elsewhere it resembled a silvery (pile), and at some places it was like a (sable) heap of collyrium.  Such was the snowy hill where the king now found himself.  And that most praiseworthy of men at that spot betook himself to an awful austere course of life.  And for one thousand years his subsistence was nothing but water, fruit and roots.  When, however, a thousand years according to the calculation of gods had elapsed, then the great river Ganga having assumed a material form, manifested to him her (divine) self.

“’Ganga said.  “O great king! what dost thou desire of me?  And what must I bestow on thee?  Tell me the same, O most praiseworthy of men!  I shall do as thou mayst ask me.”  Thus addressed, the king then made his reply to Ganga, the daughter of the snowy Hill, saying, “O grantress of boons!  O great river! my father’s fathers, while searching for the horse, were sent by Kapila to the abode of the god of death.  And those same sixty thousand sons of Sagara of mighty soul, having met with the majestic Kapila, perished, (to a soul) in an instant of time.  Having thus perished, there hath been no place for them in the region of heaven.  O great river!  So long as thou dost not besprinkle those same bodies with thy water, there is no salvation for these same Sagara’s sons.  O blessed goddess! carry thou my forefathers, Sagara’s sons, to the region of heaven.  O great river! on their account am I beseeching thee forsooth."’

“Lomasa said, ’Ganga, the goddess saluted by the world, having heard these words of the king, was well pleased, and spake to Bhagiratha the following words:  “O great king!  I am prepared to do what thou dost ask me; there is no doubt therein.  But when I shall descend from the sky to the earth, the force of my fall will be difficult to sustain, O protector of men!  In the three worlds there exists none who is able to sustain the same, excepting Siva, the most praiseworthy of gods, the great Lord with the throat of sable blue.  O (prince) of a powerful arm!  Obtain the favour, by practising austerities, of that same Siva—­giver of boons.  That same god will sustain my descent upon his head.  Thy desire he will fulfill, the desire, namely, to be of service to thy fathers, O king!” Then the great king Bhagiratha having heard the same, went to the Kailasa hill, and betaking himself to a severe course of penances, at the expiration of a certain length of time obtained the favour of that worker of blessings (Siva).  And, O protector of men! that same best of men, in order that his forefathers might have a place in heaven secured to them, received from that very Siva the fulfilment of his wish, namely the wish that the descending Ganga might be sustained.’”

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