d
of glowing tongues. And the mountain at places looked like (massive)
gold, and elsewhere it resembled a silvery (pile), and at some places it
was like a (sable) heap of collyrium. Such was the snowy hill where the
king now found himself. And that most praiseworthy of men at that spot
betook himself to an awful austere course of life. And for one thousand
years his subsistence was nothing but water, fruit and roots. When,
however, a thousand years according to the calculation of gods had
elapsed, then the great river Ganga having assumed a material form,
manifested to him her (divine) self.'

"Ganga said. 'O great king! what dost thou desire of me? And what must I
bestow on thee? Tell me the same, O most praiseworthy of men! I shall do
as thou mayst ask me.' Thus addressed, the king then made his reply to
Ganga, the daughter of the snowy Hill, saying, 'O grantress of boons! O
great river! my father's fathers, while searching for the horse, were
sent by Kapila to the abode of the god of death. And those same sixty
thousand sons of Sagara of mighty soul, having met with the majestic
Kapila, perished, (to a soul) in an instant of time. Having thus
perished, there hath been no place for them in the region of heaven. O
great river! So long as thou dost not besprinkle those same bodies with
thy water, there is no salvation for these same Sagara's sons. O blessed
goddess! carry thou my forefathers, Sagara's sons, to the region of
heaven. O great river! on their account am I beseeching thee forsooth."

"Lomasa said, 'Ganga, the goddess saluted by the world, having heard
these words of the king, was well pleased, and spake to Bhagiratha the
following words: 'O great king! I am prepared to do what thou dost ask
me; there is no doubt therein. But when I shall descend from the sky to
the earth, the force of my fall will be difficult to sustain. O protector
of men! In the three worlds there exists none who is able to sustain the
same, excepting Siva, the most praiseworthy of gods, the great Lord with
the throat of sable blue. O (prince) of a powerful arm! Obtain the
favour, by practising austerities, of that same Siva-giver of boons. That
same god will sustain my descent upon his head. Thy desire he will
fulfill, the desire, namely, to be of service to thy fathers, O king!'
Then the great king Bhagiratha having heard the same, went to the Kailasa
hill, and betaking himself to a severe course of penances, at the
expiration of a cer