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SETUBÁNDHA
79
57. Did Nala's Way35 drop on the sea, fashioned in the sky? Built long ago, was it hauled from the Malaya mountain? Did it come into being in the waters of the sea? Did it emerge from the nether regions, complete in structure?
58. The waters of the sea were seen in the sky, and the sky on the sea floor emptied of the waters, 36 but the mountains37 in the sky and the waters and on the sea floor, in all three alike.
59. The rolling sea, restrained by the shore as by a chain, roared and rocked the causeway, even though it reached into the nether regions, like as a wild elephant, moving to and fro, bellows and shakes the post to which it is tied.
60. As the Inountains, soaked in the heaving waters, were firmly pressed together by the apes, they adhered to each other, shrinking in dimensions.
61. Pushed by the arms of the apes, the mountains dropped into the sea, scattering its gems, with the Kinnaras living on them crazed with fear. Boldly, not meekly, did the boisterous ocean roar, as if it were dispelling the panic fear of the rivers.38
62. When the sea was driven afar off,39 it seemed to be filled with the rays of its gems; while it seemed to be impeded by them when it returned.40 Bespattered with mud by the mountains as they dropped, it seemed to be cleansed by the rays; and when it parted asunder, it seemed to be closed up by them.
63. The herds of elephants on the mountains of the causeway, maimed by the mountains that dropped on the bridge, confronted in a body the sea elephants abiding in the heaving waters, because they were enraged at the smell of their
ichor.
35. Cf. verse 34.
36. i.e., the empty seafloor looked like the sky when the waters were hurled up by the falling mountains. Cf. 7.31.
37. i.e., the mountains dropped by the apes on the sea from above, and reaching to the bottom.
38. Supposed to be the Ocean's wives. 39. i.e., by the falling mountains. Cf. verse 53.
40. i.e., the waters seemed to pass slowly through a compact mass of rays
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