Chapter 223

“The lady replied, ‘I am a daughter of Prajapati (the lord of allcreatures, Brahma) and my name is Devasena. My sister Daityasena has erethis been ravished by Kesin. We two sisters with our maids habituallyused to come to these Manasa mountains for pleasures with the permissionof Prajapati. And the great Asura Kesin used daily to pay his court tous. Daityasena, O conqueror of Paka, listened to him, but I did not.Daityasena was, therefore, taken away by him, but, O illustrious one,thou hast rescued me with thy might. And now, O lord of the celestials, Idesire that thou shouldst select an invincible husband for me.’ To thisIndra replied, ‘Thou art a cousin of mine, thy mother being a sister ofmy mother Dakshayani, and now I desire to hear thee relate thine ownprowess.’ The lady replied, ‘O hero with long arms, I am Avala[70] (weak)but my husband must be powerful. And by the potency of my father’s boon,he will be respected by gods and Asuras alike.’ Indra said, ‘O blamelesscreature, I wish to hear from thee, what sort of power thou wishest thyhusband to possess.’ The lady replied, ‘That manly and famous andpowerful being devoted to Brahma, who is able to conquer all thecelestials, Asuras, Yakshas, Kinnaras, Uragas, Rakshasas, and theevil-minded Daityas and to subdue all the worlds with thee, shall be myhusband.’

“Markandeya continued, ‘On hearing her speech, Indra was grieved anddeeply thought within himself, ‘There is no husband for this lady,answering to her own description.’ And that god adorned with sun-likeeffulgence, then perceived the Sun rising on the Udaya hill,[71] and thegreat Soma (Moon) gliding into the Sun. It being the time of the newMoon, he of a hundred sacrifices, at the Raudra[72] moment, observed thegods and Asuras fighting on the Sunrise hill. And he saw that the morningtwilight was tinged with red clouds. And he also saw that the abode ofVaruna had become blood-red. And he also observed Agni conveyingoblations offered with various hymns by Bhrigu, Angiras, and others andentering the disc of the Sun. And he further saw the twenty four Parvasadorning the Sun, and the terrible Soma also present in the Sun undersuch surroundings. And observing this union of the Sun and the Moon andthat fearful conjunction of theirs, Sakra thought within himself, Thisterrific conjunction of the Sun and the Moon forebodeth a fearful battleon the morrow. And the river Sindhu (Indus) too is flowing with a currentof fresh blood and the jackals with fiery laces are crying to the Sun.This great conjunction is fearful and full of energy. This union of theMoon (Soma) with the Sun and Agni is very wonderful. And if Soma givethbirth to a son now, that son may become the husband of this lady. AndAgni also hath similar surroundings now, and he too is a god. If the twobegetteth a son, that son, may become the husband of this lady.’ Withthese thoughts that illustrious celestial repaired to the regions ofBrahma, taking Devasena[73] with him. And saluting the Grandsire he saidunto him, ‘Do thou fix a renowned warrior as husband of this lady.’Brahma replied, ‘O slayer of Asuras, it shall be; as thou hast intended.The issue of that union will be mighty and powerful accordingly. Thatpowerful being will be the husband of this lady and the joint leader ofthy forces with thee.’ Thus addressed, the lord of the celestials and thelady bowed unto him and then repaired to the place where those greatBrahmanas, the powerful celestial Rishis, Vasistha and others, lived. Andwith Indra at their head, the other gods also, desirous of drinking theSoma beverage, repaired to the sacrifices of those Rishis to receivetheir respective shares of the offerings. Having duly performed theceremonies with the bright blazing fire, those great-minded personsoffered oblations to the celestials. And the Adbhuta fire, that carrierof oblations, was invited with mantras. And coming out of the solar disc,that lordly fire duly repaired thither, restraining speech. And, O chiefof Bharata’s race, that fire entering the sacrificial fire that had beenignited and into which various offerings were made by the Rishis withrecitations of hymns, took them with him and made them over to thedwellers of heaven. And while returning from that place, he observed thewives of those high-souled Rishis sleeping at their ease on their beds.And those ladies had a complexion beautiful like that of an altar ofgold, spotless like moon-beams, resembling fiery flames and looking likeblazing stars. And seeing those wives of the illustrious Brahmanas witheager eyes, his mind became agitated and he was smitten with theircharms. Restraining his heart he considered it improper for him to bethus agitated. And he said unto himself, The wives of these greatBrahmanas are chaste and faithful and beyond the reach of other people’sdesires. I am filled with desire to possess them. I cannot lawfully castmy eyes upon them, nor ever touch them when they are not filled withdesire. I shall, therefore, gratify myself daily with only looking atthem by becoming their Garhapatya (house-hold) fire.’

“Markandeya continued, The Adbhuta fire, thus transforming himself into ahouse-hold one, was highly gratified with seeing those gold-complexionedladies and touching them with his flames. And influenced by their charmshe dwelt there for a long time, giving them his heart and filled with anintense love for them. And baffled in all his efforts to win the heartsof those Brahmana ladies, and his own heart tortured by love, he repairedto a forest with the certain object of destroying himself. A little whilebefore, Swaha, the daughter of Daksha, had bestowed her love on him. Theexcellent lady had been endeavouring for a long time to detect his weakmoments; but that blameless lady did not succeed in finding out anyweakness in the calm and collected fire-god. But now that the god hadbetaken himself to a forest, actually tortured by the pangs of love, shethought, ‘As I too am distressed with love, I shall assume the guise ofthe wives of the seven Rishis, and in that disguise I shall seek thefire-god so smitten with their charms. This done, he will be gratifiedand my desire too will be satisfied.'”