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of the body. Anga married Sunitha, the daughter of Death. The
iniquitous Vena was the son of Anga. When he became king, he
issued a proclamation prohibiting all worship and sacrifices. The
sages strongly remonstrated with him but when he turned a deaf ear
to their words, they killed him with their incantations. The kingdom
was now without a ruler and there was great disorder. The Rishis
then churned the thigh of the dead body, until a dwarfish, deep
black person came out. The Rishis told him to ' sit down and wait.'
Hence he was called Nishada. They then churned the two arms, and
a pair arose. " This male is an incarnation of Vishnu," said the
Rishis, " and this female is an incarnation of Lakshmi. They shall
marry each other. He shall be called Prithu and his wife, Archis.
Prithu shall be the King and he shall preserve all beings." Prithu
accepted the duty of preserving the people. He saw there was no
vegetation on the earth. His subjects suffered from hunger. He
thought that the earth had eaten up the seeds and was not bring-
ing forth the plants. In anger Prithu took up his bow and aimed
at the earth. She assumed the form of a cow and began to run
away chased by the King. But she at last yielded and requested
him to spare her life. " Thou art Lord of this Universe," exclaimed
the earth, " Thou knowest very well that the forms of vegetable life
created by Brahma could not be used in Yajfia so long. I have
therefore preserved them within myself. If I had not done so, they
would have been destroyed long ago and no Yajna could be perform-
ed in future. True, they are now rotting in me. But think about
the best means to bring them out. Find out a calf, a milk-pot and a
milker. I will secrete all desired objects as my milk. But first of all
make my surface flat and level." Prithu rejoiced at these words. He
made Svayambhuva Manu the calf and milked all vegetables into
his own hands. Others followed him. The Rishis made Vrihaspati
their calf and drew out the Vedas into their Indriyas.
The Devas made Indra their calf and milked out into
their golden pot Amrita and energy of body, of mind and of the
Indriyas.
The Daityas and Danavas made Prahlada their calf and milk-
ed out wine into their iron pot. The Gandharvas and Apsaras
made Visvavasu their calf and milked out into their lotus vessel, fra-
grance, beauty and sweet words.
The Pitris made Aryaman their calf and extracted into their
unburnt earth vessel the Kavya offerings. The Siddhas made
Kapila their calf and milked out the Siddhis (animan ??c). (And
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v?