on of Twashtri. And he
commanded them, saying, "Be quick, and go without delay, and so tempt him
that the three-headed being may plunge himself into sensual enjoyment to
the utmost extent. Furnished with captivating hips, array yourselves in
voluptuous attires, and decking yourselves in charming necklaces, do ye
display gestures and blandishments of love. Endued with loveliness, do ye
tempt him and alleviate my dread. I feel restless in my heart, O lovely
damsels. Avert ye, ladies, this awful peril that hangs over me. Good
betide you."'

"'Then the nymphs said, "O Indra, O slayer of Vala, we shall so endeavour
to allure him that thou wilt have nothing to fear at his hands. That very
receptacle of austerities, sitting now as if scorching everything with
his eyes, O god, we are going together to tempt. We shall try to bring
him under our control, and to put an end to your fears."'

"Salya continued, 'Commanded by Indra, they then went to the three-headed
being. And arriving there, those lovely damsels tempted him with various
gestures of love, displaying their fine figures. But engaged in the
practice of exceedingly severe austerities, although he looked at them,
yet he was not influenced by desire. Of subdued senses he was like the
ocean, full to the brim, in gravity. And the nymphs after having tried
their best, came back to Indra. And they all with joined hands spoke to
the lord of the celestials, saying, "O, that unapproachable being is
incapable of being disturbed by us. O highly gifted being, thou mayst do
what now may seem proper to thee." The high-minded Indra honoured the
nymphs and then dismissed them reflecting, O Yudhishthira, solely upon
other means of destroying his foe. And endued with intelligence, he fixed
upon a contrivance for destroying the three-headed being. And he said,
"Let me today hurt my thunderbolt at him. By this means he will speedily
be killed. Even a strong person should not overlook a rising foe,
contemptible though he may be." And thus reflecting upon the lessons
inculcated in treatises of learning, he was firmly resolved upon slaying
that being. Then Indra, enraged, hurled at the three-headed being his
thunderbolt which looked like fire and was terrible to behold, and which
inspired dread. And forcibly struck by that thunderbolt, he was slain and
fell down, as falls on the earth the loosened summit of a hill. And
beholding him slain by the thunderbolt, and lying down huge as a hill,
the