ift!'"

SECTION CC

Vaisampayana said, "Having, O great king, heard from the illustrious
Markandeya the history of the attainment of heaven by the royal sage
Indradyumna, Yudhishthira, that bull of the Bharata race, once more asked
that sinless Muni endued with great ascetic merit and long life, saying,
'Thou knowest, O virtuous one, the entire host of the gods, the Danavas,
and the Rakshasas. Thou art acquainted also with various royal
genealogies and many eternal lines of Rishis! O best of Brahmanas, there
is nothing in this world that thou dost not know! Thou knowest also, O
Muni, many delightful stories about men, Snakes and Rakshasas; about
gods, Gandharvas, and Yakshas, and about Kinnaras and Apsaras! I desire
now to hear from thee, O best of Brahmanas, as to why Kuvalaswa--that
unvanquished king of Ikshavaku's race changed his name, assuming another,
viz., Dhundhumara. O thou best of Bhrigu's line, I desire to know in
detail why the name of Kuvalaswa of great intelligence underwent such a
change!'"

Vaisampayana continued, "Thus addressed by Yudhishthira, the great Muni
Markandeya, O Bharata, then began the history of Dhundhumara!"

Markandeya said, 'O royal Yudhishthira, listen to me, I will tell thee
all! The story of Dhundhumara is a moral one. Listen to it then! Listen
now, O king, to the story of how the royal Kuvalaswa of Ikshvaku's race
came to be known as Dhundhumara. O son, O Bharata, there was a celebrated
Rishi of the name of Utanka and, O thou of the Kuru race, Utanka had his
hermitage in a delightful wilderness. And, O great king, the Rishi Utanka
underwent ascetic austerities of the severest kind and the lord Utanka
underwent those penances for numberless years with the object of
obtaining the favours of Vishnu, and gratified with his penances that
illustrious Lord presented himself before Utanka. And beholding the
Deity, the Rishi in all humility began to gratify him with many hymns,
and Utanka said, 'O thou of great effulgence all creatures with the gods,
Asuras and human beings, all things that are mobile or immobile, even
Brahma himself, the Vedas, and all things that are capable of being
known, have, O lord, been created by thee! The firmament is thy head, O
god, and the sun and the moon are thy eyes! And, O Unfading One, the
winds are thy breath and fire thy energy! The directions of the horizon
constitute thy arms and the great ocean thy stomach! And, O god, the
hills and mountains co