400 or Rs. 500. He would make no reference in regard to Europeans or Indians in that respect. In effect this no doubt amounted to making Indians eligible for higher educational posts both by direct recruitment and by promotion.
83,667. He would not favour the handing over of all the Government institutions in Bengal to private agencies; there must be one or two Government colleges in order to keep up the standard. He should be sorry to see the Government dissociating itself from one of its primary duties, which was education.
83,668. Privately managed Colleges paid less in salary than the Government Colleges. They paid about the same as was given in the Provincial Service, and they obtained fairly good men. It would not be right for a great Government to grant a minimum pay to Indian Professors and an extravagantly high pay to their European colleagues, for doing the same kind of work.
83,669. At the Presidency College the facilities for scientific work were now greater than in many institutions in England. India was now becoming a great country for Biological research. Again, the Physical and Chemical Laboratories at the Presidency College were finer than many in England. If young men of science in England thought they obtained better opportunities in pursuing their subjects in New Zealand and Toronto than in India, the India office ought to remove that impression at once.
83,670. (Lord Ronaldshay). When an Indian graduate under the witnesses' scheme was appointed direct to the higher service in India he wouldnot compel him to go to England for a period of training. The person who would be appointed in India directly from the Indian Universities would have to have previously served with distinction in subordinate positions; a visit to Europe would be an advantage but not absolutely necessary.
83,671. (Mr. Biss). The cost of living in Calcutta to an Indian Professor or Lecturer would all depend as the style in which he lived. In each service there is always a standard of living to which every member is expected to conform. An Indian Professor had to go to Europe from time to time to keep himself in touch with the developments of his subject. An Indian officer had to support a large number of relations. The question of a man's private expenses should not be raised in fixing his pay. One might as well inquire whether the candidate for admission to the service was a bachelor or married, or as to how many children he had. He had known Europeans who had led a simple life, and had been all the better for it.
83,672. He could not understand why men went to Japan and Canada instead of coming to India on better terms. It was a mystery to him. He thought it was either sheer ignorance or the spread of the commercial spirit.
83,673. All the students coming to his side of the University, were, as a rule, keen andanxious to learn; he could not wish for better students.
83,674. (Mr. Gupta). He desired one service, because he thought it was most degrading that certain men, although they were doing the same work, should be classed in a Provincial Service, while others should be classed in an Imperial Service. The prospect of the members of the Provincial Service were not at all what they ought to be, and that was the reason why the best men were not attracted to it.
PROF.J. C. BOSE AT MADURA
On his way back to Calcutta from the Fourth Scientific Deputation to the West, Prof. J. C. Bose visited Madura, 14th June 1915. The Tamil Sangam presented him with an address. In reply Dr. Bose made an important speech, in course of which he said:—
I am no longer a representative of Bengal nor have I come to a strange place, but as an Indian addressing the mighty India and her people. When we realise that unity of our destiny then a great future opens out for us.
It may be we may theorise and attribute to the plants all the characteristics of the animals; but that will be merely theory: there will be no proof. There are certain classes of people who think that plants are utterly unlike animals and some hold that they are like animals. The mere theory is absolutely worthless in order to find out the truth. We have to find by investigation, by means of researches, by means of proofs, that one is identical with the other. We have not only to drop all theory but we have to make the plant itself writedown the answers to the questions that we have to put to them. That was the great problem,—how to make the plant itself answer and write down answers to the question....
If the plants are acted on by various medicines and drugs like ourselves, then we can create an agent or a spokesman on which we can carry out all future investigations on the action of drugs. Then there is opened out a great vista for the scientific study of medicine. And let me tell you medicine is not yet an exact science. It is merely a phase of tradition. We have not been able to make medicine scientific. Now by the data of the influence of drugs on the fundamental basis of life, as is seen in the plant, we shall be able to make the science of medicine purely scientific.
In travelling all over the world, which I have done several times, I was struck by two great characteristics of different nations. One characteristic of certain nations is living for the future. All the modern nations are striving to win force and power from nature. There is another class of men who live on the glory of the past. Now, what is to be the future of our nation? Are we to live only on the glory of the past and die off from the face of the earth, to show that we are worthy descendants of the glorious past and to show by our work, by our intellect and by our service that weare not a decadent nation? We have still a great and mighty future before us, a future that will justify our ancestry. In talking about ancestry, do we ever realise that the only way in which we can do honour to our past is not to boast of what our ancestors have done but to carry out in the future something as great, if not greater than they. Are we to be a living nation, to be proud of our ancestry and to try to win renown by continuous achievements? These mighty monuments that I see around me tell us what has been done till very recent times. I have travelled over some of the greatest ruins of the Universities of India. I have been to the ruins of the University of Taxilla in the farthest corner of India which attracted the people of the west and the east. I had been to the ruins of Nalanda, a University which invited all the west to gain knowledge under its intellectual fostering. I had been all there and seen them. I have come here also and want to visit Conjeevaram. But are you to foster the dead honours or to try to bring back your University in India and drag once more from the rest of the world people who would come down and derive knowledge from India? It is in that way and that way alone we can win our self-respect and make our life and the life of the nation worthy. The present era is the era of temples of learning. In order to erect temples of learning werequire all the offerings of our mighty people. We want to erect temples and "viharas" which are so indispensable to the study of nature and her secrets. It is a problem which appeals to every thoughtful Indian. It is by the effort of the people and by their generosity that all these mighty temples arose; and now are we to worship the dead stones or are we to erect living temples so that the knowledge that has been made in India shall be perpetuated in India? I received requests from the different Universities in America and Germany to allow students from those countries to come and learn the science that has been initiated in India. Now, is this knowledge to pass beyond our boundaries to that again in future time we may have to go to the west to get back this knowledge or are we to keep this flame of learning burning all the time?
