Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/144

 natural father to his adoptive mother, he was received in fact by her on her lap in performance of the requisite essential of adoption, and—all being done—the formal ceremonies and festivals were postponed to take place afterwards at Poona."

Under ordinary circumstances, nothing further would have been heard of the adoption. But this simple transaction was destined to create a world of worry and involve Mr. Tilak into troubles from which God's Grace and his resourcefulness alone saved him. Referring to the origin of the Tai Maharaj case, Mr. Tilak wrote in the following strain (Kesari March 8th 1904):—

"Every flock has its black sheep" says the proverb; the City of Poona too, far famed as a centre of culture, has its set of scheming persons, who in the language of the poet: 'hate for the sake of hatred.' These 'philanthropic' persons are not necessarily confined to one party or to one set of professions; orthodox or heterodox, moderates or extremists, lawyers and bankers, cultured and uncultured—they join together for their own selfish ends and revel in pulling down any good person or thing. As long as Mr. Nagpurkar (one of the Trustees) had not lost his head, he tried his best to keep Tai Maharaj safe from the machinations of these unscrupulous persons. But a time came v/hen he himself went over to these persons and set himself to betray the interests of his deceased master.

"It is these people whom Mr. Lucas, the Sessions Judge, in his judgment, refers to as Mr. Tilak's deadly enemies. These people however knew that they were not sufficiently strong to ruin Mr. Tilak. They, therefore, plotted to bring to their aid a powerful ally, viz.