________________
56
SETUBANDHA
base, it seemed that they were growing in bulk, and had not been detached from the earth.
59. The apes were loaded with the proudly soaring flanks of the Vindhya and the slopes of the Sahya with the swaying Punnaga trees; so the peaks brought from the Mahendra were flung in the air, and portions of the Malaya cast on the earth.49
60. While the mountains were lifted by the apes with their forearms, their shoulders resembled in extent the peaks, the breast the flanks, and the cavities left by wounds on their bodies the caves.50
61. Were the elephants51 in a trance, closing their eyes in grief? Tired out with wandering, were they reposing themselves? The flappings of their ears ceased, their faces were turned aside, and the languid trunks were stretched out on the ground.
62. The trees, bent as a mountain leaned over,52 were smashed and levelled with the ground with their shattered fragments; and the clouds resounded with the din of the Mahendra mountain as it parted asunder; while the creepers of its woods swayed, lightly touching the ground.
63. The serpents, with their hoods sunk in the heavy mass of the mountains, were not aware even when their massive bodies, with the lower half coiled up in the depths of the earth, snapped with a loud noise as the apes pulled up the mountains.53
64. When a mountain was partly uprooted, the earth seemed to be lifted up by the apes, (as if) partly detached from the nether regions, with the partly extracted serpent's sneaking away, crazed with fear.
49. i.e., they discarded portions of the lesser mountains to lighten the burden.
50. The literal sense is that the dimensions of the peaks were measured with the shoulders and so on, after which the mountains were lifted with the forearms. Cf. Kulanatha in Extracts.
51. Those on the uprooted mountains.
52. While being uprooted.
53. A reference to the underground serpents mentioned in verse 19.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
