his mother Vinata, 'why, mother, am I to do the bidding of the snakes?' And Vinata thus questioned by him thus spake unto that ranger of the skies, her son, invested with every, and great strength.
"Vinata said, 'O thou best of birds, I have become, from misfortune, the slave of her who hath the same husband with me. The snakes by an act of deception caused me to lose my bet and have made so.' And when his mother had told him the reason, that ranger of the skies, dejected with grief, addressed the snakes, saying, 'Tell me, ye snakes, by bringing what thing, or gaining a knowledge of what thing, or doing what act of prowess, we may be freed from this state of bondage to ye.'"
Sauti continued, "And the snakes hearing him said, 'Bring then amrita by force. Then, O bird, shalt thou be freed from bondage.'"
And so ends the twenty-seventh Section in the Astika of the Adi Parva.
Section XXVIII.
( Astika Parva continued. )
Sauti said, "Gadura, thus addressed by the snakes, then said unto his mother. 'I shall go to bring amrita. I desire to eat something. Direct me to it.' And Vinata replied: 'In a remote region in the midst of the ocean, the Nishadas have their fair home. Having eaten the thousand Nishadas that live there, bring thou amrita. But let not thy heart be ever set on taking the life of a Brahmana. A Brahmana of all creatures must not be slain. He is, indeed, like fire. A Brahmana when angry becomes like fire or the Sun, like poison or edged weapon. A Brahmana, it hath been said, is the master of all creatures. For these and other reasons, a Brahmana is the adored of the virtuous. O child, he is never to be slain by thee even in anger. Hostility with the Brahmanas, therefore, would not be proper under any circumstances. O thou sinless one, neither Agni nor the Sun truly consumeth so as doth a Brahmana of rigid vows when angry. By these various indica-
