Then all the Gods of heaven, in need
Of Ganga's help their vows to speed,
To great Himalaya came and prayed
The Mountain King to yield the maid.
He, not regardless of the weal
Of the three worlds, with holy zeal
His daughter to the Immortals gave,
Ganga whose waters cleanse and save--
Who roams at pleasure, fair and free,
Purging all sinners, to the sea.
The three-pathed Ganga thus obtained,
The Gods their heavenly homes regained.
Long time the sister Uma passed
In vows austere and rigid fast,
And the King gave the devotee
Immortal Rudra's bride to be--
Matching with that unequalled Lord
His Uma through the worlds adored.
So now a glorious station fills
Each daughter of the King of Hills--
One honored as the noblest stream,
One mid the Goddesses supreme.
Thus Ganga, King Himalaya's child,
The heavenly river, undefiled,
Rose bearing with her to the sky
Her waves that bless and purify."

[_Cantos XXXVII and XXXVIII are omitted._]

CANTO XXXIX

THE SONS OF SAGAR

The saint in accents sweet and clear
Thus told his tale for Rama's ear--
And thus anew the holy man
A legend to the prince began:--
"There reigned a pious monarch o'er
Ayodhya in the days of yore:
Sagar his name:--no child had he,
And children much he longed to see.
His honored consort, fair of face,
Sprang from Vidarbha's royal race--
Kesini, famed from early youth
For piety and love of truth.
Arishtanemi's daughter fair,
With whom no maiden might compare
In beauty, though the earth is wide,
Sumati, was his second bride.
With his two queens afar he went,
And weary days in penance spent,
Fervent, upon Himalaya's hill
Where springs the stream called Bhrigu's rill.
Nor did he fail that saint to please
With his devout austerities,
And, when a hundred years had fled,
Thus the most truthful Bhrigu said:--
'From thee, O Sagar, blameless King,
A mighty host of sons shall spring,
And thou shalt win a glorious name
Which none, O Chief, but thou shall claim.
One of thy queens a son shall bear
Maintainer of thy race and heir;
And of the other there shall be
Sons sixty thousand born to thee.'
Thus as he spake, with one accord,
To win the grace of that high lord,
The queens, with palms together laid,
I