BOMBAY,
The 22nd May 1893.
YOUR HIGHNESS,
Leaving Khetri there happened nothing particular to relate except that I had every comfort in the way. Broke journey at Kharari and thence to Nadiad. Haridās Bhāi was as usual very kind to me and we had many and many a talk about your highness. So much so that he was really very anxious to see you and intends paying his respects to your highness in his coming winter tour to the north. And I dare say your highness would also be very much pleased to see this old man of great experience who was for twenty-five years the mentor of Kathiawad. Withal he is the only remnant of the old school of very conservative politicians. He is a man who is thoroughly able to organise and put to perfect order an existing machinery but he would be the last man to move a step further.
At Bombay I went to see my friend Ramdas, Barrister-at-Law. He is rather a sentimental gentleman and was so much impressed with your highness’ character that he told me that had it not been mid-summer he would rather fly to see such a prince.
His father intends going to Chicago on the 31st; if so, we would go together for company. Today I go to buy some steel trunks etc. and am only waiting for Madras money to come in. Although I wired to them from Jeypore they were rather suspicious and waited for my further communications and I have again wired them and written too.
On our way we had the company of Mr. Ramnath, the Charan headmaster of the Jeypore noble’s school. He and I had a bout on my first coming out of Khetri years ago about vegetarianism. He had in the meantime got hold of some American writers and pounced upon me with his arguments from them. His author he said has proved to his satisfaction that the human digestive organs including teeth are exactly like those of the cow. Therefore man is designed by nature to be a vegetarian animal. He is a very good and nice gentleman and I did not want to disturb his confidence in the American hobbyist but one thing was on the tip of my tongue—if our digestive apparatus is exactly like that of a cow—we ought and must be able to eat and digest grass. In that case poor Indians are fools to die of starvation in famine times while their natural food grass is so abundant and your highness’ servants are fools to serve you while they have only to get up the nearest hillock and get a bellyful of grass instead of undergoing all the troubles of serving others!! Grand American Discovery indeed!!! Only I hope the holy dungs of such human cows may become of great use to the wonderful American author and his Indian disciples. Amen. So much for the cow-human theory.
Do not find anything more to advertise to your highness, so beg leave to stop here.
May the giver of all good bestow his choicest blessings on you and yours,
I remain yours obediently,
VIVEKANANDA.
