gh the application of means. Thou also, O
son of Kunti, unvanquished on earth, wilt become another Indra and the
slayer of all thy foes. Those men who, on every Parva day, will recite
this sacred narrative of Vritra in the midst of Brahmanas shall never be
stained by any sin. I have now recited to thee one of the greatest and
most wonderful feats of Indra connected with Vritra. What else dost thou
wish to hear?"'"

SECTION CCLXXXIII

"'Yudhishthira said, "O grandsire, thou art possessed of great wisdom and
thoroughly conversant with every branch of learning. From this very
narrative of the slaughter of Vritra the wish has arisen in my mind of
asking thee a question. Thou hast said, O ruler of men, that Vritra was
(first) stupefied by Fever, and that then, O sinless one, he was slain by
Vasava with the thunderbolt. How did this Fever, O thou of great wisdom,
arise? O lord, I desire to hear in detail of the origin of Fever."

"'Bhishma said, "Listen, O king, to the origin, celebrated over all the
world, of Fever. I shall speak in detail on this topic, fully explaining
how Fever first sprang into existence, O Bharata! In days of yore, O
monarch, there was a summit, named Savitri, of the mountains of Meru.
Worshipped by all the worlds, it was endued with great splendour and
adorned with every kind of jewels and gems. That summit was immeasurable
in extent and thither no one could go.[1398] On that mountain summit the
divine Mahadeva used to sit in splendour as if on a bed-stead adorned
with gold. The daughter of the king of mountains, sitting by his side,
shone in brilliance.[1399] The high-souled deities, the Vasus of
immeasurable energy, the high-souled Aswins, those foremost of
physicians, and king Vaisravana waited upon by many a Guhyaka,--that lord
of the Yakshas, endued with prosperity and puissance, and having his
abode on the summit of Kailasa,--all waited upon the highsouled Mahadeva.
And the great sage Usanas, and the foremost of Rishis having Sanatkumara
for their first, and the other celestial Rishis headed by Angiras, and
the Gandharva Viswavasu, and Narada and Parvata, and the diverse tribes
of Apsaras, all came there to wait upon the Master of the universe. A
pure and auspicious breeze, bearing diverse kinds of perfumes, blew
there. The trees that stood there were adorned with the flowers of every
season. A large number of Vidyadharas and Siddhas and ascetics too, O
Bharata, repaired thither for waiting