Now follow the hymns to the Varaha as sung by the saints: "Triumph, lord of lords, supreme! Kesava, sovereign of the earth . . . cause of production, destruction and existence. Thou art, O god! there is none other supreme condition than thou. Thou, lord, art the person of the sacrifice; thy feet are the Vedas; thy tusks are the stake to which the victim is bound; thy teeth are the offerings; thy mouth is the altar; thy tongue is the fire; and the hairs of thy body are the sacrificial grass. Thy eyes, O omnipotent! are day and night; thy head is the seat of all--the place of Brahma; thy name is all the hymns of the Vedas; thy nostrils are all oblations. O thou, whose snout is the ladle of oblation; whose deep voice is the chanting of the Sama-Veda; whose body is the hall of sacrifice; whose joints are the different ceremonies; and whose ears have the properties of both voluntary and obligatory rites; do thou, who art eternal, who art in size a mountain, be propitious . . . raise up this earth for the habitation of created beings!"

"The supreme being thus eulogized, upholding the earth, raised it quickly, and placed it on the summit of the ocean, where it floats like a mighty vessel, and, on account of its expansive surface, does not sink beneath the waters." This seems rather to contradict the common notion of the Hindus, that the earth rests upon the back of a tortoise; and that earthquakes are the result of the tortoise changing the foot on which he stands, when weary.

Footnotes

^144:* Goldstucker, Chambers's Cyclopedia, s.v. "Vishnu."

^144:+ Muir, O. S. T., i. 52.

^145:* Muir, O. S. T., iv. 33.

^145:+ Ibid.

^145:++ Page 27 ff.

^147:* A yojan is at least four miles and a half; some reckon it at nine miles.

4. THE NRISINGHA OR MAN-LION AVATARA.

In the account of the preceding incarnation, it was stated that Vishnu, ere he raised the earth on his tusk, slew a demon named Hiranyaksha. This daitya had a

Click to enlarge
THE NRISINGHA AVATARA.

brother named Hiranyakasipu, who, the "Vayu Purana" says, had obtained a boon from Brahma, that he should not be slain by any created being; the "Kurma Purana" adds, excepting Vishnu. When therefore his pride,

fostered by his supposed immunity from danger, had led him to great excesses, so that his death was desired both by gods and men, Vishnu descended in the form of a living being, half-man and half-lion, and so neither man nor animal, and slew him. By the assumption of this form the letter of Brahma's promise was kept. The story of the demon's hatred of the deity, because in a former incarnation he had slain his brother, is a most interesting one. And as it teaches the wonderful efficacy of Vishnu's worship, it is given at some length. It is taken mostly from the "Vishnu Purana." [**]