Elements of Hindu Iconography v2.c16.s6.4

v2.c16.s6.4

In the village of Śeyñalūr on the bank of the river Maṇṇi in the Chōḷa country there lived a pious and learned Brāhmaṇa named Yajñadatta of the Kāśyapagōtra. He had a son by name Vichāraśarman of great intelligence. One day when the lad was going to the school, he saw a cowherd assaulting brutally a cow, that sacred animal which deserves being worshipped. Incensed at the behaviour of the cowherd, young Vichāraśarman took upon himself the duty of tending the cows of the village, to which the villagers acceded. From that day the cows became happy and began to yield much more milk than their udders could hold and naturally the extra milk began to flow out. Vichāraśarman seeing that the milk was wasted, collected it in vessels, set up *lingas* made of sand and began to bathe them with this extra milk, with intense piety for Śiva. The cowherd who lost his position on account of this Brāhmaṇa boy, found this a fine cause for denouncing him and immediately repaired to the village and reported to the villagers that the boy Vichāraśarman was wantonly milking the cows, drinks milk with his chums and spills the rest on mounds of sand. The complaint thus often repeated, made one of the villagers go and see for himself the truth of the accusation preferred by the cowherd and to his surprise he saw young Vichāraśarman actually pouring milk on sand mounds, but he did not pause to investigate and see that it was only the extra milk that the boy, in his intense devotion to Śiva, was offering the sand-made symbol of the *linga*. Forthwith he complained to the father of the boy, Yajñadatta, about the wickedness of his son. On this complaint the father also went one day to the river side to see what his boy was doing and found him in the act of spilling milk in the sand. He approached the boy and stood near him, but, in his deep devotion the proximity of the father was not perceived by Vichāraśarman. On seeing the apparent mischief of his son, Yajñadatta, in anger, kicked the mound of sand; whereupon the son