Page:Hindu Feasts Fasts and Ceremonies.djvu/78



HE Krittika is a feast in honour of the glory of Siva. The legend regarding this feast is as follows: Brahma and Vishnu had a dispute among themselves as to who was the superior of the two, and appealed to Siva. To decide the superiority, Siva devised a means. He said that he would stand up as an all-pervading pillar of fire, that Brahma should traverse the sky and discover the top of the pillar, and that Vishnu should find his way to the nether world and discover the foot of it. Brahma-called at once his swan vehicle and started, and Vishnu assumed the form of a boar and went on boring and boring to the nether world and down and down to discover the foot. He, who returned first and reported what he was asked to see, was to be pronounced the superior of the two. That was the test of superiority. So Brahma and Vishnu were very busy travelling one to