446
A very terrible wind blew, uprooting splendid trees, an if to shew that even thus in that place should heroes fall in tight; and the earth trembled as if anxious as to what all that could mean, and the hills cleft asunder, as if to give an opening for the terrified to escape, and the sky, rumbling awfully, though cloudless,*[1] seemed to say, " Ye Vidyádharas, guard, guard to the best of your power, this emperor of yours." And Naraváhanadatta, in the midst of the alarm produced by these portents, remained unmoved, meditating upon the adorable three-eyed god; and the heroic kings of the Gandharvas and lords of the Vidyádharas remained guarding him, ready for battle, expecting some calamity; and they uttered war-cries, and agitated
the forest of their lithe swords, as if to scare away the portents that announced the approach of evil.
And the next day after this the army of the Vidyádharas was suddenly seen in the sky, dense as a cloud at the end of the kalpa, uttering a terrible shout. Then Dhanavatí, calling to mind her magic science, said, " This is Gaurímunda come with Mánasavega." Then those kings of the Vidyádharas and the Gandharvas raised their weapons, but Gaurímunda with Mánasavega rushed upon them exclaiming, " What right has a mere man to rank with beings like us? So I will to-day crush your pride, you sky-goers that take part with him." When Gaurímunda said this, Chitrángada rushed upon him angrily, and attacked him.
And king Ságaradatta, the sovereign of the Gandharvas, and Chandasinha, and Amitagati, and king Váyupatha, and Pingalagándhára, and all the chiefs of the Vidyádharas, great heroes all, rushed upon the wicked Mánasavega, roaring like lions, followed by the whole of their forces. And right terrible was that storm of battle, thick with the clouds of dust raised by the army, with the gleams of weapons for flashes of lightning, and a falling rain of blood. And so Chitrángada and his friends made, as it were, a great sacrifice for the demons, which was full of blood for wine, and in which the heads of enemies were strewn as an offering. And streams of gore flowed away, full of bodies for alligators, and floating weapons for snakes, and in which marrow intermingled took the place of cuttle-fish bone.
Then Gaurímunda, as his army was slain, and he himself was nigh to death, called to mind the magic science of Gaurí, which he had formerly propitiated and made well-disposed to him; and that science appeared in visible form, with three eyes, armed with the trident. †[2] and paralysed the chief
- ↑ * Perhaps we may compare Vergil Georgics, I, 487, and Horace, Od. I, 34, 5; and Vergil Aeneid VII, 141, with the passages there quoted by Forbiger. But MSS. Nos. 1882 and 2166 read udbhúta.
- ↑ † It is clear that the goddess did not herself appear, so tritetrá is not a proper name, unless we translate the passage " armed with the trident of Gauri."
