by
snakes and other serpents proceeds to the ocean. 'Bringing an offering of
respect, Ocean came to meet him; and then the majestic being, adored by
attendant snakes entered into the waters of the deep.'[44]

Krishna then seats himself by a fig tree, lays his left leg across his
right thigh, turns the sole of his foot outwards and assumes one of the
postures in which abstraction is practised. As he meditates he appears
lovelier than ever. His eyes flash. The four arms of Vishnu spring from
his body. He wears his crown, his sacred thread and garland of flowers. As
he sits, glorious and beautiful, the same hunter, who earlier had salvaged
the iron spike from the fish, chances to pass by. His arrow is tipped with
a piece of the iron and mistaking Krishna's foot for part of a deer, he
shoots his arrow and hits it. Approaching the mark, he sees Krishna's four
arms and is horrified to discover whom he has wounded. As he begs
forgiveness, Krishna grants him liberation and dispatches him to heaven.

Daruka, Krishna's charioteer, now comes in search of his master. Finding
him wounded, he is overwhelmed with grief. Krishna tells him to go to
Dwarka and inform the surviving Yadavas what has happened. On receiving
the news they must leave Dwarka immediately, for the sea will shortly
engulf it. They must also place themselves under Arjuna's protection and
go to Indraprastha. 'Then the illustrious Krishna having united himself
with his own pure, spiritual, inexhaustible and universal spirit abandoned
his mortal body.'[45]

Daruka goes mournfully to Dwarka where he breaks the news. Vasudeva with
his two wives, Devaki and Rohini, die of grief. Arjuna recovers the bodies
of Krishna and Balarama and places them on a funeral pyre. Rukmini along
with Krishna's seven other queens throw themselves on the flames.
Balarama's wives, as well as King Ugrasena, also die. Arjuna then appoints
Krishna's great grandson, Parikshit, to rule over the survivors and, after
assembling the remaining women and children, removes them from Dwarka and
travels slowly away. As they leave, the ocean comes up, swallowing the
city and engulfing everything except the temple.

[Footnote 40: Plate 19.]

[Footnote 41: Note 13.]

[Footnote 42: Note 14.]

[Footnote 43: Note 7.]

[Footnote 44: Plate 1 and Note 7.]

[Footnote 45: Plate 2 and Note 7.]

(iv) The _Purana_ Re-considered

Such an account gives us what the _Mahabharata_ epic did not give--a