6. SUKRA, hence Sukravara (Friday), was the son of Bhrigu. He was the preceptor and the priest of the demons, and blind in one eye. The reason of this affliction is told in the following legend: When Vishnu, in the Dwarf Incarnation, went to Bali, king of the daityas, to solicit a blessing, Sukra, as Bali's preceptor, forbade the king to give him anything. The king being determined to give what was asked, it was the duty of the priest to read the customary formula and to pour out water from a vessel as a ratification of the gift. Sukra, anxious to prevent his master from giving what was asked, as he foresaw that it would prove his ruin, entered the water in an invisible form, and by his magical powers prevented it from falling. Vishnu, aware of the device, put a straw into the vessel, which, entering Sukra's eye, gave him so much pain that he could remain there no longer; so the water fell, the gift was ratified, and Sukra lost an eye. "If a person be born under the planet Sukra, he will have the faculty of knowing things past, present, and future. He will have many wives, a kingly umbrella (an emblem of royalty), and other kings will worship him."

Sukra is said to have possessed the power of raising the dead, as the following legend [**] shows:--Devajani, the daughter of Sukra, was deeply in love with Kacha, a son of Vrihaspati and a pupil of her father, who had been sent to Sukra for the express purpose of learning from him the incantation for raising the dead. One day Devajani sent Kacha to gather flowers from a wood belonging to some giants, who, on previous occasions had eaten him; but Sukra, by the above incantation, had

restored him to life. The giants now resolved to make Sukra himself eat the boy; for which purpose, they cut him into small pieces, boiled him in spirits, and invited Sukra to an entertainment. As Kacha did not return with the flowers, Devajani with many tears told her father that, if he did not restore her lover, she would certainly destroy herself. Sukra learned by the power of meditation that he had eaten the boy, but did not know how to restore him to life, without the attempt being fatal to himself. At length, whilst the boy was in his stomach, he restored him to life, and then taught him the incantation he was so wishful to learn. Kacha, tearing open Sukra's stomach, came forth, and immediately using the wonderful incantation restored his teacher to life.