Page:Tales from the Indian Epics.djvu/136

130 And as the sages watched Dhruv, they saw him gradually lose his human shape and become a shining form. For as he prayed, there entered into him the spirit of the mighty god. And as they watched him, they too turned into shining forms and they too remained motionless in silent contemplation of the saintly king.

And on any cloudless night, if you look up at the sky, you will see a constellation flung like a saucepan right across it. And if you look at the far side of the saucepan and follow the direction in which the stars which form it are pointing, you will see all by itself a beautiful, clear star that points ever to the far North beyond which the god Krishna has his throne. For the saucepan-like constellation is that which Indians call the Seven Sages. But in the West it is known as the Great Bear. And the lonely star to which the seven rishis ever silently point is Dhruv.

For Dhruv is the Pole Star.