grace."

The Lord of Gods then gave consent,
And to his heavenly mansion went.
Triumphant in the arms he held,
The monarch's breast with glory swelled.
So swells the ocean, when upon
His breast the full moon's beams have shone.
Already in his mind he viewed
Vasishtha at his feet subdued.
He sought that hermit's grove, and there
Launched his dire weapons through the air,
Till scorched by might that none could stay
The hermitage in ashes lay.
Where'er the inmates saw, aghast,
The dart that Visvamitra cast,
To every side they turned and fled
In hundreds forth disquieted.
Vasishtha's pupils caught the fear,
And every bird and every deer,
And fled in wild confusion forth
Eastward and westward, south and north,
And so Vasishtha's holy shade
A solitary wild was made,
Silent awhile, for not a sound
Disturbed the hush that was around.

Vasishtha then, with eager cry,
Called, "Fear not, friends, nor seek to fly.
This son of Gadhi dies to-day,
Like hoar-frost in the morning's ray."
Thus having said, the glorious sage
Spoke to the king in words of rage:
"Because thou hast destroyed this grove
Which long in holy quiet throve,
By folly urged to senseless crime,
Now shalt thou die before thy time."

Canto LVI. Visvamitra's Vow.

But Visvamitra, at the threat
Of that illustrious anchoret,
Cried, as he launched with ready hand
A fiery weapon, "Stand, O Stand!"
Vasishtha, wild with rage and hate,
Raising, as 'twere the Rod of Fate,
His mighty Brahman wand on high,
To Visvamitra made reply:
"Nay, stand, O Warrior thou, and show
What soldier can, 'gainst Brahman foe.
O Gadhi's son, thy days are told;
Thy pride is tamed, thy dart is cold.
How shall a warrior's puissance dare
With Brahman's awful strength compare?
To-day, base Warrior, shall thou feel
That God-sent might is more than steel."
He raised his Brahman staff, nor missed
The fiery dart that near him hissed:
And quenched the fearful weapon fell,
As flame beneath the billow's swell.

Then Gadhi's son in fury threw
Lord Varun's arm and Rudra's too:
Indra's fierce bolt that all destroys;
That which the Lord of Herds employs:
The Human, that which minstrels keep,
The deadly Lure, the endless Sleep:
The Yawner, and the dart which charms;
Lament and Torture, fearful arms:
The Terrible, the dart which dries,
The Thunderbolt which quenchless flies,
And Fate's dread net, and Brahma's noose,
And that which waits for Varun's use:
The dart he lo