Having laved the Lord’s feet and drunk of the water in which they had been immersed alongwith the other members of his family, he thereby transported the souls of his deceased forbears across the ocean of metempsychosis and then gladly took the Lord across the Ga˘gŒ. (101) colossal dimensions and measuring the earth and heavens in a couple of strides. The same Lord who had assumed the form of a Dwarf in the Satyayuga now appeared as Ýr¶ RŒma; hence the two are identified by the poet. It is further mentioned in the PurŒ˜as that BrahmŒ (the Creator) laved the foot of the Lord when it reached Brahmaloka (the highest heaven) after measuring the heavens and it was this water which flowed through the heavens and later on reached the earth in the form of the river Ga˘gŒ. It is also gathered from the PurŒ˜as that the river, like all other rivers and mountains etc., is presided over by a goddess of the same name and it is this deity who is represented here as mystified by the Lord’s behaviour as an ordinary human being depending on a boatman for being taken across the stream. When, however, the boatman bathed the feet of the Lord with the water of the holy river, the goddess took no time in recognizing the source of her waters and rejoiced to discover the Almighty Lord. 442 * ÝR” RMACARITAMNASA*