Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/91

Rh saw that he obtained not the even though he had adored the serpents, he then looked about him and beheld two women over a loom weaving a piece of cloth with a fine shuttle; and in the loom were black and white threads. And he likewise saw a wheel, with twelve spokes, turned by six boys. And he also saw a man with a handsome horse. And he begun to address them the following mantras:—

'This wheel whose circumference is marked by twenty four divisions representing as many lunar changes is furnished with three hundred spokes! It is set in continual motion by six boys (the seasons)! These damsels representing universal nature are weaving without intermission a cloth with threads black and white, and thereby ushering into existence the manifold worlds and the beings that inhabit them! Thou wielder of the thunder, the protector of the universe, the slayer of Vritra and Namuchi, thou illustrious one who wearest the black cloth and displayeth truth and untruth in the universe, thou who ownest for thy carrier, the horse received from the depths of the ocean, and which is but another form of Agni (the god of fire), I bow to thee, thou supreme Lord, thou Lord of the three worlds, O Purandara!'

"Then the man with the horse said unto Utanka, 'I am gratified by this thy adoration. What good shall I do to thee?' And Utanka replied, 'even let the serpents be brought under my control.' Then the man rejoined, 'Blow into this horse.' And Utanka blew into that horse. And from the horse thus blown into, there issued, from every aperture of his body, flames of fire with smoke, by which the region of the Nagas was about to be consumed. And Takshaka, surprised beyond measure and terrified by the heat of the fire, hastily came out of his abode taking the with him, and said unto Utanka, 'Pray, Sir, take back the  And Utanka took them back.

"But Utanka having recovered his thought, 'O this is that sacred day of my preceptress. I am a distance. How can I, therefore, show my regard for her?' And when Utanka was anxious about this, the man addressed him and said, 'Ride this horse, Utanka, and he will in a moment carry thee to thy master's abode.' And Utanka having signi- 8