Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/96

 Such were the specific warnings addressed to Mr. Hume. The forecast of trouble throughout India was in exact accordance with what actually occurred, under my own observation, in the Bombay Presidency, in connection with the Agrarian rising known as the Deccan Riots. These began with sporadic gang robberies and attacks on the moneylenders, until the bands of dacoits, combining together, became too strong for the police; and the whole military force at Poona, horse, foot, and, artillery, had to take the field against them. Roaming through the jungle tracts of the Western Ghauts, these bands dispersed in the presence of military force, only to reunite immediately at some convenient point; and from the hill stations of Mahableshwar and Matheran we could at night see the light of their camp fires in all directions. A leader from the more instructed class was found, calling himself Sivaji the Second, who addressed challenges to the Government, offered a reward of Rs. 500 for the head of H.E. Sir Richard Temple (then Governor of Bombay), and claimed to lead a national revolt upon the lines on which the Mahratta power had originally been founded.

Before quitting this subject one special point must be noticed, viz., Mr. Hume's belief that the reports in the seven volumes must necessarily be true, because they were the reports of Chelas to their Gurus. This point is important on the merits of the case; and it is also relevant to the present memoir, because it illustrates the bent of his mind, which induced him to study with eager interest the peculiar phases of Eastern religious thought. His explanation is as follows: "A Chela is a son, pupil, apprentice and disciple, all in one, and a great deal more. None of these terms give any adequate conception of the sanctity of the tie between Chela and Guru. No man becomes a true Chela who has not given up all worldly