(Modern Review, Vol. xviii, p. 22-23).
DR.J. C. BOSE ENTERTAINED
PARTY AT RAM MOHAN LIBRARY
On Saturday, 24th July, 1915, the members of the Ram Mohan Library and Reading room received Dr. J. C. Bose, the President of the Library in a right royal fashion, on his return to India from his Scientific Deputation to the West.
There was a large and influential gathering, and the spacious hall was tastefully decorated.
Dr. J. C. Bose arrived at 6:15 p.m. and was received at the gate by Mr. D. N. Pal, Secretary. Dr. Bose then went round the hall accompanied by the members of the Executive Committee while the Bharati Musical Association played excellent Jaltaranga Orchestra.
Babu Bhupendra Nath Bose, Vice-President of the Library, made a brilliant speech welcoming Dr. Bose and detailing the great services done to the country by him.
DR. BOSE'S REPLY
Dr. Bose in reply expressed his thanks for the great interest shown in different parts of this country in the success of his work. This was the fourthoccasion on which he had been deputed to the West by the Government of India on a scientific mission, and the success that has attended his visit to foreign countries has exceeded all his expectations. In Vienna, in Paris, in Oxford, Cambridge and London, in Harvard, Washington, Chicago and Columbia, in Tokio and in many other places his work has uniformly been received with high appreciation. In spite of the fact that his researches called into question some of the existing theories, his results have notwithstanding received the fullest acceptance. This was due to a great extent to the convincing character of the demonstration afforded by the very delicate instruments he had been able to invent and which worked under extremely difficult tests with extraordinary perfection. Even the most critical savants in Vienna felt themselves constrained to make a most generous admission. In these new investigations on the border land between physics and physiology, they held that Europe has been left behind by India, to which country they would now have to come for inspiration. It has also been fully recognised that science will derive benefit when the synthetic intellectual methods of the East co-operate with the severe analytical methods of the West. These opinions have also been fully endorsed in other centres of learning and Dr. Bose had received applications from distinguishedUniversities in Europe and America for admission of foreign post graduate scholars to be trained in his Laboratory in the new scientific methods that have been initiated in India.
RESEARCH LABORATORY FOR INDIA
This recognition that the advance of human knowledge will be incomplete without India's special contributions, must be a source of great inspiration for future workers in India. His countrymen had the keen imagination which could extort truth out of a mass of disconnected facts and the habit of meditation without allowing the mind to dissipate itself. Inspired by his visits to the ancient Universities, at Taxila, at Nalanda and at Conjevaram, Dr. Bose had the strongest confidence that India would soon see a revival of those glorious traditions. There will soon rise a Temple of Learning where the teacher cut off from worldly distractions would go on with his ceaseless pursuit after truth, and dying, hand on his work to his disciples. Nothing would seem laborious in his inquiry; never is he to lose sight of his quest, never is he to let it go obscured by any terrestrial temptation. For he is the Sanyasin spirit, and India is the only country where so far from there being a conflict between science and religion. Knowledge is regarded as religion itself. Such a misuse of science as is now unfortunatelyin evidence in the West would be impossible here. Had the conquest of air been achieved in India, her very first impulse would be to offer worship at every temple for such a manifestation of the divinity in man.
ECONOMIC DANGER OF INDIA
One of the most interesting events in his tour round the world was his stay in Japan, where he had ample opportunity of becoming acquainted with the efforts of the people and their aspirations towards a great future. No one can help being filled with admiration for what they have achieved. In materialistic efficiency, which in a mechanical era is regarded as an index of civilisation, they have even surpassed their German teachers. A few decades ago they had no foreign shipping and no manufacture. But within an incredibly short time their magnificent lines of steamers have proved so formidable a competitor that the great American line in the Pacific will soon be compelled to stop their sailings. Their industries again, through the wise help of the State and other adventitious aids are capturing foreign markets. But far more admirable is their foresight to save their country from any embroilment with other nations with whom they want to live in peace. And they realise any predominant interest of a foreign country in their tradeor manufacture is sure to lead to misunderstanding and friction. Actuated by this idea they have practically excluded all foreign manufactured articles by prohibitive tariffs.
