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ON HUMAN SACRIFICES IN THE
swered, "He who has once done a wicked deed will be liable to repeat it. Thou canst never be free from the disposition of the vile [Súdras]. Thou hast done what is unpardonable."-"Unpardonable!" repeated Viswamitra, and said, "Dreadful appeared the son of Suyavasa, armed with a weapon, intending to slay. Let not his son be his, but become a son of mine." But then said Sunaksepha to Viswamitra, "Son of a king, explain to me how this may be, that I, of the race of Angiras, can be in the relation of a son to thee?" Viśwánitra answered, "Thou shalt be the eldest of my own, and an excellent progeny shall be thine. Thou comest to me as the gift of the gods, and therefore I welcome thee."-"But," said Sunahsepha, "who will assure me, best of the Bharatas, of the concurrence of these [thy sons] for my affiliation and seniority if I become thy son?" Thereupon Viswamitra called his sons together and said, "Madhuchhandas, Rishabha, Renu, Ashtaka, and all the rest of the brethren, listen to my commands, and dispute not the seniority of Sunahsepha." Now Viswamitra had a hundred and one sons, fifty of whom were senior and fifty junior to Madhuchhandas. The seniors did not approve of the adoption, and Viswamitra cursed them and said, "Your progeny shall be degraded;" and consequently their descendants were the Andhras, Puńdras, Sabaras, Pulindas, and Mútivas. Thus there are numerous degraded races sprung from Viswamitra, forming the greater portion of the barbarous tribes [Dasyus]. On the other hand, Madhuchhandas and
