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CANTO IX
1. The apes beheld the Suvela mountain that seemed to engulf the southern region, and stretch away to cover the remaining regions, extending its great peaks to pervade the entire world.
2. It was capable of sustaining the weight of the ocean, just as Visnu is capable of sustaining the weight of the universe, and the serpent Ananta that of Visnu, worn out with the burden of the universe, and the ocean likewise that of Ananta,1
3. It was capable of bearing the weight of the earth. Its streams were capable of filling the ocean. It was able to measure the sky. Its flanks were strong enough to withstand the winds of the epoch of destruction.
4. It seemed to have driven the regions of the sky afar off, and weighed down the entire nether world deep below, and raised the sky to a greater altitude. Only the fruits and flowers of its trees were within easy reach.
5. Rivers flowed down its flanks. It was firmly planted in the nether regions and the depths of the sea. It seemed as if it were the earth, slanting for a moment, while being lifted from the ocean by the Primal Boar.2
6. Its foundations filled the nether regions. It was fixed firm by ramming it down with the tip of the thunderbolt. It seemed to be a post to which the elephants of the gods were tied, with its sides smoothed down by the rubbing of their shoulders.
7. The extremity of its base was not seen even by the lord of serpents that crushed the nether regions (with its weight). Its lofty peaks were not reached even by Visnu when he extended his frame to wrest the universe (from the demon Bali).*
8. It drove back the waters of the sea, and was encircled by the great serpents moving about its slopes, and encompassed by
1. Visnu reposes on the coils of Ananta in the ocean.
2. i.e., the Boar incarnation of Visnu. Cf. 7.2.
3. A reference to Ananta sustaining the earth on its numerous hoods. 4. Cf. verse 51.
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