Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/115

This page needs to be proofread.

106 LIFE OF ~BKBXJ SHYAM A CHURN S1BKAR. An amusing anecdote is related of him, in connex* ion with the efficiency he displayed in this post. On the first day (in July) when he took his appointment, a Jew appeared in a case, but his language the other interpreters and the lawyers could not understand! Shyama Churn was then sent for by the Chief Justice} and a free conversation took place between the Jew and Shyama Churn in Persian, and the difficulty of th$ Court was thus got oven } One more anecdote in this connexion which is as Interesting as the above. One day, when he was in- terpreting in Arabic what a party in a suit had to say, the Counsel for the defence represented to the Court that Babu Shyama Churn had misinterpreted the mean- ing of a certain Arabic word. The learned Counsel moreover mentioned the name of a Moulvi who inter- preted it otherwise. Thereupon Shyama Churn with characteristic boldness said that Moulvi was the pupil pf his own pupil and indignantly refused to hear the version of the learned Counsel. For the decision of the mooted point, the case was adjourned, that day, and on the next day, the learned Counsel apologized to Shyama Churn for what he had said.. ( Such was the boldness and independence of Babu Shyama Churn, as the Chief Interpreter of the High- est Court in the land. The Chief Justice used to say often times that " Shyama Prosad and Roma Prosad were the real Maliks (owners) of the supreme Court? That Babu Shyama Churn was highly respected both by the Bench and the Bar— -nay, indeed, by all classes of people, for his learning, ability, honesty and integrity} is a fact which does not admit of any doubt After a distinguished career in the High Court, — a career which sheds lustre not only on his own sacred memory*, hut also on the nation to which he belonged, he retired on a pension of Rs. 300 per mensem in the beginning of January, 1873.