History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c97.3
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c97.3
- Language
- English
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I was born on 7th May 1880 in a village called Pelhem or Paraśurāma [because it has a large and famous temple of Paraśurāma, an *avatāra* of Viṣṇu and the patron saint of several brāhmaṇa sub-castes (such as the Citpāvana)] near Chiplun in the Ratnagiri District at my maternal uncle's house My father belonged to a priestly family in a village called Murdem near Khed in the Ratnagiri District. My father had learnt by heart a great deal of the Ṛgveda and was being trained for priesthood till the age of 18. He did not like the profession of a priest and left for Poona to learn English along with a friend of his boyhood, the late Shankar Balkrishna Dixit, who later on became famous for his Marathi work on Indian Astronomy which was admired by Dr. Thibaut. Mr. Dixit and my father passed the Matriculation Examination of the Bombay University in 1873 My father studied for the Pleader's examination held in those days by the Bombay High Court, passed it and began to practise as a Taluka lawyer at Dapoli in the Ratnagiri District from 1878. Besides Vedic lore, my father studied the principal Upaniṣads and the Gītā and had many of the former by heart. He practised as a lawyer for about forty years, then retired and passed away in 1925. We were nine children, six brothers and three sisters. I was the eldest of the sons and one sister was older than myself.
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In my early boyhood my father taught me some elements of astrology and advised me to commit to memory the verses of Amarakośa (of which I had 400 by heart before I was 12 years of age). In 1891 I joined the S. P. G. Mission's English High School at Dapoli and passed the Bombay University's Matriculation Examination in 1897 and stood high among the successful candidates. While at school, I began to suffer from hyper-acidity, consequent acute stomach pains and vomiting at the age of 16 and had to leave school for nearly a year. At the time when I passed the Matriculation there was an epidemic of Bubonic Plague in Bombay and Poona, where there was high mortality. My father was not willing to send me (whose health was already delicate) to those places where alone College education could then be had. So he asked me to study law under him. I studied it for two weeks, but being repelled soon by the dry study of law, I wrote a letter to Dr. Machichan, who was then Principal of the Wilson College in Bombay (and reputed to be very kind), conducted by the Scottish Mission, asking him whether I could be enrolled as a student *in absentia*. He asked me to send Rs 36/-, a term's fee, get myself registered as a student and stated that as the epidemic was at its height the University might condone absence The Bombay University later on did so. I did not attend College in the first term.
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The epidemic abated, I joined College in June and appeared for the first year's examination of the Bombay University in November 1898 (which was then called the Previous Exam.) and was awarded a scholarship of Rs. 175 and a prize of Rs. 100 for being the first among the students whose second language was Sanskrit. This was the first lucky accident in my life. Life is a mysterious business It is full of lucky incidents or chances and one must be able to take advantage of them by one's own efforts. There have been many such incidents and disinterested friendships in my life and I have hardly ever had an enemy to my knowledge in the whole of my rather, long life. The ailment of my boyhood pursued me at college, pursues me even now, and has become worse, but I did not allow myself to be much disturbed by it, controlled my diet and led a regular and strict life. At the second year's examination in Arts (called Intermediate) I was awarded a scholarship of Rs. 180 (lump sum) for standing first among students taking Sanskrit as a second language. Two years afterwards I appeared for the B. A. examination in 1901 and was awarded the Bhau Daji Prize for proficiency in Sanskrit and stood first among the students of the Wilson College An idea about how delicate I was in 1901 when I was 21 years old may be had from the fact that, though I was 5 feet 4 inches in height, I weighed only 98 pounds. After the B A.
