Therefore
grow thou in virtue. It behoveth thee not to slay us so. O thou that art
conversant with virtue, it hath been said that a Brahmana is ever the
friend of every creature. O thou of great prosperity, let this speech of
the wise become true. The eminent always protect those that seek
protection at their hands. We seek thy protection. It behoveth thee to
grant us pardon.'
"Vaisampayana continued, 'Thus addressed, that Brahmana of virtuous soul
and good deeds and equal in splendour, O hero, unto the sun or the moon,
became propitious unto them. And the Brahmana said, 'The words hundred and
hundred thousand are all indicative of eternity. The word hundred, however,
as employed by me is to be understood as a limited period and not
indicative of a period without end. Ye shall, therefore, becoming
crocodiles, seize and take away men (for only a hundred years as explained
by me). At the end of that period, an exalted individual will drag you all
from water to the land. Then ye will resume your real forms. Never have I
spoken an untruth even in jest. Therefore, all that I have said must come
to pass. And those sacred waters (within which I assign you your places),
will, after you will have been delivered by that individual, become known
all over the world by the name of Nari-tirthas (or sacred waters connected
with the sufferings and the deliverance of females), and all of them shall
become sacred and sin cleansing in the eyes of the virtuous and the wise.
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