wielding a club and neither securing the advantage. Krishna now learns
that Jarasandha can only be killed if he is split in two. He directs
Bhima, therefore, to throw him down, place a foot on one of his thighs and
catching the other leg with his hand, tear him asunder. Bhima does so and
in this way Jarasandha is destroyed. The captive rajas are now released
and after returning home they foregather at the Pandavas' court to assist
at the sacrifice.

As arrangements proceed an incident occurs which illustrates yet again the
complex situation arising from Krishna's dual character. Krishna is God,
yet he is also man. Being a man, it is normally as a man that he is
regarded. Yet from time to time particular individuals sense his Godhead
and then he is no longer man but God himself. Even those, however, who
view him as God do so only for brief periods of time and hence the
situation is constantly arising in which Krishna is one moment honoured as
God and then a moment later is treated as a man. And it is this situation
which now recurs.

As we have already seen in the epic, part of the custom at imperial
sacrifices was to offer presents to distinguished guests, and according to
the epic the person chosen to receive the first present was Krishna
himself. The _Purana_ changes this by substituting gods for guests.
Yudhisthira is uncertain who should be worshipped first. 'Who is the great
lord of the gods,' he asks, 'to whom we should bow our heads?' To this a
Pandava gives a clear answer. Krishna, he says, is god of gods. 'No one
understands his nature. He is lord of Brahma, Siva and Indra. It is he who
creates, preserves and destroys. His work is endless. He is the unseen and
imperishable. He descends upon the earth continually for the sake of his
worshippers and assuming mortal form appears and acts like a mortal. He
sits in our houses and calls us 'brothers.' We are deluded by his power