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SETUBANDHA somehow stood erect, held fast by the serpents;23 and so could be lifted by the mere effort of uprooting.24
30. They began to lift the mountains, with the fragments of crumbling rocks falling on their bosom; while the elephants in the woods, attacked by the angry lions, escaped in the confusion.
31. Massive like mountains, the apes matched them as they raised their flanks with their breast; and the mountains likewise matched the apes, bruising the latter's bosom with their flanks.25
32. The regions of the earth which became uneven, now sinking, now rising, under the pressure of the mountains while they were pushed and pulled by the arms of the apes, were intermittently filled by the rolling sea.26
33. Uprooted were the mountains that had endured the crash of the thunderbolt, and resisted the winds of the epoch of destruction, and disregarded the thrusts27 of the Primeval Boar,28 and were capable of withstanding the waters of the Deluge.
34. Some mountains, drenched and abandoned by the rain clouds, and falling in the way of the succeeding autumn,29 crumbled when lifted with a single effort, because they were not perfectly dry and free from moisture.
35. While they were shaken by the apes, the mountains shook the earth. While they were turned, they turned the earth. While they were bent, they bent the earth. While they were raised, they raised up the earth.30
36. Some of the heavy mountains, loose on account of the earth cracking, sank into thë nether regions even while they were
23. Supposed to uphold the earth. Cf. verse 19.
24. See Kulanātha in Extracts. Acc. to Krsna's reading, 'could be lifted unbroken.'
25. i.e., in the process of uprooting.
26. i.e., the waters of the sea flowed in and out as the earth alternately sank and rose while the mountains were uprooted.
27. Lit. scrapings. 28. See verse 13. 29. Rāma's expedition took place in the autumn. 30. i.e., the earth seemed to rise along with the mountains,
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