ghtful reservoirs of water. And the cranes rendered it
charming with their sounds; and the Kinnaras and the celestial nymphs
were seated on its stony slabs. And the elephants occupying the cardinal
points had everywhere robbed its trees with the end of their tusks; and
the demi-gods of the Vidyadhara class frequented the hill. And it was
full of various gems, and was also infested by snakes bearing terrible
poison and 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 sab