strengthened by austerities, and who would have sent by his bravery even Indra to the abode of the god of death.  It was in this manner, O king! that this water had been prepared by me.  By drinking this water, O king, thou hast done what was not at all right.  But it is impossible now for us to turn back the accident which hath happened.  Surely what thou hast done must have been the fiat of Fate.  Since thou, O great king, being a thirst hast drunk water prepared with sacred hymns, and filled with the virtue of my religious labours, thou must bring forth out of thy own body a son of the character described above.  To that end we shall perform a sacrifice for thee, of wonderful effect so that, valorous as thou art, thou wilt bring forth a son equal to Indra.  Nor with thou experience any trouble on account of the labour pains.’  Then when one hundred years had passed away, a son shining as the sun pierced the left side of the king endowed with a mighty soul, and came forth.  And the son was possessed of mighty strength.  Nor did Yuvanaswa die—­which itself was strange.  Then Indra of mighty strength came to pay him a visit.  And the deities enquired of the great Indra, ‘What is to be sucked by this boy?’ Then Indra introduced his own forefinger into his mouth.  And when the wielder of the thunderbolt said, ‘He will suck me,’ the dwellers of heaven together with Indra christened the boy Mandhata, (literally, Me he shall suck).  Then the boy having tasted the forefinger extended by Indra, became possessed of mighty strength, and he grew thirteen cubits, O king.  And O great king! the whole of sacred learning together with the holy science of arms, was acquired by that masterful boy, who gained all that knowledge by the simple and unassisted power of his thought.  And all at once, the bow celebrated under the name of Ajagava and a number of shafts made of horn, together with an impenetrable coat of mail, came to his possession on the very same day, O scion of Bharata’s race!  And he was placed on the throne by Indra himself and he conquered the three worlds in a righteous way, as Vishnu did by his three strides.  And the wheel of the car of that mighty king as irresistible in its course (throughout the world).  And the gems, of their own accord, came into the possession of that saintly king.  This is the tract of land, O lord of earth, which belonged to him.  It abounds in wealth.  He performed a number of sacrificial rites of various kinds, in which abundant gratuities were paid to the priests.  O king! he of mighty force and unmeasured lustre, erected sacred piles, and performed splendid pious deeds, and attained the position of sitting at Indra’s side.  That sagacious king of unswerving piety sent forth his fiat, and simply by its virtue conquered the earth, together with the sea—­that source of gems—­and all the cities (or [of?—­JBH] the earth), O great king!  The sacrificial grounds prepared by him were to be found all over the earth on all sides round—­not a single spot, but was marked