BY THE LATE HORACE HAYMAN WILSON, M.A., F. R.S., MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETIES OF CALCUTTA AND PARIS, AND OF THE ORIENTAL SOCIETY OF GERMANY; FOREIGN MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE; MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMIES OF ST. PETERSBURGH AND VIENNA, AND OF THE ROYAL ACADEMIES OF MUNICH AND BERLIN; PH. D. BRESLAU; M. D. MARBURG, ETC.; AND BODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. TRÜBNER & CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. BOD THE VISHNU PURÁŇA: A SYSTEM OF HINDU MYTHOLOGY AND TRADITION. TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL SANSKRIT, AND ILLUSTRATED BY NOTES DERIVED CHIEFLY FROM OTHER PURÁNAS, BY THE LATE H. H. WILSON, M. A., F.R.S., BODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXford, EDITED BY FITZEDWARD HALL. VOL. V. LONDON: TRÜBNER & CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1870. VISHNU PURÁŃA. BOOK V. (continued). CHAPTER XVII. Akrúra's meditations on Krishna: his arrival at Gokula: his delight at seeing Krishna and his brother. AKRÚRA, having set off in his quick travelling-car, proceeded to visit Krishna at the pastures* of Nanda; and, as he went along, he congratulated himself on his superior good fortune, in having an opportunity of beholding a descended portion of the deity.+ "Now," thought he, “has my life borne fruit; my night is followed by the dawn of day: since I shall see the countenance of Vishnu, whose eyes are like the expanded leaf of the lotos. I shall behold that lotos-eyed aspect § of Vishnu, which, when seen only in imagination, takes away the sins of men. I shall, to-day, behold that glory of glories, |, the mouth of Vishnu, ¶ whence proceeded * Gokula. † Namely, Chakrin, in the original. Here follows, in the Sanskrit, a stanza left untranslated: अद्य मे सफले नेचे अद्य मे सफला गिरः । यन्मे परस्परालापो दृष्ट्वा विष्णुं भविष्यति ॥ Sridhara gives this stanza; but Ratnagarbha does not appear, from my MSS. of his commentary, to recognize it. § Literally, "the lotos-eye." || STA YITATA Variant, preferred by the commentator Ratnagarbha: Zai, “light of the gods”. The original has Bhagavat. |