22. There had I dwelt at first in a cave of its golden peak, in the shape of an iron statue, and also as the fragment of a cloud, and borne the appellation of Karkatí the Rákshasí:—(the crablike crooked Sycorax).
23. There I obtained the sight of Brahmá by the austerity of my devotion; and expressed my desire of killing mankind, in the shape of a destructive needle.
24. I obtained the boon accordingly, and passed a great many years in the act of afflicting living brings, and feeding upon their entrails in the form of the cholic pain.
25. I was then prohibited by Brahmá to kill the learned, and was instructed in the great mantra for my observance.
26. He then gave me the power of piercing the hearts of men, with some other diseases which infest all mankind.
27. I spread myself far and wide in my malice, and sucked the heart blood of men, which dried up their veins and arteries; and emaciated their bodies.
28. Those whom I left alive after devouring their flesh and blood, they begat a race as lean and veinless as they had become themselves.
29. You will be successful O happy prince in getting the mantra or charm for driving the Visúchiká pain; because there is nothing impossible of attainment by the wise and strong.
30. Receive of me immediately, O raja! the mantra which has been uttered by Brahmá for removal of the cholic pain, from the cells of arteries vitiated by Visúchiká.
31. Now advance towards me, and let us go to the neighbouring river; and there initiate you with the mantra, after you both are prepared to receive it by your ablution and purification.