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marred the rite, and caused us ill,

      And so their guiltless blood they spill.”

1 “The region here spoken of is called in the Laws of Manu Madhyadeśa or the middle region. ‘The region situated between the Himálaya and the Vindhya Mountains . . . is called Madhyadeśa, or the middle region; the space comprised between these two mountains from the eastern to the western sea is called by sages Áryávartta, the seat of honourable men.’ (Manu, II, 21, 22.) The Sanskrit Indians called themselves Áryans, which means honourable, noble, to distinguish themselves from the surrounding nations of different origin.” Gorresio.

2 Said to be so called from the Jambu, or Rose Apple, abounding in it, and signifying according to the Puránas the central division of the world, the known world.

      Canto 41. Kapil.

      The father lent a gracious ear

      And listened to their tale of fear,

      And kindly to the Gods replied

      Whom woe and death had terrified:

“The wisest Vásudeva,1 who

      The Immortals’ foe, fierce Madhu, slew,

      Regards broad Earth with love and pride

And guards, in Kapil’s form, his bride.2

      His kindled wrath will quickly fall

      On the king’s sons and burn them all.

      This cleaving of the earth his eye

      Foresaw in ages long gone by:

      He knew with prescient soul the fate

      That Sagar’s children should await.”

The Three-and-thirty,3 freed from fear,

      Sought their bright homes with hopeful cheer.

      Still rose the great tempestuous sound

      As Sagar’s children pierced the ground.

      When thus the whole broad earth was cleft,

      And not a spot unsearched was left,

      Back to their home the princes sped,

      And thus unto their father said:

      “We searched the earth from side to side,

      While countless hosts of creatures died.

      Our conquering feet in triumph trod

      On snake and demon, fiend and God;

      But yet we failed, with all our toil,

      To find the robber and the spoil.

      What can we more? If more we can,

      Devise, O King, and tell thy plan.”

      His children’s speech King Sagar heard,

      And answered thus, to anger stirred:

      “Dig on, and ne’er your labour stay

      Till through earth’s depths you force your way.

      Then smite the robber dead, and bring

      The charger back with triumphing.”

      The sixty thousand chiefs obeyed:

      Deep through the earth their way they made.

      Deep as they dug and deeper yet

      The immortal elephant they met,

Famed Vírúpáksha4 vast of size,

      Upon whose head the broad earth lies:

      The mighty beast who earth sustains

      With shaggy hills and wooded plains.

      When, with the changing moon, distressed,

      And longing for a moment’s rest,

      His mighty head the monster shakes,

      Earth to the bottom reels and quakes.

      Around that warder strong and vast

      With reverential steps they passed.

      Nor, when the honour due was paid,

      Their downward search through earth delayed.

      But turning from the east aside

      Southward again their task they plied.

      There Mahápadma held his place,

      The best of all his mighty race,

      Like some huge hill, of monstrous girth,

      Upholding on his head the earth.

      When the vast beast the princes saw,

      They marvelled and were filled with awe.

      The sons of high-souled Sagar round

      That elephant in reverence wound.

      Then in the western region they

      With might unwearied cleft their way.

      There saw they with astonisht eyes

      Saumanas, beast of mountain size.

      Round him with circling steps they went

      With greetings kind and reverent.

      On, on — no thought of rest or stay —

      They reached the seat of Soma’s sway.

      There saw they Bhadra, white as snow,

      With lucky marks that fortune show,

      Bearing the earth upon his head.

      Round him they paced with solemn tread,

      And honoured him with greetings kind,

      Then downward yet their way they mined.

      They gained the tract ’twixt east and north

Whose fame is ever blazoned forth,5

      And by a storm of rage impelled,

      Digging through earth their course they held.

      Then all the princes, lofty-souled,

      Of wondrous vigour, strong and bold,

Saw Vásudeva6 standing there

      In Kapil’s form he loved to wear,

      And near the everlasting God

      The victim charger cropped the sod.

      They saw with joy and eager eyes

      The fancied robber and the prize,

      And on him rushed the furious band

      Crying aloud, Stand, villain! stand!

      “Avaunt! avaunt!” great Kapil cried,

      His bosom flusht with passion’s tide;

      Then by his might that proud array

All scorcht to heaps of ashes lay.7

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