REVIVAL OF INDIAN INDUSTRIES
Is our country slow to realise the danger that threatens her by the capture of her market and the total destruction of her industries? Does she not realise that it is helpless passivity that directly provokes aggression? Has not the recent happenings in China served as an object lesson? There is, therefore, no time to be lost and the utmost effort is demanded of the Government and the people for the revival of our own industries. The various attempts that have hitherto been made have not been as successful as the necessity of the case demands. The efforts of the Government and of the people have hitherto been spasmodic and often worked at cross purposes. The Government should have an advisory body of Indian members. There should be some modification of rules as regards selection of Industrial scholars. Before being sent out to foreign countries they should be made to study the conditions of manufacture in this country and its difficulties. For a particular industry there should be a co-ordinated group of three scholars, two for the industrial and one for the commercial side. Difficultieswould arise in adapting foreign knowledge to Indian conditions. This can only be overcome by the devoted labour of men of originality, who have been trained in our future Research Laboratory. The Government could also materially help (i) by offering facilities for the supply of raw materials (ii) by offering expert advice (iii) by starting experimental industries. He had reason to think that the Government is full alive to the crucial importance of the subject and is determined to take every step necessary. In this matter the aims of the people and the Government are one. In facing a common danger and in co-operation there must arise mutual respect and understanding. And perhaps through the very catastrophe that is threatening the world there may grow up in India a realisation of community of interest and solidarity as between Government and people.
A CALL FOR NOBLER PATRIOTISM
A very serious danger is thus seen to be threatening the future of India, and to avert it will require the utmost effort of the people. They have not only to meet the economic crisis but also to protect the ideals of ancient Aryan civilisation from the destructive forces that are threatening it. Nothing great can be conserved except through constant effort and sacrifice. There is a danger of, regardingthe mechanical efficiency as the sole end of life; there is also the opposite danger of a life of dreaming, bereft of struggle and activity, degenerating into parasitic habits of dependence. Only through the nobler call of patriotism can our nation realise her highest ideals in thought and in action; to that call the nation will always respond. He had the inestimable privilege of winning the intimate friendship of Mr. G. K. Gokhale. Before leaving England, our foremost Indian statesman whose loss we so deeply mourn, had come to stay with the speaker for a few days at Eastbourne. He knew that this was to be their last meeting. Almost his parting question to Dr. Bose was whether science had anything to say about future incarnations. For himself, however he was certain that as soon as he would cast off his worn out frame he was to be born once more in the country he loved, and bear all the country that may be laid on him in her service. There can be no doubt that there must be salvation for a country which can count on sons as devoted as Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
—Amrita Bazar Patrika, 26-7-1915.
HISTORYOF A DISCOVERY
Substance of a Lecture delivered by Prof. J. C. Bose on the 20th November 1915, at the Ram Mohan Library, under the Presidency of the Hon'ble Mr. P. C. Lyon, and published at p. 693, Vol. xviii, of the "Modern Review" (July to December, 1915).
At the tournament held before the court at Hastinapur, more than twenty-five centuries ago, Karna, the reputed son of a Charioteer, had challenged the supremacy of Prince Arjuna. To this challenge Arjuna had returned a scornful answer; a prince could not cross swords with one who could claim no nobility of descent. "I am my own ancestor," replied Karna, and this perhaps the earliest assertion of the right of man to choose and determine his own destiny. In the realm of knowledge also the great achievements have been won only by men with determined purpose and without any adventitious aids. Undismayed by human limitations they had struggled in spite of many a failure. In their inquiry after truth they regarded nothing as too laborious, nothing too insignificant, nothing too painful.This is the process which all must follow; there is no easier path.
The lecturer's research on the properties of Electric Waves was begun just twenty-one years ago. In this he was greatly encouraged by the appreciation shown by the Royal Society, which not only published his researches, but also offered a Parliamentary grant for the continuance of his work. The greatest difficulty lay in the construction of a receiver to detect invisible ether disturbances. For this a most laborious investigation had to be undertaken to find the action of electric radiation on all kinds of matter. As a result of this long and very patient work a new type of receiver was invented, so perfect in its action that theElectriciansuggested its use in ships and electro-magnetic high houses for the communication and transmission of danger signals at sea through space. This was in 1895, several years in advance of the present wireless system. Practical application of the result of Dr. Bose's investigations appear so important that Great Britain and the United States granted him patents for his invention of a certain crystal receiver which proved to be the most sensitive detector of wireless signals.
UNIVERSAL SENSITIVENESS OF MATTER
In the course of his investigations Dr. Bose foundthat the uncertainty of the early type of his receiver was brought on by fatigue, and that the curve of fatigue of his instrument closely resembled the fatigue curve of animal muscle. He was soon able to remove the 'tiredness' of his receiver by application of suitable stimulants; application of certain poisons, on the other hand, permanently abolished its sensitiveness. Dr. Bose was thus amazed at the discovery that inorganic matter was anything but inert, but that its particles were a thrill under the action of multitudinous forces that were playing on it. The lecturer was at this time constrained to choose whether to go on with the practical applications of his work, the success of which appeared to be assured, or to throw himself into a vortex of conflict for the establishment of some truth the glimmerings of which he was then but dimly beginning to perceive. It is very curious that the human mind is sometimes so constituted that it rejects lines of least resistance in favour of the more difficult path. Dr. Bose chose the more difficult path, and entered into a phase of activity which was to test all his strength.
