Thus spoken to by the youth, the priests of the Daitya sovereign were incensed, and instantly had recourse to magic incantations, by which a female form, enwreathed with fiery flame, was engendered. She was of fearful aspect; and the earth was parched beneath her tread, as she approached Prahláda, and smote him, with a fiery trident,* on the breast. In vain; for the weapon fell, broken into a hundred pieces, upon the ground. Against the breast in which the imperishable Hari resides the thunderbolt would be shivered: much more should such a weapon be split in pieces. The magic being, then directed against the virtuous prince by the wicked priests, turned upon them, and, having quickly destroyed them, disappeared. But Prahláda, beholding them perish, hastily appealed to

to slay, or the slain to be killed: this (spiritual existence) neither kills nor is killed.' The same is inculcated, at great length, and with great beauty, in the Bhagavad Gitá: +

नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः ।

न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ॥

'Weapons wound it not; fire doth not consume it; water cannot drown it; nor doth it wither before the winds'; or, as rendered by Schlegel: 'Non illum penetrant tela; non illum comburit flamma; neque illum perfundunt aquæ ; nec ventus exsiccat.' P. 17, new edition. But, in the passage of our text, all that the Hindus understand of Fate is referred to. Death or immunity, prosperity or adversity, are, in this life, the inevitable consequences of conduct in a prior existence. No man can suffer a penalty which his vices in a preceding state of being have not incurred; nor can he avoid it, if they have.

Krishna, the eternal, for succour, and said: "O Janárdana, who art everywhere, the creator and substance of the world, preserve these Brahmans from this magical and insupportable fire. As thou art Vishnu, present in all creatures, and the protector of the world, so let these priests be restored to life. If, whilst devoted to the omnipresent Vishnu, I think no sinful resentment against my foes, let these priests be restored to life. If those who have come to slay me, those by whom poison was given me, the fire that would have burned, the elephants that would have crushed, and snakes that would have stung me, have been regarded by me as friends; if I have been unshaken in soul, and am without fault, in thy sight; then, I implore thee, let these, the priests of the Asuras, be now restored to life." Thus having prayed, the Brahmans immediately rose up, uninjured and rejoicing; and, bowing respectfully to Prahláda, they blessed him, and said: "Excellent prince, may thy days be many; irresistible be thy prowess; and power, and wealth, and posterity be thine." Having thus spoken, they withdrew, and went and told the king of the Daityas all that had passed.

CHAPTER XIX.

Dialogue between Prahláda and his father: he is cast from the top of the palace, unhurt: baffles the incantations of Sambara: he is thrown, fettered, into the sea: he praises Vishnu.

WHEN Hiranyakasipu heard that the powerful incantations of his priests had been defeated, he sent for his son, and demanded of him the secret of his extraordinary might. "Prahláda", he said, "thou art possessed of marvellous powers. Whence are they derived? Are they the result of magic rites? Or have they accompanied thee from birth?" Prahláda, thus interrogated, bowed down to his father's feet, and replied: "Whatever power I possess, father, is neither the result of magic rites, nor is it inseparable from my nature. It is no more than that which is possessed by all in whose hearts Achyuta abides. He who meditates not of wrong to others, but considers them as himself, is free from the effects of sin; inasmuch as the cause does not exist. But he who inflicts pain upon others, in act, thought, or speech, sows the seed of future birth; and the fruit that awaits him after birth is pain. I wish no evil to any, and do and speak no offence: for I behold Kesava in all beings, as in my own soul. Whence should corporeal or mental suffering, or pain inflicted by elements or the gods, affect me, whose heart is thoroughly purified by him? Love, then, for all creatures will be assiduously cherished by all those who are wise in the knowledge that Hari is all things." When he had thus spoken, the Daitya monarch, his face darkened with fury, commanded his attendants to

cast his son from the summit of the palace where he was sitting, and which was many Yojanas in height, down upon the tops of the mountains, where his body should be dashed to pieces against the rocks. Accordingly, the Daityas hurled the boy down: and he fell, cherishing Hari in his heart; and Earth, the nurse of all creatures, received him gently on her lap, thus entirely devoted to Kesava, the protector of the world.

Beholding him uninjured by the fall, and sound in every bone, Hiranyakasipu addressed himself to Sambara, the mightiest of enchanters, and said to him: "This perverse boy is not to be destroyed by us. Do you, who are potent in the arts of delusion, contrive some device for his destruction." Sambara replied: “I will destroy him. You shall behold, king of the Daityas, the power of delusion, the thousand and the myriad artifices that it can employ." Then the ignorant Asura Sambara practised subtile wiles for the extermination of the firm-minded Prahláda. But he, with a tranquil heart, and void of malice towards Sambara, directed his thoughts, uninterruptedly, to the destroyer of Madhu; by whom the excellent discus, the flaming Sudarśana, was dispatched to defend the youth; and the thousand devices of the evil-destinied Sambara were, every one, foiled by this defender of the prince. The king of the Daityas then commanded the withering wind to breathe its blighting blast upon his son; and, thus commanded, the wind immediately penetrated into his frame, cold, cutting, drying, and insufferable. Knowing that the wind had entered into his body, the Daitya boy applied his whole heart to the mighty upholder of the earth. And Janárdana, seated in his

heart, waxed wroth, and drank up the fearful wind, which had thus hastened to its own annihilation.

When the devices of Sambara were all frustrated, and the blighting wind had perished, the prudent prince repaired to the residence of his preceptor. His teacher instructed him daily in the science of polity, as essential to the administration of government, and invented, by Uśanas, for the benefit of kings; and, when he thought that the modest prince was well grounded in the principles of the science, he told the king that Prahláda was thoroughly conversant with the rules of government, as laid down by the descendant of Bhrigu. Hiranyakasipu therefore summoned the prince to his presence, and desired him to repeat what he had learned; how a king should conduct himself towards friends or foes; what measures he should adopt at the three periods (of advance, retrogression, or stagnation); how he should treat his councillors, his ministers, the officers of his government and of his household, his emissaries, his subjects, those of doubtful allegiance, and his foes; with whom should he contract alliance; with whom engage in war; what sort of fortress he should construct; how forest and mountain tribes should be reduced; how internal grievances should be rooted out. All this, and what else he had studied, the youth was commanded, by his father, to explain. To this, Prahláda, having bowed affectionately and reverentially to the feet of the king, touched his forehead, and thus replied:

"It is true that I have been instructed, in all these matters, by my venerable preceptor; and I have learnt them. But I cannot, in all, approve them. It is said