Chapter 7

“Narada said,–the celestial assembly room of Sakra is full of lustre. Hehath obtained it as the fruit of his own acts. Possessed of the splendourof the sun, it was built, O scion of the Kuru race, by Sakra himself.

Capable of going everywhere at will, this celestial assembly house isfull one hundred and fifty yojanas in length, and hundred yojanas inbreadth, and five yojanas in height. Dispelling weakness of age, grief,fatigue, and fear, auspicious and bestowing good fortune, furnished withrooms and seats and adorned with celestial trees, it is delightful in theextreme. There sitteth in that assembly room, O son of Pritha, on anexcellent seat, the Lord of celestials, with his wife Sachi endowed withbeauty and affluence. Assuming a form incapable of description for itsvagueness, with a crown on his head and bright bracelets on the upperarms, attired in robes of pure white and decked with floral wreaths ofmany hues, there he sitteth with beauty, fame, and glory by his side. Andthe illustrious deity of a hundred sacrifices is daily waited upon. Omonarch, in that assembly by the Marutas in a body, each leading the lifeof a householder in the bosom of his family. And the Siddhyas, celestialRishis, the Sadhyas in all, the gods, and Marutas of brilliant complexionand adorned with golden garlands,–all of them in celestial form anddecked in ornaments, always wait upon and worship the illustrious chiefof the immortals, that mighty represser of all foes. And O son of Pritha,the celestial Rishis also, all of pure souls, with sins completely washedoff and resplendent as the fire, and possessed of energy, and withoutsorrow of any kind, and freed from the fever of anxiety, and allperformers of the Soma sacrifice, also wait upon and worship Indra. AndParasara and Parvata and Savarni and Galava; and Sankha, and the Muni,Gaursiras, and Durvasa, and Krodhana and Swena and the Muni Dhirghatamas;and Pavitrapani, Savarni, Yajnavalkya and Bhaluki; and Udyalaka,Swetaketu, and Tandya, and also Bhandayani; and Havishmat, and Garishta,and king Harischandra; and Hridya, Udarshandilya. Parasarya, Krishivala;Vataskandha, Visakha, Vidhatas and Kala. Karaladanta, Tastri, andVishwakarman, and Tumuru; and other Rishis, some born of women and othersliving upon air, and others again living upon fire, these all worshipIndra, the wielder of the thunderbolt, the lord of all the worlds. AndSahadeva, and Sunitha, and Valmiki of great ascetic merit; and Samika oftruthful speech, and Prachetas ever fulfilling their promises, andMedhatithi, and Vamadeva, and Pulastya, Pulaha and Kratu; and Maruta andMarichi, and Sthanu of great ascetic merit; and Kakshivat, and Gautama,and Tarkhya, and also the Muni Vaishwanara; and the Muni Kalakavrikhiyaand Asravya, and also Hiranmaya, and Samvartta, and Dehavya, andViswaksena of great energy; and Kanwa, and Katyayana, O king, and Gargya,and Kaushika;–all are present there along with the celestial waters andplants; and faith, and intelligence, and the goddess of learning, andwealth, religion, and pleasure; and lightning. O son of Pandu; and therain-charged clouds, and the winds, and all the loud-sounding forces ofheaven; the eastern point, the twenty seven fires conveying thesacrificial butter, Agni and Soma, and the fire of Indra, and Mitra, andSavitri, and Aryaman; Bhaga, Viswa the Sadhyas, the preceptor(Vrihaspati), and also Sukra; and Vishwavasu and Chitrasena, and Sumanas,and also Taruna; the Sacrifices, the gifts to Brahmanas, the planets, andthe stars, O Bharata, and the mantras that are uttered in sacrifices–allthese are present there. And, O King, many Apsaras and Gandharvas, byvarious kinds of dances and music both instrumental and vocal, and by thepractice of auspicious rites, and by the exhibition of many feats ofskill, gratify the lord of the celestials–Satakratu–the illustriousslayer of Vala and Vritra. Besides these, many other Brahmanas and royaland celestial Rishis, all resplendent as the fire, decked in floralwreaths and ornaments, frequently come to and leave that assembly, ridingon celestial cars of various kinds. And Vrihaspati and Sukra are presentthere on all occasions. These and many other illustrious ascetics ofrigid wows, and Bhrigu and the seven Rishis who are equal, O king, untoBrahma himself, come to and leave that assembly house, riding on carsbeautiful as the car of Soma, and themselves looking as bright therein asSoma himself. This, O mighty armed monarch, is the assembly house, calledPushkaramalini, of Indra of a hundred sacrifices that I have seen. Listennow to the account of Yama’s assembly house.”