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OF THE HINDUS.
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season, by whom was the rite instituted, what observances are to be practised? Give me, Krishna, a full account of these things.' Krishńa replied: 'In the Křita age, Yudhishthira, there was a king named Raghu, a brave warrior, endowed with all good qualities, a kind speaker, and deeply read in the Vedas; he had subdued the whole earth, had brought all its princes under his authority, and virtuously cherished his subjects, as if they had been his own children. In his reign there was neither famine, nor sickness, nor untimely death, nor any iniquity, nor departure from the precepts of religion. Whilst he was thus governing his kingdom, agreeably to the duties of his regal caste, all his people came to him and called upon him to preserve them. They said, 'Lo, into our houses a female Rákshas named Dundhá enters, both by day and by night, and forcibly afflicts our children, and she cannot be driven out either by charmed bracelets, or by water, or by seeds of mustard, or by holy teachers skilful in exorcismus. Such, oh king! as we have related, is the story of Dundhá.'
“When the king heard these things, he consulted the Muni Nárada. The Muni replied: 'I will tell you by what means the fiend is to be destroyed. This day is the fifteenth of the light fortnight of Phálguna; the cold season has departed, the warm weather will commence with dawn. Chief of men! let the assdlrance of safety be this day given to your people, and let them, freed from terror, laugh and sport; let the children go forth rejoicing, like soldiers delighted to
