ns of Rudra, he lives there in great
happiness for countless years. He who fasts for nine days and takes only
one meal every tenth day for a whole year, and pours libations on his
sacred fire every day, acquires the high merit of a thousand
Horse-sacrifices, and attains to the companionship of Brahmanas'
daughters endued with beauty capable of charming the hearts of all
creatures. These damsels, possessed of such beauty, and some of them
possessed of complexion like that of the lotus and some like that of the
same flower of the blue variety, always keep him in joy[495]. He acquires
a beautiful vehicle, that moves in beautiful circles and that looks like
the dense cloud called Avarta, verily, it may be said to resemble also an
ocean-wave. That vehicle resounds with the constant tinkle of rows of
pearls and gems, and the melodious blare of conchs, and is adorned with
columns made of crystals and diamonds, as also with an altar constructed
of the same minerals. He makes his journeys on such a car, drawn by swans
and cranes and lives for millions and millions of years in great
happiness in heaven. He who fasts for ten days and eats only ghee on
every eleventh day for a whole year and pours libations on his sacred
fire every day, who never, in word or thought, covets the companionship
of other people's wives and who never utters an untruth even for the sake
of his mother and father, succeeds in beholding Mahadeva of great
puissance seated on his car. Such a person acquires the high merit of a
thousand Horse-sacrifices. He beholds the car of the Self-born Brahman
himself approach for taking him on it. He rides in it, accompanied by
celestial damsels possessed of great beauty, and complexion as effulgent
as that of pure gold. Endued with the blazing splendour of the Yoga-fire,
he lives for countless years in a celestial mansion in heaven, full of
every happiness. For those countless years he experiences the joy of
bending his head in reverence unto Rudra adored by deities and Danavas.
Such a person obtains every day the sight of the great deity. That man
who having fasted for eleven days eats only a little ghee on the twelfth,
and observes this conduct for a whole year, succeeds in obtaining the
merits attaching to all the sacrifices. The car he rides in is possessed
of the effulgence of a dozen suns. Adorned with gems and pearls and
corals of great value, embellished with rows of swans and snakes and of
peacocks and Chakravakas