The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1897-12-24
VISIT TO MAHATMA.
Lives in "a Cave aud Only shows Himself
but Once IA Year.

From the Madras Mai
II was told off on urgent famine in
spection to get a disorder straight in a
village. the name Of which signifies sea
Of cobras.' Famine and cobras, double
enemy-hard luck, / thought Famine
battled bravely and successfully, but
there was no sight or trace of the other,
and the sea was M better than name.
The village WAS perhaps never known
for cobras. or they are now extinct, or.
the belief fingers still. the cobra played
truant from the time the Mahatma
Kathirappa began To werk miracles. \
shepherd youth, grazing cattle with his
companions, hy verbal command Gre
ated a spring. In the early '2os. from
rock IL is perennial to this day, proof
against the worst drouth. He would Sc
cure the village from famine and pestt-
lence, or give timely warning OF their
appearance-of course the last TWO on
three famnes excepted. He lives in 4
cave over a hfllock $50 feet high, known
after him for miles around, and even ~
the village survey map. The hiilock at
tracts the distant Wayfarer by what
appears TO him turrets. after the manner
of the Jain architecture, but which
really are rudely carved monollthlc
domelike rocks. His name is on every
lip. but nobody knows his history
The oldest man in the village, about
three score and ten, tells me that the
Mahatma should now almost be CEN
tenarian. Preferring solitude, renoune-
ing his home and hearth. he sought the
cave. round which a closter stands. fur
nishing abode for about dozen mem
bers of either sex, and their cloister Is
closed against the public accent for one
day in the year. the full moon day OF
the first month of the Telugu cycle year.
when the Mahatma presents himself To
all seated on a slab at the entrance OF
the cave. his body covered with his
n ass of tangled hair. deaf, mutelike.
and retires unperceived to reappear
again the next year The pilgrim offers
presents, vows are celebrated, car run.
around the hiliock and the whole day
II spent in sightseeing and jubilation
BY the miracles of his youth, and pro-
ably tho career Of his later life, kathi-
Kappa has become a popular god within
| a radius of some 80 miles. But the Ma
| hatma is in need Of no earthly gift and
! the contributions of the devout go to
| support the inmates of the cloister. who
| neither seek nor refuse. who accept and
/ give charity.
The strange beings are provisioned
1 by disciples living in huts at the en-
! trance to the eloister or at the foot Of
/ the hill. The disciples are ready with
| strange and fantastic stories of their
! demigod, who in flesh and in spirit claim
| to be connected with the Mahatma, and
| who pass from thecradIe to the grave in
| their ltlle ttoiSttit btAaid tiit Pare VI
/ law or public gaze. The Mahatma Is
/ evidently inscrutabie to the layman.
] How much longer his mortal frame Will
/ show itself and the fate after its disap-
| pearance of the little hill colony depend
/ ent on him are puzzles which | cannot
/ pretend to solve. Everything connected
with the Mahatma is held in veneration.
/ but Ramappa. his grandson, drove me
/ 10 the next famine station in cart
drawn by the Mahatmas animals This
! is sacrilege. they say; but cannot the
/ liberal hire. and the present Of two silver
bits that | made at the cloister save
/ me?"