ORIENTAL SERIES.

7AMAD-A GNIJAMBA VA T. 131
day she went out to bathe and beheld a loving pair sporting and
dallying in the water. Their pleasure made her feel envious,
so she was " defiled by unworthy thoughts, and returned wetted
but not purified by the stream." Her husband beheld her " fallei?
from perfection and shorn of the lustre of her sanctity."
So he
reproved her and was exceeding wroth. His sons came into the
hermitage in the order of their birth, and he commanded each
of them in succession to kill his mother. Influenced "by natural
affection, four of them held their peace and did nothing. Their
father cursed them and they became idiots bereft of all under-
standing. When Parasu-rama entered, he obeyed his father's
order and struck off his mother's head with his axe. The
deed assuaged the father's anger, and he desired his son to make
i request Parasu-rama begged that his mother might be
restored to life in purity, and that his brothers might regain
their natural condition. All this the father granted.
The mighty Karta-virya, king of the Haihayas, who had
a thousand arms, paid a visit to the hermitage of Jamad-agni,
The sage and his sons were out, but his wife treated her guest
with all proper respect Unmindful of the hospitality he had
received, Karta-virya
threw down the trees round the hermi-
tage, and carried of the calf of the sacred cow, Surabhi, which
Jamad-agni had acquired by penance. Parasu-rama returned
and discovered what had happened, he then pursued Kartavirya,
cut off his thousand arms with arrows, and killed him.
The sons of Karta-virya went in revenge to the hermitage of
Jamad-agni, and in the absence of Parasu-rama slew the sage
pious
without pity. When Parasu-rama found the lifeless body
of his father, he laid it on a funeral pile, and vowed that he
would extirpate the whole Kshatriya race. He slew all the sons
of Karta-virya, and " thrice seven times " he cleared the earth of
the Kshatriya caste.
JAMADAGNYA. The patronymic of Parasu-rama.
JAMBAVAT. King of the bears. A celebrated gem called
Syamantaka had been given by the Sun to Satra-jit He, fear-
ing that Krishna would take it from him, gave it to his brother,
Prasena. One property of this jewel was to protect its wearer
when good, to ruin, him when bad. Prasena was wicked and
was killed by a lion, which was carrying off the gem in its mouth,
when he was encountered and slain by Jambavat After Pra-