Setubandha

SR No.: 001384
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1976
Total Pages: 812
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_English & Literature
File Size: 14 MB

Page 236

SETUBANDHA
75
24. "Or, I will build a bridge in the sky, composed of mountains, compact like clouds in massive array, and strong enough for the march of the swift-running apes!
25. 'Or, let the mountains of the nether regions, brought out of the depths of the sea, and held motionless above the waters, form the road to Lankā, with their wings drooping under the load of water!15
26. 'So build a causeway, following my lead, and methodically releasing the mountains. Vitiated heretofore by wrong methods, it will soon be built with ease.'
27. Cheered thus by Nala's words, the army of apes bestirred themselves as they uttered prolonged cries, with their fatigue gone, and filled the ten directions with the mountains lifted up by them.
28, 29. Thereupon, after a ceremonial bath in the pleasant waters of the sea, and paying obeisance first to his father,16 and thereafter to Rāma's feet and to Sugrīva; Nala first planted in the ocean a mountain, red with gold and other minerals, with the mouths of the caves filled with leafy branches of Asoka trees, like an auspicious pitcher (of gold, decked with leafy Aśoka twigs).
30. One of the mountains set down on the beach17 was at the very outset dropped by Nala on the sea in such a way that the initial phase of the causeway that was to bring disaster to Lankā began to be seen.
31. The sea, with the waters thrown up by the impact of the mountains (dropped by the apes), swirled in the sky in such a manner that the regions of the sky, grey with the dust of the mountains, were cleansed all at once.
32. Soaked in water, and clinging together, the mountains, with the join imperceptible, were not parted from each other, even though battered by the raging sea.
15. A reference to the winged mountains hidden in the sea for which see 5.37.
16. Viśvakarman, the divine architect. 17. See verse 2