quarters of the earth, for its purification. The Śítá, Alakanandá, Chakshu, and Bhadrá are four branches of but one river, divided according to the regions towards which it proceeds. The branch that is known as the Alakanandá was borne affectionately by Mahádeva, upon his head, for more than a hundred years, and was the river which raised to heaven the sinful sons of Sagara, by washing their ashes 28. The offences of any man who bathes in this river are immediately expiated, and unprecedented virtue is engendered. Its waters, offered by sons to their ancestors in faith for three years, yield to the latter rarely attainable gratification. Men of the twice-born orders, who offer sacrifice in this river to the lord of sacrifice, Purushottama, obtain whatever they desire, either here or in heaven. Saints who are purified from all soil by bathing in its waters, and whose minds are intent on Keśava, acquire thereby final liberation. This sacred stream, heard of, desired, seen, touched, bathed in, or hymned, day by day, sanctifies all beings; and those who, even at a distance of a hundred leagues, exclaim "Gangá, Gangá," atone for the sins committed during three previous lives. The place whence this river proceeds, for the purification of the three worlds, is the third division of the celestial regions, the seat of Vishńu 29.

Footnotes

217:1 The sun's car is 10.000 Yojanas broad, and as many deep, according to the Váyu and Matsya. The Bhágavata makes it thirty-six hundred thousand long, and one fourth that broad. The Linga agrees with the text.

217:2 There is no great difference in this number in other accounts. The length of this axle, which extends from Meru to Mánasa, is nearly equal to the semidiameter of the earth, which, according to the Matsya P., is 18.950.000 Yojanas.

217:3 The three naves are the three divisions of the day, morning, noon, and night; the five spokes are the five cyclic years; and the six peripheries are the six seasons. The Bhágavata explains the three naves to be three periods of the year, of four months each, and gives twelves spokes as types of the twelve months. The Váyu, Matsya, and Bhavishya Puráńas enter into much more detail. According to them, the parts of the wheel are the same as above described: the body of the car is the year; its upper and lower half are the two solstices; Dharma is its flag; Artha and Káma the pins of the yoke and axle; night is its fender; Nimeshas form its floor; a moment is the axle-tree; an instant the pole; minutes are its attendants; and hours its harness.

217:4 This shorter axle is, according to the Bhágavata, one fourth of the longer.