And the impersonated rivers speak for themselves. “Indra, den Blitz im Arm, brach uns die Bahnen, Er schlug den Vritra, die Ströme einschloss.”[7] There is no need to insist further on the point that the task of the Grail hero is in this special respect no mere literary invention, but a heritage from the achievements of the prehistoric heroes of the Aryan race. But the poems selected by Professor von Schroeder for discussion offer us a further, and more curious, parallel with the Grail romances. In Section VIII. of the work referred to the author discusses the story of Ṛishyaçṛiñga, as the _Mahâbhârata_ names the hero; here we find a young Brahmin brought up by his father, Vibhândaka, in a lonely forest hermitage[8] absolutely ignorant of the outside world, and even of the very existence of beings other than his father and himself. He has never seen a woman, and does not know that such a creature exists. A drought falls upon a neighbouring kingdom, and the inhabitants are reduced to great straits for lack of food. The King, seeking to know by what means the sufferings of his people may be relieved, learns that so long as Ṛishyaçṛiñga continues chaste so long will the drought endure. An old woman, who has a fair daughter of irregular life, undertakes the seduction of the hero. The King has a ship, or raft (both versions are given), fitted out with all possible luxury, and an apparent Hermit’s cell erected upon it. The old woman, her daughter and companions, embark; and the river carries them to a point not far from the young Brahmin’s hermitage. Taking advantage of the absence of his father, the girl visits Ṛishyaçṛiñga in his forest cell, giving him to understand that she is a Hermit, like himself, which the boy, in his innocence, believes. He is so fascinated by her appearance and caresses that, on her leaving him, he, deep in thought of the lovely visitor, forgets, for the first time, his religious duties. On his father’s return he innocently relates what has happened, and the father warns him that fiends in this fair disguise strive to tempt hermits to their undoing. The next time the father is absent the temptress, watching her opportunity, returns, and persuades the boy to accompany her to her ‘Hermitage’ which she assures him, is far more beautiful than his own. So soon as Ṛishyaçṛiñga is safely on board the ship sails, the lad is carried to the capital of the rainless land, the King gives him his daughter as wife, and so soon as the marriage is consummated the spell is broken, and rain falls in abundance. Professor von Schroeder points out that there is little doubt that, in certain earlier versions of the tale, the King’s daughter herself played the _rôle_ of temptress.