Page:Biographical Sketches of Dekkan Poets.djvu/145

Rh GHANTAYA KAVI.

Tis name was given to this poet, after a demi goddess, by his parents. He was born in the Telugu country. When he had finished his education, he selected a story from the Kasikanda entitled "Surabhandeswara," and translated it into Telugu: the following is the subject of the poem. The God Iswar becomes enamoured of a beautiful toddy-woman during the absence of her husband, and she admits him into the house.—The husband returns, while they were reclining on the bed, and finding the door shut, beats against it violently. The god finding no way that he could escape undiscovered in a human shape, entered a toddy jar, and became a lingum, the wife then opened the door, and the husband entering looked into the toddy pot, and saw the lingum, he then-knew, that his wife had been cohabiting with the God Iswar, and far from being displeased at this circumstance he was vexed, that she had not admitted him before that he might have seen the god. The toddy man placed the above named lingum in a consecrated spot and denominated it