elf to do what was necessary for the world and its
denizens. When the sun reached the meridian, and the hour, therefore,
came for saying the morning prayers, the puissant Lord, suddenly shaking
off three balls of mud from his tusk, placed them upon the Earth, O
Narada, having previously spread thereon certain blades of grass. The
puissant Vishnu dedicated those balls of mud unto his own self, according
to the rites laid down in the eternal ordinance. Regarding the three
balls of mud that the puissant Lord had shaken off from his tusks as
Pindas, he then, with sesame seeds of oily kernel that arose from the
heat of his own body, himself performed the rite of dedication, sitting
with face turned towards the East. That foremost of deities then,
impelled by the desire of establishing rules of conduct for the denizens
of the three worlds, said these words:

"'"Vrishakapi said, 'I and the Creator of the worlds. I am resolved to
create those that are to be called Pitris.'--Saying these words, he began
to think of those high ordinances that should regulate the rites to be
gone through in honour of the Pitris. While thus engaged, he saw that the
three balls of mud, shaken off his tusk, had fallen towards the South. He
then said unto himself,--'These balls, shaken off my tusk, have fallen on
the Earth towards the southern direction of her surface. Led by this, I
declare that these should be known henceforth by the name of Pitris. Let
these three that are of no particular shape, and that are only round,
come to be regarded as Pitris in the world. Even thus do I create the
eternal Pitris. I am the father, the grandfather, and the great
grandfather, and I should be regarded as residing in these three Pindas.
There is no one that is superior to me. Who is there whom I myself may
worship or adore with rites? Who, again, is my sire in the universe? I
myself am my grandfather. I am, indeed, the Grandsire and the Sire. I am
the one cause (of all the universe).'--Having said these words, that God
of gods, Vrishakapi by name, offered those Pindas, O learned Brahmana, on
the breast of the Varaha mountains, with elaborate rites. By those rites
He worshipped His own self, and having finished the worship, disappeared
there and then. Hence have the Pitris come to be called by the name of
Pinda. Even this is the foundation of the designation. Agreeably to the
words uttered by Vrishakapi on that occasion, the Pitris receive the
worship offered by