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giras,1 descended from the holy sage; and the deified weapons of the gods' were the progeny of Kriśáśwa.

3

These classes of thirty-three divinities are born again at the end of a thousand ages, according to their own pleasure; and their appearance and disappearance is here spoken of as birth and death. But, Maitreya, these divine personages exists age after age, in the same manner as the sun sets and rises again.

1 The Richas or verses, thirty-five in number, addressed to presiding divinities, denominated Pratyangirasas. The Bhágavata* calls the wives of Angiras, Swadhá and Satí, and makes them the mothers of the Pitris and the Atharva-veda, severally.

2 The Sastradevatas, 'gods of the divine weapons'. A hundred are enumerated in the Rámáyana; and they are there termed the sons of Kriśáśwa by Jaya and Vijayá, daughters of the Prajapati, that is, of Daksha. The Bhagavata† terms the two wives of Kriśśśwa, Archis (flame) and Dhishaná. The former is the mother of Dhúmrakeśa‡ (comet); the latter, of four sages; Vedasira, Devala, Vayuna, and Manu. The allegorical origin of the weapons is, undoubtedly, the more ancient.

3 This number is founded upon a text of the Vedas, which, to the eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, and twelve Adityas, adds Prajapati (either Brahmá or Daksha) and Vashaťkára, § ‘deified oblation:' अष्टौ वसव एकादश रुद्रा द्वादशादित्याः प्रजापतिर्वषgrâfa agat: | They have the epithet Chhandaja, as born, in different Manwantaras, of their own will: यन्त इति च्छन्दजाः ।

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Professor Wilson had "Dhúmaketu."

§ "Utterance of the word vashat, at the moment of pouring the butter on the fire." Professor Wilson's Translation of the Rig-veda, Vol. I.,

p. 80, note.

Vide ibid., Vol. I., p. 97, note.

It has been related to us that Diti had two sons, by Kasyapa, named Hiranyakasipu and the invincible Hiranyáksha. She had also a daughter, Simhiká, the wife of Viprachitti. Hiranyakasipu was the father of four mighty sons: Anuhláda, Hláda, the wise Prahláda, and the heroic Samhláda,* the augmentors of the Daitya race.1 Amongst these, the illustrious Prahláda, looking on all things with indifference, devoted his whole faith to Janárdana. The flames that were lighted by the king of the Daityas consumed not him, in whose heart Vasudeva was cherished; and all the earth trembled, when, bound with bonds, he moved amidst the waters of the ocean. His firm body, fortified by a mind engrossed by Achyuta, was unwounded by the weapons hurled on him by order of the Daitya monarch; and the serpents sent to destroy him breathed their venomous flames upon him in vain. Overwhelmed with rocks, he yet remained unhurt; for he never forgot Vishnu; and the recollection of the deity was his armour of proof. Hurled from on high by the king of the Daityas, residing in Swarga, earth received him

The Puráñas generally concur in this genealogy, reading, sometimes, Anuhráda, Hráda, &c., for Anuhláda and the rest. Although placed second in the order of Kasyapa's descendants, the Daityas are, in fact, the elder branch. Thus, the Mahábhárata, Moksha Dharma, calls Diti the senior wife of Kasyapa: तासां ज्येष्ठाभवद्दितिः । and the Váyu terms Hiranyakaśipu and Hiranyáksha the eldest of all the sons of that patriarch:

कश्यपस्यात्मजौ तौ वै सर्वेभ्यः पूर्वजौ स्मृतौ ।

So "Titan and his enormous brood" were "heaven's first born."

* With a single exception, all the MSS. that I have seen read Anuhráda, Hráda, Prahráda, and Sambráda.

unharmed. The wind, sent into his body to wither him up, was, itself, annihilated by him, in whom Madhusudana was present. The fierce elephants of the spheres broke their tusks, and vailed their pride, against the firm breast which the lord of the Daityas had ordered them to assault. The ministrant priests of the monarch were baffled in all their rites for the destruction of one so steadily attached to Govinda; and the thousand delusions of the fraudulent Śambara, counteracted by the discus of Krishna, were practised without success. The deadly poison administered by his father's officers he partook of unhesitatingly, and without its working any visible change. For he looked upon the world with mind undisturbed, and, full of benignity, regarded all things with equal affection, and as identical with himself. He was righteous, an inexhaustible mine of purity and truth, and an unfailing model for all pious men.

CHAPTER XVI.

Inquiries of Maitreya respecting the history of Prahláda.

MAITREYA.-Venerable Muni, you have described to me the races of human beings, and the eternal Vishnu, the cause of this world. But who was this mighty Prahláda, of whom you have last spoken; whom fire could not burn; who died not, when pierced by weapons; at whose presence in the waters earth trembled, shaken by his movements, even though in bonds; and who, overwhelmed with rocks, remained unhurt? I am desirous to hear an account of the unequalled might of that sage worshipper of Vishnu, to whose marvellous history you have alluded. Why was he assailed by the weapons of the sons of Diti? Why was so righteous a person thrown into the sea? Wherefore was he overwhelmed with rocks? Why bitten by venomous snakes? Why hurled from the mountain-crest? Why cast into the flames? Why was he made a mark for the tusks of the elephants of the spheres? Wherefore was the blast of death directed against him by the enemies of the gods? Why did the priests of the Daityas practise ceremonies for his destruction? Why were the thousand illusions of Sambara exercised upon him? And for what purpose was deadly poison administered to him by the servants of the king, but which was innocuous as food to his sagacious son? All this I am anxious to hear: the history of the magnanimous Prahláda, a legend of great marvels. Not that it is a wonder that he should have been uninjured by

the Daityas: for who can injure the man that fixes his whole heart on Vishnu? But it is strange that such inveterate hatred should have been shown, by his own kin, to one so virtuous, so unweariedly occupied in worshipping Vishnu. You can explain to me for what reason the sons of Diti offered violence to one so pious, so illustrious, so attached to Vishnu, so free from guile. Generous enemies wage no war with such as he was, full of sanctity and every excellence. How should his own father thus behave towards him? Tell me, therefore, most illustrious Muni, the whole story in detail. I wish to hear the entire narrative of the sovereign of the Daitya race.

II.

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