along its margin managed to assuage his thirst by drinking the water. It is in this mountain tarn that the pilgrims to distant Gosainthan fancy they can trace in the great unhewn rock lying in its centre the shape of the god reclining full length upon a bed of serpents. In continuation of this idea, the believers in the myth have constructed at least two much reduced representations of the lake and its deity in different parts of the Valley. One of these reproductions is smaller than the other, and is called the Bala (little) Nila-kent, which, having been abbreviated to Balaji, now gives the name to the garden wherein it reclines. But the complete story of this legend continues right up to almost recent times, for it appears that tradition has ruled that if the reigning monarch of Nepal should ever visit the greater Nila-kent his death will follow almost immediately. Balaji was therefore built subsequently to the larger representation, and to this statue of Narain in its beautiful terraced garden the kings of Nepal may pay their devotions with impunity.
For obvious reasons there is a close associa-
