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Making
a Cow-Herd into the Diwan:
As
usual, he went to forest for grazing the cows. It so coincided that
the Nawab of Adoni named Siddhi Masud Khan came to the same area for
hunting. Then a messenger came to him with a letter. Being
unlettered and as there was no one educated in his hunting party, he
asked the boy Venkanna to read, but he was also illiterate. Though
he confessed that conceited Nawab threatened to hang him by the next
tree, if persisted. Sweating all over, he remembered then Sri
Swamiji's assurance and prayed to him mentally. And lo! unknown to
himself, he read it from first to last letter with ease and grace.
And it was the news of his army's success in the war against his
enemies. Jumping with joy, he took Venkanna to his capital and gave
him a job. And also facilities for further education. His interest
in education soon made him a great scholar. Learning, the Nawab made
him Diwan. It was all due to Swamiji's blessings, he knew. And he
clung to him by prayers and waited for opportunities to repay his
indebtedness to that illustrious Acharya. whose alchemic touch could
change lumps of clay into dazzling diamonds.
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