[FN#161] Yama judges the dead. whose souls go to him in four hours and forty minutes； therefore a corpse cannot be burned till after that time. His residence is Yamalaya. and it is on the south side of the earth； down South， as we say. （I， Sam. xxv. 1， and xxx. 15）. The Hebrews， like the Hindus， held the northern parts of the world to be higher than the southern. Hindus often joke a man who is seen walking in that direction， and ask him where he is going.

　　Here the young prince Dharma Dhwaj burst out laughing at the ridiculous idea of the wrong heads. And the warrior king， who， like single-minded fathers in general， was ever in the idea that his son had a velleity for deriding and otherwise vexing him， began a severe course of reproof. He reminded the prince of the common saying that merriment without cause degrades a man in the opinion of his fellows， and indulged him with a quotation extensively used by grave fathers， namely， that the loud laugh bespeaks a vacant mind. After which he proceeded with much pompousness to pronounce the following opinion：

　　"It is said .n the Shastras——"

　　"Your majesty need hardly display so much erudition！ Doubtless it comes from the lips of Jayudeva or some other one of your Nine Gems of Science， who know much more about their songs and their stanzas than they do about their scriptures，" insolently interrupted the Baital， who never lost an opportunity of carping at those reverend men.

　　"It is said in the Shastras，" continued Raja Vikram sternly， after hesitating whether he should or should not administer a corporeal correction to the Vampire， "that Mother Ganga[FN#162] is the queen amongst rivers， and the mountain Sumeru[FN#163] is the monarch among mountains， and the tree Kalpavriksha[FN#164] is the king of all trees， and the head of man is the best and most excellent of limbs. And thus， according to this reason， the wife belonged to him whose noblest position claimed her."

　　[FN#162] The "Ganges，" in heaven called Mandakini. I have no idea why we still adhere to our venerable corruption of the word.

　　[FN#163] The fabulous mountain supposed by Hindu geographers to occupy the centre of the universe.

　　[FN#164] The all-bestowing tree in Indra's Paradise which grants everything asked of it. It is the Tuba of Al-Islam and is not unknown to the Apocryphal New Testament.

　　"The next thing your majesty will do， I suppose，" continued the Baital， with a sneer， "is to support the opinions of the Digambara， who maintains that the soul is exceedingly rarefied， confined to one place， and of equal dimensions with the body， or the fancies of that worthy philosopher Jaimani， who， conceiving soul and mind and matter to be things purely synonymous， asserts outwardly and writes in his books that the brain is the organ of the mind which is acted upon by the immortal soul， but who inwardly and verily believes that the brain is the mind， and consequently that the brain is the soul or spirit or whatever you please to call it； in fact， that soul is a natural faculty of the body. A pretty doctrine， indeed， for a Brahman to hold. You might as well agree with me at once that the soul of man resides， when at home， either in a vein in the breast， or in the pit of his stomach， or that half of it is in a man's brain and the other or reasoning half is in his heart， an organ of his body."