Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/17

Rh exposition of the pure original belief. With Hinduism as yet he had no quarrel, but with the abuses that had crept into it he thus early began his long and gallant struggle. So incompatible had his views become with the orthodox home life of his family and so great was his desire for more knowledge that he decided to leave home at least for a time. Eager to study other religions, to see if they had preserved the truth he so much desired to find, his thoughts turned towards Buddhism and Tibet. Though not yet seventeen he made light of difficulties and dangers and setting out on an adventurous journey spent three years in travelling through Tibet, studying Buddhism and holding long discussions with the most learned Lamas of the day. Their religion, however, pure as it had been in its origin, he regarded as having become as corrupt as his own and he returned home disheartened and disappointed. Life in the old home, surrounded by all the old observances in which he had lost faith, he soon again found to be impossible. Deeply as he regretted the breach with his father to whom he was deeply attached, he nevertheless recognised the inevitable, and went to reside at Benares, which attracted him as the centre of Hinduism where he might hope to find its best exposition and where he might continue his studies in Sanskrit and Persian. Here he remained for several years, deeply