Vasishtha resumed:—After the lapse of a thousand years, Brahmá appeared to her, in order to put an end to the ardour of her austerities, and crown her with success or the reward of her devotion. (Ardent devotion has the power of displacing even the gods from their heavenly seats).
2. She saluted him internally in her mind, and remained fixed in her position; thinking about the boon she should beg of him, for allaying her keen appetite.
3. She soon recollected a certain request, which she should prefer to her complying god; and it was to transform her soft and flexible form to the shape of an inflexible iron-nail, wherewith she could torment all living beings. (i.e. To make her fleshy form as stiff as a poker, so as to be able to pierce all others without being pierced herself).
4. At Brahmá’s bidding, she bethought in herself: “I will become as thin as a minute pin, in order to enter imperceptibly into the hearts of animals, as the odor of flowers enters the nostrils.”
5. “By this means will I suck the heart-blood of beings, to my heart’s satisfaction; in this way will my hunger be satiated, and the gratification of my appetite, will give the greatest delight to my soul.”
6. As she was thinking in this manner, the God discovered her sinister motives, contrary to the character of a yogi; and accosted her in a voice resembling the roaring of clouds.
7. Brahmá said:—Daughter Karkatí, of the Rákshasa race, that sittest here like a cloud on the inaccessible top of this mountain; know that I am pleased with thy devotion, and bid thee now to raise thyself, and receive the boon that thou desirest of me.
8. Karkatí answered:—“O Lord of the past and future! If thou art inclined to grant my request, then please to confer on me the boon, of transforming my unironlike body to the form of an iron needle.”
9. Vasishtha said:—The God pronounced “Be it so,” and joined, “thou wilt be as a pin, and shalt be called the cholic pain, for thy giving pain to all bodies.”
10. “Thou shalt be the cruel cause of acute pain and pang to all living being; and particularly to the intemperate and hard-working fools, and loose libertines, who are destined to be thy devoted victims.”