80 CUYLOTs BRANCH — ROYAL ASTATIC SOCI K'i \ . 



Well, will an}' one in his sound senses dance to please him- 

 self according to his own will, except some desire to see him 

 dance. 



ee Thou saidst that thy God, who danced in the sanctu- 

 ary that all the world might live, besmeared his body with 

 ashes. Did thy God besmear himself with ashes con- 

 sidering that ashes were purer than his own effulgent red 

 body ? 



" Thou saidst that thy God is half male and half female. 

 Is there any being in the world half male and half female ? 

 If thy God is himself half female, for what reason didst 

 thou renounce the society of females ? 



" After the Buddhists had thus spoken Vathavueen 

 deriding him, and observing, " it is not proper to declare 

 before such a wretch as thou art, the silblime doctrines pro- 

 fessed by the eminently meritorious votaries of the God of 

 the sanctuary," addressed him as follows : 



" Couldst thou not conceive that it is to incite the sen- 

 tient beings on the earth to holy meditation . that he holds 

 in his hand a rosary, even as the masters who teach the use 

 of weapons hold one in their own hand. 



(( Thou saidst that he, like one devoid of merit acquired 

 by penance, danced before the blind dwellers of the world ; 

 but thou shouldst consider that our God is the dancing- 

 master, who pervading the bodies, even as fire in the fire 

 wood, causes all sentient beings to dance (a). 



" Thou askedst, what did our God besmear his body with 

 ashes for ? thou shouldst consider that he did it in order to 

 abate the miseries of the sentient beings, even as mothers 

 take medicine for the cure of the diseases with which their 

 children are afflicted. 



" O Buddhist ! thou speakest through ignorance a great 

 many vain words, stop ! would any but him put on ashes ? 

 The Vedas have declared the virtue of the ashes and who 

 else can do it ? 



" Thou saidst that it is wrong for our God to keep a fe- 

 male at his side. He keeps the cloud-like-haired damsel at 



{a) Some of the Tamil philosophers and especially Patta- 

 nattupillei maintained that man was a puppet whose motions 

 depended only upon the pleasure of God and therefore incapable 

 of doing either good or evil of himself ; and it is in allusion to 

 this opinion that. Vatua vtren tells the Buddhist that Siva is the 

 dancing master. Who causes all the sentient beings to dance. 



