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62 TUB Life of eXmAnuja. ch. xr.
CHAPTER xr.
BAMAWUJA'S CALL PO SKIBAITGAM.
Leaving Ramanuja at Kanclii for a wliile, we shall turn
back to Srirangam. The Faithful of the place felt now a great
blank aniongfet themselves and in their hearts, after the passingaway
of A'avandar, their Spiritual Guide. How to fill
up this vacancy, was their haunting thought. Tliey resorted to
Mahapurna and prayed to him to devise proper means for a fit
successor. Mahapurna looked at them and said :— " Forget
ye the past signs given us ? Did not Alavandar himself,
while lie was in Kancht, point out Ramd/uuja to us as his successor
? Do ye not remember the miracle of the closed
fingers of that Sage, opening at his utterance V Ramanuja
then is our successor. Our Aoharya could not have been mistaken
in his wise selection." " Well said, well said," cried the
whole community, " we pray to \-on. Sire, to bestow your serious
thought on this matter, kindly seek out Ramanuja and prepare
him for liis high office, and conduct him hither, to Srirano-am."
Mahapurna gladly assented, and immediately made preparations
to start. His wife was to accompany him. He went to
Lord Ranga, and obtaining his leave to proceed on the holy
errand left Srirangam, and reached by rapid marches Madhurantakam
(near KauchI), and there stopped for the day in the
Shrine of Eri-lci'itta-jperumul, or He who protects the tanh}
'
' This tank is notci as under Llio looked to by many a villao-e around
special protection of the Local for the watering of their "recn
Deityj Srl-ltama, and hence He is fields. "
called the "Tank-Guard." Even Its storage capacity was iinrccently,
a story is thus told mense, and every :
year, after the
"The incident to be related hap- copious rainfall, the vast volume of
pended about 25 years ago, at water would wash away the Kalin-
MadhiirAntakam, » small town, a gal (waste-weir) on the rough
few miles to the south of Matlras. stone-built outlet of tlic tank thus
Those were the days of John Com- defying every effort to find the
pany, and a Collector of the name needful element to the required
of Mr. Price ruled the district of quantity. More than once durin«-
Chingalpot, of which MadhurAnta- his regime, Mr. Price re-huilt the
kam is a Talnk. Soon after he thing stronger than of old as he
came to his Office, he had to super- thought, but all fo no purpose - the
intend certain repairs in the big uc»t rains would mercilesslv ' laugh
reservoir of the place, which was away the nascent structure