“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.’”

SECTION CIX

“Lomasa said, ’The blessed God having heard what Bhagiratha had said, and with a view to doing what was agreeable to the residents of heaven, replied to the king, saying, ’So let it be.  O most righteous of the protectors of men, O (prince) of a powerful arm!  For thy sake I shall sustain the river of the gods, when she will take her descent from the sky, she who is pure and blessed and divine, O (king) of a mighty arm!’ Saying this, he came to the snowy mountain, surrounded by his attendants, of awful mien, and with uplifted weapons of diverse forms.  And standing there, he said to Bhagiratha, the most praiseworthy of men, ’O (prince) of a powerful arm! do thou pray to the river, the daughter of the king of mountains.  I shall sustain that most praiseworthy of rivers when she falls down from the third region of the world (heaven).’  Having heard these words uttered by Siva, the king became devout (in heart), made obesiance and directed his thoughts towards Ganga.  Then the delightful (river), of pure water in being so thought of by the king, and seeing that the great lord (Siva) was standing (to receive her fall), came down all of a sudden from the sky.  And seeing that she had taken her leap from the sky, the gods, together with the mighty saints, the Gandharvas, the snakes, and the Yakshas, assembled there as spectators.  Then came down from the sky Ganga, the daughter of the snowy mountain.  And her whirlpools were raging, and she was teeming with fishes and sharks.  O king! she directing her course towards the sea, separated herself, into three streams; and her water was bestrewn with piles of froth, which looked like so many rows of (white)