THE HISTORY OF MANIKKA-VACAGAR. 125 



Taivites in eaily days.) It was the intention of Qiva to visit this 

 wilderness, in ox'der to ascertain the state of the Kishis there, and to teach 

 them a lesson. He bade Vishnu accompany him in the form of a female, 

 and the two — ^ivan as a mendicant, with the usual insignia and the bowl 

 foi- the collection of alms, attended by Vishnu as his wife — entered the 

 jungle. It is in connection with this story that ^ivan is called a 

 ' deceiver.' (Compare Note I.) The history that follows is in many 

 respects far from edifying, though the author defends it, and gives to 

 everything an allegorical meaning. At first sight all the Eishis' wives 

 were seized with an unspeakable frenzy of passion for the false mendicant ; 

 while all the Eishis themselves were equally infatuated by the false dame 

 that followed him, — Vishnu in disguise. There was soon fierce wrath 

 raging throughout the whole hermitage. The inhabitants of the wilder- 

 ness speedily perceived that the mendicant and his wife, who possessed 

 sxich a naysterious and irresistible power of attraction, were other than 

 they seemed. They became ashamed of the ecstasies of evil desire into 

 which they had been thrown, and gathering themselves together, the 

 10,000 Eishis pronounced fierce imprecations upon the disguised gods, 

 which their wives reiterated. But the gods were unharmed. They then 

 dug a sacrificial pit and proceeded to ofi'er sacrifices, whose object was to 

 ensure the destruction of the strangers. Every Vedic rite was observed, 

 for were they not the most accomplished of ritualists ? The result was 

 that a fierce tiger was created in the sacrificial fire which rushed forth 

 upon Civa, who, smiling gently, seized it with his sacred hands, and witli 

 the nail of his little finger ripped off its skin, and wrapped it round him- 

 self as a soft silken garment. This accounts for ^ivia's tiger-skin mantle 

 (Note I.). Undiscouraged by failure, they renewed their offerings, from 

 out of which came a monstrous serpent, which he seized and wreathed 

 round his neck, where it ever hangs ; and then began his mystic dance. 

 And now came forth the last monster in the shape of a black dwarf, 

 hideous and malignant, brandishing a club with eyes of fire. His name 

 was Muyalagan {the Club-hearer). Upon him the god pressed the tip of 

 his sacred foot, and broke the creature's back, so that he writhed on the 

 ground ; and thus, with his last foe prostrate, Civan resumed the dance 

 of whicli all the gods were witnesses, while his hosts sang wild choruses. 

 The figure of the prostrate foe, writhing under the god's foot, is repro- 

 duced in every Caiva shrine. The Eishis, parched with the heat of their 

 own sacrificial fires, and faint with the fury of their anger, and over- 

 whelmed with the inefl'able, mysterious velocity of the motion and the 

 splendour of the heavens opening ai^ound them, fell to the ground as 



