namely Faith, Volition, Opinion, Imagination, Contemplation, Devotion,
Quietude, Friendship and others, are banished, from Benares, by the evil
king Error who reigns at Benares, surrounded by his faithful adherents,
the Follies and Vices namely Self-conceit, Hypocrisy, Love, Passion,
Anger, Avarice and others. There is, however, a prophecy that Reason
will some day be re-united with Revelation; the fruit of the union will
be True Knowledge, that will destroy the reign of Error.

The struggle for this union and its consummation are followed by the
final triumph of the good party.




NAGANANDA

OR

JOY OF THE SERPENTS.


Jimutavahana, a prince of the Vidyadharas, is a Buddhist. He marries
Malayavati, daughter of the king of the Siddhas, a votary of the goddess
Gauri, the wife of the great god Siva. When he comes to know that
Garuda, the bird celebrated in mythology, is used to eat up one snake
each day, he makes up his mind to offer himself to the bird as a victim,
and eventually succeeds in converting Garuda to the principle of
_Ahimsa_ or abstention from slaughter; but he himself is on the point of
succumbing to the wounds he has received, when, through the timely
intervention of the goddess Gouri, he recovers.