An Outline of the Religious Literature of India c3.33

c3.33

I owe a special debt to my friend the late Rev. J. J. Johnson of the Church Missionary Society, Benares, who passed suddenly away shortly after my visit to him in December, 1917. It will be something of a consolation for my heavy loss if I bear testimony here to his worth. He was thoroughly well known all over India among Hindu scholars and ascetics for his beautiful Sanskrit speech and his interest in Hindu philosophy. Every one called him Paṇḍit Johnson. How often did the three of us meet—Mr. Johnson, his loved and trusted friend, Mahāmahopādhyāya Vindhyeśvarī Prasād, a scholar of rare judgement who has been already mentioned, and myself. We met so because of my inability to express myself in the classic tongue of India, and our procedure was always the same. I asked my questions in English, and Mr. Johnson expressed them in Sanskrit. I was then usually able to follow the Śāstrī's Sanskrit replies, but if I failed to catch a point Mr. Johnson again interpreted. Now that he is gone Benares can never again be the same to me.