Page:India—what can it teach us?.djvu/17

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of truth the Hindus need not fear comparison with the most distinguished men in Europe. Here is the extract from the Indian newspaper :

'A distinguished orientalist of England, writing to Babu Protapa Chandra Roy of this city, the enterprising publisher of the Mahabharata, says, "It may perhaps amuse you to learn that in the recently published German translation of 'India, what can it teach us?' the passages in praise of Hindu truthfulness have, with the authors sanction, [the italics are not mine] been suppressed. What will his bosom-friend Dr. Rajendralala Mitra say to this? Why Dr. Mitra, when he sees the work thus mutilated, will simply say that the learned Professor knows the art of being all things to all men at the same time. While overflowing with pro-Aryan sympathies in his letters to Hindu correspondents, even to the extent of indulging a vain regret for his not having been born a Brahman, the eminent savant is adroit enough to suppress what evidently did not take in his adopted country. An additional incentive to such suppression might have been found in the little probability of the Professor's Hindu friends reading his work in German, especially after they had once read it in English."'

It will be seen that the writer supplies not only the facts, but likewise their motives. The motives are as true as the facts. The whole story is a scandalous invention from beginning to end. It is not even a myth, for a myth has generally a foundation in fact, and often conveys a deeper meaning than people suspect. I have often been told by my friends that I ought to consider myself very lucky for having such enemies. I quite understand what they mean, and