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Thus it was at the feet of such acknowledged masters that he began to drink in the glory of this great learning and succeed - ed in equipping his mind with an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of many a subject of Indian antiquities and Oriental history. Very early indeed he astonished people by the minuteness and the depth of his knowledge, till at the end of the period named, his studies had extended beyond the nas and the Purans, beyond Vedant and the दर्शनs, to काव्यशास्त्र, नाट्य शास्त्र and संगीतशास्त्र, the Tantras and कामशास्त्र, and even to ज्योतिःशास्त्र and atra.
Indeed his interest in the last, which was stimulated by the needs of his own body, took a somewhat practical turn. Having a high opinion of the ancient Indian System of Medicine and sincerely believing in the efficiency and in the economy of Ayurvedic treatment, he collected several valuable Indian drugs (the use of which was freely permitted to those in need) and even founded at Nadiad a free Inaian dispensary, conducted by a trained Vaidya and supported privately.
These literary and philosophic studies bore very little fruit of a creative nature till his father's death in 1907 A. D., as is shown by the fact that his literary work before this date was very little. The importance of this period can not however be overrated, as it left Tanasukharam not only with the reputation of a Sanskrit scholar but also trained him and his intellect for all the work that he afterwards carrid out with such conspicuous abilitity and thoroughness.
Those who came across Tanasukharam in 1908 and had any opportunity of knowing him with intimacy must have remarked on the wonderful enthusiasm with which his heart was then filled up; he was fond of making large plans of literary work, many of which were brilliantly conceived and could have been most usefully carried out. Though he took some time, as every one would have done, in finding out right direction of his life's work as well as in fitting his means to that end his heart was full of hope just as his mind was full of projects of literary work. The succeeding period of eight years, 1907 to 1915 A. D., was marked by the greatest activity, and it is to
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
