stook his father
for a straggling deer. And mistaking him for a deer, Paravasu, for the
sake of personal safety, unintentionally killed his father. Then, O son
of Bharata, after performing the funeral rites (of his father), he
returned to the sacrifice and there addressed his brother saying, 'Thou
wilt never be able to perform this task unassisted. I again, have killed
our father, mistaking him for a deer. O brother, for me do thou observe a
vow, prescribed in the case of killing a Brahmana. O Muni, I shall be
able to perform this work (sacrifice), without any assistant.' Arvavasu
said, 'Do thou then thyself officiate at this sacrifice of the gifted
Vrihadyumna; and for thee will I, bringing my senses under perfect
control, observe the vow prescribed in the case of slaying a Brahmana.'

"Lomasa said, 'Having observed the vow relative to the killing of a
Brahmana, the sage Arvavasu came back to the sacrifice. Seeing his
brother arrive, Paravasu, in accents choked with malice, addressed
Vrihadyumna, saying, 'O king, see that this slayer of a Brahmana enter
not into thy sacrifice, nor look at it. Even by a glance, the killer of a
Brahmana can, without doubt, do thee harm.' O lord of men, immediately on
hearing this, the king ordered his attendants (to turn out Arvavasu). O
king, on being driven out by the king's attendants, and repeatedly
addressed by them--'O slayer of a Brahmana--Arvavasu more than once
cried, 'It is not I that have killed a Brahmana. Not did he own that he
had observed the vow for his own sake. He said that his brother had
committed the sin, and that he had freed him therefrom.' Having said this
in anger, and being reprimanded by the attendants, the Brahmana sage of
austere penances, retired in silence into the woods. There betaking
himself to the severest penances, the great Brahmana sought the
protection of the Sun. Thereupon, the revelation teaching the mantra
relative to the worship of the Sun, became manifest unto him and that
eternal deity who obtaineth his share (of the sacrificial butter) first,
appeared before him in an embodied form.'

"Lomasa said, 'The celestials, O king, were well pleased with Arvavasu
for his acts. And they made him engaged as the chief priest in the
sacrifice (of Vrihadyumna), and Paravasu to be dismissed from it. Then
Agni and the other celestials (of their own accord) bestowed boons on
Arvavasu. And they also prayed that his father might be restored to life.
He furthe