SACCOUNTALA. 639 



chief of the Devas:}: with the law Sacra, with the liveliest alarm. 

 Afraid of seeing the place he occupied among the immortals become the 

 spoil of the terrible Taposoul, the god caused the nymph Menaca || to 

 be brought to his presence, and thus addressed her : 



" ' Most beautiful of the Apsaras, I expect a favour of thee. Visona- 

 mitra, by the violence of the torments he inflicts on himself, has raised 

 the sum of his merits to such a pitch in the eyes of Brahma, that I 

 tremble for my station and authority. Go,, then, and try by every 

 means to disturb him in his religious duties. With youth and beauty, 

 such as yours, you cannot fail to succeed. Exhaust every art and ac- 

 complishment, the gentle sound of your voice, and that perfidious smile. 

 Go, and bring me repose/ 



" l Mighty chief of thunder,' replied Menaca, tremblingly, ' nothing 

 equals, as thou knowest, the ferocious and vindictive humour of the 

 haughty Monni. If thou thyself canst fear its effects, how should a 

 weak woman think of it but with trembling ? Was it not he, a thing 

 unheard of ! who, though originally of the Kchatryias,^! made himself a 

 Brahman by the force of his own volition ? Was it not he who de- 

 prived the great Vasichtha ** of his much-loved sons ? Was it not he 

 who, to perform his ablutions, caused a river to rise at once rapid and 

 profound ? ft And thou, chief of the Devas, wert not thou thyself, re- 

 duced to drink the Soma, to escape the fear with which he inspired 

 thee ? Tell me, then, how I can avoid being consumed by the fire of 

 his indignation ; he who produces an earthquake by the tread of his 

 foot ; he who could, in sport, break Mount Meron * to atoms, and dis- 

 turb the order of the skies ? How could I dare to approach or to touch 

 this dreadful being, his face resplendent as the fire of the sacrifice, and 

 formidable as the season of destruction, at the mere aspect of which the 

 greatest saints Soma,*j' and the inflexible Yama himself, are filled with 

 terror. Y^t when thou ordaiiiest it, oh chief of the Souras ! I am 

 ready to obey. But I beseech thee to provide the means of diminishing 

 the hazards I incur in this daring enterprize. Let Maronta, || the god 

 of the winds, give a graceful direction to the folds of my robe as I draw 

 before the virtuous Monni. Let Maumatha,^! with his burning arrows, 







9ffj ^io I/OY n 



$ Devas the gods. 



Sacra one of the names of Indra. v 



|| Menaca the most celebrated of the assiaras, or nymphs, in the service of Indra. 



^j Kchatryias the second, or warrior caste, among the Indians. 



** Vasichtha Richo, or deified sage of the first order. He is supposed to pre- 

 side with six other riches over one of the stars of the great bear, whence comes the 

 name of Suptarchagah given to that constellation. 



f-f- This river is named Para in the text, and there exists in fact a river of that 

 name, which is supposed to lose itself in the mountains of Pariyati, which form the 

 central and western portion of the Vindhya chain. 



* Meron a fabulous mountain all sparkling with gold and precious stones, and 

 of immeasurable height, called by mythologists the North Pole. 



j- One of the names of the genius who presides over the moon, the good Lunus. 



$ Yama -this divinity shares with Dharma the duty of judging souls after death. 



Souras a synonym for Devas, as opposed to Asouras, bad genii or demons. 

 The latter, jealous of the happiness of the Souras, never cease to harrass them in a 

 thousand ways. When we read in the poets the description of the furious combats 

 which take place between the Souras and the Asouras, the struggle between the 

 good and bad angels of Milton become child's play. 



|| Maronta the same with Vayen, the Indian Eolus. 



j[ Maumatha this epithet, which was rendered by the old French poets in their 