CASTE IN SCIENCE
Dr. Bose's discovery of Universal sensitiveness of matter was communicated to the Royal Society on May 7th, 1901, when he himself gave a successfulexperimental demonstration. His communication was, however, strongly assailed by Sir John Burden-Sanderson, the leading physiologist, and one or two of his followers. They had nothing to urge against his experiments but objected to a physicist straying into the preserve that had been specially reserved for the physiologist. He had unwittingly strayed into the domain of a new and unfamiliar caste system and offended its etiquette. In consequence of this opposition his paper, which was already in print, was not published. This is not by any means to be regarded as an injustice done to a stranger. Even Lord Rayleigh, who occupies an unique position in the world of science, was subjected to fierce attacks from the chemists, because he, a physicist, had ventured to predict that the air would be found to contain new elements not hitherto discovered.
It is natural that there should be prejudice against all innovations, and the attitude of Sir John Burden-Sanderson is easily explained. Unfortunately there was another incident about which similar explanation could not be urged. Dr. Bose's Paper had been placed in the archives of the Royal Society, so that technically there was no publication. And it came about that eight months after the reading of his Paper, another communication found publication in the Journal of a different society whichwas practically the same as Dr. Bose's but without any acknowledgment. The author of this communication was a gentleman who had previously opposed him at the Royal Society. The plagiarism was subsequently discovered and led to much unpleasantness. It is not necessary to refer any more to the subject except as explanation of the fact that the determined hostility and misrepresentations of one man succeeded for more than ten years to bar all avenues of publication for his discoveries. But every cloud has its silver lining; this incident secured for him many true friends in England who stood for fair play, and whose friendship has proved to be a source of great encouragement to him.
FURTHER DIFFICULTIES
Dr. Bose's next work in 1903 was the discovery of the identity of response and of automatic activity in plant and animal and of the nervous impulse in plant. These new contributions were regarded as of such great importance that the Royal Society showed its special appreciation by recommending it to be published in their Philosophical transactions. But the same influence which had hitherto stood in his way triumphed once more, and it was at the very last moment that the publication was withheld. The Royal Society, however, informed him that hisresults were of fundamental importance, but as they were so wholly unexpected and so opposed to the existing theories, that they would reserve their judgment until, at some future time, plants themselves could be made to record their answers to questions put to them. This was interpreted in certain quarters here as the final rejection of Dr. Bose's theories by the Royal Society, and the limited facilities which he had in the prosecution of his researches were in danger of being withdrawn. And everything was dark for him for the next ten years. The only thought that possessed him was how to make the plant give testimony by means of its own autograph.
LONG DELAYED SUCCESS
And when the night was at its darkest, light gradually appeared, and after innumerable difficulties had been overcome his Resonant Recorder was perfected, which enabled the plant to tell its own story. And in the meantime something still more wonderful came to pass. Hitherto all gates had been barred and he had to produce his passports everywhere. He now found friends who never asked him for credentials. His time had come at last. The Royal Society found his new methods most convincing and honoured him by publication of his researches in the Philosophical transactions. And his discoveries,which had so long remained in obscurity, found enthusiastic acceptance.
Though his theories had thus received acceptance from the leading scientific men of the Royal Society, there was yet no general conviction of the identity of life reactions in plant and animal. No amount of controversy can remove the tendency of the human mind to follow precedents. The only thing left was to make the plant itself bear witness before the scientific bodies in the West, by means of self-records. At the recommendation of the Minister of Education, and of the Government of Bengal, the Secretary of State sanctioned his scientific deputation to Europe and America.
JOURNEY OF INDIAN PLANT ROUND THE WORLD
The special difficulty which he had to contend against lay in the fact that the only time during which the plant flourished at all in the West, was in the months of July and August, when the Universities and scientific societies were in vacation. The only thing left was to take the bold step of carrying growing plants from India and trust to human ingenuity to keep them alive during the journey. Four plants, two Mimosas and two Telegraph plants, were taken in a portable box with glass cover, and never let out of sight. In theMediterranean they encountered bitter cold for the first time and nearly succumbed. They were unhappier still in the Bay of Biscay, and when they reached London there was a sharp frost. They had to be kept in a drawing room lighted by gas, the deadly influence of which was discovered the next morning when all the plants were found to be apparently killed. Two had been killed, and the other two were brought round after much difficulty. The plants were at once transferred to the hot-house in Regents Park. For every demonstration in Dr. Bose's private Laboratory at Maida Vale, the plant had to be brought and returned in a taxicab with closed doors so that no sudden chill might kill them. When travelling, the large box in which they were, could not be trusted out of sight in the luggage van. They had practically to be carried in a reserved compartment. The unusual care taken of the box always roused the greatest curiosity, and in an incredibly short time large crowds would gather. When travelling long distances, for example from London to Vienna, the carriage accommodation had to be secured in advance. It was this that saved Dr. Bose from being interned in Germany, where he was to commence his lectures on the 4th August. He was to start for the University of Bonn on the 2nd, but on account of hasty mobilisation of troops in Germany he could not secure the reserved accommodation.Two days after came the proclamation of War!
