298 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



thing. The renowned Horse sacrifice (aswamedha) had its 

 origin in this way. King Sagara had sixty thousand sons. He 

 had performed ninety-nine horse sacrifices, and was desirous of 

 completing the hundredth ; but Indra got jealous, because if the 

 king did so, he would be his equal. Indra thereupon stole the 

 Horse selected for this hundredth sacrifice, removed it to th& 

 underworld, and there tied it to the back of a rishi, Kapila, who 

 was meditating. The king's sons searched everywhere on earth, 

 but in vain, and soon convinced that the creature was not in the 

 world, they began to dig down for it. When they saw the Horse 

 tied to the sage, they blamed him for stealing it, and he, thus 

 rudely interrupted in his pious meditations, merely opened his 

 eyes on them and the glare reduced them all to ashes. 



Many years afterwards, Bagirata, a descendant of King 

 Sagara, learning of the fate of his ancestors and knowing that, 

 since no funeral rites had been performed, their souls had not 

 yet reached heaven, practised austerities and prayed to Brahma 

 that the holy waters of the Ganges might descend and flow over 

 their bones. His request was granted. The Ganges came down 

 with such violence that the earth itself would have been washed 

 away had not Shiva intercepted the flood in his matted hair. 

 Ultimately, Ganga was allowed to flow gently to the lower 

 regions, and whenever its waters covered the ashes of the 

 departed, their souls reached bliss. This tale has given to the 

 river the name Bagirathi. 



The Horse Uchaisrava is Indra's steed also. Kalki, the last 

 avatar of Vishnu, is yet to come, on a white Horse, to end the 

 present kaliyuga (age). 



The Spotted Deer (Axis) is mentioned in the Ramayana^ 

 When Eavana wished to carry off Sita, he sent his nephew in 

 the form of a beautiful Stag, Maricha, to play before the hermi- 

 tage, knowing full well that Sita's curiosity would certainly be 

 aroused. As he planned, so everything came to pass. Eama 

 went after the Stag to shoot it. Lakshmana, his brother, soon 

 followed him, leaving alone and unprotected Sita, who was then 

 seized and carried off by Eavana himself. Deer are always 

 mentioned in any description of a forest. They are the type of 

 gentleness and quietness, and for this reason women are com- 

 pared to them. The chamara is a brush made of white hairs- 



