still meditating on the command of Bhagavat, saw the vessel advancing, and entered it with the chiefs of Brahmans, having carried into it the medicinal plants, and conformed to the directions of Hari. The saints thus addressed him: 'O king, meditate on Kesava; who will surely deliver us from this danger, and grant us prosperity.' The god being invoked by the monarch, appeared again distinctly on the vast ocean in the form. of a fish, blazing like gold, extending a million of leagues, with one stupendous horn; on which the king, as he had been before commanded by Hari, tied the ship with a cable made of a vast serpent, and, happy in his preservation, stood praising the destroyer of Madhu. When the monarch had finished his hymn, the primeval male, Bhagavat, who watched for his safety on the greater expanse of water, spake aloud to his own divine essence, pronouncing a sacred Purana [the 'Matsya Purana'], which contained the rules of the Sankhya philosophy; but it was an infinite mystery to be concealed within the breast of Satyavrata; who, sitting in the vessel with the saints, heard the principle of soul, the Eternal Being, proclaimed by the preserving power. Then Hari, rising together with Brahma from the destructive deluge, which was now abated, slew the demon Hayagriva, and recovered the sacred books."

Footnotes

^134:* "Indian Wisdom," p. 32.

^136:* "Indian Wisdom," p. 394.

^137:* Vol. i. 230 ff.

^138:* See part ii. chap. x.

^140:* See part ii. chap. x.

2. THE KURMA OR TORTOISE AVATARA.

This incarnation was necessitated by the fact that the gods were in danger of losing their authority over the demons. In their distress they applied to Vishnu for help, who told them to churn the sea of milk that they might procure the Amrita, or water of life, by which they would be made strong, and promised to become the

tortoise on which the mountain Mandara as a churning stick should rest. As a full account of this operation has been already given when describing Lakshmi, who was one of its chief products, there is no necessity to repeat it here. A few additional particulars will be found in the following extract from the "Vishnu Purana:"-- [**]

"Hari having been entreated to help the gods, thus spoke: 'I will restore your strength. Do you act as I enjoin. Let all the gods and asuras cast all sorts of medicinal herbs into the sea of milk, and together churn the ocean for ambrosia, depending on my aid. To secure the assistance of the daityas, you must be at peace with them, and engage to give them an equal share of your associated toil; promising them that by drinking of the amrita . . . they shall become mighty and immortal. I will take care that the enemies of the gods shall not partake of the precious draught; they shall only share in the labour.'"