The ape god Hanuman[153] was awakened; drowsily he yawned and he lashed his long tail with tempest fury until it stretched forth like a mighty pole and obstructed the path of Bhima. Thus the ape god, who was also a son of Vayu, the wind, made Bhima to pause. Opening his red sleepy eyes, he said: “Sick am I, but I was slumbering sweetly; why hast thou awakened me so rudely? Whither art thou going? Yonder mountains are closed against thee: thou art treading the path of the gods. Therefore pause and repose here: do not hasten to destruction.” [153] In his character as the Typhoon. Said Bhima: “Who art thou? I am a Kshatriya, the son of Vayu.... Arise and let me pass, or else thou wilt perish.” Hanuman said: “I am sickly and cannot move; leap over me.” [Illustration: HANUMAN _From a bronze in the Victoria and Albert Museum_ 19] Said Bhima: “I cannot leap over thee. It is forbidden by the Supreme Soul, else would I bound as Hanuman bounded over the ocean, for I am his brother.” Hanuman said: “Then move my tail and go past.” Then Bhima endeavoured to lift the tail of the ape god, but failed, and he said: “Who art thou that hath assumed the form of an ape; art thou a god, or a spirit, or a demon?” Hanuman said: “I am the son of Vayu, even Hanuman. Thou art my elder brother.” Said Bhima: “I would fain behold the incomparable form thou didst assume to leap over the ocean.” Hanuman said: “At that Age the universe was not as it is now. Thou canst not behold the form I erstwhile had.... In Krita Yuga there was one state of things and in the Treta Yuga another; greater change came with Dwãpara Yuga, and in the present Yuga there is lessening, and I am not what I have been. The gods, the saints, and all things that are have changed. I have conformed with the tendency of the present age and the influence of Time.” Said Bhima: “I would fain learn of thee regarding the various Yugas. Speak and tell what thou dost know, O Hanuman.” The ape god then spake and said: “The Krita Yuga (Perfect Age) was so named because there was but one religion, and all men were saintly: therefore they were not required to perform religious ceremonies. Holiness never grew less, and the people did not decrease. There were no gods in the Krita Yuga, and there were no demons or Yakshas, and no Rakshasas or Nagas. Men neither bought nor sold; there were no poor and no rich; there was no need to labour, because all that men required was obtained by the power of will; the chief virtue was the abandonment of all worldly desires. The Krita Yuga was without disease; there was no lessening with the years; there was no hatred, or vanity, or evil thought whatsoever; no sorrow, no fear. All mankind could attain to supreme blessedness. The universal soul was Narayana: he was _White_; he was the refuge of all and was sought for by all; the identification of self with the universal soul was the whole religion of the Perfect Age.