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196
Gaüdavaho
Rāhu which retained its life-breath (TUTT3T), although it was lopped off (fafa) from his body by the Sudarsana wheel of Visnu.
Rāhu was the son of fagfafar and fare for and is called by his metronymic Aface. He had four arms and his Jower part ended in a tail. He was a great mischief-maker and when the gods had produced the Amsta by churning the ocean, he assumed a disguise and, insinuating amongst them, drank some of it. The sun and the moon detected him and informed Visnu, who cut off his head and two of his arms, but, as he had secured immortality, his body was placed in the stellar sphere. Rāhu wreaks his vengeance on the sun and the moon by occasionally swallowing them.'
471. Maru or Marwar is a desert country known for its scarcity of water and, therefore, the few wells (3795) that supply water are naturally used by most of the people roundabout. Crowding (ofert) over them they make the water, which often reaches its low depth, muddy ( ta.37).
The King, now reaches the country called stative, the same as Thanesar, where long back, the king Janamejaya performed a serpent-sacrifice, the description of which is now being given in a Kulaka of 13 Gāthās ( 472-484).
Janamejaya, a great king, was son of ATT and greatgrandson of 375a. It was to this king that the Mahābhārata was recited by a girl, and the king listened to it in expiation of the sin of killing a Brāhmaṇa. His father, refera, died from the bite of a serpent, and FTTH Gry is said to have performed a great sacrifice of serpents ( Nāgas) and to have conquered the Naga people of तक्षशिला. Hence he is called सर्पसत्रिन्.
472. The comets with their thick, black tails apeared in the sky. They are supposed to be bad omens or indications (fru )of impending (ta) disaster. They looked like snakes running in fear of being burnt in the sacrifice started by जनमेजय.
473. Unusual, portentous phenomena (309737) boding calamity began to occur in the sky, leaving a few flickering ( ) stars in the sky. The stars, the Poet imagines, are veritable gems, as it were, plucked out by the great serpents, for being given to
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