________________
Bhagayati Sūtra Bk. 3 Ch. 1
29
In that period, at that time, the metropolis named Balicañcā was without an Indra and without a Priest. Now, many Asurakumāra gods and goddesses, residents of metropolis Balicañcā, saw, by dint of their avadhi knowledge, the heretical monk Tāmali, and having seen him, they addressed one another, and observed as follows :
Indeed, oh beloved of the gods ! At this moment, metropolis Balicañcā is without an Indra and without a Priest. Oh beloved of the gods! All of us are the subjects of Indra, all of us live under him and all we do is done under him. Oh beloved of the gods ! This heretical monk Tāmali who has cleaned a spot of the size of self, in the north-eastern direction of the city of Tāmralipti, has linked up his soul with a penance of the final fast, has given up all intakes of food and drink, and stays calm, fixed in pădapopagamana fast. So, oh beloved of the gods, let us all induce the said heretical monk Tāmali to decide to come over to metropolis Balicancă and be Indra unto us.
Having considered thus, and on hearing the implication from one another, all these Asurakumāras moved through the heart of metropolis Balicañcā and came to the Rucakendra Utpāta mountain. There, they effected a transformation of their fluid body by vaikriya samudghāta, ...till they assumed an uttara-vaikriya form, and then at a super-human speed which was good, quick, fast, tremendous, victorious, skilful, fatigueless, lion-like, hurried, they moved through an funlimited number of isles and seas, in the central part of the sphere and arrived at the place, outside the city of Tämralipti, in Bhārata-varsa, in this isle of Jambu-dvipa, where the heretical monk Tāmali, born of the Maurya parents, was. Having arrived there, high up in the sky, they stood just in front of the heretical monk Tāmali. From their position there, they displayed the divine fortune of the devas, the divine glow of the devas, and the divine influence of the devas, and staged before him 32 divine comedies. Thereafter, they moved thrice round the heretical monk Tāmali and paid him homage and obeisance, and having done so, said unto him as follows: