fought as a kshattriya and a king should fight, and many
times he worsted bis opponent Sindhu.
And after human weapons were exhausted, they fought
with Astras(^1) till both armies were destroyed. At the last,.
having" consumed each other's war-cars with the Agney-astra(^2),
they fought again with swords till the keen straight edge of
the sword was as the edge of a saw with the myriad dents of
strokes of blade on blade. And, in that combat, Viduratha.
fell covered with wounds, and as his men brought up another
car and tried to take him away, Sindhu made another stroke
which nearly severed his head from his body. And in that
state they brought the dying king into his palace, and there
beholding him.Uhe younger Lila fell fainting upon the floor.
The cry went forth that the king had been slain by the
enemy. All was terror and disorder in the city. Plunder^
violence, and lawlessness reigned for a while supreme.
But shortly the victor-king was installed as Ruler of the
country, and issued laws anew, and there was peace again.
Meanwhile Lila saw her husband lying all unconscious ;
only a breath remained in him. She spoke to Sarasvati ?
^Mother ! my husband is about to leave this body/^f
Sarasvati : ^Yea, so it is ! But dost thou realise that all
this fearful battle, all this city, all this world, is a mere dream
existing in the space within thy palace in the Padma-world ;
that all that Padma-world again occupies but a small portion
of the space within that little village-home, ensconced amongst
the Vindhya hills, and tenanted of old by the brahmana
Vasishtha and his wife ? All these three worlds, with thee
and me and this, are dreams. All is Illusion. But, were
(1) Celestial (or, rather, infernal) weapons.
.(2) Fire-weapon—the "vriP of Bulwer Lytton ; or the 'fire-bombs',.
'inoeiicliariea', 'flying bombs', 'rootoat-'bnmbs' etc., oi World-war II,,
now raging (19AA).