degradation of the servants that had always been obedient to him, that lord continued to dwell with his beloved in pleasure-arbours on the slopes of mount Kailása, which were made of the branches of the Kalpa tree. [17] CHAPTER II. Then Pushpadanta wandering on the earth in the form of a man, was known by the name of Vararuchi and Kátyáyana. Having attained perfection in the sciences, and having served Nanda as minister, being wearied out he went once on a time to visit the shrine of Durgá. [18] And that goddess, being pleased with his austerities, ordered him in a dream to repair to the wilds of the Vindhya to behold Kánabhúti. And as he wandered about there in a waterless and savage wood, [19] full of tigers and apes, he beheld a lofty Nyagrodha tree. [20] And near it he saw, surrounded by hundreds of Pisáchas, that Pisácha Kánabhúti, in stature like a Sála tree. When Kánabhúti had seen him and respectfully clasped his feet, Kátyáyana sitting down immediately spake to him. "Thou art an observer of the good custom; how hast thou come into this state?" Having heard this Kánabhúti said to Kátyáyana, who had shewn affection towards him, "I know not of myself, but listen to what I heard from Siva at Ujjayiní in the place where corpses are burnt; I proceed to tell it thee." The adorable god was asked by Durgá--"Whence, my lord, comes thy delight in skulls and burning-places?" He thereupon gave this answer. "Long ago when all things had been destroyed at the end of a Kalpa, the universe became water: I then cleft my thigh and let fall a drop of blood; that drop falling into the water turned into an egg, from that sprang the Supreme Soul, [21] the Disposer; from him proceeded Nature, [22] created by me for the purpose of further creation, and they created the other lords of created beings, [23] and those in turn the created beings, for which reason, my beloved, the Supreme Soul is called in the world the grandfather. Having thus created the world, animate and inanimate, that Spirit became arrogant: [24] thereupon I cut off his head: then through regret for what I had done, I undertook a difficult vow. So thus it comes to pass that I carry skulls in my hand, and love the places where corpses are burned. Moreover this world resembling a skull, rests in my hand; for the two skull-shaped halves of the egg before mentioned are called heaven and earth." When Siva had thus spoken, I, being full of curiosity, determined to listen; and Párvatí again said to her husband, "After how long a time will that Pushpadanta return to us?" Hearing that, Mahesvara spoke to the goddess, pointing me out to her; "That Pisácha whom thou beholdest there, was once a Yaksha, a servant of Kuvera, the god of wealth, and he had for a friend a Rákshasa named Sthúlasiras; and the lord of wealth perceiving that he associated with that evil one, banished him to the wilds of the Vindhya mountains. But his brother Dírghajangha