An Appreciation by Babu Aurobindo Ghose
fluent and taking speech ; for he had none of these to help him. He owes it to himself alone and to the thing his life has meant and because he has meant it with his whole mind and his whole soul. He has kept back nothing for himself or for other aims, but has given all himself to his ceuntry. Yet is Mr. Tilak a man of various and no ordinary gifts, and in several lines of life ha might have achieved present distinction or a pre-eminent and enduring fame. Though be has never practised, he has a close knowledge of law and an acute legal mind which, had he cared in the least degree for wealth and worldly position, would have brought him to the front at the bar. He is a great Sanskrit scholar, a powerful writer and a strong, subtle and luoid thinker. He might have filled a large place in the field of contemporary Asiatic scholarship, Even as it is, his ‘’Orion’’ and his ‘’Arctic Home’’ have acquired at once a world-wide recognition and left as strong a mark as can at all be imprinted on the ever-shifting sands of oriental research. His work on the Gita, no mere commentary, but an original criticism and presentation of ethical truth, is a monumental work, the first prose writing of the front rank in weight and importance in the Marathi language, and likely to become a classic This one book sufficiently proves that had he devoted his energies in this direction, he might easily have flllad a large place in the history of Marathi literature and in the history of ethical thought.
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