Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/422

370 to their master, who, on examining the accountbooks, and finding Ajamil to have been a notorious sinner, hastened to Vaicuntha, the heaven where Vishnu reigns in glory, to demand an explanation. And what was the ground of his deliverance? In the hour of his death he had thrice repeated “Narayana,” a name of Vishnu; and so great was the merit of the deed, that he was immediately taken to heaven!

The accompanying cut, taken from the native paintings designed to illustrate the Madura Puranna, will give you an idea both of Hindu art and religious views. The story to be illustrated is as follows:—While Vara-guna was reigning in Madura, even as Indra reigns in the heaven of the gods, he one day went out to hunt lions, tigers, &c. Returning in triumph, he unintentionally rode over and killed a Brahmin who lay asleep in the road. The king came to his palace unconscious of what had happened; but, when the body was brought to him, gave money for the performance of the proper funeral rites. He was not, however, to go unpunished. He had killed a Brahmin, (though unintentionally,) and was, in consequence, afflicted with the incurable disease of Brahma-ashti. He sought to atone for his