36 LIFE AND WORK OF SIR JAGADIS C. BOSE 



which had been too readily interpreted as a spirit of in- 

 subordination, and thus were sometimes driven towards it. 

 An unfortunate altercation had occurred between two 

 English professors and their students, and had gone to 

 such a length as to force the Government to appoint a Com- 

 mission of Inquiry. Strong feeling had been engendered; 

 and no more difficult test could have been imposed than 

 to hold the wilder spirits in check and discipline. The 

 conditions which confronted Bose in the beginning of his 

 career might well have daunted the most resolute. We 

 shall see later that on these were superposed others, against 

 which he had to struggle for many years to come. 



When Bose joined the service, an Indian professor's 

 income, even if in the Imperial Service, was two-thirds 

 that of a European's. (Bose succeeded later in getting this 

 distinction abolished.) After entering on his duties, Bose 

 found that this two-thirds pay was to be further reduced 

 by one half, since his appointment was only officiating. 

 In other words, he was to get one-third of the pay normally 

 attached to the office hitherto. From the first he was very 

 clear as to his course that of performing all that could be 

 asked from him and more ; but at the same time he resolved 

 to do all in his power throughout his career towards 

 raising the status of Indian professors. With this com- 

 bination of personal pride with loyalty to his countrymen 

 and colleagues, he decided on a new form of protest, and 

 maintained it with unprecedented definiteness and per- 

 tinacity. As his protest was disregarded, he resolved never 

 to touch the cheque received by him monthly as his pay ; 

 and continued this for three years, with what privations 

 accordingly need not now be entered into, save with a word 

 of appreciation for his wife's brave acceptance of them. 



Bose was confronted with other difficulties. The 

 family fortune was now at its lowest ebb. Of the many 

 projects started by his father some turned out to be highly 

 successful from the beginning : among these may be 

 mentioned the People's Bank, which was the forerunner 



