ever name or form sought, comes forward to meet the seeker and help his progress onwards through forms suitable to his development. "They Who worship Other gbds with faith and devotion, they also worship me.” it is declared in the Bhagavad Gita (IX, 21). The merit claimed for the Hindu religious system is that it provides spiritual food arid help for the soul in every stage of its development; hence it is significantly called the Ladder Way (Sopāna mārga).

The God Muruka has many shrines and modes of worship. Some of them are described in this poem, which thus serves, as its name indicates; as a "Guide to the Holy Muruka". The shrines are all in Tamil land. The first shrine mentioned in Tirupparankunram, a hill about 5 miles south-west of Madura.

"He dwelleth gladly on the Hill west of the Clustered Towers-gates rid of the battle, for the foe hath been crushed and the ball and doll defiantly tied to the high flag-staff are still,-faultless marts, Lakshmi's seats, streets of palaces.

"He dwelleth on the Hill where swarms of beauteous winged bees sleep on the rough stalks of lotuses in the broad stretches of muddy fields; they blow at dawn round the honey-dripping neithal blooms and with the rising sun sing in the sweet flowers of the pool as they open their eyes." (v.v. 67-77)

The other shrines specifically named are "Alaivāi (wave mouth v. 125), now known as Tiruchendur, a shrine on the southern coast about 36 miles from Tinnevelly; Āvinankudi (v. 176), now known as Palanimalai (Palni Hills), about the same distance from Dindigul and a well-known hill station; Tiru-Erakam (v. 189), now called Swāmimalai, a hill about 4 miles from Kumbakonam. Each of the shrines with its appropriate incidents and associations is the subject of a little picture making a sort of cameo or gem strung together in this poem forming a perfect whole (v.v. 1-77, 78-125, 126-176, 177-189). Three of the shrines are situated amid mountains and forests, for they are dear to Muruka. One section (v.v. 190-217) describes his "Sport on the mountains" and another (v. 218 ad fin.) describes him as dwelling in "Fruit-groves" and worshipped by forest tribes. The shrine of Kataragama is understood to be included in the last. The poet enumerates many other places and ways in which the god manifests himself: festivals accompanied with goat sacrifices and frenzied dancers, groves and woods, rivers and lakes, islets, road-junctions, village-meetings, the kadamba tree (eugenia racemosa), etc., and lastly wherever votaries seek him in prayer (v.v. 218-225), recalling Jesus' saying (Matth. XVIII, 20) "where two or three are assembled in my name, there am I in the midst of them."