A messenger from the gods now visited Krishna, telling him that, as his work was done, he should ascend to his home. This he was quite willing to do; but, wishing to save his race from the threatened destruction, advised the Yadavas to forsake their city and go to Prabhasa. By his advice he unintentionally hastened their end; for on reaching the seashore they indulged in liquor and began to fight violently amongst themselves, and for arms seized the rushes which sprang from the dust of the fatal club that came from Samba. Krishna and Balarama trying to make peace between the combatants only led to their swifter destruction, until at last the two brothers were left alone of their race. Whilst sitting and talking on the banks of a river, a serpent crawled out of Balarama's mouth--the serpent Sesha, of which he was an incarnation, and so his end was come. Krishna, left alone, sat meditating, with his foot upon his knee, when the hunter Jara, armed with the fatal arrow, passed by, and taking Krishna for a deer, shot him, and thus his death was unwittingly caused by the last part of the cursed club. Jara, seeing his mistake, fell at Krishna's feet and asked

forgiveness, to whom Krishna said, "Fear not thou in the least. Go, hunter, through my favour to heaven, the abode of the gods." Immediately a celestial car appeared, in which the man ascended to heaven; and Krishna abandoned his mortal body.

In this account of Krishna we have followed the "Vishnu Purana," with which the Bhagavata agrees; though the latter has many additional legends, similar to those given above. The writers of these Puranas have no doubt regarding his divinity; in fact a large part of these books is occupied with praises and prayers addressed to him as supreme. In the Mahabharata, however, Krishna is little more than a hero, excepting in those passages which are believed to be of much later origin than the body of the book. By the writers of that age Krishna is described as a worshipper of Siva, from whom he received the chief blessings he enjoyed.

Amongst the references to Krishna in the Mahabharata are the following: [**]--"Krishna then reverenced Siva with voice, mind, understanding, and act;" i.e. when he accompanied Arjuna to Siva's abode to beg heavenly weapons. Siva replies, "I have been duly worshipped by Krishna, wherefore no one is clearer to me than Krishna." In a hymn Krishna thus praises Siva: "I know Mahadeva, and his various works of old. For he is the beginning, middle, and end of (all) creatures." Bhisma says, "Through his devotion to Rudra, the world is pervaded by the mighty Krishna. This Madhava performed austerities for a full thousand years, propitiating Siva, the god who bestows boons." It was through propitiating Siva that Krishna had a son by Jambavati; from him he received the discus Sudarsana,