arose a Rishi of the name Saraswat.  The son, thus born of the Speech of Narayana, came to be, also called by the name of Apantara-tamas.  Endued with great puissance, he was fully conversant with the past, the present, and the future.  Firm in the observance of vows, he was truthful in speech.[1911] Unto that Rishi who, after birth, had bowed his head unto Narayana, the latter, who was the original Creator of all the deities and possessed of a nature that was immutable, said those words:  Thou shouldst devote thy attention to the distribution of the Vedas, O foremost of all persons endued with intelligence.[1912] Do thou, therefore, O ascetic, accomplish what I command thee.—­In obedience to this command of the Supreme Lord from whose Speech the Rishi Apantaratamas sprang into existence, the latter, in the Kalpa named after the Self-born Manu, distributed and arranged the Vedas.  For that act of the Rishi, the illustrious Hari became gratified with him, as also for his well-performed penances, his vow and observances, and his restraint of the senses or passions.  Addressing him,—­Narayana said,—­At each Manwantara, O son, thou wilt act in this way with respect to the Vedas.  Thou shalt, in consequence of this act of thine, be immutable, O regenerate one, and incapable of being transcended by any one.  When the Kali age will set in, certain princes of Bharata’s line, to be called by the name of Kauravas, will take their birth from thee.  They will be celebrated over the Earth as high-souled princes ruling over powerful kingdoms.  Born of thee, dissensions will break out among them ending in their destruction at one another’s hands excepting yourself.  O foremost of regenerate persons,[1913] in that age also, endued with austere penances, thou wilt distribute the Vedas into diverse classes.  Indeed, in that dark age, thy complexion will become dark.  Thou shalt cause diverse kinds of duties to flow and diverse kinds of knowledge also.  Although endued with austere penances, yet thou shalt never be able to free thyself from desire and attachment to the world.  Thy son, however, will be freed from every attachment like unto the Supreme Soul, through the grace of Madhava.  It will not be otherwise.  He whom learned Brahmanas call the mind-born son of the Grandsire, viz., Vasishtha endued with great intelligence and like unto an ocean of penances, and whose splendour transcends that of the Sun himself, will be the progenitor of a race in which a great Rishi of the name of Parasara, possessed of mighty energy and prowess, will take his birth.  That foremost of persons, that ocean of Vedas, that abode of penances, will become thy sire (when thou wilt take birth in the Kali age).  Thou shalt take thy birth as the son of a maiden residing in the house of her sire, through an act of congress with the great Rishi Parasara.  Doubts thou wilt have none with respect to the imports of things past, present, and future.  Endued with penances and instructed by