Mother's Chronicles - Book Four

30

Dream or Destiny ?

"It was father's fault that I failed in the riding test," Sri Aurobindo said, recalling that particular episode in his life. It was 16 January 1939, and the conversation was recorded by Purani. "He did not send money and the riding lessons at Cambridge then were rather costly. The teacher was also careless ; so long as he got his money he simply left me with the horse and I was not particular."

The final rejection of A. A. Ghose's candidature by the India Office was conveyed to him in a letter dated 7 December 1892. By the time the news reached Calcutta, Dr. K. D. Ghose was dead. The Bengalee,

"We are very much concerned," it wrote, "to hear that Mr. Arabinda Ghosh, who so successfully passed the Civil Service Examination the other day, failed to secure the Service for want of a riding certificate for which he could not pay in time the trifling amount of £ 10 or so. Young Arabinda's loss is sad indeed. Not to speak of the expense which he had to sustain and the toil which he had to undergo during these years for preparing himself for the coveted Service and the bereavement

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on account of the sad death of his beloved father, the present disappointment resulting from so slight a cause must have proved too much for him.

"Is there none to represent his case, which is a peculiarly exceptional one, to the Secretary of State?. . ."

There was. Already two Englishmen had tried to intercede on behalf of A. A. Ghose. The first was James Sutherland Cotton, brother of Sir Henry Cotton, who as we have seen had already helped to provide Benoybhusan with a job. J. S. Cotton was born in India at Coonoor, in the district of the Nilgiris of the Madras Presidency.

In his letter dated November 19, 1892, J. S. Cotton writes¹: ". . . My present object in addressing you is to endeavour to arouse your good will on behalf of Mr. A. A. Ghose, who has been rejected by the Civil Service Commissioners as a probationary candidate for the Indian Civil Service. I went this morning to the office of the Commission, where I was confidentially informed of the circumstances of the case (which did not materially differ from the story he had already told me)....

"As you know, Mr. Ghose was disqualified for failing to pass his examination in riding, or perhaps I should say, for failing to keep the appointment made for him by the examiner, after he had previously shown similar want of punctuality and disregard for the requirements of the examiner.

"His excuse (such as it is) is that want of money prevented

1. To Sir Arthur G. Macpherson, Secretary, Judicial and Public Dept., India Office.

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him from taking the needful lessons in riding, and that, at the last, anxiety and moral cowardice made him lose his head. He tells me that he did turn up at Woolwich for the examination, half an hour late.

"It happens that I have known Mr. A. A. Ghose and his two brothers for the past five years, and that I have been a witness of the pitiable straits to which they have all three been reduced through the failure of their father, a Civil Surgeon in Bengal and (I believe) a most respectable man, to supply them with adequate resources. In addition, they have lived an isolated life, without any Englishman to take care of them or advise them.

"I could tell you a great deal more if you would care to give me a personal interview. I must content myself now with stating that, should the Secretary of State feel himself able to give Mr. Ghose one more chance, I undertake to provide the necessary expenses of riding lessons, journeys to Woolwich etc., and further to do my best to see that his conduct to the Commissioners is regular and becoming."

The concern of the Englishman for the Indian youth is touching. He took, in fact, a strong interest in all the three brothers.

The other supportive Englishman was G. W. Prothero, then a Senior Tutor at Cambridge; he was a prominent historian, and was subsequently knighted. He dropped a letter to James Cotton the next day, that is 20 November 1892, which the latter forwarded to the Civil Service Commission.

"... I am very sorry to hear what you tell me about

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Ghose, that he has been rejected in his final I.C.S. Examination for failure in riding. His conduct throughout his two years here was most exemplary. He held a foundation scholarship, which he obtained (before passing his first I.C.S. Examination) by open competition, in classics. His pecuniary circumstances prevented him from resigning this, when he became a Selected Candidate, and the regulations of the scholarship obliged him to devote a great part of his time to classics, of course to some extent to the disadvantage of his I.C.S. studies. He performed his part of the bargain, as regards the College, most honourable, and took a high place in the First Class of the Classical Tripos at the end of the second year of his residence. He also obtained certain college prizes, showing command of English and literary ability. That a man should have been able to do this (which alone is quite enough for most undergraduates), and at the same time to keep up his I.C.S. works, proves very unusual industry and capacity. Besides his classical scholarships he possessed a knowledge of English Literature far beyond the average of undergraduates, and wrote a much better English style than most young Englishmen. That a man of this calibre should be lost to Indian Government merely because he failed in sitting on a horse or did not keep an appointment appears to me, I confess, a piece of official short-sightedness which it would be hard to beat.

"Moreover the man has not only ability but character. He has had a very hard and anxious time of it for the last two years. Supplies from home have almost failed, and he has had to keep his two brothers as well as himself, and yet his courage

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and perseverance have never failed. I have several times written to his father on his behalf, but for the most part unsuccessfully. It is only lately that I managed to extract from him enough to pay some tradesmen who would otherwise have put his son into the County Court. I am quite sure that these pecuniary difficulties were not due to any extravagance on Ghose's part: his whole way of life, which was simple and penurious in the extreme, is against this : they were due entirely to circumstances beyond his control. But they must have hampered him in many ways, and probably prevented him from spending enough on horses to enable him to learn to ride. I can fully believe that his inability to keep his appointment at Woolwich was due to the want of cash.

