crificial offerings.

"'Not knowing Rudra truly, the celestials, O king, assigned no share for
the divine Sthanu. Seeing that the celestials assigned to him no share in
the sacrificial offerings, Sthanu, clad in deer skins, desired to destroy
that Sacrifice and with that object constructed a bow. There are four
kinds of Sacrifices: the loka Sacrifice, the Sacrifice of special rites,
the eternal domestic Sacrifice, and the Sacrifice consisting in the
gratification derived by man from his enjoyment of the five elemental
substances and their compounds. It is from these four kinds of Sacrifice
that the universe has sprung. Kapardin constructed that bow using as
materials the first and the fourth kinds of Sacrifices. The length of
that bow was five cubits. The sacred (mantra) "vashat," O Bharata, was
made its string. The four parts, of which a Sacrifice consists, became
the adornments of that bow.

"'Then Mahadeva, filled with rage, and taking up that bow, proceeded to
that spot where the celestials were engaged in their Sacrifice. Beholding
the unfading Rudra arrive there attired as a brahmacari and armed with
that bow, the goddess Earth shrunk with fear and the very mountains began
to tremble. The very wind ceased to move, and fire itself, though fed,
did not blaze forth. The stars in the firmament, in anxiety, began to
wander in irregular courses. The Sun's splendour decreased. The disc of
the Moon lost its beauty. The entire welkin became enveloped in a thick
gloom. The celestials, overwhelmed, knew not what to do. Their Sacrifice
ceased to blaze forth. The gods were all terrified. Rudra then pierced
the embodiment of Sacrifice with a fierce shaft in the heart. The
embodied form of Sacrifice, assuming the shape of a deer, fled away, with
the god of fire. Approaching heaven in that form, he blazed forth in
beauty. Rudra, however, O Yudhishthira, pursued him through the skies.
After Sacrifice had fled away, the gods lost their splendour. Having lost
their senses, the gods were stupefied.

"'Then the three-eyed Mahadeva, with his bow, broke in rage the arms of
Savitri, and plucked out the eyes of Bhaga and the teeth of Pushana. The
gods then fled away, as also all the several parts of Sacrifice. Some
amongst them, reeling as they sought to fly away, fell down senseless.
The blue-throated Rudra, having agitated them thus, laughed aloud, and
whirling the horn of his bow, paralysed them. The celestials then uttered
a cry. At