Some Smarthas, e.g., the Brahacharnams, are more Saivite than other sections of Tamil-speaking Brahmans. During worship, they wear round the neck rudraksha (Elæocarpus Ganitrus) beads, and place on their head a lingam made thereof. In connection with the rudraksha, the legend runs that Siva or Kalagni Rudra, while engaged in Tripura Samhara, opened his third eye, which led to the destruction of the three cities, of which Rakshasas or Asuras had taken the form. From this eye liquid is said to have trickled on the ground, and from this arose the rudraksha tree. The mere mention of the word rudraksha is believed to secure religious merit, which may be said to be equivalent to the merit obtained by the gift of ten cows to Brahmans. Rudraksha beads are valued according to the number of lobes (or faces, as they are called), which are ordinarily five in number. A bead with six lobes is said to be very good, and one with two lobes, called Gauri Sankara rudraksha, is specially valued. Dikshitar Brahmans, and Pandaram priests of the higher order, wear a two-lobed bead mounted in gold. In a manuscript entitled Rudrakshopanishad, it is stated that a good rudraksha bead, when rubbed with water, should colour the water yellow. The Madhvas worship in the same way as Smarthas, but the objects of worship are the salagrama stone, and images of Hanuman and Adi Sesha. Food offered to Adi Sesha, Lakshmi, and Hanuman, is not eaten, but thrown away. The Madhvas attach great importance to their spiritual guru, who is first worshipped by a worshipper. Some keep a brindavanam, representing the grave of their guru, along with a salagrama stone, which is worshipped at the close of the Devata puja. Sri Vaishnavas keep for domestic worship only salagrama stones. Like the Madhvas, they are scrupulous as to the worship of their gurus (acharyas), without whose intervention they believe that they cannot obtain beatitude. Hence Sri Vaishnavites insist upon the Samasrayanam ceremony. After the Sandhya service and Brahma yagna, the guru is worshipped. All orthodox Vaishnavas keep with them a silk cloth bearing the impressions of the feet of their Acharya, an abhayastha or impression of the hand of Vishnu in sandal paste, a few necklaces of silk thread (pavitram), and a bit of the bark of the tamarind tree growing at the temple at Alvartirunagiri in the Tinnevelly district. The worshipper puts on his head the silk cloth, and round his neck the silk necklaces, and, if available, a necklace of Nelumbium (sacred lotus) seeds. After saluting the abhayastha by pressing it to his eyes, he repeats the prayer of his Acharya, and proceeds to the Devatarchana, which consists in the performance of the sixteen upacharas already described. The salagrama stone is bathed, and the Purusha Suktha repeated.