'The pomp and circumstance' of the tilaka[1] on his forehead was something splendid.
He had not received the title of Gajapati Vidyadiggaja for nothing. His intellect was unusually acute. In his childhood, he had commenced upon Sanskrit grammar in a chatuspati.[2] In not more than seven months and a half, he got by rote the rule "सहर्णेर्घ,[3]" both text and exposition. What, through the kindness of the Bhattacharjya, and what, through the noise and bustle of the class, he read on for ten and five years, and finished the noun affair. Then before entering upon the other affair, "Let me see what the affair is," said the teacher to himself. He then asked his pupil, "Say, child, what do you get, if the termination, अम् comes after the base, राम?" After much exercise of thought, the pupil said, "रामाम्भ."[4] "Child," said the teacher, "now you may go back to your home. Your education with me has been finished. There's no more learning in my stock to bestow on you."
"I have only one word to say," replied the pupil haughtily. "My title?"
- ↑ Each religions sect of the Hindus paint their forehead and sometimes their arms and chest with certain marks made with colored earths or unguents, distinctive of the class. The tilaka resembles an isosceles triangle with its surface filled in. The Krishnavites paint it on their forehead.
- ↑ Sanskrit educational institutions, where not only instruction is given gratis, but where the pupils are fed at the expense of the teacher. The latter maintains himself solely by voluntary donations given by rich folks, on occasions of religious ceremonies.
- ↑ This is the first text about the combination of words, in Mugdhabodha Vyakarana, a standard Sanskrit grammar.
- ↑ The correct form is रामं.
