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Maharshi. His was an open breach with the Hindu social system, which Debendra Nath Tagore, following the lead of the great Raja Ram Mohun Roy, sought to reform and adapt to the spirit of the Vedic teachings. Keshub Chunder Sen's addresses created a deep and abiding impression on young minds. They drew large audiences. There was a visible religious awakening. His marvellous oratory, set forth with all the accessories of a sonorous voice, a noble diction and a commanding presence, and inspired by the fervour of a deep and burning conviction, fascinated his hearers. I was often at his meetings and listened with breathless attention and ever-increasing admiration.

Keshub Chunder Sen had an eloquent coadjutor in Protap Chunder Mazumdar. The latter's oratory was of a different type. It was imaginative, picturesque, brimful of wit, but was wanting, compared with that of his great chief, in those resources which appeal to the heart and stir the feelings.

Keshub Chunder Sen was a great organizer, a born leader of men with a penetrating insight into human nature. He was a religious teacher with all the asceticism of the Hindu Vaishnav ingrained in him by his family associations; but he was also a man of affairs, understood the world and knew how to deal with the world. If he had not chosen to be a religious leader, he might, if he had had the opportunities, have been a statesman, occupying a front rank among statesmen. His personality was charming, and in his society his followers found a pleasing companion and a great leader. The indirect effect of Keshub Chunder Sen's teaching was great. It not only broadened and liberalized educated thought in matters social and religious, but it also produced an opposite effect; namely, it strengthened the orthodoxy of the extreme reactionaries. They were alarmed; they retired within their shell and surrounded themselves with a hard incrustation of the most narrow and obsolete prejudices. Hinduism under modern influences has slowly developed a tendency towards liberalism, but any attempt to run it precipitately in the same path creates suspicion and fear, and is apt to check the forward movement.

Associated with the Brahmo movement of the early sixties and seventies of the last century was the temperance movement under the leadership of Peary Churn Sircar. I never had the honour of sitting at the feet of Peary Churn Sircar, but he was one of the greatest teachers of youth that Bengal has produced. A temperance movement for the protection of the young was a real necessity