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170 SAIVA BIGOTRY. CH. XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVIl.
CHOLA'S PEBSECUTIOM'S.
It is written :
" When the gracious eyes of a good Guru
fall on a person, his salvasion is sure, be he dumb or deaf, fool
or wise, old or young." "
Rftniftnuja was .showering his graces on
all in this way ; and was holding hie Vedanta-discourses in
splendid style with a splendid array of disciples, headed by such
illustrious personage.s as KurSsa, Dftsarathi and Devarafc. The
Chola-king, for the time being, happened to be a most bigoted
Saiva. He was bent upon destroying Vishnu temples, and
otherwise prosecuting Vaishnavas, though his son (Vikrama
Ohola. 1113—1128 A.C), wisely hinted that he had set to himself
an impossible task, inasmuch as he could never destroy
the two strong props of the Vaishnavas, the Ttrucdyinozhi of
St. Nammazhvftr and Edmdyana of V4Imiki. The Saiva system
is anti-Vedic, and Vaishnavas condemn it as un-Aryan and
erroneous. The king, then resident at Chidambaram (or Gangaikonda
Cholapuram) was so bigotted an adherent of this system
that he adopted coercive measures to bring men of all
other faiths into its fold. For this purpose, he had a proclamation
issued in which was wi-itten :
" There is no (God)
greater than Siva ;" ' and every one, especially every learned
man, was commanded to affix his signature to the docunient in
proof of his assent to this proposition. Many obeyed either for
fear of being punished, in case of refusal ; or on grounds of conscience,
or enticed by hopes of rewards of land and money from
the king ;
and others deserted the country and hid themselves.
Nftlurftn, a disciple of KurSsa, happened to be the king's minister.
" What is the use, your Majesty !" said he " of yonr obtaining
signatures fi-om all men indiscriminately. No good purpose
is served thereby. If you can obtain the signature of the two
veterans of the Vaishnava faith, KurSsa and Ram&nuja, living
in Srirangam, that will be a capital stroke of policy, and your
declaration about Siva's pre-eminency will only then have