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SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
 
brother-in-law, and is now doing penance in the mountainous
abode of Siva to become a universal sovereign. You should
wrest the lost kingdom of your father from him; and then the
whole of the earth will come under your sway. You will
meet with adverses for a period of two months. You
should start with your friends tomorrow when the moon
will be in conjunction with the constellation Revati."
 
31
 
On the morrow the prince took leave of his parents and
sage Vāmadeva, appointed Simhadamana, his Šabara friend to
keep guard over them, and set out northwards with Apahāra
and other companions. They spent a day in an āśrama not
far off from their hermitage and on the next day entered the
lonely Vindhya forests.
 
(Av. Sara V. 17-41; Av. pp. 204-26)
 
Story of Matanga
 
In the Vindhya forest they encountered a Brahman on
the bank of a river sitting at the foot of a tree. He
was clad in bark garments and had hard scars of wonuds all
over his body. He greeted the prince politely, and being
questioned as to who he was, narrated his story: 'Sir, my
name is Mātanga and I come of a family of Brahmans who
have not any trace of Vedic learning and who lead the life of
hunters. One day, armed with bow, I roamed about the
forest with some hunters and saw an old Brahman wayfarer
[of eighty years]. The hunters greedy of [the handful of
grains in the rags of the old man assaulted him. Out of
pity, I fell on them, killed three or four and saved the
Brahman. The other hunters crushed me to death and I
found myself before the god of Death seated on kusa grass.
[When I prostrated before Him] the god said, 'Nityogra,
look at the hells.' Then Citragupta, under command, took me
through the Padma and other sections of hell where sinners
were put to torture.
 
(Av. Sāra V. 42-49; Av. pp. 226-38)
Story of Nityogra and Mahogra.
 
When I asked Citragupta why Yama called me by the
name Nityogra, he said: '(Hālāhalika?) the chieftain of
Pulindas (inhabiting the adjoining country of Vidarbha)
obtained by theft a son named Kolāhalika. The son used to