OUTCOME OF HIS WORK
The success of his scientific mission exceeded his most sanguine expectations. The work in which he long persevered in isolation and under most depressing difficulties, bore fruit at last. Apart from the full recognition that the progress of the world's science would be incomplete without India's special contributions, mutual appreciation and better understanding resulted from his visit. One of the greatest of Medical Institutions, the Royal Society of Medicine, has been pleased to regard his address before the society as one of the most important in their history and they expected that their science of medicine would be materially benefited by the researches that are being carried out by him in India. India has also been drawn closer to the great seats of learning in the West, to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; for there also the methods of inquiry initiated here have found the most cordial welcome. Many Indian students find their way to America, strangers in a strange land; hitherto they found few to advise and befriend them. It will perhaps be different now, since their leading Universities have begged from India the courtesy of hospitality for their post graduate scholars. Someof these Universities again have asked for a supply of apparatus specially invented at Dr. Bose's laboratory which in their opinion will mark an epoch in scientific advance.
THE INEFFABLE WONDER BEHIND THE VEIL
As for the research itself, he said its bearings are not exclusively specialistic, but touch the foundation of various branches of science. To mention only a few; in medicine it had to deal with the fundamental reaction of protoplasm to various drugs, the solution of the problem why an identical agent brings about diametrically opposite effects in different constitutions; in the science of life it dealt with the new comparative physiology by which any specific characteristic of a tissue is traced from the simplest type in plant to the most complex in the animal; the study of the mysterious phenomenon of death and the accurate determination of the death point and the various conditions by which this point may be dislocated backwards and forwards; in psychology it had to deal with the unravelling of the great mystery that underlies memory and tracing it backwards to latent impressions even in the inorganic bodies which are capable of subsequent revival; and finally, the determination of the special characteristic of that vehicle through which sensiferous impulses are transmitted and the possibilityof changing the intensity and the tone of sensation. All these investigations, Dr. Bose said, are to be carried out by new physical methods of the utmost delicacy. He had in these years been able to remove the obstacles in the path and had lifted the veil so as to catch a glimpse of the ineffable wonder that had hitherto been hidden from view. The real work, he said, had only just begun.
ASOCIAL GATHERING
At the Social Gathering held on the 16th December 1915, in the compound of the Calcutta Presidency College, to meet him after his highly successful tour through Europe, America and Japan, Dr. Bose spoke as follows:—
He said that it was his rare good fortune to have been amply rewarded for the hardships and struggles that he had gone through by the generous and friendly feelings of his colleagues and the love and trust of his pupils. He would say a few words regarding his experience in the Presidency College for more than three decades, which he hoped would serve to bring all who loved the Presidency College—present and past pupils and their teachers—in closer bonds of union. He would speak to them what he had learnt after years of patient labour, that the impossible became possible by persistent and determined efforts and adherence to duty and entire selflessness. The greatest obstacle often arises out of foolish misunderstanding of each other's ideals, such as the differing points of view, first of the Indian teacher, then of his western colleague, andlast but not least, the point of view of the Indian pupils themselves. In all these respects his experience had been wide and varied. He had both been an undergraduate and a graduate of the Calcutta University with vivid realization of an Indian student's aspirations; he had then become a student of conservative Cambridge and democratic London. And during his frequent visits to Europe and America he had become acquainted with the inner working of the chief universities of the world. Finally he had the unique privilege of being connected with the Presidency College for thirty-one years, from which no temptation could sever him. He had the deepest sense of the sacred vocation of the teacher. They may well be proud of a consecrated life—consecrated to what? To the guidance of young lives, to the making of men, to the shaping and determining of souls in the dawn of their existence, with their dreams yet to be realised.
Education in the West and in the East showed how different customs and ways might yet express a common ideal. In India the teacher was, like the head of a family, reverenced by his pupils so deeply as to show itself by touching the feet of their master. This in no servile act if we come to think of it; since it is the expression of the pupils' desire for his master's blessings, called down from heaven in an almost religious communion of souls. This consecrationis renewed every day, calling forth patient foresight of the teacher. As the father shows no special favour, but lets his love and compassion go out to the weakest, so it is with the Indian teacher and his pupil. There is the relation something very human, something very ennobling. He would say it was essentially human rather than distinctively Eastern. For do we not find something very like it in Mediaeval Europe? There too before the coming of the modern era with its lack of leisure and its adherence to system and machinery, there was a bond as sacred between the master and his pupils. Luther used to salute his class every morning with lifted hat, "I bow to you, great men of the future, famous administrators yet to be, men of learning, men of character who will take on themselves the burden of the world." Such is the prophetic vision given to the greatest of teachers. The modern teacher from England will set before him an ideal not less exalted—regarding his pupils as his comrades, he as an Englishman will instill into them greater virility and a greater public spirit. This will be his special contribution to the forming of our Indian youths.
