And those Yakshas of great might
and courage, mangled all over by that ranger of the skies, looked like
masses of black clouds dropping thick showers of blood.
"And Garuda, depriving them of life, and then went to where the amrita was.
And he saw that it was surrounded on all sides by fire. And the terrible
flames of that fire covered the entire sky. And moved by violent winds,
they seemed bent on burning the Sun himself. The illustrious Garuda then
assumed ninety times ninety mouths and quickly drinking the waters of many
rivers with those mouths and returning with great speed, that chastiser of
enemies, having wings for his vehicle extinguished that fire with that
water. And extinguishing that fire, he assumed a very small form, desirous
of entering into (the place where the Soma was)."
So ends the thirty-second section in the Astika Parva of the Adi Parva.
SECTION XXXIII
(Astika Parva continued)
"Santi said, 'And that bird, assuming a golden body bright as the rays of
the Sun, entered with great force (the region where the Soma was), like a
torrent entering the ocean. And he saw, placed near the Soma, a wheel of
steel keen-edged, and sharp as the razor, revolving incessantly. And that
fierce instrument, of the splendour of the blazing sun and of terrible
form, had been devised by the gods for cutting in pieces all robbers of
the Soma. Garuda, seeing a passage through it, stopped there for a moment.
Diminishing his body, in an instant he passed through the spokes of that
wheel.
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