Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/560

 beganan a sacrifice, at which tho gods and ŗishis assembled in a body, and the Dánavas, dwelling in Pátála, were excited when they heard of it.

When the hermit knew that, he sent his pupil Dridhavrata, who had been made by the curse to assume the form of a bird, to the city of Devasabha. When king Merudhvaja saw him arrive there, he remembered the words of the hermit, and got ready those two heavenly elephants. And he himself mounted the chief one, which was named Kánchanagiri, and the lesser one, which was named Kánchanaśekhara, he gave to the younger of his sons. But Muktáphaladhvaja, taking with him the heavenly weapons, mounted the great bird Dridhavrata, and the bards hailed him with songs. Then those three heroes sent their armies on in front, and set forth, mounted on air-going steeds, and blessed by holy Bráhmans. And when they reached the hermitage, the hermit, being pleased with them, granted them this boon, that they should be invulnerable by all weapons. In the meanwhile the army of the Asuras came to impede the sacrifice, and tho soldiers of Merudhvaja, when they saw the Asuras, charged them with a shout. Then a battle took place between the Daityas and the men, but the Daityas, being in the air, pressed sore the men who were on the ground. Then Muktáphaladhvaja, mounted on his winged steed, rushed forward, and cut and crushed the Daityas with a shower of arrows. And those Daityas who escaped his destroying hand, seeing him mounted on a bird, and resplendent with brightness, took to flight, supposing that he was Náráyana. And all of them fled in fear to Pátála, and told what had happened to Trailokyamálin, who was at that time king of the Daityas. When the king of the Asuras heard that, he quickly enquired into the matter by means of his spies, and found out that Muktáphaladhvaja was a mortal; and unable to endure the disgrace of having been defeated by a man, he collected all the Dánavas in Pátála, and though warned by omens to desist, he went to that hermitage to fight. But Muktáphaladhvaja and his men, who were on the alert there, rushed to attack the king of the Dánavas, as soon as they saw him arrive with his army. Then a second great battle took place between the Asuras and the men; and the gods, headed by Rudra and Indra, came in their chariots to witness it. And then Muktáphaladhvaja saw instantly presenting itself before him there a great weapon of Pásupati, of irresistible might, of huge size, with a flame of fire streaming up from it, with three eyes, with four faces, with one leg, and eight arms, looking like the fire which is to burn up the world at the end of the kalpa. The weapon said, " Know that I have come by the command of Śiva, to ensure your victory." When the weapon said this, the prince worshipped it and clutched it. In the meanwhile those Asuras in the air, raining arrows, pressed hard the fainting army of Merudhvaja that was below them. Then Muktá-