hy charioteers,
cavalry and infantry.' Thus addressed by Yudhishthira, the prince, O
Bharata, was overpowered with shame, and bending down his head, he
silently and sorrowfully wended his way to the place where the Ganga
debouches on the plains. And imploring the protection of the god of three
eyes, the consort of Uma, he did severe penance at that place. And the
three-eyed god, pleased with his austerities deigned to accept his
offerings in person. And he also granted him a boon! Do thou listen, O
monarch, how the prince received that boon! Jayadratha, addressing that
god, asked the boon, 'May I be able to defeat in battle all the five sons
of Pandu on their chariots!' The god, however, told him 'This cannot be.'
And Maheswara said, 'None can slay or conquer them in battle. Save
Arjuna, however, thou shall be able to only check them (once) on the
field of battle! The heroic Arjuna, with mighty arms, is the god
incarnate styled Nara. He practised austerities of old in the Vadari
forest. The God Narayana is his friend. Therefore, he is unconquerable of
the very gods. I myself have given him the celestial weapon called
Pasupata. From the regents also of all the ten cardinal points, he has
acquired the thunder-bolt and other mighty weapons. And the great god
Vishnu who is the Infinite Spirit, the Lord Preceptor of all the gods, is
the Supreme Being without attributes, and the Soul of the Universe, and
existeth pervading the whole creation. At the termination of a cycle of
ages, assuming the shape of the all-consuming fire, he consumed the whole
Universe with mountains and seas and islands and hills and woods and
forests. And after the destruction of the Naga world also in the
subterranean regions in the same way, vast masses of many-coloured and
loud-pealing clouds, with streaks of lightning, spreading along the
entire welkin, had appeared on high. Then pouring down water in torrents
thick as axles of cars, and filling the space everywhere, these
extinguishing that all-consuming fire! When at the close of four thousand
Yugas the Earth thus became flooded with water, like one vast sea, and
all mobile creatures were hushed in death, and the sun and the moon and
the winds were all destroyed, and the Universe was devoid of planets and
stars, the Supreme Being called Narayana, unknowable by the senses,
adorned with a thousand heads and as many eyes and legs, became desirous
of rest. And the serpent Sesha, looking terrible with hi