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252
ON HUMAN SACRIFICES IN THE
[second] set of teeth are through; wait till then, and I will perform the sacrifice." Varuna assented. The second teeth were cut. "Now," said Varuna, "his teeth are produced; sacrifice with him to me.""No," replied the king, "for a Kshatriya is not fit for sacrifice until he has been invested with arms: let him receive his martial investiture, then I will sacrifice to you."-"So be it," said Varuna. The youth grew, and was invested with arms; and Varuna said, "now sacrifice to me with him." The king replied, "Be it so." But he called his son, and said, "My child, Varuna gave you to me, and I have also promised to sacrifice with you to him."-"By no means," said the youth; and taking his bow, he set off to the forest, where he wandered for a twelvemonth.
Upon Rohita's disappearance Varuna afflicted the descendant of Ikshwáku with dropsy; which when Rohita heard he set off to return home. On the way he was met by Indra in the shape of a Brahman, who said to him, "We have heard, Rohita, that prosperity attends him who undergoes great labour, and that a man, although excellent, is held in disesteem if he tarries amongst his kin. Indra is the friend of the wanderer, therefore do thou wander on-wander on." Thus spake the Brahman; and Rohita passed a second year in the woods.
At the end of that period he turned towards home, but Indra, as a mortal, again met him, and said, "The feet of the traveller bear flowers, his body grows and puts forth fruit. All his sins are effaced by
