Jamadagni, the son of Richika (whose birth was just described), having married Renuka, "conducted the princess to his hermitage, and she was contented to partake in his ascetic life. They had four sons, and then a fifth, who was Jamadagnya (Parasurama), the last, but not the least, of the brethren. Once when her sons were absent gathering the fruits on which they fed, Renuka, who was exact in the discharge of all her duties, went forth to bathe. On her way to the stream

she beheld Chitraratha, the Prince of Mrittikavati, with a garland of lotuses on his neck, sporting with his queen in the water, and she felt envious of their felicity. Defiled by unworthy thoughts, wetted, but not purified by the stream, she returned disquieted to the hermitage. Beholding her fallen from her perfection, and shorn of the lustre of her sanctity, Jamadagni reproved her, and was exceeding wroth.

"Upon this, her sons came from the wood, and each as he entered was successively commended by his father to put his mother to death; but, amazed and influenced by natural affection, neither of them made any reply; therefore Jamadagni cursed them, and they became idiots. Lastly Rama returned to the hermitage, when the mighty and holy Jamadagni said to him, 'Kill thy mother, who has sinned; and do it without repining.' Rama accordingly took up his axe [this was the Parasu, or axe, which Siva had given him] and struck off his mother's head; whereupon the wrath of Jamadagni was assuaged, and, pleased with his son, said: 'Since thou hast obeyed my commands, and done what was hard to be performed, demand from me whatever blessing thou wilt, and thy desires shall be fulfilled.' Rama begged these boons: the restoration of his mother to life, with forgetfulness of having been slain, and purification from all defilement; the return of his brothers to their natural condition; and for himself, invincibility in single combat, and length of days. All these his father bestowed.

"It happened on one occasion that, during the absence of the Rishi's sons, the mighty monarch Karttavirya, the sovereign of the Haihaya tribe, endowed by the favour of Dattatreya [**] with a thousand arms, and a

golden chariot that went wheresoever he willed it to go, came to the hermitage of Jamadagni, where the wife of the sage received him with proper respect. This Karttavirya, by reason of his strength, had greatly oppressed the gods, Rishis, and all creatures. The gods and Rishis applied to Vishnu, who, with Indra, devised the means of destroying him. The king, inflated with the pride of valour, made no return for the hospitality of the Rishi's wife; but carried off with him the calf of the milch cow of the sacred oblation, and cast down the tall trees of the hermitage."