Mackenzie, Donald Alexander: Indian myth and legend: with illustrations by Warwick Goble and numerous monochrome plates (London, 1913)

MYSTERIES OF CREATION 107

Said Bhima: "I cannot leap over thee. It is for-

I bidden by the Supreme Soul, else would I bound as

t Hanuman bounded over the ocean, for I am his brother."

Hanuman said: "Then move my tail and go past."

Then Bhima endeavoured to lift the tail of the ape

god, but failed, and he said: "Who art thou that hath

|assumed the form of an ape; art thou a god, or a spirit,

3r a demon ?"

Hanuman said: "I am the son of Vayu, even
lanuman. Thou art my elder brother."
Said Bhima: "I would fain behold the incomparable
form thou didst assume to leap over the ocean."

Hanuman said: "At that Age the universe was not
[as it is now. Thou canst not behold the form I erstwhile
'had. ... In Krita Yuga there was one state of things
and in the Treta Yuga another; greater change came
with Dw&para Yuga, and in the present Yuga there is
lessening, and I am not what I have been. The gods,
the saints, and all things that are have changed. I have
conformed with the tendency of the present age and the
influence of Time."

Said Bhima: "I would fain learn of thee regarding
ie various Yugas. Speak and tell what thou dost know,
Hanuman."

The ape god then spake and said: "The Krita Yuga
(Perfect Age) was so named because there was but one
religion, and all men were saintly: therefore they were
not required to perform religious ceremonies. Holiness
never grew less, and the people did not decrease. There
were no gods in the Krita Yiiga, and there were no
demons or Yakshas, and no Rakshasas or Nagas. Men
neither bought nor sold; there were no poor and no
rich; there was no need to labour, because all that men
required was obtained by the power of will; the chief