Chapter 5Early Life in India and England, 1872–1893 · The Riding Examination

would not live with an atheist as the house might fall down on her. Afterwards Benoybhusan and Aurobindo occupied a room in the South Kensington Liberal Club where Mr. J. S. Cotton, brother of Sir Henry Cotton, for some time Lieutenant Governor of Bengal,2 was the secretary and Benoy assisted him in his work. Manmohan went into lodgings. This was the time of the great-est suffering and poverty. Subsequently Aurobindo also went separately into lodgings until he took up residence at Cambridge.

*

Aurobindo now turned the full fury of his attention to classical studies . . .

Aurobindo gave his attention to the classics at Manchester and at Saint Paul’s; but even at St Paul’s in the last three years he simply went through his school course and spent most of his spare time in general reading, especially English poetry, literature and fiction, French literature and the history of ancient, mediaeval and modern Europe. He spent some time also over learning Italian, some German and a little Spanish. He spent much time too in writing poetry. The school studies during this period engaged very little of his time; he was already at ease in them and did not think it necessary to labour over them any longer. All the same he was able to win all the prizes in King’s College in one year for Greek and Latin verse etc.

Young Aurobindo had thus achieved rare academic distinc-tions at a very early age. He had mastered Greek and Latin and English, and he had also acquired sufficient familiarity with continental languages like German, French and Italian. . . .

[Altered to:] He had mastered Greek and Latin, English and French, and he had also acquired some familiarity with continental languages like German and Italian.

2 See Table 2, page 567. — Ed.