Turning to the Indian students he could say that it was his good fortune never to have had the harmonious relation between teacher and pupils in any way ruffled during his long connection with themfor more than three decades. The real secret of success was in trying at times to see things from the student's point of view and to cultivate a sense of humour enabling him to enjoy the splendid self-assurance of youth with a feeling not unmixed with envy. In essential matters, however, one could not wish to meet a better type or one more quickly susceptible to finer appeals to right conduct and duty as Indian students. Their faults are rather of omission than of commission, since in his experience he formed that the moment they realised their teachers to be their friends, they responded instantly and did not flinch from any test, however severe, that could be laid on them.
—The Presidency College Magazine.Vol. II, pages339-341.
LIGHTVISIBLE AND INVISIBLE
On the 14th January 1916, Dr. J. C. Bose delivered a public lecture, on Light Visible and Invisible, at the third Indian Science Congress held at Lucknow, before a crowded audience which included the Lieutenant-Governor (Sir James Meston).
Dr. Bose, in course of his lecture, spoke of the imperfection of our senses. Our ear, for example, fails to respond to all sounds. There are many sounds to which we are deaf. This was because our ear was tuned to answer to the narrow range of eleven octaves of sound vibrations. He showed a remarkable experiment of an artificial ear which remained irresponsive to various sounds, but when a particular note, to which it was tuned, was sounded even at the distant end of the hall, this ear picked it up and responded violently. As there were sounds audible and inaudible, so there were lights visible and invisible. The imperfection of our eye as a detector of ether vibrations was, however, far more serious. The eye could detect ether vibrations lying within a single octave—between 400 to 800 billion vibrations per second. Comparatively slowvibrations of ether did not affect our eye and the disturbances they give rise to well-known as electric waves. The electric waves, predicted by Maxwell, were discovered by Hertz. These waves were about three metres long. They were about ten million times larger than the beams of visible light. Dr. Bose showed that the three short electric waves have the same property as a beam of light, exhibiting reflections, refraction, even total reflection, through a black crystal, double refraction, polarisation, and rotation of the plane of polarisation. The thinnest film of air was sufficient to produce total reflection of visible light with its extremely short wave lengths. But with the new electric waves which he produced, Dr. Bose showed that the critical thickness of air space determined by the refracting power of the prison and by the wave length of electric oscillations. Dr. Bose determined the index of refraction of electric waves for different materials, and eliminated a difficulty which presented itself in Maxwell's theory as to the relation between the index of refraction of light and the di-electric constant of insulators. He also measured the wave lengths of various oscillations. The order to produce short electric oscillations, to detect them and study their optical properties, he had to construct a large number of instruments. It was a hard task to produce very short electric waves which hadenough energy to be detected, but Dr. Bose overcame this difficulty by constructing radiators or oscillators of his own type, which emitted the shortest waves with sufficient energy. As a receiver he used a sensitive metallic coherer, which in itself led to new and important discoveries. When electric waves fall on a loose contact between two pieces of metals, the resistance of the contact changes and a current passes through the contact indicating the existence of electrical oscillations. Dr. Bose discovered the surprising fact that with potassium metal the resistance of the contact increases under the action of electric waves and that this contact exhibits an automatic recovery. He found further that the change of the metallic contact resistance when acted upon by electric waves, is a function of the atomic weight. These phenomena led to a new theory of metallic coherers. Before these discoveries it was assumed that the particles of the two metallic pieces in contact are, as it were, fused together, so that the resistance decreases. But the increasing resistance appearing for some elements, led to the theory that the electric forces in the waves produced a peculiar molecular action or a re-arrangement of the molecules, which may either increase or decrease the contact resistance.
—Pioneer,—16-1-1916.
HINDUUNIVERSITY ADDRESS
The foundation of the Hindu University was laid by Lord Hardinge on the 4th February 1916. "Many striking addresses were delivered on the occasion. Professor J.C. Bose in his masterly address went to the root of the matter and pointed in an inspiring manner what should be done to make the Hindu University worthy of its name. He deprecated a repetition of the Universities of the West." He said:—
In tracing the characteristic phenomenon of life from simple beginnings in that vast region which may be called unvoiced, as exemplified in the world of plants, to its highest expression in the animal kingdom, one is repeatedly struck by the one dominant fact that in order to maintain an organism at the height of its efficiency something more than a mechanical perfection of its structure is necessary. Every living organism, in order to maintain its life and growth, must be in free communion with all the forces of the Universe about it.
