Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/32

 ginative bent which excites the admiration of the readers of the Gita-Rahasya and the Arctic Home in the Vedas.

His utter disregard of praise and scholarships was not due to the perfunctory method of his studies but rather the reverse. If one were to analyse the prize-hunters' mentality, it will be found that their studies are not the outcome of a love of knowledge but the show of it. The one aim of Mr. Tilak's life was the acquisition of the intrinsic and so all the rewards resulting from the attainment of merely marketable knowledge had no charm for him. His reading was extensive and thorough; while reading for examination the history of the reigns of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, he studied about a dozen standard authors and made his own notes. While preparing for the LL. B. examination, instead of contenting himself with reading Hindu Law from English writers he went straight to the fountain-head and studied Yajnavalkya and other authorities. He also read all the important Acts passed by the Government of India since 1827. The closeness of his application to studies and his ready and prolonged concentration therein were the wonder of his friends; and there was another quality which is equally, if not still more rare, the innate purity of his mind. Mr. Upsani, his life-long friend recalling those three years of Bombay-life says "I shared Mr. Tilak's room while both of us