13. The infernal regions became in time the seat of anarchy and oppression; and the good and honest dealings bade adieu to it all at once.
14. The houses of the weak were robbed by the strong, and the restraints of laws were set at naught; the people oppressed one another and robbed the women of their robes.
15. There were crying and wailing of the people on all sides, and the houses were pulled down in the city; the houses and gardens were robbed and spoiled, and outlawry and rapacity spread all over the land.
16. The Asuras were in deep sorrow, and their families were starving without food or fruits; there were disturbance and riot rising every where, and the face of the sky was darkened on all sides.
17. They were derided by the younglings of the gods, and invaded by vile robbers and envious animals; the houses were robbed of their properties, and were laid waste and void.
18. The Asura realm became a scene of horror, by lawless fighting for the wives and properties of others; and the wailings of those that were robbed of their wealth and wives, it made the scene seem as the reign of the dark Kali age, when the atrocious marauders are let loose to spread devastation all over the earth.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
SCRUTINY INTO THE NATURE OF GOD.
Argument. Hari’s care for preservation of the order of the world, and his advice to Prahláda.
Vasishtha continued:—Now Hari who slept on his couch of the snake, in his watery mansion of the Milky ocean, and whose delight it was to preserve the order of all the groups of worlds;—
2. Looked into the course of world in his own mind, after he rose from his sleep at the end of the rainy season for achieving the objects of the gods. (Vishnu rises after the rains on the eleventh day of moon उत्थानैकादशी ।).