Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 1.djvu/385



The great man whose death-anniversary, we are here to celebrate this evening was a true, typical and exemplary Indian, as witness how the news of his death was received with grief intensified by admiration all the country over. The function of a great man is, at one time, to conserve, to refine, to elaborate, to magnify what is of lasting, enduring and inspiring character in the nation’s, life and literature; at another time, to point out the vital harmony that exists between, soul and soul all the world over and thus to indicate the collateral and co-operative spirit of faith, harmony and strength that exists throughout the race and, by thus infusing a spirit not only of toleration but of filiation and fraternity, enrich the assets of the nation by a candid admission of, a devout admiration for, other aspects of Truth.