Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/466

VIRAMUSHTI receiving such an applicant, but it was finally decided that, if a man repented, he was a fit person to be received into the Lingāyat fold, as the linga recognises no caste. The linga was accordingly tied on his neck. From that time Chikayya became a new man and a true Jangam, and went from place to place visiting sacred shrines. One day he happened to be at a place where lived a merchant prince, who never dined except in the company of a Jangam. On the suggestion of his wife Nīlakuntaladēvi, an invitation to dine was sent to Chikayya, who accepted it. After dinner, the merchant went out on business, and Nīlakuntaladēvi, noticing what a beautiful man Chikayya was, fell in love with him. He, however, rejected her advances, and ran away, leaving his knapsack behind him. Nīlakuntaladēvi cut off her golden necklace, and, having placed it in the knapsack, ran after Chikayya, and threw it at him, asking him to accept it. She then inflicted several cuts on herself, and, as soon as her husband returned home, complained that the Jangam had stolen her necklace, and attempted to ravish her. Information was sent to Basayya, the head of the mutt, and a council meeting summoned, at which it was decided that Chikayya should have his head cut off. The order to carry out this act was given to the Vīramushtis, who went in search of him, and at last found him beneath the shade of a tree overhanging the bank of a river, engaged in worshipping his linga, which was in his hand. On searching the knapsack, they found the necklace, and proceeded to cut off Chikayya's head, which went several hundred feet up into the air, and travelled towards the mutt, whither the headless trunk followed on foot. On their return to the mutt, the Vīramushtis found that the three hundred crores of priests had been miraculously beheaded, and the place