8. For after Hiranyakasipu was killed and his son had betaken himself to asceticism, there was no body left to rule over the realms of the Asura race. 9. And as Prahláda was not to be roused from his slumber, by the solicitations of the Daitya chiefs, or the cries of his oppressed people:— 10. They—the enemies of the gods, were as sorry not to have their graceful lord among them; as the bees are aggrieved for want of the blooming lotus at night (when it is hid under its leafy branches). 11. They found him as absorbed in his meditation, as when the world is drowned in deep sleep, after departure of the sun below the horizon. 12. The sorrowful Daityas departed from his presence, and went away wherever they liked; they roved about at random, as they do in an ungoverned state. 13. The infernal regions became in time the seat of anarchy and oppression; and the good and honest dealings bade adieu to it all at once. 14. The houses of the weak were robbed by the strong, and the restraints of laws were set at naught; the people oppressed one another and robbed the women of their robes. 15. There were crying and wailing of the people on all sides, and the houses were pulled down in the city; the houses and gardens were robbed and spoiled, and outlawry and rapacity spread all over the land. 16. The Asuras were in deep sorrow, and their families were starving without food or fruits; there were disturbance and riot rising every where, and the face of the sky was darkened on all sides. 17. They were derided by the younglings of the gods, and invaded by vile robbers and envious animals; the houses were robbed of their properties, and were laid waste and void. 18. The Asura realm became a scene of horror, by lawless fighting for the wives and properties of others; and the wailings of those that were robbed of their wealth and wives, it made the scene seem as the reign of the dark Kali age, when the atrocious marauders are let loose to spread devastation all over the earth. CHAPTER XXXVIII. SCRUTINY INTO THE NATURE OF GOD. Argument. Hari’s care for preservation of the order of the world, and his advice to Prahláda. Vasishtha continued:—Now Hari who slept on his couch of the snake, in his watery mansion of the Milky ocean, and whose delight it was to preserve the order of all the groups of worlds;— 2. Looked into the course of world in his own mind, after he rose from his sleep at the end of the rainy season for achieving the objects of the gods. (Vishnu rises after the rains on the eleventh day of moon उत्थानैकादशी ।). 3. He surveyed at a glance of his thought the state of the triple world, composed of the heaven, the earth and the regions below; and then directed his attention to the affairs of the infernal regions of the demons. 4. He beheld Prahláda sitting there in his intense hypnotic meditation, and then looked into the increasing prosperity of Indra’s palace.