Pilgrimage to Surgram Surgram has many temples. All of them were situated outside the village at the point where the river meets the sea. The village had two streets parallel to each other. All the houses were arranged in three rows. The middle row had homes back to back. One of the streets was known as Guru Marg or the Gaur street, where the brahmins lived. The other street was called Chauta, where all other communities including scavenging communities, traders and peasants lived. A large Shiva temple was situated in the centre of the village. The area around the temple was paved. There were few worshippers at the temple. Most villagers had already offered their morning prayers. Sarasvatichandra and his companions arrived at the temple around nine in the morning. They sat on the platform to rest. Being in a village was a novel experience for one who had grown up in a large, glittering, glamorous bungalow in Bombay. Surgram was even more of a village. The house of the Karbhari of Suvarnapur and even the monastery on Yadu Shrunga had a grandeur of their own. This temple was structurally not very different from the Rajeshwara Mahadev, but its location within the village gave a very different feeling. Sarasvatichandra was still unwilling to believe that he had in fact come face to face with Kumud Sundari, but her image was etched on his mind. He could not erase that image and her presence gave rise to many thoughts and questions. The Shiva temple reminded him of the Rajeshwara Mahadev, and memories of events associated with it flooded his mind. These memories and images did not allow him to participate in easygoing conversation with his companions. Their conversation was punctuated by stretches of silence. In one such moment of silence, a brahmin came to offer his prayers. He rang the bell, bowed his head, threw some rice around, came out, removed his headgear and sat down on the temple steps. There were some young boys who came and sat around him. ‘Boys, listen! And remember that all other gods are full of cunning, except our Shivji who is as naïve as I am. That is why he is called Bhola Nath. Don’t you know the hell that awaits people who do not have a grain of intelligence, cannot control their temper and do not know how to control their heart’s desires? But those who are naïve and gullible are protected by our Bhola Nath. He is the god of the naïve and innocent. He is also round so that we can clasp him with both our hands. He is easy to please; even an offering of water pleases him. Therefore, worshipping Shivji is a sign of wisdom. He is so simple that a tree leaf satisfies him; he needs no home as he sleeps in the crematorium.’ Having had his say, the brahmin got up and approached the monks. ‘Bavaji, what brings you here today?’ ‘Mehtaji, this one in the middle