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54 TUE LIFE OF liAMASUJA. CH. VIIl.
ling down their cheeks, and tent forth loud lamentations.
'J'he worthies of the place pressed roiiiKl the mourners, and bykind
words assuaged tlieir grief. Tliey tlien lifted the bier,
the Sage seated in it, on to a stretolier (or litter), which they
bore reverently on their shoulders, and carried in splendid
pi-ocession in the streets, conches blowing, music discoursing,
and men and women setting up a sacred dance. The Prabandhas
were i-ecited in the front, Veda-parayana bringing up
the rear. White cloths were laid in the streets in front of the
procession, the member.s of which bore sugar-cane sticks in
their hands, and carried bright vessels filled witli water on
their heads. "As the procession wended its way, laja flowers
and scented powders were broadly sliowcred over all, the
vestal virgins of the sanctuary bearing torches aloft and
leading. Chdmaras (chowiies) waved on cither side, and white
cloths were brandifhed in the air.' :— And to crown all, bugles
and trumpets proclaimed as it were " The Great Sage Alavandar,
the Defender of our Faitli, has gone forth to Heaven."
After thus pei'egrinating the Holy Streets, the Sage was
carried to TiruhkararnhaH-lurai, a spot close bj'' the South,
bank of Coleroon (KoUadam) liver in the North, and there
purifying the spot with the unused water of the Sankarshana
vessel (kept in i-eserve), all the sacramental litual enjoined for
Sanyasins (monastic order)* was gone through punctiliously.
The Sage was now duly installed in a cavern made in the
ground. We shall leave the elders and dignitaries of the temple
thus busy, and luni for a moment to events which were in the
meantime transpiring in Kancht.
' GlotU is folded at one end and held in the hand, the other end
flourished in the air, producing a circle or the figure of an umbrella.
^
Consult YalidliarinaSainacchaija by Yadava.