'
"Sauti said, 'What thou askest me is, indeed, the subject of the Purana. O
twice-born one, listen as I briefly recite it all.
"Once upon a time, when the lord of creation, Kasyapa, was engaged in a
sacrifice from desire of offspring, the Rishis, the gods, and the
Gandharvas, all gave him help. And Indra was appointed by Kasyapa to bring
the sacrificial fuel; and with him those ascetics the Valakhilyas, and all
the other deities. And the lord Indra, taking up according to his own
strength, a weight that was mountain-like, brought it without any fatigue.
And he saw on the way some Rishis, of bodies of the measure of the thumb,
all together carrying one single stalk of a Palasa (Butea frondosa) leaf.
And those Rishis were, from want of food, very lean and almost merged in
their own bodies. And they were so weak that they were much afflicted when
sunk in the water that collected in an indentation on the road produced by
the hoof of a cow. And Purandara, proud of his strength, beheld them with
surprise, and laughing at them in derision soon left them behind insulting
them, besides, by passing over their heads. And those Rishis being thus
insulted were filled with rage and sorrow. And they made preparations for
a great sacrifice at which Indra was terrified. Hear, O Saunaka, of the
wish for accomplishment of which those vow-observing wise, and excellent
ascetics poured clarified butter of the sacrificial fire with loudly
uttered mantras, 'There shall be another Indra of all gods, capable of
going everywhere at will, and of mustering at will any measure of energy,
and striking tear into the (present) king of the gods.
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