136 Yam Garai, ithe Good Banyan. [Frs. 
« Tam Garai!” echoed the young prince, bending up his brow, red 
with spite and fury—*“ must that name haunt me through the world? 
Must it for ever cross my triumphs—thwart my noblest hopes? Must I 
renounce conquest, and my ruling passion—glory, because there hap- 
pens to be a Tam Garai?” 
The veracious brahmin was near the monarch, and heresy and Agaman 
now formed no part of the question.—< If you love glory, shew more 
self-command,” said he, “ and expose not your weaknesses to strangers. 
Accept the offer of the Sanganians. A treaty is of more value than a 
victory. It is nobler to vanquish by words than by arms, and to per- 
suade is better than to conquer.” 
« Then,” muttered the prince, “is the banyan greater than I!” 
All this, however, did not prevent the conqueror of the Kowlis from 
entering his capital, borne, on a superb palanquin of tatta, by the first’ 
lords of his court ; and yet even the clang of the trumpets, the beat of 
the drums, the shouts of the soldiers, and the songs of the bards, did not 
prevent his hearing voices murmur through them all— 
“ May Brama bless the good Garai !” 
Being alone with his brahmin,—“ Tell me,” said he, “ father, whence 
is this? How chances it that the wretched member of a caste almost 
despised—who has neither army nor treasures—who drags on a joyless 
existence in alternate poverty and exile—can thus contrive to come into 
ceaseless competition with me, a rajah of rajahs—a king, the son of 
kings ?” 
«« My son, it is because your object has been glory only—that of the 
banyan, virtue: the one benefits all—the other gratifies but one. Would 
you be truly great, and leave to posterity a durable and respected name, 
never forget the precept of the Sama-Vedam : ‘ Glory is but the shadow 
of virtue: where the one is not, the other cannot be.’ ” 
Certain confused ancient traditions would encourage a conjecture that 
the Indian monarch, of whose reign I have sketched the earlier years, 
died at a very advanced age. It is even probable that, at the time of his 
death, vast conquests had rendered him sovereign of all the region from 
between Chitor and Golconda to the Orixa mountains. At the close of 
the last century, however, I travelled through the ancient kingdom of 
Guzzerat, now a province of the Mahrattas. I sought to obtain some 
certain information of the hero of my narrative. Nota trace exists there 
of all his great achievements! His very name is utterly unknown— 
while that of Tam Garai is repeated with veneration throughout the 
whole oriental peninsula. Even the fine verses composed in honour of 
the rajah have met the fate of the hero whom they celebrated ; but, from 
the mountains of Bollodo to the coast of Malabar, you may still hear the 
homely ballad of—The Good Banyan! 
