[ 24 ] medicine you may prescribe for him, must neither contain any forbidden ingredient, nor, what is more important, interføre with his daily work. Even in his present invalid state ho would willingly sit up a whole night, if it were for anything connected with his favourite subject. When he came here to receive the title of honour conferred upon him, he could not be persuaded to stay a single day after the Durbar, as an eclipse of the sun was to occur a few days later. And how could he stay away from his observatory, and allow such a momentous event to pass by unnoticed ? His naive simplicity and unassuming manners have rather , been a drawback than an advantage to him. The common people, who do not understand the difference between astrology and astronomy, pester him so much with questions on their destiny, that it is only his amiable disposition that makes him endure the constant infliction. Even those who might be ex- pected to know better will not scruple to ply him with absurd questions and waste the few moments left to him between the beginning of one series of daily devotions and the end of another, If he is a practical mathematician, no one is so unpractical in worldly matters as he is. Simple as a child, he depends upon his servants for his guidance. Neither is he well off, in the sense of possessing a competency in life ; and, related as he is to a Rájá, he is unable to make both ends meet. A retinue of a attendants hereditarily maintained in his family has to be sup- ported in the usual manner. The small income of Rs 500 a year from a few small villages, and a quantity of food-grains from his tenants, are hardly sufficient in these days of high prices Digitized by Google
