________________
MO
SETUBANDHA
73. On it the diverse regions of the sky seemed to terminate. The earth seemed small beside it. The sky seemed to end with it. The ocean seemed to disappear thereabout. The nether regions seemed to have vanished underneath. The world seemed to repose thereon.
74. Amidst its peaks the horses of the Sun's chariot leaned frequently, curving their shoulders as the yoke slanted; while the charioteer Aruņa turned them round in alarm, making the flywhisks flap against their snouts.
75. There, the woods were seen high in the sky, carrying the stars 46 like clusters of flowers at night; and when the stars vanished at dawn it seemed as if the flowers were culled in the first plucking of the day.
76. There, at night, the wild buffaloes slumbered, scattering the soft clouds by their breath, with streams of water, issuing from the moon-stones by contact with the lunar rays, lapping against them.
77. The lunar orb, on reaching the summit of the mountain, passed by, slanting along the rocky wall, with its massive radiance worn away as it rubbed against the gems embedded in the hoods of the mightly serpents (at the top).47
78. Violently convulsed by the mountain as it rocked during the disaster of the epoch of destruction, the ocean by its side, abandoning the nether regions, flooded the earth without the aid of the remaining oceans.
79. The lions roamed about, pulling at the rumbling clouds resting upon the peaks with their sharp claws; while their ruffled mane was singed by the streaks of lightning flashing across their face.
80. There, the elephants, soothed by bathing in the cascades, but again worn out with the heat of the day, were refreshed as they lay beside the sandal trees, rubbed by their shoulders.
46. Cf. verse 38.
47. The pallor of the moon is fancied as being caused by the friction of the lunar orb and the gems. Cf. verse 56.
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