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88 frightening every creature. And that king of birds, of great energy, that slayer of hostile heroes, then rose on his wings. Seeing him saying in the skies over their heads all the wise ones (the celestials) with Indra amongst them armed with double-edged broadswords, iron-maces furnish. ed with sharp spikes, pointed lances, maces, bright arrows, and many a discus of the form of the sun. And the king of birds, attacked them on all sides with showers of various weapons and fought exceedingly hard without wavering for a moment. And the son of Vinata, of great prowess blazing in the sky, attacked the gods on all sides with his wings and breast. And blood began to flow copiously from the bodies of the gods mangled by the talons and the beak of Garuda. Overcome by the lord of birds, the Sadhyas with the Gandharvas fled eastwards, the Vasus with the Rudras towards the south, the Adityas towards the west, and the twin Aswins towards the north. Gifted with great energy, they retreated fighting, looking back every moment on their enemy."

And Garuda had encounters with the Yakshas Aswakranda of great courage, Rainuka, the bold Krathanaka, Tapana, Uluka, Swasanaka, Nimesha, Praruja, and Pulina. And the son of Vinata mangled them with his wings, talons, and beak, like Siva himself, that chastiser of enemies, and the holder of Pinaka in rage at the end of the Yuga. And those Yakshas of great might and courage, mangled all over by that ranger of the skies, looked liked masses of black clouds dropping thick showers of blood."

"And Garuda, depriving them of life, then went to where the amrita was And he saw that it was surrounded on all sides by fire. And the terrible flames of that fire covered the entire sky. And moved by violent winds, they seemed bent on burning the Sun bimself. The illustrious Garuda then assumed ninety times ninety mouths and quickly drinking the waters of many rivers with those mouths and returning with great speed, that chastiser of enemies, having wings for his vehicle, extinguished that fire with that water. And extinguishing that fire, he assumed a very small form, desirous of entering into where the Soma was)."!

So ends the thirty-second section in the Astika Parva of the Adi Parva.

Sauti said.-"And that bird, assuming a golden body bright as the rays of the Sun, entered with great force (the region where the Soma was), like a torrent entering the ocean. And he saw, placed near the Soma, a