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house. Without caring for thirst or hunger, I carried the Ganga on my head for six months. Then I paid homage to Kārtikeya. I left the place and directly came here. It is now for you to judge the story and arrange for food.
The general comment was that the story was quite acceptable. Müladeva asked them to justify their views.
They substantiated it in the following way: "It has been stated that the Brahmins came from the mouth of Brahmă, the Ksatriyas from his arms, the Vaisyas from his thighs and the Sūdras from his feet. If such enormous population can be accommodated in Brahmă, how could you and the elephant not be contained in a gourd kettle ? Brahmā and Visnu are reported to be running up and down for thousands of years but they are still unable to locate where the Linga ends and still this gigantic Linga can be accommodated in Umâ's body. It is therefore possible that both the elephant and you could be contained in the kettle. You said that the elephant's tail got stuck in the spout. We do not see anything strange here. Visnu the creator of the universe practised penance while reposing on the ocean. Brahmă came out of the lotus that grew out of his navel but got stuck in the lotus stalk. Then you mentioned how easily you crossed the Gangā. When Rāma sent Sugriva to get news about Sitä, he despatched Hanumān and Hanumān crossed the ocean by his arms. When he brought news about Sitā to Räma he asked him how he managed to cross the ocean. Hanuman replied it was through his benevolent grace that he could do it. Similarly you crossed the Ganga. Your statement that you held Ganga on your head for six months sounds very plausible to us, we all know how the heavenly gods requested Gangā to come down to this world for the welfare of the people. Gangā agreed but asked who would stop her descent; otherwise by her own force she would flow down to the nether world. Pasupati offered to hold her in his matted hair and since then for thousands of years he has been carrying her. No wonder, you held her for six months.
Khandapānā, the lone female member of the group began by saying that if they all showed their respect to her by saluting her, she would be willing to supply them food. The others replied that
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