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Tales from Indian Mythology
understand why Death generally strikes by night. I wish I could meet the Sun in the flesh. I am curious to see how he looks." "Who told you that he exists in the flesh?" was the query of Sumati, the pompous niece of the palace priest. "He is just a ball of fire. So, you see, he depends on Agni for his power. For my part, I am fond of Indra because he presides over the firmament. To be precise, it is he who tames the Sun."
"There is,” said Anuradha, the flippant sister of the courtjester, "another reason for Sumati's interest in Indra. But I thought she was too young to emulate Ahalya!"
Their gossip was cut short by the arrival of the king's messenger who announced that her father desired to see Kunti immediately. Excusing herself, she rushed back to the palace where she found an august assembly of the elders discussing the question of her swayamvara.
It was Kunti's birthday and the promise of a bright, sunny morning was in evidence everywhere. The sky was clear, the air crisp, and everything on earth, clean and calm. The grey haze of twilight, however, still lingered in the east, but the golden gleam of the dawn might swallow it up any moment.
Kunti had already reached the Ganga where she wanted to bathe and say her prayers to the Sun God. She wanted him to be the first to greet her that day. She was, therefore, in a hurry to have her sacred bath before he looked at her. She removed her clothes and stood in the water bowing to the Ganga, as a gust of wind and a wicked wave conspired to drag her deeper into the river. Now she began to swim about with great gusto. Meanwhile the eastern horizon emitted a faint orange glow which changed the colour of her
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