their mother. O son, do not grieve for it in the least. The destruction of
the snakes in the sacrifice hath, indeed, been ordained long ago.' Saying
this, the divine Creator of the Universe comforted Kasyapa and imparted to
that illustrious one the knowledge of neutralising poison."

And so ends the twentieth section in the Astika Parva of the Adi Parva.


SECTION XXI

(Astika Parva continued)

"Sauti said, 'Then when the night had passed away and the sun had risen in
the morning, O thou whose wealth is asceticism, the two sisters Kadru and
Vinata, having laid a wager about slavery, went with haste and impatience
to view the steed Uchchaishravas from a near point. On their way they saw
the Ocean, that receptacle of waters, vast and deep, rolling and
tremendously roaring, full of fishes large enough to swallow the whale,
and abounding with huge makaras and creatures of various forms by
thousands, and rendered inaccessible by the presence of other terrible,
monster-shaped, dark, and fierce aquatic animals, abounding with tortoises
and crocodiles, the mine of all kinds of gems, the home of Varuna (the
water-God), the excellent and beautiful residence of the Nagas, the lord
of all rivers, the abode of the subterranean fire, the friend (or asylum)
of the Asuras, the terror of all creatures, the grand reservoir of water,
and ever immutable. It is holy, beneficial to the gods, and is the great
source of nectar; without limits, inconceivable, sacred, and highly
wonderful. It is dark, terrible with the sound of aquatic creatures,
tremendously roaring, and full of deep whirl-pools. It is an object of
terror to all creatures. Moved by the winds blowing from its shores and