1GG 
Rajendralala Mitra —On the Temples of Deoghar. [No 2, 
feeling that his golden metropolis in Ceylon, rich and unrivalled as it was, 
would not be perfect without the presence in it of the great god Maha- 
deva himself, repaired to the Kailasa mountain to secure the grace of 
that dread divinity. It so happened, however, that the god was at the 
time in the society of his consort, who was then in a huff, and Nandi, 
the warder at the gate of his mansion, would not permit a stranger 
to pass in. But the demon was not to be so easily baulked. He 
seized the warder by the neck, and hurled him to a great distance 
from his post. This made the mountain tremble, and the lady in very 
fear gave up her anger, and sought the protection of her lord.* S'iva 
was greatly pleased at this occurrence, and when the unmannerly demon 
pleaded in excuse of his conduct by asserting to the host that as a 
son he was justified in appearing before his parents at all seasons, and the 
warder had no business to prevent him, the god readily offered him 
a boon. The prayer was then made in due form that he should 
take his permanent residence with the demon. This was, however, 
not granted. Ravana was told that one of the twelve resplendent emblems 
of the divinity ( Jyotirlinga ) would be quite as effective as S'iva in propria 
persona, and that Ravana might take it away on the only condition that the 
transfer should be effected without a break in the journey, but that should 
the lingam he deposited anywhere on the earth in course of the journey, 
it would proceed no further, but stick there for ever. To Ravana, ac¬ 
customed to travel from Ceylon to the heaven of Indra and back, the 
condition did not seem very hard, and he assented. The lingam was 
immediately taken up, and the journey begun. There were, however, 
difficulties in the way which the demon did not think of. The gods 
dreaded the effect of the lingam being established in the kingdom of one 
who was the most powerful enemy of the celestial hierarchy, and if Maha- 
deva were to be the protector of that demon’s metropolis, there would be 
no means left them for his overthrow. They accordingly sat in solemn 
conclave, and devised their plan of outwitting their enemy. Varuna, the 
regent of the waters, entered the belly of the demon, and created an un¬ 
pleasant sensation, and a pressing necessity soon arose for Ravana to relieve 
himself. Vishnu, in the garb of a decrepit old Brahman, appeared before 
him, and accosted him. Unconscious of the plan that had been laid to 
entrap him, Ravana begged of the Brahman to help him by holding the god 
for a few minutes, and the request was readily acceded to. Ravana made 
over the lingam to him, and retired to a side. He was greatly delayed in 
his return by the mischievous action of the god of waters within him, and 
* There is a story very like this in Pilpay’s ‘Fables,’ and in it the presence 
of a thief makes a truant wife reconciled to her lord. 
