Page:A Collection of Esoteric Writings.djvu/213

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two were clearly wrong, and one of the mistakes committed was just the sort of mistake which a hasty enquirer would commit. As the majority of Madhavas are the followers of Vysarayamatham, Vyasa seems to have made a shrewd guess that the questioner would be a follower of the same matham. When he came to that part of the account which described my friend's horoscope, the astrologer had the advantage of having before him the diagram of the same and squeezed out of the senseless Sanskrit text some statements applicable to the horoscope under consideration. But it would be interesting to notice in this connection that nothing was stated which was not clearly visible on the very face of the diagram, and that whenever a word or phrase was detected by me in the obscure text which indicated a reference to the horoscope in question, I found disturbance of the metre ot the Sanskrit verse. I then asked him in what metre the text was composed; the reply given is significant. He told me that the verses had no settled metre, but that they were so composed that it would be impossible for even the greatest Pundit to substitute one syllable for another, and that this fact was proved by him in an Assembly of Pundits at Sringeri. I need hardly say that this explanation is more damaging to the Nadigranthams than anything else connected with this interview. After thus defining the questioner in a very unsatisfactory, ambiguous and suspicious manner, Vyasa took the trouble to point out at great length the articles brought by my friend and notice the additional articles which he ought to have brought, but which he had omitted to bring. Vyasa also stated that my friend would bring Rakshasapatram (the same as Ausurapatram), thus showing that he clearly anticipated, five thousand years ago, the introduction of paper currency into India by the British Government, though the name given by him to an English currency note was not quite appropriate. It was further stated in this book that a boy would take down the question proposed by my friend. It is astonishing to find that, while dealing with the history of the human race for several millions of years, the author of these books took