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90
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(APRIL, 1894.
Tben Rukku Balla! went to the verandah and informed the Balla! that Kôti was unable to walk. The Ballå! sent him his palankin and Kôti was borne to the verandah in the palankin.
"O great dero! You are he that saved the whole of my kingdom," said the Balla!.
"That is well," said Koţi; "but, my lord, pour some water into my mouth that I may go to heaven. I will leave this body and go to Kailasa."
A tender cocoanat of the red kind the Balla! ordered to be brought.
"O Koti, you were a hero that was able to save my kingdom, and now the time of its downfall approaches," said the Balla!.
Koti said :-"O my lord! We shall continue to assist you as much as we did in our lifetime in the day of battle. Only plant our dagger in the battle-field and we shall fight, on your behalf, as spirits, in the same manner 88 we did as men. In life we never gave up your cause; therefore, after death, be assured, we shall not fail to assist you."
"O Kôti Baidya, up to this time I could have counted on must elephants in Edambúr; but this day one must elephant is going away, O Kôți," said the Ballal, weeping bitterly, as he poured water into Kôți's mouth that he might go to heaven. Then Koţi left his body and went to Kailasa.
A mango and a jack-tree, growing on each side of a river, the Balla! ordered to be cut He prepared a funeral pile in a corner of the burial ground, and caused the body to be burnt with all the proper ceremonies.
When Koți advanced towards the throne of Brahma, Brahmi said:-"Do not enter into the gudi. Do not come into the yard. In your life-time, you and your brother were always together; why, then, have you come alone? Unless you come together, you cannot enter the yard."
Hearing these words, Kofi came back to the world. The younger brother came to the side of a deep well and looked down into it, and saw his face reflected in the water.
“My brother fell in the battle ; what then is the use of my living ?” said Channayya to himself.
So saying, he struck his leg against a rock and thus committed suicide. The news reached the Balla! that Channayya had committed suicide in the house of the physician Barmu of the village Sañje Manje.
On hearing the news, the Ballal cried out :-"O God! O God! O my unlucky fortune! I had congratulated myself that, although I lost one must elephant, I had yet another. Now I. bave lost both. The time of the downfall of my kingdom has approached."
He caused a maugo and a jack-tree, growing one on each side of a river, to be cut. He caused a funeral pile to be raised in a corner of the burial ground, and had the body burnt. Then the two brothers went in the form of spirits to the throne of Brahma, who said:
"Do not approach the gudi. Do not come into the yard. You must purify yourselves before you come to me."
Hearing the order, they came, in the shape of aërial beings, to the Balla!'s mansion, and threw the handle of their dagger on the ground, and asked the Balla! to purify them. On the ninth day of their death, the Balla! caused the ashes of their dead bodies to be collected, and on the tenth, he had the ceremony of sálya performed. He planted three posts on the burial ground, and covered them with cloths of different colors. Thus he caused all the funeral rites to be performed, in as grand a manner as would have been done for a royal Balla!. Having thus purified themselves, they again approached Brahma's throne, but he forbade them to advance, saying: -
"Do not touch my gudi. Do not come into the yard. You must bathe in the holy Ganges before you come here."
