25. The vultures flying in the air, darted upon the smoke, thinking it a turret of trees, and pounced upon the fire brands, taking them for bits of raw flesh.
26. Men biting and tearing one another, were flying in all directions; when the splitting of the burning wood hit upon their breasts and bellies, and made them gory with blood gushing out of them.
27. The winds were howling in the hollow caves, and the flames of the wild fire flashing with fury; the snakes were hissing for fear of these, and the burnt woods were falling down with hideous noise.
28. Thus beset by dangers and horrors, with no other shelter than the rugged hollows of rocks, this place presented a picture of this world, with its circumambient flames, burning as the twelve zodiacal suns on high.
29. The winds were blowing hot amidst the burning woods and rocks, and drying up all things; and the heat of the fire below and the sunbeams above, together with the domestic calamities caused by influence of the planet Saturn, made this place a counterpart of this woeful world.
CHAPTER CIX.
Migration of the Chandálas.
Argument. The perilous journey through the Delusive World.
The king continued:—As these calamities continued to rage in this place, by the displeasure of destiny; and the disasters of the last dissolution prematurely overtook the forest and mountaineers here:—
2. Some of these men went out from that place, with their wives and children, in search of some new abodes in foreign lands; as the clouds disperse and disappear from the sky, after the rainy season is over.
3. They were accompanied by their wives and children and close relatives, who clung to them as the members of their bodies; but the lean and infirm were left behind them, like the separated branches of trees.