"In conclusion, I hope sincerely that your efforts to reinstate him as a Selected Candidate will prove sucessful, for I think, if he is finally turned out, it will be, however legally justifiable, a moral injustice to him, and a very real loss to the Indian Government. It may also perhaps be suggested that to reject so able a Hindoo because he cannot ride is likely to give rise to serious misunderstanding in India, and to open the door to a charge of partiality, which is of course absolutely untenable, but which might be put forward by natives with some plausibility."

Such a testimony coming from his College teacher, unsolicited as it was, highlights the character of Sri Aurobindo as a student, and bears out the Spartan life he led.

Under moral pressure from J. S. Cotton and persuasion from his eldest brother, A. A. Ghose wrote on November 21 a letter to the Earl of Kimberley who was then the Secretary of

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State for India, requesting him to grant him another chance for the riding test.

But the Earl had already made up his mind, and refused to take a compassionate view of the case as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for India, George Russel, urged: "The candidate seems to me a remarkably deserving man, and I can quite believe that poverty was the cause of his failures to appear." Rejecting all appeals to give the candidate one more chance, Kimberley added in his note of December 2: "I must add however as an 'obiter dictum' that I should much doubt whether Mr. Ghose would be a desirable addition to the Service — and if Mr. Prothero or any one else is under the impression that a Hindoo ought to have a special exemption from the requirement of being able to ride, the sooner he is disabused of such an absurd notion the better." Professor Prothero's good intentions had obviously raised the Earl's hackles.

In a letter dated 7 December 1892, the India Office informed A. A. Ghose about their final decision to reject him.

On 12 December, A. A. Ghose accepting the rejection — with relief and joy —applied "for the remainder of the allowance that would have been due to me as a Probationer. ..."

Following the request, a minute dated 14 December 1892 was prepared in the office of the Secretary of State: ". . . Mr. J. S. Cotton informs me that he has ground for hoping that Mr. G. will obtain at once an appointment in the service of the Gaekwar of Baroda.... As this is the first case of a candidate rejected after passing his Periodical and Final examinations on account of failing to pass his Riding Examination it is submitted

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that the allowance of £ 150 be paid to Mr. A. A. Ghose. . . .

"There is," observed the Judicial Secretary of the India Office, "in my opinion, no doubt whatever as to the propriety of paying this sum to Mr. Ghose. He went to Cambridge in the faith that he would receive his allowance, provided he behaved well, to defray the expenses of his residence in the University, and the fact that he has failed to pass in riding does not affect the obligation of the Sec. of State."

The authorization was duly intimated to A. A. Ghose on 20 December. On 22 December the Office of the Accountant General remitted a certain sum to him: "Passed for payment less Income Tax: University Certificate retained." A government must have its pound of flesh!

A. A. Ghose promptly paid the arrears to his landlady. "Our landlady was an angel," recalled Sri Aurobindo. "She was long-suffering and never asked us for money. For months and months we didn't pay. I wonder how she managed. It was from the I.C.S. stipend that I paid her afterwards. She came from Somerset and settled in London as a landlady —perhaps after she was widowed."

He then said, "My failure in the I.C.S. riding test was a great disappointment to my father, for he had arranged everything for me through Sir Henry Cotton. He had arranged to get me posted at Arrah [in Bihar] which was regarded as a very fine place and near Sir Henry. He had requested him to look after me. All that came down like a wall."

He continued after a pause: "I wonder what would have happened if I had joined the Civil Service. I think they would

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have chucked me out for laziness and arrears of work!"

But the Gaekwad of Baroda with whom he took service (we first hear of it in the Minute of 14 December 1892) never even thought of "chucking him out" for anything during the thirteen years Sri Aurobindo worked for the State of Baroda.

"The thought of Baroda ..." Sri Aurobindo fell silent, then continued, "brings to my mind my first connection with the Gaekwad. It is strange how things arrange themselves at times. When I failed in the I.C.S. riding test and was looking for a job, the Gaekwad happened to be in London. I don't remember whether he called us or we met him.... I think I applied for the job when the Gaekwad was in England. Sir Henry Cotton's brother asked me to do it and through his influence I came in contact with the Gaekwad-

"We consulted an authority about the pay we should propose. We had no idea about these things. He said we could propose Rs. 200, but should accept even 130, for that was quite a good sum. He was calculating according to the pound which was equivalent to Rs. 13; so he took £ 10 as quite a good sum. I left the negociations to my eldest brother and J. Cotton. The Gaekwad went about telling people that he had got a Civil Service man for Rs. 200! But Cotton ought to have known better." Cotton afterwards came on a visit to Baroda and saw Sri Aurobindo who was teaching in the College.

However, a question persisted. What was it, I asked myself, beyond all these explanations, that made Sri Aurobindo wander in the streets of London when he should have taken a train to Woolwich ? Why really did he absent himself from the

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riding test? An insignificant act on the face of it, but oh, so unthinkably astonishing in its consequences . . .

The question had nagged at me for long when one day I stumbled on a short note in a Bengali book written by Motilal Roy. Here is an English translation.

"I note what I heard in 1913 from Sri Aurobindo himself:

" 'On the eve of appearing for the Riding Examination I became engrossed. Then, in a state of drowsiness, I had two dreams. First I met the presiding Deity of Britain's destiny. I was on the point of stepping towards the throne of the Emperor of India ; she (the Deity) greeted me smilingly, with many favourable words. The next instant a Sannyasin appeared with a trident in hand. Giving me the mantra of Indian culture he awakened me. His message I made my ideal. I absented myself from the Riding Examination.'"

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