"Hav'nt you seen him before, Prince?" asked Osman after seeing the man.
"No," replied the Prince.
"He is one of your Brahmins, Sir," said Osman. "His conversation is quite elegant. I saw him at Garmandaran."
The Prince grew anxious. He was at Garmandaran? Couldn't he then tell anything of Tilottama?
"What's his name, Sir,?" asked he in agitation.
Osman thought for a while, and said, "His name is rather hard to tell; it can't be so easily recalled to mind, Ganapat? No, Ganapati?—Gajapat? No, Gajapati? What more?"
"Gajapati?—It's not a Bengali name; yet I see the man is a native of this country."
"Right! He is a Bengali; a Bhattacharjya. He has got some title. Elem—elem—what next?"
"O no, Sir, Bengali titles never take in the word elem. The Bengali for elem is vidya[1]. He might be a Vidyabhusan or a Vidyabagish."
"Yes, yes, vidya and something more. Stay—what do they call an elephant in Bengali?"
"Hasti."
"What more?"
"Kari, danti, varana, naga, gaja—"
"Ah! here it is; his name is Gajapati Vidyadiggaja."
"Viddyadiggaja! a rare title as I live! Nothing could match the title except the name. I feel curious to talk with the man."
Osman Khan had heard a wee bit of Gajapati's conversation; and saw no harm to any talk the Prince might hold with him.
- ↑ Learning.
