the power of death, and overthrew him in battle. With sharp arrows Ráma cut off his thousand arms, and the king perished. The sons of Kárttavírya, to revenge his death, attacked the hermitage of Jamadagni, when Ráma was away, and slew the pious and unresisting sage, who called repeatedly, but fruitlessly, upon his valiant son. They then departed; and when Ráma returned, bearing fuel from the thickets, he found his father lifeless, and thus bewailed his unmerited fate: 'Father, in resentment of my actions have you been murdered by wretches as foolish as they are base! by the sons of Kárttavírya are you struck down, as a deer in the forest by the huntsman's shafts! Ill have you deserved such a death; you who have ever trodden the path of virtue, and never offered wrong to any created thing! How great is the crime that they have committed, in slaying with their deadly shafts an old man like you, wholly occupied with pious cares, and engaging not in strife! Much have they to boast of to their fellows and their friends, that they have shamelessly slain a solitary hermit, incapable of contending in arms!' Thus lamenting, bitterly and repeatedly, Ráma performed his father's last obsequies, and lighted his funeral pile. He then made a vow that he would extirpate the whole Kshatriya race. In fulfilment of this purpose he took up his arms, and with remorseless and fatal rage singly destroyed in fight the sons of Kárttavírya; and after them, whatever Kshatriyas he encountered, Ráma, the first of warriors, likewise slew. Thrice seven times did the clear the earth of the Kshatriya caste 19; and he filled with their blood the five large lakes of Samanta-panchaka, from which he offered libations to the race of Bhrigu. There did he behold his sire again, and the son of Richíka beheld his son, and told him what to do. Offering a solemn sacrifice to the king of the gods, Jámadagnya presented the earth to the ministering priests. To Kaśyapa he gave the altar made of gold, ten fathoms in length, and nine in height 20. With the permission of Kaśyapa, the Brahmans divided it in pieces amongst them, and they were thence

called Khańd́aváyana Brahmans. Having given the earth to Kaśyapa, the hero of immeasurable prowess retired to the Mahendra mountain, where he still resides: and in this manner was there enmity between him and the race of Kshatriyas, and thus was the whole earth conquered by Ráma 21."

____________

The son of Viswámitra was Śunahśephas, the descendant of Bhrigu, given by the gods, and thence named Devaráta 22. Viswámitra had

other sons also, amongst whom the most celebrated were Madhuchhandas, Kritajaya, Devadeva, Asht́aka, Kachchapa, and Hárita; these founded many families, all of whom were known by the name of Kauśikas, and intermarried with the families of various Rishis 23.

Footnotes