various regions, adored by all the celestials, and possessessed of prowess and splendour equal unto those of the celestials themselves. Capable of assuming any form at will, I lived for a million of years in the gardens of Nandana sporcing with the Apsaras and beholding numberless beautifal trees clad in flowery vesture and sending forth delicious perfume all round. And after many, many years had elapsed, while still residing there in enjoyment of perfect beautitude, the celestial messenger of grim visage, one day, in a loud and deep voice, thrice shouted to meRuined! Ruined! Ruined !-O lion among kings, this much do I remember. I was then fallen from Nandana, my religious merits gone! I heard in the skies, o king, the voices of the celestials exclaiming in grief - Alas! What misfortune! Yayati, with his religious merits destroyed, though virtuous and of sacred deeds, is falling ! And as I was falling. I asked them loudly-'Where, ye celestials, are those wise ones amongst whom I am to fall ?' They pointed out to me this sacred sacrificial region belonging to you. Beholding the curls of smoke blackening the atmos phere and smelling the perfume of clarified butter poured incessantly upon fire, and guided thereby, I am approaching this region of yours, glad at heart that I come amongst you."
Thus ends the eighty-ninth section in the Sambhava Parva of the Adi Parva.
SECTION XC
(Sambhava Parva continued)
"Ashtaka said. --Capable of assuming any form at will, thou hast lived for a million of years in the gardens of Nandana. For what cause, O foremost of those that flourished in the Krita age, hast thou been compelled to leave that region and come hither ?' Yayati answered, 'As kinsmen, friends, and relatives forsake, in this world, those whose wealth disappears so, in the other world, the celestials with Indra as their chief, forsake him who hath lost his righteousness." "Ashtaka said,
-'I am extremely anxious to know how in the other world men can lose virtue. Tell me also. O king, what regions are attainable by wbat courses of action. Thou art acquainted, I know, with the acts and sayings of great beings!'
"Yayati answered, 'O pious one, they that speak of their own merits are doomed to suffer the bell called Bhauma. Though really emaciated and lean, they appear to grow on Earth (in the shape of their sons and grandsons) only to become food for vultures, dogs, and jackals.
