FRIENDSHIPS AND PERSONALITY 223 



Tagore, though occupying the foremost literary position 

 in India, was not at that time known in Europe, and Bose 

 felt keenly that the West had not the opportunity of 

 realising his friend's greatness. So during his second 

 visit to England, in 1900, he had one of his stories, ' The 

 Kabuliwalla/ translated into English. Prince Kropotkin 

 a good critic in letters as well as science declared it to 

 be the most pathetic story he had ever heard, reminding 

 him of the greatest writers among his countrymen ; and 

 Bose submitted it to Harper's Magazine. It was declined, 

 because the West was not sufficiently interested in Oriental 

 life ! The time had not yet come : but Bose during his last 

 visit to America in 1915, when Tagore's fame was reaching 

 its meridian, did not fail to utilise the opportunity to 

 rub this in when Harper was publishing one of his own 

 articles. 



Though Bengali literature has as yet culminated in 

 Tagore, he had had predecessors ; he has contemporaries 

 and promising writers among the young generation. With 

 these active groups of men of letters, Bose has had most 

 cordial relations ; and one of his activities has been in 

 connection with the Parishad, the Academy of Bengali 

 Literature, of which he was the President for several years. 

 There is another important institution, the Ram Mohan 

 Library, of which he is the President ; this Institution 

 organises regular lectures for popular diffusion of knowledge. 

 With the now increasingly successful and appreciated group 

 of painters Gaganendra Nath and Abanindra Nath Tagore 

 and their pupils who are carrying their part in the con- 

 temporary Bengali renaissance, and making Calcutta more 

 and more correspond in such activities to one of the greater 

 culture-cities of the West, Bose has long been in closest 

 sympathy. His Calcutta drawing-room contains a striking 

 frieze from the ' Mahabharata ' by Nanda Lai Bose, and 

 now the adjacent lecture-hall of the Institute has a large 

 symbolic painting, ' The Quest/ by the same hand. 



Among scientific friends may be specially mentioned 



