Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/55

Rh of starting a College. Besides, he believed that the establishment of a College would enable him to get from its alumni the right sort of men, properly imbued with the spirit of sacrifice and anxious like himself to cover the Presidency with a net-work of educational institutions. A preliminary meeting of the well-wishers of the New English School was held and on 24th October 1884 the Deccan Education Society was formed and an application to the University for permission to start an Arts College was made. It is needless to trace the slow developments of the College till 1890 when Mr. Tilak after eleven years of hard work had to leave the Society. Suffice it to say, that most of the work of organisation, collection of funds etc. was done by him and Namjoshi. He was the guiding spirit of the institution and can claim a handsome share of the credit of having made it a success.

As a professor, Mr. Tilak maintained an exceptionally high level. He was a specialist in Mathematics and Sanskrit ; and he was occasionally required to take Science also. His teaching was always thorough and satisfied the cleverest of students. It was marked by rapidity, profundity and originality which frequently was the despair of average students.

The causes which compelled Mr. Tilak to sever his connection from the Society had their germs in the very initial stages of the progress of the New English School. They rapidly accumulated since 1885, resulting in greater and greater acrimony. It would have been better for the peace and harmony of the infant School and the infant College had more care and rigidity been observed with respect to the admission of new