[78] “_Apsaras_--The Apsaras are the celebrated nymphs of Indra’s heaven.... It is said that when they came forth from the waters (at the churning of the ocean) neither the gods nor the Asuras would have them for wives, so they become common to all.... The Apsaras, then, are fairy-like beings, beautiful and voluptuous. Their amours on earth have been numerous, and they are the rewards in Indra’s paradise held out to heroes who fall in battle.”--+PROF. DAWSON’S+ “Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology,” etc. [79] This is only a single instance of the perpetual and undying hostility between the celestials on the one hand and the demons on the other. [80] Markandeya’s description of the dissolution and recreation of the world has undoubtedly a certain grandiose character about it, but betrays the extremely limited geographical knowledge of these omniscient sages, whose acquaintance with the earth’s surface is strictly bounded by the Himalayas and the Southern Sea. [81] _A smiling fish_ is, at least, an original idea. In another place we find the following in regard to a very ancient tortoise. “And as he came there we asked him, saying: ‘Dost thou know this King Indra-dyumna?’ And the tortoise reflected for a moment. And his eyes filled with tears, and his heart was much moved, and he trembled all over and was nearly deprived of his senses. And he said with joined hands, ‘Alas, do I not know that one?’”--_Vana Parva_, p. 604.--P. C. Roy. [82] This Hindu legend of the destruction of the world by water affords materials for a comparison with the Mosaic account of the same event, and the Chaldean story of the deluge, as recorded on the tablets which have been deciphered by the late George Smith. [83] There are, according to the “Mahabharata,” so many easy modes of obtaining a complete release from the penalties of sin, and of attaining heaven, that it would seem that only the most culpable negligence and obstinacy could lead the Hindu to lose his chance of being purged from sin and of enjoying beatitude hereafter. It must be remembered, however, that there are also passages, in which it is emphatically laid down, that _purity of heart_ is an essential and indispensable condition of salvation.--_Vana Parva_, section cc. [84] This appeal to _tradition_ from a sage who had actually witnessed the destruction and recreation of the entire universe is rather strange.