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him. They entreated him, for the present, to repair by sleep the 

 fatigues of war, and denounced, that, whoever should disturb and 

 awaken him, should instantly by his look be reduced to ashes. Un- 

 der these circumstances, Kalee-Jeven awoke the sage, and suffered 

 the fate denounced. Creeshna then came forward in all the splen- 

 dor of the Divinity, and was respectfully asked by Metsye Gundhe 

 who he might be, and how, with his tender and beautiful feet, he 

 arrived at that thorny place. Then, suddenly, as if in reply to his 

 own question, he exclaimed, " Thou art the sun ! the moon ! Bha- 

 gavan ! Gopal !" adding, that he knew him from the splendor of 

 his countenance, which had exchanged his darkness for light, that 

 he acknowledged him for the superior of the three Devatas ; and, 

 after again asking by what earthly appellative he was known, told 

 him that himself was Metsye Gundhe, son of Rajah Mandhata. 

 Creeshna replied, that his names were like his bodies and his actions, 

 innumerable : that even those who could count the grains of the uni- 

 verse could not number them. But that now, when he was come to 

 lighten the burthens of the earth, to comfort the good and punish 

 the wicked, he was called Vasudeva, after his earthly progenitor ; 

 that he had slain a number of Rakshas, and, lastly, Cansa : that 

 there were reasons why he had brought Kalee-Jeven to that fate ; 

 and, as the Devatas had told him he should obtain Mookt from 

 Bhagavan, and as in a former life he had been a sincere devotee to 

 him, (Creeshna,) he bid him ask what he desired. Metsye Gundhe, 

 recollecting that Garga had cast his nativity, and told him that he 

 should one day enjoy a sight of Bhagavan, was elated with joy, and 

 said, " O supreme Lord ! how can MAN, who is the prey of Maya, 

 (delusion,) praise THEE properly? Blinded by the passions, he 

 spends the precious moments of existence in their service ; and, 

 like a frog secluded in a well, who knows nothing of the external 

 state of things, is lost in oblivion. But now, by the advantage of 



