Page:Hindu Feasts Fasts and Ceremonies.djvu/92

76 the king in not having sons, followed their sovereign. Each started with his wife also; for the Hindu belief is that bathing in holy waters is not complete unless both the husband and the wife hold each the other’s hand and bathe together in the waters facing the current. So on that Mahamakham day before the Kali-yuga several thousands of families bathed thus in the Ganges with the king of Mithila. All got out of the water safe, except the king and his queen. What became of the royal pair, no one knew. A very careful search was made, The river was dragged with nets. Not the slightest clue could be had. It was a perfect mystery to every one. The loyal subjects returned to their homes with dismal faces and regarded the event as a great calamity.

But the fact was that the king with his queen got out safe from his bathing. But instead of meeting with their own people, he and his wife found themselves in the middle of a strange tank, and in the middle of people speaking strange tongues. For the royal pair got out of their bathing at Kumbakonam and not at Benares where they plunged themselves in the Ganges, because the subterranean current