STIMULUSWITHIN AND WITHOUT
Further, it must not only constantly receive stimulus from without, but must also give out something from within, and the healthy life of the organism will depend on these two fold activities of inflow and outflow. When there is any interference with these activities, then morbid symptoms appear, which ultimately must end in disaster and death. This is equally true of the intellectual life of a Nation. When through narrow conceit a Nation regards itself self-sufficient and cuts itself from the stimulus of the outside world, then intellectual decay must inevitably follow.
SPECIAL FUNCTION OF A NATION
So far as regards the receptive function. Then there is another function in the intellectual life of a Nation, that of spontaneous outflow, that giving out of its life by which the world is enriched. When the Nation has lost this power, when it merely receives, but cannot give out, then its healthy life is over, and it sinks into a degenerate existence which is purely parasitic.
HOW INDIA CAN TEACH
How can our Nation give out of the fulness of the life that is in it, and how can a new IndianUniversity help in the realisation of this object? It is clear that its power of directing and inspiring will depend on its world status. This can be secured to it by no artificial means, nor by any strength in the past; and what is the weakness that has been paralysing her activities for the accomplishment of any great scientific work? There must be two different elements, and these must be evenly balanced. Any excess of either will injure it.
HOW TO SECURE THIS STATUS
This world status can only be won by the intrinsic value of the great contributions to be made by its own Indian scholars for the advancement of the world's knowledge. To be organic and vital our new University must stand primarily for self-expression, and for winning for India a place she has lost. Knowledge is never the exclusive possession of any particular race, nor does it recognise geographical limitations. The whole world is interdependent, and a constant stream of thought had been carried out throughout the ages enriching the common heritage of mankind. Although science was neither of the East nor of the West but international, certain aspects of it gained richness by reason of their place of origin.
In any case if India need to make any contributionto the world it should be as great as the hope they cherished for her. Let them not talk of the glories of the past till they have secured for her, her true place among the intellectual nations of the world. Let them find out how she had fallen from her high estate and ruthlessly put an end to all that self satisfied and little-minded vanity which had been the cause of their fatal weakness. What was it that stood in her way? Was her mind paralysed by weak superstitious fears? That was not so; for her great thinkers, the Rishis, always stood for freedom of intellect and while Galileo was imprisoned and Bruno burnt for their opinions, they boldly declared that even the Vedas were to be rejected if they did not conform to truth. They urged in favour of persistent efforts for the discovery of physical causes yet unknown, since to them nothing was extra-physical but merely mysterious because of a hitherto unascertained cause. Were they afraid that the march of knowledge was dangerous to true faith? Not so. For their knowledge and religion were one.
These are the hopes that animate us. For there is something in the Hindu culture which is possessed of extraordinary latent strength by which it has resisted the ravages of time and the destructive changes which have swept over the earth. And indeed a capacity to endure through infinite transformationsmust be innate in that mighty civilisation which has seen the intellectual culture of the Nile Valley, of Assyria and of Babylon war and wane and disappear and which to-day gazes on the future with the same invincible faith with which it met the past.
—Modern Review, vol. XIX, pages277, 278.
THEHISTORY OF A FAILURE THAT WAS GREAT
At the invitation of the President and the committee of the Faridpore Industrial Exhibition, Dr. J. C. Bose gave a lecture on the life of his father, the late Babu Bhugwan Chunder Bose, who founded the Exhibition at Faridpore, where he was the sub-divisional officer, 50 years ago. It was published in the Modern Review for February 1917—volume xxi, p. 221. In course of his address, said Dr. Bose:—
It is the obvious, the insistent, the blatant that often blinds us to the essential. And in solving the mystery that underlies life, the enlightenment will come not by the study of the complex man, but through the simpler plant. It is the unsuspected forces, hidden to the eyes of men,—the forces imprisoned in the soil and the stimuli of alternating flash of light and the gloomings of darkness these and many others will be found to maintain the ceaseless activity which we know as the fulness of throbbing life.
This is likewise true of the congeries of life which we call a society or a nation. The energy whichmoves this great mass in ceaseless effort to realise some common aspiration, often has its origin in the unknown solitudes of a village life. And thus the history of some efforts, not forgotten, which emanated from Faridpore, may be found not unconnected with which India is now meeting her problems to-day. How did these problems first dawn in the minds of some men who forecast themselves by half a century? How fared their hopes, how did their dreams become buried in oblivion? Where lies the secret of that potency which makes certain efforts apparently doomed to failure, rise renewed from beneath the smouldering ashes? Are these dead failures, so utterly unrelated to some great success that we may acclaim to day? When we look deeper we shall find that this is not so, that as inevitable as in the sequence of cause and effect, so unrelenting must be the sequence of failure and success. We shall find that the failure must be the antecedent power to lie dormant for the long subsequent dynamic expression in what we call success. It is then and then only that we shall begin to question ourselves which is the greater of the two, a noble failure or a vulgar success.
