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the three gods Bráhma, Vishnu, and Śiva, who have settled on the top of the neighbouring mountains in the form of peaks. And the foot of Vishnu created here in Kaśmíra another Ganges, named Ikshuvatí, as if in emulation of the Vitastá. There the king remained, performing austerities, and pining, without desire for any other enjoyment, like the chátaka in the hot season longing for fresh rainwater.
And after twelve years had passed over his head, while he remained engaged in ascetic practices, a certain ascetic came that way who was a chief of sages: he had yellow matted hair, wore tattered garments, and was surrounded by a band of pupils; and he appeared like Śiva himself come down from the top of the hills that overhang that holy bathing-place. As soon as he saw the king, he was filled with love for him, and went up to him, and bowing before him, asked him his history, and then reflected for a moment and said; " King, that Daitya maiden that you love lives in Pátála, so be of good cheer, I will take you to her. For I am a Bráhman named Bhúrivasu, the son of a sacrificing Bráhman of the Dekkan, named Yajuh, and I am a chief among magicians. My father communicated his knowledge to me, and I learnt from a treatise on Pátála the proper charms and ceremonies for propitiating Hátakeśána.*[1] And I went to Śriparvata and performed a course of asceticism there for propitiating Śiva, and Śiva, being pleased with it, appeared to me and said to me,
' Go; after you have married a Daitya maiden and enjoyed pleasures in the regions below the earth, you shall return to me; and listen; I will tell you an expedient for obtaining those delights. There are on this earth many openings leading to the lower regions but there is one great and famous one in Kaśmíra made by Maya, by which Ushá the daughter of Bána introduced her lover Aniruddha into the secret pleasure-grounds of the Dánavas, and made him happy there. And Pradyumna, in order to deliver his son, laid it open, making a door in one place with the peak of a mountain, and he placed Durgá there, under the name of Śáriká, to guard that door, after propitiating her with hundreds of praises. Consequently even now the place is called by the two names of Peak of Pradyumna and Hill of Śáriká. So go and enter Pátála with your followers by that famous opening, and by my favour you shall succeed there.'
" When the god had said this, he disappeared, and by his favour I acquired all knowledge at once, and now I have come to this land of Kaśmíra. So come with us, king, to that seat of Śáriká, in order that I may conduct you to Pátála, to the maid that you love." When the ascetic had said this to king Bhúnandana, the latter consented and went with him to that seat of Śáriká. There he bathed in the Vitastá, and worshipped Ganeśa, and honoured the goddess Śáriká, and performed the cere-
- ↑ * A name of Śiva.
