Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/99

 ing wedded to pray jointly, "May all the gods that live above blend our hearts in love!" The true ideal of chivalry in India made the 'knight' the rakhibaud-bhai—the bracelet-wearing brother—of the 'lady.' An ancient Indian conception of the Deity is that of 'half-man and half-woman,' the Harmoniser of the sexes. A hoary precept of purity in our literature charges every person to honour the body and to keep it pure for it is the abode of the spirit. May the sanctity of that Indian sage abide in us who, when a celestial nymph visited his hermitage, employed her blandishments to disturb his penances, and immodestly laid bare her 'mysterious charms,' exclaimed in childlike innocence, "Would that one could have a mother of such beauty!" The grace of the All-Holy be with us all!