Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/359

 the Western scholars and adopted the astronomical one about the utility of which those scholars were rather doubtful. The book created a sensation and though it was at first perused with scepticism, still subsequently Max Mullec Weber Jacobi and other Sanskritists had to accept Mr. Tilak's conclusions and re-adjust their own in the light of Mr. Tilak's investigations. Dr. Bloomfield the celebrated Professor of Sanskrit, at the John Hopkin's University referring to the Orion said (1894): —

"But a literary event of even greater importance has happened within the last two or three months — an event which is certain to stir the world of science and culture far more than the beatific reminiscences. Some twelve weeks ago, I received from India a small duo-decimo volume, in the clumsy get-up and faulty typography of the native Anglo-Indian Press. It came with the regards of the author, a person totally unknown to fame. I had never heard his name. * * *. It will be understood that the entry of the little volume upon my horizon was not such as to prejudice me in its favour, and secondly, I placed it where it might be reached, without too much effort, in the drowsy after-dinner hour, to be disposed of, along with much second-class matter such as reaches a scholar through the channels of the Postal Union. Nor was the preface ai all encouraging. The author blandly informs us that the age of the Rigveda, cannot be less than 4000 years before Christ and that the express records of the Hindu antiquity point back to 6000 before Christ. Having in mind the boundless fancy of the Hindu through the ages and his particularly fatal facility for * taking his mouthful ' when it comes to a question of numbers.