MERAT. 
239 
blessing, it will, perchance, be well to seize the 
present opportunity of securing some relic of his 
inestimably precious person ; if it were no more 
than one of the hairs which you see growing so 
profusely about him.” 
Krishnaraia being greatly delighted at this 
thoughtful suggestion, commended his luhkshi , and 
immediately advancing with suitable awe, plucked 
a hair from the shaggy breast of the Jogi. He pressed 
it to his lips, and kissed it fervently, saying — “ I 
will enshrine it in an amulet of pure gold, set with 
the most costly gems ; and I will always wear it 
suspended from my neck, as the most precious of my 
ornaments. It shall be an heir-loom in our house, 
a talisman against all evil, the source of perpetual 
prosperity.” 
Now the ministers and courtiers who attended the 
Raja could not refrain from possessing themselves of 
a similar treasure ; and each plucked a hair from the 
breast of the meditative Jogi, to be preserved as a 
sacred relic for future generations. Likewise the 
vast multitude who now filled the plain, hearing, by 
degrees, what had been passing in the cave, thronged 
around the entrance, burning with anxiety to secure 
a similar advantage; and when the Raja had de- 
parted, each plucked his treasure, until scarce a hair 
was left upon the tortured goatherd — the sanctified 
penitent. But he endured all with utter indifference ; 
nor winced, nor sighed, nor faltered in his steadfast 
gaze. 