As a concrete example, I shall relate the history of a noble failure which had its setting in this little corner of the earth. And if some of the audience thought that the speaker has been blessed with lifethat has been unusually fruitful, they will soon realise that the power and strength that nerved me to meet the shocks of life were in reality derived at this very place, where I witnessed the struggle which overpowered a far greater life.
STIMULUS OF CONTACT WITH WESTERN CULTURE
An impulse from outside reacts on impressionable bodies in two different ways, depending on whether the recipient is inert or fully alive. The inert is fashioned after the pattern of the impression made on it, and this in infinite repetition of one mechanical stamp. But when an organism is fully alive, the answering reaction is often of an altogether different character to the impinging stimulus. The outside shocks stir up the organism to answer feebly or to utmost in ways as multitudinous and varied as life itself. So the first impetus of Western education impressed itself on some in a dead monotony of imitation of things Western; while in others it awakened all that was greatest in the national memory. It is the release of some giant force which lay for long time dormant. My father was one of the earliest to receive the impetus characteristic of the modern epoch as derived from the West. And in his case it came to pass that the stimulus evoked the latent potentialities of his race for evolvingmodes of expression demanded by the period of transition in which he was placed. They found expression in great constructive work, in the restoration of quiet amidst disorder, in the earliest effort to spread education both among men and women, in questions of social welfare, in industrial efforts, in the establishment of people's Bank and in the foundation of industrial and technical schools. And behind all these efforts lay a burning love for his country and its nobler traditions.
MATTERS EDUCATIONAL
In educational matters he had very definite ideas which is now becoming more fully appreciated. English schools were at that time not only regarded as the only efficient medium for instruction. While my father's subordinates sent their children to the English schools intended for gentle folks, I was sent to the vernacular school where my comrades were hardy sons of toilers and of others who, it is now the fashion to regard, were belonging to the depressed classes. From these who tilled the ground and made the land blossom with green verdure and ripening corn, and the sons of the fisher folk, who told stories of the strange creatures that frequented the unknown depths of mighty rivers and stagnant pools, I first derived the lesson of that which constitutes true manhood. From them too I drew my love ofnature. When I came home accompanied by my comrades I found my mother waiting for us. She was an orthodox Hindu, yet the "untouchableness" of some of my school fellows did not produce any misgivings in her. She welcomed and fed all these as her own children; for it is only true of the mother heart to go out and enfold in her protecting care all those who needed succour and a mother's affection. I now realise the object of my being sent at the most plastic period of my life to the vernacular school, where I was to learn my own language, to think my own thoughts and to receive the heritage of our national culture through the medium of our own literature. I was thus to consider myself one with the people and never to place myself in an equivocal position of assumed superiority. This I realised more particularly when later I wished to go to Europe and to compete for the Indian Civil Service, his refusal as regards that particular career was absolute. I was to rule nobody but myself, I was to be a scholar not an administrator.
THE HISTORY OF A FAILURE THAT WAS GREAT
There has been some complaint that the experiment of meeting out cut and dried moral texts as a part of school routine has not proved to be so effective as was expected by their promulgators.The moral education which we received in our childhood was very indirect and came from listening to stories recited by the 'Kathas' on various incidents connected with our great epics. Their effect on our minds was very great; this may be because our racial memory makes us more prone to respond to certain ideals that have been impressed on the consciousness of the nation. These early appeals to our emotions have remained persistent; the only difference is that which was there as a narrative of incidents more or less historical, is now realised as eternally true, being an allegory of the unending struggle of the human soul in its choice between what is material and that other something which transcends it. The only pictures now in my study are a few frescoes done for me by Abanindra Nath Tagore and Nanda Lal Bose. The first fresco represents Her, who is the Sustainer of the Universe. She stands pedestalled on the lotus of our heart. The world was at peace; but a change has come. And She under whose Veil of Compassion we had been protected so long, suddenly flings us to the world of conflict. Our great epic, the Mahabharata, deals with this great conflict, and the few frescoes delineate some of the fundamental incidents. The coming of the discord is signalled by the rattle of dice, thrown by Yudhisthira, the pawn at stake, being the crown. Two hostile arrays are set inmotion, mighty Kaurava armaments meeting in shock of battle the Pandava host with Arjuna as the leader, and Krishna as his Divine Charioteer. At the supreme moment Arjuna had flung down his earthly weapon, Gandiva. It was then that the eternal conflict between matter and spirit was decided. The next panel shows the outward or the material aspect of victory. Behind a foreground of waving flags is seen the battle field of Kurukshetra with procession of white-clad mourning women seen by fitful lights of funeral pyres. In the last panel is seen Yudhisthira renouncing the fruits of his victory setting out on his last journey. In front of him lies the vast and sombre plain and mountain peaks, faintly visible by gleams of unearthly light, unlocalised but playing here and there. His wife and his brothers had fallen behind and dropped one by one. There is to be no human companion in his last journey. The only thing that stood by him and from which he had never been really separated is Dharma or the Spirit of Righteousness.