[5]
sums, without being looked upon as purchasers, will be regarded as donors to the Karyalya.
Although in the collection of funds necessary for the accomplishment of the present scheme, my chief reliance is upon my own countrymen, yet in an undertaking of this nature the Bharat Karyalya can not very well refuse outside support, if only to make an insurance against failure. The Editor of the Sind Gazette, in reviewing the Karyalya's prospectus issued in March last, remarked "there are many Natives and Europeans of culture who will view the scheme in the highly favorable light in which it presents itself to men so unlike as the Marquis of Hartington and Professor Max Muller, both of whom have given it their warm support. The translation will cost the Bharat Karyalya some Rs 100,000, and this is a large sum for even so influential and wealthy a body to expend on such an object. But so brilliant an instance of intellectual charity is certain to attract outside support, and, at the same time, it ought to have the effect of swelling the member-roll of the Society." While thanking the European Editor most sincerely for his kind words in reference to my scheme, I would observe that if that scheme is rightly appreciated in Europe and America, I should not be justified in not accepting any offer of aid that is voluntarily made, or even in not seeking (actively, if need be) contributions to ensure success. Literature, in respect of its demand or usefulness either, is, more than anything else in the world, a cosmopolitan concern. The productions of genius are the common inheritance of the world. Homer lived as much for Greeks, ancient or modern, as for Englishmen or Frenchmen, Germans or Italians. Valmiki and Vyasa lived as much for Hindus as for every race of men capable of understanding them.
