OF THE HINDUS, ,51 



■what remains for me but to die." The saint finding there was no help, turned 

 householder, and removed the image he had worshipped in the air into his 

 dwelling, by desire, it is said, of the object of his adoration. In his new con= 

 dition he composed the Gitd Govinda, in which Krishna himself assisted, for 

 on one occasion, Jayadeva being puzzled how to describe the charms of 

 Radha, laid down the paper for a happier moment, and went to bathe. 

 Krishna, assuming his person, entered his house, and wrote the requisite deS' 

 cription, much to the poet's astonishment on his return home. 



Of the Gitd Govinda it is said, that the Z2a;a of Nildchala (Orhsa) composed 

 a poem similarly named, but when the two works were placed before Jagan- 

 NATH, he took the work of Jayadeva to his bosom, and threw that of the Raja 

 out of his temple. It is also said, that the Giid Govinda was sung in the court 

 of ViKRAMA, thus assigning to it an antiquity which there is no reason to sus- 

 pect it can justly claim. 



Jayadeva being desirous of performing a particular rite for his idol, re- 

 sumed his erratic habits, and succeeded in collecting a considerable sum of money 

 for this purpose : on the road, he was attacked by Thegs, or thieves, who robbed 

 him, and cut off his hands and feet. In this state he was found by a Raja 

 who took him home, and had his wounds healed. Shortly afterwards the 

 thieves, disguised as religious mendicants, came to the court of the Raja. 

 Jayadeva recognized them, and overwhelmed them with benefits. On their 

 departure, two of the Raja's people were sent to attend them to the confines 

 of the Raj, who on their way asked them how they had merited the saint's 

 particular regard. To this they replied, that they had been his fellows 

 in the service of a Raja, who had ordered them to put him to death : they 

 however only mutilated him, and his gratitude for their sparing his life was 

 the reason he had treated them so kindly. They had no sooner uttered these 

 words, than the earth opened and swallowed them. The servants of the 



