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CANTO VIII
1-2. When thus the mountains vanished as they dropped into the sea, even though they had covered the sky with their expanse, and drenched the banners of the aerial cars of the gods with the cascades on their summit; the mountains left over were set down by the apes on the margin of the beach, their weight being felt by them for a moment as the flanks slipped off their tired quivering hands.
3. Rid of the upheaval caused by the mountains, the waters of the sea, placid with soft undulation, became calm even as they moved back and forth, without reaching the range of their former surge.
4. Rocked by the commotion caused by the mountains, the sea returned to its former state. The whirlpools, broken up (by the mountains), formed again; the crumbling mountains moved round amidst the whirlpools; and the heaving waters receded from the shore.
5. The natural calm of the sea that was invisible for a while was seen again, with the din subsiding, and the whirlpools partly forming in the customary places.
6. The waters became calm, with flowers mingling with pearls, the whirlpools filled with broken leaves and emeralds, the young shoots combining with corals, and the white lotus blossoms mixed with conch-shells,1
7. The lustre of the minerals of the mountains, soaked in water, was seen on the surface of the sea as it faded away, reddish like the decaying sunlight, and blending with the colour of the crushed flowers as they emerged, being just detached from the trees.2
8. Overpowered by the heat of the sun, the sea elephants that had come ashore, scenting the elephants of the woods,"
1. The verse describes the mingling together of the products of the sea and those of the sinking mountains.
2. Those on the sinking mountains.
3. i.e., to fight with them.
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