పుట:Sweeyacharitramu Kandukuri VeeresalINGAM 1915 450 P Sarada Niketanam Guntur.pdf/363

మూ ( డ వ క ర ణ :ము 33 × رقي To Rao Bahadur, K. Viresalingam Pantulu Garu, Fellow of the Madras University, etc. Respected and beloved sir, We, the townsmen of Berhampore (Ganjam) approch you to give expression to the feelings of pride and pleasure which vour advent has given us, affording us an opportunity of welcoming you, the Pioneer of social reform movement in Southern India, into our midst. Though we are not so far advanced in education and other respects as several other districts of this Presidency, we are behind none in our appreciation of the silent but practical work done by you in the cause of our Mother-land. You, Sir, are the apostle of Hindu widow-re-marriage movement in this presidency. You are ever pleading for the poor, helpless Hindu widow and without possessing any of the advantages, power, position or fortune, you have been to us, what the late Pandit Eswara Chandra Vidyasagara was to Bengal or Madhava Das to Bombay. Your heroic and single minded devotion, to the cause, your unflinching courage in braving the opposition and calumny of influential sections of the community, your tremendous sacrifices, your fearless preaching and exposure of the fallacies of your adversaries and your claring practical efforts, are now matters of history. Sir, it must be great consolation to you in the evening of your life to see that all this opposition has died out and that an increasing public is veering round to your views. Not content with your work in this direction, you have earned the undying gratitude of your countrymen by your several attempts at ameliorating the condition of Hindu widows. We need only mention one