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OH. Xt. KAMANUJA'S CALL TO SlltilANGAM. 65
Ramaauja was thrilled with joy and stu-prise at this unexpected
meeting. He exclaimed
— "O my : heart! seest thuu how thy
•
desire has met thee ? " and prostrated before Mahapurna.
Mahapurna was equally overjoyed at finding that liis mission
was so soon and so readily to be fulfilled, and raised Ramanuja,
fondly holding him to his breast. " Here and now," prayed
Ramanuja, " admit me as your disciple and teach me all that
is good for my soul " Mahapurna said :
" So near are we to
the Holy Hastigiri " ', where Lord Varada resides, we shall go
there for the initiation you so much desire." " No, Sire, not a
moment is to be lost,'' said Rd,manuja, " is not the example of
our Yamunacharya still fresh, viz., his having breathed his last
just when I was about to see him ? This is a warning against
waste of time. Are not our lives here of lightning duration ? "
So saying, he dropped at his feet again. Purna raised him up
(Note from page 84
contd.)
The truth dawned after all on the
men. How could it be otherwise ?
They were Hindus, the time, place,
the fact of the Collector's wager
with the Brahmanas, all combined
to flash on them the truth ! The
Englishman has seen the blessed
vision of glorious RAma and Lakshmana
, espousing the Devi's cause ;
" Jai, Jai, Sita-Kama " cried they j
"our Lord hath seen the vision."
And so crying, they rushed into the
sleeping town. The inhabitants
awoke. " What devil's riot is this ?"
cry they. Then the fact becomes
known. And all, crying in a body,
"Jai, Jai, Sita-RAma," rush to the
Collector's camp. There he is
seated in the front, bright light
before him. He seems composed
now. Grave and dignified he looks.
Some of the important people that
throng to hira, he receives and
makes them sit. " Gentlemen," says
he, "why come in this night here,
and why so much excitement ?
The
outlet is not broken, nor will it
ever be. I solemnly tell you I
"'4iave received a lesson to night, that
'
I will never forget. I always more
or less believed that God was not
the monopoly of the Christian
Church. 1 am sure of it now. So
do you all go to your homes. Early
in the morning shall the Devi's
temple begin to rise."
So said he and dismissed them.
The temple was built, and now in
its front it has engraved on it on
a stone, how it was built by Mr.
Thomas Price, Collector, in the year
18S4(.'').—And thereare greybeards
now, who talk of it solemnly of an
evening, from one of whom the
writer learnt it. [K. E. Central
Hindu College Magazine, p. 173 £f.
Vol. IV. 1901].
The following inscription appears
on the stone beam of the Devi's
Temple in Tamil Inda darainam
:
Kiunpini jdgir Kalektar Lionel Price
diirai avergaladn (Collector Lionel
Price) and another inscription is
near the waste weir. [Read the
kindly letter to me dated 13th
October 1904, by Mr. P. Seshagiri
Bow, Tahsildar of Madhurautakam.]
Kanchi^ (Conjeveram).