^201:* It should be noticed here that a commentator says on this passage that the statement that two hairs of Vishnu became incarnate must not be taken literally, but that the work to be done by him on this occasion was so small that it could easily have been effected by two hairs. In Krishna, Vishnu himself was manifested.

^210:* It is this incident in Krishna's history which is celebrated yearly at the Rasajattra.

^218:* Muir, O. S. T., iv. 184.

8A. THE BALARAMA AVATARA.

According to some accounts of Vishnu's incarnations, Balarama is the eighth; Krishna in that case not being called an incarnation, but an appearance of the deity himself; whilst, according to others, the two brothers together form the eighth, Krishna having been produced from a black and Balarama from a white hair of Vishnu: As they were constant companions during their stay on earth, many of the exploits in which Balarama shared have already been narrated in speaking of Krishna. There are a few legends, [**] however, referring chiefly to Balarama.

Balarama is an incarnation of the serpent Sesha, [**] who himself was part of Vishnu, and thus is said to be "a part of a part" of that deity. When appealed to by the

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BALARAMA.

distressed gods to appear on earth to save them from their oppressor Kansa, Vishnu, a year before his own birth, transferred by means of Yoganindra, the embryo

of Balarama from Devaki to Rohini, another wife of Vasudeva, residing at Gokula, to save it from the cruel anger of Kansa, who had ordered the destruction of Devaki's children as soon as they were born. When about a year old, this child was placed under the care of a herdsman named Nanda and his wife Yasoda, the reputed parents of Krishna, that the two boys might be brought up together; Vasudeva, on the night of Krishna's birth, having carried him to the house of Nanda, and substituted him for the infant daughter of these people.