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fraught with every other kind of prosperity, Naraváhanadatta performed the ceremonies for good fortune, and ascended that car made by Brahmá, which Śiva had bestowed on him, and set out with his army through the air, accompanied by his wives, to conquer Mandaradeva. And various heroes, his followers, marched surrounding him, and kings of the Gandharvas and chiefs of the Vidyádharas, fearless and faithful, obedient to the orders of the general Harisikha, and Chandasinha, with his mother the wise Dhanavatí, and the brave Pingalagándhára, and Váyupatha the strong, and Vidyutpunja and Amitagati, and the lord of Kálakúța, and Mandara, and Mahádanshtra and his own friend Amŗitaprabha, and the hero Chitrángada with Ságaradatta, all these, and others who were there of the party of the slain Gaurímunda, pressed eagerly after him, with their hosts, as he advanced intent on victory. Then the sky was obscured by his army, and the sun hid his face, as if for shame, somewhere or other, his brightness being
eclipsed by the splendour of the monarch.
Then the emperor passed the Mánasa lake haunted by troops of divine hermits, and left behind him Gandasáila the pleasure-garden of the nymphs of heaven, and reached the foot of mount Kailása gleaming white like crystal, resembling a mass of his own glory,*[1] There he encamped on the bank of the Mandákiní, and while he was sitting there, the wise chief of the Vidyádharas, named Mandara, came up to him, and addressed to him the following pleasing speech, "Let your army halt here, king, on the bank of the river of the gods ! It is not fitting that you should advance over this mountain Kailása. For all sciences are destroyed by crossing this dwelling-place of Śiva. So you must pass to the other side of the mountain by the cave of Triśírsha. And it is guarded by a king named Devamáya, who is exceedingly haughty ; so how can you advance further without conquering him?" When Mandara said this, Dhanavatí approved it, and Naraváhanadatta waited there for a day.
While he was there, he sent an ambassador to Devamáya with a conciliatory message, but he did not receive the order it conveyed in a conciliatory spirit. So the next day the emperor moved out against Devamáya with all the allied kings prepared for battle. And Devamáya too, when he heard it, marched out towards him to give battle, accompanied by numerous kings, Varáha, Vajramushți and others, and followed by his army. Then there took place on Kailása a battle between those two armies, and while it was going on, the sky was obscured by the chariots of the gods who came to look on. Terrible was that thunder-cloud of war, awful with the dense hailstorm of many severed beads, and loud with the shouting of
- ↑ * We have often had occasion to remark that the Hindu poets conceive of glory as white.
