Not only did they obey, but continued their search until they struck in turn the four elephants on whose backs the Hindus claim our earth peacefully reposes.

Here the diggers disturbed the meditations of some god, who, in his anger, burned them up.

The poor father, anxious to purify the ashes of his dead sons, learned he would never be able to do so until the Ganges--a river of heaven--was brought down to earth.

By dint of penance and prayer, the bereaved parent induced Vishnu to permit this stream--which until then had only flowed in heaven--to descend to earth, warning the king that the river, in coming down, would destroy the world unless some means were found to stem the force of its current.

Our clever rajah obviated this difficulty by persuading the god Siva to receive the cataract on the top of his head, where the sacred waters, after threading their way through his thick locks, were divided into the seven streams which feed the sacred springs of India.