420 In the sixth month, Ramaiya passed away. Chinnammai. with her children, went to her birth-place, Chinnakkavanam, near Ponneri, about 25 kilometres, north of Madras. There, Ramalingam was a favourite of his grand mother for about seven years. Sapapathi, his elder brother, taught him Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. When his brother went to Madras to preach, Ramalingam helped him in reading the poems of the sacred literature. When entrusted to the great scholar, who taught Sapapathy, Ramalingam had become a budding poet of divinity. Astounded at the poems composed and sung by Ramalingam, the great Tamil scholar found himself unworthy to be his tutor and sent him back to Sapapathy with a letter revealing this fact. Even at home Ramalingam could not concentrate on the books studied by his brother as he was attracted by Lord Muruga, enshrined at Kantha Kottam in Madras. He sang sweet and melodious songs in praise of Lord Muruga. When his brother Sapapathy overheard his younger brother’s songs, he wondered as to what heights his dear Iittle brother would rise if he would gain mastery of the grammar and prosody of Tamil language. He tried his level best to turn the mind of Ramalingam towards scholastic studies by tactful methods. However, Ramalingam surrendered himself to Lord Muruga entirely. Therefore, he spent most of his time in the Kantha Kottam Temple. His brother could not understand the deep love of his brother towards Lord Muruga and its consequences Ramalingam wandered about the temple and came home only towards the evening because of his being absorbed in prayer and poetry therapy and prophilaxis throughout the day and was fed by his sister-in-law Papathi-ammal –25
