Chapter 14

“Salya said, ‘Then the goddess of Divination stood near that chaste andbeautiful lady. And having beheld that goddess, youthful and lovely,standing before her, Indra’s queen, glad at heart, paid respects to themand said, ‘I desire to know who thou art, O thou of lovely face.’ AndDivination said, ‘I am Divination, O goddess, come near thee. Since thouart truthful, therefore, O high-minded lady, do I appear in thy sight.Since thou art devoted to thy lord, employed in controlling thyself, andengaged in the practice of religious rites, I shall show thee the godIndra, the slayer of Vritra. Quickly come after me, so may good betidethee! Thou shalt see that best of gods.’ Then Divination proceeded andthe divine queen of Indra went after her. And she crossed the heavenlygroves, and many mountains; and then having crossed the Himavatmountains, she came to its northern side. And having reached the sea,extending over many yojanas, she came upon a large island covered withvarious trees and plants. And there she saw a beautiful lake, of heavenlyappearance, covered with birds, eight hundred miles in length, and asmany in breadth. And upon it, O descendant of Bharata, were full-blownlotuses of heavenly appearance, of five colours, hummed round by bees,and counting by thousands. And in the middle of that lake, there was alarge and beautiful assemblage of lotuses having in its midst a largewhite lotus standing on a lofty stalk. And penetrating into thelotus-stalk, along with Sachi, she saw Indra there who had entered intoits fibres. And seeing her lord lying there in a minute form, Sachi alsoassumed a minute form, so did the goddess of divination too. And Indra’squeen began to glorify him by reciting his celebrated deeds of yore. Andthus glorified, the divine Purandara spoke to Sachi, ‘For what purposehast thou come? How also have I been found out?’ Then the goddess spokeof the acts of Nahusha. And she said, ‘O performer of a hundredsacrifices, having obtained the sovereignty of the three worlds, powerfuland haughty and of a vicious soul, he hath commanded me to visit him, andthe cruel wretch hath even assigned me a definite time. If thou wilt notprotect me, O lord, he will bring me under his power. For this reason, OIndra, have I come to thee in alarm. O thou of powerful arms, slay theterrible Nahusha of vicious soul. Discover thyself, O slayer of Daityasand Danavas. O lord, assume thy own strength and rule the celestialkingdom.'”