Page:Tales of the Sun.djvu/248

232 . When they went with their wives they were said to undergo the vânaprastha stage of family life.

The hoary sage of our story was undergoing vânaprastha, for he was in the woods with his wife. His name while living was Jñânanidhi. He had built a neat parṇaśâlâ, or cottage of leaves, on the banks of the commingled waters of the Tuṅgâ and Bhadrâ, and here his days and nights were spent in meditation. Though old in years he retained the full vigour of manhood, the result of a well-spent youth. The life of his later years was most simple and sinless.

The wood yielded him herbs, fruits, and roots, and the river, proverbial for its sweet waters, supplied him with drink. He lived, in fact, as simply as the bard who sang:—

His faithful wife brought him these, while Jñânanidhi himself devoted his whole time to the contemplation of God.

Such was Jñânanidhi—the abode of all wise