The Hindu Temple v1.c4.s3.4

v1.c4.s3.4

King Bhoja, in the ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’ (VI. 5-27; VII. 7-34) recounts the afflictions of men when the wishing-trees (kalpadruma) which in the Kṛta Yuga had been their home and sustenance, and when the gods too withdrew to heaven.²⁵ It was, then, that King Pṛthu, the first of men who was installed as a king, attacked Pṛthivī, the earth, with his bow in order to level her (‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, I. 6-24) for she was full of mountains, obstacles to communications and order which he had set himself to establish. But she ran away in fear, changing her shape into that of a cow and took refuge with Brahmā, the creator, whom also King Pṛthu then approached. Brahmā mediates between them, makes King Pṛthu the protector of Pṛthivī, the earth, and makes her yield to him the crops and the sites for building towns of men and gods.