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CHAMPION OF JUSTICE AND TRUTH *
Satkari Mookerjee
Our scholars, thinkers and philosophers, who have been nurtured in the the ageold tradition of India, are still living example of what India has aspired to achieve in the past. It is undersirable that the majority of the scholars of the indigenous tradition have failed to reach the standard required. But of the very few who still embody the ideal in their character and achievements, Pandit Sukhlalji is an outstanding representative. I wish to stress some of the traits in his character as a man and as a scholar, which mark him out from the majority and place him in a class apart. Fortunately for us, even in these degenerate days, Panditji has a few companions, and fellow-members who together with him form an illustrious band.
His stupendous scholarship is too obvious. His learned editions of philosophical classics, his selections of correct readings from the moss of scribes' errors, his illuminating comments and annotations are unmistakable proofs of his mastery of the philosophical technique of the different schools of Indian thought, It is an object of admiration to scholars. Pandit Sukhlalji has set an example of learning and scholarship and insight, which is difficult to emulate. In precision of thought and speech, in the grasp of fundamentals, and in mastery of details, in the discrimination of subtle nuances of thought and expression which are apt to elude the grasp of even a careful scholar, Pandit Sukhlalji stands in the front rank. I do not know of many who can compete with him in these matters.
What, however, distinguishes him in his extensive grasp of the cultural background laying behind the different epochs of upheavals of thought. He has before his mind's eye a clear pictures of the milieu of Vedic, Upanişadic, the Buddhistic, the Jainistic and the later philosophical development, and his elucidation of the logical and psychological interrelations among these types of culture, almost compels acquiescence. What, further, has roused my admiration is his discovery of the unity in the midst of apparantly irreconcilable diversity in India's thought movement in the past. He also has discovered for us the etymology of the diverse courses * From the address delivered on the occasion of unveiling the portrait of Panditji
1: 'itivin åtha Vidyagrama, Banaras, April 1949,
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