Chapter 104

“Yudhishthira said, ‘O great saint! I am desirous of hearing in detailwhy it was that Vindhya, made senseless with wrath, suddenly began toincrease his bulk.'”

“Lomasa said, ‘The sun between his rising and setting used to revolveround that monarch of mountains–the great Meru of golden lustre. Andseeing this the mountain Vindhya spake to Surya saying, ‘As thou everyday goest round Meru and honourest him by thy circumambulations, do thoueven the same by me, O maker of light!’ Thus addressed, the sun repliedto the great mountain, saying, ‘I do not of my own will honour thismountain by my circumambulations. By those who have built this universehath that path been assigned to me.’ Thus addressed the mountain suddenlybegan to increase from wrath, desirous, O chastiser of foes, ofobstructing the path of the Sun and the Moon. And all the assembled godscame to Vindhya, the mighty king of mountains, and tried to dissuade himfrom his course. But he heeded not what they said. And then all theassembled gods went to the saint, living in the hermitage, engaged in thepractice of austerities, and the very best of persons devoted to virtue;and stated all that happened to Agastya, possessed of exceedingmarvellous power.

“The gods said, ‘This king of hills, Vindhya, giving way to wrath, isstopping the path of the Sun and the Moon, and also the course of thestars. O foremost of Brahmanas! O thou great in gifts! excepting thyself,there is none who can prevent him; therefore do thou make him desist.’Hearing these words of the gods the Brahmana came to the mountain. And hewith his wife, having arrived there, came near Vindhya and spake to him,saying, ‘O thou best of mountains! I wish to have a path given to me bythee, as, for some purpose, I shall have to go to the southern region.Until my return, do thou wait for me. And when I have returned, O king ofmountains, thou mayst increase in bulk as much as thou pleasest.’ And, Oslayer of foes! having made this compact with Vindhya up to the presentday Varuna’s son doth not return from the southern region. Thus have I,asked by thee, narrated to thee why Vindhya doth not increase in bulk, byreason of the power of Agastya. Now, O king! hear how the Kalakeyas werekilled by the gods, after they had obtained their prayer from Agastya.

“Having heard the words of the gods, Agastya, the son of Mitra, andVaruna, said, ‘Wherefore are ye come? What boon do ye solicit from me?’Thus addressed by him, the deities then spake to the saint, saying, ‘Thisdeed we ask thee to achieve, viz., to drink up the great ocean. Omagnanimous (saint)! Then we shall be able to slay those enemies of thegods, known by the name of Kalakeyas, together with all their adherents.’Having heard the words of the gods, the saint said, ‘Let it be so–Ishall do even what ye desire, and that which will conduce to the greathappiness of men.’ Having said this, he then proceeded to the ocean–thelord of rivers,–accompanied by sages, ripe in the practice of penances,and also by the deities, O thou who leadest an excellent life! And menand snakes, celestial choristers, Yakshas and Kinnaras followed themagnanimous saints,–desirous of witnessing that wonderful event. Thenthey came up all together near to the sea, of awful roar, dancing, as itwere, with its billows, bounding with the breeze, and laughing withmasses of froth, and stumbling at the caves, and thronged with diversekinds of sharks, and frequented by flocks of various birds. And thedeities accompanied by Agastya and celestial choristers and huge snakesand highly-gifted saints, approached the immense watery waste.”