142 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [May, 1873. the father to their own retreat at Narve.* The enchanted young man one day asked his en¬ chanters the object which prompted their un¬ usual attentions. They gave him highly be¬ guiling piotures of the wealth and beauty of their own country, and invited him to go with them to enjoy the same. The young Rishi was com¬ pletely overcome by the artifices of these deluders, and consented. Taking advantage of the fa¬ ther’s absence at the river-side, the dancing, girls took Rishya Sringa with them and started for Angadesa. In the mean time the long- withheld rains descended upon that country, and there was soon joy, plenty, and prosperity in it. Romapada took a large retinue about halfway and met Rishya Sringa, and conducted him to his capital, where every honour and worship was paid to him. Some time after, the Maharaja praising the Rishi very much, offered to give him his daughter, Santadevl, in mar¬ riage, and the offer was accepted. The wedding came off with due pomp and eclat, and the happy bridegroom dwelt for some time in the country of his adoption. ‘ About this period, Dasaratha, king of Ayo¬ dhya, was in deep distress from the absence of an heir to his throne. Narada paid him a visit, and, divining the cause of his host’s dejection, advised him to invite to his court the Muni Rish¬ ya Sringa, who would bring about the realiza¬ tion of his wishes. Dasaratha did accordingly, and Rishya Sringa conducted a yajna (sacrifice) called Putra Kdmeshti in which the god Agni came out of the sacrificial fire, and handing a cup of Paramdnna (Pay as a), told the Raja to distri- . bute its contents among his wives, whereby he would get four sons, named Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Satrughna.f The god thereupon vanished out of sight. Dasaratha followed the directions of Agni, whose propheoy was duly ful¬ filled. Rishya Sringa soon after returned to his father’s old Asrama, but did not find him there. His father's disappearance afflicted him very mu oh, whereupon Vibhandaka emerged from the Linga of Malahanisvara. The son was oveijoyed, paid him due reverence, and asked him where he could best conduct tapas. Vibhandaka re¬ ferred him, however, to Maha Vishnu, who was living in the Sahyadri hills. Rishya Sringa was accordingly proceeding in that direction, when • The R&m&yana says—beneath wide-spreading creepers and climbing plants, and in their boats. See Wheeler, he was benighted on the bank of a stream near Nirmalapura (modern Nemmar.) He stopped there to perform his evening religious rites, when a Rakshasa named Vyaghra (tiger) rushed upon him with the object of swallowing him up. The holy man thereupon threw a drop of water upon the Rakshasa from the nail of his little finger, and instantly the demon quitted the body of the tiger, and begged the Rishi to tell him what he should do. Rishya Sringa directed him to go to Sarvesvara (a Lingam so called), and by doing s6 the quondam tiger attained moksha (salvation).
- Next day Rishya Sringa prooeeded to the Sah-
yadri, and performed tapas there for seven years in honour of Maha Vishnu. That god told him to go to an incarnation of Siva, called Chandra S&khara, at the foot of the Sahyadri mountain. The Rishi went to the spot indicated, and peered at it through the darkness with half-closed eyes. Hence the place is called Kigga, from Kig- gannu, the half-open eye. The Rishi again per¬ formed tapast and Chandra Sekhara appeared before him and asked what he wanted. Rishya Sringa begged that Param e a vara would absorb himself within his (Rishya Sringa’s) soul. Ac¬ cordingly Paramesvara became one with Rishya Sringa, whose name also became celebrated in the world.* Although this spot is not exactly on the bank of the Tungabhadra, still the Puranas say so, as the rivers Nandini and Nalini flow respec¬ tively from the left and right of it, and join the Tungabhadra at Nemmar. It will be perceived from the foregoing that the interested Brahmans have woven a marvel¬ lous story, however preposterous, round a plain natural fact. This legend has been extracted from the Skdnda Pur ana. A portion of the same is related, in somewhat different language, in the Mahabharata Aranyaparva, (Adhyayas 110 to 113.) Also in the Edmdyana Bdlakdnda (chapters 9 to 17). On the back part of many temples of note there are at present well cut representations in relief of the manner in which the privileged Rishya Sringa was conveyed from the quiet of his father’s hermitage by the creatures who were sent on the mission by Romapada. The accom¬ panying cut is a copy of the one in the temple Hist, of India, Vol. II. pp. 12, 13.—Ed. t Conf. Wheeler, Hist. Ind. Vol. II. pp. 21, 22.—Ed.
