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CH. XXTI MARANERI-NAMBI. 167
saint as a slave.
" Wc are already sinners, Sire," pleaded they,
" pray let not this addition be made." Raraannja simply answered
:" Good men, we sent our DaSaratlii as a part of our
bride's outfit, for the little Attuzh^y is my guru's daugliter,
and therefore our daughter. If you are not willing to accept
what, in duty bound, we have sent, you are welcome ti return
it." They returned home and bsgged Da,?arathi to kindly
return to Ramanuia.
At tliis time another momentous question turned up.
One
of Yftmuna's disciples was Mai-aii6ri-Nambi of Mjlranfiri, of the
PtLndya country. He was a Siidra i. e., a member of the
fourth caste of tlie Hindu social system. He lived with
MabsLpurna, who was a disciple himself of Tfl.mnna, and a
BrS/limana. Maranfiri being a beloved disciple of Yamuna,
Mahsbpuuna had great regards for his master's man. MS,ran6ri
He prayed to Maliapiirna thus :— " Sire, though my
fell sick.
body is of the Sudra, it is one which by service to my ma.ster
Tamuna, is sacred. It is goinfi to die now. Pray cast it not
to dogs. Who will throw to dogs the oblations (purodasa) set
apart for Devas ? My body :belongeth to Yamuna." Piirna
quieted him by saying that he need have no anxiety on that
account ; tliat all would go well. Witli this assurance, Maraneri
breathed bis last, and Piirna cremated him—instead of
burying, which is the custom for the Sudras— and had the
Brahmaniedha rites performed, which is only ordained for the
Br&hmanas.
Ramanuja,—Purna's disciple,— came to know this. Though
he was himself a reformer, yet, in his opinion, time was
not yet ripe for extending all Br&hmanic privileges to Sudras.
They must be gradually raised, first in spirit, i. e., in principles
and customs and morals, and then only such social
privileges granted, as may not outrage at once the communal
sense of the composite body of the Aryans. Ramanuja
was doing this work cautiously, even so having to
face much obloquy from the higher caste-men. While so, for
Mahapurna.to have extended the liighest privileges of a Br^hroana,
viz., the Brahma-Medha obsequies, io a Sudra, however