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whose mouth was quiet, and dragged it out of the hole. But that moment the serpent became a priceless quiver, and a rain of flowers fell from the sky on his head. And a heavenly voice sounded aloud— " Súryaprabha, thine is this imperishable quiver equal to a magic power, so take it." Then the Vidyádharas were cast down, Súryaprabha seized the quiver, and Maya and Sunítha and Sumeru were delighted.
Then Śrutaśarman departed, accompanied by the host of the Vidyádharas, and his ambassador came to Súryaprabha and said; " The august lord Śrutaśarman thus commands— ' Give me that quiver, if you value your life.' " Then Súryaprabha said; " Ambassador, go and tell him this ' Your own body shall become a quiver, bristling all over with my arrows.' " When the ambassador heard this speech, he turned and went away, and all laughed at that furious message of Śrutaśarman's*[1], and Sumeru, joyfully embracing Súryaprabha, said to him— " I am delighted that that speech of Śiva's has without doubt been fulfilled, for now that you have acquired this excellent quiver, you have practically acquired sovereign empire; so come and obtain now a splendid bow with calm intrepidity.
When they heard Sumeru say this, and he himself led the way, they all, Súryaprabha and the others, went to the mountain Hemakúta. And on the north side of it they reached a beautiful lake named Mánasa, which seemed to have been the first assay of the Creator's skill when making the sea, which eclipsed with its full-blown golden lotuses shaken by the wind, the faces of the heavenly nymphs sporting in the water. And while they were contemplating the beauty of the lake, Śrutaśarman and all the others came there. And then Súryaprabha made a sacrifice with lotuses and ghee, and immediately a terrible cloud rose up from that lake. That cloud filled the heaven, and poured down a great rain, and among the rain-drops fell from the cloud a black serpent. By the order of Sumeru, Súryaprabha rose up, and seized that serpent with a firm grasp, though it resisted, thereupon it became a bow. When it became a bow, a second snake fell from the cloud, through fear of the fiery poison of which all the sky-goers lied. That serpent too, when seized by Súryaprabha, like the first, became a bowstring, and the cloud quickly disappeared. And after a rain of flowers, a voice was heard from heaven,— " Súryaprabha, you have won this bow Amitabala and this string which cannot be cut, so take these priceless treasures." And Súryaprabha took that excellent bow with the string. Śrutaśarman, for his part, went despondent to his wood of ascetics, and Súryaprabha, and Maya and the others were delighted.
Then they asked Sumeru about the origin of the bow, and he said
- ↑ * Reading rubhasokti for nabhasokti. Perhaps siddhimitam in śl. 78, a, should be siddhamidam.
