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cult), was given the title of Darmasena, and became the Head of the Mutt, the Purohit of the Raja and the Poet Laureate of the kingdom. He therefore stayed on there.
Tilakavathi, who was staying at her native place, heard this news and felt sad. She went to their family deity, Veerasthaneswara, on the banks of the river Gedila and prayed to God several times to save her brother from following the ways of the heretics. One day Parameswara appeared to her in a dream and said, “O Tapaswini, you can now give up your mental agony. In his last birth, your brother was a sannyasi, but did not perform tapas properly. There was a flaw in his tapas. As a result of that, he has now joined that heretic (Pashanda) cult. I shall now save him by making him suffer from stomach ache. Give up your grief and relax.”
Immediately thereafter, Dharmasena had a violent stomach ache. Several people in that Mutt who were well versed in mantras and tantras tried their best to cure him but could not succeed and so gave up all hopes. Dharmasena could not bear the agony any longer. He then remembered his sister. Hoping she might be of some help, he sent a man to fetch her. She refused to give up her own dharma and go to the Samana Mutt. On hearing that, Dharmasena regretted his having given up his own dharma, namely Saivism, and without the knowledge of other people in the Mutt, left the Mutt at night, with two servants for his native place. When he tapped at the door and called his sister, she recognised his voice and opened the door. He fell at her feet and requested her to forgive him. She received him with open arms and overjoyed at the kindness of Parameswara, and after giving him holy ash, taught her brother the Panchakshari Mantra. He smeared the holy ash all over his body and repeated the mantra.
Tilakavati took her brother to the temple of Veerasthaneswara. When he prostrated and got up, Marul Neekkiyar began composing
