souled Rishi Kasyapa; therefore, be not wrath but have mercy on the universe ! Thou art Supreme ! O pacify thy anger and preserve us. At thy voice, loud as the roar of the thunder, the ten points, the skies, the heavens, the Earth and our hearts, O bird, thou art continuously trembling. O diminish this thy body resembling Agnil At the sight of the splendour resembling that of Yama when in wrath, our hearts lose all equanimity and quake! O thou lord of birds, be propitious to us who solicit thee! O illustrious one, bestow on us good fortune and joy.'
And that bird of fair feathers, thus adored by the deities and diverse sections of Rishis reduced his own energy and splendour."
And thus ends the twenty-third section in the Astika Parva of the Adi Parva.
SECTION XXIV
(Astika Parva continued)
Sauti said. "Then hearing of and beholding his own body, that bird of beautiful feathers diminished its size.
"And Garuda said,-'Let no creature be afraid; as ye are in a fright at the sight of my terrible form, I shall diminish my energy."
Sauti continued, "Then that bird capable of going everywhere at will, that ranger of the skies capable of calling to his aid any measure of energy, bearing Aruna on his back, wended from his father's home and arrived at his mother's side on the other shore of the great ocean. And he placed Aruna of great splendour in the eastern regions, just at a time when Surya had resolved to burn the worlds with his fierce rays."
Saunaka said.--"Why did the reverend Surya resolve at that time to burn the worlds ? What wrong was done to him by tbe gods that pro. voked bis ire ?"
Sauti said.--"O sinless one, when Rahu was drinking nectar among the gods at the time of churning of the ocean he was pointed out to the gods by Surya and Soma, and from that time he conceived an enmity towards those deities. And upon this Rahu sought to devour his afflictor (Surya), became wrath, and thought,--'Oh, this enmity of Rahu towards me hath sprung from my desire of benefiting the gods. And this dire consequence I alone have to sustain ! Indeed, at this pass help I obtain not ! And before the very eyes of the denizens of heaven I am going to be devoured and they brook it quietly! Therefore, for the destruction of the worlds must I strivel And with this resolution he went to the mountains of the west.
