BOMBAY—SOJAT ROAD-KASARAGOD 451
Raja Earn and mother Elizabeth pressed him to postpone it
for a day later, for the next day Raja Ram would start
Bhagavat saptaha at his palace in memory of his late Rani
saheb. Ramdas agreed to be present at this religious func-
tion only for the first day. The saptaha continues for seven
days. So on the opening day of the saptaha he sat for a few
hours in the midst of the devotees who assembled to listen
to the reading of Srimad Bhagavat by an aged Pandit of
the State. The succeeding day he departed from the place.
In company with Dr. Shukla and Popatbhai Ramdas
visited a distant village called Dhanduka. Mother Rewa-
ben, the head-mistress of the school, had invited him to her
place. She had paid a visit to him with this purpose at
Wadhwan. He spent a day under her hospitable roof.
From Dhanduka he and the party made directly
for Rajkot via Wadhwan. He had only two com-
panions with him during this visit, Popatbhai and Ram-
dasanudas. At Rajkot he met Madhavram Raval, a pure
and devout soul. This young man had spent the early
period of his life in the ashram of a famous saint, Sri
Nathuram Sharma, undergoing strict spiritual discipline.
He was now in Rajkot in the employ of the State. Ramdas
and the friends with him occupied the Travellers' Bunga-
low. The devotional temperament of Madhavram would
reveal itself whenever he sang bhajan and got into
moods of ecstasy. On the folio wing day the party left Rajkot
and as planned, reached Veraval in due time. From Veraval
they travelled by taxi to Una where Maganlal was living.
During this visit he and the friends resided in a newly
built hospital ward near the quarters of Dr. Mahadevia.
The friends of the place treated him, as on the last occasion,
with great love and hospitality. A few days after their
stay, there took place a riot between Hindus and Muham-
madans in which many, on both sides, received severe
injuries. The friction between these communities, breaking
off and on in several parts of India, has been creating a