Page:Advice to the Indian Aristocracy.djvu/232



Litigation now-a-days is a very ruinous proceeding. Some Hindus assert that it is, though in another sense, as disastrous as wars. But in fact it is more disastrous. In battles, the conqueror, though his expenditure may be equal to that of his enemy, annexes the enemy's country, or secures certain commercial privileges. But in litigation, except in a very few instances, the winner gets nothing. Both the parties are generally losers.

I think it was in 1886 that I made my first acquaintance with Rajah Sir T. Madhava Rao, the well-known great statesman of Travancore and Baroda. He, being a friend of my father (Venkatagiri), took some interest in me, and used to speak to me on various subjects. He once gave me a card on which he most cleverly