18 years, she gave birth to a son; with him she went to the bank of the Chilka Lake, near the hill called Sammul, where the serpent referred to above appeared unto her. Hari Gopal, having experienced all the vicissitudes of life, was quite tired of them and therefore preferred to become an ascetic. He sold all the valuable jewels he had and with the proceeds he excavated tanks, sank wells, built choultries, and spent the remaining portion of his life in prayers and solitude. He died at the ripe old age of 92. The custom of sati was in existence then and Rathna Mani ascended the funeral pile of her husband. Gopal Ballabha, their son, went to Chittore to perform the funeral rites of his parents as a Brahmin could not be had at Puri to ofiiciate at the ceremony. He met the Brahmin friend of his father and informed him of everything about his parents. He saw his father's maternal uncle, who was pleased to give the young man his grand-daughter in marriage. The married couple with Damodar the son of the Brahmin Sriend of Hari Gopal and his family and a number of followers, came and settled down at Goppa Kudu, now an island on the Chilka Lake, where they established a temple dedicated to Siva, known as Gupteswara temple. Gopala Ballabha had three sons and a daughter. After some years he went on a pilgrimage when he met Daduva Manasingh, a prominent man of his day, and formed his acquaintance, which soon ripened into friendship, and the result was that Gopal Ballabha gave away his daughter in marriage to the son of Daduva Manasingh. From Chittore he went on a pilgrimage to many places in Northern India, and thence went to Rayapuram in Central India, where he formed the acquaintance of the then Dewan of Hyderabad who had gone to that place. With the Dewan he went to Hyderabad
