said, ’We have never before spoken an untruth; no, not even in jest; what shall we say of other occasions!  O thou foremost of male Beings, know that we have ever been firm in truth and morality.  In strength, in forms, in beauty, in virtue, in asceticism, in charity, in behaviour, in goodness, in self control, there is no one equal unto either of us.  A great danger, O Kesava, hath approached us.  Accomplish thou, therefore, what thou hast said.  No one can prevail over Time.  But, O Lord, there is one thing that we desire to be done by thee.  O thou best and foremost of all Deities, thou must slay us at a spot that is absolutely uncovered.  And, O thou of excellent eyes, we also desire to become thy sons.  This is the boon that we desire, know then, O chief of the gods!  Let not that O Deity, be false which thou hadst at first promised to us.’  The Holy One then replied unto them saying, ’Yes, I will do as ye desire.  Everything will be as ye wish!’

“Markandeya continued, ’Then Govinda began to reflect but uncovered space found he none and when he could not discover any spot that was uncovered on earth or in the sky, that foremost Deity then beheld his thighs to be absolutely uncovered.  And there, O king, the illustrious Deity cut off the heads of Madhu and Kaitabha with his keenedged discus!’”

SECTION CCIII

“Markandeya said, ’The illustrious Dhundhu, O king, was the son of Madhu and Kaitabha, and possessed of great energy and prowess, he underwent ascetic penances of great austerity and he stood erect on one leg and reduced his body to a mass of only veins and arteries, and Brahma, gratified with him, gave him a boon.  And the boon he had asked of the lord Prajapati was in these words, ’Let no one among the gods, the Danavas, the Rakshas, the Snakes, the Gandharvas and the Rakshasas be capable of slaying me.  Even this is the boon that I ask of thee.’  And the Grandsire replied unto him saying, ’Let it be as thou wishest.  Go thy way.’  And thus addressed by the Grandsire, the Danava placed the feet of the Deity on his head and having thus touched with reverence the Deity’s feet he went away and possessed of mighty energy and prowess.  Dhundhu, having obtained the boon hastily approached Vishnu remembering the death of his father at the hands of that Deity, and the wrathful Dhundhu having vanquished the gods with the Gandharvas began to distress all the celestials with Vishnu at their head.  And at last O bull of the Bharata race, that wicked souled Asura arriving at a sea of sands known by the name of Ujjalaka, began to distress to the utmost of his might the asylum of Utanka.  And endued with fierce energy, Dhundhu, the son of Madhu and Kaitabha, lay in his subterranean cave underneath the sands in the observance of fierce ascetic and severe austerities with the object of destroying the triple world, and while the Asura lay breathing near the asylum of Utanka