Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 1.djvu/41

 himself. Sohe suppoiis the Ohennapnri Annadana Samajam as one of its deA^oted wdrk^ers' since its foundation. And so, in a Vordj he cannot say ‘no’ to any call for Succour from any quarter. Or again, born as a meat -eater, he turn* a strict vegetarian on principle, extremely sensitive to the sin of helping to take away a life none can give. Furthermore, in his staunch advocacy of the cause of social pm’ity and its natural corollary, the anti-nautch moA’^ement, Avith Avliich ])erhaps his name is l)est identified in' the public mind both- within and without the Madras Presidency, he takes high ground,' maintaining that “ purity is to character what symmetry is to beauty — not an accident of adornnAcnt but an essential of structure ” and that “ piety Avithout purity is baser than gross superstition — it is sant-tified sin ; ” and decrying “ the custom that invites undisguised shame to the hall of honour or restores convicted impurity to the place of position.” It was in this spirit, that, against over-powering odds, he led the agitation in the famous “ Norton incident ” on the Congressf