24. After the Lord had extirpated the demoniac race, at the end of the Titanic age, he disappeared from view with the grateful greetings of the synod of gods.
25. The surviving sons of the demon, who had fled from the burning of their city, were afterwards led back to it by Prahláda; as the migrating fowls are made to return to the dry bed of a lake by a shower of rains.
26. There they mourned over the dead bodies of the demons, and lamented at the loss of their possessions, and performed at last the funeral ceremonies of their departed friends and relatives.
27. After burning the dead bodies of their friends, they invited the relics of the demons; that had found their safety by flight, to return to their deserted habitations again.
28. The Asuras and their leaders, now continued to mourn with their disconsolate minds and disfigured bodies, like lotuses beaten down by the frost. They remained without any effort or attempt as the figures in a painting; and without any hope of resuscitation, like a withered tree or an arbour stricken by lightning.
CHAPTER XXXI.
PRAHLÁDA’S FAITH IN VISHNU.
Argument. Prahláda’s Lamentations at the slaughter of the demons, and his conversion to Vishnuism.
Vasishtha continued:—Prahláda remained disconsolate in his subterranean region, brooding over the melancholy thoughts of the destruction of the Dánavas and their habitations.
2. Ah! what is to become of us, said he, when this Hari is bent to destroy the best amongst us, like a monkey nipping the growing shoots and sprouts of trees.
3. I do not see the Daityas anywhere in earth or in the infernal regions, that are left in the enjoyment of their properties; but are stunted in their growth like the lotuses growing on mountain tops.