god could find no rest. He threw himself in the Kalindi river, but "the waters were dried up and changed into blackness; and ever since, its dark stream, though holy, has flown through the forest like the string that binds a maiden's hair." As he wandered about from place to place seeking relief, the wives of the saints in the forest of Daruvanam forsook their homes and followed him.

Click to enlarge
SIVA SLAYING KAMADEVA.

This led their husbands to curse Siva, who, being enraged at the evil Kama had done to him, consumed him.

The Bhagavata [**] continues the story as follows:--Rati, the wife of Kama, being almost mad with grief at the loss of her husband, entreated Parvati to intercede with Siva that he might restore him to life. Parvati encourages her by showing how her wish will

be gratified. " He will be born as the son of Sri Krishna, and his name will be Pradyumna. A demon named Sambara will carry him off and cast him into the sea. Having entered the body of a fish, he will re-appear in the food of Sambara. Go, take up your abode in the house of Sambara, and when your husband arrives, take him and bring him up; eventually he will slay Sambara and will live happily with you." Acting on this advice, Rati became a servant in the house of the demon.

From the "Vishnu Purana" [**] we gather the completion of this story: When Pradyumna was but six days old, he was stolen from the lying-in chamber by Sambara, terrible as death; for the demon knew (having been told by the sage Narada) that Pradyumna, if he lived would be his destroyer. Sambara cast him into the sea, the haunt of the huge creatures of the deep. A large fish swallowed him, and he was born again from his body: for the fish was caught by fishermen and by them delivered to the great asura, Sambara. His wife Mayadevi (the Bhagavata says, servant), the mistress of his household, superintended the operations of the cooks, and, when the fish was cut open, saw a beautiful child.

Whilst wondering who this could be, and how it came there, Narada appeared to satisfy her curiosity, and said to the graceful dame: "This is the son of him by whom the whole world is created and destroyed; the son of Vishnu, who was stolen by Sambara from the lying-in chamber, and tossed by him into the sea, where he was swallowed by the fish. He is now in thy power; do thou, beautiful woman, tenderly rear the jewel of mankind." Thus counselled by Narada, Mayadevi took charge of the boy, and carefully reared him from childhood, being fascinated by the beauty of his person. The

affection became still more impassioned when he was decorated with the bloom of adolescence. The gracefully-moving Mayadevi, then fixing her heart and eyes upon the high-minded Pradyumna, gave him, whom she regarded as herself, all her magic and illustrative arts.