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examination I was a Dakṣiṇā Fellow at the Wilson College for two years and lectured to the first two years’ classes at the Wilson College on Sanskrit about three hours a week. In 1902, I passed the First LL. B. examination in the First class and in 1903 the M. A. examination and was awarded the Zala Vedānta Prize of Rs. 400. The peculiarity of this prize is that the paper set is in Sanskrit, the answers are to be written in Sanskrit in three hours, the chief examiner was to be a Śāstri who was proficient in Śāṅkara Vedānta and had studied it under the old traditional methods. As my father had yet to spend for the education of several sons he asked me either to enter the Education Department as a High School teacher or to become a lawyer in a subordinate court. I did not like the latter idea and applied to the Director of Public Instruction, Poona, for appointment as a teacher in a Govt High School Here again Dr. Mackichan helped me by recommending me highly to the D. P. I. I was appointed a teacher in the Govt. High School at Ratnagiri in August 1904 on a salary of Rs 60 per month raised to Rs. 65 per month after a few months (having been an M. A. with five scholarships and prizes in Sanskrit). I was at the Ratnagiri Govt. High School for three years I appeared for the S. T. C. (Secondary Teacher’s Certificate) Examination held by the Department in 1905 and stood first in the whole of the Bombay Presidency (including Sind in those days).
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In the same year I submitted an essay on ‘Aryan Manners and Morals as depicted in the Epics’ for the V. N. Mandlik Gold Medal of the Bombay University and was awarded a prize of books worth Rs. 150 For this essay I read both the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. Till now I have read the Mahābhārata thrice and I have yet got the notebooks of extensive extracts, particularly from the Mahābhārata In the next year I appeared for a Departmental Examination for Honours in Teaching and secured first class in ‘Logic in relation to teaching’ The same year (1906) I submitted a paper on ‘the History of Alaṅkāra Literature’ for the V. N. Mandlik Gold Medal again and was awarded the medal. At the end of this year I lost my younger brother by T. B. I was transferred at my own request to the Elphinstone High School in Bombay as 5th assistant on Rs. 75 in April 1907. There were over 40 teachers in that High School and about 750 students from the 4th to the 7th standard. I was made Head Sanskrit teacher (there were three teachers of Sanskrit and 12 classes in Sanskrit). Towards the end of 1907 the post of Assistant to the Professor of Sanskrit at the Poona Deccan College (on Rs. 125 p. m.) fell vacant and I applied for the post. But I was not appointed and another person who was an M. A. in Sanskrit, but had won no prize, scholarship or medal in Sanskrit at any examination from the Matriculation to the M. A.
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and who was 9th Assistant in the Elphinstone High School (where I was 5th assistant) was appointed to the post, because he was a favourite student of the D. P. I. when the latter was Principal of the Deccan College. I sent a protest through the Principal of the High School. I was informed that a competent authority in Sanskrit had recommended that the person chosen was superior to me in Sanskrit and when I requested the D. P. I. to let me know the name of the competent authority I was informed that my letter was an impertinent one and deserved no reply. This added insult to injury. This happened in December 1907. I decided to appear for the 2nd LL. B. examination in November 1908 and then to leave Govt. service. My supersession created a great deal of criticism in the Department and almost all persons sympathised with me and helped me in various ways. I appeared for the 2nd LL. B. examination in November 1908 and passed it. This created an impression in the Education Department that I meant serious business. Therefore, as a sop to my injured feelings, I was appointed to act as Professor of Sanskrit at the Elphinstone College from February to April 1909 in place of Prof. S. R. Bhandarkar who had been deputed on some Govt. work.
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I reverted to the High School at the end of April 1909 and began to cast about where to practise as a lawyer I was not inclined to practise as a lawyer in subordinate courts and decided that, if I left service, I would practise on the Appellate side of the High court, where it is a battle of wits and of hard work and one had not to do what a lawyer practising in the subordinate courts had to do. At that time, the late Mr. Daji Abaji Khare was almost at the top of the Appellate side Bar (called Vakils of the High Court). He had some large estates at Dapoli (my native place) and knew my father and myself. I approached him for advice. He told me that I must have with me at least two thousand rupees in cash, if I wanted to practise in the High Court and to stick to it. I had then not a pie with me and my father who was already sixty years old and had to educate other sons, declined to help. In less than two years from June 1909 I brought out two school books and one annotated book in Sanskrit (the Sāhityadarpaṇa) for College students and was also appointed an examiner in Sanskrit at the Previous and Intermediate Arts Examinations. I thus collected two thousand rupees, resigned from Govt. service at the end of June 1911 and applied for a Sanad (after paying Rs 500 as fee for enrolment as a Vakil of the High Court of Bombay) with a certificate of good moral character from Mr. Khare and was enrolled as a Vakil of the High Court on 5th July 1911 when I was in my 32nd year.